"Three, two, one, launch!" Lin Xiaoxue’s crisp, impassioned countdown echoed through the control center in Earth’s synchronous orbit. At her command, a quantum seed, one hundred meters in diameter, shot skyward from the launch silo like a meteor glowing with the light of hope. This "seed," meticulously woven from nanomaterials, resembled a masterwork of art; its surface flowed with colors as resplendent as liquid rainbows, as if all the hues of the world had been gathered within it. Enclosed inside was the crystallization of all the knowledge and art accumulated by human civilization over the long ages—from the Dunhuang Murals, which carry the wisdom and aesthetics of the ancient East, to the quantum physics formulas that reveal the mysteries of the universe; from the "Book of Songs," passed down for millennia and saturated with the emotions of our ancestors, to the futuristic, AI-composed symphonies, each piece a testament to the brilliance and diversity of human civilization.
"Reporting, Your Majesty," the astronomer said, his voice trembling slightly with excitement, his eyes sparkling with pride. "The seed has successfully broken through the light-speed barrier. At its current velocity, it is expected to reach Alpha Centauri in seventy years."
Su Ran nodded slightly, his gaze drifting toward the Stargate. A glass-jellyfish-shaped alien spacecraft was approaching slowly, its body emitting a soft, mysterious light, like a dreamlike messenger from the depths of the cosmos.…
Chapter 246