From Ou Zhanpeng's personal perspective, the shrimp people's technical level was at least eighteen streets ahead of humanity!
As the warships were finally completed and rolled off the assembly line, Ou Zhanpeng's gaze shifted, and more warships came into view. They were lined up in rows, hundreds of them, gleaming in the setting sun's afterglow.
Ou Zhanpeng was deeply shocked by the shrimp people's strength. A single alien warship had completely overwhelmed humanity. If they had even one more, the entire Blue Star would have to obediently call them "father."
But he couldn't quite figure out the shrimp people's origin. Were they another type of mecha from the Brain Fish?
It didn't feel like it, yet he couldn't find any evidence.
For several days, he had the same dream, not only the content but even the details remained identical.
Ou Zhanpeng discovered that his position was not fixed; he could move freely within a certain range.
Thus, he carefully observed the shrimp people's shipbuilding process, but only a small portion was clear. Most of the time, it was just hazy and indistinct.
Ou Zhanpeng was stubborn and committed everything he could see firmly to memory.
A few days later, he couldn't bear it any longer. After waking from his dream, he quietly left the dormitory for the bridge without alerting Xu Qing.
He remembered that there was a small asteroid near the warship during his first dream, so he asked the duty officer if there were any relevant records in the navigation logs from a few days prior.
The duty officer was curious but readily complied.
Ou Zhanpeng's current position was Executive Deputy Captain, in charge of ground combat command.
Despite the word "Executive," the Expedition No. 2 had no ground combat missions. This position was almost a sinecure.
But even a sinecure was still a deputy captain, and the rank was there. Moreover, assigning a sinecure wasn't a reflection of Ou Zhanpeng's future prospects; it was just that all other positions were filled, and there was no way to arrange anything temporarily.
Given the credit Ou and Xu earned by enduring Mars for half a year, they would surely be assigned positions upon returning to Earth. While saying their future was limitless might be an exaggeration, a smooth path was highly probable.
For now, it was just a matter of looking at the non-classified navigation logs, and they would grant him this small favor.
Ou Zhanpeng found the corresponding record according to the time in his memory and indeed discovered a continuous echo on the radar, with a typical asteroid waveform.
At its closest point, the small celestial body was only 40 kilometers from the warship, which was practically a near miss for interstellar travel.
Although he had suspected it, after it was confirmed, Ou Zhanpeng remained in a daze for a long time, his mind racing with all sorts of chaotic thoughts, all of which eventually coalesced into one sentence: How was this possible?
He continued to check the positions of the major planets, and they were located everywhere, making it impossible for them to be in a straight line.
Undeterred, Ou Zhanpeng shifted his gaze to the edge of the solar system, but at this point, the duty officer could do nothing.
One reason was the vast distance, and the other was the dim light. Not only could the ship's systems not see it, but even the large space telescopes in Earth's orbit that could observe billions of light-years beyond couldn't see the details at the edge of the solar system.
Finally, Ou Zhanpeng had to let it go.
But the dreams continued. As the warship advanced, some previously blurry areas gradually became clearer, with many details so real that distinguishing them from reality was impossible.
Ou Zhanpeng racked his brain and recalled his experience when he was stranded at the broken ship, comparing it carefully with the warships built by the shrimp people. He found that the structure of the broken ship in his memory was completely identical to the structure of the warship in his dream!
He was already filled with doubt due to the repeated occurrence of the same dream. Now, he began to wonder if the dream was reading his memory, making it so realistic.
With a mind full of questions, Ou Zhanpeng finally couldn't resist drawing the reactor from memory, not only its external appearance but also its detailed internal structure, with all the specifics included.
After much hesitation, he finally made up his mind to go to the bridge.
Liu Wenwen happened to be there and gave Ou Zhanpeng a teasing smile: "Oh, what brings you here today?"
Ou Zhanpeng said with a serious expression: "I have something to transmit back to the base." He then swiped on the terminal, sending the blueprints.
Blueprints were incomprehensible to non-professionals, and Ou Zhanpeng's were from a dream, so even professionals might not understand them.
Liu Wenwen glanced at them casually, found nothing amiss, and showed a confused expression: "What is this?"
"A blueprint of the reactor," Ou Zhanpeng replied truthfully.
Liu Wenwen was stunned: "You drew this?"
"Yes, I drew it," Ou Zhanpeng said.
Liu Wenwen could hardly believe her ears: "Are you kidding? If you have this ability, why don't you go to the design institute?"
Ou Zhanpeng didn't know how to explain and could only offer a vague excuse: "It's a long story. Can you please transmit the blueprints back? And add a note asking the base to contact Luojianshan and compare the blueprints for accuracy."
Liu Wenwen became even more curious and personally sent the blueprints to the communications department: "Then let's make a long story short and satisfy my surging curiosity."
Ou Zhanpeng tugged at the corner of his mouth, revealing a smile devoid of any humor: "Sorry, it's classified!"
He then turned and left without the slightest hesitation.
Liu Wenwen almost choked on her saliva. Was he doing this on purpose?
But there was nothing she could do. On the military's territory, no matter how gossipy someone was, they would shut up upon hearing the word "classified."
Not only could they not ask or speak about it, but they couldn't even listen.
About twenty minutes later, the base received the blueprints transmitted back by satellite. The duty personnel didn't take it very seriously, reported it up for archiving as per regulations, and it was soon reported to Dan Qiuyu.
He didn't understand blueprints, but he had abundant life experience. After opening the document, a casual glance told him it was a very precise piece of work.
To minimize the chance of error, he also asked two professionals to glance at it. Their opinions were highly consistent: the blueprints were very professional!
Dan Qiuyu had no further reason to delay and immediately sent the blueprints to Luojianshan, with a brief explanation.
Gong Yiding, upon receiving the blueprints, was confused. What was all this? Whose carelessly drawn blueprints were they asking them to compare? If everyone was so unreliable and erratic, the base wouldn't need to research alien technology; just comparing various blueprints would keep everyone overwhelmed.
But they couldn't refuse the base's request, so Gong Yiding reluctantly found Professor Wu.
Professor Wu was researching the reactor in the broken ship and refused to move. In the end, Gong Yiding had to make a trip himself to give the blueprints to Professor Wu, specifically explaining the situation.
Upon hearing that it was from the ground and needed to be compared carefully with the alien reactor, Professor Wu finally showed some interest.
He opened the document, and after only looking at a small part, his expression changed drastically. He grabbed Gong Yiding: "Where did this come from? Where did this come from—"