Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 475 - 473: The Feast of Scientific Exchange

Chapter 475: Chapter 473: The Feast of Scientific Exchange

The interstellar war this time was sparked by a planet named "Alkris," a staggering twenty-eight thousand light-years away from our current position.

The indigenous intelligent lifeforms, the Alkris people, were undergoing their first industrial revolution. Thick smoke hovered in the air, forests were felled for farmland, and cities rose from the ground.

The Green Star Civilization occasionally passed by this planet and witnessed this scene. In their philosophy, there was not much difference between the Alkris people and other insects, plants, and animals. Sacrificing the right to live of all other life forms for their own survival and development was a grave sin!

Therefore, the Green Star Civilization was preparing to create a biochemical genetic virus to precisely exterminate the Alkris people and restore the planet’s environment to normal.

And the steel tidal wave of the Deep Red Industrial Union caught up with the Green Star Civilization.

"...The Alkris people parasites of the planet? Are the cities that surge from the ground scabies on the planet? Stop joking; industry is the greatest miracle in the world!"

"We will make this planet even more beautiful."

"So, is destroying a planet’s billions of years of evolved intelligent lifeforms what you call ’beautiful’?"

"Yes, planets often evolve pests that destroy the food chain. These pests wreck everything and will also cause the extinction of the vast majority of life on the planet, just to satisfy their personal greed. This is unfair behavior!"

"Green Star Civilization, we’ve been aware of your actions for a long time... We believe that intelligent life is a remarkable creation of the universe. If intelligent life had never appeared, then a planet would always have only beasts eating each other until one day a meteorite completely smashes it, or a band of thugs like you assimilate it—so don’t give us that talk!"

"We will not stop."

"Then we don’t mind pressing your head into a metal-made coffin."

The big-headed alien vividly imitated the dialogue of the time, though its credibility was uncertain.

Or perhaps it was just spouting nonsense...

"In any case, this war ended with the disappearance of the Green Star Civilization from the Milky Way. They might have been annihilated, or they might have fled to another galaxy."

As for the other feats of the "Deep Red Industrial Union," they annihilated three Fourth-level Civilizations that were in a chemical bliss state.

"Enslavement and being enslaved are the norms of civilization, and many slaveries are capable of self-liberation. However, civilizations under the state of chemical bliss are eternally enslaved by chemical substances. The Deep Red Industrial Union believes they must be humanely destroyed..."

"If your civilization shows such tendencies, including using chemical substances to enslave other civilizations, do be careful! Don’t run into them."

New humans, of course, were not worried about this problem. Anything like chemical bliss seemed too distant.

All sorts of strange stories excited some people, yet worried others. Zhang Yuan shook his head with a wry smile; such different camps already existed among so few people, let alone between civilizations.

"So, even if we encounter this Level 5 Civilization, theoretically, we won’t run into trouble? But it’s just theory, alas. We have Virtual World Technology; does it count as enslaving other civilizations?"

In reality, the interstellar civilizations in the trading market loved to discuss these things; everyone was quietly concerned about these ideologically extreme high-level civilizations. But as messages circulated more and more, they became somewhat difficult to distinguish between true and false.

Especially in the Milky Way, with two hundred billion Constant Stars across a span of a hundred thousand light-years, where messages were blocked and isolated. To get completely correct information, one might have to spend AmiBa Points to buy it from the Huantai Civilization. Humans were not too willing to do that.

After all, picking up bits of hearsay and gossip wasn’t a bad choice—there would always be some truth and reliability in them.

This alien, having satisfied his urge to confide, suddenly said, "Respected Human Civilization, the 11876th Mathematical Congress is set to commence in the next month. Is your civilization interested in participating? It is a grand event of mutual exchange and honoring friendship... As a newly arrived civilization, you must have some fresh knowledge to share."

"Currently, there are 24 third-level civilizations taking part in this grand event, and we sincerely invite your civilization to join us in appreciating the beauty of mathematics."

Faced with the alien’s invitation, the human scientific community was quite tempted. Engaging in exchanges with civilizations of equal standing would undoubtedly propel development in all areas at a rapid pace. Especially in the field of pure mathematics, where many civilizations were willing to share their research findings.

On other planets, suspicions might arise as to whether there were ulterior motives at play, such as a possibility of several civilizations ganging up on humanity, but here in the trade market, the risk of such occurrences was significantly reduced. Sending a few top mathematicians seemed like no big deal.

...

On the other hand, many physicists were already clamoring to rent the "Solar System Ring Accelerator!"

This super-sized toy sitting there to only be seen and not touched was truly tantalizing. However, after inquiries, it was a reluctant realization that the rental was far too expensive: impoverished humans simply couldn’t afford it...

Yet, if several civilizations were to share the cost of the rental, that would not be an issue...

The host here, Huantai Civilization, operated under the principle of "promoting cooperation between civilizations," and this was true for all civilizations within the Amoeba Faction. The advantage of this was that they could profit without leaving home; "You spend the money on the experiment, but either way, I get the data," which was truly a lucrative business.

The entire diplomatic team had negotiated on this matter for a long time, involving the interests of human civilization, as well as those of other civilizations. The negotiation process was incredibly complex, with an infuriating level of wrangling.

In particular, several civilizations were already renting the "Solar System Ring Accelerator," and they believed that if humanity were to join the research midway, they would have to pay a substantial amount of AmiBa Points. After all, why should the fruits of their labor be handed over for nothing?

After much contemplation, the group of young scientists led by Zhang Yuan concluded that it was not worth rashly joining others. Otherwise, all the trivial matters added up would waste untold amounts of energy.

"Three monks have no water to drink, just like when Europe’s ’Galileo Project’ fleeced Xia Country people," they said. "It’s all about you paying up to be the sucker, without reaping any real benefits."

Such incidents were numerous, like the Controlled Nuclear Fusion ITER project, which was expected to be completed in the early twentieth century. Yet, delays ensued as every participating country defaulted on funding. The project fell significantly behind schedule; meanwhile, Xia Country’s independently constructed CFETR even managed to overtake and complete discharge before ITER—this was a classic case of "three monks with no water to drink."

"...and there’s even a possibility of paying but not getting the data we want!" One of the young scientists glared angrily at the unreasonable demands of the others, engulfed by frustration and helplessness in this political struggle.

Zhang Yuan frowned and shook his head, "No, no, no, the data is shared; it’s unlikely they would conceal or falsify it. Data is important but it’s not the most important."

"I don’t think the Solar System Ring Accelerator, situated within the Energy Level Desert, is likely to uncover anything special; otherwise, these third-level civilizations would have become fourth-level civilizations already. It is more likely a tool for cultivating related talent. Even if no significant discoveries are made, the training experience provided by such a super instrument is already sufficient."

"In some respect, high-tech personnel related to subatomic particles are as important as obtaining data. Without enough talent, even if you have data, you can’t analyze much or understand what’s really going on."

"If our scientists were to join them, they could all be relegated to lesser roles. Spending money without receiving quality training would be a loss!"

Thus, people were hesitant about whether to initiate anew with other interstellar civilizations. However, as a newcomer to the New Human Civilization, we simply don’t have enough prestige to undertake such a task.

Or perhaps, these AmiBa Points could be spent more wisely on acquiring more ready-made technologies, among other things.

There were many issues to discuss and concerns to address.

In any case, for the time being, there were no plans to immediately depart from the trade market; at the very least, several decades would be spent here.