The fourth picture showed a white fog, which was actually the internal image of the dynamic crystal. Ding Meng had already analyzed it in Little White's necklace. The meaning of the fifth picture was hinting at the existence of the dynamic crystal.
Of course, this alone could not prove anything. The most important thing was the first and second pictures.
The first picture of the universe was very familiar to Ding Meng. In his intermediate consciousness, he had seen a similar picture. Back in the Rainbow Temple, Shenguang Singularity had explained that his "Diamond Star Technique" was the "Nine Heavens Star River Map." Later on, Little Rascal had also explained that the picture of the universe that Ding Meng saw was an incomplete Nine Heavens Star River Map. It was related to the creation of the eleventh origin.
The ruined temple in the second picture was actually the temple of the Mou Xing civilization in Shenguang Technology. Although the specific shape was not the same, the majestic, sacred, and mysterious charm was exactly the same. Ding Meng was even eighty percent sure that it had a great connection with Shenguang Technology.
Therefore, when these five pictures were taken together, it was not difficult to suspect that Xiao Bai's parents had accidentally discovered some ruins of Shenguang Biotechnology and knew that the planet contained energy. Therefore, they had left behind these precious images.
But there was another problem here. The picture hinted that it was the dynamic crystal. Shenguang Technology had never needed a dynamic crystal. This was a bit contradictory. At the same time, in this era, there were many ways to preserve information. Why did they have to use an ancient thing like a picture?
Ding Meng's curiosity was piqued, but Ming Yuan was obviously very straightforward. Seeing that Little White and Ding Meng did not know about the five pictures, he calmly said, "Fourth Brother, Lord Ding, the operation will begin in a few days. No matter what the overlords think, I hope that you will stay in Jinyuan City and wait for the Patriarch Society to assign you. If you need our help, it will naturally be the family's honor. If you don't need our help, please rest well. There are enough resources here for you, Fourth Brother..."
His arrangement seemed to be very stable, and there were no problems. However, Ding Meng immediately knew that this so-called dragon search operation of the Patriarch Society definitely required Little White's participation. Little White was very likely to be one of the most important people.
However, what Ding Meng was most interested in was not the secrets the Ming family held, but Lu Qi. He had not expected that savage to have traveled quite a bit in outer space. In the past, he had been to the Rainbow System, and now he had discovered that grey star.
Ding Meng decided to visit the Long Voyage Group to see what kind of fleet it was.
For the next four days, Zhan Feng and Xiao Luo took Ding Meng and Little White to wander around Jinyuan City. Most of them were shopping malls, restaurants, pubs and so on. There was only one word to describe them: metal!
There were all kinds of metals, rare, uncommon, common, and all kinds of metals!
The clothes, equipment, and consumables in the shopping malls were almost all made of metal. The food in the restaurants and the drinks in the pubs were all made of metal. These were all necessities for the Iron Mane people. The key was that they were quite cheap. Ding Meng was even interested in buying a few rare metal raw materials. These things were extremely difficult to get in the Federal Empire, but they only cost one hundred and sixty thousand star coins here. It was really a good price.
On the fifth day, Ding Meng and the others finally received a notice from the Long Voyage Group. It was an order from Poseidon Hegemon to invite Ding Meng and the others to return to the Imperial City and board the ship.
In the east side of the Imperial City, there was a huge, almost completely enclosed space. Ding Meng felt as if he had entered a large factory. He could see a medium-sized starship similar to Songqing parked in the middle of the empty space. Its main body was exactly the same as Songqing, a round pine ball. However, the ball had a triangular wingspan extending to the back, left, right, up, and down. The whole body was dark black. Its shape did not make it look like a starship, but more like a strange super cannonball.
Poseidon led Lu Qi and his entourage to greet them at the gate of the factory. When they saw Ding Meng, Lu Qi and his soldiers bowed. "Welcome, Lord Ding."
Ding Meng looked at the starship. "It's rare to see such a Steel Mane Starship. Is it new?"
Poseidon looked at him with admiration. "It's not really new. It's just a refurbishment of an old ship. This is the Dragon Seeking Starship. The Patriarch Society named it personally."
With Ding Meng's current eyesight, he did not need Lu Qi to introduce it to him. The Dragon Seeking Starship was qualitatively different from human starships and flying units like the Devouring Boundary Spirit Skates. First of all, the material. The whole starship was made of a high-precision, high-polymerization, semi-solid, semi-liquid complex metal. The density of the metal was so high that it faintly produced a kind of gravitational force. At the same time, its degree of refinement was higher than the 512 yuan super alloy of the Federation. It should be noted that the industry of the Steel Mane Empire was far less developed than that of the human race. How these metals were synthesized was simply a mystery.
Ding Meng could not help but ask, "Before your country came to the Byron System, I'm afraid you used this kind of starship?"
Poseidon looked surprised. "Lord Ding, you're really an expert. This is the hull of the starship that was preserved during the great migration."
Ding Meng was certainly not an expert, and metal was not his strong suit. However, he was very clear about one thing: the Steel Mane Empire was drifting in the long universe. It was impossible for them not to have a high-quality starship.
Back when the Expedition flew into the space-time tunnel, it had only been three years, and the starship was already worn out due to the friction in space. The Steel Mane Empire had definitely been drifting in the universe for more than three years. Without this kind of starship that could withstand the dust of the nebula, meteorites and debris, it would have long been annihilated in the depths of the darkness.
Ding Meng suddenly had a bolder guess. This imperial city was actually a giant starship, and the Dragon Searcher was only a small part of it. Many years ago, the Steel Mane Empire was forced to land here after running out of energy. Without enough power, the starship could not operate.
At this moment, with the Dragon Searcher as the center, there were as many as six production lines running around it. There were various instruments on the surface, and workers were moving containers up and down. Ding Meng opened his telekinetic vision to check it out. He could not help but exclaim, "You guys have been charging the Dragon Searcher?"
If someone else had asked this question, Poseidon and the others probably wouldn't have answered. However, Ding Meng was an expert. It was impossible to hide from the eyes of an expert. Lu Qi couldn't help but sigh. "To be honest, it's been six years."
The Steel Mane Empire had only been in the Byron Galaxy for eight years, and it took them six years just to charge a starship. It seemed that they treasured the Dragon Searcher a lot. No, it should be the Patriarch Assembly that valued this Dragon Searcher very much.
Under the leadership of Poseidon, Ding Meng and his team boarded the starship. Only when they entered the interior could they scan the entire starship with the spying spell. Ding Meng confirmed his previous speculation.
The strange dual-state metal of the Dragon Searcher was enough to withstand the long-term attack of the cosmic storm, and at the same time, it could withstand the attack of conventional ship-borne firepower. The operating system of the entire starship had been updated to the intelligent system of the Holy Grail Federation's Goldenhawk Battleship. This alone must have cost the Steel Mane Empire a lot of money to buy it. But the most amazing thing was the power system. No one knew what materials and processes were used in the power compartment and reactor, so that it could accommodate a huge amount of energy.
The power source was actually pure natural silver core stone, which was a relatively extravagant behavior. The Holy Grail Federation usually did not install pure natural silver core stone on medium-sized starships. They often cut or diluted artificial silver core stone and filled it as the power source. But the Dragon Searcher was so extravagant. Ding Meng suddenly had an idea. This was probably a very long or unusually long voyage.
Because this was the only reason that could explain the various oddities on the starship. The Dragon Searcher was like an old-fashioned mobile phone. Maybe its system was not advanced enough, its performance was not good enough, and its structure was not strict enough. But it could withstand a lot of damage, and its skin was durable. It could transmit signals far away, and that was enough.
The group slowly came to the command hall, which was an oval-shaped metal hall. Ding Meng once again opened his eyes. The main control panel was not the intelligent virtual system of the humans, but a liquid steel bed, which was simulated with a realistic map. Of course, the intelligent virtual system was not completely absent. The reconnaissance area and attack area next to it used the technology of the Holy Grail Federation.
A group of people stood beside the main control panel. The leader was an old man who looked similar to Poseidon. Under Zhan Feng's reminder, Ding Meng knew that this was the overlord of Xilang, one of the members of the Patriarch Society.
This Xilang looked very cold, so when he saw Ding Meng and the others, he was also cold and expressionless. "Welcome aboard, Your Highness!"
Xiao Bai was very curious along the way. He kept looking around. "Are we going on a long voyage again?"
"Yes!" Xilang answered.
Ding Meng could not help but ask, "When do we depart?"
Xilang said, "Today!"
Ding Meng nodded. He had already mentally prepared himself. Lu Qi and the others had invited him on purpose. Their real purpose was to let Xiao Bai board the starship and cooperate with their Dragon Searcher Plan. Could their destination be that grey star?
Poseidon walked to the main control panel, and a three-dimensional map immediately rose from the steel bed. It was a galaxy made up of many steel balls. It was dark and gray. Although it was not as realistic as the interstellar map on the virtual screen, it was more intuitive and convenient to have a clear understanding of the target.
Poseidon's finger touched an inconspicuous planet in the depths of the galaxy, and the steel ball immediately lit up.
Lu Qi also confirmed on the main control panel. "Target, Silent System, Grey Star No.11, interstellar coordinates 88T 8,9326 F, 001T, distance 1,238 light-years."
Poseidon nodded and said in a low voice, "The Dragon Searcher Plan officially begins!"