Everyone finally understood what Yu Jia was thinking, and for a moment, they were either stunned or bewildered.
To ordinary people, Aldebaran was just a relatively bright star. Even if it were a red giant, they wouldn't find much difference. Whether it was 1.38 times the mass of the Sun had no impact whatsoever.
Was it just a miscalculation of Aldebaran's mass? Was it worth such a fuss?
The sky hadn't fallen yet, so why worry about these messy things?
Ou Zhanpeng considered himself to have encountered quite a few scientific researchers, and he knew that the temperaments of those eccentric scholars engaged in research were not very good.
Although he didn't understand, he could definitely comprehend and tolerate it.
However, he truly couldn't understand Yu Jia's concerns: "I'm sorry, this is your professional domain. We really can't help."
Yu Jia hadn't expected anyone to help. She continued to observe the data, silently calculating where there were still deficiencies and what methods could be used to find that crucial point within the long span of seventeen years.
Ou Zhanpeng was happy to have some peace. He opened a wormhole and sent the information collected during this period back to Earth, while simultaneously receiving information packets from Earth.
Remote communication only required opening a very small wormhole, but connecting a distance of dozens of light-years consumed a significant amount of energy.
Therefore, it was usually done by sending information packets rather than engaging in casual chat.
Casually opening an information packet, he found various accumulated files, the latest changes from all directions, and situation reports from Earth.
Everything that required special attention was marked in advance. Ou Zhanpeng basically didn't look at anything that wasn't marked. When needed, he would simply ask Gong Yiding, as everything was stored in the database, down to the punctuation marks.
However, he only scanned the directory and his brow furrowed tightly. He reached out and opened a file for careful reading.
A moment later, Ou Zhanpeng suddenly looked up and asked in a low, hard-to-describe tone: "Dr. Yu, may I ask, how often does a supernova appear in the universe?"
Yu Jia strongly disliked being disturbed by others while working. Without lifting her head, she replied: "Two to three times every hundred years. We might not encounter one observable in hundreds of years."
"What is the probability of two consecutive supernovae appearing?"
Yu Jia subtly curled her lips: "There is definitely a probability, but it approaches zero infinitely."
Ou Zhanpeng didn't have the time to argue with her: "The report just received states that a warship cleaning up star beasts discovered a supernova. The fleet was almost destroyed by a gamma-ray burst, and it happened only a few weeks before Aldebaran."
"What?" Yu Jia's head shot up, her eyes, almost bloodshot, fixed on Ou Zhanpeng. "Are you serious?"
Ou Zhanpeng placed the file on the main screen: "See for yourself!"
Yu Jia scanned the document at lightning speed, her expression growing worse with each word: "This is impossible!"
"Why is it impossible?" Ou Zhanpeng asked. "The file is definitely correct."
"I'm not doubting the file, but there are only so many red giants. How could such a coincidence happen?" Yu Jia was furious, as if she had just been dumped by a scumbag and was about to cry.
Although everyone had basic astronomical knowledge, most of them didn't quite understand her meaning.
Yu Jia realized this immediately and quickly explained.
The file clearly stated that the location where the supernova was discovered was only 120 light-years away from the solar system. Based on the coordinates of the wormhole exit and the star maps known to humanity, the distance to this supernova was about 130-140 light-years from the solar system.
Since there were no red giants in this direction, this supernova was temporarily named 130.
Red giants were not red dwarfs. Although red dwarfs were small and dim, making them difficult to detect with the naked eye, they were abundant in the Milky Way.
To give a simple example, within a radius of ten light-years centered on the solar system, eleven stars have been discovered so far.
Among them, only Sirius A and Alpha Centauri A were brighter than the Sun. Sirius B, a white dwarf of comparable mass to the Sun, and Alpha Centauri B, slightly smaller than the Sun, were also present.
Excluding these four stars, the remaining seven were red dwarfs.
The number of red giants was already very small, and only a portion of them had the potential to become supernovae. Furthermore, although red giants were elderly stars, the red giant phase accounted for only a very small portion of a star's life, which, from a human perspective, spanned hundreds of thousands or millions of years.
Two red giants consecutively exploding one after another, and both near the solar system?
The possibility definitely existed, but as Yu Jia said, the probability approached zero infinitely.
"I don't believe this is a coincidence!" Yu Jia said decisively.
Ou Zhanpeng also felt uneasy. It was like a gambler trying to recoup his losses, sensing he was about to lose all his chips.
Yu Jia thought for a moment and then said, "Captain Ou, I want to see the previous supernova. Could you please apply for it with headquarters?"
Before Ou Zhanpeng could speak, she emphasized again: "Please believe me, this is very important!"
Captain Ou stared at her earnest eyes for a long time, and finally nodded: "Alright, I'll try."
Yu Jia continued to collect data, but her mind was in a chaotic mess, and she couldn't calm down. She could no longer find the feeling she had before.
Ou Zhanpeng opened a wormhole and directly communicated with the command center: "Starship is calling command center, Starship is calling command center, please respond!"
"Starship, this is the command center. Please speak!" The operator rarely received direct communication from deep space, which caused an unwarranted waver in her tone.
"I need to speak with the General, as soon as possible."
"Received. Transferring immediately!"
Just a few seconds later, Dan Qiuyu's familiar voice came from the other end: "Ou Zhanpeng? What's the matter?"
Ou Zhanpeng explained the situation in the most concise terms.
Dan Qiuyu immediately replied: "We are researching this issue. The fleet ahead has confirmed the supernova's location, and it is still unclear whether the explosion was a coincidence... How about this, let's wait for a moment. We'll get back to you later!"
"Yes!"
After the communication ended, Yu Jia asked impatiently: "Did they agree?"
Ou Zhanpeng shook his head: "Waiting for news."
Yu Jia suppressed her anxiety with difficulty but had no intention of continuing her observations.
They waited for a full half hour. A wormhole opened near the Starship, sent a data packet, and then immediately closed.
Ou Zhanpeng opened the data packet under everyone's expectant gaze. After a quick glance, he looked up: "The command center has agreed to our plan, Dr. Yu, when do we depart?"
Yu Jia's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled: "Wait a little longer, it will be a moment!"
She was finally able to calm down and continue her observations, while Ou Zhanpeng secretly marveled.
This young lady was so agitated, yet she could still calm down and conduct research?
Not long after, Yu Jia was ready, but they didn't depart immediately. Instead, they approached Aldebaran for a close-up observation. After several more hours of preparation, they finally set off.
Yu Jia wanted to comprehensively measure the various data of 130, but she didn't want to waste so much time. She decided to fly directly to 130 and see the supernova itself first.
The Starship flew directly to the target. However, upon reaching the designated location, Yu Jia froze.
Not just her, everyone else was stunned.
Ling Xiao scratched his head in surprise: "Did we get the wrong place?"
Looking up, a yellow dwarf star was displayed on the screen. Although the star's surface activity was much more vigorous than that of an ordinary star, it was indeed a solid orange dwarf.
Only slightly smaller than the Sun.
Ou Zhanpeng was also very confused: "No, it's the coordinates given by headquarters!" He rechecked the coordinates; there was no error.
If even the coordinates of celestial bodies were unclear, then humanity's fleet should disband as soon as possible.
"No, look for yourself. Does it resemble a supernova at all?" Ling Xiao argued righteously.
Ou Zhanpeng felt a headache coming on: "Dr. Yu, have you figured anything out?"
Yu Jia pointed at the screen and said in a very ethereal tone: "I know this place. This should be a binary system composed of an orange dwarf and a yellow dwarf, but now only one star remains. This is not logical!"
Ling Xiao couldn't help but say: "Aldebaran is also illogical, and this place is also illogical. Perhaps it's not about logic, but rather that all your previous data was wrong?"
Although his words were unpleasant, many people found them reasonable.
Yu Jia shook her head seriously: "Is it logical for two stars to become one?"
Ling Xiao was immediately speechless.
Ou Zhanpeng rubbed his forehead, a headache forming: "The most logical explanation is that the two were mutually attracted and then suddenly exploded, with the remaining mass forming this yellow dwarf."
Yu Jia looked at him as if he were an idiot: "Do you think that's scientific?"
"Then do you have a better explanation?" Ou Zhanpeng asked back, spreading his hands. "I'll also ask headquarters to verify the coordinates!"
Yu Jia also began to doubt if she had remembered incorrectly.
After all, with so many stars in the universe, occasional errors were not unusual.
She immediately pulled up the data provided in the data packet and began to calculate the position of supernova 130.
Just as Ou Zhanpeng was activating the communication system and about to open a wormhole, Gong Yiding suddenly said: "That's right, it's this position... Since it's impossible for it to be a natural phenomenon, why not consider artificial intervention?"
As soon as he said this, everyone seemed to have received an order, and all eyes turned to Gong Yiding. The bridge was silent.
Gong Yiding remained unfazed: "You must have guessed this answer too, right? You're just afraid to say it, or unwilling to believe it."
Yu Jia didn't speak, but her expression conveyed everything.
Ou Zhanpeng twitched the corner of his mouth: "I did have a similar thought, but squeezing two stars together... Isn't that too much?"
"Exaggerated? Perhaps," Gong Yiding said calmly, as if he hadn't said those words before. "But just because we can't do it, doesn't mean other civilizations can't, like the legendary Three Great Civilizations."
Saying this, Gong Yiding pointed to the screen: "Look here!"
Ou Zhanpeng didn't notice anything unusual at first. After zooming in on the image, he discovered that there were remnants of a planet there.
He asked confusedly: "What is it?"
"Continue zooming in!" Gong Yiding said. "This spot!"
This time, Ou Zhanpeng finally found something amiss – on the scorched surface of the planet, there were remnants of a huge, complex-looking structure!
"What is this?" Ling Xiao asked.
Yu Jia, having been preempted by Ling Xiao, immediately perked up her ears.
Gong Yiding didn't answer. Instead, he transmitted a piece of data to the display system. A window immediately popped up on the screen, showing another planet, hidden in darkness. One half was blurry, and the other half was completely invisible.
Ou Zhanpeng immediately recognized the planet: "This is Aldebaran's..."
"Yes!" Gong Yiding nodded, then pointed to the planet. "Zoom in here!"
Ou Zhanpeng's heart skipped a beat, vaguely guessing the answer, and he did as he was told.
After zooming in several times, the planet filled the screen.
"Here!" Ling Xiao pointed to the boundary between the dim and dark areas. There were also remnants of a structure there.
Gong Yiding extracted the remnants from both planets, adjusted their orientation, angle, and size, and finally merged them.
Although Aldebaran's remnant was only half visible, as the images of the two structures overlapped, everyone let out a gasp.
The edge areas of the two structures had very little in common, but the central areas had an astonishingly high degree of similarity, almost identical!
There was nothing else to say; the facts were before their eyes.
Ou Zhanpeng's gaze flickered: "Manually detonating a supernova? What a grand undertaking!"
It went without saying that this civilization's methods and technological level far surpassed humanity's. It was definitely an existence to be looked up to!
The Starship was advanced and powerful, but it absolutely couldn't detonate a supernova casually. Compared to them, the Starship was practically insignificant.
But what was their purpose?
Ou Zhanpeng uttered with difficulty: "Could their purpose be to eliminate star beasts?"
Everyone knew that supernovae were the only known cosmic phenomena that could eliminate star beasts on a large scale.
But humanity lacked the ability. They could only think about it in their minds, indulge in their own fantasies. They never expected that a civilization capable of detonating supernovae would actually appear.
This could be seen from the locations of the two supernovae. Although Aldebaran was not within the occupied zone, its fifty light-year death radius was no joke. At least the outermost ten light-years penetrated the occupied zone, directly covering the vanguard of the star beast hordes.
With just this one shot, how many star beasts could be destroyed?
They would be severely injured even if they didn't die.
As for 130, it was even more so. It was originally within the occupied zone, and according to the data currently available, its radiation intensity was slightly higher than Aldebaran's, with a wider coverage and a higher mortality rate.
Note that this was not just about destroying star beasts traveling through space; star beasts on planets also could not escape, and their mortality rate was even higher!
Analyzing this pattern of directly detonating with red giants and artificially creating them when there were no red giants, it could be inferred that if this civilization detonated a few more supernovae, they could completely eliminate a massive number of star beasts, and possibly even eradicate this scourge!
Thinking of this, Ou Zhanpeng didn't know what to say.
Look at themselves: humanity had to plan a century in advance, and it was still uncertain if they could withstand the star beasts. Then look at them: they unleashed their ultimate move, and other civilizations, even if they knew the method, couldn't imitate or replicate it.
It remained unknown what attitude this civilization held towards humanity.