studiobondurri Chapter 20: The Mysterious Thor
Chapter 20: The Mysterious Thor
Aurelia b is a fiery red planet located at a distance from Aurelia that is roughly equivalent to the distance between Venus and the Sun. It is prone to volcanic eruptions, resulting in abundant lava on its surface.
Tensorvic has no atmosphere, is covered with impact craters, and has a surface temperature of around 400 degrees Celsius, similar to Mercury.
The planet Venus has a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere and is covered with volcanoes of all sizes.
Rhysalis e is a light blue planet. According to chromatographic analysis, its environment is quite similar to Earth's. Long-range radar has revealed massive structures on its surface. It is eight times the size of Earth and has an orbital period of 246 days.
Gastropoda has a thick atmosphere of hydrogen and helium, and its temperature is cold. It is six times the size of Earth and has an orbital period of 780 days.
Wei Shan ordered four flying saucers to conduct on-site investigations of the four planets, namely Tian Shen Wu BCDF, and then made contact. Afterwards, she led the four flying saucers to Tian Shen Wu E, a terrestrial planet.
In less than an hour, the UFO reached the synchronous orbit of Tian Shen 5e. Along the way, Zhou Yuan continuously captured various communication and satellite electromagnetic signals emitted by the Tian Shen people. Using the UFO's artificial intelligence to analyze these signals and compare them with a large database, he finally understood the grammar and semantics of the Tian Shen people's language. Through television video capture, he learned about the Tian Shen people's physical appearance, some of their cultural habits, social structure, and technological knowledge. Three days of information gathering gave the 16 Earthlings a general understanding of the Tian Shen civilization.
The Celestial Race numbers only about 650 million, distributed across three continents and two large islands. They have fair skin and are generally similar in appearance to humans, likely due to the planet's strong gravity. Their average height is only 1.58 meters, making them quite tall for Earthlings. The Celestial Race are warlike, resolving even minor disputes through fighting or duels. However, they live under a highly centralized system with a hereditary emperor. Their technological propulsion for travel is nuclear fusion, leading to the extensive extraction of hydrogen and helium from the planet Asclepius 5f. Their search for hydrogen from Saturn in the solar system was likely a necessity. Asclepius 5e has 21 massive mining and processing bases, over 6500 warship manufacturing sites, and countless weapons factories.
Thanks to advanced technology, the Tiancan people have made up for their manpower shortage by using automated and intelligent machines. Robots are virtually the sole means of production and daily life in military, industrial, and agricultural sectors. Various types of robots permeate the world, such as legged robots, tracked robots, wheeled robots, wheel-legged hybrid robots, bionic robots, and humanoid robots, categorized by shape, and service robots and industrial robots, categorized by function.
Because silicon is scarce on Planet Tianshen 5e, but magnesium is abundant, the Tianshen people utilize inexpensive magnesium as a reducing agent to produce hydrogen and collect materials needed for nuclear fusion. They also use magnesium to replace titanium and uranium in the manufacture of high-strength metals and nuclear weapons materials, and to create lightweight metal alloys for aircraft, warships, and missiles. Magnesium alloys are lightweight, high-strength, have good shock absorption, are fatigue-resistant and resistant to aging, possess good thermal conductivity, strong electromagnetic shielding properties, and are easily recyclable. Therefore, magnesium alloys (especially magnesium-lithium alloys) are widely used by the Tianshen people in military, industrial, energy, communications, transportation, medical, environmental, and aerospace fields. The Tianshen people's computers do not use semiconductor silicon chips like those of humans on Earth, but rather magnesium-lithium alloy chips. They perform binary operations through two phase transitions in the magnesium-lithium alloy (the α-phase, with a close-packed hexagonal structure, and the β-phase, with a body-centered cubic structure).
Zhou Yuan and his team also intercepted this message from the Celestials: Over 600 days ago, our war with the Martian civilization in the solar system was brutal; our fleet sent to the solar system was completely annihilated. Fortunately, we received a long-range signal from the front lines. Everything happened so suddenly. A very intense beam of light suddenly appeared from the direction of Sirius, and then the solar system disappeared from our sight, and everything returned to calm. Luckily, the Martians never reappeared. We all know that the immense psychological trauma inflicted by that Martian super fortress still lingers. But just as we were waking from one nightmare, a new one began. Half a year ago, the Martian super fortress miraculously reappeared 0.5 light-years away from us! Good heavens, are the Martians here for revenge? What do they want? Thankfully, His Majesty Yaso has dispatched a large number of warships to intercept them. We hope that the supreme god Thor will favor us this time.
It was a rather desolate street, with low-rise buildings on both sides. Many elderly people and frail children lived there. Various robots, far more rudimentary than those made by humans on Earth, were also visible on the street. There were also quite a few robots in the restaurants, hotels, and shops nearby. As soon as Zhou Yuan and his group of four appeared, they immediately attracted the attention of the surrounding Tiancan people, who then went back to their own business.
"Big brother and sister, do you need food and lodging? Our inn is very cheap and affordable. In this capital city, it only costs 100 Tianbi per night." A little girl who looked to be eight or nine years old, thin and short, was soliciting business at the entrance of the inn.
"Little sister, could you tell me where the Royal Academy of Sciences is located?"
"Sisters, you're from Worth Island, right? I can tell from your clothes and height."
"Hmm," Wei Shan said noncommittally.
"The Royal Academy of Sciences is about a two-and-a-half-hour walk from here. It's just past the end of this street, turn right and then go west. Sister, it's getting dark soon, why don't you stay the night before you go?"
Wei Shan glanced at the yellow sunset in the sky, then looked at Zhou Yuan, who nodded in acknowledgment.
"Alright, little sister, we'll stay for one night."
"Alright, everyone, please come in." The little girl seemed very happy, humming an unknown tune.
Everyone bowed their heads and filed in. The houses here were all relatively low, and when Zhou Yuan and the others stood up straight, they were almost at the roof.
The house appeared very large, with a large and a small portrait hanging side by side in the central hall. In the larger painting, a woman sat on a fire-breathing chariot, holding an infant in her arms, with a radiant yellow sun above. Next to her, in the smaller painting, was a muscular, short man holding a scepter, wearing a crown, glaring menacingly, exuding an aura of imperial power.
As soon as the little girl entered, she put her hands together and bowed to the two portraits. Zhou Yuan and the others followed behind and also made a gesture of bowing. "Little girl, where are your parents?" Zhou Yuan asked curiously after bowing.
"My name is Lisa. My father was transferred to the warship manufacturing plant, and my mother, to make a living, gave her job to Princess Junlan."
She went to work as a nanny.
Zhou Yuan and the others immediately understood that the Celestial Ginseng people must have suffered significant losses in their war with the Martians, with most adult men likely conscripted. The news of the reappearance of the Martian super fortress must have added another layer of suffocation to the Celestial Ginseng people's situation.
"Please sit down and rest for a while. I'll go arrange your food and bedding," Lisa said to them, then called a service robot to pour them drinks.
The service robot was a humanoid robot modeled after the Tiancan humanoid, with a rather rough-looking skeleton and skin, unlike the refined and realistic human robots. Its movements were also not very agile. The robot held some aluminum alloy cups and poured Zhou Yuan and the others a beverage similar to soybean juice. Zhou Yuan and the others took a sip; while not particularly delicious, it wasn't unpleasant either.
After a reasonably decent dinner, the sun had already disappeared; darkness fell quickly. Lisa hurriedly turned on the light. It was a light that produced the brightness and color of magnesium-containing fireworks, but without smoke; it was very pure and bright. After all, on planet Astraea 5e, besides oxygen, magnesium was the most abundant element.
"Everyone, let me take you to your rooms." Lisa led everyone to the backyard.
Zhou Yuan, alone in his room, walked to the bedside and turned on the light. It was clear this room belonged to Lisa's parents; the bed wasn't long, and Zhou Yuan's feet could only reach the edge. Lisa had thoughtfully added a thin blanket, but the weather was like April or May on Earth, so Zhou Yuan didn't mind. Lying on the bed, Zhou Yuan casually picked up a beautifully bound book, *The Complete Testament of Thor*, and flipped through it. It resembled a Bible, essentially telling the story of Thor leading the gods to defeat the demons and creating the Celestials. He imparted knowledge to the Celestials through various methods, and in this world, Thor was the guardian deity. The book detailed the immense respect and promotion of Thor by various dynasties. It vaguely mentioned that there were relics of Thor and the gods on an island in the south of this planet. Zhou Yuan immediately pressed his ring and took a picture of the book.
Little Lisa insisted on sleeping with Wei Shan, and Wei Shan couldn't bear to refuse.
"Sister, wasn't that man your lover?" Lisa asked curiously.
Wei Shan's face flushed slightly, but Lisa didn't notice. "Don't talk nonsense, he's my brother."
"Oh, I see. What are you going to the Royal Academy of Sciences for?"
"We're looking for jobs to make a living, you know, the economy isn't good right now."
"Yes, that's right. The whole country is preparing for war. I heard the Martians are going to attack."
Wei Shan became interested. "Are you afraid of Martians?"
"It would be a lie to say we're not afraid, but we will fight to the end to protect our home."
"Martians are awful. It would be so much better if there were no wars."
"I think we were in the wrong. We shouldn't have gone to other people's territory to mine."
Wei Shan was surprised; the Tiancan people's sense of right and wrong wasn't as bad as she had imagined.
"Then why don't we just not go mining?"
"You can't say that. The supreme Thor created us, and we must serve Thor. In 12 days, the messenger of God will arrive. I hope Thor will favor us this time."
Wei Shan was shocked, but she didn't ask any further questions.
The next morning, Zhou Yuan, Wei Shan, and the others said goodbye to Lisa. Lisa was very reluctant to leave, waving her little hand the whole time.
Because it was early and the streets were deserted, the group quickly reached the end of the street and turned right. After walking about a kilometer away from the street, they found themselves in a desolate wilderness. Zhou Yuan pressed his ring, and a flash of light appeared in the sky. Then, Zhou Yuan and the others disappeared and were teleported to an invisible flying saucer in the air.
"Everyone, there seem to be many strange things about this world," Zhou Yuan said bluntly.
"That's right," everyone agreed.
“How come there’s a myth here too, and the main god is Thor?” Wei Shan recalled, “That Lisa said that the messenger of the gods would visit this world in 12 days.”
"What?" Zhou Yuan and the others were unaware of this news.
"We need to plan this carefully. Here's the arrangement: we'll split into four teams. Wei Shan, Xiao Jian, Cheng Jin, and I will go to the Royal Academy of Sciences immediately to infiltrate them and gather information on their technology and related intelligence. Caesar, Sakamoto, Xia Ming, and Ross, you will form one team and immediately go to Combe Island in the south to investigate the myth of Thor and the relics of the gods. The other eight will split into two teams to provide air support and relay information to the first two teams, gather more audio and video information about the gods of Thor, and closely monitor for the arrival of divine messengers and issue warnings. I'll send you the 'Complete Covenant of Thor' that I photographed last night. We must find out exactly who these Thors are, because judging from last night's events, the technology and knowledge of the Tiancan civilization may very well originate from Thor and his people. I'm worried that humanity on Earth may be facing an even more powerful adversary."