Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 571 - 568: Entering the Base

Zhang Yuan saw various discussions on the network and sighed softly, "It looks like there’s a lot of opposition from the public. Is there really a need for such righteous indignation just to have a little exchange?"

"Exchange? Exchange what..." Ye Kaifu, as one of the first Transcendents to be conscripted, shook his head: "Population is indeed one of the most important factors for a civilization, but it’s also the least important. With our current public welfare system, we can have as many people born as we want. Why merge with the other side’s population?"

"We didn’t say we wanted to merge with the other side’s population," said Zhang Yuan. "I’ve never thought about that. Everyone living their own lives isn’t too bad."

Ye Kaifu seemed to remember something, "You really don’t know the scene at that time... ah, it was such chaos, everyone was panicking, all thinking about fleeing!"

"...It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even feel like mining anymore!"

"Fortunately, as more and more Transcendents emerged and took control of the government, we got through it, and afterwards, the whole society didn’t really have too many problems. Slowly, there was an even greater shift in the social mindset."

Zhang Yuan nodded, "What you say is correct, but from a broader perspective, even if both sides don’t see eye to eye, we still need to communicate... Plus, there’s a portion of the populace with small family friends and relatives who have been isolated from each other for so many years; they also have a need to visit. Members of a small family are completely relatives, after all."

"But, how to reduce the conflict between ideologies is yet another difficulty."

"Yeah, it’s really troublesome."

As they were talking, these human spaceships had already approached the Radiant Galaxy, sending out a series of electromagnetic signals.

Diplomat Shen Chao spoke up, "Friends of the human branch aboard the ’Radiant Galaxy’, hello. On behalf of ’The Kunlun Mountain’ and its forty-eight million people, I extend our sincerest greetings."

"...All the military readiness required for the neutron star collision has been completed, with the collision expected to occur in 14 years."

"We can both receive the relevant data together and tackle the core difficulties of Curvature Technology..."

...

Diplomat Shen Chao’s tone was quite serious as he spoke at length on the screen, then converted his speech into electromagnetic waves and sent it out.

Zhang Yuan nodded slightly, regardless of the public’s reaction, from the perspective of the entire civilization, it was still necessary to be as tolerant as possible.

But...

After waiting a long time, there was still no response.

At this point, everyone realized something was amiss. The network immediately erupted with various speculations. Some thought the other side was ashamed and didn’t want to show their face; others believed there might be some internal conflict within the other civilization.

There were even those who thought that there might be a potential enemy in the area that had wiped out the human branch aboard the Radiant Galaxy!

Suddenly, the military heightened its alert to the maximum, and various small military ships took off from the surface and began patrolling, although the current military strength was not very strong.

Zhang Yuan had a vague guess in his heart and took a deep breath. Wiping the sweat from his face, he didn’t look very good.

As for Mr. Shen Chao, the diplomat representing the New Human Side, he too was stunned after waiting for a long time and not receiving a response. Then, after licking his dry lips, he gave the landing order with a somber expression.

"Now, we’ll attempt to land..."

The "Radiant Galaxy" Mother Ship might have its automatic defense system activated, and people’s spaceships didn’t dare to approach rashly or they’d be attacked by the auto-defense system. These small ships were simply unable to resist and could easily be shot down.

The Human Base behind them was more than a dozen astronomical units away, requiring a month’s travel, so rescue wouldn’t be possible in time; a death would be in vain.

Therefore, he could only instruct these spaceships to land on the surface.

It was a planet with a thin atmosphere, with atmospheric pressure about 0.12 times that of Earth’s standard atmosphere. The spaceships experienced intense friction with the air, but fortunately, none of these ships were very large, so they were able to land on the surface.

The surroundings were bald and everywhere one looked were gray-black circular mountains, no different from the Moon.

At some mining sites, one could see traces of mineral extraction, as well as a network of high-speed rails connecting with one another.

However, the gravity here was quite similar to that of Earth, making living here quite comfortable. This was likely the main reason the Radiant Galaxy had chosen this planet as a branch location.

Because those two neutron stars had experienced several supernova explosions over hundreds of millions of years, theoretically, no alien life should exist on this planet, located a light year away.

Of course, it’s always better to be prepared for the unexpected. Miracles can happen in the universe, after all. It’s possible that some life forms underwent some mutation and evolved!

Once all the soldiers disembarked on the ground, they immediately raised their laser rifles, vigilant in their hearts.

Following that, a series of tracked military robots rolled out of the ship’s hold. These war machines, taller than a man, resembled small tanks, each equipped with high-energy electromagnetic rifles and high-frequency cutting blades, making them deadly at both long and close range.

The presence of these high-end killing machines brought a certain sense of security to everyone.

After scanning the surroundings, the soldiers noticed that many of the large fusion lamps on the ground had gone out, with less than one in ten still lit.

Various vehicles lay scattered about, covered in a layer of dust as if they hadn’t been used in a very long time...

However, there were no signs of any battles having taken place.

"Mr. Shen... do we continue our mission, or should we return to the main base?" a reporter asked in a low voice.

She felt slightly anxious, with thoughts of various aliens and predators continually surfacing in her mind, dreading the sudden appearance of some alien being that would devour them all!

Even though the power armor they wore was the most advanced model—capable of killing a cow with a single punch—and the spaceship was armed with various war weapons, facing such an eerie and deserted scene, who wouldn’t feel uneasy?

The Diplomat furrowed his brows, lost in thought for a long while.

"Don’t panic. Keep the live stream running. Continue interviewing the relatives of the explorers and tell the viewers that both sides are still attempting to communicate. Introduce the escape incident that occurred four hundred years ago, and then play a segment of the footage from back then. Time will pass quickly... Don’t be nervous! We have so many soldiers here."

Before long, the reconnaissance robots distributed about had located several elevator entrances to the Underground City.

Several civilian elevators had lost power and could not be used, but two industrial elevators were still operational.

"Reporting to the Commander, we don’t have the passkey to use the industrial elevators unless we blow an opening with a High Explosive Bomb."

The soldier Commander shook his head: "If we can avoid using bombs, let’s not use them. Who knows if there are still people down there."

"If we accidentally kill someone, we can’t take responsibility."

These soldiers were multi-talented elites who quickly thought of another way. A few soldiers removed a device resembling a computer from the outside of an abandoned excavator, an identity recognition device. Since the technology was the same on both sides, the soldiers were familiar with these devices.

After some simple repairs, they used the device to swipe it on the industrial elevator.

With a "buzz," a vibration sounded—

The large metal door opened, revealing the bright, soft lighting inside.

After eight combat robots entered the elevator, people drove an engineering track vehicle out of the spaceship. This vehicle was like an oversized van, its armor capable of withstanding the impact of high-explosive bombs.

Soldier Commander Guo Hao said to the others, "I’ll take a team inside to take a look first. You all wait outside, and keep the communication open!"

The Diplomat nodded, "Be careful, and if it really comes down to it, retreat. We don’t need to take undue risks."

"Understood."

With a loud shout, they drove the track vehicle into the industrial elevator.