The Ultimate War Of The Apocalypse
Chapter 500 - 493: Civilization Poison

Chapter 500: Chapter 493: Civilization Poison

Adel was not only not mentally challenged, but she actually turned out to be a genius.

A genius among geniuses, that kind.

It was evident from the questions Adel asked, because Gao Yuan discovered that he couldn’t even comprehend what she was asking.

From physics to mathematics, from the societal framework of the Celestials to their dietary habits, social viewpoints, and values.

Ordinary people couldn’t even begin to think of these questions, let alone ask them. Hence, Adel wasn’t just a pretty face without any brains, she was a true genius, albeit a sporadic one.

But wait, a combination of extremely high intelligence and extremely low emotional intelligence, is that a genius or an idiot?

Gao Yuan was constantly pondering this question, and the entire dinner table, save for Catherine, who could interject a few words here and there, could only silently observe.

After all, having dinner with aliens could serve as a lifelong conversation piece, and listening to the dialogue between Adel and Xinghe might just inadvertently put them at the forefront of human knowledge.

"What? You’ve achieved immortality?"

When Xinghe mentioned that Celestial technology had achieved limitless cell renewal, meaning immortality, everyone seemed very curious and envious, but Adel appeared extremely shocked.

Adel, in her extreme astonishment, said, "Then doesn’t that mean your civilization has fallen into stagnation? Your population probably doesn’t have any natural growth anymore, right? Hasn’t your social system collapsed? Haven’t you had wars of self-destruction? Do you still have what is called love and family, and... I just want to know if you even have a basic social structure left?"

Ram couldn’t help interjecting, "Wait, isn’t eternal life wonderful? Why would that lead to these issues, wait, eternal life..."

Ram’s face suddenly turned a bit pale, perhaps because he realized something, while Xinghe responded to Adel, "All of what you mentioned exist, and that’s how we went from a civilization capable of dominating a galaxy to one on the brink of extinction."

"Why? Why is that?"

Ram was still puzzled, and Adel turned to him and said, "Because of immortality, think about it. If you don’t age or die, and neither does Yelena, neither do I, and then we live together for hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of years, could you bear it?"

Ram didn’t hesitate to respond, "Of course, I can bear it. I hope to live with Yelena for ten thousand years, a hundred thousand years, and with you all too. I hope we will never have to endure the pain of parting through life and death!"

Gao Yuan was shocked in that moment. Oh, Ram, true to your name as the King of Mercenaries!

Such strong will to survive, such quick reactions, such thick skin, such good acting. If Ram doesn’t succeed, who would?

Xinghe said indifferently, "Having eternal life was the last major breakthrough of our civilization. After that, our technology entered a prolonged stagnation. Scientists, who once led our civilization forward, gradually lost their interest in thought, followed by their ability to think. Without urgency or a sense of mission, after a population explosion came a stagnation, and no one wanted to undertake arduous and monotonous work anymore. Just about all tasks were taken over by artificial intelligence, imagination dried up too, because... after you live for thousands of years, you lose interest in everything."

Ram scratched his head and said, "That does sound terrifying... Speaking of which, I have a bold idea."

Xinghe looked towards Ram, who said seriously, "Could you share the technology for achieving eternal life with the Serpent People? Although they would gain eternal life, they would also lose their drive for expansion. Wouldn’t that remove the Serpent People as a threat?"

Xinghe shook her head and said, "No, the Serpent People’s technological level is probably already capable of achieving immortality, or at least close to it. Their evolutionary path is very similar to ours; they have gone quite far with gene technology but they chose to forsake immortality."

Ram, curious, said, "That doesn’t seem right; according to what you said earlier, no intelligent being can resist the temptation of eternal life, then why did the Serpent People avoid it? Maybe their tech tree was off, maybe they hit a technological bottleneck, right? It’s possible they are just one step away but still can’t break through that door. Then they wouldn’t be able to achieve it even if they wanted."

Xinghe suddenly widened her eyes, and Ram continued, "Anyway, since the Serpent People could also break through, then give them the technology. Even if they could break through on their own, if they can’t, isn’t it perfect to just give it to them? Trying it out can’t be a loss, uh, I want to know how you knew the Serpent People gave up on immortality."

Xinghe appeared somewhat dazed, while Adel looked at Xinghe with curiosity and said, "Yes, how did you find out that the Serpent People willingly gave up immortality? Did you monitor them?"

"No, it’s because we assumed that the Serpent People should have been able to do it, but they didn’t, so we believe they actively gave up immortality, but... but..."

Xinghe turned toward Adel, then said with a shocked expression, "But we never confirmed this because we have had no contact whatsoever with the Serpent People. However, thinking back to how our ancestors discovered the technology for immortality by chance, maybe the Serpent People simply haven’t had the breakthrough in that critical technology?"

Xinghe stood up, then she said with unseeing eyes, "Could it really be that a prolonged life has robbed us of our imagination? Are we even incapable of conjecture now? We have already abandoned immortality because we learned our lesson, but the Serpent People... maybe they thought of it, but possibly they didn’t. Why not just throw the key technology at them? Such a simple matter, why didn’t we think of it?"

Gao Yuan chuckled and said, "Don’t worry about these things. Even if the Serpent People really lose their desire for expansion and the potential for evolution because of eternal life, that would happen far in the future. Even if we gave them the technology now, the Serpent People would happily accept it, but what does that have to do with resolving our crisis?"

Ram smiled and said, "No, that’s not how you think about it. Maybe Earth will eventually perish, and the Serpent People will continue to expand. But if eternal life truly is the poison that destroys a civilization, then we must find a way to feed that poison to the Serpent People. If the Serpent People destroy humanity, then humanity should bring them to ruin, eradicating their roots and cutting off their evolutionary path. It may take ten thousand years, maybe a hundred thousand, but the Serpent People will eventually be destroyed because of us. That’s our revenge."