Age of Cosmic Exploration

When Yao Yuan woke up, the AI fleet had been gone for four days. In fact, with the condition Yao Yuan was in, it wouldn’t be out of place if he had gone into coma like Jay. He shouldn’t have woken up on the fourth day. This was too weird. However, Yao Yuan didn’t have the focus to deal with this, his attention was fully occupied by the aftermath of the war.

When Yao Yuan exited the City of Light Moon’s hospital, he realized the civilians had all returned to the City of Light Moon. In the few days he was unconscious, with the help of both the Defense Unit and the Black Star Troopers, the AI robots remaining in the City of Light Moon had been cleared. In the end, the City of Light Moon wasn’t heavily destroyed. This was because the AI fleet didn’t use any large scale weaponry. The robots that landed on the City of Light Moon focused solely on capturing humans, so other than parts of certain buildings, most of the systems were perfectly preserved. This was why the civilians could move back to the City of Light Moon so soon.

On the way from the hospital to the government building, what Yao Yuan saw was not a broken city but a broken civilization. This war had caused thousands injuries, deaths, and disappearances, including almost 100 Black Star Troopers, a great scientist, and several ten thousands newborns...

This loss was something that couldn’t be described in words. This was a loss that couldn’t be regained that easily.

This was what Yao Yuan saw. Even the patrolling Defense Unit soldiers had faces filled with confusion. The arrogance, excitement, and human spirit were shattered completely by this war. Now Yao Yuan felt like he was in the city of the walking dead. This was what Yao Yuan worried about the most. If the human spirit was lost, then the collapse of human civilization was inevitable...

When Yao Yuan noticed this, he immediately told the worker who was piloting the hovercraft, "Tell the government PR department that I will conduct a speech in another hour."

The PR department was highly efficient. Yao Yuan’s craft had just arrived at the government building when Barbie and some officials were already waiting at the entrance. Among them was Guang Zhen and crew. The vanguard unit was heavily damaged and they were recuperating on the City of Light Moon.

Yao Yuan discussed government details with Barbie and the government officials for an hour before he chased everyone away. Only Guang Zhen remained, and they both walked towards the Chancellor’s room. There were no words after they sat down, the atmosphere was tense.

"Ol’ Wong... If this is the victory we get, then I’d rather we space warp at the onset, give up on this city, and restart at a new location," Yao Yuan said after he stood up and wandered to the window.

Guang Zhen’s words were filled with bitterness as well. He shook his head and said, "This is not your fault, it is not anyone’s fault. We miscalculated the prowess of the AI fleet. When we discovered their real identity, it was already too late. This was not something either one of us could have predicted. If we really start with a space warp, we might end up with a greater loss than now..."

Yao Yuan sat and pulled out a cigarette to light before saying, "I understand, but the hearts simply wouldn’t calm down. Plus, this war has caused us a grievous wound; it has even shattered the human spirit. This means that the possibility of renaissance in the future... is greatly lowered, at least it is no longer possible in our generation. It might be possible for the next generation who has not experienced this war. After all, in the end... we didn’t win this war with our own power, the enemy chose to retreat when they had victory in their grasp. This feeling... we’re like a bug being spared because we aren’t worth the trouble!" Yao Yuan was raging when he said this, but there was nothing he could do but sit there and grip his hands tightly until the veins were popping.

When Guang Zhen heard this, he suddenly added, "By the way, since you’ve just woken up, you haven’t been briefed on this yet. Nian Xi Kong woke up yesterday, and this morning, she told me something that you need to know... The AI fleet has captured many of our people, right? They include one great scientist, 50,000 civilians, and about eight Black Star Troopers whose combat jets exploded. They are all still alive but are currently being held captive. The AI fleet even provided them with food and medical treatment."

Yao Yuan was pleasantly surprised. He asked immediately, "How does she know about this? The AI fleet should be in the middle of warp drive, right? Even if we can detect them, we shouldn’t be unable to detect their interior."

Guang Zhen answered, "It’s Zhang San. Alongside Intel, they are part of the captives. Zhang San used the soulweb to reach Xi Kong, and it was he who revealed this information to her. The great scientist is being kept in the same room with him, and they are still alive..."

Yao Yuan stood up to pace the room, but he soon slumped back in his chair with despondency. "I can’t see a way... The AI fleet’s warp drive speed is 10 times faster than ours, and even if we miraculously catch up to them, we don’t have any military prowess to take them down. Those captive humans, we have to..." Yao Yuan’s lips were filled with bitterness. He was humanity’s Chancellor. It was his responsibility to protect his citizens, but as the Chancellor, he had to make difficult decisions to preserve the longevity of the human race. He was caught between a rock and a hard place, and it was not a good feeling.

"What if we have 100 more Steel Balls?" Guang Zhen suggested after some thought.

Yao Yuan laughed humorlessly. "If we have at least 70, no, 50 more Steel Balls, and they are all piloted by Homo Evolutis like myself who can survive for more than three hours, then the AI fleet is a non-issue, but is that possible? All the other Homo Evolutis will collapse after they operate the Steel Balls, and it is a one-time exhaustion. Even if they survive, they’ll become vegetables. Who is going to be responsible for that, you or me?"

Guang Zhen suddenly pointed at the document sitting on top of Yao Yuan’s table. Yao Yuan picked it up and started to read. It was then that Guang Zhen said, "I also found out about this three days ago. The report was done yesterday and you woke up today... The hidden Whisperer who designed the control system has shown herself. Furthermore, she completed the design for a super-weapon called the psychokinetic floating cannon with Bo Li several days ago. She woke up almost as the same time as Xi Kong. I’ve asked her about the mental control system. She said that if she has Bo Li’s lab and equipment, cooperation from a large crew, and Bo Li’s help with some designs, then she is confident she can perfect the control system’s design in three months and lower the pressure to the level where even normal Homo Evolutis can use it without repercussions..."

Yao Yuan looked at Guang Zhen seriously before returning to the report. After about 20 minutes, he asked Guang Zhen seriously, "You mean... it’s time to use point space warp? It’s true that 10 years have passed and we can rely on the illusory space to pinpoint our space warp exit for once. With the help from Zhang San feeding us information, we can indeed surprise the AI fleet when they leave the warp drive space. Isn’t this the blazing trail project we set up earlier?"

The blazing trail project was part of the new habitation white manifesto. It was a project that stated that when humanity was threatened by an alien civilization and had suffered great losses, humanity would use point space warp to warp to the civilization’s home planet or Shelter after humanity had confidence in winning. A devastating blow would be delivered and the human weapons would cause a sea of fire to swallow the whole enemy forces, thus the term "blazing trail project."

The reason for this project was to prevent what worried Yao Yuan currently. This was because a civilization’s spirit was maintained in victories and collapsed in losses. There were no races that were more familiar with the consequence of a shaken spirit than humanity, because humanity was a civilization that had escaped from a life-preserving planet before it was a full-fledged level 2 space civilization. Humanity was privy to the effects of a high spirit and the negative effects a low spirit could bring. This was the purpose of the blazing trail project, it was a project based in revenge!

Guang Zhen nodded but didn’t say anything because Yao Yuan was the human Chancellor. He respected and followed his orders.

Yao Yuan picked up the report on the mental control system, and after some time, he asked Guang Zhen, "What about Bo Li? When will she wake up?"

Guang Zhen answered, "In less than three days, that is confirmed by the stability of her brain graph."

"More than 100 Steel Balls, and the psychokinetic floating cannon that can fire at multiple targets at the same time?" Yao Yuan stood up and started to pace.

"Also 50,000 civilians, almost 10 Black Star Troopers, and a great scientist!" Guang Zhen added fuel to the fire and emphasized on the things on the line.

"Let’s do it!" Yao Yuan hissed through gritted teeth with both his eyes blazing. "I’ll bring up this decision in the upcoming speech...

"The blazing trail project!"