Rebirth of the Super Battleship
Chapter 229: Tachyons

Through long-term experimentation, Xiao Yu discovered that any form of intelligent life replicated through cloning or similar methods invariably possessed certain cognitive defects. These defects stemmed from the genetic level and, with the current state of Xiao Yu’s technology, could not be repaired.

This meant that the plan to obtain a vast scientific workforce through cloning was essentially impossible. It was precisely because of this that Xiao Yu did not use this technology to massively expand the Luka population but instead allowed them to reproduce naturally.

For this reason, Xiao Yu had an intense desire for intelligent life, especially those with scientific capabilities.

The creation of life seemed to belong to the grandeur of the universe, to the greatness of nature, it was not something that artificial forces could interfere with.

Even with the strength of the Taihao Civilization and the genetically modified humans transformed by them, it still took more than two million years to develop to their current level of civilization, which likely had something to do with this principle as well.

Under these circumstances, the more than four thousand scientists of various races who had been captured this time were the most precious treasure.

Aboard this County-Class spaceship, when they heard Xiao Yu’s explanation, dozens of Mantis Race scientists were moved to tears, breaking down in sobs.

“Centuries of wandering and being kept in captivity… we’ve finally encountered a benevolent civilization.”

“My poor child… before he could even reach adulthood, he was killed by the vile Molian Civilization. If only we had met you earlier… If he hadn’t died, he would have definitely grown into an outstanding scientist.”

“Master, please rest assured, we will contribute all of our knowledge and scientific capabilities to advance your technology…”

“That’s good.” Xiao Yu nodded slightly. “However, for the time being, I’ll have to trouble you to continue living here for a while longer. The transformation of your new home is underway. It’s estimated that you’ll be able to move in within a month.”

Xiao Yu had already deployed several City-Class ships for the urgent renovation efforts. Once the retrofitting was complete, these scientists would be able to move in.

“Thank you. Thank you so much!” Dozens of Mantis Race scientists kowtowed, expressing their deep respect to Xiao Yu.

Scenes like this were happening simultaneously inside over a hundred County-Class ships. Through reclaiming these alien scientists, Xiao Yu once again experienced how critical strength was to the prosperity of a civilization.

Of course, Xiao Yu was no philanthropist. His kindness toward these civilizations was based entirely on their value. To establish a deterrent, Xiao Yu had selected a few of the most unyielding, least likely to surrender Molian prisoners and executed them in a live broadcast viewed by all intelligent beings from the various civilizations. He used the most brutal methods to kill them, delivering a powerful shock to the alien scientists.

“They need to understand: if they work well, they will get everything they want. If they refuse… hmph, I’m not someone known for mercy.”

After subduing these alien scientists, the only headache Xiao Yu still had left were the extremely stubborn beings of the Molian Civilization. Killing them felt like a waste. Not killing them meant they would never submit to him.

“Our mother civilization will catch up to you sooner or later. If you treat us a little better, maybe we’ll even speak a few good words for you in front of the Leader, perhaps your civilization will only be demoted to slaves rather than being exterminated!”

“The power of our Molian Civilization is beyond the comprehension of a petty Level-4 Civilization like yours! Don’t think those piles of broken junk you picked up somewhere, those pathetic shields, can stop our fleets! Surrender now, it’s your only chance of survival!”

“Our Molian Civilization will never bow to the enemy! Give up that foolish hope!”

Every time Xiao Yu tried to indoctrinate or convert these creatures, he would be bombarded with this kind of rhetoric. In response, Xiao Yu carried out a brutal crackdown. Over the course of several days, he slaughtered hundreds of Molians, but not a single result came of it.

“Did I capture them, or did they capture me?” Xiao Yu fumed inwardly. “If it weren’t for the fact that you possess some Level-5 Civilization technology, I would’ve long since killed you and used your bodies to fertilize my plants. Do you really think I won’t do it if I’m pushed far enough?”

“This matter can wait for now.” Frustrated, Xiao Yu temporarily gave up on trying to subdue them.

A few days after the integration efforts began, a large number of Molian Civilization computers, reverse-engineered to match Xiao Yu’s usage habits, had been manufactured. Xiao Yu commenced intense analysis and research, while also beginning a full investigation of the captured Province-Class Molian spaceship.

As work progressed, vast amounts of data pertaining to Level-5 Civilizations began to flow into Xiao Yu’s mind.

“Phew… so that’s how it is.” Xiao Yu let out a breath of relief.

Among all the Level-5 Civilization data, after removing the irrelevant parts, the term that appeared most frequently in the most critical scientific documents was “tachyon.”

“So, antimatter doesn’t just represent antimatter. Through comprehensive research into antimatter, it’s possible to understand the properties of dark matter and even negative matter. This is the true essence of Level-5 Civilization technology.”

The so-called “tachyon” had already been proposed back during the Earth era. It was the counterpart to the “bradyon.”

In the microscopic world, particles like protons and neutrons, which are constrained by the strong nuclear force, are called hadrons. Based on their mass, they fall under the category of baryons, while electrons are leptons. But whether hadrons, baryons, or electrons, they all fall under the classification of bradyons.

Of the sixty-one fundamental particles predicted by the Standard Model, excluding photons, all particles are bradyons. This is because their velocities can only approach but never reach the speed of light.

By injecting energy into them, these particles can be accelerated. The more energy they receive, the faster they go but only up to the speed of light. Their speed has an upper limit, which is why they’re called bradyons.

Apart from photons, all of these particles have mass greater than zero, in other words, they have positive mass. In fact, both matter and antimatter have positive mass. The only distinction between them lies in their opposite electrical charges.

Tachyons, on the other hand, are an entirely new category of particle. Their defining trait is negative mass. As a result, their velocity is perpetually fixed above the speed of light. When energy is given to a bradyon, its speed increases. But tachyons behave in the opposite way, the more energy they receive, the slower they go.

Like bradyons, tachyons also have a speed limit. Their minimum speed is the speed of light, meaning that tachyons always move faster than light and can only approach the speed of light from above, never below it.

Due to this property, tachyons can never be directly detected by any observational instrument because all intelligent life lives in a world of bradyons. However, just like black holes, while tachyons cannot be directly observed, their existence can be inferred from certain effects they produce.

The discovery and utilization of tachyons are the defining traits of a Level-5 Civilization.

“So this is how it is… However, using the ability to mass-produce antimatter as the standard for determining civilization levels doesn’t seem wrong either. The discovery and use of tachyons are intimately tied to antimatter, and even to dark matter. I see now… I see…”

At this moment, Xiao Yu experienced a deep revelation.

Back in the Earth era, humanity had already discovered the first three categories of matter: ordinary matter, antimatter, and dark matter.

Ordinary matter was the kind we interact with daily. Antimatter was an extension of antiparticles. As everyone knows, within atoms, electrons carry a negative charge and a spin quantum number of +1/2. Positrons, or anti-electrons, are their mirror image: they carry a positive charge and have a spin quantum number of -1/2. Not just electrons—protons and neutrons also have their own antiparticles.

Matter composed of particles is regular matter. Matter composed of antiparticles is, naturally, antimatter. That is the origin of antimatter.

Dark matter was even more mysterious. Based on calculations of mass, most of the universe’s total mass came from dark matter. Yet aside from gravitational effects, dark matter seemed to contribute nothing else, it was undetectable and unobservable. During the Earth era, humans had only theorized its existence and never conducted any real research.

Level-5 Civilizations, however, were different. They used antimatter research as a breakthrough and developed systematic scientific theories around both antimatter and dark matter. Moreover, they discovered a new kind of matter: tachyons.

Tachyons come in many types. Since their mass is negative, matter composed of tachyons is referred to as negative matter.

Tachyons possess many strange physical properties. Because their speed is always above light speed, they cannot be directly observed. Because their mass is negative, they can annihilate with all forms of positive matter, including regular and antimatter, reducing everything to nothingness. One kilogram of negative matter can react with one kilogram of positive or antimatter, the result: both vanish from the universe completely. In this process, no energy is emitted, and no radiation is released.

The law of mass-energy conservation fails within the localized scope involving tachyons. But on the scale of the entire universe, conservation still holds.

At that moment, a question that had long puzzled Xiao Yu was finally answered.

“So that’s why I observed those inexplicable mass increases during multiple particle collider experiments… It was because of tachyons…”