Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 494 - 292: The Return of the Transcendent

Chapter 494: Chapter 292: The Return of the Transcendent

"The Cocos-shaped Wart was speaking the truth," Zhang Yuan reflected. "At the scale of quantum mechanics, virtual particles exist throughout the universe. When the light from distant cosmos traverses vast expanses of space, the space-time foam caused by virtual particles can cause interference, which is a technological bottleneck for astronomical telescopes."

"As for the planet-level telescopes at present, their resolution has reached its limit. Even larger telescopes would hardly be able to capture things in more remote areas."

"This is similar to the concept that the highest resolution of optical microscopes is 200 nanometers, only one is extremely large and the other extremely small."

"There’s also the technology of gravitational wave telescopes, which can break through the technical bottleneck of optical telescopes. However, this type of telescope is extremely difficult to develop. It’s an advanced technology among fourth-level civilizations, and the rental price for these devices is exorbitantly high!"

When it came to cost-effectiveness, people had to make careful choices again.

"If your civilization really wants to access certain information, you can purchase it directly from us," the Cocos-shaped Wart finally said. "Amoeba Civilization’s information transfer stations are spread throughout the entire Milky Way! Of course, the price for a piece of valuable information might be more expensive than renting a telescope, but we guarantee the authenticity of our information! If the information does not exist, we absolutely would not fabricate it!"

Upon reading this internal document, Zhang Yuan couldn’t help but shake his head, marveling at how well these large insects conducted business. They could sell anything, including renting out planet-level fortresses.

"It seems that, with enough AmiBa Points, becoming a Level 5 Civilization with the help of the Amoeba Civilization wouldn’t be too much of a problem..."

"However, even the Huantai Civilization itself doesn’t have that many AmiBa Points..."

In recent years, he had stayed inside the Mother Ship, not personally visiting the trading market to investigate but rather burying himself in rigorous study, using these internal documents to understand the general dynamics of the entire civilization.

"What do you think our diplomats would choose? Directly purchasing the information is very expensive, but our astronomers have already confirmed that there are no astronomical structures we need within 200 light years."

"If there are still no findings of such stellar structures within 300 or 400 light years, it would truly be a tragedy..."

"But why do I feel like this tragedy is about to happen?"

Zhang Yuan turned and posed the question to his colleague, Ms. Kate.

At present, human spaceships could only reach a maximum of 12% the speed of light near a Cosmic String, which was the safest speed to ensure the fleet’s safety, not including the maintenance that took place every hundred years or so. Traveling at sublight speed without maintenance was not an option.

But such speed was incredibly slow on a cosmic scale! The prospect of reaching a place hundreds or even thousands of light years away at 12% the speed of light was overwhelmingly difficult.

Kate shook her head, "There’s no way around it, such stellar structures are rare after all. We can only hope that this tragedy won’t happen."

Zhang Yuan sighed lightly. Observing neutron star collisions across thousands of light years was of little significance; finding imminent neutron star collisions and getting up close to observe them had become a monumental challenge for the New Human Civilization.

As representatives from their research institute, they were preparing to attend the latest meeting of the Scientific Council.

Over this extended period, Zhang Yuan had grown familiar with his new colleagues, a very young and progressive group. The learning atmosphere in the institute was excellent, which Zhang Yuan quite liked.

Of course... with a mere six years of time, the results in the field of superdimensional perception were minimal, though not nonexistent. One could say they were making slow progress. Advancing in such an abstract field was no easy task; the first step was to establish some theoretical groundwork.

"I think directly purchasing the information is a good choice!" Kate considered for a moment. "Since our telescopes have been searching for six years without finding suitable neutron stars, it might be better to just buy the information... At least that’s what I believe."

"Of course, I won’t blindly initiate a vote; this matter should be left to the diplomats to judge."

Zhang Yuan nodded, the pressure on astronomers had been significant in recent years, and they had their own considerations that didn’t need outsiders to recklessly advise.

As the conversation unfolded, everyone entered the venue, found their seats, and sat down quietly.

The Captain walked up to the podium and began reporting on the sixth year’s achievements. "Ladies and gentlemen, today marks the sixth year since we arrived at the Huantai Civilization Trading Market, it is necessary to let everyone know the overall trend of our entire civilization, and also to make some major decisions..."

Over these six years, the actual industrial capability of the entire fleet had not increased, but had instead declined to a certain degree. Mainly because in the trading market, resource supplies had to be paid for with AmiBa Points.

Although the resources here were very cheap, really very cheap, the impoverished humans were still tightfisted, as thrifty as possible in this regard, just like iron roosters

On the other hand, there were always some restrictions in the trading market, there was no need for people to carry out large-scale industry under the watchful eyes of other civilizations.

But academically, the progress had been far too much!

Thanks to the years of foreign trade and various academic exchanges, mathematicians, physicists, material scientists, and subatomic scientists took turns going on stage, reporting their recent work with great excitement.

Listening to their reports, applause after applause sounded from the audience.

Ms. Kate whispered beside him, "Are you envious? Our research institute doesn’t have many achievements, no chance to speak on stage. Your former subatomic engines research institute, on the other hand, had remarkable achievements. If it were the past, you would be the one speaking on stage!"

Zhang Yuan smiled and said, "Envious? What’s the use of envy, we need to work harder! If our work yields results, it will relate to the intelligence of all humanity and instantly surpass everyone else’s achievements, making them bulge their eyes out!"

Kate couldn’t help but laugh, "But no results have been produced yet... I estimate that results might not be produced for another few decades. Don’t you regret it?"

Zhang Yuan continued, "I have no regrets, I just hope that there will be more and more people able to stand on that stage... These are all very beautiful accomplishments, quite remarkable."

"If one day no one is able to present their research findings on stage anymore, or if all the findings are substandard, yet we still applaud and cheer, that would mean our civilization has stopped progressing and entered into decline."

"You have a point there," Kate suddenly seemed to recall something, "Oh right, I have some special news to ask you about."

"What news?"

"About the topic of Transcendent beings returning... The conference on the fifth day will discuss the decision-making regarding the return of Transcendents. Many people think that this opportunity should be opened up a bit, to bring back more outstanding talent. Our civilization is about to reach a turning point, and we need more high-quality individuals."

"I’d like to hear your opinion."

Zhang Yuan replied, "I’ve heard about it too. Naturally, I think this should be strictly controlled... Standards can be lowered, but not by too much."

Kate, somewhat gossip-hungry, asked, "If the criteria were relaxed a bit, maybe your ex-wife could return, right? Didn’t you say that in the previous Virtual Worlds, you never got married or had children?"

Zhang Yuan said with a smile, "I never married or had children because I was busy with my own career, I really didn’t have the mind for that! Those virtual worlds, compared to our current society, are just not as nice, so much so that I spent my life striving for the happiness of all humanity, and perished prematurely."

It was not just Kate who laughed, several colleagues around also laughed; these were personal matters that could not be known unless Zhang Yuan chose to share, as regular researchers didn’t have the access to this information.

Zhang Yuan continued, "If my wife could return, that, of course, would be a nice outcome. But I still wouldn’t ease the standards for it, and I believe other returnees would make the same choice..."

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