Chapter 906: Two Observers |
Xiao Yu found it difficult to imagine that, merely to make him produce an observational error, such an enormous operation had been carried out. The target galaxies serving as references for Xiao Yu’s position numbered no fewer than tens of millions. These were not tens of millions of stars. Even if they were tens of millions of stars, causing such huge changes in their states of motion would not be a simple matter, let alone tens of millions of galaxies. And within each galaxy, how could there be fewer than one hundred billion stars?
“Then what exactly is going on?” Xiao Yu tried hard to think about this question, but no matter what, he could not arrive at an answer.
“There is still no way to determine it.” After thinking for a while, Xiao Yu made a decision. “I should continue moving forward and see whether I return to this quasar again…”
Under the contradictory situation in which the other galaxies told Xiao Yu he was approaching this quasar, while observations of the quasar and the ranging instruments aboard his ships told Xiao Yu he was moving away from this quasar, Xiao Yu’s fleet advanced in silence.
In fact, even Xiao Yu himself no longer knew whether he was approaching this quasar or moving away from it. Xiao Yu had always relied on observing changes in his relative distance and position with respect to other celestial bodies to determine where he was. Now that these celestial bodies were no longer reliable, Xiao Yu had lost the reference points he used to determine his position and course.
Suddenly, in this very instant, Xiao Yu sensed that everything had changed. The stability of space dropped again and began tending toward disorder. The light of the quasar suddenly disappeared from behind Xiao Yu and was transmitted into his instruments from the front. It was as if heaven and earth had suddenly reversed and everything had turned upside down. The changes in the connecting angles told Xiao Yu that he had always been approaching this quasar, while the shipboard ranging instruments that had previously told Xiao Yu he was moving away underwent a reversal at this moment, and their observational data also began indicating that Xiao Yu was not moving away, but rather approaching it.
All the changes unfolded in this single instant. Xiao Yu had no time to react. Everything had already changed. Xiao Yu strove to understand what exactly had happened in that brief moment just now, but he was disappointed. As if things had always been this way, Xiao Yu checked all of his instruments, yet found no abnormalities.
At this moment, Xiao Yu only felt that his mind was filled with coldness. He made a swift decision and immediately changed his direction of travel, starting to move in the opposite direction. As a result, all the observational data began telling Xiao Yu that he was moving away, but after a period of time, that quasar once again appeared in front of Xiao Yu.
And all of this had still completely changed in a single instant. It seemed that no matter which direction Xiao Yu traveled, the final result was always that he was approaching this quasar. At this moment, Xiao Yu thought of a phenomenon in the universe.
This was because, around a black hole, the structure of space had already been completely altered. Here, there simply was no such direction as ‘away from the black hole.’ In other words, no matter which direction the spaceship traveled, it was ultimately approaching the black hole.
This phenomenon was very similar to the situation Xiao Yu was now encountering. Because Xiao Yu discovered that no matter which direction he traveled, the final result seemed always to be approaching this quasar. But… this was not a black hole, so how could there be such a bizarre spacetime structure here?
There was indeed a black hole here, and an extraordinarily huge one at that, nearly ten thousand times larger than the Central Black Hole at the core of the Milky Way. But Xiao Yu’s current position was not within the event horizon boundary of this black hole.
“Or could it be that the spacetime structure here has also been altered by some existence unknown to me, transformed into a spacetime structure similar to that of a black hole? But… why can I not detect even the slightest spatial abnormality? Or perhaps this is an application of space beyond my technological level, and they have altered the spacetime structure through higher-dimensional means?”
If that were really the case, then Xiao Yu truly might be unable to detect the abnormality. But in the next instant, Xiao Yu rejected this idea. Because a change in spacetime structure would inevitably affect all matter within this region of space. Since Xiao Yu could see the light and radiation emitted from the quasar, that proved these light rays and radiation were moving away from the quasar. And if these things could leave the quasar, then there was no reason Xiao Yu could not leave as well.
Xiao Yu unhesitatingly ruled out the possibility that the spacetime structure had been altered. But… if even this possibility was ruled out, then how should Xiao Yu explain what he was now encountering?
Very well, perhaps explaining the situation was not what mattered. What mattered was how Xiao Yu was supposed to leave this place.
Amid this constant thinking, Xiao Yu finally once again arrived at the edge of the quasar. Now, this extraordinarily brilliant and extraordinarily beautiful quasar had become a dangerous place in Xiao Yu’s eyes, as if countless venomous snakes were hidden inside it, ready at any moment to rush out and devour someone.
This was the third time Xiao Yu had come beside this quasar, which meant his three attempts had already failed. Xiao Yu simply stopped here. Before sorting out the current situation and finding a feasible method, Xiao Yu did not intend to make any further attempts.
The failure of these three attempts had made Xiao Yu realize one thing, he was probably truly going to remain here for a while. As for whether the situation he was encountering this time had formed naturally or was deliberately caused by someone, without sufficient data to support a conclusion, Xiao Yu truly had no way to think about that question.
But no matter whether this place had formed naturally or had been deliberately created, in any case, this matter was troublesome, extremely troublesome. Xiao Yu had never encountered such a situation before. After the half Four-Dimensional Taihao from the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Sweepers failed in their decisive battle, the situation he encountered beside that enormous red dwarf star had merely been somewhat similar to this. At that time, there had still been an enormous barrier separating the inside from the outside. Here, there was nothing at all.
Everything was vague and without clues. There were only a few limited known conditions, and to seek out the truth of the matter from these few conditions was almost an impossible task.
“Influencing the tens of millions of galaxies serving as my observational targets is far too unbelievable, and the amount of work involved is far too immense. This is basically unimaginable. Then can I take the tens of millions of galaxies in my observations as the true frame of reference? The information they feed back should be real, and instead it may be that my instruments nearby are being disturbed in some way, causing them to deceive me with false information.” Xiao Yu slowly thought. “In other words, the distances between me and the quasar as observed by my instruments at certain moments, as well as my forward speed, are all no longer trustworthy. The only thing I can trust is the data of the connecting angles.”
“Only this data can tell me whether I am moving forward, moving backward, or remaining still.” Xiao Yu slowly considered this, then dispatched a County-Class spaceship formation, having it leave the main fleet and start advancing in the direction away from the quasar.
Xiao Yu’s main fleet would remain here, using various detection methods to observe this County-Class spaceship formation and determine its position at all times. Meanwhile, this County-Class spaceship formation would also continuously observe the quasar and the tens of millions of reference galaxies in order to determine its own position. Xiao Yu was attempting to compare the data obtained from these two different observation points in order to find some hidden clue concealed behind all this.
If this County-Class spaceship formation ultimately moved away from the quasar, then it would mean that at least part of Xiao Yu’s forces could break through this blockade, whether artificially created or naturally formed. If this County-Class formation also could not leave the vicinity of the quasar, but instead, like what Xiao Yu had experienced before, returned to the side of the quasar after traveling some distance, then by analyzing the movement trajectory of this County-Class spaceship formation during that period, Xiao Yu might perhaps find something hidden within it.
In his previous attempts, his direction of travel had been reversed without his being able to detect any abnormality, perhaps only because he himself had been inside the situation. But now, with this County-Class spaceship formation serving as the test subject and himself as the observer, if any abnormality occurred again, it would not escape his observation.
Under Xiao Yu’s full attention, this County-Class spaceship formation swiftly left the main fleet, then quickly entered curvature space. They vanished from the visible universe, but their positional information was still observed by Xiao Yu in an unending stream through fluctuations in space.
This County-Class spaceship formation was also equipped with extremely advanced observation instruments, and it continuously maintained contact with Xiao Yu’s main fleet. This was equivalent to two observers at different locations jointly observing the condition of this County-Class spaceship formation at this moment.