Chapter 21: A Breakthrough Achievement!

Interstellar Shen Yu wore a smile on his face as he opened the door to his room. His sister and parents stood at the threshold, wearing expressions of similar bewilderment.

To them, this was simply staggering. Just moments ago, all three of them had received a notification from the Goddess of Hope, informing them that they were to be granted protection status reserved for the families of civilization-level researchers. For a fleeting second, they had even suspected that the Goddess of Hope had been compromised. It was as absurd as a child who had always been perfectly ordinary suddenly being appointed as a world leader. It was unbelievable, a scenario that should have been impossible.

"There are some unusual circumstances, but it is indeed true," Interstellar Shen Yu said with a laugh. "Regardless, I won't have to head to the front lines for the time being. Staying in the rear will allow me to provide greater assistance to our civilization."

He emphasized the words "for the time being." He had already learned of the immense potential held by the "Shen Yus" in terms of their own inherent power. Perhaps there would come a day when he would go to the battlefield, but when that time came, it would not be to await death, but to deliver death and terror to the enemy.

As for his parents and family, regardless of their excitement and apprehension, once the floating transport arrived for them on schedule, they finally accepted the reality: their son had become a civilization-level researcher, and their entire family would be under heavy protection. His parents were so moved they embraced one another. In this era, safety was the most precious commodity of all.

Interstellar Shen Yu took advantage of the transit time to communicate privately with the Goddess of Hope.

"I require biological research personnel to study the characteristics and value of the Eye-Beasts. Furthermore, based on our established covenant, we need to provide a certain level of support to our allied civilization."

"Agreed," the Goddess of Hope replied, her voice manifesting directly as it always did. "I have already issued research summons to over thirty experts, including one of civilization-level standing. However, the level of support provided will be determined by the research value—you should actively seek to establish covenants with doomsday civilizations that possess higher value."

The defining characteristic of the Goddess of Hope was her rationality. Therefore, as long as the value of the "monsters" remained unclear, she did not consider the civilization with which they had currently established a mutual aid covenant to be of high value.

There must be civilizations within the Multidimensional Doomsday Mutual Aid Association that were far more powerful than this one. After a moment of silence, Interstellar Shen Yu replied, "Civilizations more powerful than ours may not necessarily need our resources. The purpose of the association is mutual complementarity, not unilateral support. However, I am already actively in contact with another member. The world that member hails from possesses incredibly powerful individual strength, which could significantly compensate for the deficiencies we face on the battlefield."

Like the original Shen Yu, Interstellar Shen Yu temporarily kept the existence of the Martial Arts World a secret, using it as a buffer for his "networking" activities. Moreover, martial arts transcendence could play a significant role in his interstellar world. The primary issue on the front lines was that AI robots alone could not form an effective combat force, while human soldiers were too fragile and difficult to expand in large numbers on short notice, constrained by population limits. Even cybernetic augmentation could only provide marginal relief. If martial arts could be introduced, scaled, and brought to fruition...

Interstellar Shen Yu pondered this in his mind. However, things had to be done one step at a time.

The floating transport soon arrived at a high-security research facility. It had long been abandoned, maintained only by automated systems. The attack twelve years ago had not only targeted those in power but also claimed many researchers, leading to the facility’s closure. With Interstellar Shen Yu’s arrival, everything hummed back to life. Such facilities were typically places of the highest security, and he and his family would reside there for the time being.

Soon, other researchers were transported in one by one. They did not meet Interstellar Shen Yu directly; everything was coordinated by the AI. All these researchers had to do was follow the instructions provided. When they learned what kind of creature they were tasked with studying, each of them reacted with astonishment.

"Could this be a new biological weapon developed by the Ethereals?"

"Impossible. Their methods, which seem to involve 'negative emotional signaling,' already pose a lethal threat to our frontline soldiers. If the Ethereals possessed this technology, there would be no need to design such easily countered creatures."

"Exactly. Simply replicating it on their existing biological weapons would be enough to deal a crushing blow to our side."

"So, where did this clearly weaponized creature come from?"

"Everyone, that is not for us to discuss. The mission is clear: we are to study the principles and assess its value for the frontline war."

"Let’s begin. I can hardly wait."

These researchers were among the top minds of Interstellar Human Civilization. Augmented by implanted chips, each possessed astonishing technical acumen, truly bringing the combination of "knowledge" and "spirit" to its absolute limit. In less than half a day, they achieved results that far exceeded a month’s worth of previous research by human civilization. These findings left everyone incredibly exhilarated.

The only civilization-level researcher summoned to the project reported directly to the Goddess of Hope:

"This creature utilizes a special energy we have never encountered before! This energy has an incredibly strong biological affinity. It is incredible—a single organ the size of a thumb can contain such vast power. Furthermore, their method of reproduction is equally miraculous, and the key remains this energy. By extracting relevant energy from the bodies of dead organisms, they undergo a near-exact duplication process. If we can harvest this energy and simulate its operation to create an 'emotional attack' weapon, there is a very high probability of delivering a fatal blow to the intangible Ethereals." The researcher’s voice trembled with excitement. "This will be a breakthrough! A breakthrough!"

One of the most critical aspects of this war was that it was extremely difficult for human forces to land a fatal blow on the Ethereals. The Ethereals had no physical bodies; they were merely information-dense, sapient energy waves and information fields—much like the "ghosts" of legend. Yet, now, in these monsters known as "Eye-Beasts," they saw the possibility of a true threat to the Ethereals.