Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 552 - 549 Silence and Departure

Chapter 552: Chapter 549 Silence and Departure

"This path has split our civilization into two separate entities. Let’s tentatively call them Civilization One and Civilization Two. Civilization One has stayed here, while Civilization Two has departed. I do believe that there will always be people willing to stay behind; otherwise, our education system would have utterly failed."

"Nebulas are the cradles of stars, and the region we are in is at the center of a large nebula, surrounded by a dense cluster of stars. The closest star is one light year away, not too far a distance—even with forced travel by ion engine, it would take three hundred years to reach."

"Therefore, packing those who are unwilling to continue working into hibernation chambers to capacity and sending them away is also a solution."

This was, in fact, the method currently in use. The government had already negotiated terms with the public. The public would continue to work for another forty years, the next generation must be educated, and various transport ships must undergo major modifications—it was a solution within a solution...

Pausing for a moment, Zhang Yuan suddenly said, "However, this solution is far from good; in fact, it can be said to be a terribly bad solution!"

"It has carved out a somewhat satisfactory future for them, temporarily quelling public unrest, making them continue to participate in work, and then training the next generation of successors to continue this work..."

"It sounds wonderful, but it also creates more hidden dangers..."

"Humans are not robots, after all. Everyone has their own thoughts."

"If we look further into the future, we will realize that when this really happens, the ruling foundation of the New Civilization School has already started to waver. Such a thing had not occurred in the past thousands of years."

"The foundation of governance is the people. Only when the public is willing to obey the orders of the government can a policy be effectively implemented. Otherwise, no matter how much power one holds, without obedience, it’s like a castle in the air."

"...In the decades to come, the overwhelming majority of the public, although still working on the surface, will be yearning to board spaceships, thinking about the direction of future development. Our grand plan will no longer concern them. Thus, slowly, they will cease to be our political base."

"Once a power vacuum emerges, other political parties will spring up to fill the void left by us. We can’t predict what these future parties will be, but you surely understand better than we do."

"Various party competitions are bound to arise over the next few decades."

"Of course, due to social inertia, these parties won’t waver our current Planet Engine construction plan, but they definitely won’t give up the political power of those departing populations."

"This point, please be sure to understand. If we should fail in the long-term struggle, we will have already lost a significant portion of our power."

Everyone in the conference room showed a bitter smile; it was inevitable, they had felt it over these days.

When even the public stages a massive strike, what use are the policies they devise? No one obeys.

Even some of the grassroots officials have defected, what can they do? In truth, there isn’t a good solution.

You stand there, shouting about your ideals, the millennia-old grand plan of an entire civilization, but no one cares. Administration is such a difficult science.

Could you possibly command soldiers to point guns at the public’s heads?

Of course not!

In this era, all simple tasks had long been automated.

The work humans are responsible for is of very high difficulty. With the development of a Planet Engine, at most only one in a hundred thousand parts of that work is done by humans themselves. But even this one in a hundred thousand has left these tens of millions of people exhausted.

The so-called workers are not traditional workers; someone has to write the code for robots, and maintain them when major faults occur. Relying on force alone won’t get the job done, in fact, it might even lead to more disastrous consequences.

What if some people, animated by resentment, were to stir things up? Who could endure the failure?

"So I suggest there’s no need to waste our energy on the political struggles of those who are about to leave. No matter how many parties emerge to seize power, it’s not necessary to pay too much attention to them. After all, they are going to leave."

"As long as we secure our own base, that is, stabilize those who still wish to stay, that will be sufficient."

"Do not assume that the emergence of a new generation of youngsters allows us to execute the entire plan with peace of mind. Once an ’exodus plan’ arises, the social trends it generates will remain forever in the history of our society."

"The transformation of social trends is a key research topic of the New Civilization History. Think about it, if this generation can’t tolerate the pain and leaves, will the next generation, repeating the work of their predecessors, be content to do so? Even if they are the new generation, subjected to strict education, they will still emulate their forebears, contemplating departure and leaving the work to the generations that follow."

"If you can go, why can’t I? If you can enjoy the good days, why can’t I?"

"A precedent has been set before their eyes, so they will attempt to form their own political forces, a chain reaction that is hard to avoid."

"You should focus on this point rather than get involved in the endless political struggles with other factions. If civilization is destined to split, then let those who want to leave, leave without too much interference."

"I don’t know that this problem arose a few hundred years after the start of the entire plan. It would be best if this situation never occurred, relying on human will alone to persevere... That’s the best way and our expectation for the New Human Civilization."

"A unified civilization is a strong civilization."

"However, the times will not always progress in the best direction or go smoothly. If it’s a matter of urgency, the only solution I can think of is to select a large number of Transcendents from the Virtual World, relying on these more resolute humans to slowly change this impatient social trend and stabilize our next generation."

"I think that the Transcendents should continue to lead the work."

"But whether the sudden emergence of a large number of Transcendents will have an impact on our society is another matter. You’ll have to judge that for yourself."

"In short, we should not stop pursuing Curvature Technology."

"The difficulties in the world are numerous..."

The conference room fell silent, and after a long while, a sigh was heard...

...

It was Wang Haifeng’s 236th year of involvement.

Still the same colorful planet filled with ion flames, as if not much had changed, yet it seemed there were more ion flames than before...

At least, people had gritted their teeth these past few decades, completing their work on time and in full.

The much-anticipated "Grand Exodus Plan" was finally ready and began to be officially executed!

A wave of fervent public cheering erupted on the planet. People had longed for the stars, the moon, and at last, the day had come. The vast square under the glass cover was packed with a dense crowd, as if it hadn’t buzzed with such liveliness for a long, long time...

Today, at least fifty million people would be leaving this planet!