Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 381 - 380 - Codename: ’Enlightener’!

Chapter 381: Chapter 380 - Codename: ’Enlightener’!

Organic compounds are a scarce resource in the Universe, only abundantly produced on the surface layer of planets where thin life exists. Utilizing industry to synthesize organic compounds, especially complex ones, is definitely an arduous and thankless task. Humans can industrially synthesize urea and methane, but to synthesize amino acids from inorganic substances... certainly possible, but most of the synthesized amino acids are toxic!

Among all amino acids, except glycine, all have chiral carbon atoms. Only biological entities, the most precise factories, could possibly synthesize amino acids with a single chiral configuration.

Whether it’s animals or plants, ingesting artificially synthesized D-amino acids would likely cause significant adverse reactions.

Compared to complex organic substances, the separation of nuclear fuels like Helium-3 is much simpler. Any civilization capable of mining Jupiter-like planets can separate an almost endless supply of Helium-3.

Precious metals such as gold and platinum are even less valuable. For example, in the Solar System, the mineral resources on asteroid 241 Germania are worth as much as $95.8 trillion, higher than the global gross production of $73.982 trillion in 2013.

That’s just one asteroid. If it were possible to mine the cores of terrestrial planets, metal resources would be infinite.

Thus, in the interstellar trading market, organic matter is more valuable than conventional metal materials.

This is interstellar common knowledge that humans acquired from the Badit people.

Of course, the amount of organic compounds mined by humans on Riley Star also need not be too much; they merely seek to refine some high-pollution rare chemicals.

If these substances were produced in the Kunlun Mountains, the pollution would be too great and the yields limited, but placing factories on a planet poses no issue.

A planet, after all, can easily cleanse a little pollution. This is a viewpoint proven by scientists, and this bit of pollution will not significantly destroy the native biological environment.

On the other hand, even if people wanted to mine several hundred million tons of coal, the Kunlun Mountains simply don’t have enough space to accommodate it. Having some chemical products would suffice.

After Sun Yuting finished speaking this, she bowed lightly, "...In conclusion, these pieces of evidence indirectly prove that the World Tree appeared 150,000 years ago, with no earlier records."

"...The religious texts of the Riley people also provide a small piece of evidence for the alien creation theory. 150,000 years is a very crucial time node."

Zhang Yuan stroked his chin, pondering.

According to the records of the native civilizations, the so-called "World Tree" seemed to have suddenly appeared without any transitional phase.

However, this so-called evidence was still just indirect and still couldn’t prove that the "World Tree" was a result of alien genetic modification.

"Is this statement still just a speculation?"

Such speculation was not enough to shake the entirety of The Kunlun Mountain; what was staggering was a series of subsequent conjectures!

First, the time node of the appearance of the "World Tree" on Riley Star and the Gleize Civilization’s encounter with the first interstellar civilization—the Enlightener Civilization—were too close!

The Gleize Civilization, the first alien civilization humans met, those drug-consuming pangolins.

The Gleize Civilization’s encounter with the Enlightener Civilization had clear textual records, though the time was a bit vague due to loss of historical data, but it should also be around 100,000 to 150,000 years ago.

So, if the "alien creation theory" were true, could this so-called "interstellar civilization" be the same one?

Second, it was around this time node that the ancient hominids of Earth, emerging from Africa, gave rise to the so-called Moustier Culture!

Moustier Culture is an Old Stone Age culture in Europe, West Asia, Central Asia, and North East Africa. It is named after its earliest discovery near Le Moustier Cave in Dordogne, France.

This culture began approximately 150,000 years ago.

Third, at this time point, the Badit Civilization abruptly evolved long-lived species, advancing their lifespans dramatically from hundreds to thousands of years.

Yes, 150,000 years ago!

The concatenation of these coincidences was no longer a coincidence!

150,000 years ago, in this swath of the cosmos, something very likely happened, really very likely...

As the analysis proceeded, everyone fell into genuine astonishment; they seemed to witness a story that had once unfolded... 150,000 years ago, a profoundly potent civilization, traversing the Milky Way, the Orion Arm, codename—"Enlightener"!

For reasons unknown, they swept across this Star Domain, witnessed various native civilizations, leaving their unique, profound, or perhaps insignificant marks that could affect these low-level civilizations for a lifetime.

Including Earth... Humans!

When this possibility arose, everyone in the conference room held their breath, as if the oxygen in the air had suddenly vanished.

This was simply incredible!

If it involved a more advanced alien civilization, even involving humans themselves, this matter would become even more intriguing.

Several minutes later, a clear melody rang out, interrupting everyone’s thoughts. The scientific research meeting officially ended, causing a lively applause. Dr. Sun Yuting, slightly embarrassed, bowed again and then walked off the stage... The time that followed no longer belonged to her, the graduate student.

However, few people left the conference room, including Zhang Yuan himself, who excitedly discussed whether the civilization named "Enlightener" had a profound impact on humans themselves.

Or rather, did it provide humans with a little help, pushing forward human development?

This impact could be minimal, but it could also be significant.

After discussing for a while, a historian stood up and said, "One thing that can be confirmed is that human civilization remained in the Old Stone Age for a very, very long time, at least three million years! The progress during these three million years was minimal, as humans endured the Ice Age and even came close to extinction..."

"These three million years might have seen the birth of language, but there was probably no writing, truly a stagnation in development."

Everyone nodded; this stagnation wasn’t complete, but any progress had to rely on coincidences.

The expert concluded, "Hence, intelligent beings don’t necessarily give rise to civilization. For a civilization, having writing and mathematics may be significant hurdles that require a great deal of coincidence and extensive practice to overcome."