At the very start of the large-scale research, Xiao Yu had already made clear task assignnts: he handed over the elental decay research project to the Luka scientists, while he focused on advancing technologies related to Faster-than-Light Travel.
Ten years after these research projects began, Xiao Yu received this experintal report.
“…As detailed above, we believe we have found a thod for elental decay technology that is ready to move into large-scale application.”
The report was signed by Luka scientist Wills, who was also the lead scientist on this experint. Below that, many other Luka scientists had added their nas to the report. Notably, Luka Three’s na appeared prominently in the second position.
“This experint was made possible thanks to the assistance of many fellow scientists. The esteed Luka Three contributed valuable insights on exotic radiation, and another prominent scientist, Enai, provided significant input on decay theory. Many other scientists also participated in this experint, their nas are listed as follows…”
This report was 800 pages long, with hundreds of thousands of words. It detailed every step of the experint and the related experintal data, complete with corresponding video recordings of the procedures. Every piece of data was precise, well-founded, and convincing.
Xiao Yu gave this docunt a very high evaluation.
However, there were still so subtle flaws within it.
Xiao Yu sharply noticed a particular data point.
“After converting with the mass-energy equation, we found a slight discrepancy in the experint. For instance, after the experint concluded, calculations indicated that the remaining mass of the test material should have been 520 grams. However, through precise asurents, we found that the remaining mass was not exactly 520 grams but 520.005 grams. This extra 0.005 grams of mass is currently unexplained. We suspect it may be due to instruntal precision limits causing asurent error.”
“Unexplained mass gain…” Xiao Yu silently pondered, recalling so of his past experints.
Back in the Tianyuan IV star system and the Aquila One system, during particle collision tests, Xiao Yu had already noticed this issue. In those experints, he observed that after collisions, the total mass of the particles involved showed an extrely slight increase. He had never been able to explain this phenonon, and now, unexpectedly, the sa phenonon had appeared in the elental decay experint.
After receiving the experintal report, Xiao Yu imdiately recreated the experint in the laboratory aboard the Hebei, using the data from the report as a guide.
The experintal process was identical to what was detailed in the Luka scientists’ report. During this experint, Xiao Yu also detected a very slight mass increase.
In this test, Xiao Yu even managed to calculate the relationship between the increased mass, the mass of the experintal object, and the energy intensity.
Overall, at this experintal intensity, every kilogram of material, after undergoing elental decay, showed a total mass increase of about one ten-thousandth.
Since the phenonon could be repeated, and the mass increase followed a discernible pattern, it could essentially be ruled out as re asurent error.
A rigorous and standardized scientific experint should adhere to one core principle: it must be reproducible. If a peculiar phenonon occurs only once and cannot be replicated in subsequent experints, scientists should look first for instruntal malfunction, experintal error, or other such causes, rather than hastily publishing papers claiming a major discovery.
For instance, sothing similar had happened back in Earth’s era. A certain physics research institute announced that it had discovered faster-than-light particles. In one experint, they reported that a particular particle reached the finish line dozens of nanoseconds ahead of a photon. This report caused a huge uproar. Countless other research institutes and scientists repeated the experint, but none of them could reproduce the result. In the end, in a rather dramatic twist, after a thorough investigation, the staff at that institute found that the appearance of faster-than-light particles had actually been caused by a chanical fault, after an engineer tightened a fiber optic connector, the faster-than-light phenonon disappeared.
Xiao Yu himself had experienced that incident while on Earth. At his own research institute, he had repeated the experint fifty tis and never once observed any faster-than-light particles. After obtaining solid data, Xiao Yu publicly ridiculed the head of that institute, even going so far as to mock, “Did you hand over your research institute to a pig farm? Was this experint operated by a bunch of pigs?”
The insult enraged the institute’s director, who not only cut all ties with Xiao Yu’s research institute but nearly showed up at Xiao Yu’s ho, ready to challenge him in person.
Back when Xiao Yu was still on Earth, he had always been sharp-tongued, harsh, and rciless, never sparing anyone’s feelings. After leaving Earth, he had occasionally reflected that, when he had issued the warning that Earth was about to explode and very few people had responded, it was probably related to this very personality. After all, he had offended almost every other scientist.
Over the years, after everything he had experienced since leaving Earth, Xiao Yu’s temperant had changed significantly. Sotis, he would think of that research institute director he had once mocked as a pig and even feel a hint of guilt. Sotis, he would recall Chen Mo and feel a bit remorseful about how harshly he had treated her back then, showing no leniency toward a young woman.
When dealing with other benevolent civilizations, such as the Luka people, the Arrow Beast Civilization, or even the Taihao Civilization, Xiao Yu had also begun trying to adopt a more asured and even-handed approach.
Pulling his thoughts back from those distant mories, Xiao Yu continued reviewing the data from his latest experint.
Since this mysterious mass gain phenonon could be consistently reproduced, it was essentially proven to be reliable. However, Xiao Yu still had no way to explain it, he had no idea where this mass was coming from.
Xiao Yu had a hunch that, once he found a theoretical frawork that could perfectly explain this phenonon and confird it through experintal verification, he would be on the verge of his next technological breakthrough.
“Perhaps this is the key to advancing to a Level 5 Civilization, or even Level 6,” Xiao Yu thought.
After this technological breakthrough, elental decay technology was no longer far from entering large-scale application. Xiao Yu imdiately spent a month building the first elental decay engine.
This engine had incredibly powerful performance, not just in terms of energy output. It could use any material as fuel, no matter where it sat on the periodic table. From the lightest hydrogen elent to the heaviest elent 139, everything could be thrown into the engine as fuel.
No matter what fuel was used, after the first reaction inside this engine, it would decay into hydrogen. The hydrogen would then be collected and stored. Xiao Yu was now preparing to develop an upgraded elental decay engine. This upgraded engine would allow for continuous recycling of fuel: after the raw material decayed into hydrogen, it would be sent into a secondary reaction chamber for nuclear fusion, where it would be fused into helium. The helium would then be fed back into the first reaction chamber, and the cycle would continue.
The result of this cycle would be that the engine could fully convert mass into energy for Xiao Yu to use.
“With this energy breakthrough, mastering Faster-than-Light Travel is no longer far off,” Xiao Yu thought joyfully. After the strictest validation and experints confird the report’s accuracy and feasibility, Xiao Yu convened all the Luka people for a grand celebration.
On the streets of the New Holand, tables were once again filled with a wide array of food and drink. Schools and factories were all closed, and every Luka citizen took to the streets to celebrate. On the giant electronic screen at the center of the city, a live broadcast was showing the awards ceremony taking place in the grand hall of the Paradise.
Xiao Yu’s holographic figure stood on the stage, smiling as he delivered an inspiring speech. Then, Luka scientist Wills, his face beaming with excitent, stepped onto the stage to receive the trophy from Luka Two, the Supre Social Administrator, and the certificate of honor from Luka Three, the Supre Science Officer. The ceremony reached its climax when Xiao Yu announced that he was bestowing the title of Luka Four upon Wills.
Wills was overwheld with emotion, his face streaked with tears of joy. He first prostrated himself on the ground to express loyalty and reverence to Xiao Yu, then stood before the caras, raising the trophy and honor certificate high, waving them again and again.
After the awards ceremony ca a grand banquet. All the scientists participated, with countless exquisite dishes and drinks served by robotic assistants for the Luka people to enjoy.
While the Luka people celebrated on a grand scale, Xiao Yu had quietly turned off the 3D holographic projector and withdrawn his attention. Within this star system, the ever-watchful surveillance satellites had just reported sothing to Xiao Yu.
At the edge of the barrier, so objects had suddenly appeared.
Preliminary observations indicated that these objects were just ordinary chunks of teorite, but that wasn’t the important part.
In Xiao Yu’s understanding, this four-dinsional barrier was supposed to completely isolate this star system from the outside universe, making any material exchange impossible.
However, the arrival of these ordinary teorite fragnts proved Xiao Yu wrong. He now had to find a new explanation to account for the arrival of these external materials.
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