Everyone gasped in disbelief.
"This is impossible..."
"How could humans be that large?"
"It can't be true, there must be something wrong. Perhaps it's a projection caused by cosmic radiation, like a mirage."
Everyone instinctively rejected the idea because it was just too unbelievable.
"Wait, hold on... This silhouette, suddenly, I feel like I've seen it somewhere before."
The Director of Intelligence, who was responsible for gathering information, suddenly exclaimed.
The previously noisy hall fell silent once again.
...
"Fang Yuan, did you see that? Just now, the sky suddenly brightened, just like in the morning, with the sun appearing, but it was clearly night..."
"Then that sun suddenly split into two halves, and finally into three parts..."
"Then, it turned into a sky full of fiery clouds. Amazing..."
"This is definitely a rare sight... so strange..."
Wang Yuanyuan called, excitedly telling Fang Yuan about what she had seen: "It's amazing, I took pictures of it..."
"Yeah, it's really incredible," Fang Yuan replied with a smile, but he wouldn't tell Wang Yuanyuan that the sun splitting into three parts was his own doing. That would seem too boastful.
Little did he know, this subtle self-praise was the most deadly.
Just like Wang Yuanyuan, countless ordinary people in the Western Hemisphere only saw the sun suddenly appear in the sky, illuminating the earth, just like the arrival of dawn.
The average person had no idea what had happened earlier, nor did they know that Earth had nearly been destroyed. They just thought it was a rare and spectacular sight.
Only the higher-ups of Earth knew what truly happened, and all of Earth's high-ranking officials felt a sense of survival after a catastrophe.
But at the same time, they were curious: what exactly was that figure they had seen earlier?
Logically speaking, if that figure was human, why could it be seen from such a distance?
If that figure was a real being, how tall was it?
...
After finishing the call with Wang Yuanyuan, Fang Yuan continued to refine the star core energy source.
The size of a fist, the star core energy source gradually shrank as impurities were removed, and eventually, it became the size of a ping-pong ball, crystal clear, constantly emitting light.
This light carried a terrifying heat, but it was sealed by mysterious forces and could not affect the outside world.
Fang Yuan held the star core energy bead, his eyes flashing. Then, his mental energy condensed into magical symbols and imprinted them onto the star core energy bead.
These symbols were part of the forbidden array that sealed the Earth, which Fang Yuan had comprehended and could use skillfully.
As the symbols were imprinted, the light of the star core energy bead gradually converged. The original ping-pong ball size shrank to the size of a finger.
Eventually, the light no longer radiated, and it became a translucent light yellow bead.
If an ordinary person saw this bead, they might think it was just a small glass marble, never imagining it was the core of a star.
...
On the seventh day, the people of the Eastern Hemisphere also learned about the sudden appearance of a sun in the sky during the night in the Western Hemisphere. Earth became very lively, and this event became a topic of discussion over meals.
...
As time passed, Fang Yuan entered the Steel Ball World every night, spending more time studying the star core energy bead while also monitoring the development of the three different realms in the Steel Ball World.
On the other hand, he also visited Earth, having dinner with Wang Yuanyuan and occasionally going shopping together.
In the blink of an eye, more than a month passed. The event of the stellar life slowly faded from the minds of ordinary people, and only a few still remembered the rare spectacle.
Meanwhile, the higher-ups of Earth were still trying to find the figure that split the star into three parts, but there was still no result.
China seemed to have a lead, but they couldn't verify their guess because they couldn't find the person. They also felt it was unlikely. Though that person had been unusual on Earth, it hadn't been that long, and surely, they couldn't have become so powerful so quickly.
A month later, the great nations of Earth finally gathered 300,000 people and prepared to board the spaceship. The spaceship was about to launch, aiming to explore the universe and search for new life planets.
After the events of the previous month, Earth's leaders were more eager than ever to explore the universe beyond Earth, hoping to find out if there was other life outside the Sun!
The 300,000 people boarding the spaceship were all extraordinary, either geologists, air researchers, elite warriors, or astronomers.
This journey was meant to search for new life planets, so they couldn't take anyone who wasn't useful.
And no one knew if these 300,000 people would ever return to Earth. The universe was vast, and uncertainty bred fear. No one knew if there were any insurmountable dangers in the cosmos.
Another half month passed, and the 300,000 people finally boarded the spaceship. The spacecraft began its launch.
This launch was broadcast globally because it held significant meaning. It was humanity's first real step into the universe—an unprecedented move.
With the attention of all humanity, the massive spaceship, which was around 100 meters wide and 200-300 meters high, slowly took off. It accelerated, finally breaking through the atmosphere and heading into the dark and cold universe.
All the people on Earth silently prayed and wished them well because this event concerned all of humanity. If they could indeed find new life planets, life on Earth would improve. The rich could emigrate, and then the poor would have a chance...
As for whether all the poor would have a chance, that would depend on fate...
...
Fang Yuan focused his mind on the spaceship as it left Earth's atmosphere and entered outer space. His gaze fell on something unusual.
As his mind observed, it seemed the spaceship was wrapped in a strange thread. As someone who understood the world's mysteries, he naturally knew that it was the thread of causality.
Moreover, this thread had nothing to do with Earth, and it seemed to have appeared only after the spaceship left Earth.
Fang Yuan carefully sensed it and squinted his eyes: "It seems this spaceship is heading to a very remarkable place."
"I'm starting to get curious... What could this spaceship encounter that I can't foresee?"
...
The Hope spacecraft had countless sleep pods inside. The hall, restaurant, and other areas were all large, but space for sleeping was tight. Most people had to share small rooms with upper and lower bunks.
Only the captain and a few other high-ranking officials had their own rooms, and they weren't large.
The entire spaceship was packed to the brim, making scientific use of every inch of space.
Messages had already been sent, informing everyone they could freely move around the spaceship for one month. After that, everyone except those who needed to tend to the spaceship would have to enter the sleep pods. These pods could slow aging to some degree, similar to freezing technology.
This technology was already quite advanced in the United States.
However, on the very first day after the spaceship left Earth, something went wrong—some people suddenly burst into flames, some started discharging electricity, and even some became transparent.