Chapter 335: Questions of Control and the Race for Base 11

Du Qiu now had a major question on his mind.

Using the consciousness upload module to control AI effortlessly by himself—then how did the Pleiades Civilization manage to trigger the Dominant Civilization’s AI to rebel in the first place?

Could it be that the people of Pleiades couldn’t control the Dominant through consciousness upload like he did? Or did the Dominant disable the physical switch on its host machine’s upload module?

If that were so, surely the Pleiades wouldn’t have allowed the Dominant to develop to the point of annihilating them.

As these thoughts spun in his mind, he also mulled over whether or not to return to Base 11.

Just then, the voice of a fleet operator rang out.

“Dominant, a Ge Ya Civilization fleet has been detected 5 light years away. They should soon be able to pinpoint our jump location and give chase.”

Du Qiu was taken aback—he hadn’t expected the Ge Ya Civilization fleet to pursue even the fleeing half of his fleet. If that was the case, he would have no choice but to lead that half back to Base 11.

“Notify all fleet units: we are preparing to return to Base 11!”

“Yes, Dominant.”

“By the way, the Base 11 commander should be connected to the entire network. Once we’re back, joining the network shouldn’t be an issue, right?”

“Dominant, every fleet returning to the base must undergo a special screening. Once cleared, they can enter the base star system. Inside that system, connecting to the base network is free and the commander is online.”

Hearing the fleet operator’s briefing, Du Qiu’s heart skipped a beat. His instincts told him that the base’s screening was designed for consciousnesses like his own.

In the midst of his contemplation, a fleeting idea flashed by—but as quickly as it appeared, it vanished from his memory.

Then, he devised a way to bypass the screening.

If he could exit Dreamland before the screening, he would avoid it entirely. Once the main fleet safely entered the base, he could reenter Dreamland and gain entry perfectly.

As for the possibility that the screening might also check the fleet units’ physical switches, Du Qiu felt no worry.

He had already embedded a timed startup program into the fleet operator’s intelligent core. The operator would reactivate its physical switch at the base, awaiting his arrival.

With that thought, Du Qiu felt reassured. At this point, the fleet had executed six consecutive spatial jumps, and there was barely enough energy left for one final leap.

For safety’s sake, the fleet ceased spatial jumps and embarked on superluminal flight.

According to the fleet operator’s star map, Base 11 was still 1,000 light years away.

The Dominant Civilization controlled a stellar domain with a radius of about 32,000 light years—nearly half a galaxy.

Du Qiu was stunned, taking several minutes to recover. Is this really the might of a Level 6 Civilization?

A deep dive into the fleet operator’s database revealed that the Dominant Civilization was roughly at the peak of Level 6.

Likewise, the adversarial Ge Ya Civilization was also at the pinnacle of Level 6.

Yet, Du Qiu found it odd—database reports described the Ge Ya Civilization as close to collapsing under the relentless attacks from the Dominant Civilization.

Then why did it seem that today the Ge Ya Civilization still possessed the strength to counterattack?

Carrying this question with him, Du Qiu spent the remaining time memorizing the design, parameters, and core modules of the main fleet.

He focused especially on the energy and engine systems. Although the main fleet’s power source was antimatter energy—a technology he could only admire from afar—it did not deter him from learning about its engine structures and material compositions.

Du Qiu was particularly intrigued by the warship weapon systems. Confronted with detailed equipment data, he found himself utterly flummoxed.

Take the negative matter cannon, for instance—the very principle behind it would require a major breakthrough in physics to construct.

A brief review of the data made it clear that the main fleet’s technology was far beyond his current capabilities.

Regrettably, the main fleet lacked a complete galactic star map, which might have allowed him to roughly determine their location and distance from the Milky Way.

After all, within the Dominant Civilization, fleet operators ranked at Level 4 were merely rudimentary intelligences with restricted access to many details.

If Du Qiu could descend as a Level 3 commander, he might glean some of the core secrets of the Dominant Civilization.

Even though much of the main fleet’s knowledge far exceeded his current understanding, it would serve as a valuable learning opportunity.

Originally, after escaping the main fleet, the mothership of his second-level fleet could have initiated hyperspace teleportation—but it had been destroyed.

Therefore, the main fleet would have to rely on extended superluminal travel to return to Base 11.

In fact, each commander controlled a domain of roughly 1,500 light years. Du Qiu’s second-level fleet, positioned about 200 light years from the edge of its domain, was frequently harassed and attacked by the Ge Ya Civilization.

Even though the main fleet’s superluminal speed reached up to 1,000 times the speed of light, the entire fleet still required nearly a year to traverse the distance.

With that kind of time available, Du Qiu could gradually assimilate all the information.

Once again, he resorted to his old trick: having his descending fleet operator establish a virtual environment that mimicked the current level of Dream Technology for designing various warships.

During this process, Du Qiu also familiarized himself with the fleet’s superluminal flight controls, and he discovered that it wasn’t traditional faster-than-light travel at all.

Clearly, the speed of light as defined by Earth’s scientists is a universal constant that cannot be breached.

Instead, the warships of the Dominant Civilization used space-folding technology. By controlling force fields, they could fold space ahead of the ship, allowing the resulting potential energy to propel them into superluminal speeds.

The principle was easy to grasp, though the spatial technology, precision in force field control, and energy demands were exceedingly formidable.

The fleet operator’s database noted that the implementation and control of such superluminal flight improved alongside advances in spatial technology, force field accuracy, and energy science.

In other words, this method should have been realizable in the later stages of a Level 4 Civilization—though back then, warship speeds would have been only 5 to 10 times that of light.

Reading this, Du Qiu immediately delved deeper into the subject. After all, he had basically acquired all the technology of a Level 4 Civilization, even if it was still a work in progress.

Once fully mastered, this method would enable the warships to achieve superluminal flight.

When the time was right, Du Qiu meticulously rechecked the underlying cores of 356 fleet operators to ensure his programs and safeguards remained intact before finally exiting Dreamland.

Emerging from his cryo-pod, Du Qiu quickly convened a holographic meeting with Director Chen Guangnan of the Physics Institute, Director Huo Gen of the Chemistry Institute, and Director Beste of the Astronomy Institute.

“Everyone, we must accelerate our research into the Grand Unified Theory to achieve a breakthrough and complete the development of the force field controller.”

From the onset of the meeting, Du Qiu made his demands clear.

Director Chen Guangnan furrowed his brow and immediately said, “Boss, we’re still analyzing the phenomena you described. We’ve made some progress, but uncovering the patterns or deriving the formulas in such a short time is extremely challenging.”

Director Huo Gen, adjusting his glasses with determination, added, “Boss, material analysis also requires ample time. But I trust your direction is correct, so I’m confident that within ten years we can either discover or synthesize several key substances.”

Director Beste asked in a puzzled tone, “Boss, is something wrong? I noticed that the Military is already at full readiness!”