The scene changed.
It was still the tidal-locked planet, but its geographic landscape altered drastically.
An orange line divided the planet’s surface with one side always facing the sun.
One side was vibrant green, while the other was crimson red.
That colonization ship was nowhere to be seen.
For some reason, Jiang Chen felt like the planet was moving.
It felt like the planet was a living creature rather than dead.
“What happened to the Battle Era?” Looking down at everything, Jiang Chen was intrigued.
At the same time, a person surfaced beside him.
In the queen uniform, looking elegant, she stood straight with hands behind her back, looking solemnly forward.
“The War Era is over, right now it is the Harmony Era.”
“It is over? Did the humans lose?”
“No.”
“Did the mutants lose?”
To Jiang Chen’s surprise, she shook her head again.
“No.”
“Then what happened?” Jiang Chen persisted.
“Common prosperity.”
She only said two words before drifting to the planet.
At the same time, without control of his own body, Jiang Chen flew along with her.
“Humans used hundreds of years and didn’t eliminate mosquitos and cockroaches. We are not greater than our ancestor. We spent a thousand year without eliminating our enemy. So there was no victor in this war. Everyone compromised. Or, everyone sacrificed something.”
“I don’t understand.” Jiang Chen frowned.
“We chose to fuse.”
Jiang Chen recollected the words of Academician Qin, and he seemed to have understood something, but he didn’t understand why they took this path.
“Steel is the foundation of industry, but this planet’s metal reserve is extremely scarce. The cost of space mining was also too high which made developing industries extremely difficult. On the other hand, due to the influence of the constant solar wind from the Red Dwarf, our electronic equipment had a higher failure rate.”
“Our industry was going into a dead end and even began to regress. With production, we could no longer equip more armies, and the balance began to tip to the mutants’ favor. But just then, a great biologist stood out and proposed a new ideology to the evolutionized civilization – Harmony. With this, the Harmony Era began to unfold.”
“We used calculation cells to replace digital chips. We used the highly efficient biological computer to replace quantum computers. Then, we changed our own genetics to expand our 23 pairs of chromosomes to 139 pairs. Through the selective expression, we differentiated into scientists, producers, combatants, and commanders.
“All the problems were solved. We no longer relied on metal. This planet’s rich carbon and oxygen supply are at our disposal. Every “person” is independent but also the “cell” of the civilization. At the same time, we stopped our attack on mutants. We began to communicate with them, then marriage, before integrating together.”
[Fu*king a bug?]
“This is crazy!” Jiang Chen had to interrupt this bewildering idea.
For some reason, a bunch of random hentai popped up in his head with octopus and tentacles.
“Was it crazy when the black and white first married?” She asked.
Jiang Chen stopped, not being able to say a word.
“In the 17th century it is indeed crazy, but not in the 20th century. Without eliminating the other, understanding was the only solution.”
Then, she skipped over the irrelevant question and pointed at the green planet.
“It is just like a giant tree. The part facing the sun is the leaf, and the back is the tree trunk. We used an entire century to complete this project. The leaf provides the energy and nutrients for our civilization to form the atmospheric environment on this planet. Water circulates between the veins and carries the excess energy to the back of the truck. The truck is the area where everyone lives.”
Jiang Chen followed her finger. He murmured at the half green, half red planet.
“This tree is too massive.”
“It is not that big. Compared to the entire universe, it is more like a seed,” she said quietly.
“What about the humans?”
“All the neo-humans live under the leaf. Everyone is independent and a collective group.”
“Then who are you?”
Just as he asked this, Jiang Chen saw the shadow turn into a different form. A graceful princess gown replaced the empire uniform. The yellow face turned pale white with a hooked nose.
“I’m the main consciousness of the nest. All the consciousness is born from me, so I’m the queen. As to the form, I can be Wu Zetian, I can be Elizabeth or Ekaterina. We no longer possess the concept of “Art,” so I could only search through historical records to show you the figures that appeared through history.
“… And why are you showing me this?”
The Queen looked at Jiang Chen.
“To spread the seed of civilization to further places.”
Jiang Chen held his breath. Although as an embodiment of consciousness, he didn’t need to breathe.
The Queen continued.
“We used our constructed high-resolution biological telescope to confirm the status of the mother planet. Although all the records are from 20.5 years away based on comparing planetary stats, we confirmed your civilization level. Based on time, you are at the beginning of the 21st century.”
“You’re outdated compared to us.”
“So we decided to return.”
“94 years ago, we finally built a colonization ship capable of ensuring our survival. To prevent crossing dimensions, we decide to traverse through the three-dimensional universe.”
“We’ll bring your civilization and help you interrogate with nature.”
Like a declaration of war, the queen declared the cruel reality.
“But we don’t need your help,” Jiang Chen said with uneasiness.
Although he knew that even if he said that, they wouldn’t care.
Just like…
“Just like the Homo Erectus and Neanderthals ultimately losing to the Homo Sapiens. Humans view the Homo Sapiens as their ancestors from which they evolve into the “modern human”. Blood must accompany the evolution of the civilization, and we agree with blood.” The Queen spoke out the cruel words emotionlessly.
“Wait, didn’t you say, you traveled to a parallel world?” Jiang Chen realized something.
“Yes.” The Queen blinked and looked at Jiang Chen without expression.
The sight made him feel extremely uneasy.
Unfortunately, the queen’s words made his unease turn into a reality.
“We are currently located on your home planet.”
[That’s impossible!]
Jiang Chen’s suddenly flinched.
[How does she know that I can interdimensional travel! How could she confirm my coordinates in that world!]
[Wait, Lin Lin…]
Jiang Chen’s eyes suddenly widened as he realized that. If Tingting had been living in Lin Lin, then what Lin Lin saw must be known by Tingting. And from the current situation, Tingting must be able to communicate with the Queen of Harmony.
“The Klein particle.” The Queen raised her hand as a dark red ray formed in her hand, “As long as time exists, then this must exist.”
“So you obtained the communication channel between Lin Lin and me?” Jiang Chen said with an undertone.
Fourth dimension messenger. If Lin Lin could know his coordinates on that side, there was no reason Tingting wouldn’t know.
“No,” The Queen said without emotion, “We are shocked how you could freely traverse through two worlds. And the world you are born in happens to be the world we arrived in from the wormhole.”
[Is this real…]
Jiang Chen’s sight moved between the planet and the Queen. Although there was a lot he wanted to say, he couldn’t speak a single word.
Momentarily after, Jiang Chen spoke in a light voice.
“What’s the purpose of you telling me this?”
“We plan to convince you.”
[Convince?]
Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows as he couldn’t understand the meaning behind her words.
The queen moved her gaze away from Jiang Chen and to the two-colored planet.
“We thought that our world was disconnected from the original world and that the information we obtained through evolution can no longer be shared with the survivors.”
“But the situation soon took a turn.”
“The Klein particles we sent were finally received and successfully guided a believer of us. He used himself and used biological technology to change himself to become an antenna for our communication. With our guidance, he successfully evolved into what we hoped for and communicated with creatures in an entire area. Most important, he even managed to divide out an egg.”
“We chose 12 citizens and converted their consciousness into Klein particle waves and sent them to that egg with the messenger. The distance that could not be traversed with the body could be done through a message. Fortunately, we found the way to return to the original world.”
“But unfortunately, that egg was destroyed by your foolish behavior. But we still luckily, and surprisingly, preserved the individuals.”
“She was captured by artificial intelligence, put into a fallout shelter, and locked into the virtual world before finally meeting you.”
[The egg was destroyed? Could it be the Liuding’s military mission to destroy some extreme mutants?] He heard Chu Nan talk about this mission before. The biological cannon that could launch red beams that took out the electronic equipment in the entire area.
It was not a mutant, but the “paratroopers” the Harmony deployed to the world.
Jiang Chen gulped with difficulty.
“And you discovered me through Lin Lin?”
“That’s right.” The queen nodded.
“It was a pleasant surprise to discover you. If you’re willing to join us, I can promise you that even if Natural Selection arrives in the new world earth, we can still preserve you.”
“Preserve me? What about the other people…”
The Queen said blatantly.
“They will donate their organic matter.”
[Become food? Just like the natural selection of mankind in ancient times, the Homo Sapiens, after the destruction of Homo Erectus and the Neanderthals, chose to treat them as food.]
When he thought about this, sweat rolled down his forehead, although he was just an embodiment of consciousness.
“I’ll have to disappoint you. Since you know that I can freely traverse between two worlds. Then you must know that it is impossible to catch me.”
“That’s fine.” The Queen was emotionless.
The primary task is to conquest the new world. As to the original world’s “died” earth, it was more of a memory. Even if Jiang Chen was unwilling to surrender, they would express their regret at most without feeling any sympathy at all…
Jiang Chen was silent.
“And your choice is?” The queen said calmly.
“… I reject.” Jiang Chen was at peace.
The Queen was silent for two seconds.
“This is a wrong choice. You don’t have the capability to stop us.”
“Is that so?”
“If I guessed correctly, the world you’re currently in now, and Supreme is currently ruling the ‘original world’ by our definition. They are a tough opponent, although powerless in front of us.”
Klein particles could destroy most of the digital equipment.
“Ruled? It is too early to say ruled. Only you lost, and I haven’t lost yet,” Jiang Chen said without changes in his expression.
“In our perspective, you don’t have the ability to defend against them.”
In front of sky-based weapons, any land-based weapon is useless. And combustion rockets dealt substantial damage to creatures, but to the Supreme that ditched their bodies, the damage is almost negligible.
The only thing they could use was EMP. Though there were plenty of ways to defend against EMP with 22nd-century technology.
[So fu*king unlucky. The ambassador from Harmony is on the way to the modern world while the threat of Supreme erupted in the apocalypse.]
“I’m really curious. With mechanical parts, how can you travel through interstellar?”
“Why do we need mechanical parts?” The Queen rebutted.
Jiang Chen was stunned.
[No need for mechanical parts?]
Perhaps because of their arrogance as a higher level civilization, the Queen didn’t avoid the question and continued to explain.
“Have you heard of the water bear?”
“What is that?”
“Tardigrade. Although the smallest tardigrade is only 50 microns in size, they are known as the most resilient creature on earth as they could survive in outer space without any protection measures. Any facts proved that, without external assistance, creatures could still achieve interstellar travel. 50 microns creature could, then a creature 50 kilometers naturally could too.”
“The ark of evolution is sailing toward you. Since you already rejected it, then, in the end, I will allow you to meet our force.”
As the voice died down, the Queen waved her hand, and the scene changed again.
It was a giant octopus. It slowly swayed its tentacles in the back and quietly traversed the boundless universe.
A Sailing Bug.
Abruptly, this odd name surfaced in Jiang Chen’s head.
The Sailing Bug was 50 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide. Its shape was similar to a hammer with multiple holes on its side. There were cilia in the back. The middle was grown with umbrella-shaped membranes that could contract or expand to a radius of 40 kilometers.
Bright light particles shone behind the meat membranes. Although Jiang Chen couldn’t guess the working principles behind it, Jiang Chen felt that the membrane was similar to a giant solar sail using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight.
Just from its structure, it was a non-working propulsion engine. Jiang Chen could not guess its cruising speed, although it must not be very low.
[This is Natural Selection?]
Jiang Chen watched the sail pass by him and watched it head further into the distance.
He wanted to say something more in an attempt to gather more intelligence.
“Wait!”
Just then, his field of vision turned dark again…