(ps: If you see repeated content in this chapter, it is because the previous chapter has been revised. We apologize to all readers.)
Ou Zhanpeng knew that ever since the research team moved into the base, the replication of the hibernation pod had been under the close attention of Gong Yiding. He also understood that it would inevitably be used on him, but he never expected it to be so urgent. Before he could figure out what was happening, Gong Yiding personally put him into the hibernation pod.
Hibernation and sleep, a difference of one word, yet two entirely different matters.
When Ou Zhanpeng woke up again, ten years had passed. As he opened his eyes, he saw a thin old man sitting in a wheelchair. At first glance, he didn't recognize him. After a closer look, he finally saw a hint of Gong Yiding.
Another decade passed. Gong Yiding was frail and elderly, nearly eighty years old, and everyone respectfully addressed him as Elder Gong.
Ou Zhanpeng was stunned for a while, unsure of what to say.
Gong Yiding had long since come to terms with it and instead displayed a wise smile that saw through life, offering comfort instead. If it hadn't been necessary to close the spacetime bubble, Station Chief Gong would not have awakened him.
Ou Zhanpeng's emotions were complex. After a long pause, he finally uttered a sentence: "Come back to Earth with me."
Earth's medical conditions were better and more suitable for the current Gong Yiding.
"No," Gong Yiding smiled and shook his head, his gaze filled only with peace. "This place holds the efforts of my life. I won't trouble the organization by returning."
Zhan Wenyi quietly told Ou Zhanpeng, "Elder Gong is a stubborn old man now. He doesn't listen to anyone's advice."
Ou Zhanpeng also quietly instructed Zhan Wenyi, "Don't listen to him. If this old fellow really can't make it, put him in the hibernation pod immediately. Wait for decades until medical advancements can save him, then revive him."
Zhan Wenyi gave a thumbs-up, "That's a great idea! Don't worry!"
Ou Zhanpeng returned to Earth with a touch of unease, bringing back a large amount of research results and leading another batch of researchers back to Jupiter.
But this time, it wasn't just researchers; it was also a large contingent of combat personnel drawn from all branches of the military.
Starship Base carried humanity's last hope. According to the plan, the researchers had to be the most brilliant, the warships the most advanced, and even the troops stationed here had to be the most elite.
The difference was that the researchers had to enter the spacetime bubble, while the combat personnel had to remain at Tianya Base.
In addition to personnel changes, the Starship also made a special trip to Luojian Mountain to transport a batch of manufacturing equipment and hundreds of industrial workers to Starship Base.
New technologies had been developed, but digesting and absorbing them would take considerable time. Moreover, manufacturing warships using traditional methods was time-consuming and labor-intensive. Only by moving the warship factories into Starship Base could a powerful fleet be assembled in the shortest possible time!
The spacetime bubble opened again, and Ou Zhanpeng entered hibernation.
He had expected a comprehensive breakthrough in warship technology, and upon waking again, he would surely see new warships setting sail.
However, the technical challenges faced by the research team were far greater than imagined. After breakthroughs in force field shields, propulsion technology, and shipboard weapons, progress on wormhole technology was slow.
This was not unusual. Humanity had already reached the threshold of most other technologies and only needed to exert effort to reap abundant rewards.
But wormholes, in simple terms, were spatial technology; in complex terms, they were faster-than-light travel. From any perspective, it was not something that present-day humanity could covet.
Technology could be studied slowly, but Earth could not wait.
Finally, Gong Yiding slowly raised his head, gazing at the wreckage of warships in the sky.
Ou Zhanpeng was forcibly awakened, not to close the spacetime bubble, but to drag the wreckage back to the base.
He found that Gong Yiding had not only aged further but also had problems with his brain, alternating between lucidity and confusion.
Ou Zhanpeng had never seen Gong Yiding so fragile. In his memory, Gong Yiding had always been the busy figure who spared no effort for research and was always at the forefront.
Not this frail old man sitting in a wheelchair, unable to even take care of himself.
Beauty fades, generals grow old, the most regrettable things in the mortal world.
This was the last time Ou Zhanpeng saw Gong Yiding.
The first time he woke up, Gong Yiding, in his sixties but still energetic, awaited him.
The second time he woke up, Gong Yiding, nearly eighty and seated in a wheelchair, awaited him.
But this time, upon waking, he could no longer see that familiar, stubborn figure. Only the base's senior management, led by Zhan Wenyi, and an advanced-looking robot in a researcher's uniform were present.
Ou Zhanpeng suddenly felt a void in his heart.
Back then, Ou Zhanpeng's first impression of Station Chief Gong was not good. He always felt that Gong was too eager for fame and profit, not like a researcher.
But during his tenure at Luojian Mountain, not only did the base develop significantly, and the staff's treatment greatly improve, but a large number of research results were also produced.
Over the twenty years managing Starship Base, he had made indelible contributions.
A row of hibernation pods stood in the cabin, but only the one behind him was working. Ou Zhanpeng shivered and grabbed Zhan Wenyi's arm, "How is Elder Gong?"
Zhan Wenyi's expression was strange, neither an answer nor grief, but he turned to look at the robot.
"Do you really want to put me in a hibernation pod?"
A somewhat familiar voice came from the robot. Ou Zhanpeng thought for a moment before realizing whose it was, and was instantly stunned: "Gong, Gong, Gong..."
"What, you don't recognize me in a different form?" the robot's tone was playful, and a happy smile appeared on its screen-like face.
Ou Zhanpeng was completely flustered, "What's going on? Did you take out Elder Gong's brain?"
There was a research project in the medical team on how to combine the brain with machines. It was said that the technology was already quite mature, but it lacked experimental validation.
Given Gong Yiding's temperament, it was highly probable that if his body lost its function, he would choose to switch to a mechanical body.
Zhan Wenyi shook his head, his expression helpless, "Did you forget? Not only his body aged, but his brain also had problems. For the specifics, you should ask him yourself."
"This is consciousness transfer technology," the robot... Gong Yiding, adjusted his collar. "It can transfer human thought to electronic storage devices or biological storage devices, replace the physical body with a mechanical body, and become a mechanical lifeform."
Ou Zhanpeng sighed, "Isn't that just extracting memories and putting them on a hard drive?"
"No, no, no!" Gong Yiding waved his shiny alloy finger. "Memory extraction only transfers memories. Consciousness extraction transfers not only memories but also the soul!"
Ou Zhanpeng didn't know what to say, "No, you're a scientist, how did you start talking about soul? Is this scientific?"
"Why isn't it scientific?" Gong Yiding retorted. "Memory is just memory, a purely data accumulation. But the soul not only has memories but also logical thinking abilities, thought habits, and rich emotions, especially extraordinary creativity. What do you think?"
Ou Zhanpeng was speechless. Gong Yiding made a concluding statement: "Therefore, what people transfer is not memories, but souls!" httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
"Alright, I understand. You've just changed to a mechanical body," Ou Zhanpeng conceded. "I admit this technology is very useful, but I don't understand, besides changing to a new body, what else can this technology do?"
"Many things, for example, transferring human consciousness to a combat platform, connecting the nerves to circuits, and directly controlling aircraft or warships with consciousness."
Ou Zhanpeng's cheek twitched, "Can that work?"
"Not yet," Gong Yiding's tone was somewhat dejected. "The human brain can only improve processing speed, it cannot handle multi-threaded tasks, even with a changed body. I plan to create a biological chip that fully integrates with the brain to give the human brain multi-threaded processing capabilities. At that time, a massive warship can be fully controlled by a single brain!"
Ou Zhanpeng inwardly complained, humans are the most unpredictable beings. Entrusting a vast warship to one brain instead of a group of brains to control it, what if it develops its own intentions?
Putting others aside, Gong Yiding himself, after changing to a new body, clearly developed a tendency to chatter, indicating that consciousness transfer is not that reliable. There must be some unknown side effects.
Ou Zhanpeng felt that unless it was a matter of certain death with no hope of rescue, he would never give up his body.
Even if his bones were broken and his limbs disabled.
After revealing the truth of his identity, Gong Yiding unfastened his clothes and opened the armor on his chest, revealing a small storage compartment. He took out a synthetic human face and replaced the screen on his head, "Is this better?"
Ou Zhanpeng nodded, "It's much better. It would be even better if it looked more realistic."
This face was from Gong Yiding's youth, but it was full of mechanical characteristics, clearly not that of a real person.
"Robots are robots. Why try to make them look so human?" Gong Yiding had his own principles. "However, this technology is very dangerous and its scope of use must be restricted."
As the beneficiary of this technology, saying this seemed a bit like biting the hand that feeds you, but Gong Yiding chose this technology to prolong his life out of necessity.
If not strictly controlled, anyone could transfer their consciousness at will, leading to a world overrun by robots and androids, surely causing great chaos.
Technology has always been a double-edged sword. Only in the hands of the right people can it benefit humanity.
Ou Zhanpeng suddenly had a wild thought, "You guys, if I switched to a mechanical body, could I still control Starship Base?"
"Probably not?" Zhan Wenyi said hesitantly.
"Definitely not," Gong Yiding stated with certainty. "Your body is the key to controlling Starship Base. Do you expect the control system to recognize your soul?"
"Hey, I was just saying!"
"Let's wait for the future," Gong Yiding added. "We plan to develop towards cyborgs, transferring consciousness into cloned bodies. At that time, you can return to your youth at any time."
"Forget it," Ou Zhanpeng shook his head and refused. "Youth isn't about not being young in body, but about being carefree and lighthearted. I'm long past the age of youthful recklessness. I can't go back."
"That makes sense. You've finally matured, kid!" Gong Yiding said with great satisfaction.
Ou Zhanpeng rolled his eyes and changed the subject, "By the way, how are the warships coming along?"
Zhan Wenyi replied, "We've repaired one White Ship, one Broken Ship, and one Black Ship. Additionally, we've built three modular warships. Including Starship, we now have seven warships and can form a fleet."
The repaired warships were self-explanatory. The key was the several Lieya-class ships. They were based on modular warships, with internal structures adjusted, onboard equipment optimized, and onboard weapons replaced.
The wormhole systems equipped on these ships were all salvaged from the wreckage of alien warships, a form of waste recycling. Although their overall combat capability was comparable to White Ship, White Ship was the worst-performing among all the repaired ships.
Moreover, both alien and human warships had the problem of offense over defense, the spear being sharper than the shield. Even the strongest shields could not withstand the bombardment of Horizon or other powerful alien weapons.
This result far fell short of the military's expectations, and research would inevitably continue.
"Don't count Starship," Gong Yiding reminded. "It was unavoidable before, but now that we have warships, try not to use Starship unless absolutely necessary."
"Understood!" Zhan Wenyi nodded in agreement.
Starship was the control center of the entire base. Once the warships left, the base would fall into a state of disarray. In case of any accident, there would be no chance to respond.
Secondly, Starship was designed for the Prophet, with excessively large internal spaces. The research team was working on improvement plans, so it was best not to use it for now.
The spatial bubble closed for the third time. What appeared before Xu Qing and the others was no longer the solitary Starship, but six new warships painted in midnight camouflage!
Time flies, years pass like a shuttle.
Tianya Base had been in existence for less than three months, but Starship Base had experienced a long thirty years. The first batch of researchers who entered the base, who were in their prime, had now become white-haired elders.
But it was all worth it. When six space warships simultaneously opened wormholes and appeared near Earth, the entire Earth erupted.
Fleets hovering in low Earth orbit immediately sounded combat alerts, and all personnel quickly took their positions, ready to resist the invading aliens to the death.
As long as they could hold off the enemy for a short while, waiting for Xia Kingdom's super warship to return, there would be a chance to defeat the enemy and achieve victory once more!
But the various fleets soon discovered something was wrong. Three of the enemy ships were modular, with not only the same design philosophy but also very similar appearances. Could it be that the aliens were also copying human designs?
Subsequently, the various fleets discovered that the enemy identification system classified all these warships as friendly forces!
It was only then that news of Xia Kingdom possessing these warships reached the fleets, causing an uproar and astonishing everyone.
The comrades were not surprised by the ownership of the warships. What they didn't understand was how the aliens had attacked without any warning, and yet in just three months, they had produced six genuine interstellar warships. Was this fooling around?
Yanjing's dominance needed no explanation. Did they think the technology they now possessed was something they could imagine?
Moreover, the more they explained such matters, the more people would stir up trouble. The clear will remain clear; let outsiders think whatever they want.
With the concerted effort of the six warships, they made a single trip to bring a large number of personnel and supplies back to Jupiter, and Starship Base continued to activate the spatial bubble.
After an unknown period, Ou Zhanpeng, who was in hibernation, was suddenly awakened by Gong Yiding: "Something has happened, come with me!"