Chapter 128: The Leviathan Herd, The Ringworld

The sightseeing spaceship stayed at the Ice and Snow Star for 16 days before setting off again.

As a popular destination, the spaceship was fully booked, and Yan Xia could only sit in the lobby on a sofa. He observed every living being on the spaceship, witnessing the diverse lives of the passengers.

After the spaceship reached 10% of the speed of light, some stars in the sky began to show trails, and the stars in front of the spaceship started to shrink inward, as if gathering together. This effect was not very noticeable.

When the spaceship reached 50% of the speed of light, the phenomenon would become more apparent, and at 90%, it would be even more pronounced. Upon reaching the speed of light, all the starlight would converge into a single point in front of the spaceship, while the surroundings and the rear would be pitch-black.

It's easy to understand; when the speed is too fast, it means that the photons behind are chasing you, and the photons in front are colliding with you. The speed of the photons behind is the speed of light minus the speed of the spaceship, and the speed of the photons in front is the speed of light plus the speed of the spaceship, creating a speed difference, resulting in more photons being received in front.

The current speed was not enough to witness such a phenomenon, and Yan Xia hoped he could see the day when a spaceship traveling at the speed of light would be born.

The maximum speed should be 99% of the speed of light, as absolute light speed is unattainable. It would require an enormous amount of energy, even for a warp spaceship, which only a level 2 or even level 3 civilization could create.

After traveling through deep space for about 17 years, Yan Xia spotted a Leviathan roaming in the vastness of space.

This Leviathan seemed very old, moving slowly with scars all over its body. Its entire body was purplish-red, and its tentacles were like gnarled tree roots, long and thin.

"After being released into the wild, Leviathans gradually exhibit a tendency to live in herds over 500 years. Approximately every 400 to 700 Leviathans form a herd, displaying a complete class structure. There are kings, queens, and generals forming the ruling class, while the rest are ordinary Leviathans."

"This Leviathan should be a king. Ordinary Leviathans are about 300 meters long, while this one is over 500 meters."

"It was probably dethroned, as a king would not leave its herd. It has come to this remote area of space to find a good place to bury itself."

"This phenomenon is extremely rare, as Leviathans have a short lifespan, averaging only 22 years, with the longest-lived one surviving for 38 years."

"Most of the time, Leviathan herds stay within a star system. The herd this king belongs to should be nearby, and they are migrating."

Ella introduced the Leviathan to Yan Xia, which he had created himself.

But as it became too challenging, Yan Xia handed over this task to Ella.

"At their speed, it would probably take hundreds of millions of years to travel from one star system to another," Yan Xia thought, feeling a sense of awe.

It was like a group of ants crossing the Pacific Ocean for the continuation of their species.

"Exactly," Ella confirmed.

"There is a certain probability of failure."

"They need a lot of food, so they eat their dead companions. Often, out of 500, only 40 to 60 survive. That's why it's more precious to see a lone king here. It escaped to avoid being eaten."

Sure enough, after two days of traveling, the captain of the spaceship sent a message that they had encountered a Leviathan herd.

The tourists who had been in hibernation in the cabin woke up to witness these colossal creatures.

The sightseeing spaceship almost brushed shoulders with the herd, which consisted of 187 Leviathans. They were arranged in a straight line, propelled by gas, and roaming through the universe.

To conserve gas, the gas expelled from the tail of one Leviathan was sucked in by the one behind it for reuse.

Since there is no resistance in space, the migration only requires an initial acceleration, followed by directional adjustments. The energy consumption does not reach a terrifying level.

The sightseeing spaceship slowed down, circled around these giant beasts a few times, and then departed.

They were now very close to their destination star system, but this was not the final destination for the Leviathans. After parting ways, the sightseeing spaceship headed towards a dim red star.

It was a white dwarf.

Not all white dwarfs are white; over time, they gradually turn red and eventually become black, turning into black dwarfs.

Yan Xia, having transcended ordinary humans, could see light spectrums invisible to humans. In the eyes of ordinary people, whether it's a red dwarf, white dwarf, yellow dwarf, or blue dwarf, or any other giant or supergiant star, their light appears white.

"Is this white dwarf about the same size as Earth?" Yan Xia asked, observing with his naked eye.

Knowing the distance to an object allows one to determine its size.

If it's about the same size as Earth, this white dwarf is on the larger side among white dwarfs. Its mass should be around 1.2 solar masses. Judging from its spectrum and size, it's likely a carbon-oxygen structure, and its lifespan may have already reached 10 billion years.

Due to the enormous gravity of white dwarfs, the stellar body compresses carbon atoms, possibly forming diamonds, becoming what is known as a diamond star.

As they approached, Yan Xia saw a Dyson ring structure surrounding the white dwarf.

The Dyson ring resembled the Chinese character '굛' (jué), encircling the white dwarf. Its circumference was approximately 0.7 astronomical units, or about 104.7 million kilometers.

The brightness of a white dwarf is lower than that of a yellow dwarf, but its surface temperature is high. Young, massive white dwarfs can have surface temperatures exceeding 10,000 degrees Celsius. Therefore, when constructing the Dyson ring, it was built at a safe distance from the white dwarf's surface.

"Is this the abode of the gods?" Yan Xia wondered, unable to see what could justify such a grandiose name.

The sightseeing spaceship passed through the border of the white dwarf's wind zone and, in less than four days, arrived inside the Dyson ring. The inner side of the ring facing the white dwarf was a dark metal plate with interstellar weapons, while the outer side was an ecological zone, inspired by Larry Niven's "Ringworld" from the "Known Space" series.

The sky of this ringworld created by Ella had numerous transparent photovoltaic panels, which could absorb light energy while allowing a portion of the light to pass through and reach the ground.

The energy utilization rate was naturally much lower than that of ordinary photovoltaic panels, but there was no need for additional lighting in the ringworld, making it more efficient.

These photovoltaic panels were suspended in the inner ring, 13,000 kilometers above the ground of the ringworld.

The panels were only about 2 cm thick, serving not only to collect light energy but also as a heat insulator. However, they were not the primary heat insulators; beneath these transparent panels was an atmosphere 13,000 kilometers thick, maintaining the temperature of the ringworld at an average of 47 degrees Celsius.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to reach the abode of the gods. Are you ready? We're descending!"

The sightseeing spaceship dove towards the surface of the ringworld, entering the atmosphere, which meant it was captured by the ringworld's gravity. Before even reaching the ground, as soon as they entered the atmosphere, Yan Xia instantly understood why this place was called the abode of the gods.

He saw a floating continent and countless floating islands, with various mythical creatures flying in the air. A 7,000-meter-tall giant castle reflected silver-white light, surrounded by a celestial river in the sky. In the river, there was a kind of colorful fish, like a larger version of the butterfly-wing zebra fish.

These colorful fish could spread their wings and glide in the air for a short time, and when they sprayed mist, it refracted the sunlight, forming a rainbow bridge.

It was like a dream, hard to imagine that this was a real world.