Chapter 118: Strange Cycle
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The conference hall of the ‘Galaxy Community’ was very lively, or rather, was too boisterous.
Due to various reasons, the representatives of those civilizations directly fought in the conference hall. It might have already evolved into a bloody conflict if not for everyone trying their best to restrain themselves.
“…Dream on about protecting your Space Whales. Have you already saved the native civilization or rebuilt the Nature Reserve? And now you want to start caring for the wild space animals?”
“…Ha! Did it affect your interests? Killing Space Whales is one of your important sources of income, right? I think you’re just greedy!”
Those were the initial words that triggered the verbal war. The topic proposed by the Pyro Alliance was mocked by another civilization, and the verbal conflict between both sides escalated to physical conflict.
Someone noticed that things were starting to go wrong and tried to attract everyone’s attention with a new topic. In the end, his proposed topic, the ‘Space Amoeba Protection Act,’ attracted more ridicule.
Therefore, more people started raising more and more outrageous topics.
For example, an embargoed topic that would cause more than 90% of civilizations to be punished, and that 90% even included the civilization behind the topic.
Those incomprehensible topics further led to chaos in the meeting, and even discussions were difficult to carry on.
Normal topics that could have been discussed, such as ‘Banning Robot Labor’ and ‘Limiting The Expansion of Armaments,’ were ignored, causing the conference hall to fall into chaos.
Even the security personnel responsible for maintaining order did not know how to stop the commotion due to the complicated relationship between civilizations.
Li Wenyuan, who had hacked into the conference hall’s surveillance cameras and saw what was happening inside, was speechless.
The galaxy was united, but it was also divided. Such a situation should have been expected.
That scene reminded him of the Earth in the past.
“…Conflicts can happen even within civilizations, let alone a large group of interstellar civilizations with different origins, cultures, ideologies, and thoughts.”
He shook his head and decided to temporarily leave his identity as a ‘witness’ to quell that farce.
As a result, the equipment in the conference hall that was originally functioning normally suddenly had a large number of errors. The original lights flashed a dangerous red, and it looked like something bad was about to happen.
That abnormality finally calmed the representatives in the venue down temporarily. They looked at the scene in front of them in bewilderment.
Especially the personnel responsible for maintaining the space station. They were sweating profusely as they carried out emergency repairs, but they were completely helpless against the existence that had invaded that place.
In the end, a holographic projection of a string of red words appeared on the seats before all the civilizations’ representatives.
[Topic: Establishing a Pan-Milky Way Trade Market]
[Presenting Civilization: The Administrator]
After that, the red light that enveloped the conference hall returned to normal, and the equipment that kept popping up error reports returned to normal. Everything before seemed to be an illusion, and only the holographic projection still showing the words indicated what had just happened.
At that moment, everyone understood. The representatives who were fighting fiercely just now quietly returned to their seats and properly began the first round of discussion.
However, there was no need to discuss that matter because the identity of the person who proposed it was enough to pass that topic.
In the end, ‘Establishing A Pan-Milky Way Trade Market’ became the first goal of the ‘Galaxy Community’ with a 100% approval rate.
After that, various topics were raised in turn, and after a ‘harmonious discussion,’ it was decided whether they would be passed.
‘The Administrator’ never appeared again after raising a topic, but the civilizations’ representatives present felt ashamed.
They felt that they were really too indecent to fight at the venue and even needed the ‘Administrator’ to mediate.
How would the Administrator who protected the Milky Way think of them? Would he think that they were a bunch of good-for-nothing?
All in all, the first Milky Way Conference ended peacefully.
As for the topic raised by the Pyro Alliance at the beginning: The Space Whale Protection Act was kept for the next conference with 35% approval, 35% opposition, and 30% abstaining.
Although they were unwilling, they knew that was not a problem that could be solved quickly. Therefore, they had to continue to promote the ‘protection of Space Whales’ to pass that topic at the next conference.
The ‘Presolin’ worker bee had returned to the Hatchery when the battleships released the fireworks. It felt that its mission had been completed.
Li Wenyuan, who sighed that ‘the Milky Way still needs more growth,’ pulled Gray Wind and left the Three Union Planet.
“Sigh, it feels boring….” Gray Wind seemed rather bored. Her trip to the ‘Galaxy Community’ seemed to not bring her enough fun.
Li Wenyuan felt that it was alright, but what Gray Wind saw as amusement differed from the amusement in the eyes of ordinary people.
After thinking for a while, he remembered the anomaly he had found somewhere in the Milky Way, so he warped there with Gray Wind.
Is there a new adventure here?
“…It feels like a new adventure. After all, this galaxy is too special…”
He had warped to a special ‘Black Hole Galaxy.’
Previously, because of the battle with the ‘ring,’ he had never had the chance to come here, but now he had the time.
When one of his research spaceships first came to this galaxy, he felt something must have happened here and marked that place.
It was a ‘Black Hole Galaxy.’ A medium-sized Black Hole in the center had replaced an ordinary star as that galaxy’s main gravity source.
The most special thing about that place was that all the planets here were ‘Dead Planets.’
Dead Planet was a special kind of colony planet in the Milky Way. Generally speaking, Dead Planet was a ‘habitable planet’ that had lost most of its livability after a series of events such as wars and catastrophes.
Though most civilizations could not survive on it, there were lifeforms living on it. For example, some insects similar to cockroaches lived very well on such a planet.
Therefore, that kind of planet was regarded as a ‘livable alternative.’ When the civilization’s technological level or the species’ environmental adaptability had significantly improved, the Dead Planet would become a reliable colony.
That ‘Black Hole Galaxy’ had more than ten Dead Planets. There were no asteroid belts or giant gas planets. They were all ‘livable alternative’ planets. That made Li Wenyuan feel that something was off.
At the moment, he was not sure if it was related to humans, but he believed that after exploring, he would be able to discover the secret there.
Thus, after bringing Gray Wind there, he began to scan the Dead Planets individually.
The Black Hole was spinning, and time was passing.
To Li Wenyuan’s surprise, he found no abnormalities on those Dead Planets. Just like the names of the planets, they were dead silent.
“…Could it be that someone has already taken the secret? Or is this place really formed naturally…”
He was still thinking about the situation in that galaxy, but he didn’t notice the strange expression on Gray Wind’s face.
She began to look at the Black Hole at the center of the galaxy from time to time as if she had heard something.
However, the equipment on Li Wenyuan’s research spaceship did not detect any signals.
Not until he was about to leave did he see Gray Wind’s hesitant expression.
“What’s wrong?” He found it strange. According to Gray Wind’s personality, she shouldn’t have such an expression.
Gray Wind thought for a while and said uncertainly, “…I think I heard something calling me….”
“What?” Li Wenyuan was stunned. He checked the readings of the equipment on the spaceship again. He was certain that there was no abnormality detected.
However, Gray Wind pointed at the Black Hole and seemingly confused about the facial expression she should show, “…It seems to be coming from the Black Hole…I know this is against common sense and idealistic, but I feel it’s in that direction….”
Her words made Li Wenyuan frown. He began to look at the Black Hole cautiously and then said to Gray Wind,”… Don’t follow me. I’ll send the spaceship over to take a look.”
As he spoke, the research spaceship began accelerating toward the Black Hole.
The Black Hole was still spinning, but the matter pulled in by its gravity and rubbed against each other at high speed emitted a large amount of radiation, forming a glowing disk around the Black Hole.
It looked like…like a ‘ring’?
At a certain moment, Li Wenyuan thought of the ‘End of Reincarnation’ in the void realm, but he quickly denied that guess and increased the scanning power of the spaceship.
It was not until they reached a very dangerous distance that the spaceship finally detected a weak special signal.
That signal seemed to be bound to the Black Hole’s surroundings. Only by bravely approaching that distance could they discover the string of signals.
Li Wenyuan was also very familiar with that signal, which meant it was related to humans.
With doubts, he interpreted the signal.
It seemed to be an audio recording. Many parts of it had already dissipated in the river of time, but the content still surprised Li Wenyuan.
[-[Signal Interruption][Signal Interruption] appeared again.]
[This time, I was the one who was named. More than ten of our warriors entered this place and did not return.]
[Everyone is trying to persuade me not to go in, but my last instinct is telling me this is a journey I must experience.]
[I am a professor, a person who has studied physics for a lifetime. Now, my life is coming to an end, right in this Black Hole.]
[But this will also be a great discovery because I have seen the end of time and the never-ending cycle.]
[And everything will be recorded here.]
Those words sounded very strange, and Li Wenyuan didn’t know where to record them in the file.
However, the database’s reaction to the signal made Li Wenyuan’s consciousness freeze.
[Strange Cycle]
[Technology Level: to]
[Introduction: This is a set of conflicting instincts, love, and social norms. We don’t want to just cause an impact. We want to control everything. The advancement of technology will no longer have an upper limit. We will be in an infinite cycle and then improve ourselves infinitely until we can break the cycle.]
[Possible Technology: None]