Under the remote control of numerous clones, a thousand spherical probes, each with a radius of about five meters, resembling submarines, were transported by Jupiter aircraft and dropped into the gas giant designated as number 2.

Amidst supersonic gales, almost ubiquitous giant thunderstorms, and countless hailstones, these submarine probes evaded numerous obstacles and penetrated deeper into the atmosphere of this gas giant than ever before, losing contact with Tom the next moment.

There was no way; the gas here was too dense, the magnetic field too strong, and there was too much interference. None of the communication methods Tom had mastered could allow him to maintain contact with the submarine probes under such circumstances.

The only hope lay in the intelligent programs installed within those submarine probes.

If all went well, they would be able to resurface after penetrating tens of thousands of kilometers deep into the atmosphere and reaching the metallic hydrogen layer of the gas giant, bringing back information from there.

Of course, this was merely an experiment; they did not need to dive that deep yet.

Time quietly passed. According to the preset program, they should have already submerged to a depth of about 5,000 kilometers.

After staying there for an hour, they would resurface. If all went well, they would complete their ascent in three days.

Tom controlled numerous clones, waiting at the edge of this massive gas giant.

Time quietly passed, and several days flew by in an instant.

Numerous Jupiter aircraft and Black Bird platforms gathered at the pre-set surfacing location, searching the planet's surface closely amidst the stormy weather.

"Even if the environment is harsh, with probes manufactured at the peak technological level of an Electroweak Civilization, surely at least one out of ten can survive? In fact, I don't even expect a hundred out of a thousand probe submarines to return; ten would be enough," Tom thought silently.

The return time had arrived. But as far as the eye could see, there were still only the supersonic gales and thunderstorms of the gas giant.

Not a single submarine probe was sighted.

Tom waited for three more days, and finally, he spotted the silhouette of one submarine probe.

It ascended with extreme difficulty, its hard metal surface covered in dense scars, looking as if it would collapse at any moment.

Fortunately, all its internal equipment was still intact.

Tom brought it back to the laboratory and quickly began his analysis.

After reviewing the data, Tom sighed and completely abandoned the plan to explore the metallic hydrogen layer of the gas giant.

The pressure there was too immense, exceeding what his specially designed probes could withstand. The meteorological environment was also too harsh, with endless atmospheric changes that could easily tear apart these probes specifically designed by Tom.

For one out of a thousand submarine probes to return successfully was already an extreme stroke of luck.

And this was only after penetrating 5,000 kilometers into the gas giant's atmosphere.

The metallic hydrogen layer, on the other hand, is at a depth of approximately 20,000 kilometers.

The environment there is infinitely more severe than the depth the probe reached this time.

Even if he truly unified the Strong Nuclear Force, it would likely be almost impossible to create a probe capable of reaching the metallic hydrogen layer of a gas giant.

"If the plan to explore the gas giant is not feasible, then I can only try another path.

In the entire exploration plan, the most important aspect is the 'vibration' caused by the sudden proton decay.

This vibration must be extremely minute. Sufficient pressure is a necessary condition to amplify this vibration.

The reason is evident: the greater the pressure, the more violent the collision of matter when a proton suddenly decays and disappears.

At the same time, there must be enough matter. The more matter there is, the more protons there are, and the higher the probability of proton decay.

Considering the above factors, perhaps… I can simulate the environment inside a gas giant and create a new type of probe?" Tom gradually gained some inspiration.

"This probe must have a sufficiently large volume and mass, and its internal medium must be subjected to sufficiently immense external pressure. Only then will the 'vibration' after proton decay have sufficient intensity.

At the same time, this internal medium should necessarily use hydrogen, not other elements. This is because the atomic nuclei of other elements contain many protons, and even if one proton is lost, it merely decays into another element, still possessing sufficient material support.

A hydrogen atom's nucleus, however, contains only one proton, and once it decays and disappears, its atom will directly vanish, creating a 'cavity,' which can then induce vibration.

This probe must be located in zero gravity space, as any external gravity could interfere with the detection accuracy, causing the probe to miss the subtle vibrations caused by proton decay.

Once this probe is built, no machinery should operate inside it, as the operation of any machinery would cause vibrations and interference, affecting detection accuracy.

Therefore, its main detection device and energy supply device should be separate. I need to build a dedicated nuclear fusion power station next to it to supply electricity…" As he slowly conceived, this unprecedented new type of probe gradually took shape in Tom's mind.

With the principle design complete, the next step was engineering implementation.

The primary challenge in engineering implementation was how to maintain approximately 160 million tons of hydrogen at a pressure of about 200,000 times atmospheric pressure and keep it stable?

A pressure of 200,000 times atmospheric pressure is an almost unimaginable figure.

It is worth noting that the deepest part of the Earth's ocean, the Mariana Trench, experiences a pressure of only about 1,100 times atmospheric pressure.

And this figure now is more than 180 times the pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench!

This is almost equivalent to the pressure experienced when the weight of over 180 elephants is all pressing down on a human fingernail.

In a laboratory setting, Tom had indeed used laser shock and magnetic compression technology to create pressures far exceeding this number, even up to hundreds of millions of times Earth's atmospheric pressure.

But that was in a laboratory, and only for extremely tiny objects.

And now, the mass of the substance Tom needed to pressurize was as high as 160 million tons!

The two are simply incomparable.

Furthermore, even if Tom truly managed to stably apply 200,000 times atmospheric pressure to 160 million tons of hydrogen, this would only reach the lower limit for detecting proton decay vibrations.

160 million tons of hydrogen contain approximately 10^{38} protons. Calculating with a proton lifetime of 10^{37} years, on average, only 10 protons would decay per year from such a large quantity.

A pressure of 200,000 times atmospheric pressure would only magnify that vibration to the lower limit of observable accuracy. If he wanted to be more sensitive, it would be best to increase the mass of hydrogen contained within the probe tenfold, and simultaneously increase the pressure to twice the original.

Thus, it would be a pressure of 400,000 times atmospheric pressure, with 1.6 billion tons of hydrogen.

Facing these performance indicators, even Tom felt a little heavy.

The difficulty of building this probe is truly high…

However, it is still easier than trying to discern that tiny bit of "starquake" by delving into the metallic hydrogen layer of a gas giant.

At the same time, Tom confirmed that this indeed had a certain possibility of being the correct path for detecting proton decay.

Because, theoretically speaking, although building this probe is difficult, an ordinary Electroweak Civilization would still have the possibility of building it.

Since that's the case… there's nothing more to say.

Build it!

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