Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 383 - 382: Organic Harvester? (Added for Alliance Hierarch PoPoLanLan!)

Chapter 383: Chapter 382: Organic Harvester? (Added for Alliance Hierarch PoPoLanLan!)

At the conference, while the experts were vehemently expressing their opinions, Information Science expert Li Zhendong stood up and shared a different perspective.

"This professor, please, don’t get too agitated. I somewhat doubt whether the Enlightener Civilization, let’s just call it that for now... is truly a civilization filled with goodwill?"

He spread his hands and questioned, "The Riley Civilization is a very ancient religious civilization that had already developed a brilliant culture millions of years ago, including writing and language. Its development has stagnated for a very long time and has reached a stable state. If it were to continue this way, there might not be any progress. But why did the Enlightener Civilization plant the ’World Tree’? Could it really advance the development of the Riley Civilization?"

"You know, this species can trigger a massive biological extinction!"

"I even think that we might have overinterpreted this event. The Enlighteners just want to use the World Tree to convert all the carbon elements on this planet into a substance similar to coal and then harvest them all at once."

"We already have the relevant cosmic knowledge. Organic materials are more valuable in the trade market than ordinary metals! For more advanced civilizations, as long as they can mine the core resources, metal elements are inexhaustible, including various rare earth elements, which are plentiful deep in the core. However, organic materials are different; they are only available in a thin layer on the surface of planets, and there’s no getting more!"

"Using such biological technology to collect organic matter is more cost-effective and efficient!"

He remarked passionately, "It’s truly a grand scheme, harvesting a planet’s resources all at once! Perhaps not just one, but... countless planets! Including the former Earth, although the plan might not have succeeded there."

The conference room fell silent for a long while. Zhang Yuan even felt his hair standing on end, as if it took merely a moment to shift from benevolence to evil.

Soon, Li Zhendong’s speculation stirred up a tremendous uproar!

People unanimously pondered, if this civilization truly is "evil," then...

What might they have done to humans, to Earth?

The conference room remained eerily quiet for a long while.

The biologist hesitated for a moment before defending, "I still believe that the Enlightener Civilization is filled with goodwill toward the Riley Civilization. Professor Li, if you wanted to undertake such a plan that lasts millions, or even tens of millions of years, you would choose a planet rich in carbon elements for experimentation, wouldn’t you?"

Li Zhendong nodded, "Indeed... the starting point is critical."

The biologist continued, "However, the carbon content of Riley Star is not very high, just slightly more than that of Earth. According to your argument, they should choose a planet like Venus, where the surface is all carbon dioxide, to maximize benefits. Why would the Enlighteners choose Riley Star? It doesn’t make sense economically!"

Li Zhendong, his neck flushed, raised his voice, "They might have planned across countless planets, and the question of whether it’s economically viable isn’t necessary. It’s like us using a large sowing machine in the field, it doesn’t matter whether each seed will sprout, as long as it grows plants. It doesn’t matter if the harvest is a little less. Would you worry about how one particular wheat stalk will yield?"

"But why weren’t Earth, Venus, or Mars harvested?"

"Because such a plan can’t possibly succeed 100%, can it? Native species might have exterminated the foreign ones, or perhaps climatic disasters wiped them out! Oh, and, have you considered how peculiar the evolution of life in Australia is? Maybe it’s the work of aliens!" Li Zhendong’s imagination ran wild.

"Professor Li, the species in Australia have fossils dating back a million years ago; the timeline doesn’t match up."

As the two continued to debate incessantly, Zhang Yuan suddenly said, "Let me say something first. If the civilization that modified the World Tree truly is the ’Enlightener Civilization’ encountered by the Gleize Civilization, judging by their actions, they weren’t harboring significant malice."

"Because the Gleize Civilization has clear written records, the Enlighteners made them aware of the existence of science and electricity."

"Secondly, if you wanted to use biological technology to fixate carbon elements, wouldn’t it be much more efficient to use microorganisms with the strongest reproductive capabilities, such as algae, rather than the World Tree?"

"If this civilization was indeed powerful enough to develop such microorganisms, it shouldn’t be a problem, rather than resorting to large plants like the World Tree. Although the final effect is the same, the efficiency without a doubt is much lower."

Li Zhendong appeared pensive and remained silent, presenting a difficult point to explain. Blindly asserting that a more advanced civilization couldn’t develop such microorganisms would be laughable, even he himself didn’t believe that.

Everyone gradually calmed down, taking a deep breath.

An interstellar civilization, if wanting to extract materials, wouldn’t need to adapt to local conditions by modifying the genes of local species.

"If they harbored great malice, they could simply develop one or several super microorganisms to eliminate all animals and plants, then reproduce unrestrictedly. The Riley people wouldn’t need to leave them alive, just creating uncertainties."

In that case, the efficiency would be tens of thousands of times higher than that of just the World Tree. What the World Tree could achieve in extinction plans over millions of years, super microorganisms might complete in just a few hundred...

Zhang Yuan continued, "Actually, everyone, think about it, I still believe that the Enlighteners had some good intentions. In this world, the World Tree for the Riley Civilization might not necessarily be a bad thing."

"First, the World Tree provided a vast amount of food and living space. At least in ancient times, it offered a place to shelter from wind and rain, reducing the chances of dying from hunger or cold. Without the World Tree, their population would have been much smaller, and the development of civilization would have been much more difficult; it wouldn’t have been as comfortable as it is now."

"Second, the World Tree provided very good construction materials. The properties of this tree heart, comparable to 20th-century rebar and resistant to rot and oxidation. This biological material, if available in the human 20th or 21st century, would still be usable!"

"The convenience this would bring to development is something everyone can understand, whether in infrastructure or house construction; even the need for rebar could be eliminated."

Many nodded in agreement. Having a high-performance material that could replace steel during times of undeveloped civilization was an immense advantage.

Steel, a cornerstone of industrialization in any civilization, begins with mass steel production for almost all industrialized nations. Without steel, there would be no other industrial products, no skyscrapers, no guns, ships, or vehicles.

If in the early stages of civilization development, "steel" could grow in the ground, its convenience is of course self-evident.

"Oh, right, there is also a third point. Due to the appearance of the World Tree, more carbon elements were fixed, leading to more fossil resources in the world! If the Riley Civilization truly developed modern technology, they would be grateful for these fossil resources. Who wouldn’t want more fossil fuels during the early stages of civilization development!"

"This is truly a magnificent gift from heaven. Could Earth Civilization have developed modern civilization without fossil fuels? No! Even the first Industrial Revolution wouldn’t have occurred!"