Chapter 89: The Universal Script of the Stars

Two fleets, one large and one small, chased each other relentlessly across the vastness of space.

Sometimes they drew close, other times the gap widened again.

But no matter what, neither side ever broke out of scanning range.

Of course, part of that was intentional—Mu Qingxue had planned it. After all, the Fifth Fleet’s mission was to infuriate Tumelo and keep his forces occupied for a solid six months.

So far, that mission was going incredibly well.

Right now, the distance had stretched to ten million kilometers, but judging by their experience over the past month, it wouldn’t be long before the Klein fleet launched another wave of assault corvettes, trying to force the Fifth Fleet into more decelerations and course changes.

All of it designed to close the distance.

At least for now, everyone on board could finally catch their breath and take a break.

Well… almost everyone.

While the others relaxed, Lin Yu didn’t have that luxury.

Dr. Lu on the Qiongxiao had just sent him another mountain of data to analyze.

Some people are just born for hardship, huh…

“George, you’re in charge for now. I’ll be in the captain’s office working on Dr. Lu’s stuff. If anything changes, let me know right away.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it!”

George nodded, a spark of excitement flashing on his face.

After all, whenever Lin Yu left, he got to sit in the captain’s chair.

The captain’s seat of the Zhulong—Human Federation’s only generational heavy cruiser. For a guy who graduated less than two years ago, it was just irresistible.

Seeing this, Lin Yu just shook his head with a wry smile, then got up and left.

——

Eight hours later.

Inside the captain’s office aboard the Zhulong, countless symbols Lin Yu couldn’t make heads or tails of floated in projections throughout the space.

There were 788 in total, each marked with a corresponding diagram.

Lin Yu had been stuck on these for the full eight hours and still couldn’t crack their meaning.

It was nothing like the files he’d tackled before. Those might have been in alien languages too, but human tech could handle them pretty easily—quick to decipher, quick to translate.

But what he was looking at now dealt with hard, specific technology.

Every bit of technical info stored inside the cube showed up in this bizarre format.

Lin Yu had even tried his luck cracking it like a written language.

No matter what he did, he got nowhere.

If these couldn’t be deciphered, then there was no way to access the full technical details of Hyperspace Technology.

He couldn’t help but wonder—why were normal files and technical files written in two completely different languages?

Especially these tech documents—they didn’t even feel like a real language. More like some system invented just for conveying technical info.

It was as if humanity had invented Arabic numerals for a fast and simple way to count.

Same idea. Not a language, just a system tailored to a certain need.

Which meant unless you knew exactly what its inventors intended, you’d have a hell of a time breaking it.

Headache city.

Still, Lin Yu wasn’t totally lost.

He felt a flicker of recognition from some of the symbols and their matching diagrams.

But…

He just couldn’t put his finger on where that familiarity came from.

Shaking his head, he decided to try something different—group together every symbol and diagram that gave him that sense of recognition.

When he finished, he counted them up.

A total of 118.

Wait—118?

One hundred and eighteen?

Suddenly, it was like a bolt of lightning struck him. Lin Yu straightened up, excitement hitting all at once.

He dove back into those 118 pairs of symbols and diagrams.

A few minutes ticked by…

Then Lin Yu’s loud laughter filled the captain’s office, echoing for several minutes straight.

——

On the other side of the comms, Dr. Lu looked utterly exhausted—who knew how long he’d gone without rest.

But Lin Yu totally understood.

Everyone had been stuck on this problem for more than half a month.

“Dr. Lu, I’ve cracked it!”

“What? You cracked it?”

Dr. Lu, who’d looked dead on his feet a second ago, suddenly had eyes wide open.

His shock only lasted a heartbeat before excitement took over.

“Yes! If I’m right, this is a kind of universal script for the cosmos—meant specifically for sharing technical knowledge across different civilizations!”

“A universal cosmic script? Dedicated just for technical communication?”

“Exactly! Each of these symbols stands for an element, and the diagram next to it shows the structure of that element. It’s the same purpose, even if it isn’t drawn the way we would as humans.”

“Hold on, wait—so there are 788 elements in the galaxy?”

Dr. Lu was floored.

After all, humanity’s current periodic table only went up to 118…

That’s one huge difference.

But—

“No, all I’m saying is this is a universal script for technical exchange between different civilizations. Just like how everyone understands 1, 2, 3, no matter what language they speak or write in.”

“Same concept. These 788 elements are what’s used in the Milky Way, but if you widen the scope to the universe, there’d be even more.”

“But that doesn’t matter. Because of how this system’s set up, even if a few hundred new elements turn up one day, it doesn’t change anything. If your technical file never needs those elements, those symbols and diagrams just won’t ever show up in your documents.”

“In other words, it’s plug and play—a system designed solely to make technical exchange easy.”

After listening to Lin Yu’s explanation, Dr. Lu finally got it.

So that’s how it worked.

He couldn’t help but admire whatever civilization had invented this. They must have been truly remarkable.

The real brilliance was that no matter how many elements a civilization knew about, it would never be a roadblock for using this script.

That was the genius of it.

Just like Lin Yu said—a plug-and-play system meant solely for technical exchange.

“Fantastic! Lin Yu, you’ve solved our biggest headache!”

Dr. Lu could barely contain his excitement.

With this mystery cracked, they could finally start combing through the real technical documents for Hyperspace Technology.

Across the entire Milky Way, the most advanced civilizations had only reached Level 4—but Hyperspace Technology belonged to civilizations at Level 5 or above.

And now—

The complete Hyperspace Technology dossier was right there in front of him.

How could anyone not be thrilled? How could anyone not be fired up?

Forget sleep—he’d stay awake for days if that’s what it took!

Dr. Lu, worn out as ever, couldn’t help but roar inside, swept up in uncontrollable excitement…