Chapter 268: Technological Advancement

Before accepting the enormous spoils of war, Lu Yuan first met Bianca outdoors.

"Dark Sun has been annihilated. From now on, you are free to film and interview," he told the Star Alliance embedded reporter.

"However, before the footage is sent back to Polaris TV, we will review it and modify or remove any sensitive military intelligence," Xian Yu added from beside him.

"Alright!"

Bianca, who was landing on Ruins Star for the first time, along with her cameraman, was still immersed in the shock brought by the surrounding scenery.

Gazing at the endless urban ruins, this space station resident truly felt the scale of human civilization during the golden age.

"I will definitely expose Mr. Sang's true face and return the truth to the citizens of New Hope!"

Under the players' control, the personnel access ramp of the "Big Squid" was lowered, along with the simple elevator previously installed by Dark Sun, to facilitate entry and exit.

Lu Yuan walked into the main control hall, surrounded by enthusiastic Sailor, Scholar, Pilot, and Engineer players, receiving a warm welcome from the First Battle Group.

"Today, the fleet and the air force fought very bravely," Lu Yuan's gaze swept over all the employees present.

"You have withstood the test; the sweat you put in earlier has all been realized on the battlefield."

"This is Cangyuan's first battle where firepower was at an absolute disadvantage. The enemy's fierce counterattack left scars on us, but I prefer to see them as an honor and a testament! Everything that doesn't kill us only makes us stronger!

"The First Battle Group also lived up to its mission; your final charge was worthy of all the brave souls who sacrificed today."

The players all stood at attention and saluted.

"For the revival of human civilization, we will not hesitate!"

Mr. Sang, with his hands cuffed behind his back, sat on the ground watching this scene, looking crestfallen, and lowered his head.

Now, he knew why he lost.

What he considered an obsession was not a "character flaw."

When everyone possesses this "obsession," this "character flaw," it takes on another name.

Faith!

Of course, the ability to defeat a strong enemy was partly due to mental resilience, but the players' lack of pain and ability to resurrect were also crucial.

Now, fallen players no longer needed to go to the player forum and wait 24 hours for the resurrection cooldown; they could immediately transfer their mental consciousness to any other paired hibernation pod and activate one of the remaining two bodies.

In other words, after the full promotion of the "Avatar" system, each player essentially had three lives.

This completely changed the gameplay.

In the future, if needed, for boarding and ground occupation missions, players could even bring all three hibernation pods at once, along with ample equipment.

If they accidentally died, they would resurrect on the battleship with full health and charge again.

After delivering his important victory speech, Lu Yuan, looking as composed as ever, walked up to Mr. Sang.

"Given the current situation between us, I can cordially say, 'It's a pleasure to see you.'"

It was more than just a pleasure; it was absolutely delightful.

The other party had delivered the biggest gift package since Cangyuan's restart!

Mr. Sang indicated that he couldn't say a single word. He, of course, remembered that just before the particle beam main cannon's first shot, he had comfortably held a glass of red wine and uttered similar words in a threatening tone.

Now, only half a day later, the boomerang had flown back, and the other party acted with even more grace and composure, which was the ultimate insult.

The Executive Officer, as expected, held grudges!

Lu Yuan glanced at Mr. Sang.

At this moment, this fellow probably didn't know that after his capture, besides becoming an important source of intelligence, he would also become a key to unlocking "change" for New Hope.

He summoned his capable subordinate, Caoyuan.

"Call the reporter lady and take this guy to identify the evidence of his crimes."

"Alright! We've already learned that there are still some defenders and pirate fighters undergoing repairs at Dark Sun's headquarters, as well as some previously plundered goods, and many stolen cargo ships parked nearby. These will all be excellent human and material evidence!"

"Hmm, then I'll trouble you all."

Caoyuan waved his hand.

"Brothers! Today's battle isn't over yet. Let's finish the last ground dungeon, the Dark Sun Headquarters building, shall we?!"

"Hoo-ah!!"

A single call brought a hundred responses.

"I've already taken leave; I'm not going offline today!"

"That's what I've been waiting for! You have to finish what you start!"

After the First Battle Group and the voluntarily assisting Pilots left, the spoils of war reception officially began.

"Not simple, this guy is not simple!" Jubian looked up at the main control hall, full of admiration.

"The design concept of this walking mech is very different from our human war machines. This place wasn't originally a cockpit, but a 'chest cavity' that gathered many important organ-like devices!"

He pointed to the eight hemispherical protrusions surrounding the hall,

"If I'm not mistaken, these should be the reactors! Below the platform, the biomimetic muscle fibers around are used to pull the legs for walking, and the equipment in the middle should be various Zero Element Furnaces, including kinetic shields."

Without human occupants, the radiation shielding design can be much more relaxed, allowing the reactors to be placed in the same cavity as other equipment nearby, facilitating daily maintenance by the drone swarm.

"Then this reactor, its size is truly enormous."

A Sailor player specializing in power systems exclaimed.

The hemispherical protrusions were 30 meters in diameter; if they were reactor chambers inside, their volume would be 30 times that of the "Qinling" class.

"Hmph, you're right!" Jubian turned to him, revealing a rather maniacal smile.

"I have a strong premonition that the reactors here are not just big; simply increasing the volume of the reaction chamber is not enough to provide sufficient power for the particle beam main cannon; that thing is a true power hog!

"I think these reactors should be able to elevate our technology by one level, from Level 8 to Level 7, or even higher!"

That is truly exciting... What principle is applied, after all?

Lu Yuan knew very well that the method of energy generation largely determined the upper limit of a civilization's strength.

This was also the bottleneck Cangyuan most urgently needed to break through.

It was time to summon the Mage for research!

"What about the Big Squid's tail?" Lu Yuan asked curiously.

From its appearance, the tail alone accounted for two-thirds of the "Big Squid's" total volume.

"It might contain fuel tanks and radar communication devices, but most of it should be occupied by the main cannon."

"Isn't the main cannon just a single acceleration track on the central axis?"

"No, sir," Jubian smiled.

According to real-world technology, it might only be designed this way, but this was a creation of the golden age.

"If there's only one track on the central axis, with a total length not exceeding one kilometer, it would be difficult to accelerate heavy particles to near light speed. The main cannon's structure should be very complex."

"Specifically, let's ask the captured pirates, although I don't think they understand too much about physics, at least they can help us find the blueprints."

A moment later, Lu Yuan learned from the prisoners of war that most of this giant war mech's permissions were locked, preventing the full blueprint from being retrieved, only allowing a general diagram lacking details to be viewed.

However, from the general diagram, the main cannon's structure could still be discerned.

Jubian's intuition was very accurate.

Eight particle acceleration tracks coiled into an extremely complex spiral shape within the "Big Squid's" tail, intertwined with densely packed, sac-like superconducting capacitors, converging only at the very end into the machine's central axis, where they performed the final acceleration of the mercury ion beam, which then ejected from the tail tip.

Various main cannon components filled the internal space to the brim, with extremely high packing density, and the layout appeared chaotic at first glance.

Furthermore, due to the limitations of the right-hand and left-hand electromagnetic rules, there was not a single symmetrical spot anywhere on these internal structures, reminiscent of the wildly twisted stellarators in reality, but with an even more complex layout and a scale thousands of times larger.

This was undoubtedly another masterpiece of AI, as it completely defied human brain engineering drawing and modeling habits.

The more Lu Yuan admired this blueprint, the more he felt that this "Big Squid" seemed to be more than just AI-assisted design.

Is there a possibility that it is the masterpiece of some silicon-based alien civilization?

Is there a possibility that it was a Soldier in the army of the "great enemy" who brought humanity down from its pedestal back then?

"Who is the highest-ranking person here?" Lu Yuan turned to look at the pirates squatting on the ground.

Numerous gazes converged on one point, and the person being stared at shakily raised his hand.

"It's me, sir—I'm the Dark Sun's leader, but—the Executive Leader, the real boss is Mr. Sang."

"Don't be nervous." Lu Yuan walked over and patted the leader's shoulder hard, causing the other party's legs to go weak, almost making him squat back down.

"I ask you, how did you first capture this war mech? Don't tell me it was by strength."

"Of course not, sir," the leader said in a deep voice, "Fifteen years ago, Mr. Sang brought me and bought the coordinates of this planet, along with a complete set of equipment, from a mysterious person on Paradise Island.

"As long as you use that equipment to transmit a code, the war mech will enter standby mode. Then, after entering the main control room and inserting the key, you can obtain some operating permissions, including for the main cannon."