Chapter 449: The Two-Dimensional Foil Arrives as Scheduled_1

The Betelgeuse Corps' pursuit also began, but their pressure was much less than that of Cao Yang, as the escaping enemy was sparse though scattered.

After this victory, Jiang Yu declared the start of improving the living conditions of the citizens of Blue Maiden Star and exiting the wartime state within ten years.

For over a decade, life on Blue Maiden Star had been extremely difficult, and the collective distribution system that was adopted led to rampant bureaucracy in recent years, causing many to doubt whether the protracted warfare of Blue Maiden Star was correct at all.

Since the foundation for victory had already been laid, there was no need to continue to push everyone so hard.

However, the war was expected to last a long time, with pursuit operations extending for light-years around, turning the whole area into a battlefield.

...

Shelter 78th Year, Solar System.

The Solar System Federation's pre-warning system detected an unidentified flying object passing swiftly at nearly the speed of light on the outer side of the Oort Cloud, getting as close as 1.3 light-years from the Sun at its closest approach.

The object was enormous, and the radiation sparked by its collisions with the sparse atoms and dust in space while traveling at light speed was extremely intense.

The pre-warning system also detected that the object had made a slight course correction in mid-flight to avoid a small cloud of interstellar dust ahead, then realigned to its original trajectory.

It could almost certainly be identified as an intelligent spacecraft.

The Federal Government did not publicize this finding, and in the sheltered world, no more than a thousand people were aware of it.

During the days when the alien spaceship approached the Solar System, these people lived in extreme tension and fear.

In the office of the President of the Federation, people held their breath and focused on the movements of the alien spaceship, like a group of fish trembling under water, listening to the fishing boats passing overhead.

Later, the situation even evolved to the point where the informed individuals would walk softly and speak in hushed tones.

As the alien spacecraft gradually moved out of sight in the observation field, people were unable to breathe a sigh of relief because the pre-warning system had made another worrying discovery: the alien ship had launched something towards the Solar System.

This object was sent towards the Sun at the speed of light, but it was completely invisible in all electromagnetic wavebands; it was discovered through gravitational waves.

Soon, it was confirmed that this was not a photon, because the object did not produce collision radiation during its high-speed transit.

It was as if something was flying right towards you, but nothing was visible before your eyes.

While the Solar System Federation was anxiously uneasy, new observation data indicated that, according to the trajectory of the object, it would pass by the Solar System from the outside of Mars Orbit.

If its target was the Sun, this was a significant error.

Moreover, after tracking and observation, the object did not make any orbital adjustments, suggesting that its target was not the Sun, which provided some measure of comfort.

Latter it was found that within a few days, its speed had drastically decreased from the speed of light to one-thousandth of the speed of light, and it was still slowing down.

Such a low speed would not pose a threat to the Sun, which was another comforting revelation.

At this point, the Solar System Federation finally breathed a sigh of relief and, during a meeting, many senior council members were even making light of the recent alert from the Solar System State.

A tall, thin council member with a small mustache said, "Not too long ago, the Solar System State told us to be ready to flee the Solar System at any moment. I really thought the Dark Forest Strike had arrived!"

"Who can say otherwise," laughed another council member, "I didn't expect the Solar System State to slip up, seems like their detection system isn't that great after all!

"We've all confirmed it's not just photons, yet they remain in a state of high tension!"

The middle-aged council member continued, "If it were just photons, we who live in the shelter world might withstand a Dark Forest Strike, but the colonies of the Solar System State would be in dire straits!

"Most of their Space Cities lack the ability to maneuver, and the Lu Ji Colony is even more vulnerable. Heh, they won't have time to cry when it happens."

According to the intelligence we've received, since Shelter 50th Year, the Solar System State has been massively undertaking interstellar migration!" The president interrupted the conversation between the two council members:

"It's possible that those exposed Space Cities and colonies have long been ghost towns."

The president, a young and beautiful woman, sat beneath a large emblem of the Solar System Federation made up of the sun and olive branches, saying, "This is a time to be united in earnest, to refrain from making flippant remarks!

"If the Solar System State seeks our aid in the future, we must also lend a hand, fulfilling our duty as compatriots."

The first council member to bring up the topic said, "We can help them, but they must compensate us with ten thousand curvature engines, so that we can also have the capability for massive interstellar migration in a short period!

"They often boast about defeating some enemy in an alien star system, achieving some battle results!

"I don't believe it. How could extraterrestrial civilizations be so easy to provoke? I want to expose their lies!"

A young male council member followed up, saying, "Secret research into curvature engine technology is already a betrayal of the Supreme Council, of the Federal Government. Are we still going to undertake large-scale interstellar migration?"

Another council member then posed a long unresolved question, "If we really do migrate, who gets to be among the first batch of migrants?

"A Dark Forest Strike may not destroy the Federal Government, but interstellar migration could easily cause the collapse of the federation!"

The middle-aged council member said coldly, "Not a bit of spirit of sacrifice. Those troublemakers living under autocratic rule in the Solar System State manage to let some people leave first.

"The free people living under the flag of freedom and democracy, however, lack such awareness. How ludicrous!"

"Enough!" The president, getting a headache from the noise, said, "The content of today's meeting is to discuss strengthening economic vitality and allocating special funds to form a research team to investigate the projectile heading toward the Solar System."

When it came to money, everyone immediately declared they had none.

When it came to economic vitality, everyone unanimously called for tax reductions or using financial power to plunder the wealth of the Solar System State.

The president let out a long sigh. Every person seated was either the chairman of a renowned company in the federation or a board member; if they claimed to have no money, then no one in the world did.

As for plundering the Solar System State, that was even more out of the question. The Solar System Federation had waged several financial wars with the Solar System State over the years, rarely gaining an advantage.

Instead, it had caused many small and medium businesses in the Solar System Federation to go bankrupt. At such times, the companies of those present would acquire many assets at low prices.

The more the nation fought, the poorer it got, while they got richer from the struggle.

The president knew very well that it was an issue with the system, but she was helpless, as she too came from a financial conglomerate and couldn't oppose her own family and herself.

...

After a period of negotiation, the Solar System Federation finally established a research team to study the unidentified projectile.

The president also commanded two military vessels to join the research group. "Revelation" and "Alaska", upon receiving orders, formed a fleet and departed from the Neptune City Cluster to investigate the unidentified projectile.