Xiao Yu knew that dangerous zones in the universe were a formidable deterrent for any civilization. He had once heard Luka Two say that in a certain danger zone within the Milky Way, even the Guardian Civilization had lost a considerable number of ships, and aside from designating that place as an Extremely Dangerous zone, they had taken no further action.
In other words, even the Guardian Civilization was powerless against that danger zone.
The Sweeper Civilization’s technology for building Neutron War Stars also came from such an Extremely Dangerous zone. No doubt, when they obtained that technology, the Sweeper Civilization must have paid a heavy price.
Xiao Yu himself had once entered a danger zone. That was a moderately dangerous zone within the Aquila Nebula, where he encountered a powerful alien beast capable of surviving on a white dwarf. At its peak, that beast had unquestionably reached the level of a Level 6 entity, meaning even the Guardian Civilization would have found it a formidable opponent.
Therefore, Xiao Yu believed that an Extremely Dangerous zone should be enough to make the Guardian Civilization abandon their pursuit of him. After all, he was merely a Level 5 Civilization. Surely it was not worth it for a Level 6 Civilization to risk such peril just to hunt him down?
Ahead of Xiao Yu, a white dwarf and a neutron star orbited quietly. At this moment, Xiao Yu was 40 billion kilometers away from the neutron star. That distance marked the limit for curvature flight. Any closer, and the neutron star’s gravity could interfere, causing accidents in curvature travel. So Xiao Yu disengaged from curvature flight, switching to conventional travel, advancing at a speed of 170,000 kilometers per second.
Three hours later, Xiao Yu had covered 1.8 billion kilometers. It was then that the Guardian Civilization’s fleet appeared behind him. Xiao Yu knew that the Guardians, masters of space technology, had the ability to conduct curvature travel even inside a star system, ignoring gravitational influences. Yet their fleet did not advance further. It was as if some invisible barrier ahead had stopped them. This fact allowed Xiao Yu to relax slightly.
“They must be wary of this Extremely Dangerous zone…” Xiao Yu thought to himself.
“Divine Ark Civilization, ahead of you lies a Level 5 Extremely Dangerous zone. If you do not wish for your species to face extinction, you had best return now. If you are willing to submit to our Guardian Alliance, we may consider sparing you.” At that moment, Xiao Yu received a message from the Guardian Civilization.
“The Guardian Civilization did not chase us.” Xiao Yu said quietly in the virtual conference room. “It seems even they are unwilling to enter such a dangerous place. For now, we are safe.”
“I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling.” Luka Two said with concern. “As if something terrible is about to happen at any moment. This feeling is… very bad, very bad.”
“After all, this is a Level 5 Extremely Dangerous zone. It’s impossible for there to be no danger.” Xiao Yu replied. “Whatever danger there is, we must face it bravely. Perhaps within this place lies something that can bring us hope.”
Though he said this, neither the scientists nor Xiao Yu felt any relief.
Over a hundred of the most outstanding scientists were gathered in the virtual conference room, ready to respond to emergencies at any moment. Xiao Yu’s entire fleet was fully prepared to deal with any danger.
Conventional travel continued, bringing Xiao Yu closer and closer to his destination. Finally, after three days, Xiao Yu arrived at the orbiting planet and brought his fleet to a halt.
The radiation here was extremely intense. These two planets were only thirty million and one hundred million kilometers away from their primary star, the white dwarf. At such distances, without the protection of a spaceship, the radiation from a white dwarf alone would be enough to kill any living creature.
The distance between this white dwarf and the neutron star was only one billion kilometers. At such close range, the neutron star’s powerful radiation easily reached this area as well. Visible light here was weak, but in the invisible spectrum, it would not be an exaggeration to say these two planets were being seared.
For the first time in over ten thousand years, Xiao Yu was observing a neutron star at such close range. Neutron stars were even more extreme than white dwarfs, tiny in size, yet massive in weight. A typical neutron star was only about ten kilometers in diameter, yet its mass could reach nearly twice that of the Sun. This meant an unimaginably terrifying density.
The power of neutron stars was beyond doubt. Such a small object, smaller even than a mountain on Earth, could contain staggering amounts of energy.
The Crab Nebula, for example, was born from one of history’s most famous supernova events. Around the time of China’s Song Dynasty, that explosion added a new ‘moon’ to the sky, so bright it could be clearly seen even during the day. The star responsible for that event had been blown apart into fragments, its remains now spanning eleven light-years. At the center of that vast nebula lay a neutron star.
That neutron star was a pulsar, with a radius of only about ten kilometers, yet its violent radiation illuminated a space spanning eleven light-years. Around it floated the gases expelled by the exploded star, which reacted with the pulsar’s radiation to emit brilliant visible light.
A ten-kilometer sphere illuminating eleven light-years of space, the strength of neutron stars was evident.
Compared to neutron stars, white dwarfs were typically Earth-sized, with around 0.6 solar masses. Both neutron stars and white dwarfs shared a peculiar trait, the greater their mass, the smaller their size. Neutron stars were far smaller than white dwarfs, and correspondingly, far heavier.
“This is a magnetar.” Xiao Yu said. “It possesses an extraordinarily powerful magnetic field, but it isn’t a pulsar.”
Neutron stars came in many types, with pulsars and magnetars being among them. As the name implied, magnetars were neutron stars that, for reasons still unknown, had extremely strong magnetic fields.
The magnetic field of a magnetar was immensely strong. According to calculations, if a human stood a few thousand kilometers away from one, all the iron in their body would be ripped away by its pull. Compared to a magnetar, the comic-book figure Magneto was nothing but an insignificant ant.
“Yes, it is a magnetar.” Luka Three nodded, agreeing with Xiao Yu. Then Luka Two added, “Master, did you notice? There’s something strange about this neutron star, its rotation is too slow.”
In the visible spectrum, neutron stars were invisible. Their extreme temperature meant, by blackbody radiation principles, that their emissions were in X-rays and gamma rays. In other words, even if a human stood right before one, they would not see it. Still, the pervasive radiation flooding this star system was constant proof of the neutron star’s immense power. By measuring this radiation, Xiao Yu could easily obtain all kinds of data about it.
Xiao Yu had already noticed its unusually slow rotation and had tried to explain it, but found that none of his current theories could account for the phenomenon.
This neutron star rotated extremely slowly, only once every three days. This was very strange.
The rotation of celestial bodies followed the principle of conservation of angular momentum. During the formation of a protostar from interstellar dust, as gravity pulled the dust inward, it also gave the body spin. This applied to both planets and stars. Thus, everything in the observable universe spun.
Massive stars also rotated. When they underwent a supernova, part of their mass was ejected while the rest collapsed into a neutron star or white dwarf. Their volume shrank by millions of times, yet their angular momentum remained mostly unchanged, since most of their mass was preserved.
Shrinking volume with unchanged mass meant, by conservation of angular momentum, that their rotation must accelerate. Thus, neutron stars typically spun at terrifying speeds, sometimes millisecond pulsars, rotating hundreds of times per second. Of all the neutron stars Xiao Yu had observed, the slowest rotated once every fifteen minutes. Even compared to Earth, that was still very fast. Check latest chapters at 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮※𝓷𝓮𝓽
But this neutron star rotated only once every three days.
Such a neutron star was nearly impossible. The reason was simple, rapid rotation provided enormous centrifugal force. It was this centrifugal force that balanced the star’s immense gravity and kept it stable. At three days per rotation, the centrifugal force would be negligible, unable to counteract its gravity, making stability impossible. This was a contradiction.
Still, though unexplained, Xiao Yu did not find it unbelievable. This was, after all, a Level 5 Extremely Dangerous zone. In such a place, the existence of a strange neutron star was only to be expected.