130 star system.
Ou Zhanpeng directly contacted headquarters, and after repeatedly verifying the data, he confirmed again that the Star Ark's location was at the core area of a supernova explosion.
Although there were originally two stars here, neither was a red giant. Even if one of them completely blew up, something should have been left behind; it shouldn't have left any trace at all.
Yu Jia racked her brains to collect data, but she had never imagined she would encounter such a bizarre situation, and for a moment she didn't know how to proceed.
She wanted to find someone to discuss it with, but the other members of the team were all in a state of disarray.
Ou Zhanpeng expressed his sympathy, but that was all.
He was currently manipulating the battleship to remotely scan the planet, roughly determining the size and mass of 130b.
Subsequently, the Star Ark opened a wormhole and sent a satellite to the outer space of 130b for close-range, comprehensive scanning.
Not long after, the battleship recovered the satellite, and all data was uploaded to the battleship. A high-definition holographic projection of 130b appeared before everyone.
Ou Zhanpeng swiped his finger to enlarge the image. The scorched earth was devastated, but it presented a peculiar texture. From certain angles, faint reflections could still be seen. "Is it entirely vitrified?"
Gong Yiding nodded in agreement. "It should have been a terrestrial planet. The atmosphere was gone the moment the supernova exploded, then the ground was sintered by the high temperature, eventually turning into what you see."
This vitrification was different from the glass seen normally; its interior was filled with various impurities. Some melted in the high temperature, causing the glass to exhibit different colors, but more were enclosed by the solidified glass.
It was as if time itself had solidified, not just glass.
However, not all the ground had been vitrified.
A clear, winding line was visible on the holographic projection, and it was generally at the same level.
More importantly, areas higher than this line were mostly vitrified, while areas lower than it were only partially vitrified, with the degree of vitrification decreasing as the height decreased, eventually turning into a completely different color.
It was a clear dividing line that split the entire planet into two parts, above and below, looking like a rotten fruit that had been left out in the sun for several days.
In addition, there were dozens of volcanoes of varying sizes on the planet's surface. Some had stopped erupting, while others were still spewing thick smoke and lava.
Judging by the colors of the volcano surfaces, they formed after the supernova explosion, likely secondary disasters triggered by the massive changes.
Ou Zhanpeng exhausted his imagination but couldn't picture what it looked like in its intact state, his mind filled with images of Earth.
Ling Xiao's eyes were full of confusion. "Then what's going on? Is that a coastline?"
"It should be," Gong Yiding said. "The sustained high temperatures evaporated the oceans. Because the time was too short, the original traces are still very clear... This is a great research subject!"
Ling Xiao grinned. Why did it turn to research again?
"What a shame, such a good planet turned into this mess," Ling Xiao said.
"No matter how good it was, it has been blown out of its original orbit by the supernova. At its current speed, it will completely escape the star's gravity in another eight thousand years and become a rogue planet," Gong Yiding said with a sigh. "The data collection there is complete. Let's get closer and take a look. Contact headquarters and apply for landing to investigate alien ruins on-site!"
Ou Zhanpeng was not surprised at all. After confirming that Yu Jia had completed her work, he immediately piloted the Star Ark to the vicinity of the planet.
It wasn't just Gong Yiding who was interested in the ruins; Ou Zhanpeng had similar thoughts.
Upon reaching the vicinity, everyone was stunned to discover that the scale of the ruins on the planet was even larger than they had imagined. It only appeared less massive because many of the ancillary facilities had been damaged.
But the visible portion alone covered nearly a hundred square kilometers, with the core area being at least ten square kilometers.
Through the battleship's lenses, very clear burn marks were visible around the ruins. While the core area also had them, the degree was much lighter.
The latter could only be described as slightly scorched, while the former was completely black.
Gong Yiding casually drew a circle around the core area of the ruins. "This part shows significant melting due to heat, but it's largely intact. The interior should be unaffected, and we might find something useful... Captain, let's send back the data we've collected and apply for landing."
"Okay!" Ou Zhanpeng agreed and immediately activated the wormhole.
Upon receiving the landing request, Mu Xingyu, who was on duty, was dumbfounded. Weren't they supposed to be looking for a supernova? How did they run into alien ruins again?
After a thorough understanding of the situation, he immediately issued instructions: Landing is permitted, but only by robots!
Mu Xingyu knew the scoundrels on the Star Ark too well. If they weren't restricted, they would definitely descend upon 130b as a group.
Any ordinary member on the Star Ark was carefully selected from the entire army. The loss of any single one would be an irreparable loss.
Landing?
Let the robots handle it!
Ou Zhanpeng was very disappointed to receive the news, but a command was a command. Unless absolutely necessary, it had to be strictly enforced.
Gong Yiding really wanted to find a loophole, but Ou Zhanpeng gave him no opportunity, refusing to let him leave no matter what.
"I am a robot, do you understand?" Gong Yiding emphasized his identity. "The order stated, do I need to repeat it?"
Ou Zhanpeng shook his head vigorously. "The order wasn't talking about robots like you. Don't try to find a loophole here."
This person was good in every aspect, except that whenever he encountered something new and researchable, he couldn't control his feet, and his stubbornness was beyond ordinary, which was truly exasperating.
Gong Yiding strongly argued, "How can this be called finding a loophole? This is tailor-made, do you understand? Besides, I won't be in any danger. If anything unexpected happens, I can transmit back to the battleship with a thought. Safety is absolutely guaranteed!"
"That's still not allowed. What if the signal is blocked? That's an alien ruin!" Ou Zhanpeng emphasized several words heavily. "We are currently only a Level 3 civilization. We have no way of judging their level. This place is abandoned, but do you know what else might be in the ruins?"
The so-called Level 3 civilization was not the seven-level classification circulating on the internet but the military's own standard.
The seven-level classification had been around for a long time, with energy utilization as its standard. The more energy utilized, the higher the civilization's level.
However, this classification was proposed by foreigners, with too much imagination, constantly mentioning galaxies and nebulae without considering practical situations. It was impossible to apply to real interstellar civilizations.
The military's proposed classification was clearer and more straightforward. Level 1 was a homeworld civilization, regardless of primitive tribes or the global village, it was part of Level 1 civilization.
Of course, given the vast differences between eras, Level 1 civilization also had detailed hierarchical divisions.
Level 2 civilization was to leave the planet and enter space, but only to leave the planet, not to travel between stars.
It must be emphasized here that although traveling through interstellar space by conventional means was a form of interstellar travel, it was still classified as a Level 2 civilization.
Humanity was currently at Level 3, capable of faster-than-light travel and traversing between various star systems in the universe.
As for the method used to achieve faster-than-light travel, it was not necessary to delve into it, nor was it necessary to care about these details.
Simply put, it meant mastering space.
As for higher-level civilizations, the military had not classified them in detail because the actual situation was quite complex.
For example, the Star Ark base, although unable to traverse time and space, could control time to a certain extent, so the Prophet must be at a level far exceeding humanity.
But the Star Ark base was now in human hands, could that be said to mean humanity was a civilization of a higher level?
Of course not!
Because humanity could only use it but not manufacture it, and didn't even know what kind of energy the spacetime bubble used.
Mastering the secret of dimensions and being able to travel between different dimensions would certainly be a level far exceeding humanity.
The ability to utilize the power of white dwarfs, neutron stars, or even black holes was also the same.
If, like in novels, the entire population abandoned their physical bodies and their thoughts were completely energized, it would naturally be a civilization far beyond humanity.
But in comparing the mastery of spacetime and the mastery of dimensions, which one was superior?
From a human perspective, time seemed to have the upper hand, but no one knew the actual situation.
Therefore, the military very cautiously put it aside for the time being, with higher standards to be discussed when humanity reached a higher level.
By the way, according to military standards, both humanity and the Rohl were Level 3 civilizations. Even though the Rohl were more advanced than humanity and controlled a much larger territory, the gap in levels was not significant, which allowed humanity to rally a coalition of interstellar civilizations to form the Anti-Rohl Alliance.
The seven interstellar civilizations that invaded Earth were also Level 3 civilizations, but they were no match for the combined fleets of the Four Great Civilizations and were utterly defeated.
Therefore, a higher civilization level by one tier would definitely result in an overwhelming advantage. However, civilizations of the same tier, despite differences in strength, could still compete.
Ou Zhanpeng believed that the civilization that created these ruins was at least two levels higher than humanity, and an overwhelming advantage was not out of the question. Therefore, he absolutely would not allow Gong Yiding to take risks.
Not even to establish a connection with the robot ahead.
Gong Yiding was incredibly frustrated.
Ou Zhanpeng was good in every way, but when it came to orders, he was like a stubborn old woman, both pedantic and rigid, unwilling to be flexible.
There was no help for it, as Ou Zhanpeng was the captain. No matter who it was, once on the battleship, they had to obey the captain's orders.
Under Gong Yiding's disappointed gaze, a landing craft detached from the battleship and headed directly for the planet's surface.
The landing craft's altitude continuously decreased. Since there was no atmosphere, there was no phenomenon of meteors falling.
At first glance, taking off and landing seemed more convenient, but in reality, it was not a good thing. Without the buffer of an atmosphere, the landing craft could only rely on its own power to decelerate, otherwise, it would crash headfirst into the ground and be completely destroyed.
Fortunately, Gong Yiding had considered all the factors, and the landing craft successfully landed at the designated location.
A portion of the panoramic screen was divided to display the landing craft's perspective.
After successfully landing, this window split into two, displaying the perspectives of the landing craft and the robot respectively.
The robot was operated by Ou Zhanpeng himself, but not directly controlled by the battleship's control system. Instead, an independent control system was specifically created.
Simply put, this system was physically isolated from the battleship's control system. No matter what information the landing craft and the robot transmitted back, it would not affect the Star Ark's normal operation.
Don't think of it as unnecessary worry. A civilization capable of turning an ordinary star into a supernova, even if not as powerful as the Prophet, would not be far off. Being cautious was never too much.
The landing craft's hatch opened, and the robot slowly walked out. Its sensors immediately detected extremely strong radiation, and the readings instantly spiked.
The expressions of everyone present instantly changed. With such strong radiation, even with the best protective gear, one could only last a few minutes at most!
This was a joke. After being exposed to extremely high-intensity gamma rays for two to three months and then enduring more than half a year of extremely high-intensity particle storms, the planet lost its atmospheric protection and its surface was completely exposed to cosmic rays.
Even if the surface material was not originally radioactive, after prolonged bombardment by various rays and particles, the atomic nuclei would change, and radiation would inevitably follow.
Gong Yiding's face turned extremely grim. "This robot can last at most five minutes!"
By now, the robot had already opened the hatch and was slowly advancing on the uneven ground, stumbling and tottering.
"What about the landing craft?"
"It can last a little longer, about fifteen minutes!" Gong Yiding said.
Ling Xiao looked astonished. "So short? What's the point?"
Under Ou Zhanpeng's control, the robot extended its arm to collect a sample. But as soon as it picked something up from the ground, the image began to show significant interference.
By the time the robot placed the sample into its portable glass bottle, the image was already severely distorted.
Ou Zhanpeng inwardly willed the robot to send the sample back to the landing craft. However, the robot merely turned around and then lost signal completely.
The bridge was immediately filled with sighs of disappointment.
Ou Zhanpeng also sighed. "Elder Gong, do we have any more durable robots?"
"No," Gong Yiding shook his head. "Even if I went down myself, I would only last a few more minutes."
"How could this happen?" Yu Jia said unwillingly.
Apart from Gong Yiding, she was the most hopeful person for a successful landing, even more so than Ou Zhanpeng.
However, she never expected the surface radiation to be so intense.
Ou Zhanpeng was equally unwilling. "Can we design a new one?"
"Yes, but it's hard to say how effective it will be." As he spoke, Gong Yiding had already completed the design.
The new robot had greatly enhanced protective capabilities. Not only was it designed in the most robust spherical shape, but it also had an additional shield.
Even its method of locomotion was not mechanical legs or tracks that were easily damaged, but rather the robot was driven by internal movement mechanisms to roll the sphere, minimizing holes and gaps to enhance protection.
The spherical robot immediately won everyone's praise when it appeared, and they all felt that this thing would definitely work.
Only Gong Yiding silently prayed, "I hope this thing works!"