SFS Chapter 133 Part 1 [Bonus Chapter for Donating to Menghe's Cat]
Chapter 133 Part 1 [Bonus Chapter for Donating to Menghe's Cat]
"So beautiful, they look like the tears of the Virgin Mary!"
Inside the Quantum of the Seas, the captain slowly spoke as he looked at the images transmitted from afar.
“Indeed, it looks…like a work of art,” one officer agreed.
The detector was about the size expected, 3.5 meters long. When everyone saw it, they almost simultaneously had the same impression:
A drop of mercury. The detector is perfectly shaped like a water droplet, with a rounded head and a pointed tail. Its surface is an extremely smooth, totally reflective mirror, reflecting the Milky Way in a flowing pattern of light, making the drop of mercury look simple and beautiful.
Its droplet shape is so lifelike that the technicians observing it sometimes really think it is liquid and that it could not possibly have an internal mechanical structure.
So a guess quickly emerged: this thing might not be a detector at all.
Further observations have, to some extent, confirmed this conjecture.
People first noticed that its surface had an extremely high gloss, making it a total internal reflection mirror. The fleet once used a large amount of monitoring equipment to conduct an experiment, irradiating all its surfaces with high-frequency electromagnetic waves of different wavelengths while measuring the reflectivity of the electromagnetic waves.
Surprisingly, it was found that its surface reflects almost 100% of high-frequency electromagnetic waves, including visible light, with no absorption observed.
This means it cannot perform any detection in the high-frequency band; in layman's terms, it is blind.
This self-blinding design must have an important meaning.
The most reasonable speculation is that it is a token sent from the Trisolaran world to the human world, using its non-functional design and beautiful form to express goodwill and a sincere desire for peace.
So people gave the detector a new name, figuratively calling it "water droplet".
In both worlds, water is the source of life and a symbol of peace.
The ten water droplets arrived in the solar system as scheduled. They lined up side by side and flew at a constant speed toward the three fleets.
"It's a little weird."
On the Northern Spaceship, Zhao Xin observed the ten Trisolaran probes that were gradually approaching them.
"What's so strange?" It was Li Wei from the Wan Nian Kunpeng who spoke.
Li Wei and Zhao Xin had known each other before they hibernated and were good friends. They later joined the Space Force and were in the same batch for the "Reinforce the Future Program".
Unlike the original storyline, their military ranks are now much higher. This is because of Lin Xuan's influence, which led to the hibernators and immortals being given important positions in the three fleets.
"This thing is actually a completely enclosed structure. Where is its engine nozzle?"
"You're asking me? How would I know? I'm not the leader of the Trisolarans." Li Wei was somewhat speechless, but after Zhao Xin's words, it also noticed that something seemed a little off about this thing.
"Wait a moment, let me take a look..." Zhao Xin said, bringing up the operating interface in front of him and beginning to observe the ten detectors that were gradually approaching them.
"Li Wei, something really seems wrong!" Zhao Xin's voice rose a few decibels.
"The spacing between these detectors is exactly the same!"
On the Wan Nian Kunpeng, when Li Wei heard Zhao Xin's words, he immediately understood what the other party meant.
The same spacing is actually quite common in a vacuum environment, since there is no air resistance in space, so it is not difficult to achieve this.
However, maintaining a relatively stationary motion while accelerating requires precise control over the thrust generated by the engine.
Obviously, these things have different initial velocities. If they really reached the solar system simply by relying on their initial velocity and the lack of resistance in space, the difficulty would be as difficult as throwing a dart from Earth to the Sun.
"Don't be too nervous, Zhao Xin. Maybe it's just your imagination. Look, even the engine nozzles of these things aren't working. Who knows, maybe the Trisolarans did this on purpose?"
"I think we still need to report this intelligence; perhaps we can make some new discoveries."
"Yes, it has been reported. Let's wait for the results."
……
Meanwhile, inside the Reach space station.
While everyone's attention was drawn to the water droplet, a transport ship silently sailed out of the dock and headed straight for Mercury.
The transport ship was filled with almost everyone from Lin Xuan's faction.
Wang Miao, Ding Yi, Wei Cheng, Zhang Xiang, Luo Congmin, Luo Ji, Bai Bing, Shi Xiaoming, Radiaz, and a group of staff members from the Red Coast Base and Reach Star, along with their families.
"I said, is it really necessary? We have to move all of us? Isn't Lin Xuan being a bit too paranoid?" Wang Miao leaned back on the sofa, playing with a sophon jammer in his hand.
More than four thousand of these things were installed on the transport ships. It can be said that they disappeared like a group of ghosts in the sight of both humans and the Trisolarans.
However, even without these shielding devices, in the current situation, no one has time to care about them.
"I don't know. This was arranged by Lin Xuan. I was just responsible for carrying it out," Luo Congmin said, shaking his head.
“I also think the price is too high. Putting aside everything else, just creating those clones to replace us cost Liu Chang a lot of embryo cultivation. But it’s good this way, at least our safety is indeed guaranteed.” Ding Yi picked up a cup of tea on the table and drank it by himself.
This was a backup plan that Lin Xuan had laid out a long time ago.
Everyone knows that there are three versions of clones. One version enhances brain computing power, forming the Thinker Array. Another version focuses on individual strength, forming a clone army. But no one has ever seen the third version of clones.
Liu Chang once mentioned this, saying that the third version of clones is more service-oriented, so they are very similar to normal people, almost a one-to-one replica of the original's DNA.
Lin Xuan raised a question at the time.
Can cloning be done without DNA?
Liu Chang's answer was yes.
Then Lin Xuan took a picture of Hatsune Miku and asked Liu Chang to clone it, and Liu Chang actually succeeded!
However, due to concerns about ethical issues, the third version of clones was never produced. Until Lin Xuan went into hibernation, she asked Liu Chang to produce a batch of clones that were one-to-one replicas of the originals, which were meant to evade the Trisolarans' surveillance and perfectly replace them.
The entire breeding process was carried out under the Sophon shield, so not only the Trisolarans, but even their own people were unaware of it.
They only saw the clone who looked exactly like them when they first boarded the transport ship.
Previously, when Shi Qiang asked Luo Congmin if there was any danger, she replied that she was safe. This was because Shi Qiang was going to carry out other missions with Liu Chang, so to be on the safe side, she couldn't even tell Shi Qiang, lest the news leak out.
Moreover, what Luo Congmin said was true. Going to Zhiyuan Star is dangerous, but that doesn't mean they are in danger, right?
……
At this moment, inside the underground city, everyone was looking up at the sky, watching the images broadcast back from the television. In space, it seemed as if thousands of suns had been ignited. The fleet was neatly arranged in ten square formations, advancing towards the probe like an overwhelming tide.
They are about to witness a historic moment: the first encounter between humanity and an extraterrestrial civilization!
Many journalists had already prepared their articles, waiting to send out the news as soon as the fleet recovered the Trisolaran probe.
"Is it really necessary to deploy nearly five thousand star-class warships just for ten Trisolaran probes?"
"It's like using over five thousand butcher knives to kill a chicken!"
"Everyone, you should understand Fleet International. You should know that this may be their only chance to fight Trisolaran World."
"Yeah, if this counts as combat, hahaha!"
"I'm really curious to see how the Trisolarans will react when they see so many fleets through their probes. They must be scared out of their wits!"
"Of course, I really don't know what those ships that fled were thinking."
"Probably the Steel Seal Clan, since they still firmly believe that humanity is doomed to defeat, hahaha!"
"A bunch of cowards. What a waste of that Navigator. They say it's amazing, with a complete ecosystem inside. Living in it is no less than staying in a five-star hotel!"
"Damn, just hearing about it makes me want to go too! Those stamped tribes are really awful!"
……
"Zhao Xin, your guess was right, those guys are not simple!"
"Within the communication frequency band," Li Wei suddenly said.
"What did you find?"
"I'm sending this to you via fleet communications. This data is being uploaded to headquarters at the same time."
Zhao Xin soon received a message from the Wan Nian Kunpeng, and when he opened it, he was stunned.
That was a computer ranging analysis result from the Wan Nian Kunpeng.
Ten detectors, spaced 1:1:1 apart...
This is a result that was already obtained.
However, even after image processing and magnification, their spacing remains 1:1:1.
Ten water droplets fly with a zero margin of error.
Magnified 100 million times...
Even when magnified 1000 million times, the difference between them is still 1:1:1.
At this moment, everyone felt a sense of suffocation, and an ominous premonition welled up in their hearts.
For some reason, they almost simultaneously thought of a phrase that Ding Yi often said.
"What does destroying you have to do with you?"
Just as everyone realized that something might be wrong with this thing...
Suddenly, one of the 10 relatively still water droplets abruptly increased in speed and headed straight for the fleet!