Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 527 - 525: Feedback from the Rear

Chapter 527: Chapter 525: Feedback from the Rear

Ding Peng felt dizzy and unable to comprehend a word, but he kept nodding, "Yeah, the government must be confident to do this, right? After expending so much resources, they couldn’t possibly be completely unsure, so stop worrying unnecessarily."

In his previous life as a homebody, Ding Peng had been quite a laid-back person, and he sighed softly in his heart. He knew exactly what was on his friend’s mind.

How should one put it? Based on current statistics, it turned out that not many among the first batch of otherworldly talents selected from the virtual world were doing well. At least, not as many as had been anticipated.

Someone like Ding Peng, who was content with his lot, was actually considered to be doing quite well. Some even had become "Sinners"! He couldn’t quite wrap his head around this fact.

A small number of true geniuses were indeed thriving; these elites adapted very well to this new society, stood out from the crowd, and made their own contributions.

But most people always felt somewhat out of place.

Take Xu Yafeng for example, in his past life, he was a top genius, with a wealth of privileges, connections, and resources. He was respected by others and could freely criticize and blame people.

His words could influence the interests of the entire Scientific community, which was a tremendous power.

But now, although he was still a genius, he had no privileges, which made him quite uncomfortable.

This is the inherent difference between those born with memories and those who start from scratch. These people had not emerged as Transcends through long experiences and they had not yet fully grasped their desires for power, beauty, and wealth.

However, Ding Peng was different. Originally just an ordinary person, he didn’t have that superiority mentality, so he fitted in rather well. Even just doing a regular job nowadays wasn’t too bad.

Ding Peng had plenty of time for rest and leisure, provided he did his job well. He found his contented lifestyle quite nice; as for whether the entire civilization was courting death or might be riddled by neutron stars, he didn’t bother to ponder it much. Why should he? There were smarter people to worry about such things.

After eating dinner, Ding Peng went to the nearby sports field and ran five kilometers with Zhang Yuan.

This was, of course, a mandatory exercise. Ding Peng was very scared of this brother-in-law and unless Zhang Yuan was too busy with work and rested, Ding Peng could rest as well.

"Reading and fitness are the two most cost-effective ways to improve oneself... Five kilometers a day takes only thirty to forty minutes, right, how was work today?" Zhang Yuan wiped the sweat from his face and asked casually. As Lin Qingqing’s relative, he felt obliged to care.

Ding Peng very honestly reported his first day’s work performance...

Zhang Yuan, his brother-in-law, was his golden thigh in this life, the kind whose single leg hair could crush him to death. Although he felt fear and trepidation inside, he knew that not clinging to this opportunity would be idiotic.

Zhang Yuan listened to Ding Peng’s story and slightly furrowed his brows, then quickly relaxed them.

"Are you questioning whether the system of selecting talent from the virtual world has failed?" Zhang Yuan gradually slowed down on the track, calming his heart rate, "Indeed, based on current performance, it hasn’t achieved the expected results... many have become mediocre."

"What can we do then?"

Zhang Yuan saw through his slight scheming, "Don’t worry, whether the plan continues or not, you are already citizens of the New Human Civilization, and you won’t lose any of your rights. We’re certainly not going to send you back!"

Ding Peng finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had to shamelessly survive in this society, right? Why go back to the Virtual World?

"As for... the selection of talent from the virtual world? The experiment is still ongoing. Such an experiment would take at least one, or two generations to yield results."

"But it’s not yet a failure. After all, there are still a few talented individuals, and it has only been thirty years."

Zhang Yuan smiled, "What’s more important for our society is to move steadily rather than quickly... We are still a very young civilization, with many areas to explore."

"If the entire plan utterly fails, then there’s nothing that can be done. We’ll just chalk it up as an unsuccessful attempt with not too serious consequences."

"So, keep it up!"

Ding Peng nodded with a hint of resignation. He was gradually becoming integrated into this society, less often recalling those past days, and it wasn’t likely to think about bringing a few friends out from the old world... Not even if he were the Captain...

Watching the guy slowly walk away, Zhang Yuan heaved a soft sigh.

Regarding the talents selected from the Virtual World, government departments also held many meetings to seriously study the matter.

From the final experimental results, most members of the parliament believed that the Transcendent Project was very successful.

But this plan to select a large number of talents from the Virtual World, how to put it... it was so-so, not a success.

So, it would be better to honestly cultivate one’s own home-grown Transcendents.

"Population issues, huh... even the proportion of Transcendents should not be too high..."

After saying goodbye to Ding Peng, Zhang Yuan quickly put this matter out of his mind, went back to his house, took a hot shower, and then sat quietly on the sofa watching television.

The long ten years of preparation had ended, and most people were enjoying a short break, as humanity was about to embark on the next phase of their journey.

At this moment, instead of feeling a deep sense of excitement, there was a touch of melancholy and sentimentality...

Perhaps all the passion had been exhausted over the course of the ten years of long preparation.

But this was still just the beginning!

He opened an old mobile application, a communication app from the past Earth, which was already obsolete.

The starting page of the app was a shade of azure blue—Earth, the once Mother Star, quietly floating in the Solar System, with a lonely silhouette gazing at this lonely planet. People back then naively believed that intelligent life was lonely, and humans were lonely.

Indeed, humans are lonely. Even if there are many intelligent life forms in the Universe, humans are still lonely. Therefore, we should help each other as much as we can.

After the image flashed by, the app showed "Server not found," and friends from Earth had long stopped updating their social feeds. Perhaps, Zhang Yuan was the last person who remembered them.

A person’s death has three meanings. The first time is when you are on your deathbed, and the doctor declares your brain dead; this is biological death. The second layer is when a memorial service is held, people come to reminisce about you, bowing to bid you farewell; this is sociological death, dying in the social sense.

The third layer is when the last person who remembers you forgets you, and everything vanishes like smoke.

Zhang Yuan still remembered the last night before leaving Earth, when a girl whispered in his ear, asking to not be forgotten. He had never mentioned this to anyone else.

"How quickly time passes!" Lin Qingqing said softly beside him.

"Yes, very quickly..."

...

Day by day, time passed.

These days, the most fiercely discussed topic in society was, of course, the messages sent back to the human headquarters.

In ten days, the War Star beneath their feet would initiate Curvature Navigation, heading toward the MA9987 Star Domain, 1210 light-years away, so it was necessary to pass some messages back to the few human headquarters.

This matter indeed triggered a huge wave among the people, with an atmosphere tinged with a hint of sadness, yet also filled with proud and lofty sentiments.

The sadness stemmed from the possibility that the branch of New Human Civilization might never be able to return to its Mother Star System.

Most people had little feeling for their former Mother Star, but this didn’t affect their sense of territorial belonging to Earth. New Human Civilization, the intelligent life that walked out from Earth, would never change this fact.

The pride came from the achievements made over the years and the courage and resolution to face a difficult future. The theory of Ordinary Civilizations could be learned from elementary school, with living examples etched in everyone’s hearts, reminding people not to forget their mission.

As for the small "gifts" to send back, it wasn’t just technology, but also the words that civilians wanted to say to the headquarters behind them. Everyone eagerly signed up to express their thoughts to the once human branch, and for a time, the entire network was submerged in a tremendous flow of information...