[Aether can manipulate the structure of space-time, alter the basic force values of the universe, and thus hide these galaxies with intelligent life, wrapping them into a pocket universe.]
[The galaxies that are wrapped become a cradle; from the outside, this area appears completely normal, as if nothing exists. Even the Demon of the Abyss cannot discover it—this is the best proven protection plan.]
Looking at the breach where the Calamity of Light was gushing out, the Aurora Dragon King was deeply worried: [But the cradle of Terra was damaged because of the battle between The Creator’s spacecraft and the Demon of the Abyss.]
[I don’t know what its current status is...]
"Is that so... Hmm, that’s enough, thank you." Ian fell silent after hearing this.
At this moment, all the information he had gathered since Redwood Base flashed through Ian’s mind.
—The light of the stars had disappeared, all in a neatly uniform way.
This is an impossible thing. Because different stars are at varying distances from Terra, even if they were to be destroyed simultaneously, their light would extinguish over years, decades, centuries, or even longer periods one by one.
For them to extinguish uniformly can mean only one possibility... that is, a ’light shield’ like Star Prison Tianyu, which uniformly covers an entire starfield.
Of course, because this shield likely expands continuously from several key reference points, the disappearance of the stars isn’t regular, which might cause a misconception.
But then the question arises.
Where did the intercepted light... go?
Does it get transmitted to the rear through the distortion of space-time, just like water changing shape as it flows past a large stone and then converging into a stream behind the stone, or does it, like a black hole, unilaterally devour all the light, creating an absolute darkness?
Gazing at the radiant beam of the supernova eruption before him, Ian felt he had gradually found the answer: "The light was absorbed by the cradle—if it were an intact cradle, all the light illuminating it would be absorbed, whether utilized or merely stored, with no information sent back." This update is available on n0velfire.net
"However, Terra’s cradle has a breach."
"Light can pass through that breach... but is that breach really empty? Is it like an iron ball with a hole that can never be repaired?"
"I believe... not. The cradle must have a self-repair system, just like if a person loses a patch of skin, although it doesn’t grow back immediately, there will be a blood scab or tissue fluid covering the wound to prevent external bacteria from entering the body."
"And this self-repair system must be based on ’space-time distortion’ or ’basic force rewriting’ in some way."
"For instance... slowing down the speed of light."
Speaking in a low voice, Ian’s voice gradually rose as he realized he had found the right train of thought: "Yes! Exactly like that!"
"Although we can still see the stellar light transmitted through this huge breach in Terra, how old is this starlight? Is it from hundreds of years ago or thousands of years ago? Is it unobstructed light, or light that passed through a ’glass’ or ’membrane’?"
"Galewind Dragon King, do you think the stars we see still actually exist?"
Suddenly questioned by Ian, the Dragon King began to understand the young man’s reasoning: [You mean the breach in the cradle has already started repairing itself... The breach seems void, but in reality, space-time has been distorted to form a space-time membrane?]
Ian affirmed, looking again at the distant breach, speaking in a deep voice: "And the function of this space-time membrane is to slow down the speed of light as much as possible!"
"The Star God is capable of altering the fundamental rules of the universe, permeating all space-time with aether. Even the Event Horizon of Black Holes can be surpassed by such a super civilization—they can completely reduce the speed of light in a certain space-time range, achieving an effect close to a ’Black Domain’!"
"From the outside, the light is completely absorbed and the light speed is reduced by hundreds of thousands of times, almost stagnating in place, indistinguishable from being wholly absorbed—this light, after entering the black domain, can’t reflect back but is frozen in place like insects in amber until the cradle’s system is fully repaired and absorbs them entirely!"
Raising his hand, Ian pointed towards the surging flow of light, taking a deep breath: "And next comes the most crucial part."
"Galewind Dragon King, what would happen if a nearby star were to go supernova, and its terrifying burst of light and gamma-ray bursts impacted Terra?"
Without waiting for the Galewind Dragon King’s response, Ian proceeded on his own accord: "If the cradle were intact, even a supernova eruption would be meaningless; all light would be absorbed or deflected."
"But unfortunately, Terra’s cradle has a breach. Countless light and energies have their speed reduced by the space-time membrane on the breach, stagnating on the membrane’s surface... With the cradle’s power, this light can be held for tens of thousands of years, even hundreds of thousands of years, until the cradle is fully restored."
"However... we have disrupted the balance from the inside."
At this moment, Ian clenched his right fist, gritting his teeth: "The appearance of the Mechanical Dragon disrupted the balance of the space-time membrane—light that had been accumulating for who knows how many years, after the membrane’s light-speed reduction capability failed, stacked together and surged with unstoppable force towards the Terra Starfield!"