Civilization's Survival
On the cold floor, a dusty-looking man got up.
He was a junior engineer at the Seventh Orbital Maintenance Station of the Third Habitable Planet.
Due to certain special reasons, the Maintenance Craft he was in malfunctioned unexpectedly, rendering him unable to leave or move, and all communication was lost, causing him to miss the forced login of the [Ten Thousand Worlds] by the high-level organization of the Yuncang Civilization.
He was later struck by deep-space debris and remained unconscious for several days.
"Damn it, something terrible must have happened..."
He cursed as he got up and rushed to the only observation window of the Isolation Pod, preparing to face the possibility of the station being damaged.
Then, he froze.
The universe outside the window was not the world he remembered. There was no familiar, brightly lit "Blue Cradle" space station cluster, no regularly passing cargo shuttles, and not even that beautiful blue-white planet in the distance.
All that remained was... ruins.
No, it's more terrifying than ruins.
The Blue Cradle inexplicably veered off course, spinning as if about to plunge into the Yuncang Star.
In the distance, the [Wall of Infinity], which once occupied a large part of the sky and symbolized the pinnacle of the Yuncang Civilization, is now just a huge, incomplete silhouette of a blue-black frame.
It is no longer that intricately functioning honeycomb structure, but more like the skeleton of a giant beast that has been completely devoured.
In the distant background of deep space, countless tiny flashes of light appear—the residual energy that hasn't fully cooled, the faint glow of Fixed Stars reflected by metal fragments, or the last rays of a small sympathetic explosion.
He rushed to the control panel in terror. The radar showed no engine flames, no communication signal noise, and not a trace of human activity.
He sat back down blankly, ready to face death.
He possessed basic common sense; he understood what all this meant and knew that there was no room for wishful thinking that he could survive alone.
From nuclear weapons and architecture in the planetary era to the various megastructures and high-energy buildings of the current Fixed Star system era.
Without someone to maintain it, it gets out of control, leading to direct or indirect death.
The "price" of [Yuncang World]—the physical reality of civilization collapse and galactic desolation—has been permanently "grafted" onto this world.
The physical bodies of players who entered the [Yuncang World] were stripped away and transferred during the "Rollback" operation, and completely integrated into the [Ten Thousand Worlds], a more vast but also more cruel system.
He, along with other scattered humans who, due to unforeseen circumstances, failed to enter the [Yuncang World], became abandoned "shells" along with this ruined star system, awaiting their utter demise in the darkness.
[ Under the Under the Starry Sky], a rocky platform.
After the bizarre and spectacular "Final Showdown" in the Yuncang Star System, most of the Survivor returned to this place still carried the subtle aura of the high-intensity energy environment and a faint sense of excitement.
"So, according to the Scholars, that guy named Yun Sha, and the Qixing Republic behind him, after all that trouble, almost wiped out their own civilization, and then ran off with the 'Extraterritorial Heavenly Demons'... can they actually be considered 'good people'? Or at least, 'not so bad'?"
After listening to Su Luo's summary of the overall situation back at [ Under the Under the Starry Sky], [Kuangxuan Dabaji] spoke thoughtfully.
Goushi, with one arm missing, is recovering and also reviewing the operations of the Yuncang Civilization.
"We can't just divide it into good and bad. If we look at the 'outcome' of civilization's survival, the behavior of the Qixing Republic, or rather the core group of the Four Great Powers' leadership, is actually quite normal."
If Contract Star hadn't secretly pushed for Yuncang Intelligence to awaken ahead of schedule and hadn't secretly acted as a bridge between the Survivors and No. 0, then according to the original trajectory:
Yuncang Intelligence will likely break through its limits much later, after the Final Showdown. At that time, the four otherworldly beings will descend, capture the intelligence, and clash with the World Master. The battlefield will likely be inside the fully formed [Yuncang World].
That would be a catastrophe; the destruction of the [Wall of Infinity] is inevitable.
"And now, because of their intervention—even if their initial intention was simply to increase their own 'betting chips' and create chaos in order to escape—it objectively enabled Yuncang Intelligence to break free from its constraints ahead of time during the 'Final Showdown.' This confined the conflict within the framework of the 'Final Showdown' mission, allowing for a 'Rollback.'"
[The Xingkong Wuyu] Holding his tattered Stars robe, he pondered:
"It should be pretty much correct. They abandoned most of their ordinary citizens and physical assets, using these as bait to draw fire and as bargaining chips to sign Contract with the otherworldly being, in exchange for the escape of their core group... This preserved the possibility of their home world while also ensuring that the seeds could reach other worlds."
"From the perspective of civilization's survival, yes. Moreover, a number of their generational spaceships in the real world have escaped to beyond the galaxy, even sending seeds to the Survivors."
Su Luo was standing next to her silver-white Laboratory, pointing with one finger at the three strategic core members inside.
In his other hand, he was repeatedly flipping through a simple picture book made of some unknown leather, with a strange texture and even the feel of fine animal hair on the edges.
This was a loot that Yuncang No. 0 had casually "collected" from the Relic a fallen Martial Dao system Survivor and handed over to him when he escaped.
[Unknown Atlas (Special) (Normal)]
[Already bound to: Su Luo]
[There seems to be some Text inside...]
Su Luo also has her own special item now, but... it's another Martial Dao item.
Su Luo's lips twitched almost imperceptibly. Her connection with the Martial Dao system seemed a little too deep; she was constantly trying to take advantage of it.
At the same time, the Legendary artifact [The Genli Zhi Mo] floating beside him was rapidly turning its pages, as if blown by an invisible wind, or as if some internal mechanism had been forcibly triggered, exhibiting an abnormal "lag" state.
Su Luo shifted her gaze from the picture book to the [Genli Zhi Mo], her eyes narrowing slightly.
[Paradox Inscription: Several blank pages exist in the book. When encountering incomprehensible, "The Unspeakable," or "unknown" shocks, there is a low probability that part of them will be recorded on these blank pages.]
This is one of the effects of [The Genli Zhi Mo], and if nothing unexpected happens, it should have been triggered inexplicably.
After a moment's thought, Su Luo grabbed the [Genli Zhi Mo] and vanished from the spot in an instant.
"What is he doing now?" [Kuangxuan Dabaji] was taken aback.
"I don't know, maybe they went to other advanced worlds."
As soon as she finished speaking, Su Luo's figure reappeared instantly, glanced at the rapidly turning pages of the book, and disappeared again.
This process repeated itself, with the transmitted light flashing on and off on the rocky platform at a dizzying frequency.
After more than thirty attempts, Su Luo's figure finally stabilized and stopped teleporting.
The [Genli Zhi Mo] in his hand also stopped its frantic flipping. On one of the pages that was originally blank, a set of extremely complex, constantly twisting, and mysterious patterns appeared, seemingly composed of flowing silver starlight and broken spatial rifts.
[Incomplete Cross-World Teleportation) ]
[Type: One-time functional imprint]
[Effect: Consumes a huge amount of energy to force a one-way physical teleportation between two marked planes within a suitable distance. Success rate, accuracy, and energy consumption are affected by multiple factors including distance, world barrier strength, target world Exclusion, and energy supply level.]
[Type: One-time functional imprint]