Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 499 - 497 Begging Operation

Chapter 499: Chapter 497 Begging Operation

"Haha, if we really gain something, I’ll treat you all when we get back!"

Having saved a fair amount of points, Zhang Yuan was in a good mood. He joked, "Order whatever you like, I’ll even get you the brains of whatever animal you want to eat!"

To protect the environment and reduce pollution, people of this era mostly ate synthetic meat, but there were still a small number of live animals kept on spaceships. Natural meat was considered a luxury, even though there wasn’t much difference in taste, and it was actually less healthy in terms of nutrition.

Several of the girls unanimously rolled their eyes. Although the people in their laboratory were not averse to such things and were not members of any animal protection organization, who would want to eat an animal’s brain!

With this little joke to lighten the atmosphere, Zhang Yuan became serious again, "Alright, those of you specializing in experiments, get ready and try to collect as much data as possible. We can’t always be begging this civilization for trades, you understand!"

"Gathering more data at once is the basic requirement for this experiment. The entire form has already been drawn up, you need to fill it out completely!"

"We know!" Several men and women were rubbing their hands together with excitement.

"Mr. Zhang Yuan, aren’t you going to do the experiment?" a Diplomat asked curiously. He and some soldiers would be responsible for monitoring whether human cells would be stolen during the public experiment.

"I won’t, I’m a layman in this field and can’t compete with them. Besides, more people don’t necessarily translate to better results in such experiments," Zhang Yuan replied with a smile. "However, I plan to exchange some ideas with the scientists on the other side..."

"You know, I’ve once perceived magnetic fields, and I’m wondering if their Perception Ability includes something similar. I’ve heard they’re also seeking optical perception, right?"

This middle-aged man said with a laugh, "That’s true. Taking this opportunity to discuss related knowledge wouldn’t be bad!"

For this trade, humans had long prepared live samples like cats, dogs, monkeys, and even a live vegetative person!

This vegetative person was an elderly individual whose consciousness had been uploaded. Given that their physiological functions were no different from those of a vegetative person, it was believed that the Tos people wouldn’t notice anything. Perhaps it was the allure of live human specimens that made them agree to the request.

"It’s precisely because of the sacrifices of these vegetative people that our bionics field is booming,"

Zhang Yuan remarked reflectively, involuntarily thinking of his own body that had been left behind after his death in his previous life. It might have been dissected alive by these biological workers.

Live vegetative people have many uses after all... Nurses can practice injections, doctors can practice surgeries, and they are also useful for various experiments. Donating your body was something agreed upon in advance, so there were no ethical issues.

Zhang Yuan shuddered at the thought...

Before long, the trade teams from both sides arrived on a planet with suitable gravity to commence the experiments.

Zhang Yuan then laid eyes on the lively Tos People, who wore only a thin layer of transparent plastic film, their dark and smooth skin visible beneath and a large helmet resting on their heads.

It might have been due to this thin plastic film barrier, which obstructed ultrasonic waves and magnetic fields, that they were forced to wear these large helmets to better perceive their surroundings.

By contrast, humans appeared to be fully armored, their latest models of Power Armor shining with a silvery sheen, some of the mechanical structures specifically designed for Biological experiments.

However, in this place, all of those mechanical devices were useless. To prevent cell theft incidents, all experimental equipment had to be provided by the interstellar market.

In the end, people had to wear lightweight high-polymer rubber suits supplied by the interstellar trading market and go lightly equipped.

The entire process of the biological experiment goes without saying—various dissections, studies on the reflexes of biological neurons, are all part of the norm in biological experiments. The agreed duration was 10 days, which would be strictly adhered to under surveillance. Upon completion of the experiment, both sides agreed to destroy the experimental materials provided by each party.

As the days went by, one after another, everything seemed to be going smoothly...

In his desire to learn more, Zhang Yuan often visited the surveillance area of the other party. Even though they seemed indifferent, he steeled himself and chattered on, "I’m really curious to know what a world with extra perception is like..."

"How does it affect intelligence?"

"I once had a wonderful dream about magnetic field perception—it was a very strange world, vastly different from the one we see normally."

"For us humans, electromagnetic fields are something very abstract. Yes, we know electromagnetic fields are a type of matter, but we are unable to see them with our own eyes. Precisely because of this, delving into electromagnetism could take a lifetime to study."

"Your civilization, thanks to innate perceptual abilities, would likely find learning about this much simpler, right?"

"For your civilization, development must surely be smooth. I’ve seen many societies stuck in the Electric Era. They had no idea how electricity was generated and were confused for more than one era... What a tragedy!"

Zhang Yuan rattled on relentlessly, even having the nerve to offer shameless flattery without any hint of embarrassment!

This level of impudence could be considered a real skill, causing several human diplomats behind him to sweat profusely and murmur to themselves, "Mr. Zhang Yuan truly lives up to the title of ’Beggar.’"

The large dolphinfish-like creature assigned to receive the humans, about two meters in length, was very serious—really very serious—with a constant stern face, completely ignoring Zhang Yuan’s attempts at small talk, speaking only in very formal diplomatic statements when it did talk, which was extremely frustrating for Zhang Yuan.

He truly wished to exchange more knowledge, even just a tiny bit.

Some human diplomats quietly warned Zhang Yuan in private, "This Tos Civilization is a rare breed of cold-blooded animals! Not sure how else to describe them... They seem to lack certain emotive characteristics intrinsic to others, individuals throughout the entire civilization all very rigid!"

"They don’t joke, they don’t show intense emotions, and they never participate in any interstellar civilization’s entertainment activities! No concerts, no dance parties, they don’t even play games. If you communicate with them, it’s best to use declarative sentences. Even if your tone carries emotion, they might not catch it."

"At least, that’s the rumor amongst other civilizations. You could try and see yourself. You’re a scientist, and if you could communicate better with them, that’d be great."

Zhang Yuan, however, didn’t quite believe that a civilization could reach the level of an interstellar civilization without any emotions.

Where would the drive for progression come from without desire? The Tos Civilization was not a legendary Level 5 Civilization, capable of altering their own impetus for progress... It’s difficult to propel an entire civilization with pure rationality alone.

Zhang Yuan began to present his own scientific findings, even deliberately stating some aspects incorrectly, "Magnetic field perception, in our studies, is like ripples in water... electric fields and magnetic fields are like two sides of a coin, where there’s an electric field, there must be a magnetic field, and vice versa..."

The language of the interstellar market is the common language of the Gaia Civilization.

This language is extremely rich, with all kinds of exotic and rare words available, some of which are so unique that human lexicons might not even translate them.

"This perception, should it be two different colors, right, it must be so! What if we were to set them as two contrasting colors? This is our proposed hypothesis, but integrating this content harmoniously into the mind, that’s another matter."

...