If Lu Zhou’s speculation was correct, Xiao Ai was probably the intelligent navigation AI on the escape spacecraft.

After Reinhardt died, everything around him began to disappear. The world fragmented into pale blue particles, scattering away like butterflies.

When Lu Zhou came back to his senses, he was standing in a white space, in front of the man called The Observer.

Lu Zhou gulped and spoke in an uncertain tone.

“… So the Calanian Empire was destroyed?”

“The destruction of the empire was a long process…” The Observer nodded and said, “The Oracle caused disagreements, and the disagreements led to civil wars. The civil wars created battles within the Empire, but nothing was resolved. The battle shifted into biological warfare with a virus that spread along the brain neural network, which was far more terrifying than any weapon. They took centuries to get rid of their weapons, yet it only took five years to rearm themselves again.

“The main battle ended, but smaller battles still continued. In order to maintain the growing demand for supplies around the world, they had to use warships to escort the cargo ships. Over the next hundred and fifty years, the Ring world gradually lost control of nearby stars. The internal conflict made the Ring world no longer stable.

“If you’re interested in this period of history, you can continue to calculate the memory. Star from the 5.67 trillionth digit of n and end at 157.5 trillion digits. It records the next hundred and fifty years of Empire history.

“To be honest, collecting these precious data wasn’t easy. It was difficult for us to bring them to the new universe. When our conversation is finished, I suggest you save this number and continue the calculations, maybe it will give your civilization some enlightenment.”

Lu Zhou nodded and took a deep breath.

“Give it to me straightforwardly, what do you need me to do?”

The Observer smiled.

“You need to do a research project.”

“… A research project?”

“Yes.” The Observer nodded and said, “The universe is like a huge fishing net, only a few lucky people can escape from this net. Before we went into the void, we observed many civilizations in the old universe. Without mastering faster than light travel, they were able to travel outside of their solar system using slower methods. However, most of these civilizations did not survive for a long time.

“Therefore, we believe that mastering the mystery of faster than light travel is the first element of transforming a planetary civilization to star system civilization.”

Lu Zhou: “… So you want me to find a way to exceed the speed of light?”

The Observer smiled and shook his head.

“A way to go beyond the speed of light? That is too difficult for you now. However, any great technology needs to start with a theoretical foundation, right? I’m sure you noticed something from the Calanian Empire. For example, how their spacecraft was able to travel between stars.”

Lu Zhou nodded without saying anything.

In fact, the Calan civilization wasn’t the only one that inspired him in regard to faster than light travel. He had some ideas in his mind ever since he discovered the Z particle.

The key to faster than light travel should be in the hyperspace.

However, so far, everything about hyperspace theory was just conjecture; it was still one of the least reliable conjectures made by Einstein.

The Observer looked at Lu Zhou and smiled.

“I can give you some information. In this young galaxy, Earth is not the only sentient species. But you guys are still at the upper echelon. Although there is not much time left, according to our calculations, it should be enough.”

Upper echelon civilization?

Even though Lu Zhou didn’t know what this meant, his intuition told him that there was a group of creatures in the Void that liked to “help the poor”. Perhaps the universe was more crowded than he had imagined.

Perhaps Earth would make contact with another civilization within the next 200 years.

However, Lu Zhou wondered what that had to do with himself?

In 200 years, he would be long gone.

The Observer looked at Lu Zhou, who was lost in deep thought, and spoke.

“Of course, in addition to faster than light theory, we hope you can retrieve something for us… Or rather, retrieve something for yourself.”

Lu Zhou: “… What thing?”

The Observer: “It’s a gift. It was supposed to be delivered to you. But it was taken by a group of beings that lived on Mars billions of years ago. We were surprised to see this deviation from our plan, but fortunately, that civilization made the only correct choice in their existence and kept our gift.”

Creatures on Mars?

When Lu Zhou heard this, his eyes were wide open.

He thought of the Martian bacteria they discovered a while ago, as well as a paper he once read about the possibility of a magnetic field and standard atmospheric environment on Mars 3.9 billion years ago. It seemed like it wasn’t impossible for Mars to have once been populated by sentient beings.

However, even if that civilization existed a long time ago, surely everything from that era would have disappeared.

“Aren’t you curious about what the gift is?”

“… Actually, I’m more curious about the civilization that once lived on Mars.”

“I understand, but unfortunately, that information is not included in the memory.”

Well, that’s unfortunate.

Lu Zhou sighed and spoke.

“Okay then… What gift is it?”

The Observer smiled and said, “That’s up to you to find out.”

Lu Zhou: “???”

The man looked at Lu Zhou and said, “Please forgive me, we devoted a lot of effort into sending it to the new universe and into the designated galaxy. We cannot accurately predict where it will appear. I cannot help you locate it. But I remember giving you a Mars rover? And you still haven’t found it?”

Lu Zhou: “… But that’s a whole planet! You want me to find it using a car?”

The rover had scanned a lot of precious information regarding the Mars landscape and the distribution of mineral deposits, but it had never found any traces of civilization.

Because the civilization disappeared 3.9 billion years ago!

Even the oldest dinosaur fossil was only 228 million years old!

Lu Zhou began to doubt if this “gift” even existed anymore.

However, The Observer didn’t seem to care about Lu Zhou’s complaint. He looked at him and smiled warmly.

“It’s almost time. Maybe I should say goodbye.”

Lu Zhou: “Wait a second, one last question… How many people on Earth have you seen?”

The Observer smiled.

“I’ve seen everyone, but none of them have seen me.

“In terms of indirect communication, around ten times. As for direct communication… The most recent one was probably a century ago. The next time might be a century later, or maybe never. This depends on whether human beings can leave their home planet.

“Okay, I have answered your last question. All of the answers to your questions are contained in this memory. Also, I have to admit, this is the most enjoyable conversation I’ve had with a human.

“I have high expectations of you. Maybe we will speak face to face one day.

“Although we don’t have the emotion of curiosity, the future is exciting.

“Goodbye, human of civilization A-01722, maybe we will meet again…”

The human figure slowly merged into the white background, disappearing from Lu Zhou’s sight…

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