At their current speed, even a rather famous blue giant star now looked to have a reddish hue to Li Qingsong, as if it were a red dwarf.
The flow of time also changed.
Previously, when the fleet traveled at 8% of the speed of light, time on board only slowed by approximately 0.32%. For every 365 days that passed externally, only about 364 days would pass for the fleet—a difference of one day.
But now, traveling at 50% of the speed of light, time had slowed by a full 13.4%!
As a result, for every 365 days that passed externally, only about 316 days went by for the fleet!
It had slowed by a total of 49 days!
This change in time would cause many problems. For instance, communication between Li Qingsong and the Clones he had left behind in the Pegasus V432 Star System would become confusing due to the temporal disparity.
For example, if a Clone reported detecting an event a year ago, Li Qingsong would make a miscalculation if he tried to trace it back based on his own timeframe.
Left with no other choice, Li Qingsong had to adjust the temporal parameters once more to prevent such errors.
At the same time, Li Qingsong observed that the impact of interstellar particles, previously of negligible effect, had now drastically increased in intensity.
Like high-energy, heavy-nucleus radiation, they relentlessly bombarded every ship in the fleet.
Li Qingsong had once conducted an experiment. He placed a bull inside a sealed container that had no radiation shielding and left it in interstellar space for several minutes without the protection of an Energy Shield before retrieving it.
After only a few minutes of exposure to the interstellar heavy-nucleus radiation, the strong bull began showing symptoms within ten-odd minutes.
It began to vomit, developed a fever, coughed up blood, and ultimately died.
The intense interstellar radiation had broken the chemical bonds within its cells, causing them to lose their ability to replicate. As a result, its damaged skin could no longer heal, its internal mucous membranes could not recover, and it simply died.
Li Qingsong didn't dare let the Clones eat the meat, instead discarding it as waste.
'Heaven knew what elements the heavy-nucleus radiation had created within its body; eating that meat would likely lead to a fatal case of diarrhea.'
In that moment, the vast, tranquil void of space suddenly seemed fraught with peril.
Fortunately, the faint yellow glow surrounding each of the large ships, like the light of a magical candle, protected all life and all creations within, preventing any external harm from penetrating.
Time flowed on quietly. For now, Li Qingsong had ceased large-scale, multi-disciplinary research and development, focusing his main efforts on advancing biotechnology.
The Flying Star had been completely consumed, and their material supplies were no longer plentiful. Since biotechnology research didn't consume many resources, it was the perfect time to focus on achieving a breakthrough in that field.
Li Qingsong had long felt that after achieving major breakthroughs in all other scientific disciplines, a breakthrough in his biotechnology was inevitable.
'After all, biology is closely related to physics. It wouldn't make sense for fundamental physics and other fields to advance while biology remained stagnant, right?'
And so, Li Qingsong dedicated himself to his research. After more than twenty years, he finally developed the latest gene-editing protocols, new gene-editing tools, and various auxiliary modification instruments. He then created 1,000 of the newest Clones and placed them into cultivation pods.
After the usual six-month development period, the 1,000 new Clones were born.
'With so many technological breakthroughs and iterative optimizations, I wonder what the maximum number of consciousness links for these Clones will be?'
A mix of anticipation and nervousness in his heart, Li Qingsong began the test.
After transferring his consciousness into one of the Clones and attempting to link with all his existing Clones, he instantly felt it again—that "empty freight truck" sensation.
At that moment, there were a full 1.9 billion Clones in a waking state. Previously, his maximum consciousness link was only 1.5 billion, making him unable to connect with all of them at once.
But now, even after connecting to all 1.9 billion Clones, he still felt that "empty" sensation!
Suppressing his excitement, Li Qingsong decisively ordered all hibernating Clones to be awakened. In an instant, the total number of conscious Clones reached three billion.
Li Qingsong linked the consciousness of all three billion Clones. But… he still felt he had capacity to spare, that he could connect to even more!
But there were no more Clones for him to try connecting to. The entire fleet only had three billion Clones in total.
With the fleet's current limited material reserves, now was not the time for mass-producing more Clones.
Li Qingsong felt a mix of excitement and regret.
'I won't be able to determine the new maximum for my consciousness links for now. I'll only find out once I'm inside a Star System, have sufficient materials, and can produce enough Clones to test my new limit.'
'Still, even if the new maximum is just three billion, the improvement is immense.'
'The larger the base number, the smaller the percentage increase tends to be. But this… this is at least a 100% improvement!'
With the breakthrough in biotechnology complete, Li Qingsong's large-scale scientific research came to a temporary halt.
His current material reserves were insufficient to support large-scale research in any single discipline.
'It's time to find an Interstellar System to stop at.'
Li Qingsong thought to himself, 'I've now been traveling at 50% of the speed of light for over twenty years, covering more than ten light-years. Even if that Intelligent Mechanical Calamity were to give chase now, it would take them at least a hundred years to catch up.'
'A hundred years is more than enough time for me to just gather resources.'
With his current level of technology, Li Qingsong wasn't entirely powerless to fight back if it came down to a desperate struggle.
But there was no need.
'Every moment I delay, I grow stronger. So why not stall for as long as I can? Why not wait until I have an absolute technological advantage and am one hundred percent certain of victory before I confront the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity?'
'To survive in this perilous Cosmos, it's best to be cautious.'
With this in mind, Li Qingsong adjusted his course, maneuvering the entire fleet toward a nearby star with a relatively suitable environment.
The star's burning was relatively stable, and it had three orbiting planets—two rocky and one gaseous. It was the perfect place to gather resources.
The fleet changed its orientation, and the long-dormant Thrust Devices reactivated, beginning to blast brilliant light as they decelerated toward the star.
Time passed quietly, and the fleet drew ever closer to the star.
A message suddenly reached Li Qingsong's fleet.
"Greetings, honored guest. This Interstellar System has been established as a temporary station for our 'Harville' civilization."
"..."