This ti, Xiao Yu’s target was a red dwarf star. Its mass was roughly one quarter that of the Sun. The lower surface temperature caused it to emit red light, while also granting it an extraordinarily long lifespan. With such mass, its lifespan would be at least one hundred billion years. And at present, it had only passed about 8 billion years of its existence.
The age of the universe itself had only just surpassed 13 billion years.
From the perspective of life as it evolved on Earth, this target planet happened to lie within the habitable zone of the red dwarf, about seven million kiloters from its primary star. That distance ant the temperature would likely be neither too high nor too low, and liquid water might very well exist there. Additionally, it possessed an atmosphere and its own magnetic field. An atmosphere and magnetic field ant it could effectively resist impacts from asteroids and all manner of radiation, protecting any life that might dwell on its surface.
This was a planet full of promise. In fact, among the more than five hundred star systems he had already examined, this planet was by far the most favorable candidate.
At this mont, Xiao Yu was about 1.7 light-years away from this system. At his current velocity, it would take only about two and a half months to reach it.
The closer he drew to the star, the more detail he could observe. So throughout the gradual approach, Xiao Yu was constantly greeted with fresh surprises.
“It… it actually has a moon? This moon is enormously significant. It ans the planet has yet another layer of protection, and if it does have liquid water, the moon would create tides… Furthermore, the moon’s gravity would also have a beneficial effect on geological activity. This moon alone raises the likelihood of life existing by five percent.”
“Hm? This star has an Oort cloud? So many cots… with abundant water content. That ans, during the planet’s formative period, countless icy cots likely struck it, making the existence of liquid water even more probable.”
One piece of good news after another drove Xiao Yu’s anticipation to new heights. As he imrsed himself in ticulous observation, the two and a half months passed in the blink of an eye. Xiao Yu had already arrived within seven billion kiloters of the red dwarf, shifting to sub-light-speed navigation.
Through the tachyon detection instrunts, Xiao Yu discovered that the mont he dropped out of faster-than-light flight, the Level 4 Alien Beast also exited curvature flight, still tailing him, never leaving his wake.
“This persistent wraith of a creature,” Xiao Yu silently cursed. Now that he was no longer in superluminal flight, standard faster-than-light broadcast communications could be used. So he simply sent a ssage over. “You’ve been chasing for nearly seven hundred light-years. Aren’t you tired yet?”
What ca back was a reply laden with icy nace. “Whether it’s seven hundred light-years, seven thousand, or even seventy thousand light-years, between you and , there will be no end but death.”
“Unreasonable beast,” Xiao Yu snapped. “Stop hiding. You can’t escape my detection anyway. No end but death? You’re not quite qualified. I am constantly prepared for battle. I refuse to believe you can ever gain the upper hand against .”
As things stood, as long as Xiao Yu remained vigilant and avoided being ambushed, the Level 4 Alien Beast truly couldn’t do much to him.
“One day, I will find my chance, and I will kill you,” the Level 4 Alien Beast said coldly.
Xiao Yu simply ignored it. Let it follow if it wished. He would just treat it as a troubleso tail that refused to fall off.
At sub-light speed which was about 170,000 kiloters per second ant it would take less than thirty hours to cross the seven billion kiloters to his target. Counting acceleration and deceleration, Xiao Yu would arrive within two days.
Because the star’s light was so dim, even from a distance of just seven billion kiloters, it still appeared extrely faint and failed to look any different from other stars. In contrast, if it were the Sun, it would still shine with the brightness of a full moon at that distance.
The difference between the two was plain to see.
But this was changing rapidly. As the distance closed, the brightness of the star increased quickly, rising from the brightness of Venus as seen from Earth to the brightness of the Moon, and then gradually increasing further… until it was only a little dimr than the Sun.
Here, seven million kiloters away, was the orbit of that planet.
At this mont, Xiao Yu was hovering forty thousand kiloters above the planet, gazing from afar at this world that looked like a delicate work of art.
Above Xiao Yu hung a round moon radiating a gentle glow. Below stretched a planet bathed in a pale red hue. Within that red tint were other colors, pinks and blues.
Xiao Yu understood that those pale red regions were all liquid water. The oceans on Earth appeared blue because of the Sun’s spectrum, but the spectrum of this red dwarf was different, so naturally, the color of the planet’s oceans was different as well.
Besides that, Xiao Yu knew those pink areas must be the planet’s vegetation. Indeed, the plants here were not green but pink. This too was due to the star’s spectrum. Because pink pignt could absorb the most energy from this star, by evolutionary logic, they had necessarily developed that coloration.
As for the other colors, he didn’t yet know what they were, perhaps cloud formations in the atmosphere, perhaps sothing else. More investigation would be needed to find out.
At this mont, Xiao Yu felt both excited and disappointed. Excited because he had finally discovered a life-bearing planet. Disappointed because he knew that while the world held life, the likelihood of intelligent life was low, or more precisely, the likelihood of intelligent life with any technological developnt was low.
That was because he had not detected any artificial objects in orbit around the planet. The creation of satellites orbiting a planet was the hallmark of an early Level 2 Civilization. It ant a civilization’s perspective had finally extended from the planetary surface into space.
“No sign of that, then so be it.” Xiao Yu sighed. “As long as there are intelligent lifeforms, it’s enough, even if they’re only in a primitive stage. If I take such creatures under my care, with genetic modification and species optimization, in three hundred years I can elevate them to intelligence not inferior to humanity’s. In about a thousand years, they could begin contributing to my technological progress.”
From Xiao Yu’s current perspective, the level of intelligence that humanity possessed no longer impressed him. Because technological developnt would in turn enhance the inherent qualities of intelligent species. For example, genetic science could eliminate all diseases and dramatically extend their lifespans, while species optimization could enlarge their brains, giving them faster reaction tis, calculation abilities, and thought processes.
So the higher a civilization’s level, the more intelligent its lifeforms, this was almost universally true.
With a blend of anticipation and apprehension, Xiao Yu dispatched a formation of Town-Class ships to approach the planet.
Passing through the atmosphere, the first sight to et Xiao Yu’s eyes was an endless pale red ocean. Instrunt readings showed the air was very humid, the temperature was quite comfortable, and the oxygen content was no lower than Earth’s. If he still had a body and exposed it to such an environnt, he would undoubtedly have felt perfectly at ease.
A gentle breeze rippled the red waves of the sea. Overhead, a red sun hung in the sky. Everything appeared tranquil and serene.
But Xiao Yu found none of what he had hoped for. Across the ocean’s surface, he did not even see a single dugout canoe.
And a dugout canoe, after all, was a technology even Earth’s primitive humans had mastered.
“Perhaps it’s simply that this area is too far from any land,” Xiao Yu murmured to himself. Even now, he was unwilling to abandon hope. Under his control, the three hundred ships in the Town-Class formation scattered, each flying toward a different location.
One ship reached the top of a mountain. Under the light of the red dwarf, the accumulated snow even appeared tinted with pale red, looking quite beautiful. Another ship arrived above a forest. As he surveyed the varied heights of the pink vegetation, Xiao Yu began to feel a sense of calm.
A third ship ca to a grassland, and among those similarly pink plants, Xiao Yu spotted the first animal he had seen on this world.
It was unmistakably an herbivore. Evolution had given it flat teeth well-suited to grinding plants and sensory organs positioned at the front of its head, enabling it to survive comfortably on the prairie. But at the sa ti, it was clearly not an intelligent lifeform.
The ability to use tools was the most important indicator distinguishing intelligent creatures from ordinary animals. On this beast, Xiao Yu saw no limbs capable of manipulating tools.
Its shape was sowhat similar to an antelope from Earth, though it was obviously much more robust. Xiao Yu knew this was due to the planet’s gravity. The gravity here was greater than Earth’s, and to withstand that pull, the animals needed stronger bodies.
Nearby, another creature was silently creeping closer. The grazing herbivore did not sense the danger approaching. It continued feeding quietly. Then, the obviously carnivorous animal suddenly leapt forward, slamming it to the ground…
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