Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 626 - 622 Dyson Sphere Committee

"In the end, will this mountain be leveled?"

Climbing in this low-gravity environment was a bit different from the norm, with most of one’s physical strength devoted to maintaining balance.

Ji Linxuanxuan felt sweat forming on her forehead and quickly issued a series of commands. The human-machine interaction technology was quite advanced now, and the bionic hand inside her glass helmet accurately wiped away the sweat.

"It’s not necessarily so," Zhang Yuan said. "It all depends on the engineering plan in the end. If they decide to install a curvature engine here, the geographical features will likely be altered."

After about 12 hours, a group of us finally reached the peak of this 28,000-meter-high mountain, gasping for breath.

Even with the low-gravity conditions and Power Armor, it was still exhaustingly strenuous.

At this altitude, one could clearly see the horizon in the distance, a Dyson Sphere shimmering faintly, hanging in mid-air. It gradually unleashed its own brilliant light, illuminating the entire land.

Several hours later, it slowly dimmed.

This fascinating cyclical light variation could, over time, spread throughout the entire Milky Way.

Zhang Yuan gazed at that Dyson Sphere for a very long time.

In the distance, the human construction site was bustling, and with new production lines added, the engineers’ development speed had significantly increased. However, to the naked eye of the ordinary person, it was still unclear whether industrial capacity was increasing or decreasing; only the internal staff could appreciate the convenience.

The Planet Curvature Engines, resembling long sticks of lollipops with a sphere on top and a tall base below,

stood at a total height of 64 kilometers — much taller than Mount Olympus!

They were all Rigid Body Structures. Thanks to the small size of this planet, with gravity only half that of the Moon, and the emergence of various super-materials, human Rigid Body Architecture could soar to such heights — these materials were basically at the limits of conventional materials.

At the very top was a circular device, the Planet Curvature Generator, capable of working in unison.

Essentially, this is the general structure of a Fourth-level Civilization’s Planet Curvature Engine.

And such Planet Curvature Engines require at least 900 to be constructed globally, so the volume of work was considerable, necessitating 20 years of arduous struggle with continuous overtime.

Standing on the mountaintop and gazing into the distance, watching the flying cars and trains come and go gave one a sense of overlooking all other mountains.

The nearest construction site had a group of soldiers installing military hardware they’d purchased, visible through a long pipe. It was an Ion cannon.

This device wasn’t very effective and didn’t require a deep defensive foundation specifically made for it; it just needed to be laid on the ground, connected to power, and it was ready for use.

One of the climbers who accompanied us happened to be in charge of this aspect. He said, "To have some combative power for the War Star, we’re estimating we need to deploy 200,000 of these ion cannons and 300,000 laser weapons. Just relying on purchased military weapons won’t be enough; we have to manufacture some ourselves."

Zhang Yuan gave a rueful smile, "We’re out of money. If we had it, we could definitely buy more."

"First resolve whether or not it’s achievable, then think about resolving the quality issues. Having combative power and having none at all are two different concepts."

"Is the situation that dire?" The others, all government workers, gathered around upon hearing their discussion.

"Yes, I won’t lie to you all this time; the situation might be quite severe. Even if we predict wrong, it’s better to be prepared."

Lin Xuanyuan suddenly asked, "Isn’t the firepower from 500,000 turrets enough?"

Zhang Yuan explained, "Of course not! Consider, this is a whole planet we’re talking about. Even if there’s one turret per square kilometer, wouldn’t we need millions, perhaps tens of millions of turrets? Additionally, there need to be various observatories and many supercomputing centers capable of operating collectively, not just having a few turrets firing at a target simultaneously and calling it a day."

"This War Star has a massive amount of construction work. The curvature engine is just the first step; there might be hundreds more years to follow."

"Right now people are just digging holes to live in; this is hardly what you’d call a planet."

Lin Xuanyuan then asked, "If in these 20 years, aliens do come to attack us, what should we do? From what you’ve been saying, it sounds quite dangerous."

Zhang Yuan smiled, "The probability is indeed quite high... So now we are not only vigorously developing the curvature engine but also aggressively expanding the military, mainly those guardian-class military spaceships. As you can see, the soldiers laying the ion cannons below are mostly young people."

"In the past few years, at least 10-20% of the graduating youth population has joined the military. Men under 300 years old are gradually required to undergo militia training to reach the level capable of piloting a spaceship."

"Really?" Lin Xuanyuan was greatly startled; such a policy enactment could only indicate that the government was anticipating the political situation in the future to become quite severe.

Zhang Yuan’s expression gradually grew serious, "Of course it’s true! Who would joke about such a matter?"

"Among the bulk of civilizations near the Dyson Sphere, only a fourth-level civilization qualifies as a chess player, while third-level civilizations are all chess pieces. We plan to develop the War Star and then leave; that’s what we internally believe, but other civilizations don’t know this and won’t trust us."

"They will regard us as a chess player."

"However, I don’t believe direct conflicts will occur immediately; the big players are numerous and wouldn’t provoke a smaller player without reason. But I’m convinced that soon some third-level civilizations, acting as chess pieces, will come to test our stance..."

Another government worker whispered, "What if these predictions are wrong?"

Zhang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, "That would of course be best, just an unnecessary scare and baseless worries. The junk military equipment bought will be phased out in the future; spending some money for peace of mind isn’t really a big deal."

...

Time slipped by under such tense preparations.

Then, six months passed, and the force represented by the trading market truly left.

"Goodbye, friends who built the Dyson Sphere together. According to some agreements from higher-ups, we must leave this place."

"May we be able to meet again one day in the future."

"And may you achieve long-term progress," said the large insect with yellow thorns on its skin before leaving.

"Goodbye!"

Zhang Yuan watched helplessly as this fleet departed.

The Ji Haman civilization didn’t have many spaceships, not even a single War Star, but no civilization dared to look down on them because of that.

Within minutes, those spacecraft disappeared from sight.

Seeing this most formidable political force leave the planet system, the other interstellar civilizations seemed somewhat restless.

A dreadful silence lasted for a month. During this time, there was no interaction with other alien civilizations.

It was truly a complete lack of exchanges; one could see each other’s War Stars and spaceships, but there was absolutely no information exchanged.

It was at this point that people truly understood the significance of those departing spaceships.

With the departure of the governors, this patch of starry sky seemed to revert to its previous wild and disorderly state.

A time of utter freedom in the frosty heavens!

A month later, electromagnetic communications finally reached the hands of the New Human Civilization, from several great forces, inviting various civilizations to discuss "joint matters regarding the maintenance of the Dyson Sphere."

It was somewhat similar to the United Nations on Earth, but it was also an inevitable course of history; surely, direct conflict wasn’t the only solution?

After careful consideration, the New Humans still dispatched diplomats to go, yet they returned within a few days bringing some rather unpleasant news...