Rebirth of the Super Battleship

Hearing Taihao say this, Xiao Yu immediately tensed up.

“What exactly is the information storm? How should I observe it?” Xiao Yu asked urgently.

“What a hassle. But considering you helped me find a big fish, I’ll assist you a little more,” Taihao said. As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Yu felt a surge of information pour into his mind.

Xiao Yu immediately began decoding the information. In just a few millionths of a second, he had fully understood the meaning of this data.

“So that’s how it is.” After reading through the information, Xiao Yu let out a slight breath of relief.

“Then, let’s begin the observation. Such a great opportunity must not be missed.”

“I have already exited Faster-Than-Light travel and entered conventional navigation. This information storm is expected to last 0.5 seconds,” Taihao said to Xiao Yu.

It was only now, after reading the information, that Xiao Yu finally learned the true nature of the information storm that had troubled him for over twenty years.

To explain the information storm, one had to mention black holes. Black holes were extremely extreme celestial bodies, one of the possible endpoints of massive stars after death.

More massive stars would undergo supernova explosions at the end of their lifespans, releasing billions of times more energy than the Sun in an instant. After such an explosion, their cores would form neutron stars.

Beyond neutron stars, there were black holes. Black holes were even more extreme. The escape velocity at the surface of a neutron star was about 150,000 kilometers per second, but for a black hole, it exceeded the speed of light. This meant that once anything crossed the event horizon of a black hole, it could never escape again.

However, this led to a problem: the loss of information. Matter inherently carries a great deal of information: a meteorite, a table, each carries properties like energy levels, temperatures, and so on. If they entered a black hole and could never emerge again, that would mean their information was lost.

This issue had long troubled Xiao Yu. The loss of information contradicted currently known theories. If information was indeed lost irretrievably, then Xiao Yu’s entire theoretical framework would have to be discarded. Conversely, if his current theoretical system was correct, there had to be some process that allowed a black hole to release the information it had consumed.

Now, Xiao Yu understood what that process was: the information storm.

“So, that’s what the information storm is… this resolves a major question for me. At least, my current theory remains self-consistent and hasn’t been toppled by the information loss issue,” Xiao Yu thought with relief.

The information Taihao transmitted did not explain too many other processes such as how a black hole dies, what happens inside a black hole, or how information is stored inside it. It only stated that when a black hole reached the end of its life, it would undergo an incredibly violent explosion, returning to nothingness. At that moment, all the information it had devoured during its long existence would burst forth in an instant, sweeping across multiple galaxies through space.

Black holes have extraordinarily long lifespans the larger they are, the longer they live. This information storm was caused by a black hole in the Andromeda Galaxy with a mass about ten thousand times that of the Sun. For some unknown reason, it had reached the end of its life and exploded, expelling all the information it had consumed over billions of years.

Every beam of light it had swallowed, every atom it had devoured, contained vast amounts of information. Over billions of years, the total accumulation of that information was unimaginable. Xiao Yu didn’t know exactly how terrifying the total would be, but he did know that once released in an instant, it would be a force of unimaginable magnitude.

The information storm primarily attacked the souls of intelligent beings. The moment the storm struck, the overwhelming flood of information would scatter an intelligent being’s consciousness, resulting in death.

However, because the information storm had no physical form, it had little to no effect on less developed civilizations, specifically Level 1 and Level 2 civilizations, whose brains were not sensitive enough to process such information. It also had no effect on civilizations that had mastered elementary space technology, such as Level 6 civilizations, nor on Alien Beast Civilizations or Mechanical Civilizations. It only had devastating effects on Level 3, Level 4, and Level 5 civilizations, as well as the Specter Race.

Upon learning this, Xiao Yu couldn’t help but worry.

“I wonder how my kin are doing… will they survive this information storm?”

Xiao Yu himself was within the damage range of the information storm. Moreover, because he had no physical body and lived solely through computers, the storm posed an even greater threat to him.

But risk also meant opportunity. Who knew what kinds of information a black hole might have accumulated over its lifespan? If a super civilization had conducted experiments and the experimental light signals were swallowed by the black hole, then that information would now be released. The benefits of obtaining such information would be beyond words.

Even if he wasn’t that lucky and only managed to collect the light emitted by stars, that too would be immensely valuable. With such data, Xiao Yu could reconstruct the entire evolutionary process of a star.

Without a mechanism like the information storm, Xiao Yu would never have the chance to achieve this. After all, the lifespan of a star could easily span tens of billions of years. How could he possibly observe that long?

In short, the information storm contained a massive amount of information. While it posed a great threat to intelligent lifeforms, if one could avoid its damage and collect part of the information, unexpected rewards could be reaped.

With this in mind, Xiao Yu quickly made preparations to collect information.

The tools were simple: just some basic antennas. His ship already had many antennas installed; Xiao Yu simply needed to free up a lot of hard drives and protect those storing important information from the storm’s impact.

In this regard, Taihao provided immense assistance. Taihao once again pulled Xiao Yu’s fleet including the Luka One individuals into four-dimensional space, leaving only a few information-collection spacecraft in three-dimensional space.

Before re-entering four-dimensional space, Xiao Yu had already sent a message to the Luka people.

“We are about to enter four-dimensional space. Upon receiving this message, all Luka individuals must immediately cease all movements. No matter what you see, remain calm and do not move.”

Issuing this warning was absolutely necessary. In four-dimensional space, three-dimensional objects became completely visible and indefensible. If a Luka One individual, out of curiosity, reached out to touch the internal structure of another, it might puncture a blood vessel directly, resulting in death.

The moment Xiao Yu sent this message, a huge commotion erupted among the Luka people. Meanwhile, in the laboratory aboard The Paradise, the Luka scientists entered a fierce debate.

“Four-dimensional space? Why can’t we move? With such a rare opportunity, shouldn’t we observe and study it immediately? If we don’t move, wouldn’t we miss a once-in-a-lifetime chance?”

“Exactly. Even at the risk of death, this opportunity must not be missed.”

Hearing these discussions, Xiao Yu issued another stern order: “All observation tasks will be conducted by me. After we exit four-dimensional space, all observational data will be shared with all scientists. Anyone who disobeys orders will be immediately expelled from The Paradise!”

Under Xiao Yu’s strict command, the Luka scientists reluctantly agreed.

After all preparations were complete, Xiao Yu once again felt that strange dizziness. In the next moment, the familiar dazzling and bizarre world reappeared in Xiao Yu’s optical instruments and was transmitted directly into his mind.

Now, Xiao Yu realized how laughable his previous thoughts had been thinking he could hide behind a star, or develop a space-bending shield, to evade the information storm.

The information storm used space itself as its carrier. Hiding behind a star even behind a black hole was useless. A curved space shield was even more useless. Even if space curved, the information storm could still pass through.

The only way to avoid the information storm was to leave three-dimensional space altogether.

Since Xiao Yu and the Luka people had entered the fourth dimension, they had naturally exited three-dimensional space. No matter how violent the information storm became, it could no longer touch Xiao Yu.

Hiding in four-dimensional space to avoid an information storm was like sitting in a helicopter to avoid a flood. A flood was a disaster occurring in two dimensions by rising into the sky, one entered the third dimension, and the two-dimensional disaster could no longer touch them.

Similarly, three-dimensional disasters could not affect the fourth dimension.

Here, Xiao Yu was absolutely safe.

Watching the time tick down, Xiao Yu silently thought to himself.

“The information storm… is about to arrive.”