Chapter 489: Venus' Core and Crust_1

The high-level officials of the Solar System State had begun another series of intensive meetings.

At the first meeting, Jiang Yu laid out his demands for the future development of humanity, and then reminded everyone, "Those present should all have read the Strategic Department's analysis and summary of new technologies.

"In the next half-century, humanity will usher in a new technological revolution centered on the technology of converting matter into energy, with auxiliary technologies and fields related to the conversion of dark matter and antimatter into energy.

"We all know that this marks a great leap forward for humanity: the energy release efficiency of a matter flow engine is dozens of times that of a nuclear engine, and in the future, engines with hundreds or even thousands of times that efficiency may emerge.

"However, at the same time, this era's arrival also signifies that humanity will no longer be able to directly harness energy from the universe, and instead, we must rely on complex collection and processing methods to obtain antimatter and dark matter.

"If the path to obtaining energy is severely damaged, we might face the same predicament as the Black Cuboid People.

"I call this the 'Aerial Loft' effect. In this and future meetings, our first order of business should be to devise a strategy to prevent such a scenario from befalling humanity."

After the opening remarks, the meeting officially moved into the discussion phase.

This was a brand-new problem for humanity, not something that could be resolved in a moment; naturally, the first meeting yielded no results, but it did clarify our direction of thought.

Starting with the second meeting, various suggestions began pouring in.

Some believed that even if nuclear engine technology were to be phased out, the related theoretical knowledge, as well as the knowledge of technology and production, should continue to be taught in schools.

After all, the method of obtaining energy with nuclear engines is incredibly convenient; hydrogen and helium atoms are everywhere in the universe, and with simple processing, they can become fuel for nuclear engines.

If humanity were to suffer a great blow, returning to the era of nuclear engines would still provide sufficient space for survival.

If the Black Cuboid People had retained technology on the level of nuclear engines, they would have certainly been the masters of the Solar System.

Alas, following the Academy of Sciences' research on the crust of Venus, it could almost be concluded that the Black Cuboid People's urgent arrival in the Solar System to attack Venus was because Venus's core was a vast source of energy for them.

As a lifeform of the first epoch, like Venus, his entire body was a treasure trove; the armor that Venus used to block the Monster Cannon was the hardest alloy yet discovered in the three-dimensional world.

After many years of research, the Academy of Sciences has basically understood why these armors possess such high hardness.

Because the atoms comprising these armors are "dead," to put it exactly, somehow Venus managed to strip these atoms of all their activity.

Yet in such a condition, instead of fracturing or diluting in space, these atoms remained densely packed together, losing the ability to react with any substance, including antimatter.

The rationale is understood, but crafting such armor remains incredibly difficult, and it still requires many new breakthroughs in microphysics before there is any hope.

Moreover, to date, the Academy of Sciences still hasn't understood how Venus managed to manipulate this armor at will.

Therefore, we could only dismantle part of Venus's crust and bring it to the New Continent Star System for further study.

Although the lifeforms of the first epoch are quite different from later lifeforms, they also need certain energy entities to support their operations.

The Academy of Sciences has built many models of Venus's core, all of which have failed; many scholars believe it to represent a relatively perfect form of energy operation in the three-dimensional world, capable of standing by and operating over billions of years.

Regrettably, with humanity's current means, there is no way to capture Venus's core.

The Black Cuboid People seemed to have the ability to capture lifeforms of the first epoch and knew how to utilize their cores.

But because the "Black Square" had completely perished, progress in reverse-engineering it has become increasingly sluggish; to date, the technology remains uncracked.

In the struggle between the Black Cuboid People and Venus, Venus ultimately emerged victorious.

Now it is roaming in a puddle-like two-dimensional world, and if we cannot halt the expansion of this Two-Dimensional Fragment, it will eventually become the ruler of that "pond."

However, if the two-dimensional space continues to expand, that's another matter.

One can imagine that the Black Cuboid People suddenly lost access to vast amounts of antimatter and dark matter, leading them to hastily embark on a "big score."

In the end, they even gambled away the last sparks of their civilization.

As for the methods of collecting antimatter and dark matter, the Academy of Sciences believes that the methods currently mastered by humanity are still quite primitive.

The collection of antimatter is relatively better off, as it has been used as "ammunition" for two centuries; the ability to collect dark matter in large quantities has only just been acquired in recent years.

There's intelligence suggesting that the Trisolarans' First Fleet's ships are equipped with Dark Matter Collectors.

But considering that the average speed of those ships is only one hundredth of the speed of light, this method of collection is presumed to be highly inefficient.

Through experiments over the past few years, the Academy of Sciences has also demonstrated that moving objects collect dark matter much less efficiently than stationary devices.

It is estimated that the Trisolarans' First Fleet was rushing out with their technology's "highest configuration," without having had enough time to fully demonstrate its reasonableness.

The Black Cuboid People had long been highly reliant on energy sources like dark matter, and upon losing their means of energy supply, their level of panic and confusion was imaginable.

So, as long as humanity retains the relevant knowledge of nuclear engines, in theory, we should not repeat the mistakes of the Black Cuboid People.

But this motion did not gain much approval; the dissenters argued, "Will theories and technologies without practical value for a long time attract people's attention?

"Will students study them diligently? When the time comes, can they be immediately put into use?"

Someone suggested, "Artificial intelligence could help store this knowledge, and when the time comes, intelligent robots could operate these technologies."

The dissenters countered, "The strike suffered by the Black Cuboid People was clearly a devastating one.

"Would such a strike give you the time to escape with the relevant robots and materials?"

After over half an hour of debate, this proposal was all but dismissed.

Then someone brought up a new proposal: "Actually, we could advance by retreating. When our dark matter collection technology is more mature, we could launch a number of small-scale dark matter collection systems into outer space.

"Like the energy collection equipment that the Wallfacer once supported Starship Earth with."

There was a brief lapse into contemplation before Jiang Yu broke the silence, "This plan also faces many problems; these advanced energy collection systems would be the crystallization of human technology.

"How can we ensure they won't be intercepted by other civilizations if we just launch them into outer space?

"And if we equip them with armed forces, the costs would be too high, adding many uncertainties."