The method of destroying the enemy probe was simple: the same kind of catapult used to launch the interstellar missile, except that the interstellar missile was replaced by a conventional high explosive munition, which would have been a waste to use a hydrogen bomb against such a small thing.
After calculating the trajectory, Hawke aimed at the device and fired the munition.
Seventy seconds later, the high explosive munition crossed the distance of several thousand kilometres and met head-on with the alien probe, then the pre-set detonator was activated and the munition was detonated, bursting into flames in the air, while the probe, like a kite with a broken string, spun in a circle and was dried up somewhere.
Time, it was getting tighter and tighter. Although this instrument had not found Hawke, Hawke had no guarantee that the next one would not find him before he found it. It was like having a sharp sword hanging over one's head at any moment, ready to cut down.
This feeling of being under threat at any moment was not good.
The two civilisations in the Dark Universe were both trying to find each other out first. Whoever found the other side first would have a great advantage, and in the subsequent clash between the two civilisations, the victory rate could be increased by at least thirty percentage points.
At present, the situation is not optimistic.
The other side had already found an effective means, but Hawke, for one, had yet to find his own way.
The method of releasing some probes to roam randomly in space is something that the other side can use, but Hawke cannot. The reason is simple: to achieve effective signal coverage, as well as to adapt to a huge search area, God knows how many probes would be needed. The other side has its own planet, and with its own planet as a material base, the other side has access to unlimited materials and can build so many probes, while Hawke only has a fleet. Hawke's materials were limited and could not be compared to the other side.
Hawke had to find another way to fight the other side, otherwise, Hawke would have to pray that his good luck kept him from being discovered by the other side. But could luck be good for a year, could it be good for ten, fifty, a hundred years?
There were still a few thousand years to go before reaching the four star system of the Heavenly Court. Moreover, Hawke could not guarantee that he would be able to defeat his opponent after reaching the Heavenly Court Four star system.
Hawke continued with his projections, suppressing his self-loathing as Ellie watched, and patiently carried on with his projections.
I don't know how many times I failed, or how much time had passed. All Hawke knew was that within that time, he had eliminated at least ten more of the enemy's probes.
Gradually, Hawke's eyes brightened up.
A method had occurred to Hawke. A method that had passed the forty thousand detection barriers that Hawke had set up. This proved that this plan, was feasible. Moreover, this plan, was not like the other party's means, which had a certain element of luck, but, if it took a certain amount of time, Hawke could definitely find the other party out.
Just as the method of launching a large number of probes to look around randomly was available to the other side but not to Hawke, so too was the method available to Hawke but not to the other side.
That is, gravitational lensing.
The concept of gravitational lensing, first proposed and predicted by the greatest scientist in human history, Albert Einstein, simply means that when starlight passes around a massive star, the light that would otherwise travel in a straight line is bent by the gravitational force of the massive star, as if the position of the original star has been slightly shifted.
Hawk knew that this alien civilization had a planet with a mass greater than that of Earth. It was certain that around this planet, too, the phenomenon of gravitational lensing would occur.
Only, on a cosmic scale, the mass of the planet was still too small for the gravitational lensing effect to be likely to be minimal, which meant that instruments of very high precision would be needed to observe which direction the gravitational lensing phenomenon was occurring.
The next step is simple: once Hawke observes which direction the gravitational lensing phenomenon is occurring, then after a series of precise calculations, he can work out the location of the other side.
This is the reason why this method, which is available to Hawke, is not available to the other side. Hawke's fleet, although its total mass was in the tens of millions of tons, could be considered negligible compared to a planet, which could be considered an ant. And it was so difficult to observe the gravitational lensing phenomenon of a planet, let alone observe the gravitational lensing of Hawke's fleet.
At least, Hawke reckoned that a civilization thousands of years ahead of his own technology might be able to observe it, but this alien civilization, for sure, did not have that capability.
In the sky, the location of the proto-stellar body was recorded in Hawke's Ultramarine Vault Book. The position after the offset could be obtained by observation now. What Hawke had to do was simple: he had to take a new look at all the visible stars in the whole sky and compare them with the data in the Vault of Heaven to see where the starlight had shifted.
But that's easier said than done. It required extremely high precision observation instruments and a huge amount of data crunching.
It took Hawke half a year to do this.
Countless data were collected into the central computer, which then compared the results with the original data in the QS.
Each star that was eliminated was proof that there was no sign of the enemy in this direction. Gradually, Hawke's search area, became smaller and smaller.
A search range of three hundred and sixty degrees in the full celestial domain had, after the past three months, been narrowed down by Hawke to less than half a celestial domain, within a range of one hundred and sixty degrees.
The next star to be measured is a star in the constellation Canis Major, commonly called Mirzam by humans.
Mirzam is five hundred light-years from the Sun, and no detailed data on Mirzam was available to humans before, but during the compilation of the Qomol Vault, Hawke measured Mirzam and gathered data on its mass, volume, spectral type, etc.
After observing Mirzam all over again, Hawke began to analyse its various data and then compared it with the original data.
"Hmm?" While comparing it, Hawke noticed an extremely small discrepancy.
After removing the error caused by the movement of his own position, Mirzam's position, which was so slightly shifted from the original position, had its decimal longitude and decimal latitude, roughly, shifted by 19 millionths of a degree from the original position.
Hawke immediately picked up on this message and immediately started a second review.
The results of the review were soon available and the conclusion remained unchanged: Mirzam had indeed undergone a small and unexplained shift.
After eliminating all possibilities, the only explanation was that the alien planet was hidden somewhere between himself and Mirzam.
Hawke's emotions rose and he immediately measured several stars around Mirzam in the celestial sphere, using Mirzam as the centre of the circle, and the results showed that several stars around Mirzam had shifted by varying sizes.
"Well, I've finally found you." Hawke muttered, his heart overwhelmed with excitement.
With this data, Hawk calculated the exact location of the alien planets after only thirty seconds.
They were, located in the direction of Canis Major, roughly thirty-two million kilometres away from Hawke.
"Come and get me, you launch probes to get me, I'll launch hydrogen bombs to get you back ... Wait and see!"
Hawke immediately prepared for the launch by ejecting a large yield hydrogen bomb, which was expected to reach its intended location and explode three months later.
It took more than a year of searching before Hawke found the other side. The anger he had suppressed for a year burst out instantly, and Hawke could not wait to see the hydrogen bomb explode and get out of his frustration.
But Hawke's actions were within the realm of reason. Hawke deliberately launched the second batch of hydrogen bombs, a batch of twenty bombs, ten days after the first one was launched.
Then came five days of silence, and Hawke launched a third batch, twelve hydrogen bombs.
Hawke deliberately made the timing and number of his launches irregular, so that the other side would not be able to organise an effective means of interception, and they would become birds of prey, constantly in fear of a hydrogen bomb attack, always living under the shadow of an incoming hydrogen bomb. For they never know when the next hydrogen bomb will arrive.
"Enjoy the hydrogen bomb feast, bastards!" Hawke thought viciously.
In three months' time, Hawke had launched about three hundred hydrogen bombs. Even if only thirty of these three hundred bombs could explode, they would still bring an extremely powerful radiation disaster to the planet.
Hawke even estimated that if the same amount of hydrogen bombs were to explode on Earth, the radiation hazards that would cause cancer and infant deformities would reduce the human population from 7 billion to less than 100 million within a hundred years.
This would basically mean the extinction of the race. Of course, Hawke didn't know the body structure of these aliens, the level of radiation resistance, etc., but judging from their panicked response last time, they were also very afraid of these hydrogen bombs.
"Blast away, blast away." It was already time for the scheduled explosion, and Hawke's eyes were glowing as he gazed nervously in the direction of the projected, astral sphere.
In the distance, a faint light suddenly burst forth, a flicker of light that was not even as bright as some distant, dull stars. But the ball was more than 30 million kilometres away from Hawke, and even at this distance, the light was still visible to Hawke.
With a burst of excitement in his heart, Hawke immediately measured it.
The results showed that the fire was the first hydrogen bomb that Hawke had fired!
In the light of the fire, Hawke also observed a faint reflection of the bright light from the sphere.
This showed that everything was as Hawke had predicted! Their planet was, indeed, in that position.