Chapter 167: Some Speculations and the Safe Zone

This message, just like the last one, arrived without warning or known origin and vanished without a trace. It had simply appeared in Xiao Yu’s mind, automatically translated into a language he could understand, with no need for interpretation—exactly like the previous time.

But unlike before, when Xiao Yu was still relatively weak and almost entirely ignorant of the universe, things had changed. He now understood a number of truths about the wider cosmos.

For example, the Guardian Alliance would not tolerate the existence of Alien Beast Civilizations or Mechanical Civilizations. For example, he himself was already on the Guardians’ blacklist. And for example, after the Specter Race—transformed from his fellow Earthlings—rescued him, the Guardians, unable to track him down, vented their rage by destroying Tianyuan IV.

So, when Xiao Yu received this spatial broadcast, he wasn’t nearly as shocked as the last time. What first caught his attention were several differences between this broadcast and the previous one.

The most obvious difference was the range: the last spatial broadcast seemed to be confined to the Third Sector, but this one applied to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Also, the last message had been signed by the Guardian Alliance’s Third Sector Division, whereas this time, it came from the Guardian Alliance Headquarters.

Aside from those, there was another point that stood out—the sequence number.

The previous broadcast had been labeled as the 13,600th. This one, however, was the 13,643rd.

“Looks like, during that time… No, specifically during the six thousand-plus years I spent traveling with the Specter Race, the Guardian Alliance sent out another forty-two spatial broadcasts. Unfortunately, I’ll never know the contents of those missing ones.”

Those forty-two omitted broadcasts could only have occurred during that particular span of time. During all other periods, Xiao Yu had no reason to miss them.

Thinking of the Specter Race formed from the souls of his own kin, Xiao Yu sighed quietly.

“It seems this time is more serious than the last. Last time, the message was about the Sweepers increasing their activity in the Third Sector and the appearance of the Specter Race. But this time… an ‘information storm’? Sweeping across the Milky Way in thirty years? And its explosion source is the Andromeda Galaxy?”

The phrase information storm puzzled Xiao Yu. It was not unfamiliar—he had often heard it back during Earth’s age.

“On Earth, it was used to describe data overloads or media frenzies. But what does it mean here?” Xiao Yu pondered. “Since Guardian Alliance messages have automatic translation functionality, and the term was rendered as ‘information storm,’ then it must be appropriate in some way. The follow-up mentioned… the explosion source is in the Andromeda Galaxy? That’s 2.5 million light-years away. What kind of explosion could possibly reach the Milky Way from there?”

Xiao Yu was completely baffled. In his theoretical framework, he couldn’t think of any explosion powerful enough. Even hypernovae—supernovae so massive they directly form black holes—could devastate Earth from thousands of light-years away, but at 2.5 million light-years, they were reduced to mere blips of increased brightness and a few harmless gamma-ray bursts. No biological life millions of light-years away would be affected.

“Could there really be a radiation source more powerful than a hypernova? Neutron star collisions? Black hole collisions? But none of these seem to match the term ‘information storm.’ And even the collision of two supermassive black holes couldn’t release that kind of energy.”

Unease began to rise in Xiao Yu’s heart.

“Arriving in the Milky Way in thirty years… The galaxy is one hundred thousand light-years across. Even traveling at light speed, it would take one hundred thousand years to cross. Yet from the Guardians Milky Way broadcast, this information storm appears to be capable of affecting the entire galaxy almost instantaneously. Its propagation speed… who knows how many times faster than light it must be? The key question now is: just how dangerous is the information storm? Judging by the Guardian Alliance’s alarm, it must be extremely dangerous. So how do I survive it?”

Xiao Yu relayed the broadcast to the Luka scientists and asked, “Back when you were part of the Guardian Alliance, did you ever hear the term ‘information storm’?”

The lead Luka scientist was none other than Luka Three, who had once saved Xiao Yu. After the full revival of Luka society, Xiao Yu had rewarded it by ranking it just beneath Luka Two—a position of near-supreme authority in Luka society.

Luka Three shook its head in confusion. “I’ve never heard of that term. We don’t know what the information storm is. In fact, before becoming your vassals, the Luka Civilization had only been part of the Guardian Alliance for less than a thousand years. There are many things we still don’t understand.”

“Then… based on your experience within the Guardian Alliance, do you have any suggestions?” Xiao Yu asked.

On the other end of the communication, Xiao Yu saw the Luka scientists break into a heated discussion. After a while, Luka Three said, “Since joining the Guardian Alliance, over the course of a thousand years, they’ve conducted only about fifty spatial broadcasts—and most were region-specific, such as for the Third Sector. Full-galaxy broadcasts have occurred only once. That one was a warning about the discovery of a new Level 5 Extremely Dangerous Zone. So based on our experience, this latest broadcast must be equally serious. This information storm must be extremely dangerous. Our suggestion is: trust the Guardian Alliance this once—and flee immediately.”

Xiao Yu fell silent. After a moment, he said, “Flee? Flee where?”

He didn’t know what the information storm actually was, how it inflicted damage, or what areas it would affect. He didn’t know how to defend against it or where the safe zones might be. So even if he wanted to flee—where could he go?

The Luka scientists fell silent as well.

Xiao Yu sighed and asked, “You used to live in one of these so-called safe zones, right? What was it like?”

Luka Three gathered its thoughts and replied, “The safe zone was a fairly normal region. It still had stars, planets, and moons. Different civilizations lived on different planets.”

“Oh?” Xiao Yu asked, surprised. “So in that case, isn’t the safe zone just like any other region? What did the Guardian Alliance use to guarantee safety? Some kind of enormous energy shield covering several or even dozens of light-years?”

“I don’t know,” Luka Three shook its head. “We never knew what means the Guardian Alliance used to ensure safety within the zone. But there was one peculiar feature that set the safe zone apart from everywhere else. In the safe zone, none of the familiar stars or galaxies were visible. The one I lived in had only a few hundred stars. Beyond that, the sky was empty—utterly void of anything else.”

“The safe zone, huh…” Xiao Yu sighed. He felt like a lone man standing in an open field, rain about to fall, yet without even a scrap of shelter to hide beneath.

“All right. You go research other things for now. Leave the information storm to me,” Xiao Yu said, somewhat dispirited. Even his enthusiasm for studying the Grand Unified Theory had been dampened by this sudden and ominous news.

Luka Three hesitated, then said, “Please don’t import that message into your central computer—don’t run the program. The Guardian Alliance harbors deep hostility toward Mechanical Civilizations, especially you. If they catch you… you’ll be locked inside a computer, never able to escape.”

Xiao Yu gave Luka Three a surprised look. “Don’t worry. I’ll find a solution for the information storm.”

After respectfully bowing to Xiao Yu, Luka Three ended the connection.

Once it was cut off, Xiao Yu muttered to himself, “A solution? A solution? Even the Guardian Alliance treats this information storm as a dire threat. What capability do I have to solve it? Even Level 4 or Level 5 Civilizations might not be able to withstand it.”

“Thirty years. Just thirty years. If I can reach Level 4 Civilization by then, that would already be an achievement. Last time I was in danger, my kin sacrificed more than half their energy to save me. But this time? Can I still rely on them? And even if I could… How would I contact them? I can’t go to the Guardian Alliance, and I can’t find a solution—am I really facing a dead end?”

A heavy weight settled in Xiao Yu’s heart.

“I’ll wait a bit longer. I’ll stay here for a while and watch quietly to see if anything else changes. If ten years go by and I still have no leads, then I’ll leave—head to the depths of the universe. Maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll survive this disaster.”

“That’s the plan, then.” Xiao Yu murmured, forcing himself to refocus and return to analyzing the observational data.