Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones-Chapter 350: Home

There was no falsity in Tom’s words.

Indeed, it was true. If the Cloud Civilization hadn’t arrived in time, there was no telling how the war between them and the Purple Moon Civilization would have escalated.

Tom naturally had confidence in victory and the courage to persevere. But this was merely confidence at a strategic level.

"In this vast, dark universe, how rare it is to have a friend one can trust..."

Tom sighed.

"By the way, have your civilization’s lost compatriots returned home yet?"

"They have already returned to the Purple Moon Civilization Main Fleet’s base," Vero said, sending a piece of information.

Tom then saw countless Cloud People gathered inside the enormous spaceship, which resembled a vast plain, with various slogans and banners fluttering everywhere, and huge buildings covered in welcoming messages.

The Head of State, Deputy Prime Minister, and others of the Cloud Civilization all came out to welcome the docking of the spaceship amidst an atmosphere filled with joy and solemnity.

When the long-lost Cloud People finally stepped onto the "land" of their home, cheers erupted from all directions, surging like waves.

After the cheers came tears. Countless Cloud People cried and embraced each other.

Watching this deeply moving scene, Tom couldn’t help but think of his Human Civilization compatriots still trapped within the Purple Moon Civilization Fleet, his heart filled with emotion and longing.

"It’s been thousands of years... Compatriots, you have been away from home for thousands of years. It’s time to come back."

Time passed quietly, and like the Purple Moon Civilization, Tom was also carrying out large-scale resource collection missions.

Under the deterrence of the Cloud Civilization, the two fleets temporarily coexisted peacefully.

However, a few years later, the Purple Moon Civilization dispatched a considerably large fleet.

This immediately put Tom on alert, and he closely monitored this fleet.

That fleet slowly approached the First Planet. But judging by the fleet’s composition, it did not appear to be a warship fleet.

Tom immediately determined their purpose.

The Purple Moon Civilization was coming to clean up the battlefield!

They intended to salvage all the debris from their combat facilities.

How could this be allowed?

Tom had already planned that once the Purple Moon Civilization Fleet left, they would salvage those wrecks for reverse engineering, to decipher Purple Moon Civilization technology, and to advance their own technology.

While the utility of reverse engineering was limited, it was always beneficial for technological development. Tom had long regarded these wrecks as his own. Now that the Purple Moon Fleet was coming to salvage them, Tom could not tolerate it.

So Tom also dispatched a large fleet to intercept them. The two fleets confronted each other from millions of kilometers away.

"We are only here to retrieve our own belongings; your fleet’s obstruction is unreasonable!"

"According to the previous ceasefire agreement, the airspace around the First Planet belongs to our control. Your fleet’s unauthorized entry without notification, do you intend to start another war?"

The two sides once again engaged in a war of words, arguing endlessly. But no matter what, Tom’s fleet remained unyielding.

Are you kidding? If I let you take all those wrecks, what will I use for research later?

After a round of arguments, the Cloud Civilization Fleet intervened again, making a swift and decisive ruling.

"To avoid misunderstanding and prevent further disputes, it is hereby ruled that the Purple Moon Civilization Fleet shall not approach within 100 million kilometers of the star!"

This ruling encompassed all the battlefields of several large-scale engagements.

Facing this ruling, the Purple Moon Civilization dared not voice its anger and obediently retreated.

Time passed quietly, and the Purple Moon Civilization soon made preparations for departure.

From Tom’s perspective, the Purple Moon Civilization’s material reserves had probably not reached their limit, at most only about half.

But clearly, they did not dare, nor did they want to, delay too long in this solar system. Having reached the minimum departure requirements, they just wanted to leave as soon as possible.

So, according to the previous agreement between the two sides, a large residential spaceship, specially constructed with technology considered relatively backward by the Purple Moon Civilization, left the Main Fleet and began to accelerate away from the Silver Heart.

The Purple Moon Civilization Main Fleet, fully on alert, began to accelerate towards the Silver Heart.

Tom and the Cloud Civilization Fleet closely monitored this.

Soon, both the residential spaceship and the Purple Moon Civilization Main Fleet vanished from Tom’s sight.

During this process, Tom did not create any complications; he did not dispatch a fleet to intercept the residential spaceship, merely sending a few combat spacecraft to escort and continuously track its position.

He had not forgotten that at this moment, control of that residential spaceship was still in the hands of the Purple Moon Civilization. Even if the distance between them increased, causing superluminal communication to fail, there would certainly be a smart AI in control of the situation within that residential spaceship.

If the agreement were violated and the triggering conditions met, leading to the death of all Human Civilization compatriots, it would be disastrous.

Tom and the Cloud Civilization Fleet still waited patiently in this solar system.

Time passed quietly, and in the blink of an eye, more than seven years had gone by. By this time, both the residential spaceship and the Purple Moon Civilization Main Fleet had reached a distance of 3 light-years from the solar system, and their current speed had reached approximately 80% of the speed of light.

In the vast deep space, the Purple Moon Civilization Main Fleet’s afterglow had already disappeared.

Clearly, they had either reduced their propulsion power or shut it down entirely to evade detection, and might even have activated random micro-maneuver mode to conceal their traces and coordinates as much as possible.

In the future, if Tom wanted to track them again, it would likely be much more difficult.

But for now, there was no time to worry about that; the priority was to secure that residential spaceship.

After leaving tens of billions of intelligent life forms of various races in the solar system to maintain the basic operation of various factories and continue resource collection tasks, Tom’s massive fleet, along with the Cloud Civilization, embarked on the journey to track the residential spaceship.

After traveling approximately several trillion kilometers away from the star, Vero sent another message: "The distance from the strong gravity source is now sufficient. Our fleet can enter superluminal travel status.

We will go ahead and reach the residential spaceship first to decelerate it.

This way, your fleet will be able to catch up to it faster."

"Good, thank you."

After a brief exchange, accompanied by a wave-like spatial fluctuation, the Cloud Civilization’s fleet instantly disappeared.

Based on the "salvage" plan formulated at the moment, Tom estimated that it would only take about fifteen years for his Main Fleet to truly catch up to that residential spaceship.

In fifteen years, he would be reunited with his lost compatriots...

In this vast deep space, having endured countless dangers, untold loneliness, and waiting for an unknown duration, would he finally, finally be reunited with his compatriots?

Just as those Cloud People had finally returned to their Mother Civilization, would he, and his compatriots, also have a home?

Tom’s heart was filled with intense emotions. In a trance, he even felt an urge to shed tears.

At this moment, he truly felt that his spirit had a tangible, something to rely on, and he truly felt that he was not alone in this universe, but had companions.

The massive fleet accelerated at approximately 0.9 m/s^2, gaining speed and moving further and further away from the star.

At this point, Tom began to ponder a question.

How should he accommodate those Human Civilization compatriots?

First, considering the compatriots’ acceptance, it would be best if his identity remained temporarily undisclosed.

In that case, he would need to create a roughly normal human society.

So... the modification of the clones would need to begin.

He needed to construct a society that included men, women, old, young, tall, short, fat, thin, officials, scientists, workers, service personnel, and everyone else, all structured according to a normal human society.

In the past, this might have been difficult for Tom. But now, for Tom, whose technological level had almost reached the peak of Strong Nuclear, this was nothing.

Thus, during the long journey, Tom began cultivating various specialized clones.

Secondly, a suitable environment was also needed.

He needed to construct suitable residential spaceships according to normal human aesthetics and living requirements.

The residential spaceships previously used by the clones were clearly unsuitable; those ships were too small and too cramped inside.

Tom then manufactured several brand-new spaceships on the spot, larger, more comfortable, and with more complete facilities than the residential spaceships of the Bluetoth Clan or Viller Race.

The length of these new residential spaceships reached 20 kilometers. With a radius of approximately 5 kilometers, they were divided into four layers internally, thus providing an approximate usable area of 2,000 square kilometers.

Excluding the approximately 100 square kilometers occupied by necessary spaceship facilities, Tom allocated a full 400 square kilometers specifically for planning various natural landscapes.

These included grasslands, forests, lakes, oceans, mountains, and surging rivers.

He also cultivated various wild animals, such as various fish species living in oceans, lakes, and rivers, various amphibians, and various small animals living in grasslands and forests, and so on.

Of course, these animals were all artificially bred, and all potential human pathogens within their bodies were eradicated, so even human children with low immunity could safely interact with them without contracting any diseases.

As for any creatures that could cause trouble for humans, such as mosquitoes, flies, various insects, or venomous insects, there were none at all.

Beyond the natural landscapes were modern metropolises, with shopping malls offering a wide variety of goods, complete public transportation facilities, hospitals, schools, and so on, as well as beautiful, truly cinematic rural areas.

Despite being rural, under Tom’s control, these rural residences only incorporated the advantages, while disadvantages like inconvenient transportation and medical care were completely eliminated.

A single residential spaceship, with an area of less than 2,000 square kilometers, nevertheless gathered almost all the beautiful scenery from Earth, and all the conveniences of the Human world.

As if carving a work of art, Tom meticulously crafted this residential spaceship with unprecedented solemnity.

"This type of grass has rather hard stems. If children roll and play on the lawn, they might get pricked. Hmm, let’s change to another type of grass to cultivate the grassland."

"This flower is beautiful, but the color scheme of this grassland is a bit too chaotic. It would be better to switch to a monochromatic flower."

"This forest will likely become a recreation area for our compatriots. They might become tired and thirsty walking this distance. So, let’s build a resting place here and lay water supply pipes simultaneously."

"Our compatriots might prefer the meat of free-range animals and might not like those produced in livestock bases. Then let’s build another livestock spaceship, specifically for free-ranging various livestock..."

Tom paid attention to every minute detail of this spaceship’s construction.

Ultimately, a total of five residential spaceships were completed. The specialized clones cultivated earlier through clone breeding technology had also fully matured.

In extreme conditions, one such residential spaceship could accommodate over 10 million Humans. However, based on the principle of spaciousness, Tom planned for only 1 million people per spaceship.

A total of five spaceships meant 5 million people. Over 2 million Human compatriots and over 2 million specialized clones—just right.

These specialized clones entered the residential spaceships ahead of time.

The moment they stepped into these spaceships, they instantly came alive from their previous stiff and numb state, as if truly possessing their own lives at that moment.

Some became engineers, some became waiters, some became small shop owners, some became teachers, some became security officers, some became officials...

Engineers went into factories, checking the factory’s operation and discussing the next improvement plans, just like real engineers;

Waiters went into various small shops and began serving customers;

Teachers brought children, young and old, into classrooms, and immediately the sound of reading aloud echoed;

Security officers, dressed in uniforms, patrolled the streets with solemnity...

Even after finishing a day’s work and returning home, they would strictly follow their identity and "script," playing their current roles.

They would also experience love, hate, joy, and sorrow. Millions of roles were interconnected, and the future development of each role could change due to the actions of a seemingly unrelated role.

Just like a real Human society.

Because Tom did not specify the future destiny of each specialized clone.

Tom merely input the initial character settings and circumstances into Primal, and then allowed Primal to simulate and calculate their next "script" through chaotic algorithms based on the previous moment’s situation.

These scripts would be sent to Tom, who would then truly control the clones to act them out.

At the same time, there would be a large number of random events, various unexpected incidents, etc., throughout this process—everything was no different from a real world.

"My compatriots should really like it here."

The closer he got to the rendezvous point broadcasted by the Cloud People Fleet, and the closer he got to retrieving those long-lost Human compatriots, the more nervous Tom felt.

Even though he had checked every detail of these residential spaceships millions of times, Tom still couldn’t help but re-check them repeatedly, fearing that his compatriots might feel even a tiny bit of discomfort.

After an equally long deceleration, Tom’s massive fleet finally stopped and entered a state of relative stillness with the Cloud Civilization’s fleet ahead.

Under the escort of numerous Cloud People warships, that slightly crude Purple Moon Civilization residential spaceship finally appeared before Tom once again.

"Begin the inspection."

"Alright."

A spaceship full of robots arrived at the port of that residential spaceship, opened its hatch, and the robots entered in single file.

The first thing that met their eyes was a dull gray sky.

The Purple Moon Civilization had not "turned on the lights" for this residential spaceship; its sky was gray, maintaining only a state that provided the minimum illumination at all times.

Beyond the dull gray sky was air that was slightly cold and slightly odorous.

Evidently, the Purple Moon Civilization had not designed sufficient heating or air purification facilities.

Stepping out of the docking port, the robots saw many people with numb expressions, ragged clothes, and emaciated figures.

They were... Humans! They really were Humans!

Tom’s heart was filled with excitement.

Upon seeing the robots enter, some of those thin, numb Humans screamed and fled, while others merely glanced numbly, making no movement, as if they would accept whatever fate awaited them.

The robots did not interact much with these Humans.

There was something more important to do now.

After quickly taking over the spaceship, counting the population, and confirming the physical condition of the people, Tom’s heart, besides excitement, also held a touch of anger.

This residential spaceship was truly as crude as could be.

Besides a sky that only provided minimum illumination, and air and temperature that only maintained minimum survival limits, everything else—whether living space, food supply, water supply, etc.—was at the absolute minimum.

These Human compatriots in this residential spaceship were truly just struggling to survive.

This was clearly the Purple Moon Civilization deliberately trying to disgust him.

"It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter. In my heart, you are already my enemies anyway. I will eliminate you sooner or later.

Only by eliminating you can I ascertain what role you played in the extinction of humanity, what intelligence you possessed, only then can I vent this anger in my heart, and only then can I ensure that you truly handed over all Humans to me, and did not secretly hide a portion..."

Tom thought through gritted teeth.

After the inventory was completed and it was confirmed that these Humans were merely in poor circumstances but not in life-threatening danger, Tom immediately reported to Vero.

"The Purple Moon Civilization did not play any tricks. Our side has successfully received these Humans."

"That’s good."

If the Purple Moon Civilization had played tricks and deliberately handed over a spaceship full of corpses, then Vero’s fleet would have set off to pursue the Purple Moon Civilization.

Now that the handover was smooth, Vero’s fleet naturally wouldn’t have to bear so many extra costs—after all, even pursuing a fleet incapable of superluminal travel, at such a great distance, would still consume immense energy, numerous resources, and time.

"In that case, we should also take our leave.

The footsteps of war are drawing closer, and we must return as quickly as possible. And, Bluetoth Civilization, our friends, you should also leave this area as soon as possible.

Goodbye, goodbye. I hope we will have the chance to meet again in the future."

Facing separation, Tom’s heart was also filled with reluctance. But he knew that both he and Vero still had things to do.

"Goodbye, we will definitely have the chance to meet again in the future."

"Sail the Star Sea, have a safe journey."

"Safe journey!"

Accompanied by a ripple-like spatial fluctuation, the Cloud Civilization fleet suddenly vanished.

Tom retracted his gaze and focused on the crude residential spaceship before him.

At this moment, he finally shouted out the words he had anticipated for thousands of years and pondered for thousands of years, to these more than two million Human compatriots.

"Compatriots, welcome home!"

Facing this shout that echoed throughout the spaceship, and facing the slightly unfamiliar words "welcome home," these Humans seemed somewhat bewildered and at a loss.

"Compatriots, I, Tom, Head of State of the Human Civilization, am here now with our Human Civilization’s fleet to take you home!

Compatriots, you have suffered for thousands of years wandering far from home.

But, I promise, in the future, our civilization will never let you suffer even a little. Because our civilization has also grown strong; we have hundreds of thousands of powerful warships, hundreds of billions of Human compatriots, advanced technology...

Compatriots, come home!"

Facing the repeated broadcasts, and the immediate rescue of the severely ill and weak Humans organized by Tom through robots, the people’s expressions gradually recovered from their previous numbness.

As if finally confirmed, countless people burst into tears.

Under Tom’s organization, numerous Humans formed a long line, leaving the residential spaceship from the port and being transferred to the five residential spaceships Tom had meticulously prepared.

The moment they truly stepped onto the ground of these spaceships, when these tired, numb, and weak people truly felt the sunlight, saw the welcoming crowd like mountains and seas before them, breathed the warm, humid air, and saw the tall buildings and countless natural landscapes, endless cries erupted once again.

"From now on, this is your home. I guarantee on behalf of the entire civilization that no external force will ever abduct you and make you suffer again."

Unbeknownst to him, Tom’s eyes also began to moisten.

Under the organization of numerous "security officers" and "officials," these people who had finally returned home first went to the settlement points, underwent comprehensive physical examinations, and then were assigned to comfortable, convenient, and well-equipped houses that Tom had prepared long ago.

Tom was not in a hurry to obtain information.

At this moment, these compatriots were physically and mentally exhausted; it was better to let them rest for a while and relax their nerves first.

Anyway, the people were already in his hands and couldn’t escape.