Chapter 428: The Exploration of the Divine Vessel

Era of the Divine Vessel, 810,000 years.

The Shenzhou Scientific Advisory Group proposed a black hole research program: Consume the mighty energy of tens of thousands of Constant Stars to touch the deepest secrets of the universe, adjusting the gravitational constant around that giant black hole.

According to the formula for a black hole's Schwarzschild radius, 2GM/c², it is known that once the gravitational constant decreases, the black hole's event horizon radius will also contract.

This is tantamount to diminishing the black hole.

In the face of this grand scheme, the Fungus Civilization did not express anything, simply watching quietly from the sidelines, neither approving nor questioning, which almost hinted at the final result.

In fact, even within, there were many who had doubts about this plan; if such a route were truly viable, then the vast majority of 2.9 level civilizations would have a great possibility of advancing to 3.0 level, becoming Divine-level Civilizations.

Yet, from the Fungus Civilization, it was known that Divine-level Civilizations were exceedingly rare—they are without exception the peaks of this universe, with an insurmountable chasm lying between them and Second Type Civilizations.

However, these doubts could not stop the footsteps of the Divine Vessel Civilization.

With a determination bordering on obsession, they began constructing several giant furnace reactors with diameters reaching ten million kilometers, these furnaces like titanic workshops in the universe.

And utilizing Curvature Technology, they "transported" tens of thousands of Constant Stars into this furnace reactor.

The majority of these stars are Red Dwarf Stars, which generally do not exceed a million kilometers in diameter, or one-third the size of The Sun.

The construction of these furnaces undoubtedly represents the pinnacle of the wisdom and technological ability of the Divine Vessel Civilization.

During this colossal project, anti-gravity technology was used to its utmost limit, allowing those seemingly impossible ten-million-kilometer diameter furnace structures to stand firmly as though they were fantastical islands floating in the cosmic void.

Otherwise, their own gravity would cause them to collapse into a new black hole.

Strong Interaction Material, a super-substance that not even the interior pressures of a Neutron Star can destroy, made up the skeleton of the furnaces, ensuring that they could withstand their own incredible gravity and remain firm as bedrock.

Even so, this project nearly reached the limits of the Divine Vessel Civilization. It was a test not only of the civilization's technological level but also an extreme challenge to their resources, intellect, patience, and perseverance.

This was not just a project, but also an epic journey that spanned 7 thousand years.

Over these 7 thousand years, every technological breakthrough, every allocation of resources, condensed the wisdom of countless scientists and the sweat of engineers.

They had to not only combat the harsh environment of space but also overcome various doubts and pressures from within their civilization.

*

In the presence of that interstellar behemoth completed at last, anyone would be unable to suppress their awe. Its colossal body seemed capable of devouring all light and darkness, leaving one staggered and feeling their own insignificance.

The Divine Vessel Civilization's black hole gravitational constant reduction plan was also, at that moment, activated.

There were many reasons to research black holes, but the most important was that this was now the only field of study available to the Divine Vessel Civilization.

However, changing the gravitational constant of a black hole was also fraught with risks.

Because, as the black hole's event horizon shrank, the matter and energy previously firmly bound within it would burst forth like a liberated beast, rapidly surging outward.

This would trigger an unparalleled energy storm, the ferocity of which could be tens of thousands of times stronger than a gamma-ray burst. This storm would last for hundreds of millions, or even billions, of years. Its impact would encompass the entire River System.

Any matter that enters a black hole typically orbits it at near-light speed; we often say that its ultimate fate is to fall into the singularity, but in reality, it might never reach the singularity.

Its velocity is nearly that of light speed, time for it is extremely slow; a single second for it might be tens of millions of years in the external world.

Additionally, falling and orbiting at the speed of light is also a slow process, like the black hole's accretion disk, which is consumed by the black hole at an equally slow rate.

So, within the event horizon boundary of a black hole, there actually lies a massive amount of matter and energy.

To prepare for this impending energy storm, the Divine Vessel Civilization also had to construct facilities capable of withstanding such an energy impact.

As for the lower, self-destructive civilizations within the Galaxy, they could only be apologized to.

The phenomenon of black hole energy bursts had been observed by Humanity long before the Trisolaris crisis and had been named "quasars."

Quasars, shorthand for quasi-stellar objects, are actually extremely bright active galactic nuclei in the universe, their luminosity far surpassing normal galaxies, even thousands of times brighter than the Milky Way Galaxy.

They seemed like lighthouses in the universe, guiding all intelligent civilizations.

Early human scientists once thought that it was huge energy bursts from the accretion disks of supermassive black holes, but as time went on and technology progressed, people gradually realized that the accretion disks of black holes were actually incapable of such astonishing energy eruptions.

Now, the Shenzhou scientists infer that the appearance of such quasars may well be due to other civilizations altering the gravitational constant of black holes.

In this boundless universe, there exist countless civilizations, each challenging the limits of the universe in their own ways.

Black holes are naturally also their objects of study, and it's quite possible that they cause black holes to burst through various means.

They too do not know whether success or failure awaits them ahead. However, these civilizations all understand one principle.

If one does not even act, how can one be content?

Black holes might also represent the final step in intelligent species' understanding of the universe, and no civilization would easily give up on that.

In this struggle against the universe, we may be insignificant or even trivial, but we too possess a thirst for the unknown and the courage for the challenge.

*

Era of the Divine Vessel, 970,000 years.

After reducing the gravitational constant of black holes, the Divine Vessel Civilization set up dozens of exploration bases to probe the black holes.

Each exploration base was a crystallization of Shenzhou's wisdom and bravery, equipped with the most advanced detection equipment and technology.

Yet, the super-energy storms of the black holes erupted like the ruthless Grim Reaper, constantly destroying these bases, filling Shenzhou's path of exploration with the unknown and danger.

But the determination of Shenzhou to detect never wavered; they continuously rebuilt the bases and further probed into the black holes. Each failure only strengthened their conviction, each setback only increased their longing for success.

Even so, Shenzhou still underestimated the difficulty of exploring the high-dimensional properties of black holes, as well as the super-energy storms.

After struggling for hundreds of thousands of years, although Shenzhou's detection did make certain progress and breakthroughs, it still did not achieve a key breakthrough.

This continuous exploration and sacrifice became increasingly burdensome for Divine Vessel Civilization. The consumption of resources, loss of personnel, and mental stress were almost too much for them to bear.

If this continued, Divine Vessel Civilization might even annihilate itself.

In the minds of Fungus Civilization, the fact that Divine Vessel Civilization had persisted this far already far exceeded their expectations, and they could not help but admire them.

The acts of Shenzhou amounted to an all-in bet with the entire civilization.

Countless times, Shenzhou put itself on the gambling table to bet on the future, and now was no different.

But this time, Shenzhou might have lost...

In this process, Shenzhou's thinking also seemed to be marked by the Thoughtcontrol; they began to develop a deep fear and awe of black holes, as if bound by an invisible mark of Thoughtcontrol.

This Thoughtcontrol made humanity no longer dare to easily take another step; their desire to explore black holes gradually weakened.

This might be the only time in the nearly one million years of their history that Shenzhou had a hint of retreat in their hearts.

The path ahead was still unknown; was it worth sacrificing the hopes of generation after generation for a research plan that might not even be viable?

Despite the Dark Forest behind them, it was the safest option for Shenzhou at the moment.

Shenzhou had a life span as long as the universe itself; why must they sacrifice themselves for that ultimate thirst for knowledge?

PS: Quasars are indeed actual astronomical phenomena that were discovered in the 1960s. They emit huge amounts of energy, covering the entire electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves to X-rays, and their origins remain unexplained to this day.

I personally think that explaining them as black hole bursts due to some unknown cause is also a possibility.

Also, if the vicinity of black holes is so dangerous, why not use robots to study them?

Because the study of black holes is more of a high-dimensional research, and human thought can enter high dimensions, but robots cannot.

This explanation does indeed sound a bit fantastical; however, when science fiction reaches its peak, it really does bear a striking resemblance to fantasy.