Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones-Chapter 374: Where Are You?

At this moment, three "suns" suddenly appeared in this vast and deep space.

And because these three suns were too close, they converged into one when viewed from a slightly greater distance.

A radiating sun brazenly unleashed its heat and energy, its light so intense that it completely obscured the full-power thruster flames of 100 comprehensive spacecraft.

This sun rapidly dimmed a few seconds after appearing. But the "dust" — composed of the aerospace carrier's hull and its loaded materials, completely vaporized by the hydrogen bomb explosion — still possessed extremely high temperatures.

According to the principle of blackbody radiation, when the temperature rises to a certain degree, an object will begin to emit light and radiate heat to the outside.

At this moment, because it had not yet spread for too long, this interstellar dust cloud's density was still quite high, and its temperature was quite elevated.

Thus, this nebula replaced the previous "sun," continuing to emit a faint blue light into the universe.

But this faint blue light did not last too long either. As their volume rapidly expanded and their temperature rapidly decreased, the faint blue light turned bright white, then yellow, then red and dark red, before finally being completely diluted and disappearing.

The entire process lasted less than five hours.

The 100 comprehensive spacecraft, accelerating at full power in different directions, also reached their acceleration in less than five hours.

In fact, to be safe, it was only four and a half hours.

Before this nebula completely dimmed, the acceleration had already stopped, the engines were completely shut down, and they entered an electromagnetic silent state.

Within a fleet, the largest and lowest-acceleration spacecraft is undoubtedly the aerospace carrier. The next would be these large comprehensive spacecraft.

And when there was an aerospace carrier before, the fleet's maximum acceleration could reach 21 m/s^2. Now, without the aerospace carrier dragging them down, coupled with full-power propulsion at all costs, the acceleration of these 100 comprehensive spacecraft reached 80 m/s^2.

Four and a half hours of acceleration provided each of these comprehensive spacecraft with an acceleration of approximately 1,300 kilometers per second in different directions.

The distance between the two furthest spacecraft reached about 21 million kilometers, and they were still moving away from each other at a speed of 2,600 kilometers per second.

Originally, this mutual separation had no meaning.

Even if there were ten thousand spacecraft, the bright thruster flames during full-power acceleration would expose the flight path data of every single spacecraft, ultimately allowing the Purple Moon Fleet to track them down one by one.

But now, the bright thruster flames during acceleration have been obscured by the hydrogen bomb explosion and the light from the aerospace carrier's vaporization.

Originally, even so, it would have been meaningless.

Even if the brightness of the thruster flames was obscured, the thruster flame trails would still exist.

Detecting the thruster flame trails would still allow their flight path data to be determined.

But now…

The interstellar dust cloud formed by the vaporization of the aerospace carrier, continuously expanding at high speed, spread to this area.

At this moment, the radius of this interstellar dust cloud has reached 21 million kilometers, roughly spherical, with a total surface area of approximately 5.5 quadrillion square kilometers.

A total mass of 1.8 billion tons expanded outwards in a spherical shape; when its radius reached 21 million kilometers, on average, the mass passing through every square centimeter of this large sphere's surface was approximately one 327 billionth of a gram.

This mass seems very, very small, but if converted into particle count, it is an extremely astonishing number.

There are approximately 100 billion particles!

And at this moment, in the interstellar space where the fleet is located, the normal average particle density is only 0.001 particles per cubic centimeter!

The so-called thruster flame trail, in essence, is the interaction between the high-speed plasma ejected by the engine and the interstellar dust particles. By analyzing the abnormal kinetic energy, direction, energy level, etc., of the interstellar dust particles in a certain area, one can determine whether a fleet has passed through that area recently.

But now…

These interstellar dust particles, which were only about 0.001 per cubic centimeter and carried the thruster flame trails, were subjected to an indiscriminate bombardment of 100 billion particles per square centimeter.

The thruster flames of these 100 comprehensive spacecraft, accelerating at full power, not only had their light completely obscured by the hydrogen bomb explosion, but their thruster flame trails were also completely erased by the high-temperature plasma flow formed from the aerospace carrier!

This method of eliminating thruster flame trails cannot be used by large-scale fleets.

The reason is simple: large-scale fleets occupy too much space and require too much mass to consume. And in interstellar space where resources are so precious, how much material is available for such squandering?

Furthermore, even if there were enough materials to squander, it would only provide temporary concealment for a short time. Large-scale fleets themselves are already large enough targets and cannot be concealed by a mere few hours.

This method is only applicable to the current situation, where the total fleet size is only 100 comprehensive spacecraft, and each spacecraft is separated and independent.

Even so, this "thruster flame erasure" came at an extremely heavy price.

Even if these spacecraft eventually reach their destination, they will completely lose hope of returning due to insufficient resources and fuel.

But at this moment, no one, including Heimerlan, cared about these things anymore.

At this very moment, only one thought remained in Heimerlan's mind.

Go to that solar system! As long as they can reach that solar system, all this sacrifice will not be in vain!

In the vast and deep space, the short four and a half hours of full-power propulsion had ended.

The gravity, which was as high as 8.16 times that of Earth, suddenly disappeared. Every intelligent life form, including Heimerlan, suddenly broke free from their seats, gasping for breath.

Such high gravity was like torture.

Fortunately, it only lasted for a few hours. Any longer, and bones would probably have been broken.

As soon as the acceleration ended, Heimerlan immediately got up and stumbled to the control panel. He breathed a sigh of relief only after realizing that the "stardust impact" formed by the aerospace carrier's hydrogen bomb explosion had already swept past their spacecraft.

The thruster flame trails from the previous acceleration phase had been completely cleared. At this moment, the spacecraft had also entered a state of complete radio silence.

The engines were completely shut down, no longer emitting any radiation or leaving any traces. Even the energy shield, which protected against interstellar particle bombardment, was set to its lowest intensity, emitting only a very faint glow that was invisible from a slight distance.

The 100 comprehensive spacecraft, like 100 lifeless rocks, continued to move away from each other in different directions at a speed of 1,300 kilometers per second, in addition to their original 85% of light speed.

Heimerlan knew that from this moment on, it was truly a matter of fate for each.

Time quietly passed, and in the blink of an eye, the hundreds of billions of kilometers between the two fleets were crossed, and the Purple Moon Fleet arrived near the hydrogen bomb detonation point.

At this moment, the distance between their two furthest spacecraft was already about 17 billion kilometers.

Is 17 billion kilometers considered far?

In this interstellar era, where cruising speeds are often 70% to 80% of light speed, it is clearly not far.

But the crucial question is…

The Purple Moon Fleet did not know in which direction within this 17 billion kilometer range their 100 spacecraft were.

Pursuit and search are two different concepts.

And searching also takes time. For every second that passes, the radius of the area they need to search expands by 1,300 kilometers.

Through an optical telescope that did not need to emit any radiation, Heimerlan quietly watched the movements of the Purple Moon Fleet.

After slowing down slightly, they began to conduct an inspection at the hydrogen bomb explosion point.

Slowing down took three days.

Good, the radius of the search area expanded by 330 million kilometers.

Clearly, they were trying to find some traces of their fleet at the explosion point. Equally clearly, they would not find anything there.

Because all traces had been cleared by the light and radiation of the hydrogen bomb explosion.

After staying there for about two days, the Purple Moon Fleet seemed to finally confirm this point.

Good, the radius of the search area expanded by another 230 million kilometers.

The Purple Moon Fleet arrived at the location where their spacecraft began accelerating and once again started their inspection there.

This time lasted even longer, a full 15 days.

The radius of the search area expanded by another 1.7 billion kilometers.

The Purple Moon Fleet seemed to finally confirm that the only way to find their spacecraft was to conduct a carpet search of this airspace.

And this required advance deployment and arrangements, needing to delineate search areas and dispatch search forces.

This took about five days.

The radius of the search area expanded by approximately another 580 million kilometers.

Numerous probe satellites and combat spacecraft began to spread out, conducting a carpet search.

The moment of true fate decision had arrived.

Heimerlan sat in his seat, quietly watching the large screen, awaiting fate's judgment.

Regardless of the outcome, they had no ability to interfere. The only thing they could do was accept.

The public communication channel, based on Stellar Communication Technology, was silent.

Time quietly flowed, and in the blink of an eye, several days passed.

When the radius of the search area once again expanded by about 7 billion kilometers, there was a message in the public communication channel.

"Ship 37 reporting, our side detected traces of a Purple Moon warship 9.7 million kilometers away. After comprehensive judgment by Primal, our exposure probability has risen to over 99.95%, exceeding the trigger threshold.

Based on previous agreements, to prevent our side from being captured by the enemy and leading to intelligence leakage, our ship will initiate the self-destruct program.

Fellow compatriots, goodbye, I wish you… good luck."

On the large screen, the green square numbered 37 turned red.

In the depths of the distant starry sky, a faint flash of light also came from the location corresponding to Ship 37.

Heimerlan watched quietly, without the slightest ripple in his heart.

There was nothing to be sad or sympathetic about.

This situation had long been anticipated.

Even though the radius of the search area had now increased to over 50 billion kilometers, it was still too small for the Purple Moon Fleet.

It was impossible to expect all spacecraft to escape. Some spacecraft would always be discovered by the Purple Moon Fleet, and then they would initiate their self-destruct programs.

This time, it was merely Ship 37's bad luck.

The next one to be discovered and self-destructed might very well be the No. 1 ship where he was located.

After only 16 hours, when the search radius had expanded by only about 75 million kilometers, information came again through the public communication channel.

"No. 55 Ship reporting…

Our ship will initiate the self-destruct program. Good luck, my compatriots."

"No. 46 Ship reporting…"

"No. 7 Ship reporting…"

"No. 89 Ship reporting…"

"No. 32 Ship reporting…"

…

Inside the No. 1 Ship, everyone was silent, waiting.

Fortunately, after the rapid increase in the number of ships found in the initial stage, its growth rate had now slowly decreased.

At this moment, out of the 10 times 10, a total of 100 squares, more than half had turned red. Among the remaining small half of green, squares were still constantly turning red.

It took the Purple Moon Fleet more than three years to find these more than 70 comprehensive ships. And during these three years, the search radius expanded by another 135 billion kilometers.

The remaining less than 30 comprehensive ships, each about 10 kilometers in size, were now scattered in this deep space, where the total radius had expanded to about 200 billion kilometers, and the total volume reached 335 quintillion cubic kilometers.

If this expanse of deep space were considered the size of Earth, then what the Purple Moon Fleet was doing was trying to find more than 20 specks of dust, each with a length of only 3.45 femtometers, in a space as vast as an Earth.

Even PM2.5 dust particles, which are barely visible to the naked eye, are 7.25 trillion times the size of these specks of dust.

It was truly countless times more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack.

But… this was still not impossible for a Strong Nuclear peak civilization.

The long search was still ongoing. The tens of millions of modified spy probes, as well as ten thousand warships and hundreds of thousands of unmanned warships, were still tirelessly searching this expanse of deep space, circle after circle.

Slowly, more than a dozen comprehensive ships were found by this large-scale search. Correspondingly, more than a dozen squares turned from green to red.

Time slowly passed until the search radius expanded to one trillion kilometers—this was both the limit of their Stellar Communication Technology and roughly the limit of the Purple Moon Civilization. On the large screen, the number of green squares remained fixed at 15, no longer decreasing.

Perhaps it would still decrease. But Heimerlan knew that even if their ship was searched again, he would not be able to get the news.

Heimerlan still kept the ship silent and waited for another two years.

At this moment, the search radius had exceeded 1.082 trillion kilometers.

This number could already be confirmed to have exceeded the Purple Moon Civilization's Stellar Communication Technology distance limit.

Heimerlan finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

He knew that he was most likely safe.

Because beyond the Stellar Communication Technology distance limit, such a large-scale search was almost unsustainable and impossible to conduct.

It was highly probable that the Purple Moon Fleet's search had ended.

More than twenty years of suppression, more than twenty years of torment, finally came to an end at this moment.

Looking at the squares on the large screen that had permanently turned red and could never return to green, listening to the background noise in the public communication channel from which no more information from his compatriots could come, at this moment, even Heimerlan couldn't help but shed tears.

But now was still not the time to act rashly.

Although the Purple Moon Fleet had most likely stopped searching, if they activated their thrusters, the light from the exhaust plume could still expose their whereabouts.

Heimerlan calmed himself and waited for another ten years. It was not until if he did not change course, he would truly miss his destination and never be able to reach it, that he finally initiated the first propulsion in decades.

A bright exhaust plume sprayed out, slowly pushing the massive ship to change its course, correcting the previous deviation from its route.

He looked at the vast and boundless deep space, but saw nothing but the stars.

He saw no trace of the Purple Moon Fleet, nor any trace of their ships activating propulsion.

"My compatriots… where are you? Are you still alive? Are you also heading towards our destination?

Can we reunite at our destination?"