Hearing Taihao say this, Xiao Yu imdiately tensed up.
“What exactly is the information storm? How should I observe it?” Xiao Yu asked urgently.
“What a hassle. But considering you helped 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 imdiately began decoding the information. In just a few millionths of a second, he had fully understood the aning 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 ntion black holes. Black holes were extrely extre celestial bodies, one of the possible endpoints of massive stars after death.
Depending on their mass, stars face different fates at the end of their lifespans. A star the size of the Sun would die in a relatively gentle manner, forming a white dwarf just like the one Xiao Yu had encountered before.
More massive stars would undergo supernova explosions at the end of their lifespans, releasing billions of tis 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 extre. The escape velocity at the surface of a neutron star was about 150,000 kiloters per second, but for a black hole, it exceeded the speed of light. This ant 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 teorite, a table, each carries properties like energy levels, temperatures, and so on. If they entered a black hole and could never erge again, that would an 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 frawork would have to be discarded. Conversely, if his current theoretical system was correct, there had to be so process that allowed a black hole to release the information it had consud.
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 . 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 mont, 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 Androda Galaxy with a mass about ten thousand tis that of the Sun. For so unknown reason, it had reached the end of its life and exploded, expelling all the information it had consud 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 mont 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 elentary space technology, such as Level 6 civilizations, nor on Alien Beast Civilizations or chanical 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 ant opportunity. Who knew what kinds of information a black hole might have accumulated over its lifespan? If a super civilization had conducted experints and the experintal 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 imnsely valuable. With such data, Xiao Yu could reconstruct the entire evolutionary process of a star.
Without a chanism 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 so 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 imnse assistance. Taihao once again pulled Xiao Yu’s fleet including the Luka One individuals into four-dinsional space, leaving only a few information-collection spacecraft in three-dinsional space.
Before re-entering four-dinsional space, Xiao Yu had already sent a ssage to the Luka people.
“We are about to enter four-dinsional space. Upon receiving this ssage, all Luka individuals must imdiately cease all movents. No matter what you see, remain calm and do not move.”
Issuing this warning was absolutely necessary. In four-dinsional space, three-dinsional objects beca 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 mont Xiao Yu sent this ssage, a huge commotion erupted among the Luka people. anwhile, in the laboratory aboard The Paradise, the Luka scientists entered a fierce debate.
“Four-dinsional space? Why can’t we move? With such a rare opportunity, shouldn’t we observe and study it imdiately? If we don’t move, wouldn’t we miss a once-in-a-lifeti 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 . After we exit four-dinsional space, all observational data will be shared with all scientists. Anyone who disobeys orders will be imdiately 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 mont, the familiar dazzling and bizarre world reappeared in Xiao Yu’s optical instrunts 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-dinsional space altogether.
Since Xiao Yu and the Luka people had entered the fourth dinsion, they had naturally exited three-dinsional space. No matter how violent the information storm beca, it could no longer touch Xiao Yu.
Hiding in four-dinsional space to avoid an information storm was like sitting in a helicopter to avoid a flood. A flood was a disaster occurring in two dinsions by rising into the sky, one entered the third dinsion, and the two-dinsional disaster could no longer touch them.
Similarly, three-dinsional disasters could not affect the fourth dinsion.
Here, Xiao Yu was absolutely safe.
Watching the ti tick down, Xiao Yu silently thought to himself.
“The information storm… is about to arrive.”
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