The Mothership

Some of the exhibits in the Glory Warship Museum involved military secrets, which didn't surprise Wang Dong.

The Glory Warship Museum of the Purple Thorn Kingdom was quite famous in the surrounding star systems.

It had been established by a former King of the Purple Thorn Kingdom himself.

That King had been a warship enthusiast.

He had used the Kingdom's resources to collect information on many warships and create virtual models.

The museum's collection even included the super-large deep-space mothership used by the ancestors of this human civilization—the "Seed Fleet"—on their voyage.

There might have been some exaggeration in the claims, but this was the place with the most comprehensive collection of information Wang Dong could access.

The universe was boundlessly vast. Even if warships could reach the speed of light, that was still nowhere near fast enough.

For this reason, the various interstellar civilizations across the stars had developed interstellar travel technologies based on their own paths of development.

Space distortion, curvature travel, wormhole generators, stellar gravity-well jumps, passage through positive and negative space, and countless others—the five billion civilizations each had their own wonders.

Of course, these impressive technologies were generally in the hands of high-level interstellar civilizations. A few even relied on the species' own innate talents, and had little to do with human civilization.

After several technological explosions, humanity had finally unlocked nuclear fusion and advanced its polymer-materials technology tree. With heads held high, they had charged into the stars and risen to become a Tier 1 Interstellar Civilization.

After successfully bullying a neighboring fledgling Tier 1 Interstellar Civilization with "mushroom bombs," human civilization grew arrogant.

Using the strategy of "big ships and mushroom bombs," humanity had successfully taken control of the star systems within ten light-years of the Solar System.

Having broken free of their planet's limits, humanity could now obtain resources from the universe. A vast flood of resources poured into Water Blue Star.

Water Blue Star, whose children had nearly squeezed it dry, was suddenly able to eat and drink its fill.

Human civilization flourished, and with a massive supply of resources, began another technological explosion.

"Deep-space jumping" emerged.

Though "deep-space jumping" had plenty of shortcomings—for instance, it couldn't precisely control the jump's destination or distance—

It was, all the same, a faster-than-light travel technology.

Having it versus not having it was a fundamental difference.

A Tier 1 Interstellar Civilization had developed "faster-than-light interstellar travel technology," something usually found only in Tier 4 and higher civilizations.

It was a miracle—a genuine miracle.

After mastering "deep-space jumping," human civilization grew even more ambitious.

A Tier 1 Interstellar Civilization was enjoying the benefits normally reserved for a Tier 4 civilization. It was as if fortune itself had smiled upon them. Why hold back?

Warship after warship rolled off the production lines and entered service. Human civilization began its militaristic expansion, sweeping across the stars. In just a few hundred years, it expanded its territory from a radius of ten light-years to dozens of light-years, and continued to grow.

Then they encountered a Camora Civilization pioneer team.

They wiped it out.

They'd stirred up a hornet's nest.

Camora Civilization was a collective term. There were more than six hundred interstellar civilizations across the Camora Supercluster, with a tangled web of relationships between them.

The pioneer fleet sunk by Water Blue Star's human advance team belonged to a Tier 1 Interstellar Civilization, one of the Camora civilizations, and a subordinate civilization of another, Tier 3 Camora Civilization.

They went crying to their big brother.

The Tier 3 Interstellar Civilization wasn't interested in the loss of a mere pioneer fleet belonging to a subordinate Tier 1 Interstellar Civilization. But it was very interested in the Water Blue Star Civilization, which was also a Tier 1 Interstellar Civilization.

How could a Tier 1 Interstellar Civilization control dozens of light-years of space?

It could only mean they had some kind of faster-than-light travel technology.

It was like a windfall from the heavens!

This Tier 3 Interstellar Civilization had been stuck at the "Tier 3" threshold for tens of thousands of years. All it lacked was a "faster-than-light interstellar travel technology."

There was nothing more to discuss. They raised an army and launched an expedition against Water Blue Star.

In the year 3998, the war between the Water Blue Star Federation and the Camora Civilization ended in defeat for the Water Blue Star Civilization.

Only then did the "Seed Fleet" come into being, along with this human civilization billions of light-years away, the Purple Thorn Kingdom, and Wang Dong.

Wang Dong: Heh.

The electronic data exhibits in the Glory Warship Museum included the super-large deep-space mothership used by the "Seed Fleet" on its voyage.

This super-large deep-space mothership was as large as a city and carried a population of millions.

It had a complete internal ecological recycling system that supported large-scale farming and livestock cultivation. It was also equipped with a super-large "wide-area deep-space jump" system, developed by the Water Blue Star Civilization during its century-long war against the Tier 3 Camora Interstellar Civilization.

Once charged, the super-large "wide-area deep-space jump" system could perform wide-area, ultra-long-range random spatial jumps.

In other words, the destination couldn't be determined.

Wide-area, ultra-long-range random spatial jumps were another breakthrough for the Water Blue Star Civilization's "deep-space jumping" technology.

Humanity defined random deep-space jumps with speeds exceeding 10,000 times the speed of light and distances exceeding 10,000 light-years as "wide-area, ultra-long-range random spatial jumps."

Although they still couldn't precisely control the jump's landing point, this evolved form of "deep-space jumping" had already surpassed the "faster-than-light interstellar travel technologies" of most Tier 6 civilizations in some respects.

It was practically black technology.

Unfortunately, apart from escaping danger, the technology had little practical value.

After all, they couldn't control the destination. Every jump took them to an unfamiliar star system more than 10,000 light-years away.

Interstellar voyages were inevitable.

Once they jumped, unless they were the European Emperor, they could basically forget about ever finding their way back.

In the end, the Water Blue Star Civilization was defeated.

But all 3,108 Seed Fleets had managed to escape the Camora Civilization's encirclement, thanks to their super-large deep-space motherships' wide-area, ultra-long-range random spatial jumps.

The seeds of the Water Blue Star Civilization had spread throughout the universe.

Some might have withered before taking root for one reason or another.

But most of the seeds had found suitable star systems and continued to carry on and expand human civilization.

The Water Blue Star Civilization had successfully unlocked the "Sowing Seeds Across the Universe" achievement.

Today, ten thousand years later, Wang Dong had gotten a glimpse of the super-large deep-space mothership through the Kunpeng Live Broadcast Platform. Each civilization's Seed Fleet had possessed just one.

After ten thousand years of erosion, the deep-space mothership had long since fallen into ruin. He had heard that its hull was currently housed in the People's Heroes Memorial Plaza on Chang'an Star, the capital planet of the Tiangtang Empire.

The Glory Warship Museum had a complete set of electronic data models of the super-large deep-space mothership.

With the full set of electronic data models, visitors could gain a more complete and in-depth understanding of this deep-space mothership, which had embodied the most advanced technology of the old Water Blue Star Civilization.

Just as Wang Dong was doing now.

"Requesting access to the super-large deep-space mothership."

"Request accepted. Loading data... Loading complete."

The next moment, Wang Dong found himself in a spacious command deck. Compared with a destroyer's command deck, the difference was like that between a villa and a thatched hut.

"Voyage into deep space, rebuild our home. The flame of civilization will never go out.

Water Blue Star Civilization super-large deep-space mothership, hull number 099, welcomes you."

A soft female electronic voice rang out.

Wang Dong drew a deep breath.

Though this wasn't his first time visiting the mothership,

Every time he heard that welcome, Wang Dong felt the emotions it held within: the despair of losing their home intertwined with the hope of rebuilding civilization; the bewilderment of facing an unknown journey mingled with the burden of responsibility. All of it came together in a spirit of resolute determination.

"Voyage into deep space, rebuild our home. The flame of civilization will never go out."

This was human civilization!

Even in another universe, human civilization was still human civilization!