Chapter 8

Dozens of thousands of kilometers away, the giant monster Jupiter silently watched, as chaotic as ever. In the distance, the vast rings of Jupiter quietly revolved, with over sixty moons floating in and out of them. Xiao Yu could not find any factors that could cause strong radiation in the Jupiter system.

If Xiao Yu had not reinforced the spaceship's heat shield and radiation shield before arriving, he would have been instantly killed by the abnormality, with all instruments failing and the central computer short-circuiting.

However, even so, Xiao Yu was in great discomfort. Sparks had already begun to appear in some areas of the spaceship. If not handled promptly, it could lead to a larger-scale short circuit, which would be dangerous.

Thousands of sensors scattered across the spaceship began to collect data at full capacity. Geiger counters, magnetometers, photometers, spectrometers, and various detection devices worked at full speed, transmitting countless data to Xiao Yu's brain for computation.

Almost instantly, Xiao Yu reached a conclusion.

"No redshift? No blueshift? How is this possible?" This conclusion left Xiao Yu utterly baffled.

If there was radiation, there must be a radiation source. According to the Doppler effect, when moving away from the radiation source, the radiation wavelength would shift towards the red end, known as redshift. Conversely, when moving closer, there would be blueshift. However, Xiao Yu's current observation showed neither redshift nor blueshift.

This indicated that the radiation could not have come from Jupiter. Since Xiao Yu was moving away from Jupiter, or Jupiter was moving away from Xiao Yu, if the radiation came from Jupiter, Xiao Yu should have observed redshift.

There was only one possibility: the radiation source was moving at the same rate as Xiao Yu's spaceship, both in speed and direction. Or, in other words, the radiation source was on the spaceship itself.

Xiao Yu immediately began the next round of detection.

"The radiation inside the spaceship is dozens of times weaker than outside. The sensors on the spaceship's hull detect the strongest radiation... Could the radiation come from outside the spaceship, or, more precisely, be attached to the hull?"

Xiao Yu immediately activated the optical sensors to carefully inspect the spaceship's hull. However, there was nothing on the hull that did not belong to the spaceship.

"What the hell is going on!" Xiao Yu was extremely anxious. The longer this situation persisted, the more likely a serious accident would occur. Despite using all his means, he could not figure out where the problem lay.

"Calm down, stay calm," Xiao Yu forced himself to suppress his panic. "I've survived the collision of the moons, I don't believe I'll fail in a small matter like this."

At that moment, the Geiger counter jumped again, and another strong radiation source was detected. This time, Xiao Yu observed a clear blueshift, indicating that the radiation source was rapidly approaching.

After determining the direction, Xiao Yu immediately aimed the optical detection equipment there. However, all he saw was the massive Jupiter slowly rotating, with a few asteroids leisurely orbiting. There was nothing else.

However, the radiation continued to increase, and Xiao Yu was almost ready to curse.

"What the hell is it? What is it?" Xiao Yu was extremely frustrated and could not figure it out. Suddenly, the spectrometer showed that the strong radiation source's blueshift had disappeared.

At the same time, the radiation intensity on the spaceship's hull had doubled.

This indicated that the radiation source had stopped moving.

"Could another radiation source have attached to my spaceship's hull?" Xiao Yu made this hypothesis, but no matter how he searched, he could not find any object that could emit radiation in the visible light spectrum.

Based on the current radiation intensity, if two more such radiation sources appeared, Xiao Yu's radiation shield would not be able to withstand it. At that point, the spaceship's internal machinery, instruments, and circuits would suffer severe damage, possibly irreparable.

"Hmm?" Just as Xiao Yu was extremely anxious, he detected an unusual fluctuation.

He felt that the intensity of the radiation source had slightly increased, as if the radiation source was trying to penetrate the radiation shield and enter the spaceship.

"Does this thing have its own mind? Is it alive?" Xiao Yu was startled and immediately powered some of the circuits below the radiation shield. Under the influence of the electromagnetic field, the feeling of being penetrated disappeared.

Xiao Yu had already passed the closest point to Jupiter. Now, he was moving away from Jupiter at a speed of 58 kilometers per second.

"Jupiter is too strange. I've already obtained enough observational data, so I should leave quickly to avoid danger." Xiao Yu made up his mind and accelerated for ten seconds, consuming several tons of fuel to increase his speed to 63 kilometers per second.

However, Xiao Yu detected another danger. He observed the blueshift indicating that the radiation source was rapidly approaching. This time, it was two different radiation sources!

"Damn, they want to kill me!" Xiao Yu was terrified and, in a panic, took out the laser gun and aimed at the direction of the approaching radiation source, firing at maximum power.

The laser flashed and disappeared. In Xiao Yu's detection equipment, the blueshift of one radiation source disappeared, and the radiation intensity of that source decreased by two percent.

"This is too strange." Xiao Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but the next moment, the radiation source showed blueshift again.

It was as if there was an invisible creature there that paused slightly under the impact of Xiao Yu's laser gun and then continued to rush towards Xiao Yu.

"This is really bizarre." Xiao Yu cursed and continued to shoot at that direction with the laser gun.

This shot did not weaken the intensity. Xiao Yu checked the data and found that the object had changed its position, dodging the laser gun.

Xiao Yu was alarmed and immediately adjusted the gun, re-aiming at the radiation source. The radiation source dodged again, and Xiao Yu aimed again. It was like a police officer constantly aiming at a fleeing criminal.

Under continuous laser attacks, the detection equipment showed that the radiation source's intensity was continuously decreasing, but although the intensity decreased, the blueshift did not disappear.

The laser gun fired for about three minutes, consuming nearly a ton of fuel, and finally, the radiation source disappeared from Xiao Yu's detection equipment.

"Really, this is like encountering a ghost." Although he had eliminated one radiation source, Xiao Yu did not dare to relax. He turned the laser gun to another radiation source and started shooting. Four minutes later, the other radiation source also disappeared, and Xiao Yu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiao Yu began to think about what this thing could be.

First, this thing was invisible, but it could be detected by a Geiger counter. Its movement direction and speed could be determined by redshift and blueshift, and its radiation intensity could be reduced and eventually eliminated by the laser gun.

"Is this... a creature from Jupiter?" Gradually, a shocking thought appeared in Xiao Yu's mind.

It could actively attack Xiao Yu and actively dodge the laser gun, indicating that it had its own consciousness.

This completely overturned Xiao Yu's previous understanding of "life." In the minds of most people, including Xiao Yu, life was something visible and tangible. Even the smallest viruses with basic DNA structures could be seen under an electron microscope.

So, how to define something that has its own consciousness, can move around, but has no mass, is completely transparent, does not emit or reflect any visible light, and is just a radiation source? How to define such an existence?

Time did not allow Xiao Yu to think. Because he observed that at least a hundred such radiation sources appeared on one of Jupiter's moons, 300,000 kilometers ahead, and they all showed strong blueshift, indicating that they were approaching Xiao Yu at an astonishing speed, with a closing speed of almost 150 kilometers per second!

At such a speed, they would meet head-on in just half an hour!

Xiao Yu's current radiation shield could only withstand four such radiation sources. If a hundred radiation sources attached to the surface of Xiao Yu's spaceship, the spaceship's hull would be instantly melted, the circuits would short-circuit, and the central computer would immediately fail!

Such a result would mean Xiao Yu's complete death. Even if the central computer were repaired and restarted, Xiao Yu would not survive.

Because once the computer shut down, Xiao Yu's consciousness and spirit would become a fixed code on the storage device, losing its self-awareness.

"Damn!" Xiao Yu cursed, no longer caring about the consumption of energy, and increased the power of the laser gun to the maximum, aiming at the direction and starting to shoot.

The laser gun fired powerful lasers at a rate of about one ton of fuel per minute, but even so, it took Xiao Yu almost two minutes to eliminate one radiation source. At this rate, by the time they met head-on, Xiao Yu could eliminate at most fifteen radiation sources.

But what about the remaining eighty or ninety radiation sources?

"This won't work." Xiao Yu's brain began to operate at full capacity, and countless plans emerged, each tested for feasibility and then abandoned.

Finally, one plan passed the feasibility test.

"There's only one way. Let's try it; it's better than waiting to die."

Xiao Yu sighed and began controlling the robots to quickly modify a metal box and attach it to the inner wall of the spaceship.

"Let's start, the radiation source capture plan!"