Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones

Recalling the arduous journey he had traveled over the years, Tom's heart was filled with emotion.

So what if the Mechanical Disaster has been hunting him down?

For an ordinary civilization, let alone developing technology, merely surviving would be difficult enough. But so what? Even while constantly on the run, hadn't he still advanced technology to this stage?

Now, the Standard Model has been greatly refined, incorporating the Strong Nuclear Force more completely into a unified framework.

Although it hasn't been truly unified yet, what's currently missing are only some high-energy experiments.

As long as he can reach a sufficient energy level, and further increase the energy of the gluon plasma, the prediction model shows that the Strong Nuclear Force is very likely to merge and unify with the Weak Nuclear Force and the Electromagnetic Force, truly revealing its mysteries to him!

By then, he will be a true Strong Nuclear Civilization. Even if he's still not their opponent right after the breakthrough, at least his cruising speed can be greatly increased, allowing him to buy more time for development.

As long as you give him enough time, what is a Mechanical Disaster that has almost lost its own potential for development!

Now, the only thing he has to do, and his most important task, is to seek suitable testing grounds and experimental methods to truly fuse all the scientific theories he has researched in the past, to truly achieve a breakthrough in fundamental physics, then a breakthrough in applied physics, and then a breakthrough in technological creations!

Tom began to think again.

The key to unifying the Strong Nuclear Force lies in verifying whether the current Unified Field Formula is correct and supplementing certain key parameters.

Yes, at this moment, Tom has already built the theoretical framework for the Unified Field Formula.

Of course, it's just a framework. First, Tom doesn't know if this framework is correct. Second, this framework lacks some extremely crucial parameters and theoretical details.

Only by supplementing these can the Strong Nuclear Force be considered truly unified.

The key to verifying whether this framework is correct lies in one phenomenon: proton decay.

Protons are generally considered to be stable and not decay. However, Tom's current theoretical system indicates that protons also decay. It's just that the lifespan of protons is extremely long, so the probability of decay is extremely, extremely low.

The significance of proton decay is that it is direct evidence of whether his theoretical framework is correct.

In Tom's theoretical system, at the very beginning of the universe, shortly after the Big Bang, the four fundamental forces—gravity, Strong Nuclear Force, Electromagnetic Force, and Weak Nuclear Force—were unified.

It was only with the occurrence of the Big Bang, and the rapid expansion of the universe, that the energy level rapidly decreased. Gravity first separated from the other three fundamental forces, then the Strong Nuclear Force, and then the Weak Nuclear Force and Electromagnetic Force also separated, leading to the current state with four fundamental interactions.

And if this is indeed the case, then it means that proton decay must exist.

However, as of now, Tom has not observed any signs of proton decay.

"First, the Strong Nuclear Force must be able to unify with the electroweak force.

This is not based on scientific research, but on the existence form of advanced civilizations. Since Strong Nuclear Civilizations exist, there's no reason why the Strong Nuclear Force shouldn't be able to unify.

Since the Strong Nuclear Force must be able to unify with the electroweak force, then the key lies in the mode of unification.

If I can observe proton decay, I can confirm that my current theoretical framework is correct. If I can't observe it, then it proves my theoretical system is wrong, and I must look for a new theoretical framework.

Secondly, it's about finding evidence for the existence of magnetic monopoles and evidence for baryon number violation.

If I can observe these three phenomena, I can not only confirm that my theoretical framework is correct, but also determine the energy level required for the unification of the Strong Nuclear Force and the electroweak force, filling in this crucial parameter.

Knowing the energy level, I can try to use engineering methods to create this energy level, to unify the Strong Nuclear Force and the electroweak force. After that, I will observe in detail the process of the Strong Nuclear Force and the electroweak force separating, observe the physical changes during this process, study what new particles appear, their properties and changes, fill in these details and data, and then the Unified Field Formula will be mastered by me!"

At this moment, Tom had already clarified the entire subsequent research path.

Among these, creating a suitable energy level, sufficient to unify the Strong Nuclear Force and the electroweak force, will definitely be a difficult point.

Although he doesn't know what this energy level is exactly, Tom is certain that it will be very, very high.

After all, in his theoretical system, when the Strong Nuclear Force separated from the other forces, the Big Bang had only just occurred a mere one-trillionth of a quadrillionth of a second ago.

How immense was the energy of the universe at that time?

The difficulty of recreating this energy level using artificial equipment is unimaginable.

However, this certainly doesn't mean that Tom needs to truly master energy comparable to the Big Bang. This is clearly impossible.

Not only Tom, but even a civilization a thousand times more advanced than Tom probably couldn't do it.

In fact, he only needs to recreate this energy level on an extremely small scale; although the energy level is high, the total energy might not even be as much as a high-explosive bomb.

Carefully studying the entire research path, Tom's heart gradually began to feel heavy again.

Even with just simple simulations and calculations, Tom discovered that the materials required for these crucial experiments, which directly relate to his ability to break through to a Strong Nuclear Civilization, exceeded his previous estimates.

The materials carried by the fleet alone were completely insufficient.

This means that to conduct these critical experiments, which directly relate to his ability to break through to a Strong Nuclear Civilization, he must dock in a star system. Only with the abundant resources in a star system can he proceed.

And time…

Tom roughly estimated that even if everything went smoothly, it would take at least 300 years.

If there were slight accidents in between, or if he got stuck in slightly difficult areas, forcing him to conduct additional research and experiments, this time would directly skyrocket to over 400 years.

And…

The last time he left that star system was only 230 years ago, and the Mechanical Disaster Fleet had already arrived.

Calculating based on this pattern, in the next star system, even if he only collected resources and repaired the fleet, without doing anything else, the Mechanical Disaster Fleet would probably arrive at most 200 years after he left.

If calculated from when he entered the star system, it would take at most about 230 years.

There isn't enough time!

However, breaking through to a Strong Nuclear Civilization must happen within a star system!

The contradiction in time was like a dead knot, firmly trapping Tom, with no hope of escape in sight.

Since that's the case…

A fierce glint flashed in Tom's eyes.

"Let's do it! When it's time to take a risk, you take a risk. At worst, I'll abandon this fleet and billions of clones, activate the backup, and start over!"