Wandering Meteor
Chapter 340 - 339: The Magical Metal Civilization

Chapter 340: Chapter 339: The Magical Metal Civilization

The Constant Star Lu Chen originally had a mass of 218,500 Constant Star Masses, with a diameter of 23 million kilometers, and a Hydrogen Element composition of 97%.

In these eighty years, traveling at five times the speed of light within the Wandering Star System, it covered approximately four hundred light-years, absorbing a vast amount of interstellar material along the way, which enabled it to grow to a diameter of 1.2 light-years.

Although stars in the Universe aren’t as abundant as interstellar material, over such a great distance, the Constant Star Lu Chen still encountered over thirty stars, as well as a giant hydrogen nebula. However, the masses of these thirty-plus stars were not high, with the heaviest being only three thousand Constant Star Masses, and the lightest just one hundred Constant Star Masses. On the contrary, the giant hydrogen nebula had a greater mass, totaling five thousand Constant Star Masses.

Therefore, after completely absorbing the Hydrogen from these stars and the giant hydrogen nebula, the mass of the Constant Star Lu Chen increased by thirty-three thousand Constant Star Masses, bringing its total mass to 251,500, and the diameter of its body grew to 23.5 million kilometers. Due to the absorption of a small amount of non-Hydrogen Elements, the hydrogen composition did not change much, remaining around 97%. As for other changes in the Constant Star Body, there were some, but they were minor and could be ignored.

Despite the considerable growth in mass, both the Constant Star Lu Chen and the Wandering Alliance maintained neither arrogance nor negligence in vigilance.

After all, the lessons from the Liutai War were still vivid in their minds. Led by Constant Star Lu Chen, the Wandering Alliance must always maintain a sense of crisis because if you do not guard against crisis, the crisis will swallow you, a fact that is beyond any bargaining with Shang Liang.

...

The Wandering also maintained a constant crisis awareness.

Despite deciding to follow the Battle Star of the Metal Elements back to the headquarters of the Metal Civilization, until the true nature of things was made clear, it still maintained a certain level of vigilance—an instinct.

When the Wandering followed the Battle Star of the Metal Elements through the lengthy Space Wormhole and arrived at the stronghold of the Metal Civilization, situated above the wings of the nebula group in the Jupeng Constellation, the Wandering was astounded by the scene before its eyes!

It saw an immensely vast expanse of a colossal nebula ahead. The Wandering had considered the Wandering Star System to be not small, but compared to the Metal Nebula before its eyes, it paled in significance. The Metal Nebula in front had a diameter of at least a thousand light-years, filled densely with Metal Planets. The Metal Civilization truly lived up to its reputation as a venerable Level 4 Civilization, having accumulated so much combat power over the endless years. From this perspective, it is really incomparable to the Wandering Alliance, which had just become a Level 4 Civilization. No wonder the Titan Civilization was willing to withdraw when they saw the Metal Civilization step in. It seems that within this region of space, the Metal Civilization holds significant renown.

Indeed, the Wandering’s guess was not wrong. The fame of the Metal Civilization within the nebula group of the Jupeng Constellation was quite significant.

They had exclusively occupied a part of the right wing of the nebula group in the Jupeng Constellation, with the space they occupied having a diameter of over several million light-years. Even though the Metal Nebula has only a diameter of over a thousand light-years, the extent of their influence was such that no civilization would dare to trespass lightly.

However, while the Wandering was observing the situation of the Metal Nebula, it encountered a very strange phenomenon—there was not a single star to be found within such a massive Metal Nebula. Initially, the Wandering thought it had made a mistake and thus observed it several times carefully, only to find that there was no mistake; indeed, there were no stars in the Metal Nebula.

This astonished the Wandering. Although as a Level 4 Civilization, the Metal Civilization completely possessed the technology to create environments similar to those of stars, wouldn’t it be more convenient and straightforward to deal with a large mass Constant Star?

Out of curiosity, the Wandering immediately inquired the accompanying Battle Star of the Metal Elements. After hearing the explanation, the Wandering finally had an epiphany. All its understanding was from the perspective of the Wandering Alliance. In fact, the Metal Civilization was entirely different in structure and habits from typical biological life.

Firstly, the conventional concept that stars and star environments are necessary for life to evolve does not apply to the Metal Civilization, because Metal Lifeforms do not evolve relying on the light of stars. The place where Metal Lifeforms were born is devoid of stars, just a disorderly Asteroid belt with a Metal Planet atop. This is why there are no stars in the Metal Nebula. Metal Lifeforms, from their birth to their development and survival, do not rely on starlight; they are a very unique form of life in the Universe.

Nevertheless, while there are no stars in the Metal Nebula, there is a massive Black Hole at the center of the nebula to maintain its stability. Speaking of this giant Black Hole, it actually has an intriguing history. Initially, when the Metal Civilization discovered this cluster of celestial nebulae, it decided to settle here. Therefore, they retained the central massive Black Hole but destroyed all surrounding stars. They were then replaced with their own Metal Planets. Ultimately, through a series of acts such as occupying others’ nests and switching places of stars, the Metal Nebula became a peculiar type of nebula without any stars in the Universe.

However, it’s surprising that without stars, it means that the surface temperature of Metal Planets is extremely low, typically around -250 degrees. How could life be born in such conditions, and what is the structure of the life of the Metal Civilization?

In response to the new questions from the Wandering, the Battle Star of the Metal Elements explained, "Under such extreme conditions, how exactly were we born? This secret is still unknown to us as well. Don’t think that just because we are a Level 4 Civilization, we don’t have many mysteries that we are completely ignorant of. This is also the reason why we have invited you to come back and study with us."

"As for the structure of our life, actually, it’s not that complicated. We are made up of a large number of Metal Elements. In the composition of our body elements, there are no non-metal elements, but our bodies contain over a hundred types of Metal Elements found in the Universe. At least, that is what our current research shows. Moreover, when we studied our body composition, we discovered many Metal Elements in our bodies that are temporarily unfindable in the Universe."

Listening to the explanation of the Battle Star of the Metal Elements, the Wandering was somewhat astonished. This was truly a real ’Metal Person’!

However, the term "Metal Person" is not entirely accurate because the life forms of the Metal Civilization are not shaped like humans. Their overall form is a Metal Ball about one meter in diameter.

What’s magical is that these Metal Balls actually have arms and legs. On the front of the Metal Balls are a large eye and a mouth. Organs like hair, noses, or ears are, of course, completely absent, so these Metal Lifeforms can barely be called Metal Persons. What’s more incredible is that their arms and legs can be retracted into their body when not needed, much like a turtle can retract into its shell. When retracted, the Metal Person is a Metal Ball, while when extended, the Metal Person looks somewhat like a round version of Minions.