Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 585 - 582: The Tos Civilization is Coming

Such high-risk experiments, which also violated ethical norms, would have been unimaginable in the 21st century, but now they seemed less consequential, as long as necessary control measures were properly in place.

The study of self-awareness and quantum randomness was an important part of strong artificial intelligence. To continue enhancing the power of civilization, such research was essential; people couldn’t stop eating for fear of choking.

The Unreal Laboratory had always been the top-ranking safe laboratory. As one of the four giants, Zhang Yuan believed that as long as things were well-controlled, there wouldn’t be any problems.

The two of them played around in the large relic for an entire day, encountering many stories of the past, including the unfinished "Shelter No. 2."

The so-called Shelter No. 2 was built by the branch of humanity related to the Kunlun Mountains to alleviate feelings of moral guilt.

However, construction delays kept piling up until, in the end, only two-thirds of the project was completed.

The remaining parts lay silently here, with no way to finish them.

Lin Xuanyuan saw various abandoned machines haphazardly piled together. The place wasn’t a heritage conservation area; given the vast size of the site, it was common for middle school students to "pan for gold" here, taking anything they could disassemble according to their whims.

Some talented individuals even assembled these scrapped machines into a proper car!

Some robot games were also regularly held in this area.

She then asked, "What do you think would happen if we had chosen the three-thousand-year plan back then? Could we have implemented it now?"

"I don’t know... or perhaps we would have ended up just like them? Abandoning the task as we worked on it."

Zhang Yuan shook his head, feeling slightly melancholic.

This time, he truly didn’t know. Humans, as creatures, can sometimes be so great, yet most of the time, they are incredibly petty.

As a qualified decision-maker, one should never place all hope on the better aspects of human nature but instead guard against the petty and selfish aspects within it.

...

After finishing the last part of the tour, the two exited the Underground City and boarded an orbital transit train.

The main human bases were now located on the equatorial orbit on the opposite side of the planet, with the nearest resource mining site and the Space Elevator some 800 kilometers away. The train moved slowly forward, and despite the considerable distance, the towering Space Elevator could still be seen touching the sky.

Hanging in the sky, twenty thousand kilometers up, was a nuclear fusion lamp, flickering bright blue-white, illuminating the land below.

Among the various Starry Sky Ports, a total of six large Mother Ships were under construction!

A population of over one hundred million could perfectly support more industrial plans, and the construction projects that spanned over a thousand years had accumulated a vast amount of engineering experience. Five of these Mother Ships were the size of the former Radiant Galaxy, each capable of accommodating the daily lives of twenty million people.

The giant spaceship in the middle, named the "Qicheng," could even support the lives of fifty million people. It was the largest ship humanity could build, a true behemoth of the skies.

If one were to use military terminology, it would be considered a "Titan" class.

Zhang Yuan chose his seat and, looking at the nuclear fusion satellite lamp in the sky, said, "Some scientists think we should develop a Planet Fortress of our own. Everyone’s appetite is quite big now; we’ve already developed one Planet Fortress, and now they want to develop a second one."

"No matter how large a spaceship is, it can’t compare to a Planet Fortress... Whether it’s in terms of the population it can sustain, comfort levels, or performance."

"However, after some discussion, we decided to abandon this idea for now. The War Star would need to have Curvature Navigation Technology, and to envelop an entire planet in a curvature bubble, we’re still far short of the necessary experience!"

The engineering difficulty of curvature navigation is proportional to the volume of the curvature bubble, so current spaceships are basically round in shape. If the spaceship were elongated, achieving curvature navigation would be even more challenging.

Humans have just stepped into a Level 4 Civilization; there are still many areas to explore. Taking on the challenge of developing a War Star—a task of much higher difficulty—seems a bit overambitious.

Lin Xuanyuan said, "It might take a thousand or two thousand years to develop a War Star. Maybe by then, we’ll have the technology, right?"

Zhang Yuan spread his hands, "And what if we don’t? Wouldn’t we just be leaving the planet here? Don’t forget, this godforsaken place doesn’t even have cosmic strings. Are we really going to rely on planet engines to slowly move it out of here..."

"Of course, after we have enough technical accumulation, we will choose to develop our own War Star. A War Star of a Level 4 Civilization is truly a War Star. As for a third-level civilization, it’s at best a moving lump of metal."

These large mother ships looked like flying discs, with a spherical structure in the middle and a large centrifugal wheel around the outside, somewhat resembling Saturn’s rings. Currently, the main task is to build the main structure of the spaceship; the most important curvature engine has not been installed yet.

Zhang Yuan looked up and said, "...because the curvature engine is being updated too quickly; it’s still in a period of breakthroughs. This year it can only reach 0.5 times the speed of light; who knows, in two years, it might reach 0.6 times the speed of light!"

"Don’t rush to install the curvature engine. Get the main structure built first. Once the curvature technology is perfected, humanity will soon be able to set off again, heading to distant places."

"Where’s our next destination?" Lin Xuanyuan asked.

"It hasn’t been decided yet... We’ll probably look for the nearest interstellar trading market. We’re already a Level 4 Civilization. We should communicate with more civilizations of the same level."

As they chatted, the two had already taken the elevator to the Starry Sky Port, always bustling with activity, constantly swallowing and spitting out all kinds of materials.

These past two days were statutory holidays; the port was teeming with tourists, bustling with laughter and discussion.

Transport ships capable of reaching 0.3 times the speed of light carried many tourists, sending them to various tourist planets.

A speed of 0.3 times the speed of light is actually very fast. At 1 astronomical unit, which is the equivalent distance from the Earth to the Sun, orbiting a constant star only takes a mere 174 minutes, less than 3 hours.

And yet, the old Earth took a year to orbit the Sun!

Each era has its own characteristics, and the Starry Sky Port is the place that best showcases a civilization’s wealth.

Human spaceships can reach the remotest corners of a planet system within a day, including the most distant planets.

Whereas previously, Earth Civilization, from the Moon Base to the Jupiter Base, required at least six months!

This is where a Level 4 Civilization is vastly superior to a Second or even Third-level Civilization.

Curvature Technology has brought endless possibilities. A sub-light-speed curvature spaceship is usually undetectable by radar. Missiles and electromagnetic guns don’t move as fast as others fly, and although lasers might hit, the probability of making a hit drops to an infuriatingly low level—perhaps not even one in ten thousand...

This is Curvature Technology, the technology people have been pursuing for thousands of years...

Zhang Yuan and Lin Xuanyuan, however, were not interested in taking a spaceship for tourism. They came to the port partly to reminisce about the past and partly to perform their own work tasks.

Because tomorrow, the Tos Civilization far away will arrive at this port onboard their curvature ships!

It’s an unprecedented event, with more than a million Tos Civilization scientists coming to this star domain. This exchange between Level 4 Civilizations cannot be taken lightly; elite representatives from nearly every industry will participate in this grand exchange event.

Zhang Yuan couldn’t help but marvel at the tremendous changes of the era. Back on Earth, humans had never encountered aliens. If by chance, aliens appeared near Earth, it might have scared them half to death. They would have brought out all their nuclear bombs and protected themselves thoroughly...