Stellaris from the Automata Era

Chapter 237: Rectangle and Angel Letters

"Recharge it?"

The almighty magic research figure seemed to have a confused look in his eyes today and couldn't stop looking at it.

It was not that she didn't understand Yan Luo's intention, which was to replenish the energy for this "friendly creation" that appeared out of nowhere.

The dark rectangle was not the technological system she was familiar with at all. Just from the appearance, she could not see any access points or slots.

It was too plain and integrated, looking exactly like an oversized coffin.

Trying to charge it is like asking YoRHa's 9S to hack into a server that has been disconnected from the network. It's not impossible, but you have to find the server's location first! Then physically hack into it!

The problem that Chief Researcher Rui is facing now is that she can't find a charging port!

The technology on the other side is beyond her knowledge.

"With all due respect, sir, rashly opening something we don't understand very well could be a Pandora's box."

In fact, Rui just wanted to express in a tactful way that his ability was limited, and of course he also had concerns about safety.

Scientific and technological research has always been dangerous, especially when it comes to alien technology that has drifted here from nowhere.

The risks are no less than those of studying alien viruses in biological laboratories, but the latter can reduce its harm as long as sufficient safety measures are taken.

The former...will be a disaster once it gets out of control, especially for civilizations with higher technology, the more terrifying it will be when it gets out of control.

You can imagine the consequences of a civilization researching causal weapons and losing control.

This is also the reason why the Humanoid Research Center will be able to move away from the Earth as soon as possible if conditions permit.

Although she was also curious about the dark rectangle, she had to refuse it outright in the presence of humans.

Of course, her concerns were quickly understood by Yan Luo, or it could be said that Yan Luo, who was currently using his psychic powers, grasped the thinking of the chief scientific researcher.

"If you're worried about me personally, you shouldn't worry too much about it.

My current body is a bionic teardrop."

"So that failed product was used on adults... Come to think of it, since you didn't respond before, I thought it was a complete failure."

It was originally a by-product of the research on psychic products. At first, the research team thought they had discovered a more efficient element material.

Unfortunately, as a magical unit, the humanoids seem unable to efficiently accommodate psychic energy, so now they are being used as human clones, which is considered to be their full potential.

Thinking of this, Rui no longer resisted the subsequent experimental research.

But now we are back to the original problem.

"The cuboid doesn't seem to be a technology we're currently familiar with. To be honest, it's still unknown whether it's compatible with our energy sources. What's even more troublesome is that I can't find its charging port."

Rui looked at the dark rectangle and finally sighed. "But my team is conducting a comprehensive inspection on it. Maybe there will be a breakthrough soon."

Then, just as she finished her words, a human figure who looked very similar to her walked in front of her.

Before Yan Luo could think about the relationship between them, the humanoid figure spoke calmly: "In fact, a breakthrough has already been found."

"Our previous guess that it was part of something was correct, but I personally prefer it to be a fragment of a spacecraft."

Hearing this, Yan Luo frowned: "If it's a spaceship, designing it as a rectangular block is very unreasonable. What is its function?"

Although Yan Luo's scientific knowledge was a gift, he had been plagiarizing for so long that he obviously had a certain level of scientific literacy.

A closed rectangular box of more than 20 meters, he really couldn't imagine what its function was, unless... it was the same as YoRHa's black box, just bigger.

This would make more sense as part of the spacecraft.

But the newcomer 'Rui' quickly dispelled his thoughts.

"I'm not sure, but I found a lot of small grooves and protrusions around it, as well as sealing measures. It might have been open before.

Considering the tear marks all around, sir...this thing might be used like the rooms inside the spacecraft."

At this time, Rui, who was originally chatting with Yan Luo, had already run to the rectangular block to carry out inspection work.

It seems that the explanation work has been completely handed over to someone else.

However, Yan Luo, who had some guesses about the relationship between them, no longer cared much about such a small problem.

"You mean... in addition to the outer armor, the spacecraft's designers also designed a reasonable internal defense structure. Even if the entire spacecraft is destroyed, the interior can still act like an escape pod, allowing the crew to survive?"

"I'm afraid that's the case. Otherwise, there's no other more reasonable explanation. Of course... this rectangular block may not be an escape pod. An escape pod can't be fixedly locked to the spacecraft.

At least I don't see any design that allows it to separate from the jagged edges around it, or maybe there is... but then the design of its energy interface is unreasonable."

"In that case...wait, have you found its power source?"

Yan Luo looked at 'Rui' in front of him in surprise, as if he couldn't adapt to the way she was talking about something one second and then changing her words the next.

However, considering that 'she' is an inspector who has just changed jobs, she may know the real situation better.

Yan Luo also said that he adapted quickly.

"Yes, I just found it. There are many small columnar fractures on its back. I guess it functions like a plug."

"Then charge it up. I want to see what this thing is."

Yan Luo's order was quickly executed. After several scientific research figures took things like wires and tied them to the rectangular blocks one by one, they quickly transported energy according to their own guesses and theories.

Soon the cuboid seemed to react to this, and its dark exterior began to bloom with color.

At the starting point of energy transmission, thin lines of blue light began to extend out, gradually spreading throughout its body in a regular pattern like an electric circuit.

Yan Luo felt like he had seen it before.

No! It's not déjà vu at all!

"Protect? Strengthen? Seal? Is this angelic writing!?" Rui, who has better eyesight than humans, spoke without caring about his image.

Those tiny blue lines are actually the effect of angel characters arranged in a row. This is the technology that their Starlight-class battleships have recently used!

'@#￥%. Detected. Psychic network #@.. Supreme authority %￥#.. Closed.. Opened.. Opened.. Opened.. Opened.. The glory of humanity will last forever..'

"Chinese?"

Chapter 238: Yoerha Humanoid

"Chinese?"

The rectangular shape seemed to have absorbed enough energy, and a female voice with an electronic tone emanated.

Yan Luo was obviously somewhat surprised beyond his expectations.

Almost in an instant, he thought of several possibilities, but before he had time to organize his guesses, the rectangle had already unfolded.

Of course, it is difficult to describe the specific process of the unfolding of a rectangle using words and language.

But if I had to describe the specific process, perhaps only his impression of MCV would be more consistent with what he saw. (Note)

"Everyone spread out!"

Obviously, the unfolding of the rectangle interfered with the normal work of the scientific research figures nearby. The moment it moved, the surrounding figures had already begun to retreat.

By the way, because of the strange situation unfolding before their eyes, they still had time to sound the alarm.

In just a moment, a large number of armed figures guarding the scientific research center rushed to Yan Luo and his group to provide protection.

But they soon discovered that it seemed to be a false alarm.

The unfolding of the cuboid was not very smooth, perhaps because it had suffered some damage before. Yan Luo saw that as soon as it was opened to reveal its internal structure, bursts of sparks erupted.

It seems that the internal mechanical structure has been deformed by the impact before and cannot support its current movement.

What's worse is that the remaining internal space of the research center seems insufficient to accommodate its subsequent volume. The cuboid managed to ignore the influence of structural deformation with great difficulty and forcibly transform with sparks.

Then, the highest point of its slowly rising shape hit the ceiling directly. This seemed to be the last straw that broke the camel's back. Finally, for various reasons, the half-expanded rectangle... collapsed.

There was a loud 'boom' sound, and parts of unknown use fell to the ground.

Only after it fell completely silent did all the scientific research figures begin to ponder deeply as they looked at the unknown object in front of them that had changed into another form.

"What a wonderful idea! Is there a building hidden in here?"

Rui, who was beside Yan Luo, quickly reacted. She ran quickly to the rectangular block that had become ruins and identified the structures inside one by one.

"Internal angelic text, mechanical manufacturing platform, magic energy storage? And... what is this?"

Not knowing what she saw inside the ruins, she immediately called out to the surroundings after raising her doubts. "Call some large equipment over! I need to move this thing out of the way!"

Following Rui's command, a multi-purpose vehicle specially used for transporting and lifting drove in soon.

Then, with her repeated calls of "be gentle, don't crush it", the thing that made her question finally surfaced.

So Yan Luo walked forward and took a closer look, and immediately he also expressed surprise.

"Humanoid?"

Buried in the ruins is a humanoid figure, but it could also be a humanoid creature that chose mechanical ascension.

However, the mechanical structure exposed on her skin and her appearance similar to that of a human, he should probably call her that for now.

Of course, this alone was not enough to make Yan Luo express his surprise.

What really surprised him was that this human figure was wearing black clothes. Even though they were torn a lot in the collapse just now, the style still made Yan Luo feel familiar and murmured.

"Yul..ha."

The scene fell into an eerie silence, and after a few seconds Rui asked in a low voice.

"Sir...with all due respect to my inquiry, have you sent your guards on covert operations?"

"No, I'm aware of all of Yoerha's missions. Even the 7Bs who recently supported the Koprulu Sector campaign have all returned. Besides the missing 11Bs and 16Ds, I can't think of any other members who are still stranded."

Yan Luo slowly lowered his head and looked at the human figure in the ruins, as if he wanted to see something from this human figure whose artificial skin, including the face, was half destroyed.

"And if they could achieve faster-than-light travel before you, stuff that person into a strange cuboid, and throw it a light-year away, do you think that's possible?"

This is the crux of the matter.

Before the emergence of the theory of subspace navigation, the Earth had no means of traveling faster than light.

Of course, the Leviathan far away in the Koprulu sector that was killed by 11b's hand-killed insect queen and then subdued may be one of them.

However, the Zerg's biological psychic technology and humanoid magic technology are obviously not a development direction, and there are also difficult-to-control Zerg swarms living inside the Leviathan.

At present, Yan Luo doesn't dare to take it to the vicinity of the solar system at superluminal speed, for fear that the surrounding insects will become a disaster if he is not careful.

And this Leviathan is still being studied by Rui! She doesn't know whether Yan Luo has mobilized the Leviathan?

So back to the topic, it is completely impossible for Yan Luo to send Yoerha to an area light years away.

"Then... was it some other humanoid research team that conducted an experiment that caused..." Rui thought for a moment, searching for the right words. "The current situation?"

"Impossible! Unless it was you, there wouldn't be any other scientific research teams on Earth right now!"

"Wait? Am I the only one doing scientific research on Earth right now?"

"..."

Yan Luo was silent for a while. Obviously, he was not used to the change of topic, so he decided to bring the topic back on track.

"In short, there's no way around my involvement with anything like superluminal speed or other major scientific research projects. I can clearly say that there isn't."

He once again cast his gaze at the human figure in the ruins and quickly made a decision in his heart.

"Repair her! And keep her under close watch. I will send a squadron of E-type YoRHas to assist you. I need you to dig out from her any intelligence, knowledge, and memories that I am or may be interested in."

If the figure before him was indeed Yoerha in human form, then she must possess a core that was not much different from the humanoids currently surrounding his palace.

As long as this is confirmed, today's scientific researchers will easily find all the answers Yan Luo wants from her data.

"I will obey your will, and may your glory last forever."

After confirming his direction, Yan Luo quickly left the scene.

After all, he knew that on-site repairs were not an easy task for a YoRHa member.

Their materials are so different from those of other humanoids that sometimes it is more practical to replace the original body than to repair them.

However, Yan Luo never expected that shortly after he left, news came from Rui that the repair of the unknown humanoid had been completed.