Chapter 1740 Crystal Express

The "starship manufacturing technology" of the Starfarers is a very magical technology – in fact, Hao Ren wasn't even sure if this mysterious thing could be categorized as technology, but considering that magic and technology ultimately lead to the same destination in the path of exploring truth, he decided to treat the Starfarers' technology for building large ships as a type of tech tree.

The core of this technology is "mental force skeleton extension" and material transformation and shaping technology.

The Starfarers are one of the oldest intelligent life forms in the universe. They were born in the ruins of the stars. In that dark and chaotic era completely dominated by the Lord of Madness, intelligent species like them had no stable home at all. Various ruins, wreckage, and the embers of extinguished stars were all the "resources" they could find. Therefore, all of their technologies developed around these scarce materials.

The Starfarers can extend their minds into the universe, using incredible energy fields to interfere with and manipulate the raw materials in the universe. They use this mental power as a skeleton, and then draw materials from the embers of stars to "build" – of course, if conditions permit, they will also choose to collect resources from active stars, which can greatly improve their construction efficiency and product quality. Through this incredible shaping method, they can build space entities of astonishing scale, and more easily implement various functions on these space entities: because they were born in the depths of the universe from the very beginning, they can explore the universe far more easily than ordinary races.

Rather than saying that the starship they built is a vehicle, it is better to say that they have changed their own form, shaping themselves into a special form that can move at superluminal speed in the universe, perform offensive and defensive missions, and is indestructible, just like Asu-man transforming into the "Crystal Holy Mountain."

And now, Hao Ren learned another completely new characteristic of the Starfarer's starship from Asu-man – or rather, a new characteristic of the Starfarers themselves, that is, they can enter a special dormant state, which will turn them into clouds of energy in the universe.

"You found many such structures in the X Star Cluster?" Asu-man asked. Although his tone always lacked emotion, Hao Ren could still intuitively feel a kind of expectation and excitement conveyed from the other side.

After all, this ancient creature had not seen its compatriots for many millennia.

"We can currently only explore less than one-fifth of the entire star region, but from the remote sensing data and distribution calculations, we can roughly estimate that there are at least a thousand or more such 'Starfarer Starships' in the entire X Star Cluster," Hao Ren replied, "So far, all the observed starships are in a dormant state. I have already sent you the process of the drone contacting these dormant starships."

"Yes, I saw it," Asu-man replied, "The drone failed to establish a connection with the other party and was destroyed in a very short time – this is a normal phenomenon. The dormant Starfarer warships are actually in a state of alert, and will take the highest level of security measures against all unauthorized access attempts. Your drone does not have an identification code, and it is impossible to establish a connection with the other party."

"How can we get this identification information?" Hao Ren asked the question he was most concerned about, "We must find a way to establish contact with these ancient guardians – if possible, it would be best to be able to wake them up."

"It is very difficult to obtain the identification information, because I have been separated from the clan for too long. I don't even know about this X Star Cluster and the existence of these dormant warriors, but I can give you a crystal fragment from the inner region of Asu-man. This crystal fragment contains my core data, and is like my split body. If everything goes well, those dormant starships will regard you as a Starfarer – although you still cannot access the main system of these dormant starships or directly awaken them, you can at least avoid being attacked. As long as you can successfully approach or even enter the interior of those dormant starships, I think you will have a way."

Asu-man had full confidence in Hao Ren. In his eyes, a person like Hao Ren who had successfully resolved the Koro crisis and even personally killed Lockmarton could definitely handle this kind of thing.

At this time, Vivian suddenly interjected: "I thought you would be eager to come here yourself – after all, there are a large number of your compatriots here, and theoretically, the blockade of the X Star Cluster will not intercept a Starfarer like you."

"I really want to go, but I can't get away," Asu-man said lightly, "I am using the powerful antenna of the Crystal Nucleus Research Station to observe the 'Dark Abyss' in the depths of the universe and try to confirm the situation of those prison guards. That is related to the seal of the Lord of Madness, and I dare not miss any details. However, you taking my crystal is equivalent to taking me with you. I can observe everything you see through the crystal."

Asu-man had already said this, so Vivian didn't say anything more. After confirming the process of transporting the crystal, the two sides hung up the communication.

Although the X Star Cluster was blocked by the divine power storm, individuals like drones without life signs were not restricted from entering or leaving. Now the route from the Crystal Nucleus Research Station to the X Star Cluster was clear. Asu-man's crystal could be packaged at the Crystal Nucleus Research Station and sent directly by a high-speed drone. There was no technical difficulty in this.

"I can't help but remember the time when I used express delivery to send my little bats all over the world," Vivian said with emotion, "It's been three years in a flash… I didn't expect to encounter someone sending their clone by express delivery again at this time."

Hao Ren chuckled: "My drone won't handle it violently."

"Don't mention it," Vivian said with a bitter face, "I still feel dizzy when I think about it… The express delivery guys are too scary."

Since a stable route and clear navigation beacons had been established, the high-speed drone did not need to go through a long "climbing" process to travel from the Crystal Nucleus Research Station to the X Star Cluster, so Hao Ren and the others quickly received the "express delivery" sent by Asu-man.

It was an irregular crystal more than one person tall. The translucent white crystal was roughly spindle-shaped, and its core seemed to seal a group of constantly jumping fluorescent lights. Along with the crystal was a ring-shaped silver-white floating device: it could be put on the waist of the spindle-shaped crystal and float forward with the crystal, so that the crystal without the ability to move could move with the personnel.

This ring-shaped device was not prepared by Asu-man himself, but the host of the Crystal Nucleus Research Station autonomously arranged the production of such a gadget after learning about the mission requirements.

Looking at the crystal prism floating in the air with the ring on it, Lily couldn't help but twitch her ears and mutter: "I always feel like this thing will flash and twenty members of the kitchen knife gang wielding fluorescent tubes will jump out, shouting 'For Air!' while forcibly demolishing our base…"

Everyone said in unison: "Enough!"

"I can't wait to see those dormant compatriots," Asu-man's voice suddenly came from the crystal prism at this time, "When can we set off?"

Lily was startled by the sudden sound and couldn't help but reach out and poke the surface of the crystal prism with her paw: "Wow, can you really use this to transmit consciousness and perception?"

"This is an innate instinct for the Starfarers – we were born in a dangerous environment, and splitting ourselves is sometimes a necessary means of survival."

"We will board the ship and set off in an hour," Since various preparations had been made while waiting for the "express delivery", and there were only three people including the little fish, Hao Ren directly decided on the departure time, "Do you need us to prepare anything? For example, a platform to place the crystal on or something for polishing and waxing…"

Asu-man: "…I don't need polishing…"

One hour later, the outpost base starport platform.

With the help of the floating ring, the Asu-man crystal steadily entered the starship gate, while Vivian and Hao Ren (and Doudou, who was being held in Hao Ren's arms) said goodbye to the others.

Although it was only a short-term exploratory voyage according to plan, no one knew what they would find in those dormant starships, or whether the time would be delayed due to accidents, so some necessary arrangements still had to be made.

Among the group of people, Gunny was particularly listless. She drooped her ears and tail and squatted next to Hao Ren, muttering: "Big Cat, so you're going out to play again and you're not taking me, meow…"

"All you know is playing, playing, playing. I'm going out to do serious business," Hao Ren glared at this silly cat who hadn't made much progress in two years, then looked up at Izhaks, "Big Guy, while we're out, you'll be in charge of taking care of this place temporarily. The most important things to pay attention to are two things: first, don't let Gunny run around, and second, keep an eye on your daughter. These two days, I've only seen her wandering around the antenna of the remote thought array with a small screwdriver…"

Izhaks wiped his shiny forehead: "Don't worry, don't worry…"

"While we are away, the engineering projects here will continue to be carried out. The resonance crystal detection antenna array will probably be completed in five days, and the remote thought array will be online in three days. If everything goes well, I will return before that – if I don't make it in time, you can let Zhum take over the body of the eldest son here, and other projects can be temporarily handed over to the automatic system."

After explaining everything, Hao Ren and Vivian boarded the Giant Tortoise Rock Terrace, which had been ready for a long time, with a fish baby. Accompanied by a slight roar, the silver-white starship slowly rose into the air and turned into a stream of light, disappearing into the sky.

"As expected, we didn't receive any attacks from the blockade when the three of us took off together." Looking at the cosmic starry sky picture transmitted from the external monitor, Hao Ren couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, while Doudou in his arms waved her tail and stretched out her small arms to greet the stars on the holographic projection: "Yay! We're flying again!"

"The data terminal said, "I can sense that there are always subtle energy fluctuations around the starship. The divine power network is actively scanning us, but it seems to have passed successfully."

Vivian snorted twice: "Hmph, this network is not very smart."

Hao Ren quickly shook his head: "Don't say that. If it were any smarter, we would really only be able to play *Civilization* on that planet."

"I feel a little strange," At this time, the voice suddenly came from the Asu-man crystal floating in the corner of the bridge, "This star region… seems to have many 'things'."

Hao Ren was a little confused by this inexplicable statement: "Many things?"

"I don't know how to describe it to you," Asu-man said, "The Starfarers' perception of the world is different from yours. If I have to say it… it's like ubiquitous whispers. There are countless unknowable and immeasurable things entrenched in the space of this universe. Countless whispers and noisy noises are mixed together, and they are endlessly noisy in the cosmic background radiation… but I can't find their source."