Age of Cosmic Exploration Chapter 396

The discussion didn't reach any conclusion that day. After all, humanity was still too weak, they simply couldn't understand the theory behind the action of this ruin that was way beyond humankind's technological level.

This led to a sense of sinking despair, one that was laced with frustration. After all… it had almost 20 years since humankind had ventured into space. In the fast advancement of these 20 years, they still hadn't been able to break through to a higher level… that was truly a great blow to the human confidence.

Of course, if this kind of emotion was revealed to other space civilizations or even Blue 6, humanity would probably be slapped on the face for such frivolous thoughts.

After all, this was not some RPG game where experience could be gained easily through slaughtering enemies! This was the level of a civilization as a whole, a living organization involving several million, even billion people!

From the stone age to the copper age, from the copper age to the metal age, from the metal age to the gunpowder age, then to steam power, electrical power, and so on and so forth, every advancement in these technological eras required plenty of human energy, materials, time, and even exhaustion of population to complete. It was the same for space civilizations. Due to the lack of a stable source of soul, many space civilizations ended their lives at the same level as they started, level 1 or 2. Every level 3 space civilizations had only reached that point after millennium of cultivation and hard work. In this long and arduous process, many had fallen along the wayside. In fact, according to the alien information, only 1 around 1,000,000 level 2 space civilizations would become level 3 space civilizations. The fact that humanity had done all that in just under 2 decades was crazy enough that any alien civilization who heard wind of that would probably cough out blood from disbelief and anger.

Regardless, humanity was still too week. Following the level demarcation of a space civilization's level, the high tier space civilization was in a different league altogether compared to low tier space civilizations; it was a difference between humans and unicellular organisms. This was not the first time humanity felt so helpless, and this was definitely not going to be the last time either…

If there was still a next time for humanity, that is!

The answer that they were unable to reach during the meeting revealed itself five days later.

The Hope had built three powerful propeller engines to attempt to change the course of the ship. However, as predicted by Xiao Niao, no matter how powerful these three engines were, neither the speed nor direction of the Hope had changed. And not long after these three engines started working, the control over them was lost due to the breaking down of internal parts. It was unknown whether it was caused by short-circuit or external forces.

After that, the Hope continued moving forward using the constant speed down the same direction like the incident with the 3 propeller engines hadn't even happened.

The people on the Hope were out of options because this experiment had verified Xiao Niao's hypothesis. The AI or its equivalent inside this ruin seemed to have noticed the Hope, and since the ruin was so many levels ahead of humanity in terms of technology, there was nothing humankind could do.

"In other words, we are only left with two options?"

After the propeller experiment, Yao Yuan had another meeting with the top officials; however, the meeting had a less than satisfactory result.

Just as Yao Yuan mentioned, humanity was only left with two choices. One was to activate the self-destruct sequence. It was worth noting that there were two self-destruct sequences on the Hope. Even though both could be activated manually, to prevent high tier space civilizations from controlling them using some kind of electronic overwrite, one of the self-destruct sequences was buried deep within the Hope's internal H-bomb. Activating it required activation of electrical components on the H-bomb. The other was the giant load of explosives inside the department of chemistry. This could only be activated manually. Even if the Hope was covered with creator's particle, it wouldn't lose its efficiency.

This was one of the choices for humanity, to blow up the Hope, and in just a second, humanity would disappear without much suffering as if the human race hadn't even existed in the cosmos. At least this way, humanity wouldn't be enslaved by other space races, they wouldn't be kept as experimental lab rats, food sources, or slaves.

Of course, this was an option that wouldn't be considered until it was the only option left.

The second option was simple, which was to enter the ruin and fight their way out!

"Move! All the Black Star Troopers move out now! Other than Whisperers and Animas, all the other Black Star Troopers have to move! Put on your space armors, grab your weapons, and follow me! We will be moving out when necessary!"

Yao Yuan called for the gathering of all the Black Star Troopers the afternoon the propellers failed. All of the Black Star Troopers, no matter whether they were on leave, still in training, or on a mission, were asked to gather at the training field. Yao Yuan, the leader of the Black Star Troopers, left the everyday training of the troopers to Guang Zhen due to his busy schedule, so this was one of those rare moments where Yao Yuan addressed his soldiers directly.

Yao Yuan's words were dripping with menace. As Ebon, who stood beside him, understood it, his words could be translated into, "Brothers and sisters, this is our last stand, let's chop down some aliens before we die."

Of course, Yao Yuan did mean that underneath all the official language. However, he was the leader of humanity, so he couldn't just rush in guns blazing. Even though humanity was at its wit's end, he still had his own plan.

As an All-Rounder, Yao Yuan had access to an incomplete Thinker's power. At the same time, he had a personal strategist group of his own that consisted of two full-fledged Thinkers. In the next few days, as the Hope drifted towards the giant tree, Yao Yuan started to analyze everything about this giant tree with his trusted advisors.

First, it was already confirmed that this giant tree was indeed a ruin and not a high tier space civilization in disguise. After all, due to the difference in technology, there was literally no reason for this space civilization to disguise itself. The space civilization behind this giant tree was much more powerful than all the space civilizations Yao Yuan had seen enter the green light, including the level 4 and 5 space civilizations. If the giant tree's owner race was lacking in soul, they could have ransacked and pillaged solar systems whenever they wished, they didn't need to set up a trap like this and wait for people to come.

Therefore, this giant tree was indubitably a ruin. From the space rumors given by Blue 6, ruins were delineated into different types as well. Of course, most of them were the ownerless type, where defense was done by the AI or mechanical system that remained. There were also the trap types. This kind of ruin was mostly left behind by the losing party of a space war. The civilization was on the brink of destruction, but the main population hadn't begun racial senescence yet. In other words, they had high intelligence that was fuelled with resentment and anger. Before complete destruction, they would leave behind various traps just to spite the other space civilizations who stumbled across their ruin in the future.

Other than that, there was also the supply type, normally left behind by middle to high tier space merchants who came into some sort of tragedy in their travels. Then there was the puzzle type, a creation of high tier space civilizations to entertain themselves because they were bored. One could get the reward left behind by the space civilization after solving the puzzle. The last was the relic type ruin, and the giant tree was one such example.

The cosmos was filled with all kinds of danger. Even high tier space civilizations didn't dare to say they would survive forever, that was a privilege limited to god tier space civilization only. Therefore, it was entirely possible for these high tier space civilizations to get destroyed as well. However, since they were high tier space civilizations, they were definitely unwilling to allow their glorious history disappear from space just like that.

The history of a high tier space civilization normally stretched for several million years, and there was no two that was similar. This was because no one knew whether they had selected the correct path to focus on. Even a level 9 space civilization didn't dare to claim that, because… that was a privilege for a god-tier space civilization, and that was the goal for all space civilizations. Due to the limitation of soul, after a space civilization reached the middle tier, it had to select a single aspect to focus on, and none of the space civilizations knew whether their choice would bring them towards becoming a god tier space civilization or not.

Therefore, even if it was a dying message, before the destruction of a high tier space civilization, they would leave behind a relic type ruin to wait for a space civilization with high potential. Using the technology left behind by the high tier space civilization, the space civilization with potential could evolve to become a god tier space civilization… when that happened, maybe the civilization might revive the high tier space civilization as an appreciation for its earlier contribution. This was entirely possible as this was the power of a god tier space civilization!

And this type of ruin that went actively in search of visitors fit the mold of a relic type ruin most perfectly!

Chapter end