"This is the main point I want to discuss." Chu Yanâs expression turned slightly grim. "According to the logs Grace reviewed, this Dark Matter message was captured at 0 minutes and 1 second on Apocalypse Day. However, Grace discovered during decoding that the message, decoded through gravitational waves, was recorded in the previous second."
"Previous second? What do you mean, Apocalypse Day at 0 minutes and 0 seconds?" Wu Junping lifted his glasses with a face full of confusion.
"Do you mean..."
At this moment, Chief Yang furrowed his brows, raised his hand to point at the clock above the command center hall, and asked Chu Yan.
"The current, previous second?"
Chu Yan nodded.
Silence.
At this moment, dozens of engineers fell silent as the sound of gasping filled the room.
Chief Yang was astonished: "So, the message cannot be extracted?"
"It seems so for now."
"Whatâs going on? Mechanical failure?" an engineer exclaimed.
"Unlikely." Wu Junping immediately shook his head. "Grace, a high-level Intelligent Brain, comes equipped with a light clock system for time calibration, with a margin of error not exceeding one second in 300 years. This issue is likely not just about storage time..."
"Could the Southern Heavenly Gate platform also be experiencing a time dilation effect like the Star Abyss?"
"Itâs possible, but time dilation shouldnât create such a loop." Chief Yang thought deeply and then looked at Chu Yan, saying, "The only solution now is to use the PandaX-4T Liquid Xenon Detector to re-decode the Dark Matter message."
Chu Yan sighed, "Grace just suggested that earlier."
Yang Xu immediately said, "Could it be..."
"Yes, the Dark Matter message was also sent in the previous second," Chu Yan said solemnly.
Gasp...
In an instant, the air in the command center became extremely eerie, and everyone felt a chill down their spine.
"Time loop?" someone exclaimed.
"Strange, how could this happen?"
Yang Xu looked serious: "Colleagues, letâs not panic. About this issue..."
At this moment, he paused, and suddenly noticed someone in the crowd raising a hand high.
"Liu Shijie, any suggestions?"
Liu Shijie, a seemingly young man in his thirties wearing large black-rimmed glasses, was called out by Yang Xu. He was nervous with a pale face, swallowed hard twice, and cautiously said,
"I wonder if this message is caught in an âobservatory paradoxâ of being unobservable."
"What do you mean?" Yang Xu asked him.
"I... I mean, if we donât transmit information, could we directly receive the result of the message?"
Yang Xuâs eyes narrowed: "Go on."
Liu Shijie slowly stood up: "For example, the famous double-slit experiment in quantum mechanics, the final result depends on whether itâs observed. When not observed, particles are in a quantum superposition state, and observation causes wavefunction collapse, forcing particles to âchooseâ a path, losing wave-like properties. I was thinking that maybe this Dark Matter message is similar..."
"Thatâs one interpretation," Wu Junping said. "But the problem is, the decoded message exists within storage media. If even the Intelligent Brain canât observe it, how can we?"
"Thatâs what Iâm saying..."
Liu Shijie, drenched in sweat, walked over, picked up a notebook on the desk, and began drawing.
"Neither we nor Grace can observe because the message exists within storage media, but the media canât be read. It always exists in the previous second. Graceâs processing speed is fast, but she canât read previous second data unless our processing mechanism is slower than time itself; then maybe we could..."
"For example, the Southern Heavenly Gate space station has 12 solar panel arrays with a total of 14,976 movable panels. Using servo motors for angle and flipping adjustments, the motors have a fail-safe mechanism, allowing over 2 seconds for surface parameter calibration if the panels exceed 180 degrees. If we prepare a program to compile the message into binary code and apply it to the solar panel control center for observation calculations, then as long as the message exists, we can control the solar panels to flip, allowing us to use the delay to view the message..."
He elaborated extensively, yet Chu Yan, a layperson, didnât understand at all, while Chief Yang and Wu Junpingâs expressions immediately changed.
"Do you mean..."
"Using the Southern Heavenly Gateâs solar panels as a display screen?" Wu Junping replied in surprise.
"Could it work?"
"Donât know..."
"Chief Yang," Chu Yan looked at the serious-faced Yang Xu at this time.
Yang Xu replied, "Theoretically, it could work, but weâre completely unfamiliar with such time collapse phenomena."
"Then letâs decode it."
Chu Yan nodded, "Iâll immediately communicate with Professor Ye and Lin Xian over there."
Immediately, the entire Star Gazing team exploded into action, Wu Junping and Liu Shijie began working, preparing operational logic and command steps and then handed them to Chu Yan.
...
"What? The previous second?"
Within the Black Star Forge Consciousness Space, Lin Xian heard Chu Yanâs voice, and his expression was greatly shocked: "So this message could be related to the Dark Civilization?"
"Thatâs what we believe." Chu Yanâs voice came.
"So, now proceeding to decode it?"
"Yes."
Lin Xian exited the Consciousness Space, at this moment, the Elite Squad was atop the Infinity. They were surprised by what Lin Xian said.
"How sure are we that itâs information about the Dark Civilization?" Ning Jing asked.
"Because itâs sent at 0 minutes and 1 second on Apocalypse Day. But itâs not entirely certain." KIKI crossed her arms, looking at the sky, "However, using the solar panel scheme is quite ingenious."
"Was information received on our deep-space platform on Apocalypse Day?" Qian Deli asked curiously.
Ding Junyi, Xiao Yuan, Monica, Da Lou, Brother Huo, and Lu Xingchen were also filled with curiosity.
Chen Sixuan looked at the night sky and asked Lin Xian, "How long would it take them?"
"Soon, it wonât take much time." Lin Xian said solemnly, then called Viola.
"Viola!"
[Here I am.]
At this time, Viola flew over from afar. Lin Xian took out a large celestial telescope and said to her, "Capture the position of the Southern Heavenly Gate and observe the solar panelâs flipping situation; project the real-time image to us."
[Okay.]
Meanwhile, at the Heavenly Calming Ship command center, Ye Lan led the high-ranking members of the Phoenix Society there, and Chu Yan was giving instructions to Grace.
Grace quickly finished entering the instruction code links.
[Compiled successfully, translated into text through binary code, the information will be cycled on the solar panel. Confirm whether to connect to the black box.]
"Deep-space monitoring station is calibrated, waiting for information entry."
"Radio observatory is calibrated."
"Current Southern Heavenly Gate near-earth defense platform solar panel angle is 35 degrees, set to 0 baseline."
Chu Yan turned her gaze to the high-ranking members of the Phoenix Society and Star Gazing team, closing her eyes slowly.
[Grace, connect it.]
[Grace understands.]
Above the deep space, Grace pressed the start button, in almost an instant, the message captured from the black box transformed into operating instructions for the solar panel motor control.
In a flash, the vast solar panel arrays on the Southern Heavenly Gate quietly rotated in the unmanned deep space, each solar panel starting to turn.
At this moment, the Southern Heavenly Gateâs solar panels seemed like an old mechanical display screen, countless sunlit panels began to rotate towards Blue Star.
At this moment, the Phoenix Society on the Heavenly Calming Ship and people at the Infinity docked at Yongcheng Port were all staring intensely at the defense platform in the vast deep space.
seconds later, tens of thousands of solar panels completed the flip and converged into four words in all observation windows.
Four words that made everyoneâs hair stand on end.
[Do Not Resist]!