Age of Cosmic Exploration

When Yao Yuan woke up, it was already 20 days later.

When he did, the first thing that he felt was a great headache and waves of mental lethargy came in consecutive episodes. It was very similar to how he felt when he overexerted his Homo Evolutis power before. He was drowsy and needed another two days of sleep before he could make a full recovery.

He remembered that during the paintball match, the Steel Ball he was piloting decimated the other 20 Space Combat Jets in just under 10 seconds. The power of the Steel Ball couldn’t be underestimated and its maximum speed was at least 3 times faster than the latest Space Combat Jet. This was a very scary achievement.

However, when the Steel Ball returned to the Hope and the electromagnetic resonance stopped, Yao Yuan was assaulted by a head-splitting headache. Endless information crashed in his mind and his brain couldn’t "digest" it. Before he knew it, he had collapsed onto the floor, and when he came to, it was already 20 days later.

"The creator of this control system is not me and it was merely a flawed project when I first discovered it. This control system involves the human brain, spirit, consciousness, and something even deeper. Furthermore, it can complement the Homo Evolutis power. It is something truly incredible, but unfortunately, it is not within the research scope of my Whisperer’s power. Therefore, the improvements that I could add weren’t complete and perfect. The fact that it could reach such a state is already beyond my expectations."

In the special sickroom, Bo Li was explaining the situation to Yao Yuan as she peeled an apple for him.

Yao Yuan had stayed in bed for another 2 days, and even though he was still incredibly tired, he was at least mentally present. When he heard what Bo Li had to say, he asked immediately, "You mean... there is another Whisperer on the Hope?"

Bo Li glanced at him. "That I cannot be certain, perhaps the person is a human genius like Da Bing, but... the chance of a hidden Whisperer is high."

Yao Yuan was already grinning from ear to ear. After all, this was a Whisperer, whose contribution to a civilization was bigger than a Thinker’s, and it could rival his importance of an Immortal. The only drawback was that each Whisperer had their own research specialization. They were geniuses like Einstein in their specialized research area, but they were not more brilliant than a normal scientist outside of it.

Currently, the Hope had three famed Whisperers. They had Ivan for biology, who was responsible for the cultivation of plants and animal rearing on the Hope as well as the strengthening of the human body, like elongation of lifespan and things of that sort. Of course, Ivan was still researching the alien plant and hopefully one day it could be used as humanity’s trump card, an ultimate weapon on the level of the Gravity Cannon.

The second was pathologist Saburo, whose specialization was in the field of viruses. He was the mastermind behind the study of immune systems. In fact, Saburo could be considered the saviour of humanity because the immune system upgrade he came up with allowed human beings to survive in space and land on alien planets without worry. The alien virus was like an open book for Saburo, and currently he was researching on the zerg race’s cells, hoping to employ it as an ultimate weapon in the future as well.

Third was naturally Bo Li. She was incredibly knowledgeable in the fields of mechanical engineering, modern science, and related fields. Therefore, she was responsible for all the weapon upgrades on the Hope. Over the years, she had solidified her position as the brain of the Barracks. The Gravity Cannon that had saved humanity at the Shelter was her creation.

These three Whisperers had introduced a startling change to human technology. It was thus a surprise to Yao Yuan that there was a fourth Whisperer hiding on the Hope. This Whisperer was quite possibly the type humanity needed the most and probably the rarest type of Whisperer in space... the Whisperer that specialized in the field of cosmic adapters!

"We have to find this person..." Yao Yuan said excitedly before he paused suddenly and turned to ask Bo Li, "How did this control system reach your hands? Who gave it to you?"

Bo Li shook her head and explained, "Someone left an USB drive on my table, and since it didn’t go through the internet server, there was no record in the AI either. The USB drive is something common, a small gadget, but it can contain up to 100 TB of content. A normal family on the Hope would have three or four of these, so it is impossible to trace it back to a specific buyer. Furthermore, this person was very clever. When he or she came in to drop the USB drive, he or she avoided the surveillance cameras masterfully..."

"In other words, the person is from the Barracks." Yao Yuan nodded. "The fact that he or she knows how to avoid detection means that the person probably has a background in Special Forces and he or she should have a certain standing in the Defense Unit... The scope is already so much smaller. If we add the timing of the latest Homo Evolutis Awakening, then it is 70 percent confirmed that this person comes from the Noah One..."

Bo Li continued expressionlessly, "You’re going to seek this Whisperer out? With the help of the two Thinkers, you can probably trace the clues back to the person easily. The Hope is only so big, so that shouldn’t be so hard."

Yao Yuan shook his head. "I don’t think we should. This person is also a human, and it is out of kindness that he or she delivered this control system. It is probably because he or she knows we’re settling in this solar system and will need to expand the military in the future. The members from the Noah One are still hesitant around the Hope’s government, and that is probably why this person refuses to reveal their identity. As long as this person means the Hope no harm, then I believe we should abide by their wishes. If they wish for their identity to remain a secret, then so be it. After all, the Hope’s government has nothing to hide, so eventually they will reveal themselves voluntarily."

He was looking for a Whisperer who would work for humanity willingly. If he forced the person into the open, he might cause a grievous offense depending on the person’s personality. If this caused the person to refuse to do any research, then it would be a great waste, so the better option was to wait patiently. Yao Yuan had confidence the Hope’s transparent and fair governing system would eventually pull this person out into the open.

After that, Yao Yuan agreed with Bo Li that the control system was indeed incredibly strong. Combined with the Steel Ball prototype, it was truly a cross-generation space vehicle. If it could somehow take down the shield of a level 4 space civilization’s spaceship, Yao Yuan had faith humanity could beat a level 4 space civilization!

Therefore, he hoped Bo Li would continue to work on improving the control system. Even though this was not her specialized field, Bo Li was herself a scientist. Gradual improvement was still doable, given there was enough time. Thankfully, this Steel Ball was just a prototype. The weapon placement, the movement system, and the electromagnetic resonance system had to be tweaked, and there was the time needed for Bo Li to improve the whole thing. When the Steel Ball was fully online, then it would truly usher in a new change for humanity.

While Yao Yuan was asleep, the Hope had reached the target planet. After another round of surveillance, this planet was even better than they thought, and at this point, it was already 90 percent certain that this was going to be humanity’s New Solar System.

This was because they had detected a layer of ice layer underneath the planet’s surface. Other than dry ice, there was lots of frozen water. The biggest find was that the planet was not a life-preserving planet, there was no trace of life on the planet. In other words, after humanity settled on this planet, they wouldn’t need to be afraid of threat from a neutron star fragment. Therefore, they could focus fully on terraforming this planet. With the amount of cosmic adapters available to humanity, it was not out of question that this would end up being a second Earth several thousand years from now!

With three moons and many asteroid clusters acting as natural defenses, this solar system was truly the best find. The Black Star Troopers had gone through the asteroid clusters that were full of valuable resources. The solar system also had 3 gas giants that could provide resources that humanity couldn’t use for now, but when humanity became level 3 space civilization, these 3 gas giants would be crucial. The hydrogen atoms in them could provide energy for the reactors for millions of years to come.

Because of this, after Yao Yuan woke up, the entirety of the Hope was waiting for him to make an announcement. Yao Yuan hosted a poll at the House of Representatives, and after the voting, the human government finally came to a decision. The first step of the white manifesto, finding a new home base for humanity, was officially completed.

"I announce...

"This solar system now belongs to humanity and it is the lawful territory of human civilization. This is humanity’s...

"New Solar System!"