Repulsive force and collapse force, these two forces are balanced for most of a star's lifetime.

If fusion increases, the outward repulsive force becomes greater.

The star will tend to expand, the central pressure decreases, and fusion returns to a balanced rate.

If fusion decreases, the outward repulsive force diminishes.

The star will then collapse inward, increasing the central pressure, accelerating fusion, and again returning to a balanced rate.

It's somewhat like a seesaw.

This stable phase of stars is called the main sequence star—our current Sun is in this phase, as do most stars.

From birth to becoming a main sequence star, the evolutionary process is the same for most stars, differing only in the length of time.

If the initial mass is large.

The collapsing force will be large, and the corresponding fusion rate will be high.

If the initial mass is small.

The gravitational collapse will be small, and the corresponding fusion rate will be low.

Simply put.

It's like a person's life span being about eating XX tons of food, the more you eat, the faster you go... cough cough.

Before reaching the main sequence stage, each star's journey is largely the same, but their final fate varies greatly.

For us humans, kings and generals are not born with special talents, with effort, one can significantly change their destiny.

A poor child might not become extremely rich, but by being diligent, they can surely achieve a comfortable living.

But stars are different.

Their origin, which is their initial mass, almost exclusively determines their fate.

It's somewhat like Ah San's caste system, whether you are of the upper class or a lower class is determined at birth and cannot be changed.

In conclusion.

When a star passes the main sequence phase, where the majority of hydrogen has fused into helium, stars of different masses diverge into different paths—becoming red giants and supergiants.

For our Sun.

The reduction of hydrogen will slow the fusion rate, and the collapse force will further increase internal pressure and temperature.

The layer of helium around the stellar core reaches a critical point, and starts to fuse into heavier carbon.

As more helium gets involved in fusion, the Sun's outer layers will slowly expand and cool, becoming less bright.

This phase of the Sun is called the red giant.

By this stage, Grandpa Sun will start to show its dangerous side:

Its expanding surface will engulf Mercury and Venus, and whether or not it will swallow Earth remains uncertain.

But by then, it won't matter if it swallows Earth or not—the Earth's surface temperature won't drop below 3000 degrees, even Brother from Guangdong can't survive it.

By this stage.

The helium inside the star will be completely converted into heavy elements within a few million years, and the star's core will become a giant iron core.

Yes, this iron core is the one Mingmou and Zeng Gu Cheng talked about.

Why does the final form inside become iron?

Because when fusion reaches iron, fusion cannot continue.

Fusion reactions of iron release less energy than they absorb—this is compulsory knowledge from high school physics.

Thus, iron is also called the 'star killer'.

So normally.

If a star explodes normally after its lifespan ends, whether it explodes into a nebula or supernova, a large iron core can surely be observed—whether you can survive after seeing it is another story.

This is also why Zeng Gu Cheng was so surprised:

An enormous star, at the moment of collapse, without an iron core inside, either means someone has already extracted it.

Or it implies...

The star was 'murdered'!

Honestly speaking.

The first scenario exists but is not very probable.

Not mentioning the billion-degree temperature of red giants and the ultra-pressure inside, anyone capable of extracting the iron core from a star could easily obtain iron elements or liquid iron by other means in the universe.

Like on Earth.

If you drill to the core, you'll find a large amount of liquid iron, not scarce at all—of course, don't worry about Earth exploding from too much iron.

Though some high-energy regions inside Earth are undergoing mild nuclear fusion, that's just internal energy conversion.

In conclusion.

Extracting the iron core from inside a star is indeed a strenuous task.

Certainly, some special circumstances might exist, such as an urgent need for these iron cores or other methods, etc.

But according to Mingmou's description, this possibility is not very convincing logically.

Thus, the greater feasibility is the latter—this star is very young, far from reaching the star's end, it was directly destroyed by external force!

And thus....

The methods of that advanced civilization become somewhat terrifying.

It was a star!

Not to mention the red coffin, chains, and female voice Knight mentioned.

In the meeting room, Lin Li's expression was complex, muttering:

"Now, the mystery deepens..."

He didn't doubt that Mingmou was making things up or lying.

First, Mingmou had no reason to do so.

Second....

This is the command room, where lie-detection equipment has been active from the start.

Not that the command doesn't trust Mingmou, but because the nature of "deduction" is so critical, it might influence the rabbits' development path to some extent.

Especially anything related to the stone tablet—information about the advanced civilization is considered an ultra-major event on a "civilization" level!

And coercive measures are inappropriate, so naturally, technical means are used to avoid unpleasant outcomes—surely, with Mingmou's intelligence, he might have anticipated this and accepted it calmly.

Because Mingmou wasn't lying, it only makes the current mystery grow deeper.

The advanced civilization related to 'kasu', despite having no tangible connection except the stone tablet, is akin to Wang Xifeng in "Dream of the Red Chamber":

Her voice was heard before she was seen.

Just hearing what Mingmou heard was enough to astonish the rabbits for a long time.

If this civilization genuinely possesses the capability to destroy stars, then undoubtedly it is a higher level civilization than humans.

And this raises more questions:

To what level have their technological methods developed?

And how does it relate to the current civilization in the Damo Realm?

Does this civilization still exist today?

Moreover, a more crucial point...

What technological advancements could the rabbits achieve if they find some remnants of this advanced civilization?

It's not that the rabbits are coveting more knowledge, but since this advanced civilization has a clear special relationship with the Damo Realm, strategically it makes sense to take a long-term view.

A long-term view is better than a short-term one, as long as the path is steady—a primary school student saying he wants to get into Tsinghua and strive for it, can you say they are thinking too much?

At this point, Lin Li dared not delay.

Once again, he asked about and recorded Mingmou's observations.

He then asked:

"So, Teacher Mingmou, what about Qian Gu Mountain?

What will come of the explorations by Patriarch Wei and Colonel Lin?"

Mingmou visibly relaxed at the mention of Qian Gu Mountain explorations.

Shaking his head lightly, he decisively said:

"Captain Lin, based on my deduction, Colonel Lin and their exploration likely won't find anything, so the command should make other preparations."

Hearing this, Lin Li blinked and asked:

"Teacher Mingmou... May I ask, did you see fragments, or is this based on your 'calculations'?"

"It's through calculations, when deducing Colonel Lin I didn't see fragments, after all, dealing with future events, it's definitely more difficult than tracing the past."

Mingmou explained, then continued:

"Captain Lin, although this is a calculated result, there's no need to doubt its accuracy.

I'm a professional prophecy cultivator; I am certainly confident in such a minor issue."

Just as Mingmou finished, Lin Li saw the communications leader Wang Yaohua rushing over:

"Report, Colonel Lin and the team have made a major discovery at Qian Gu Mountain!"

Mingmou: "?!"

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