Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 628 - 624: The Bottom Line of Humanity

A young man seemed to have thought of something and asked indignantly, "If the other party is just a Third-level Civilization, do we still need to show weakness? After showing weakness, will the other side push us further? Will there be more civilizations that, seeing our weakness, will oppress us?"

Faced with the relentless questioning, Zhang Yuan sighed and explained, "Everyone, let’s first clarify an important goal! What we need is to safely get through these twenty years. As long as our bottom line is not touched, we must endure what needs to be endured!"

"All our actions should aim at this goal. Any measures that contradict this goal are strategic blunders! Pride doesn’t matter. Can you eat pride?"

"Even so, we are a Level 4 Civilization, and this is known to the other civilizations! They also know that we are here developing the War Star... Such a massive project can be observed."

"They just don’t know whether we will leave after developing this War Star."

"If we can express our intentions in this way, it’s actually not bad... It sounds suffocating, right? We might be bullied by a Third-level Civilization, we might have embassies on the Dyson Sphere taken over, but everyone must know, behind them is a larger force."

"A Third-level Civilization is merely a chess piece. Under normal circumstances, would a Third-level Civilization dare to bully a Fourth-level Civilization? Impossible!"

"Should we directly dispatch a fleet to destroy that Third-level Civilization? That’s impossible too! This place is a powder keg in itself, being too aggressive will only lead to being targeted for elimination. "

"We cannot lose our strategic composure over a mere chess piece!"

"Pretending to join the other side? Don’t you think those aliens are fools! How did the Soviet Union collapse? They wanted to lean toward the West, they knelt and then fell but after the fall, did the Westerners let them go? No! So, however much we pretend and obsequiously lean on the other side, at least think of a viable plan to deal with it, right?"

The objectors fell silent.

What, then, is the bottom line for humans?

It is the planned Air Defense Identification Zone, roughly 2 astronomical units around the War Star, which is a common rule.

A half-finished War Star, a War Star nonetheless, simple development would make it usable. In this complex environment, amid the chaotic situation, it’s inevitable that some civilizations might entertain certain small designs.

Fortunately, people had purchased some military arms in advance, which allowed for a slight armament of the War Star.

Otherwise, it would be too late now to start producing weapons on the fly.

A general waved his hand firmly, "That settles it, if there really are any civilizations that want to test this bottom line, then we shall not shy away from using military force!"

"Action must be taken to warn them!"

"This bottom line is untouchable, the rest is up to them."

"What do you think?"

"I tend to agree with Mr. Zhang." Captain Feng nodded: "The current situation is very tricky, we can’t be too soft, but we can’t be too hard either. Let’s treat giving up the territory of the Dyson Sphere as a political signal we’re sending to the outside world."

After this internal debate, the people essentially established the second principle and the attitude of maintaining neutrality.

Suffering a minor loss of face is actually not a big deal, the most important thing is to focus on developing our own War Star.

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And so, three years passed quickly, and the Dyson Sphere’s territorial claims were nearly at an end. During this period, some not insignificant disputes arose, a sign, it seemed, of an approaching storm.

Civilizations that didn’t want to join the struggle all left this patch of starry sky, leaving behind others that could not easily meddle with one another for the time being.

So many civilizations ultimately require a political negotiation venue, rather than resorting to war and conflicts at the drop of a hat.

Here, there are three major "chess players," six of medium scale, eyeing each other warily, with some minor players trying to play both sides, acting as fence-sitters. In such a situation, going to war would only lead to one’s own power being damaged and to being the first to be eliminated from the game.

Therefore, in the A-301 area of the Dyson Sphere, there exists a "Dyson Sphere Joint Maintenance Association," ostensibly meant for "jointly maintaining the Dyson Sphere." In reality, it’s a venue for the various civilizations to engage in verbal sparring, somewhat similar to the United Nations during Earth’s time.

Often, provided that one has sufficient hard power, one can subdue others without fighting, what is known as the "winner takes all" outcome.

"So it turns out, aliens are afraid of dying too... Only with the fear of death can the current situation arise."

"Of course, unless it’s a species like the Insect Race, they are not afraid to die. However, it is very difficult for the Insect Race to develop into an interstellar civilization; relying solely on biological evolution is just too hard."

The New Human Civilization is also a member of the council, albeit without any power or significant presence, keeping a low profile and biding their time.

Adjacent to the Human embassy within the Dyson Sphere is a third-level civilization known as "Reichmia." True to form, this civilization covets New Human Civilization territory and, after verifying that no one was around, made several probing attempts.

On this day, Reichmia civilization brazenly used excavators to occupy a part of the New Human Civilization Embassy’s territory!

This was merely a move by a powerful chess player in the background manipulating one of their pawns.

Although it was anticipated, when it actually happened, it still sparked deep-seated anger among the people.

Regarding this matter, the New Human Government could only swallow its anger, grumble internally, and even dare not report to the public, for from a nationalistic sentiment, trading Dyson Sphere territory for quiet development time was somewhat unacceptable.

Hadn’t the New Human Civilization also contributed to the construction of the Dyson Sphere? Why should the territory above be snatched away by other civilizations?

And by a third-level civilization at that?!

Thus, the general populace remained unaware of this incident because even if the common people knew, other than becoming indignant, it would serve no other purpose. It could even interfere with the New Human Government’s decision-making through public opinion.

Government decisions cannot be swayed by public opinion to engage in war with the other party; that would be courting death.

"The batch of construction equipment you guys brought back is excellent, with a very low chance of malfunction... very efficient!" Even Ye Kaifu, an engineer primarily responsible for the development of War Stars, was unaware of this.

They were simply working with full passion, and only during the occasional gatherings of friends did their eyes betray their hopes for the future.

"Haha, work hard for a few more years, guys, and complete it quickly."

"We’re already working in three shifts around the clock, 24 hours a day, barely able to keep up! Why does it feel like the atmosphere has been odd recently; the situation seems a bit tense, and now they’ve even handed out militia handbooks from up top."

"Better safe than sorry!" Zhang Yuan said.

This was also good!

The covert warfare between civilizations had already begun, its ultimate purpose being to covertly eliminate all these minor players from the game.

Whether through provocation or other methods, eliminating these troublemakers first is the right solution.

The enemy was also doing exactly that.

If the New Human Civilization were to attack Reichmia civilization because of this, it would only be the first to be wiped from this expanse of the starry sky.