Chapter 394 Micro Civilization

Shenzhou Era 7554.

Time flies, and since the return from the Deep Sea Civilization, the civilization of the Divine Vessel, almost unnoticed, has traversed a grand journey of five thousand years. Now, it is 700 light-years away from the Solar System.

Human Civilization once again took the lead in advancing to level 1.9, a technological explosion, coveted yet elusive in other civilizations, has been almost uninterrupted in Human Civilization.

The ranks of various civilizations are as follows:

Human Civilization, level 1.9. Deep Sea Civilization, level 1.7.

Mo Civilization, High Order level 1.8.

Mountain Civilization, level 1.8.

Dinosaur Civilization, High Order level 1.7.

Trisolaran Civilization, High Order level 1.7.

In this period, the civilization of the Divine Vessel welcomed a new member, a carbon-based intelligent civilization known as Micro Civilization, with a technological level of 1.4.

Early in their history, Micro Civilization showed astounding similarities to humanity. However, right as their civilization was entering level 1.0, they predicted their sun would undergo a helium flash in 18,000 years, which would completely wipe out their civilization.

To preserve and perpetuate their civilization, they initiated a grand space exploration program, launching multiple interstellar spaceships, like the Ark, searching for stars with inhabitable planets in the vicinity of the Solar System.

After repeatedly failing in their efforts to find a new home, they decided to safeguard their civilization through another plan—by shrinking the size of their civilization's individuals through genetic engineering to about ten micrometers, the size of Micro People, which is merely the size of a cell. Their body structure remained unchanged, and their intelligence did not diminish.

The Micro People not only inherited the knowledge and culture of the Macro People (individuals of civilization-size) but also developed a highly advanced civilization on the foundation of nanotechnology.

The resources of the Micro World are extremely "abundant"; a single droplet of water is enough to hydrate many Micro People, and one can is enough to feed the entire population for one to two years.

Facing the impending disaster of the solar helium flash, they moved the core of their civilization deep underground. Four hundred years after the great disaster had passed, the first group of Micro People drilled through the solidified magma with laser to reach the surface from the Underground City.

After another five centuries, the Micro People built up a new world on the surface, constructing tens of thousands of cities on their Home Planet, with a total population of 18 billion. Each city of the Micro Civilization was protected under transparent hemispherical domes about a meter in diameter.

The survivability of Micro Civilization in the universe had increased by almost a hundred million times.

They lived carefreely in this beautiful world, with stable ecological balance and minimal resource consumption, and technology developed rapidly.

What's more crucial was that they abandoned the concept of rank, living in harmony and joy, seemingly a melodious anthem in the history of Human Civilization.

They almost embodied all that is wonderful, inheriting all the philosophy, art... everything from the Macro Civilization.

That was a beautiful world that all civilizations yearned for, a world unthreatened by anything.

In their world, there once returned an interstellar spaceship that had been searching for habitable planets, carrying only one pioneer.

After the pioneer returned to the Home Planet in the landing pod,

the leader of Micro Civilization was even able to recite the philosophical quotes of the sages to prove they truly inherited everything from the Macro Civilization.

The leader of Micro Civilization was even able to use tears and carefreeness to assert their enormous advantage.

When the pioneer learned of the "beauty" of this world, he ultimately disposed of all the remaining embryonic cells of Macro People in the laser waste incinerator, fully embracing the Micro Civilization.

Describing Micro Civilization as a continuation of civilization isn't sufficient; this was a sublimation of civilization...

However, the story did not end there.

The yearning and desire for control of living space by any civilization never changes; the development of a civilization is always directed outward, not inward.

Twenty thousand years passed, and the ecology of the home planet of Micro Civilization had been restored by one-thousandth.

The technology level of Micro Civilization had also advanced to level 1.3, and naturally, the technology level of Micro Civilization was not determined by the energy utilization rate of civilization but by the depth of theoretical technology and micro-level research.

As time passed and technology continually advanced, Micro Civilization could no longer be content with the small ecological circle under those narrow transparent hemispherical domes. After all, even insignificant bacteria harbor ambitions to dominate the globe.

And Micro Civilization was not as carefree as they believed; in the world of Micro Civilization,

a small earthquake was enough to inflict a devastating blow to their population.

A single insect entering the protective shield meant they had to deploy the military to deal with it.

An occurrence of higher-energy cosmic rays could cause most to fall ill or even die, and they absolutely couldn't come into contact with radioactive elements.

They usually traveled through the atmosphere using "Feather" flyers, and their capability for interstellar exploration was even more inferior. Their spacecraft, too small to enter space, were at most the size of a soccer ball.

Even using Curvature Propulsion, they could not provide the tremendous energy needed to escape the planet, overcoming atmospheric drag and planetary gravity.

Curvature Propulsion could only negate the effects of relativistic length contraction and mass increase, but it did not violate the law of conservation of energy.

To use Curvature Propulsion to leave a planet, a massive amount of energy was still necessary as support, and those soccer ball-sized spacecraft, with their limited resources, were like a drop in the bucket, far from enough to escape the gravitational pull of the planet.

Their boasted colonization of other planets to their predecessors was also proven to be "lies." They couldn't even lie—what they had were only the simplest speculations about other planets.

In other words, Micro Civilization had firmly bound itself to its home planet. Now, on their home planet, their civilization had proliferated to its limit, and they were forced to implement controlled population growth.

Long periods of comfort and carefreeness had caused them to lose the ability to deal with disasters; even a flood, landslide, or superstorm could cause them a great catastrophe.

Micro Civilization finally realized that the miniaturization of their entire civilization had not opened up a wider living space for them as they had hoped, but rather it had become an invisible shackle, locking them firmly within their current living environment and cutting off any possibility of seeking new worlds.

The last hope of Micro Civilization could only rest on the breakthrough of their civilization's technology, hoping for a leap in science and technology to find new living spaces for them.

However, tens of thousands of years of comfortable living had already made them lose their desire and pursuit for technology. How could they ignite another technological revolution? They had lost their most precious thing.

Perhaps if the predecessors had not destroyed the last embryo of the macro people, everything might still have had a chance. Yet, fearing another war with the macro people, Micro People led the predecessors to destroy the last hope of civilization.

Perhaps it was the universe's mercy; it always tirelessly offers every civilization the chance to be reborn.

For Micro Civilization, this opportunity was left behind by the predecessors, the "Ark" that had quietly awaited in the planet's orbit for 20,000 years.

Micro Civilization struggled arduously through endless hardship and confusion, each setback seemingly pushing them towards an abyss. Yet, it was in this continuous struggle that countless lonely brave people emerged.

They believed that if the fire of civilization were to keep burning, they must bravely develop new living spaces, even at the cost of crossing the vast chasm of interstellar space to far and unknown galaxies.

At that time, this was considered a pipe dream, yet it was this seemingly unrealistic dream that ignited the passion and determination of countless Micro People.

They invested everything to build enormous "Feather" flyers, which in combination with hydrogen balloons created an unprecedented launch platform at an altitude of tens of thousands of meters. That was their starting point to the sea of stars.

From this platform, they launched a level 5 "rocket," which like a soaring dragon, sent a pigeon egg-sized capsule—seemingly insignificant yet carrying the fate of millions of Micro People—into the planet's orbit.

Their target was none other than the "Ark" docked in orbit.

After countless attempts and failures, they finally boarded the Ark. That moment marked the official start of Micro Civilization's interstellar journey.

Many years later, Micro Civilization was still pondering one question: why did the predecessors destroy the last embryo of the macro people but leave the "Ark" spaceship? It almost preserved everything needed for interstellar exploration as if the predecessors had prepared everything 20,000 years ago.

After numerous speculations and validations, Micro Civilization was forced to face a mind-shaking conclusion.

The predecessors had foreseen the fragility and brevity of Micro Civilization from the beginning and had also seen through Micro Civilization's intention to lead the predecessors into destroying the last embryo of the macro people.

However, even knowing this, they still acted as they did. No matter what, the form of civilization had changed and could not go back.

Just as Micro Civilization said, macro people were not at an advantage in the war with Micro Civilization; if the predecessors continued to develop macro people, they would inevitably face the retaliation of Micro People, and by then, not even the ashes of civilization might remain.

Thus, the predecessors chose to destroy the last embryo of the macro people and sacrifice themselves, allowing Micro Civilization to win on the battlefield of "wisdom," thereby shifting their attention away from the "Ark."

Though Micro People couldn't set foot in space, their laser weapons could still destroy the "Ark."

The predecessors understood that since Micro Civilization could no longer turn back, let everything be more thorough.

And the "Ark" was the seed of civilization that needed to be preserved, the last glimmer of hope in the cosmic abyss.

So, the last of the lonely brave people of Micro Civilization, bearing the future of the entire civilization, piloted the "Ark," leaving behind their nurturing home planet and embarking on a boundless interstellar voyage.

At this moment, their civilization rank was ascending once again after tens of thousands of years, reaching a level of 1.4.

In this vast sea of stars, they miraculously encountered the Divine Vessel Civilization.

The Divine Vessel Civilization added one more to its ranks.