Chapter 350: Chapter 349: Ten Years

Ye Junchang fell silent for a while. “Captain, then one last question. Putting aside all this cosmological common knowledge, could everything be a fabrication by the Badit people to lure us there?”

Zhang Yuan replied, “There is a 99.99% probability that it is not a lie.”

“Some of the data were extracted from the machines in the ruins. The Badit people had no opportunity to massively alter the data inside. Another part came from interrogations. Currently, we cannot directly read the Badit people’s memories, but using Virtual World Technology to discern truth from lies is not too problematic.”

“After comparing and synthesizing both parts of the data, we reached this conclusion…”

Ye Junchang nodded to indicate that he had no further doubts. “If that is the case, I agree to go to the Huantai Civilization Trading Market.”

Seeing others still contemplating, Zhang Yuan continued, “Ladies and gentlemen, do not think that spending five to six hundred years, which sounds very lengthy, even longer than a human’s lifespan, is too much, because interstellar travel is inherently like this… This is still the time it takes when we use the gravitational acceleration of the Cosmic String, significantly increasing our travel speed. According to the speed during the Earth Era, it would even take five to six thousand years!

“But indeed, if we truly accomplish this goal, it will be a great milestone in human history! Only then will we give birth to true interstellar diplomacy.”

With one person’s approval, soon there came a second, and a third…

Some who maintained a cautious stance also began to loosen their positions.

Every step humans take is not easy, and many times, the so-called enemy isn’t necessarily an alien civilization, it could also be ourselves.

It’s impossible to completely avoid risks; even the Badit people know that benefits and risks are proportional. Everyone present is well aware of this fact.

Just as Zhang Yuan announced the beginning of the voting phase, suddenly someone else stood up.

“Your Excellency Captain, I have another question,” another physicist raised his hand and said, “Regarding the entire trading market, the best technologies certainly would be Superluminal Communication and Curvature Navigation.”

“Or rather, all third-level civilizations are yearning for these two technologies. It’s just that due to the extremely high prices, or some other reason, they are unattainable.”

“But we have in our possession technology from a Level 6 Civilization, whether it be the Virtual World Technology or that undecryptable High-Dimensional Fragment. Is it possible to use them for trade? We must consider whether such a possibility exists and the risks involved.”

Hearing this inquiry, many scientists began to stir. It must be said, Superluminal Communication and Curvature Navigation are indeed the technologies humans have long dreamed of.

Using an undecryptable High-Dimensional Fragment for trade seems… slightly possible.

Even if the High-Dimensional Fragment might be more valuable, for current humans, it’s completely unutilizable!

One of the scientists feverishly discussed, “Superluminal Communication, what exactly is the principle behind it? Even just point-to-point Superluminal Communication is immensely important! Can we control such technology or, let’s say, achieve Superluminal Communication through engineering from advanced civilizations?”

“…That way, direct communication with our rear base could be established.”

Communication, the most troublesome yet most crucial thing in the universe, just like the war with the Badit people, when human communication was devastatingly compromised, the war naturally could not be fought.

The same holds true even for a single spaceship, and even more so for the entire universe.

For now, “The Kunlun Mountain” can only rely on high-power electromagnetic wave communication to send information back to Gliese 581, or Earth, or Barnard Star, neither the safety nor the speed of which can meet the needs.

Light speed, 300,000 kilometers per second, is snail-paced compared to the vast universe! Especially with the ever-increasing transmission costs, it’s a despairing number for any lower-level interstellar civilization. To send a signal from one end of the Milky Way to the other would consume the energy of a constant star, a level of energy that low-level interstellar civilizations simply cannot master.

Typical interstellar civilizations can only colonize a few nearby constant stars, and these stars had better be near cosmic strings.

If the territory is truly vast, communication becomes extremely difficult, and naturally, the civilization disintegrates. Just like humans, the Kunlun Mountain, Earth Civilization, the civilization around Gliese 581, and the Golden Sun of Barnard Star are actually fragmented, communication between them is very difficult. How can they be considered the same civilization?

But possessing superluminal communication unlocks infinite possibilities!

Take, for example, the Amoeba Civilization, capable of developing countless affiliated civilizations, forming its own unique alliance, exerting greater influence in the Milky Way.

In the Milky Way, factions like the Amoeba are probably not too few, and superluminal communication is a necessary technology for these large-scale alliances.

Faced with this physicist’s inquiry, Zhang Yuan shook his head, “The Pan-Galaxy network system is very well-known in the Milky Way, almost every visiting interstellar civilization knows about it, so it’s clear that we’re rookies… Well, whether or not we can use this network system to communicate with our main base, I’m not sure, and regarding the Badit people, don’t have too high hopes…”

“Regarding trading with high-dimensional fragments, let’s focus on research for now and consider it later. If all else fails, it’s still better to have a bird in hand than ten in the forest.”

“Anyway, we still have five to six hundred years before we reach our destination, we don’t even know the specifics of the trading market, discussing it here isn’t very meaningful.”

Thus, after some discussion, this meeting concluded, and humans officially set the first major goal of this voyage–

Huantai Civilization Trading Market!

Of course, humans won’t reach the destination all at once but will choose a few interesting planets to stop at.

Traveling at 10% of the speed of light greatly damages the spaceship itself; resources must be regularly gathered for maintenance.

Moreover, since the Badit people have already cleared many of the routes, why not take advantage of it?

…

Time flew by quickly, and ten years had passed since that catastrophe…

Over these ten years, the Kunlun Mountain Fleet continued towards the first minor destination without any special incidents.

Those who should hibernate did so, and those who should awaken did.

It must be said that humans are indeed very forgetful creatures. The passage of time gradually soothed the psychological wounds in people’s hearts, and the Kunlun Mountain restored its usual peaceful state. The calls for returning home were not as prevalent as at the beginning.

This forgetfulness has its pros and cons; on one hand, ordinary civilians had begun to regain the courage to explore the stars, after all, humanity had fought and won, not lost, and history is ultimately written by the victors.

On the other hand, the once brave warriors were gradually being forgotten, remembered less and less frequently, even though the government had taken many measures.

Yet, this tendency to forget remains an unchangeable trend…