Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 502 - 500 A Piece of Bad News

Chapter 502: Chapter 500 A Piece of Bad News

"Right, there are two more things I need to tell you..." Chen Mu knew Zhang Yuan’s true identity, understanding that he was not just a scientist.

"What things?"

Chen Mu thought for a while and said, "Regarding the issue of the interstellar trading market being relocated, the Huantai Civilization will take away most things but will also leave behind some legacies that aren’t necessary to move, including some unfinished War Stars, cutting-edge experimental equipment, and some high-end production lines, spaceships, industrial robots; we plan to buy some of these when the time comes."

"This kind of relocation has already started from now, and auctions are about every ten years; there have already been many."

Zhang Yuan nodded and said, "Is it going to cost points again? We are not the wealthiest civilization... Sigh, I guess there will be numerous meetings dragging on again."

"Yes!" Chen Mu couldn’t help but shake his head; whenever it involved the use of AmiBa Points, there would be so many issues tied to it.

Although humans still had over two thousand AmiBa Points on hand, it was still far from enough to make large purchases, let alone afford the unfinished Planet Fortresses.

"This batch of items will all be discounted, and some civilizations coming from afar, specifically Level 4 Civilizations, will likely purchase most of them. The Huantai Civilization, even among Level 4 Civilizations, is a strong one. We can just pick up a little bit of the crumbs, and as unpleasant as it sounds, we have to accept these crumbs too."

Chen Mu continued, "After the Huantai Civilization leaves, all the Planet Fortresses here will be moved elsewhere. Without a middle-level civilization as a guarantor, the many civilizations left here will have nowhere to go; many will return to their own Mother Star Systems, and some will stay here."

"After all, this is a junction of Cosmic Strings; the transportation is developed."

"According to the information we’ve received... about seven or eight third-level civilizations want to form a business Alliance on nearby planets and set up a new trading market."

"A new trading market?"

Zhang Yuan sniffed dismissively, not optimistic about this endeavor right off the bat. He frowned and said, "Are you saying this business Alliance intends to replace the Huantai Civilization to become the host of this trading market?"

"I think it’s very difficult. One monk will carry the water to drink; two can still fetch it to drink, but three monks will have no water to drink. If so many civilizations could easily unite, this world would be overly idealistic!"

"Besides, the Huantai Civilization could be the middleman for the interstellar market because they had the support of the Sixth Level Amoeba Civilization! Even as a Level 4 Civilization, they are not credible enough. Do seven or eight third-level civilizations qualify? Obviously not, let’s not be too naive!"

Chen Mu shook his head and said, "We do not understand the situation of these civilizations. Perhaps these civilizations have been dealing in the trading market for hundreds of thousands of years and have a trend of integrating with each other?"

The market had been peaceful for a long time, and the atmosphere was harmonious.

Everyone was mingling and even rented War Stars from the Huantai Civilization for long-term residence. Members of various civilizations exchanged with each other, and even a tourism industry was born between them. After hundreds of thousands of years, the suspicions of these civilizations were not as strong as that of humans, making integration possible.

"They also know that they cannot be like the Huantai Civilization with enough credibility and strength, so this market would essentially be an internal market. Whether other civilizations trust them is actually irrelevant; as long as these eight third-level civilizations trust each other, it’s fine. If they could truly integrate their technologies and produce a series of breakthroughs, it’s not impossible."

Zhang Yuan understood; it was like the European Union of the past. There was no need to be the trading market for the entire Milky Way right away; as long as internal trade was established, forming an Alliance would be a viable option.

But the difficulty of it... still remained high.

Zhang Yuan stroked his chin. He was not familiar with these civilizations, so he couldn’t comment: "If not pursuing the trust of external civilizations, this idea does have some legitimacy."

Chen Mu said, "Their ambitions certainly aren’t just that limited; if other civilizations want to join, they would have to pay a certain price. They approached us too. The question is, how much are we willing to pay?"

"What would our status be after joining the Alliance? Equals? That’s impossible! How much exploitation can we tolerate?"

"If we join and only get to sip the broth without tasting the meat, what should we do?"

Zhang Yuan said with a smile, "Anyway, no matter what, we still have to attend the meetings. We need to make contact, even if it’s more likely that we can’t cooperate, but what if there’s a small gain?"

"The other party needs a reputation, needs credibility, and they won’t start off too aggressively. Even temporary cooperation would be beneficial."

Regarding compromise and being compromised, it is inevitably part of politics; no civilization can rise smoothly without enduring any pain. What politics requires more is forbearance.

The two discussed these issues; the frustration they felt was something every Diplomat must endure.

"As for the second matter, it concerns the neutron star. This piece of news isn’t good." Chen Mu’s expression became slightly serious as he spoke of this issue.

It was related to humanity’s future as a Level 4 Civilization, and Zhang Yuan had to take it to heart.

"We exchanged our astronomical data with other civilizations, including some Level 4 Civilizations, as you know. We used New Civilization History to exchange for a large number of Star Maps, as well as their observational data at various locations. Some civilizations, even those more than a thousand light-years away, came over."

Exploring the stars is something every civilization does. If they could exchange data, it might save a lot of AmiBa Points.

"Did we make any progress?" Zhang Yuan asked curiously, his heart rate slightly quickening. Nevertheless, seeing Chen Mu’s expression, it seemed unlikely to be particularly good news.

Sure enough, the Diplomat took a deep breath and said, "According to the computer’s search, we did find a few neutron stars that meet the criteria. Unfortunately, they are too far away! For now, the closest one is also 2,200 light-years away." Chen Mu rubbed his temples with a hint of helplessness.

2,200 light-years!

Zhang Yuan’s pupils constricted slightly.

That number was too large, insurmountable by humankind!

He sighed at the lack of such good fortune for humanity.

Compared to the 100,000 light-year diameter of the Milky Way, 2,200 light-years is just a small figure, but for humanity without Curvature Navigation, it was far too distant. There might not even be a Cosmic String at that location, making gravity travel unusable.

The result was not only bitter.

Discovering a lead but being unable to cross, there was nothing that could be done.

Chen Mu continued, "Of course, we can’t rule out that we’ve missed a neutron star; we can only search as much as we can. Not much of the entire starry sky has been searched yet. The scale of 2,200 light-years is too large; a slow analysis will take a lot of time."

Zhang Yuan fell silent for a while, then suddenly fixed his gaze on the other person and said, "I think this issue should be given a higher priority than the consumption of AmiBa Points."