Chapter 377: The "Universe" Exploration of Mo Civilization 1

Science Participation spoke, "Indeed, the yearning of civilization often stems from its intrinsic deficiencies.

"We dare not claim to have a history of spectacular struggles, but the desire for change has always been consistent, driving us forward.

"When our life form arduously crossed into the third stage, the dim light of intelligence began to emerge.

"Our thoughts at that time were extremely primitive, revolving solely around how to approach the warm 'Fire Wall' and how to avoid its fierce threat, while self-awareness still wandered in a haze.

"Had you been in such an extremely tranquil and comfortable environment, perhaps the evolution of intelligent thought might have come to a standstill.

"But we are different, our brain structure possesses extraordinary potential, capable of constant expansion, boundless and full of all possibilities.

"To you, this may seem like a lavish squandering of evolutionary potential, but we don't see it that way. Eventually, through a myriad of chances and inevitabilities intertwining, the accumulation of quantitative changes ignited the spark of qualitative transformation, and our advanced intelligence—the fourth life form—arrived with a bang.

"We lack traditional senses like eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body; electromagnetic signals became our sole bridge to perceive the external world—even the sensation of force and reaction force is a distant puzzle for us.

"Yet, it is such limitations that compelled us to begin thinking and understanding our world in a unique way. In fact, the only thing left for our world is thought."

"Our first Cosmic Mechanics Model naturally came into being:

"It is a boundless universe, divided into two parts—the 'Fire Wall' ahead that constantly radiates energy.

"And on the other side lies the infinitely extending cold Chaos. We also came to realize the law of energy decrement: the farther away from the 'Fire Wall,' the more sparse the energy received.

"And we, living on the boundary line between the Fire Wall and Chaos, bear witness to all of this, and this is our 'Fire Wall Cosmos Theory.'

Chu Yan pondered, "This indeed bears some similarity to the Mountain Civilization's dense universe theory. Their theory also doesn't rule out the possibility that beyond the endless layers of rock, there might be other Bubble Worlds hidden; this unknown has become their eternal driving force for relentless exploration.

"The drive of Human Civilization is resource allocation, that of the Trisolaran Civilization is stability of order, that of the Dinosaur Civilization is devouring.

"You must have a similar drive for your civilization, don't you?"

Science Participation replied, "Indeed, the evolutionary trajectories of civilizations often display astonishing similarities. Our driving force, like that of the Mountain Civilization, lies in seeking the profound and mysterious model of the universe.

"However, the motivation behind exploring this grand blueprint differs fundamentally between us. The Mountain Civilization does so out of an urgent need to expand their living space, whereas our purpose may be—self-transcendence and dedication.

"The world we inhabit is an extremely tranquil paradise, almost devoid of survival threats. But in this vacuum-like silence, even the most basic movement becomes extraordinarily difficult, as if every inch is filled with invisible shackles.

"Our brains are highly developed, our thinking is exceedingly swift; in the instant you humans conceive a thought, we might have already completed several papers.

"However, this extraordinary intelligence is tightly chained by slow flesh and a dead environment, bringing endless frustration and oppression.

"The Mountain Civilization feels stifled due to the limitations of their living space, while we suffer due to our own limitations. Even more suffocating is that in this overly comfortable environment, even worthy subjects for deep thought are hard to come by.

"The only way to break free from this frustration is—to dedicate our lives to a meaningful goal, which is also the driving force of our civilization's evolution."

Chu Yan, "The birth of every intelligent civilization is an epic saga of struggle.

"Survival and development are the primary elements of civilization. In our model of civilization development, an overly suitable, safe living environment is actually less likely to nurture the spark of intelligence.

"You have broken this norm, which is certainly related to your physical form, but the deeper reason lies in your dedication of your entire civilization's strength to a meaningful goal.

"This goal is the exploration of the cosmic model, a fearless pursuit of the unknown world. It is this perseverance and dedication that allowed you to find the driving force for civilization to move forward in a seemingly calm environment, writing a magnificent chapter of your own."

In the slow narration of Science Participation, a grand canvas of civilization's struggle unfolded:

"Indeed, the persistent and dedicated exploration of the universe has also become our driving force to move forward. At that time, we did not think about these, it was just a simple thought; we had to think about something!

"Our directions for exploring the universe are threefold:

"Firstly, we sought to explore the boundaries of the Fire Wall. Our cosmic model did not deny the existence of boundaries to the Fire Wall; ancestors had split into individual entities, prepared to travel in four directions at once, attempting to find the end of the Fire Wall."

"However, the path of exploration was not smooth. Soon, we encountered unprecedented difficulties. Those who set out gradually lost contact with us as the distance stretched further and further."

"We all communicate using electromagnetic signals, but these signals are absorbed by the dark fog material during transmission, making it impossible to communicate over great distances."

"This required us to evolve once again, and our evolution was largely self-directed, rather than driven by environmental factors."

"We needed to increase the strength of the electromagnetic signals we emitted from our bodies, and, to explore faster, we also increased our abilities to absorb material for growth and division."

"This also initiated a Civilization Explosion, with the number of civilized entities increasing exponentially."

"Secondly, we explored into the depths of the cold Chaos."

"At that time, we did not realize that the dark fog was a kind of matter; we only saw it as endless Chaos."

"Our cosmic model did not reject the possibility that other Fire Walls might be hidden deep behind us in Chaos. It was just that they were so far away from us that we could not feel their presence."

"We hoped to discover other Fire Walls in the depths of Chaos. Finding new Fire Walls was not urgent for us, as our living space was already vast."

"It was only meaningful to find the differences in this universe."

"However, this direction of exploration turned out to be the most hopeless. Once we delved into Chaos, it meant we were moving further away from the Fire Wall, receiving less and less energy."

"We would soon exhaust our stored energy, at which point we would not be able to think and would exist in a state of being alive and dead at the same time."

"The greatest use of our energy was for thought, while the energy spent on movement, which is to say the adjustment of our physical posture, accounted for less than one ten-thousandth of the total."

"Therefore, I had to master new skills, storing a large amount of bodily energy material, and reduce the consumption of life energy as much as possible when there was no need to think. At the same time, I set up a mechanism to wake up at set intervals, so as to gather more information in the depths of Chaos."

"Yet, this too was a road to death. It was easy for us to leave; we only needed to let our thoughts fall into a deep sleep, and the Fire Wall's radiation would drive us to keep drifting away."

"However, those who departed could not possibly return. The radiation they received from the Fire Wall was too weak at a distance, and they could not use the Fire Wall's radiation to get back."

"At most, they could use all their energy to send us a message at the end of their lives, and then they would be completely lost in Chaos."

"This direction of exploration was cruel, as it could only proceed at the cost of sacrificing countless individuals."

"But it was also meaningful, as countless individuals were willing to make this sacrifice."

"This direction of exploration also brought me a lot of understanding. Initially, we spread our bodies out to receive as much radiation from the Fire Wall as possible to accelerate our departure."

"However, we realized that this method was ineffective. Many years later, we came to acknowledge the presence of resistance in Chaos. The faster our speed, the greater the resistance we faced, until we would ultimately stop. The farther away from the Fire Wall we were, the less radiation we received, and eventually, we had no propulsion to continue moving forward."

"Our Cosmic Mechanics Model was also established, initially with only two forces: radiation force and Chaos resistance."

"For a considerable time, I called the electromagnetic interaction force the radiation force, and we even realized that the force exerted on us by the Fire Wall and the force we felt when communicating with each other electromagnetically were actually one and the same."

"Combining mathematical tools and force analysis, we also discovered other methods of flight."

"The simplest method was the oblique flight method. We found that resistance was related to the cross-section of the direction of motion. Our bodies were like a membrane, slanting our bodies allowed us to accept the propulsion of the radiation force while minimizing the influence of the Chaos resistance."

"Indeed, this approach greatly extended the depth of our exploration. But sometimes, it was difficult for us to receive the messages they sent back because they were flying obliquely, often going beyond the range of our reception."

"Thus, the civilized entities exploring the Fire Wall had to work together to greatly expand the range of civilization in order to receive the information they sent back."

"This type of exploration also brought about many cognitive impacts, which need not be recounted one by one."

"This was actually parallel to the first direction of exploration, both jointly promoting the Civilization Explosion."