"Well, alright, Little Liu, let's go out for a walk with the general. You've had the hardest time these past few years, enduring all that hardship with us old men."
"Academician, we're all doing this for the fleet, why be so different?"
A small spaceship received Hu Yu's command and automatically flew to Hu Yu side. This spaceship, which was ten meters long, looked exactly the same as the spaceship used to reward the birth of babies more than a hundred years ago, except that its internal facilities were more complete. As Hu Yu's usual vehicle, it would naturally be more luxurious.
In just over ten seconds, the spaceship arrived at a point two astronomical units above the ecliptic plane of the JD3 Planetary System. The JD3 Star was directly below the spaceship. Although there is no up, down, left, or right in space, out of human habit, the spaceship still aligned its ventral side with the ecliptic plane. At this point, the JD3 Star had shrunk to the size of a fist-sized sphere of light, with 23 planets scattered around it. At this distance, the planets were no longer visible; their positions could only be determined by the light they reflected from the star. Nevertheless, these planets were still the brightest celestial objects in the sky besides the JD3 Star.
At this moment, just as the ancients said, one transcends the Three Realms and is no longer bound by the Five Elements. Far from the clamor of the planets, one can fully enjoy the tranquility of the starry sky, with the sun, moon, and stars all within sight, and the myriad universes at one's fingertips. One can witness the leaps of time and space and guide countless civilizations. Even Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, or Emperor Taizong of Tang and Emperor Taizu of Song could not reach this height.
" Academician Zeng, I never imagined we could have progressed to our current level. If it weren't for the Insect Race invasion, we might still be fighting with other countries in the Solar System. In a way, shouldn't we thank the Zerg?"
"Yes, we've made so much progress over the years. Back then, it would take you seven or eight months to fly 100 astronomical units with me, but now it only takes a few minutes. It's unbelievable."
" Academician Zeng, what exactly happened back then? You've told the general about it several times. Could you tell me about it?" Academician Liu asked curiously from the side.
"Haha, of course you can. You were born in the fleet and don't know about Earth. Back then, when the First-Tier Mother Insect invaded in large numbers, we fought a hard battle with them for 20 years. In fact, on the first day of the invasion, we basically judged that humanity had no chance of winning. Escaping the Solar System was the only way to preserve our race. In order to escape the Solar System, we secretly built 250 Polaris. You saw the Polaris in Tau Ceti. It was only five kilometers long. Now, a ship of this level and number is insignificant, but at the time it took us all our strength and 20 years to build."
"While preparing to escape my job, I worked with then- Director Xu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on warp drive technology. We spent five or six years without making any progress. Keep in mind that at that time, our lifespan was only about a hundred years, so five or six years was a long time for us. When I was in a predicament, the Ministry of National Defense arranged for a general to personally pilot a spaceship to take me out for a break. This trip lasted for a year. We reached as far as Uranus, and then returned from Uranus, flying towards the ecliptic plane, reaching a distance of 20 astronomical units directly above the Sun."
"There, I saw the entire Solar System. I had never seen such a magnificent and beautiful Solar System before. It was at that moment that I had a flash of inspiration, and warp drive technology achieved a key breakthrough. Less than a month after returning to the lunar spacecraft, we achieved space travel of a model spacecraft in the laboratory. The warp maneuver of this model spacecraft was the beginning of all our current spacecraft."
"So that's how it is. That model spaceship is the one that's been displayed on your desk, right?" Academician Liu asked.
"Yes, that's right. The pressure we faced back then to drive it on a spatial level is unimaginable now. You know, the insects could engulf us at any moment. We kept praying that we could complete the construction of the Polaris within the planned time. Hard work pays off, and we finally completed the mission when the insects evolved to the point where we were powerless to resist. That's why we have everything we have now."
"I understand. Although I wasn't born on Earth, I still yearn for it. My parents often told me that Earth is our true home."
"What a pity, Earth has flown away to who knows where now."
" Academician Zeng, Academician Liu, one day we will find Earth again. Even if we don't, I will create an exact replica of Earth. I will rebuild the Solar System."
"Sometimes I wonder, what is the meaning of our existence? What is the meaning of civilization? Why do wars always break out between civilizations? If we must develop into the top civilization in a galaxy to protect ourselves, what will become of those lower civilizations? Perhaps civilization is the largest Insect Race in this universe. The development of civilization is to gradually devour the universe until one day, the universe can no longer contain us. Is this the tragedy or the glory of civilization?" Academician Zeng lamented.
"Academician, this is a philosophical question, and I cannot answer it. My idea is very simple: to ensure the continuation of the Chinese Nation in this universe. For this goal, any sacrifice is worthwhile."
"Let's talk about the Wind Star Civilization. I really can't let it go. Right now, our combat power is far from enough. Apart from detonating Cepheid variable stars, we can't find any other way in the short term. Stars are too big targets and easy to intercept. We also need too many of them, so it's almost impossible to succeed."
"Academician, you don't need to put too much pressure on yourself. Even without Cepheid variable stars, we're not entirely without a chance. At least acquiring some of the Wind Star Civilization's technology shouldn't be a problem. However, I still hope to obtain the complete technology tree of the Wind Star Civilization. Only by combining it with our own technology tree can we advance to the Small Star Sector Civilization stage more quickly."
"General, Academician, what kind of civilization is the Small Star Sector Civilization?" Academician Liu Bo asked.
"I'm not entirely sure about that either. The Si Luo of the Wind Star Fleet mentioned before that they've already spent 50,000 years, and they're confident they can break through to the Small Star Sector Civilization in another 50,000 years. Academician Zeng, what are your thoughts?"
"I do have a few thoughts on this. The first is the travel speed. Little Liu, don't you feel that a thousand times the speed of light is a very high hurdle, one that we just can't seem to overcome?"
"I have this feeling. We've been at a speed of a thousand times the speed of light for a long time now, and we haven't improved it since. Even if our energy level increases again, the speed won't change at all. Space is like a towel full of water; we've already wrung out all the water, and no matter how much force we apply, no more water will flow out."
"Yes, that's true. There are limits to navigating using the curvature of space. To break through these limits, we might need to find new approaches. We can't just rely on increasing energy levels to achieve higher curvature speeds. Breaking through these limits might be a prerequisite for becoming Small Star Sector Civilization. Secondly, there's weaponry. We're still using antimatter and lasers, which are used at the Star-Level, albeit with significantly increased power. Small Star Sector Civilization might also use these, but they'll certainly have new attack methods. In short, Small Star Sector Civilization must at least have most of its technology surpass that of Planetary-Level Civilization. Relying on one or two technological breakthroughs is not enough to qualify as Small Star Sector Civilization."