Chapter 430 New Journey and the Past

Era of the Divine Vessel 130 million years.

In this year, the Divine Vessel Civilization underwent another nirvana rebirth within a black hole, successfully advancing to a Type 3 Civilization, also known as a Divine-level Civilization.

The individuals and the collective of a Divine-level Civilization had fused into one, achieving the unity of subjectivity and objectivity, their existence both in objective states and consciousness states.

They could manipulate or change the rules of the universe at will, casually adjusting physical constants, controlling Gravity, Electromagnetic Force, and other fundamental forces, as if these were mere playthings to them.

A Divine-level Civilization was no longer bound by physical laws, having transcended the constraints of time and space.

To them, instant transmission, interdimensional travel... were nothing out of the ordinary.

Time and space were akin to parameters within their control, they could even reverse time, returning to the past or proceeding to the future.

In this universe, nothing could harm them, neither natural environments nor other civilizations.

Even among Divine-level Civilizations, survival and development weren't their primary concern; there was no chain of suspicion, hence no Dark Forest and no Hines Strike amongst them.

Even if they were to truly wage war, they couldn't annihilate each other. They usually didn't reproduce nor expand their power, for all these notions had lost their meaning.

They were all-powerful, yet, no matter how incredible their abilities were, all their actions contributed to the increase of the universe's entropy.

Every manipulation of the universe required vast amounts of material energy.

They could achieve instant transmission, but the energy consumed was astronomical.

They could also reverse Earth's time to 100 years ago, an act that might consume material energy equivalent to the total of several million constant stars.

Gods were not devoid of emotion or ascetic; they were detached from everything, as there was nothing left for them to pursue. Apart from interest, there was nothing that could attract them.

The interests or pursuits of the Divine Vessel Civilization were limited to exploring the entire universe and even beyond it.

The new journey of the Divine Vessel Civilization would be to explore this universe; they could not possibly understand what lay beyond, but perhaps the consciousness of the universe did.

Within a black hole, they could only sense the presence of the universe's consciousness but could not interpret it.

Studying a single black hole was like studying a single neuron; it was impossible to explore the thinking of the "human brain" by examining just one "neuron."

The Divine Vessel Civilization set sail again, embarking on a new venture!

Once they had left their Home Planet, cautiously venturing towards the sea of stars as if treading carefully.

Now, there were no more restrictions for them; speeds of hundreds to thousands times Light Speed were easily achievable for them.

To realize such velocities, first, they needed to reduce their own mass to zero, making the conservation of kinetic energy and momentum, relativistic effects... seem pale in their presence.

This might sound somewhat unbelievable, but for the Divine Vessel Civilization, which wielded advanced technology, this was a mere low-level technique.

Secondly, they needed to consume tremendous energy to create high-speed channels in higher dimensions, these channels carried the Divine Vessel Civilization as they raced through the endless sea of stars, making the vastness of the universe accessible!

*

As the new journey was about to begin, the Divine Vessel Civilization's hearts may still have lingered with nostalgia for the once Divine Vessel's various civilizations.

Although time had flown, they might have evolved into a different species from the current Divine Vessel, but that deep-rooted ancestral connection and bond were hard to sever.

In order to find those lost branches of civilization, the Divine Vessel Civilization harnessed tremendous energy to embark on a search across the vast Starfields of the Milky Way Galaxy.

The passage of 130 million years was as if but a moment to the Divine Vessel Civilization.

However, when they looked back at the fates of those original Divine Vessel civilizations, they found that their paths seemed not to have changed much.

They resolutely departed that year and dissolved soon after in an unprecedentedly large scale melee.

Even later, the six core civilizations that had initially joined forces split apart, each embarking on their own new voyages of life.

However, it seemed their destinies were once again to repeat a fate similar to that of the Fungus Civilization.

To Lin Sen's surprise, one of the human groups and the Trisolaran Civilization returned to the Solar System.

This was where their journey had begun, and now, nearly 1.5 million years had passed since their return.

When they saw the familiar blue planet again, a surge of emotions, as tumultuous as the surging waves of the sea, overwhelmed them uncontrollably.

Today's Earth had regained its former vitality and vigor, with a completely rejuvenated ecosystem. And on this vast land, a new civilization was born—the Ant Civilization.

Initially dwelling underground, they began to emerge from their burrows as the climate gradually warmed.

With the increase in Earth's oxygen levels, the ants gradually grew larger in size, and perhaps by some quirk of fate, their brains also underwent significant evolution.

They had a brain capacity of about 800 milliliters and stood half a meter tall when upright.

Their six limbs evolved into a four-legged gait, two of which were used to manipulate tools, and they even evolved fingers on those limbs.

By the time human civilization returned, these ants had developed to the industrial age and were on the cusp of the dawn of an information revolution.

The returning humans were deeply moved by such a sight. It had only been a little over a million years since humanity had left, and a new civilization had once again emerged on Earth.

The Ant Civilization's current flourishing field was archaeology. Before this, they had gone through a long period of religious era, all because human civilization had left behind many buried relics.

The technological power contained within was beyond their comprehension, each one regarded by the ants as Miracles. They also understood that before them, there had been a civilization of incomparable strength.

However, they couldn't grasp why such a powerful civilization would "extinct," what force could have led to their extinction. They could only speculate and imagine the lost civilization's past splendor and glory through the clues found in those ruins.

In a few hundred years, perhaps they too, like humanity, would once again leave this planet.

The returning humans stood aside, silently observing this emerging civilization, seeing the ants' perseverance and their reverence in the face of the unknown.

All this felt incredibly familiar and endearing to humanity, as if they were seeing their own past selves.

Humanity did not interfere with the development of the Ant Civilization and believed that in the near future, the Ant Civilization would surely reach the forefront of human civilization through their own wisdom and effort.

The universe is filled with miracles, and the birth of civilizations is a miracle in the universe. Yet, on this blue planet Earth, three entirely different civilizations emerged—that is a miracle among miracles.

During the return of human civilization, there was an episode.

When they reached the Orion Arm, they unexpectedly discovered several spacecraft from the Singer Civilization. These craft, having been defeated in the war with the Edge World, were recklessly emitting two-dimensional foil.

Compared to human civilization, the Singers were as insignificant as flies, and humanity destroyed these ships with ease, as if shooing away flies with a "swat."

They also found the home planet of the Singer Civilization, now two-dimensionalized. Seeing the once mighty civilization reduced to this state, humanity could not help but feel a multitude of emotions.

Perhaps the reason the universe is a Dark Forest is not just because of the omnipresence of the chain of suspicion, nor is it merely confined by the objective conditions of the universe itself.

On a deeper level, it could stem from the despair hidden deep within every civilization's heart.

The universe has never been frightening; the true fear lies within the despair of the heart.

When Lin Sen received these messages from the high-dimensional seed, his heart was filled with astonishment.

He thought he would no longer receive any information about them, for humanity had reached the Silver Core to challenge the Singers, and a million years had passed since they left the Silver Core. He presumed the Singer Civilization had long been "extinct" in the war with the Edge World.

Unexpectedly, the surviving Escape Fleet of the Singers still fatefully encountered human civilization, yet on this timeline, they were nothing but flies to humanity, stirring just a modicum of disgust.