Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 622 - 618: Tense Situation

What is culture? Culture, as opposed to politics and economy, represents all of human intellectual activity and its products!

It’s an utterly unbearable and terrifying prospect for humans if a civilization’s culture is completely supplanted by alien culture.

Zhang Yuan analyzed, "The new Galaxy Governors believe that the primary reason for so many Sinking Civilizations is that the cultural philosophies of these low-level civilizations are simply too inferior."

"So, if they were to replace those trashy cultures with the most excellent one, achieving a uniform culture would naturally unify the Milky Way. Since you can’t progress, better become me; that seems to be the idea... It’s essentially what we’ve encountered with religious civilizations, isn’t it? Yet it’s different from traditional religions."

"Does it not constrain thought through divine beings but through a set of values, a complete system of cultural philosophies?"

Another scholar said indignantly, "But by what right do they govern the Galaxy? Who says their culture is the finest?"

Foreign Minister Old Yang furrowed his brows and said with a bitter smile, "Yes, indeed. Culture is the very foundation of a civilization. Why should one impose their own culture upon other civilizations? The whole process inevitably comes with war and slaughter!"

"If we humans wanted to spread our culture, the simplest way would be to wipe out the adult natives and then nurture a batch of babies and toddlers."

"At this rate, the future doesn’t look good."

"I even suspect that some Fourth-level Civilizations have gotten wind of this already, which is why they’re getting prepared... Hasn’t the price of antimatter been on the rise?"

Zhang Yuan fell into thought for a moment, a touch of worry creeping in, "Yes, the future may not be too pleasant, because pluralism hasn’t been successful. Several formerly amiable and friendly proponents of multiculturalism have all failed and then fled..."

"As for why they fled, perhaps seeing their failures made them dissatisfied, so they ran. Or maybe they realized their sought-after goals were utterly failures, impractical, and thus changed their philosophical concepts."

What goes around comes around. Humans weren’t born in the most amiable of times, but neither were they born in the worst. At least now there was still a chance to prepare. Those civilizations that hadn’t ventured into space were far worse off, without even a chance to resist, like fish on a chopping board.

Zhang Yuan could hardly be bothered to think about the fates of those native civilizations, merely letting out a sigh, "Moreover, didn’t the Amoeba Civilization say that Cosmic Governance is an excellent subject that promotes the progression of civilizations? It’s a long-term process, a philosophical concept that ensures the sustained advancement of civilizations."

"In the pursuit of these goals, many difficulties will come... Overcoming these challenges can elevate one’s thinking. A Level 5 Civilization, wishing to transform the Milky Way, would need hundreds of thousands of years? During the whole process, who knows, they might have stepped into the threshold of a Sixth Level Civilization!"

Just then, everyone saw the 100-meter-tall giant glass tube rising from the ground.

This huge Brain Worm from the Amoeba Civilization entered the spaceship above, spouting ion sparks, presumably using anti-gravity technology. The spaceship gradually receded from sight, vanishing into the cosmos.

After the departure of the Amoeba Civilization, many other alien civilizations that were here began leaving one after another.

Since there was nothing else for them to do here, Zhang Yuan and the others also prepared to depart, aiming to complete their mission and relay the news back to their main base.

"Wait a moment, hasn’t the strategic value of the Dyson Sphere increased again!" Li Zhendong suddenly thought of something, slapping his thigh and exclaimed, "If the whole Amoeba Faction’s trading market leaves the Milky Way, this place will be the only location where technology is available for purchase!"

"Hasn’t its strategic value risen again?"

"The chaos here may detonate sooner than expected!"

Zhang Yuan nodded silently.

According to the Amoeba Civilization’s implications, the Tabi Civilization was an exceptionally powerful one, and this Dyson Sphere was built to inspire low-level civilizations to venture into space. It undoubtedly possessed considerable combat power, and perhaps even a Level 5 Civilization would find it difficult to truly defeat it.

Furthermore, the entire fleet of the Amoeba Faction was 50,000 years away from a complete withdrawal.

Within this timeframe, this place should be safe...

As the various civilizations gathered here heard the news, they would certainly accelerate their integration efforts.

Thus, humans, having prematurely purchased a War Star and needing to develop it over several decades, might have miscalculated.

Zhang Yuan shook his head; how could humanity have predicted the Amoeba Civilization would suddenly drop such a bombshell... This War Star, for the sake of the future, had to be developed relentlessly despite difficulties.

"Alas, we too must speed up," he sighed.

"The War Star might just become the basic unit of self-preservation."

After returning to the large plaza filled with mechanical equipment, both parties reconvened and reported on their respective tasks.

When the engineers, who were inspecting various devices, heard the announcement from the Amoeba Civilization, they were shocked, their faces ashen, and some even found it hard to concentrate on their work.

"Let’s not panic, everyone; none of our plans will change. Our primary task remains to develop a real War Star. As long as we have one Planet Fortress, everything else will fall into place."

Zhang Yuan coughed softly, comforting the engineers, "...As for the political situation in the Milky Way, we’ll consider that after we return to the Mother Ship. Don’t think too much about it for now. The only slight change in the plan is that we need to purchase some defensive weaponry to strengthen our defenses."

Old Yang suddenly spoke, "Old Zhang, among these materials, there are no ready-made weapons for purchase... and other civilizations won’t sell them cheaply either."

Zhang Yuan frowned, "Then we buy some production lines, or perhaps some third-level civilization weapons and equipment... There should be third-level civilizations leaving this area; it might be good to snap up some bargains."

"Are we really going for third-level items? Anything available for purchase would be generations behind in performance."

Zhang Yuan gave a wry smile, "Our War Star is a blank slate. If ground combat actually happens, we’ll have no means of resistance! It’s better to stuff it with some low-grade weapons than nothing at all. But be careful when purchasing, we don’t want to be tricked or end up with spyware installed."

"Don’t worry! We have more dealings with third-level civilizations, and the trade market is still open, so it’s unlikely there would be any tampering."

And so, taking advantage of the clearance sale, a team of three hundred spent 20 days picking and choosing carefully.

Seeing aliens bustling around, snapping up goods, and seizing the opportunity to strengthen themselves, Zhang Yuan felt a tremendous pressure.

After some deliberation, a total of four types of supplies were purchased.

The first was the production line related to curvature engines, which cost a total of 470.6 AmiBa Points. These production lines consisted of standard robots with higher intelligence; humanity had nearly acquired this technology, so the price wasn’t high.

With these production lines, it was estimated that production capacity could be increased to 412% of the original, meaning that what would take 80 years to complete, could now be done in 20.

Although everyone was eager to get it moving as soon as possible, there was a limit to how much production could be increased...

It was like building a house; 10 workers might take a year, while 20 could do it in half that time.

But what about 10,000 workers? It simply wasn’t possible to finish in a day.

Therefore, completing a Planet Curvature Engine in 20 years was a fairly realistic and economical number.

Further ramping up production would see diminishing returns, especially since the New Human Civilization wasn’t like before, with only one engineering task to focus on. Personnel couldn’t all be devoted to the construction of the Planet Curvature Engine.

People still had to research warships and weapons; investing everyone into construction didn’t make economical sense.