Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 416 - 414: Inheritance of the Spark

Chapter 416: Chapter 414: Inheritance of the Spark

Boundless universe, vast starry sky, each return to Kunlun Mountain evoked a feeling as if transcending time. Compared to these messy low-level civilizations, New Human Civilization was undoubtedly a paradisiacal existence.

"This time’s education in cosmology wasn’t bad at all."

"Yes, the children really liked this planet. Compared to the previous religious civilization, everyone prefers a technological one."

Listening to the discussions of various colleagues around him, Wang Junpeng sighed heavily, his last mission... completed...

What followed was retirement, to live a genuine elderly life. These young people had performed well on this diplomatic mission, with essentially no major mistakes or anything to worry about. A normal civilization should indeed operate smoothly without any particular individual.

Soon after a simple lunch, all the diplomats barely rested before hurriedly joining the Scientific Council session.

The handover ceremony between the new and the old people was the focus of this meeting. The candidates who were to be nurtured had already been well-prepared over the years; now it was just a matter of procedure.

After a series of discussions, the next Captain would be Dr. Li Cheng from the secretarial office, while the military commander would be the former Chief of Staff, Ye Junchang. In the eyes of the council representatives, these two were very reliable choices, unanimously recognized for their capabilities.

In addition to these, several other important department heads were also about to change terms.

Everyone on the list held a critical position. Aside from certain age restrictions, they had all started from the grassroots level, especially the Captain’s position, which required job rotations, working in different places, different units, accumulating rich management experience, work expertise, and undergoing several years of assessment and observation...

After the voting process concluded, the Old Captain Zhang Yuan spoke, "There is no such thing as perfection in life, work is like art, no matter how well done, it can never reach the realm of true perfection. Similarly, our society is not perfect, whether it’s the systems or the culture, there are many areas deserving of improvement..."

"After stepping down, I will ’dive’ silently into society, quietly observing the changes in Kunlun Mountain. If the new Captain, or some new ministers don’t perform well, I won’t hesitate to criticize and reprimand them. Let them know being a leader isn’t easy; the power they hold is a heavy responsibility."

At these words, many couldn’t help but laugh, but after the laughter subsided, silence soon fell.

With the broadcast on television, everyone felt an indescribable emotion.

Zhang Yuan, as the old Captain of Kunlun Mountain, held a very special place of security in everyone’s hearts, much like a father figure. Due to the long periods of hibernation, most people’s sense of time wasn’t strong. Waking up to a different Captain would be truly unsettling.

That’s why the transition had been delayed until now.

In fact, the government of the new humans was taking on the roles of "nanny" and "parents" for everyone.

All the new generation here were born from artificial wombs, raised collectively by social care institutions. After growing up in schools, they entered the workforce to contribute to society.

When eating, they were accustomed to dining in cafeterias, enjoyed reading in libraries, and liked visiting internet cafes to play games.

There were no villas inside the spaceship; buying a house, an individual could have at most 50 square meters, and a couple could have a maximum of 120 square meters — that was the highest standard.

Even then, many were simply too indolent to purchase houses, finding it sufficient for their needs living in rooms of a dozen square meters — just somewhere to store belongings and sleep at night, with a private bathroom being enough. Laundry was accomplished through automated machines, one-stop service, thus there was no need for much furniture in the rooms.

A large portion of people lived lives not much different from their school days, and they found this mode of living quite blissful.

They lacked domestic skills and, living in this world, didn’t worry about starving once outside their doors.

In this way, the government truly assumed the roles of "nanny" and "parents," its authority and cohesion shaping under these every little details.

Now, a multitude of government officials are due for succession, and it feels as if the sky is falling, filling the public with a sense of insecurity. The internet brims with overwhelming lamentations, and people bemoan, "I simply don’t know how to live on."

But even so, one must accept it, as people experience birth, aging, sickness, and death. Zhang Yuan’s hair had already turned white—surely he couldn’t work until his dying breath?

"That’s too pitiful!" a female student commented.

"Salute!"

Newly appointed officials also were under immense pressure, and they knew the situation they faced; they must reconstruct such a sense of trust through their practical actions.

Thus, everyone just made a few procedural remarks and hurriedly left the stage.

After the entire meeting came to an end, Zhang Yuan also shed his burdens, feeling an all-encompassing sense of relief. He patted Li Cheng on the shoulder, "Chin up, Little Li!"

This young man, after so many years, had become a middle-aged person, bearing the weight of the entire civilization’s forward direction, and he smiled a bit awkwardly, "I’m just a bit unaccustomed."

"You have to get accustomed, even if you’re not!"

Yes, the baton must be passed from one to another; someone must always take the torch and continue this legacy of sparks!

...

Two years swiftly passed by, and Kunlun Mountain embarked on its journey again, silently leaving the Star Domain. Zhang Yuan also gradually settled into his retirement life; there were many retired with him, and it was quite enjoyable.

As a "learning" enthusiast, Zhang Yuan instinctively began to immerse himself in studying hard, catching up with cutting-edge knowledge from over the years, such as the specific theories of Super-magnetic A material, the latest in Mathematics, and so on.

There were many things he only knew superficially when he was Captain, having had no time to delve into them. Whenever he heard scientists lament the difficulty and the delays in breakthroughs, he always felt some dissatisfaction, for he too was once a genius scientist.

But now that he was truly delving into it, he realized the arduous complexity; every step forward required the effort of countless people.

"Gosh, this is tough. There really is a major gap in the theory here. Just like the early superconductive materials, without strong theoretical guidance, relying solely on experiments to muddle through is nothing more than a shot in the dark," he lamented secretly, putting down the paper.

In the 21st century, human theory could only explain low-temperature superconductors—that is, the "BCS theory," which clarified the principles of low-temperature superconductors, roughly meaning that two electrons with opposite spins could marry and form a partnership at low temperatures. This partnership, acting as a whole when moving externally, could avoid energy dissipation.

But they were helpless with high-temperature superconductors; for instance, they did not understand why cuprate superconductors exhibited superconductivity. With the phenomenon unexplained, the progress of material science was naturally fraught with difficulty.

With subatomic materials, a similar situation arose—humans could only produce Super-magnetic A and nothing beyond it.

"Geniuses, sigh, they don’t come along that easily."

To give a simple example, Special Theory of Relativity was a product of its times, established by Einstein based on the works of Lorentz, Pang Jialai, among others, which was a theory of spacetime. In fact, even without Einstein, someone would have proposed a similar theory at that time and would have discovered the mass-energy equivalence, perhaps just a few years later.

But General Theory of Relativity was genuinely the product of Einstein’s personal genius. Without him, it might have taken decades, or even a century for someone to propose a similar theory.