Chapter 831: Return to the Galaxy |
Seeing Earth from within the Andromeda Galaxy was not strange at all. After all, Earth had only exploded a little over one hundred thousand years ago, and the light carrying the image of Earth’s explosion had only traveled a little over one hundred thousand light years so far. It was still far from reaching the Andromeda Galaxy. At this moment, what could still be seen from within the Andromeda Galaxy was the image of Earth when it was still intact. Seeing Earth was not strange. What was strange was seeing Earth’s current orbital motion and the like.
According to time and distance, roughly speaking, the image of Earth Xiao Yu should have been seeing at this moment ought to have been from two million five hundred thousand years ago. But Xiao Yu was astonished to discover that the Earth image he observed should have been from five million years ago. This differed from the theoretical situation by two million five hundred thousand years, and the distance between the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way happened to be exactly two million five hundred thousand light years.
Xiao Yu’s heart gradually sank. There was one explanation that could very well explain what Xiao Yu was encountering right now, but that explanation was so absurd that it was impossible to accept.
That explanation was that the Milky Way had undergone time reversal, and the entire Milky Way had returned to five million years ago. Then the light carrying the Milky Way’s image took two million five hundred thousand years to reach the Andromeda Galaxy, where it was seen by Xiao Yu at this moment.
If explained this way, then everything could be made sense of. Everything Xiao Yu saw, including the supernova explosion and the Earth from two million five hundred thousand years ago, could be reasonably explained. But… Xiao Yu had clearly only left the Milky Way a few thousand years ago.
A thing like time reversal had happened once before when Xiao Yu was still weak. Under the direction of Taihao Civilization, it had once occurred, but that event had later been proven to be nothing more than a lie. During that incident, Xiao Yu had also completely denied the possibility of time reversal through various deductions. Even though Xiao Yu had now become a Level 7 Civilization, Xiao Yu still did not believe that time reversal was something that could truly occur in the universe.
The reason was still the same one from when Xiao Yu had been weak, if one wanted to reverse time in a star system, one would have to affect the entire galaxy. If one wanted to reverse time in the entire galaxy, one would have to affect the other galaxies around it, and so on in a chain reaction, ultimately affecting the entire universe. And making the entire universe reverse in time was obviously impossible.
Xiao Yu’s heart suddenly stirred. He thought of another possibility. The advancement of technology had greatly broadened Xiao Yu’s vision. He had come into contact with more things, and within the framework of existing theory, Xiao Yu began once more to think about the possibility of time reversal.
“If Rules can be changed and artificially defined, then time reversal is not impossible either. For example, in a small universe whose Rules are set by me, I could completely reverse the Rules of that small universe. In that case, the effect would occur before the cause. In that universe, it would not be because a person accidentally knocked over a cup that the cup shattered, but because the cup shattered that it caused the person to accidentally knock it over. This is entirely feasible. Or perhaps someone altered the Rules within the region of the Milky Way, and that is what caused time in the Milky Way to reverse? But if time in the Milky Way reversed, why did it not affect the other galaxies?” Xiao Yu’s mind was in chaos, unable to sort out any clear line of thought.
This was the major premise. Since there was no way to fully think through this premise, he temporarily set the matter aside and used only this conclusion as the basis for further deduction.
“What needs to be considered now is why this strange thing happened in the Milky Way. Was it deliberately done by some existence, or did this situation arise naturally through the universe’s evolution? Looking at it comprehensively, the possibility that some existence did it deliberately is greater. Then… what sort of existence was it, and for what purpose did it do such a thing?”
“Are they… targeting me?” At this moment, such a thought suddenly emerged in Xiao Yu’s mind. After all, he was the only Level 7 technological civilization to emerge from the Milky Way, and his birth seemed to be inextricably linked with certain secrets of the universe.
“Is this harming me, or helping me? But I already left the Milky Way long ago. Even if time reverses, it cannot affect me. And if it is helping me, what does time reversal have to do with me? Aside from being somewhat strange, this matter cannot affect me in any other way. If it is targeting me, there seems to be no need to go through such useless effort.” Xiao Yu thought slowly.
“Or perhaps they merely laid a trap in the Milky Way, trying to lure me back through this strange situation and then do something unfavorable to me?” Xiao Yu thought of another possibility.
This possibility was not impossible either. Although any existence capable of reversing the time of the entire Milky Way must certainly be stronger than Xiao Yu, and according to ordinary reasoning it would seem unnecessary for them to influence Xiao Yu through this method, Xiao Yu knew that nothing was absolute. Just like the white dwarf Alien Beast he had encountered back then, no matter how he reasoned at the time, he could not have deduced that the white dwarf Alien Beast harbored malice toward him, yet in the end it really had been plotting against him.
“This truly is a method I cannot refuse.” Xiao Yu sighed silently. “The Milky Way is, after all, my homeland. Since something like this has happened there, no matter what, I have to go back and take a look. Even aside from that, there are still people there whom I care about, Pegasus Civilization, Divine Ark Civilization, and my compatriot, Zhang Shengya…”
“Even if this incident is aimed at me, I still have to go back and take a look. I must figure all of this out.” Xiao Yu sighed and made his decision. He had already stayed at the core of the Andromeda Galaxy long enough. Once again, Xiao Yu set foot on the long journey.
Ever since he had destroyed Sweepers Civilization, everything that had happened seemed to be faintly connected by a single line, but at this moment Xiao Yu could not find that line. Everything before him was shrouded in fog, and Xiao Yu could not uncover the truth behind these events.
“I have already become a true Level 7 Civilization, and I have already built Star Cluster-Class battleships. With my current combat power, even if I faced a Level 7 Civilization specialized in warfare, I would still have the ability to escape. My ability to withstand risks is already sufficient. Then let me return to the galaxy and uncover the truth behind all these things.” Xiao Yu made up his mind.
The interior space of the battleships Xiao Yu had manufactured at this moment was not an independent space detached from the main universe like a small universe. Instead, through advanced space technology and methods such as condensing, folding, and overlapping space, a relatively independent space had been created inside the battleships. Therefore, different battleships could not overlap, and Xiao Yu did not possess the ability to place smaller spaceships inside the space of a larger spaceship. The overlapping of different distorted spaces would bring a series of unpredictable consequences.
At the same time, this new-type spaceship of a Level 7 Civilization also could not leave the main universe and enter a small universe through linking technology between the small universe and the main universe. If that were done, the interior space of the spaceship would completely vanish. Of course, through the method of the Space Bridge, this kind of spaceship could still enter a small universe. But that was rather troublesome. It was suitable only for use in assault battles and not for long-distance travel, so generally speaking, Level 7 Civilizations did not have small universes. After becoming a Level 7 Civilization, Xiao Yu had also abandoned the small universe he originally possessed.
He could not place the spaceships with poor maneuverability inside large spaceships, nor could he place the small spaceships inside a small universe and take them along together. To solve this problem, Xiao Yu specially manufactured a transport ship. This transport ship had no folded internal space. It was simply enormous in volume, even nearly the size of a planet. Those of Xiao Yu’s spaceships with relatively poor maneuverability were placed inside such transport ships, and together with the more maneuverable Star-Class, Planet-Class, or Continent-Class battleships, they set out toward the Milky Way.
Xiao Yu’s travel speed had reached one thousand five hundred times the speed of light. At that speed, Xiao Yu would arrive at the Milky Way in a little under two thousand years. Moreover, during the long journey, Xiao Yu had no need to worry about running out of energy. After mastering the space energy formula, the omnipresent space itself was Xiao Yu’s best source of energy.
More than seventy years later, Xiao Yu traveled from the core of the Andromeda Galaxy to its edge, then continued moving farther away. The immense Andromeda Galaxy gradually shrank in Xiao Yu’s eyes, from filling his entire field of view to slowly becoming smaller, until its full outline was finally revealed before his eyes, after which it continued shrinking and exposed its clear spiral structure.
At the same time, the Milky Way was gradually increasing in brightness. From a dim point of light, it gradually became bright and revealed more information. Xiao Yu never relaxed his observation and surveillance of the Milky Way, and by now, Xiao Yu was becoming more and more certain that a strange incident had occurred within it.
Every piece of information Xiao Yu observed indicated that the Milky Way had already returned to several million years in the past. More than one thousand nine hundred years later, when Xiao Yu truly crossed into the range of the Milky Way, Xiao Yu finally became completely certain of this point.
Xiao Yu had crossed a distance of several million light years and arrived in his homeland, the Milky Way.
“Let me see exactly what has happened here…” Xiao Yu muttered to himself.