Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 467 - 465: Humans are too poor!

Chapter 467: Chapter 465: Humans are too poor!

The series of information was quite overwhelming. The passengers pondered it for a while and then engaged in an enthusiastic discussion.

"This trade market is going to evacuate in 3,000 years? Why? It feels a bit ominous."

"Fortunately, we caught up with it, or it would have been a wasted trip... 3,000 years is enough for us."

This fact inevitably led everyone to think about more things, and some even considered the possibility of assimilation and oppression by the Alef Civilization forcing this trade market to relocate!

Suddenly there was an air of tension.

Some thought about the several human bases behind them, wondering whether they might be at risk. Even though most people no longer had feelings for these human bases, they were still the same species.

An old professor nearby suddenly said, "Everyone, don’t think about so many useless things. Since we are here, let’s settle down."

"Three thousand years is still a long period for us, at least during this time, we are safe. We can’t possibly leave the trade market within a year or two; we are more likely to stay here for quite some time."

"Moreover, if there are any particularly important messages, we will be able to buy communication tools in this trade market and send feedback to the human bases back home."

Indeed, the civilization of the new humans had moved too far away from their home base, making proper communication impossible. At such a vast distance, sending electromagnetic waves was not practical, and sending a huge spaceship to slowly carry messages for a thousand years was even less so.

But in this trade market, with the technology of a high-level civilization, there might be means of communication, especially superluminal communication!

All present were elite individuals of mankind. They quickly controlled their emotions and focused on completing the mission at hand in the best way possible, which was most important given worrying would not help.

People began to discuss the little information they had gathered so far.

"...so, there are indeed, in the Milky Way, high-level civilizations that love art and different cultural histories, like the Hicks Civilization?"

This question had long troubled humans. Back when they were on Gliese 581, the native civilization—the Gleize Civilization—was destroyed because of their art...

Following this topic, Zhang Yuan showed a bit of interest and joined the discussion, "Right now, we have next to nothing, no AmiBa points. Could we exchange some with this Sixth Level Hicks Civilization to earn some points? Transactions require appointments, and queuing could take months, but that seems acceptable... It’s better to queue early."

Another young Ph.D. said, "It depends on what kind of art we have... Cabbage trash wouldn’t sell for a good price."

"It seems we have nothing impressive to offer. And we don’t have any originals; vast amounts of paintings and sculptures are still on Earth. However, recent works by artists have brought plenty, do you think that would work?"

Zhang Yuan opened a file containing various works created by artists, including paintings, sculptures, music, etc., some of which were purchased from other civilizations.

Zhao Qingfeng frowned and said, "... lately, people’s lives have been too comfortable, and I think the quality of art has declined compared to the past."

Zhang Yuan responded with a smile, "That’s not entirely true, you only see the negatives, but not the positives."

"Artworks that have survived to the present day are the essence sifted by time; after the great sift, things that are widely acknowledged remain. In fact, there was plenty of junk art in ancient times too. You should know, in the 21st century, paintings by certain leaders could sell for millions, a billionaire’s painting could auction for tens of millions, and even a celebrity’s used tissue or worn shoes could fetch thousands of dollars."

"But what’s the use of such flattery? As time flows, this pseudo-art will be gradually forgotten, and these pseudo-artists’ works will also have disappeared into the dust of history."

"That’s true. Artwork must be weighted by time, but we don’t know how much money the things we carry can make. I support selling everything. Even if it sells for just one or two AmiBa points, that would be good."

A colleague suddenly had a whimsical idea, "Oh, right, the artworks in the Virtual World, could they be replicated in the real world? Such artworks would be virtually endless!"

Zhang Yuan immediately shook his head, "No way, just look at the anti-counterfeiting regulations. These artworks must have a real and reliable provenance, detailed to a specific planet, a specific era. We can’t clearly explain the origins of things in the Virtual World, they wouldn’t fetch a good price, better forget about it."

For the time being, Humans did not dare to sell knock-offs in front of a Level 6 Civilization. Anyway, being cautious was always a good thing., First find out clearly before proceeding.

"Can the history of human development be sold?"

"Why does the Hicks Civilization collect the histories of different civilizations? How are they similar to us?"

In any case, after much discussion, the core problem remained: Humans were too poor!

The entire diplomatic team had prepared for this trade for a long time, including what could currently be sold, what consisted core technology that might pose security risks if traded, and so forth.

But even after compiling a huge list of items, humans still felt they were too poor and likely couldn’t exchange for anything particularly good.

This was a very headache-inducing issue. The interstellar civilizations here were not primitive natives; just any bit of technology could make the other party overjoyed.

If trading with a Second-level Civilization, they couldn’t bring much of value to the table, and their number in this place was scarce, just a mere one, and it was unknown how it had found out about this market and come here. Extracting useful information from them might also require a lot of effort.

If trading with a Third-level Civilization, the counterparts were not fools either; the exchange had to be of equal value.

Since humans did not want to give away core technologies, neither would the other side likely offer theirs.

Trading with a Fourth-level Civilization might just lead to them making exorbitant demands... What would a third-level civilization have that a fourth-level civilization would covet?

Thus, the sudden appearance of a Sixth-level Civilization, which was eagerly purchasing artworks, became like a life-saving straw, akin to a super wealthy individual handing out newbie gift packs...

Zhang Yuan shuddered violently; he felt there was something extremely eerie about this, an indescribable strangeness...

Did this Sixth-level Civilization have money to burn?

Zhao Qingfeng whispered from the side, "Apart from inexplicable artworks. The more expensive theories we could exchange include a few items,"

"The first is the High-dimensional Fragment... but I think it’s a good item, so we shouldn’t just exchange it recklessly."

Zhang Yuan nodded, "I think so too. Over these past few centuries, subatomic technology has had a series of breakthroughs, and even though High-dimensional Fragments are still elusive, they’re not like before without any breakthrough points at all. Keeping it might benefit future development."

"Also, High-dimensional Fragments are numbered... well, maybe I’m just being paranoid. But it’s indeed possible for the host of this market, the Huantai Civilization, to infer through this number that we had once contacted the Artificial Intelligence Yita from the Gaia Civilization, and acquired a high-tech device, which now has become our Pangu Brain."

"Of course, there’s a greater possibility that they do not know this... Even though it’s a low probability event, it’s still something to guard against."

Zhao Qingfeng sighed lightly, from the information itself on these notice boards, one could infer that High-dimensional Fragments themselves wouldn’t attract too much covetousness.

But Humans have Virtual World Technology! This called for even greater caution.

He suddenly thought of a perspective, "If, just if, High-dimensional Fragments could be exchanged for Curvature Navigation?"