Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 266: Ruin

The information sent over by the space merchants was incredibly large. A part of it was completely useless as well. Information like the different surnames of alien civilizations had completely zero uses for humanity, and information like this covered up to 30 percent of the total information.

To categorize this information, using the central mainframe would be a good idea. However, the computer didn’t possess an AI, and even if it did, it was only a first-level AI. It had no creativity and imagination; it would only follow the designated program. AI like that wouldn’t be able to sift through the information effectively.

For example, one or several details hidden in the information about an alien civilization’s myths might be important to humanity. After all, from the collected information, most of the alien civilizations had left their mother planets for more than ten thousand years. Many of them were on their downfall. They were clueless to the antiquated civilization of their ancestors and treated many of them as myths. Therefore, mankind perhaps could get useful information from their myths.

It was because of this that categorization of the information was not a simple ordeal. It required a large amount of manpower and time. Yao Yuan’s intention was simple, he didn’t ask Ren Tao and Xiao Niao personally go through the immense amount of information but required each of them to set up a team, and with the two teams’ cooperation, finish and assign the material’s level and reading requirement.

The two thought about it and accepted Yao Yuan’s offer. After all, Yao Yuan was the captain of the ship, so unless it was an absolutely crazy order, they really had no choice but to accept it. With that out of the way, Yao Yuan carried on to discuss the real reason why he had brought two of them there. It was about the fastest way for humanity to become a Level 4 space civilization that he spoke of.

"I believe both of you understand the meaning of humanity becoming a Level 4 space civilization. The power for self-preservation aside, the key point of a level 4 space civilization is the ability to use wormhole technology. Even though wormhole is not space warp, it has plenty to do with space technology. Creating wormholes requires that knowledge, and we happen to need this knowledge. After we know more about the space warp technology, it probably means that we’ll be able to have a more direct control over the space warp process. Imagine, we can go anywhere we want in the cosmos, isn’t that exciting?" Yao Yuan exclaimed, with excitement in his eyes.

The two looked at each other and Ren Tao scratched his ear helplessly. "Of course we understand the implication, but Captain, you have to understand that we humans have just barely become a Level 2 space civilization. I know we have more than enough knowledge to help us maybe touch the edge of Level 3 space civilization, but have you considered the possibility of us not going over the threshold? Science is not politics or military; the scientists can’t just make something happen just because you order it so. I simply can’t figure out any method that can help us become a Level 4 space civilization in a short period of time."

Yao Yuan nodded. "Which brings me to my next point. Of course I understand that science is different from politics and military, it is an entity growing outside of human control. I'm not that arrogant to think I can have science under my control. I mean to pursue this through another means, namely… ruins!"

"Ruins?"

Ren Tao and Xiao Niao looked at each other again. Xiao Niao couldn’t stop himself from saying, "You’re treating this thing as a game? Speaking of which, this Cosmic Exploration OL has been going on for 11 years. Our human race civilization level is still so low, only trained until level 2…"

"Be serious." Yao Yuan frowned, then he continued seriously, "I’m not kidding, I’m talking about actual ruins… Do you still remember the history mentioned by the space merchants?"

Ren Tao and Xiao Niao nodded in unison, and Yao Yuan continued, "I flipped through the information they sent and realized that the cosmos is not as empty as we think. If there was no Law of Conservation of Life, then we would be able to witness alien life forms all around us. This isn’t the case because these civilizations have started to deteriorate several thousand, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of years ago.

"While the life of that race itself might perish, their creation and civilization products haven’t. Especially in a space like the cosmos, the creation might be preserved forever until a giant catastrophe happens to it…

"From the space merchants’ information, I realized that fully-grown space civilizations, or civilization that have left their mother planet for more than 3,000 years and have no more cosmic adapters among them and deterioration was still inconspicuous, would normally go into one of these 4 different routes for survival. First are ones like the space merchants. They trade with other civilizations to increase contact with others.

"Second are mercenary civilizations. They pride themselves on attacking Shelters or other races. Normally, members of these civilizations are blood-thirsty and have a long warring history, perhaps going back to when they were still on their home planet.

"Third are research civilizations. They are not good at warfare but instead are good at scientific research. They are peace-loving and choose to avoid conflict if possible. Deterioration will also take the longest time to appear in this kind of civilization. They mostly survive in Shelters and use their creations to trade provisions with merchants or mercenaries…

"Fourth are the ones I’m interested in. These are the explorers…

"One key feature of this civilization type is their longevity. From the information I’ve read, a common explorer civilization can last as long as several tens of thousands of years. This kind of civilization visits Shelters once in a blue moon to conduct large-scale restocking and can survive independently in space for more than ten thousand years. Their main mission is to use warp drive to scour the cosmos, and what would they be looking for?

"Ruins! Ruins left behind by other civilizations that have fallen under the Law of Conservation of Life!"

Yao Yuan stopped to pull out a piece of information from the computer screen. "This here is a report on a legendary explorer civilization. According to this report, the civilization was lucky enough to stumble across the ruins of a space civilization that was at the brink of entering the 6th revolution. The life forms had all perished and the mother ship had been destroyed by a natural space disaster. However, even so, it allowed the explorer civilization to gain lots of 4th and 5th revolution technologies, and they themselves had evolved into a Level 4 space civilization before going on to become level 5 in the future.

"I believe this is the best future route to be taken by the Hope!"

At this point, Ren Tao's and Xiao Niao’s eyes were shining. Xiao Niao said excitedly, "I had no idea this Cosmic Exploration Online had such cheats… Fine, I’ll be serious, this is indeed something we’ve not considered before. You’re right. As you’ve said, under the influence of the Law of Conservation of Life, space civilizations are constantly dying off. Other than the civilizations at the Shelters, what happens to those middle-level and high-level civilizations? They seem not to be at the Shelters, and they too are not free from the law’s influence. In other words, if we can find these dead civilizations, like the junkyard civilization, then our level will indeed get a giant increase!"

"What about the risk?" Ren Tao frowned and asked. "Don’t tell me there is no risk. Even when we were dealing with the junkyard civilization, there was a giant risk. In fact, it almost caused our extinction, and those were only the ruins of a level 2 space civilization. I can’t imagine ruins for a higher level civilization will be safer."

"Indeed, there are risks, and very high risks if I might add." Yao Yuan didn’t try to soften the blow but said openly, "This is to be expected. After all, even a difference in one revolution could mean the difference between two eras. Furthermore, this is space civilization levels we are talking about. A random object from a Level 3, 4, 5, 6, or even 7 civilization might cause a civilization-wide extinction. Therefore, I’m not denying there is a presence of great risk."

"Then what is there for us to discuss?" Ren Tao shrugged. "Randomness is the biggest danger. The possibility of us running into such a ruin aside… I mean, the Hope has space warped god knows how many times before we came into that junkyard civilization. Even if we find one, do you have the courage to send your men to investigate it? What if it sets off some defense system that can wipe us out? Is the risk really worth it?"

"I understand the risk involved, which is why I’ve brought the two of you here…"

Yao Yuan smiled. He turned to Ren Tao suddenly and said, "If we do come across such ruins, Zhang Heng’s Diviner power is not strong enough to tell what level space civilization it is. We need someone with a sense more acute than our most powerful Diviner… Ren Tao, tell me about the little girl by the name of Eva. I’m very interested in what she does. I read something similar in the space merchants’ information. She sounds like a Diviner that has evolved into its third stage…

"A level 3 Diviner, or we should no longer call her that because such a Homo Evolutis' power is dubbed…

"The Sage!"