Chapter 1025: Exchange Between Two Civilizations

Chapter 1025: Communication Between Two Civilizations

A device capable of generating nuclear fuel out of thin air!

The feeling in Chu Guang's heart at this moment could no longer be described by the word shock.

"Incredible... This is utterly incredible!" Yin Fang touched his nose, his eyes fixed intently on the device called the perforator, as if only that word remained on his lips.

Lyu Bei's expression mirrored his, equally stunned by the scene before him.

He didn't fully grasp the complex physical principles, but he understood clearly that helium-3 was the strategic resource the Alliance needed most, one that was difficult to regenerate in the short term!

Thinking this, Lyu Bei couldn't help but murmur softly.

"...Doesn't this mean we've mastered... infinite energy?!"

By continuously extracting energy from the fuel canisters and then reinserting them into the perforator for "recharging," they could endlessly "borrow" light from another world and shape it into whatever form they needed!

Hearing this, Yin Fang snapped to attention but unhesitatingly interrupted Lyu Bei's speculation.

"Impossible!"

Lyu Bei, stunned, cast a puzzled look at Yin Fang, and at that moment, Chu Guang placed a hand on his shoulder.

"That sounds like a cheap idea. But based on my past experience, cheap often means there's a hidden cost we don't know about, and it's likely one we can't afford."

Stepping past Lyu Bei to the side of the perforator, Chu Guang stared at it for a long time.

The mottled rust made it hard to believe the machine could still work, yet what he had seen with his own eyes couldn't be false—they had indeed borrowed light from another universe.

And it was light from the Creator's universe.

"You're right, there's too much we don't understand about this, and ignorance itself is the greatest threat," Yin Fang picked up his words, speaking hurriedly. "Remember His warning?"

Chu Guang nodded.

"Don't try to break the fourth wall."

That sentence was heard by Ye Shi at Nanmen Er and updated in a post on the official forum.

Yin Fang snapped his fingers, continuing excitedly.

"That's it! Have you noticed? On that wall... there might be something even He fears."

Something that even a civilization that shattered the void and left this universe would fear...

It was hard to imagine what that thing looked like.

But conversely, this perforator could become an effective deterrent.

If one day in this universe, they truly encountered other existing interstellar civilizations...

At that moment, Heya, who had been standing with her arms crossed and silent, suddenly spoke up.

"Sorry, but I'm more concerned about another matter. So... we are all created... um, characters?"

She wasn't sure if that was the right word, but it felt the most accurate.

Yin Fang nodded, then shook his head.

"You could say that, but dwelling on it is meaningless. According to the clues left by the Pioneer, not only are we created, but our Creator was also created by another Creator... All universes are like this, layer upon layer of iteration, with no end."

Perhaps there was an end.

But that fell into the realm of agnosticism.

Heya fell into deep thought, pursing her lips, and didn't speak again for a long time.

Excessive exploration of the spiritual world wasn't necessarily a good thing; knowing some things had no meaning.

For instance, Chu Guang didn't care much about what lay behind that fourth wall.

Every decision he made came from his own heart—that was beyond doubt.

Whether the Creator existed or not didn't affect his judgment.

He even tended to think that this matter was like "psychic power."

His existence itself wasn't subject to anyone's subjective will; it was just a stroke drawn casually on a wall by someone in another world, coincidentally sketching the trajectory of his life.

If that stroke was crooked, it meant it depicted someone else in another universe, even if that person shared the same name.

Based on this theory, he and his Creator were both one in a billion possibilities.

Whether the Creator existed or not, his fate was not decided by anyone and had always belonged only to himself.

At that moment, Heya, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke again.

"...What we just tested should be the reverse operation of the perforator. What if we perform the forward operation while inserting a fuel canister filled with helium-3?"

Yin Fang immediately replied.

"That would be going to another world... just like Dr. Qiu Shiye, passing through the gap in the fourth wall as electromagnetic waves to the Creator's universe."

Everyone in the room fell silent, the vast warehouse suddenly deathly quiet.

That sounded no different from suicide.

At least from a materialistic perspective, it was undoubtedly so...

Chu Guang cleared his throat softly, interrupting everyone's wild thoughts.

"Alright, today's experiment ends here... We have indeed obtained something extraordinary from Nanmen Er."

"Using it to produce helium-3 is a waste of its potential; that bit of energy is a drop in the bucket for us. Better to use this thing for something meaningful."

Heya tilted her head.

"Like what?"

"Studying the void!" Yin Fang's eyes gleamed with sharp light, his piercing gaze like that of a lion spotting prey. "Compared to a bit of helium-3 that isn't scarce in the solar system... I'm more eager to see what we can learn from it!"

The fanatical look in his eyes sent chills down spines, even causing a few of Yin Fang's researchers present to shrink their necks.

It was hard to say whether this was a good idea.

But Chu Guang felt that ignorance was more terrifying than fear of the unknown.

Bold speculation.

Perhaps long before them, someone had already started studying this thing.

They were unlikely to be the first new-generation civilization to touch the Pioneer civilization's relics, nor the last.

Looking at Yin Fang, who was full of anticipation, Chu Guang nodded, approving his proposal.

"At the very least, we need to figure out what we have in our hands."

...

While the Alliance's scientific community was marveling at the astonishing discovery at Nanmen Er, above the vast southern sea, a massive steel submarine was cutting through the waves toward the Baiyue Strait.

Responsible for hosting the "Doma Envoys" from the planet Gaia was the Alliance's Academy of Social Sciences.

According to the route designed by Ms. Han Mingyue, they would board the cargo submarine "Dolphin," depart from the base of the space elevator, travel through the Baiyue Strait, arrive at Jinjialun Port, then transfer to a train at Yinyue Bay to reach Shuguang City.

Without a doubt, this was the longest route to Shuguang City.

But according to Ms. Han Mingyue, this route would better represent the real wasteland and help Dora understand the world where the "Progenitors" lived.

After all, if one were to land on the coast of death, the scenery along the way would hardly differ at all...

The massive alloy hull lay buried beneath the waves, with only the U-shaped bridge exposed. Watching the waves crash against the curved floor-to-ceiling windows, Dora stood inside the bridge, her eyes wide with excitement.

"So this... is the sea?!"

"Haha! That's right! All of this is it! The residents of the Southern Alliance live here, and they've been living here for over two centuries!"

Captain Chen Jianhong, standing before the control terminal, let out a hearty laugh and waved to a crew member beside him. Seeing the captain's gesture, the crew member immediately understood and adjusted the rudder, causing the massive hull to rise from the rolling waves, lifting the bridge even higher.

The view ahead instantly opened up!

The boundless azure stretched to the horizon, merging with the sky and clouds as if they were one!

A faint hint of emerald and gold shimmered at the edge of the sky, like a necklace gifted by the heavens to the sea.

Vessels of all sizes floated on the surface—container ships and scavenger boats drifting here and there. Since the activation of the gravity well, a vast amount of space debris had fallen into the expansive southern waters, and the scavengers of the wasteland surged in like sharks drawn to the scent of fish. Thanks to this, this once-isolated sea at the edge of the wasteland had become thoroughly lively!

Dora clenched her fists in excitement, rising on her tiptoes, wishing she could jump to see even farther. Watching her animated state, Captain Chen Jianhong couldn't help but smile with pride. Though he had joined the Alliance long ago, he had always regarded this sea as his homeland. That had never changed.

"So amazing..." Dora sighed, finally calming her excitement.

Seeing her so awestruck, Ye Shi couldn't resist teasing her.

"It's not that amazing—hydrogen hydroxide is pretty common in the universe."

Dora looked at him curiously, her eyes sparkling.

"Hydrogen hydroxide?"

Ye Shi coughed and explained.

"It means water."

"So amazing..."

"I told you, it's nothing amazing."

Ye Shi laughed helplessly, but he noticed the little stars in the girl's eyes shining even brighter.

Beside them, the little koala looked up at the ceiling, its round metal belly clanking and clattering.

"I don't like it here. The humid air makes me feel awful all over."

Especially when the damp air condensed into droplets on its steel plates.

Professor Sun Wenze stared at it for a long moment, muttering to himself.

"Unbelievable... a machine can have a soul... So what's your soul called? A machine spirit?"

The little koala replied helplessly.

"I don't know. Don't ask me about that."

The submarine slowly sailed into the Baiyue Strait and docked at the port of Fries Harbor. The group stepped onto the dock. Due to the strict confidentiality of the itinerary, the survivors of Fries Harbor had no idea that this guest from Narmen II would be disembarking here. As a result, when Dora stood on the dock, curious gazes immediately drifted toward her.

Green skin. On the wasteland, only mutants had that complexion. But the emerald-like green was different from the vibrant, life-filled green of her skin. Even setting aside the color difference, the people at the port could easily tell her apart from mutants. One was her hair. The other was her gender characteristics. Mutants had no hair, and there were no females among them.

While the crowd on the port stared at the dock in surprise and curiosity, Dora, standing on the dock, was equally astonished, her eyes wide with excitement as she gazed at the people onshore.

Under the bright, sunny beach, parasols were set up, and in the distance, a tree-lined street stretched out. The street was bustling with people, moving to and fro beneath colorful signs and dappled shade.

It was a sight Dora had never seen before. In her tribe, people lived in trees, eating and sleeping in tree hollows. Even the Qiu people, who lived in the Forbidden Forest Valley, built houses with stone, but they could never build such beautiful houses, let alone pave roads with flat stones... In her understanding, the concept of a road didn't exist.

The scene before her was so overwhelming that she didn't know where to look. The legends of the ancestors were far too conservative. This place didn't seem like paradise—it felt like a paradise above paradise.

"So many people..." she murmured, watching the crowds on the shore path. Just the people walking along the shore already outnumbered her entire tribe back home! Even more than all the people living in the entire forest!

Seeing her amazement, Ye Shi chuckled.

"This isn't even the most crowded. Wait until you pass Golden Gambier Port—then you'll know what a crowd really means."

That was probably the largest survivor settlement on the entire wasteland, aside from Ideal City. As for Fries Harbor, it didn't even rank in terms of population; it was just a scenic resort port.

Dora looked at Ye Shi in astonishment. She could tell he wasn't joking, but she couldn't imagine what a place with even more people than this would look like. People stacked on top of each other?

Smiling at Dora's wide-eyed wonder, Han Mingyue put on her sunglasses, which were tucked into her collar, and asked in a teasing tone.

"By the way, do you sense anything unusual? From the air here... or anywhere else?"

Dora paused for a moment, snapping out of her initial shock. She closed her bright eyes, and her expression returned to that serene, devout look.

Han Mingyue watched her face with interest, as if studying a piece of art.

It didn't take long.

Dora opened her eyes again, and at the same moment, a look of astonishment bloomed in them.

"I sense a very familiar aura... so much like our forest!"

The faces of those standing nearby showed surprise, including Ye Shi, who was a player.

Only then did it suddenly occur to him that this forest seemed to be alive!

Not only that.

It was also a child of Gaia!

Just like the previous hive nest in Qingquan City!

Come to think of it, the mission to find the hive nest released by the Alliance Biological Research Institute several versions ago still seemed to have been completed by no one...

Watching Dora, who had made a discovery, Han Mingyue's interest grew even more intense.

She pressed on.

"Can you communicate with it? Or rather... does it possess self-awareness?"

Dora nodded eagerly.

"Yes! It's greeting me. Its voice is very similar to the 'Insov Tree,' but not exactly the same. It feels like... it is His child."

It was indeed His child.

Just like the Gaians on the planet Gaia, they all share the same parents.

The only difference is that it is a strategic weapon designed by the radical faction of the Human Union based on the concept of "destruction."

Whereas Dora is a new life born from the "Insov Tree"—or rather, the ecological maintenance system left by the precursor civilization—for the purpose of "saving endangered species."

Han Mingyue looked at Dora excitedly.

"Did it say anything?"

Dora nodded quickly again.

But this time, her expression carried a hint of embarrassment, not as natural as before.

"It's complaining, saying you're too noisy."

"It also said it wishes you could be quieter..."