Age of Cosmic Exploration

"There is still half a month until we reach the Shelter. Within that period of time, no Homo Evolutis is allowed outside of the Hope except under the Barracks’ direct orders, the confidentiality clause is... S-grade."

This was the latest military order received by all Homo Evolutis on the Hope. Even those who were still civilians received the same order, and it was given through the most official red-sealed document. Therefore, no one dared to treat it lightly. At the same time, the order was also broadcasted through the papers and internet.

"Other than the workers and AI robots responsible for ferrying supplies, only the diplomacy group is allowed to enter and leave the Hope freely. Aren’t they being a bit too careful?"

In Ren Tao’s home, he was playing a 3D fishing game while Chou Yue, who sat beside him, grumbled at him while she flipped through the newspaper. Ren Tao was silent until he finally lost his patience from the incessant questions. "There is no other choice..."

Chou Yue was not satisfied by this answer. She directly turned Ren Tao around to ask, "What kind of answer is that? Quickly explain to me. You’re a Thinker, your brain is very active, so don’t ignore me by giving me these half-hearted answers. I hate this the most about you. Quickly explain to me."

Ren Tao was cornered, so he said, "The key is still the lack of knowledge, specifically the lack of knowledge regarding the great cosmos... To give you a simple example, if we were still on Earth and the US and China were caught in a deep altercation, would it ever escalate to an all-out war? It is hardly possible because each of them has their own cautions, including the worry about nuclear bombs. However, if a small African country kidnapped the US President and openly waged war against the US, the US would not hesitate to fight back, right?

"This is due to knowledge. Since the China and the US knew each other so well, so there would be less of a danger for war to erupt. Even if you switched out China for a smaller country, as long as there is knowledge, most would choose to compromise rather than go into war. Of course, there are exceptions due to human greed, like the Middle Eastern oil war. Currently, our knowledge about the cosmos and the various space civilizations in the cosmos is still too low. We are like that small African country, we only know they exist and they are powerful, but how powerful? What kind of threat are they to us? These answers we can only extrapolate from the little information that we have."

At this point, Ren Tao revealed a rather sarcastic smile. "I believe this is not sitting well with Yao Yuan either to have made such a decision... From when we left Earth, even though we were forced to leave, we have stumbled across a series of coercing situations. Yes, most of them were unintentional, but even so, those high tier space civilizations did not even glance at us and treated us like bugs. That aggravation must have annoyed Yao Yuan greatly, especially considering his penchant for heroics."

Chou Yue suddenly smacked Ren Tao on his head, saying, "Call him Chancellor... You can do whatever you like at home, but when you’re outside, you better refer to him as our Chancellor out of respect."

The sarcastic smile hung on Ren Tao’s face, but he did not argue with Chou Yue. Instead he continued, "Unfortunately, it is because Yao Yuan is the Chancellor that this misfortune falls on his shoulders. If he was not the Chancellor, then I am sure he would not have so many reservations. However, as Chancellor, he has to put humanity first, so even if he feels aggrieved, he has no choice but to stomach it and choose to flee every time... In any case, back to the topic at hand, that is what I meant to say, because our knowledge of space civilizations, especially those with a level higher than us, is severely lacking, it is only natural that we fear them. This is especially true since we have seen so many powerful creations and the power the weapons of high tier space civilizations. That fear is deep within our hearts. Even if we now have the power to rival the peak level 2 space civilizations, when there is an actual war, most people will choose to flee, especially when we’re facing a level 3 space civilization.

"The caution that you mentioned is the manifestation of the collective ideology. However, it escapes their minds that... in such a dangerous cosmos, only those who are brave will be able to survive. If we continue this cycle of escaping and fleeing, I hate to make this prediction, but the human loyalty and spirit will break and society will collapse..."

A similar conversation was happening with Xiao Niao and his two best friends as well as Cheng Wen and his few close friends. Even though the contents varied, they mentioned a similar issue... After losing the will to fight, how will it affect humanity’s future? If humanity was conditioned into thinking they are always the weaker party, then how will humanity respond when they stumble across civilizations that are weaker than theirs?

No matter what, time continued to move on and the atmosphere on the Hope got increasingly tense. Even though the general public was still stable, one could see from the papers that as they got closer to the Shelter, most of the news was about space civilizations. Similarly, there were also increasing news about how to save yourself during war, how to avoid combat. Lastly... The staple foods on the Hope, like bread, wheat, flour, and canned foods, were sold out.

Actually, this was an unconscious action by people. If there was a real war, either the Hope won, or they escaped, or humanity perished in space. There was no other choice, so what was the point of storing food?

Thankfully, it was Yao Yuan who was leading the Hope. After a few of his speeches, even though the heightened tension did not decrease, at least there were no more riots. After all, Yao Yuan had reached a legendary status in people’s hearts. Many of them believed that as long as Yao Yuan survived, then humanity would continue to exist, and from a certain perspective, they were not wrong.

Finally, there were only three days left until they reached the Shelter. At this point, the Hope and the vassal spaceships realized that a few battleships were heading towards them. As a precaution and as the rule of space dictated, all the spaceships, including the Hope, activated the creator’s particle.

"This is a patrol crew. Looking at the shape of the battleship, it should be a level 2 space civilization."

In central command, acting as humanity’s ’space expert’ and the official minister of foreign affairs, Blue 6 explained as he looked at the 3D images of the battleships.

Yao Yuan, who sat in the captain’s chair, slapped his palm on the armrest and said, "In other words, these patrols are employed by the Shelter’s main race? Are they here to collect taxes? Will they enter our ship for checking..."

Blue 6 replied with a smile, "Not only for tax collection, they will be responsible to lead us or keep an eye on us as we move towards the Shelter. Of course, there will be no inspection like what Your Highness said, at most they will use some device to gauge the size of our ships to help us arrange hangars that can ease our entry... Your Highness, please remember this common knowledge in space: forcefully entering a ship is a cause for war!

"The ship is our home, the ship is our land, the ship is our life... The ship is the root from which our civilization grows! Without invitation, without permission, and forcefully entering the ship, this... means a war to the death!"

When Blue 6 said this, he lost his usual grace. In reality, outside of the color of his skin, Blue 6 was a handsome young man, he was no different from the dashing lads around the Hope. However, when he said this, it gave the impression of a lion-hearted warrior. The sudden radiation of heroic spirit surprised even Yao Yuan.

"...Forcefully entering a ship means war?"

Yao Yuan ruminated on this sentence and he laughed. "This is not bad. At least it means that our secret can be safely preserved. After we successfully finish the trading and restocking of supplies, we will leave the Shelter... That is enough."

Blue 6 looked at Yao Yuan with a serious glow in his eyes. It was obvious that he had something to say, but in the end, he chose not to voice it out. He joined Yao Yuan to look at the screen inside.

A few hours later, the Defence Unit soldiers led by Blue 6 intercepted this patrol battleship. Then a simple discussion and bargaining followed, mainly discussing the entry tax for the Hope and all the vassal spaceships. This did not include the trading tax because that was not the jurisdiction of the patrols, they were only responsible for leading the few ships to enter the Shelter. Of course, it was more of an observation than kindness on the patrol’s part.

"It’s not expensive, at least considering the size of our fleet... Of course, it might be due to the color of my skin. After all, the Blue Race once visited this Shelter," Blue 6 reported back to Yao Yuan. Then the Hope and the vassal spaceships followed the patrols and moved towards the Shelter.

At the same time, in the Shelter that more than 100 races called home, more than 70 percent of them were already on their decline. To preserve the seed for the continuity of their races, every day a large amount of retard "rubbish" were executed.

However, among these races, there was one dying race who recently came into a stroke of good fortune because their race suddenly had a birth of more than ten thousand normal citizens. According to rumours, they were lifeforms with a wealth of soul in them that could last the race for another four to five generations!

This was one of the races that was part of the space merchant conglomerate. They said that this happened because they met a race that had hundreds of cosmic adapters during one of their raids, and due to close contact, they had the fortune of welcoming the births of so many normal babies...

Of course, none of the other races believed them...

How could there be hundreds of cosmic adapters residing within one race?

That was simply impossible!