The moment of the New Year came.
As every record of time within the Owl Dragon Empire turned from 'Owl Dragon Star Calendar Year Two' to 'Owl Dragon Star Calendar Year Three,'
the bell rang.
This bell, even through holograms, even across countless seas of stars,
stirred the heart of everyone who heard it.
Zhao Chen listened to the bell, drinking fine wine.
He looked at Lilith beside him; Lilith had already opened a soundproof field around the baby, to keep her from being disturbed by the sound.
Charlotte's two children, on the contrary, were busy eating by themselves; each had a little round belly, and they were still eating.
Had Zhao Chen not stopped them, the two children, eyeing the wine bottles beside them, would all but have picked them up and drunk.
Zhao Hu, once stopped, only gave his father a reproachful look, and went on stuffing himself.
Zhao Baier now and then glanced at the wine bottles and licked her lips.
The little miss was likely nowhere near as quiet inside as she looked on the outside; she would be something to reckon with when she grew up.
When the bell was over,
Lilith took her leave first, and left the table with the child, who had fallen asleep.
When Zhao Liler went, Zhao Waner looked loath to let her go, and was all but running after her to be a maid at her bedside.
It had to be said, the lass Zhao Liler's succubus gifts would surely be something uncanny in future.
After that Charlotte too left the table with her two children, who had eaten and drunk their fill and begun to yawn.
Zhao Chen swept his gaze once round the whole banquet ground.
At Chu Changhe's table, Chu Xuan kept her eyes on her grandfather all the while, afraid that if she looked away, Chu Changhe would run off somewhere and go mad with his loose tongue again.
At Annie's table, Chief Bajin still sat bolt upright, but somewhat flushed; one could see he had drunk some wine.
His face still glowed with a smile he could not hold back.
Never mind that Chief Bajin himself now carried the work of middle- and low-end industry in the Owl Dragon Empire;
his two daughters were now both leaders of the Owl Dragon Empire's war industry,
among the highest academicians of the Imperial Military Industry Research Academy.
And the interstellar dwarves had now become the mainstay technical workforce of the Owl Dragon Empire.
The great majority of interstellar dwarves had taken part in industrial production.
Chief Bajin himself had never thought that the interstellar dwarves, who had once clung to the barest thread of life, could rise to glory in his own hands,
and become one of the foremost interstellar races of the Owl Dragon Empire now.
At the thought of it, Chief Bajin's eyes could not help growing wet.
Nana noticed it in her father and handed him a tissue.
And Annie at this moment had her head down, gnawing at her own 'kingdom.'
At the next table, the wolf-girl Baixue had already collapsed on the floor, and however her sister, the wolf-girl Baiyue, pulled at her, she would not get up.
All around her lay scattered wine bottles.
Chitong, beside her, held a wine bottle, smiled slightly, and took another drink by herself.
Leona was hanging on to her sister Blanche, pouring drink into Blanche without pause; Blanche's cheeks were flushed, and plainly she could not hold her drink.
But she could not withstand her sister's warmth, and drank a few glasses all the same.
Medusa beside them had drunk no little too; she glanced at the several snake-woman juniors she had brought, all of them keeled over on the table.
The snake-woman Qingman was swaying, as though about to topple.
"They really can't hold their drink." Medusa took a drink and shook her head.
Her gaze went to Chitong beside her; their eyes met, like two swordswomen about to fight a duel.
The other tables were in the main the same.
On this day everyone ate and drank without restraint.
……
Owl Dragon Star Calendar Year Three · March
Three months on,
in the Imperial Military Industry Research Academy, the Machine No. 5 experiment began at last.
Zhao Chen looked at Machine No. 5 before him.
Anyone who had seen Machine No. 1 would likely have found it hard to put Machine No. 5 before him in the same class as Machine No. 1.
For Machine No. 5 was enormous, the size of a small three-story villa.
And the place where Machine No. 5 stood was an experiment chamber fully twenty stories high and the size of two soccer fields.
The strength of this experiment chamber had been reinforced further still beforehand,
to make sure that whatever happened in the experiment, safety was assured.
"Everything is ready." Dr. Camille looked at Zhao Chen.
"Begin the experiment," Zhao Chen said.
This time Zhao Chen's face was very grave.
This Machine No. 5 could be counted the very best of this series the Owl Dragon Empire could develop now; if the result of this experiment still did not satisfy,
then any further raising of it
would likely be raising it bit by bit, with great gains hard to come by.
So this experiment was vital.
"Machine No. 5 starting; experiment begins."
The whole outer body of Machine No. 5 began to change shape, extending several parts, so that it seemed a robot about to transform.
And on these parts glowing particles appeared.
Plink.
With the familiar sound,
a star chart spread out quickly before Zhao Chen's eyes.
This time the speed far outstripped that of any experiment before.
In a few short seconds the whole Owl Dragon universe had been scanned out, and with a clarity far beyond before.
After that came the void outside the universe.
In truth everyone was ready in their minds for the stage that followed:
no more than a star chart more familiar than in the four experiments before.
Then Universe No. 1 and Universe No. 2 appeared on the star chart one after the other.
"Machine No. 5 running time, three minutes."
"Every performance and module, all normal."
Once Universe No. 1 and Universe No. 2 were both wholly within the scanning range, farther out there was still nothing but empty void.
Zhao Chen stared at the star chart; very soon the range scanned on the star chart overlapped with that of Machine No. 4 before.
The range scanned from here on would be a region they knew nothing of.
Waiting, waiting little by little.
But the waiting now went on far longer than it had taken to find a new universe before.
In the blink of an eye Machine No. 5 had run five minutes.
"Report: some modules of Machine No. 5 are beginning to overheat."
Zhao Chen sat in his chair with his arms folded over his chest.
Could the gaps between one universe and another truly be so great?
In so vast a range, only three universes?
Then to find a primordial universe would be harder than hard.
At this moment all Zhao Chen's thinking was of no use; he could only wait in silence,
wait for a result.
Six minutes.
Seven minutes.
Eight minutes.
On the star chart, the whole ring beyond the three universes was empty black.
"Report: Machine No. 5 is badly overloaded, and may fail at any moment."
Dr. Camille looked at His Majesty the Emperor; as head of this project plan, Dr. Camille knew very well that until the new material and new energy were had,
this Machine No. 5's result was in the main a limit; Machines No. 6 and No. 7 after it would at most raise it a few percentage points at this level.
So, seeing His Majesty say nothing,
Dr. Camille did not stop the experiment either.
Over this while Dr. Camille had come to sense that His Majesty the Emperor was pursuing this project plan not merely to find other universes.
He seemed to be looking for something,
in the barren cosmos.
In the end,
the time stopped, very neatly, at ten minutes.
Machine No. 5 failed; the experiment stopped.
Luckily Machine No. 5 did not explode; only Machine No. 5's whole experiment chamber was covered in thick smoke.
"Your Majesty……" Dr. Camille looked at Zhao Chen.
"Collect the experimental data; I'll upgrade Machine No. 5 later." When he had said it, Zhao Chen turned and walked silently out of the chamber.
Walking down the corridor,
Zhao Chen clenched his fists and suddenly threw several punches at the empty air.
He held back hard the urge to smash them into the wall.
After a few punches, the fury in Zhao Chen's chest eased somewhat.
He had never thought this Machine No. 5 experiment would bring no gain at all.
Machine No. 5's performance was in the main, for some time to come, the very best this project plan could do.
"It looks as though there's only the other road left." Zhao Chen's face was cold.
Machine No. 5 ran with the Owl Dragon universe as its center.
What if Machine No. 5 were started in another universe?
Then the range scanned would widen further, and could scan other regions of the cosmos not yet searched.
And now, right before Zhao Chen, there were two universes:
Universe No. 1 and Universe No. 2, found earlier.
Zhao Chen strode quickly to another project plan group.
The head of it, seeing His Majesty the Emperor come, at once stood straight and saluted. "Your Majesty."
"How is your project plan coming along?" Zhao Chen asked straight out.
"At present we've completed two stages of experiments," the head explained to Zhao Chen.
"First: whether we could keep a cross-universe spatial channel going for a long time. We did it; three times we've successfully set up a temporary cross-universe spatial channel, and can keep it open for fifteen minutes with stability assured. Second: using this temporary cross-universe spatial channel, trying whether objects can be sent through it successfully. So far we've tried successfully three times, sending a fruit, a scrapped T2 warship and a small asteroid through. The sending went very smoothly; at least at the level of our data we've found no problem. And next we'll carry out the third-stage experiment, a very important one: the round-trip experiment. This experiment is in two steps as well. The first step is to use robots, riding a warship through the temporary cross-universe spatial channel, to reach the universe on the other side and then try to come back. This experiment is to settle several points. That is, time! Whether the flow of time changes when using this cross-universe spatial channel. With our spatial folding, for instance, the whole process takes a few seconds. But with star-gate transport, the time differs with the distance. We must determine whether the cross-universe spatial channel involves time. If it does, the first batch of robots may go and never come back. Second step: supposing that in the first step we conclude the cross-universe spatial channel takes little time, and the robots can go and come back between the two places smoothly and fast, then our cross-universe spatial channel project has succeeded. And last comes sending a crewed warship in person to the universe on the other side, and back again quickly. Once we reach that step, the whole third stage of experiments is complete, and this project plan's first goal is reached." When he had said this much, the head's voice was full of excitement.
Hearing all this, Zhao Chen's mood, somewhat low over Machine No. 5's result, was a good deal better.
"By what you say, how long will these plans take?" Zhao Chen asked straight out.
"One month," the head said.
"Good; I'll wait for your news in a month," Zhao Chen said.
The head said with complete assurance, "Let Your Majesty rest easy; we guarantee to complete every task you've given us!"
To find the way to break through to T7 technological civilization, Zhao Chen could only try making contact with the other two universes.
He wanted only to use the two universes as stepping-stones, to probe farther out.
But making contact with other interstellar civilizations of other universes could, with the least slip, lead to war.
Zhao Chen knew this very well, but he had no choice!
……
But before long
Zhao Chen was the first to receive a startling piece of news.
Owl Dragon Star Calendar Year Three · early April
The Imperial Military Industry Research Academy · Zhao Chen's office
Zhao Chen looked at the video window before him; Lilith had contacted him urgently.
"Your Majesty, urgent news. The Universal Space Dynamics Monitor, which has been watching our universe's space dynamics all along, detected ten minutes ago an abnormal spatial fluctuation at coordinates ** in our universe. It's suspected that an object from outside the universe has entered our universe. Marshal Charlotte has urgently sent the fleets nearby to go and see what's happening," Lilith reported to Zhao Chen gravely.
"Is it the Pitch-Black Legion?" Zhao Chen asked.
Lilith frowned tightly and said, "We can't be sure until our fleets reach the scene."
Zhao Chen was silent a moment; then he stood and said, "Very well. I'm going back to the Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship now. And pass word to Charlotte for me: every fleet group of the Owl Dragon Empire goes to combat readiness at once. And the legion fleets of every other grade are to stand ready to go over to a state of war at any moment too. In short, be ready for war."
If it was the Pitch-Black Legion fleets coming back again, they truly had to be ready for war; it might even exceed the strength of the last Pitch-Black Legion onslaught.
Annie, next door, saw Zhao Chen opposite leave in a hurry, and had heard the talk too.
She pouted, and put down the ice-cream cone she had eaten half of,
and looked earnestly at the work before her.
"These annoying fellows, pestering Annie all day long. One of these days Annie's going to invent something that blows every one of you up! Hmph!"
……
A remote star system somewhere in the Owl Dragon universe
An interstellar fleet of three hundred warships had just appeared here.
The style of these warships was wholly unlike the Owl Dragon universe's warships.
"Report, Commander: our fleet has successfully reached the target universe."
"Mm, understood. Find a way to investigate this universe's technology grade, and the controller who rules this universe, or its relations of interstellar power."
"Yes."