Chapter 290: The Shadow of Time
The four players all looked confused by what the Big Boss said.
The Big Boss patiently explained, "Everyone, think about it. According to the publicly available background settings in the game 'Star Sea', when was Cangyuan Future Technology established?"
"2033 AD," Jubian immediately replied.
"Hmm, that's right, 2033, which is eight years from now," the Big Boss nodded. "Cangyuan's opponent, Infinite Deep Space, which is of similar strength, should have been established only a few years later, or even earlier.
"Let's assume the game 'Star Sea' never existed, and the nuclear fusion research facility we see now also didn't exist. Human society continues to develop at its original pace.
"Then, eight years from now, perhaps private enterprises specializing in space development might appear. But, is it possible for such a company to successfully launch a massive interstellar colony ship by 2095?"
The four fell into deep thought.
The Big Boss's point was, isn't this pace of technological advancement a bit too fast?
It completely contradicts the actual situation before the appearance of 'Star Sea.'
With the end of the Cold War, humanity's investment in space decreased significantly. In the 80s, there were space shuttles, but now they are long gone.
"I think it's still possible," Jubian said.
"If humanity concentrated all its efforts on aerospace, referring to the development speed of the past few months, or during the Cold War space race, it might not be impossible."
"Exactly! So, in the near future, on the original timeline, what changes occurred that made humanity re-emphasize the extremely expensive aerospace industry?"
The Big Boss asked.
Black Smoke: "World War III?"
Mage: "Could it be—the discovery of conclusive evidence of alien civilization, and they are hostile?"
The Big Boss smiled and shook his head.
"I think both possibilities are not high."
"Why?"
"First, it must be admitted that, according to the current international situation, the possibility of a world war, or even an all-out nuclear war, is not low. However,
after such a war, the ultimate winner should theoretically be a major power, or a group of major powers.
"If the result of a world war is the rise of a single company that can rival the Earth United Government as a super political entity,
don't you find it incredibly unbelievable?"
This... indeed!
After all, it's not a Cyberpunk 2077 kind of world. Theoretically, no matter how strong a company's technological capabilities are, it would still be subject to national control during a world war, like General Motors and Chrysler in the US, or Porsche and Volkswagen in Germany during WWII.
"As for the discovery of alien civilization, that would be remembered by all of humanity. I think even after an apocalypse, records would still remain, not completely forgotten."
That's also true.
According to information gathered by the branch players in New Hope, humanity's first contact with an alien civilization occurred in 2122.
Although the other party's technology was not advanced enough, and their military power was not strong enough, leading to their homeworld quickly falling and their entire civilization becoming a vassal of the UEG, this year will be forever remembered by human civilization.
The Big Boss continued, "And don't forget, according to the 'plot' you recently unlocked, Executive Officer was a genetically modified individual specifically designed for the colonization project from birth.
"He was 23 years old when he boarded the cangyuan one in 2095, meaning the entire colonization project was already decided as early as 2071.
"This indicates that by then, the cangyuan one had already completed its technical feasibility study, and related construction and exoplanet colonization development technologies,
especially nuclear fusion reactor technology, might have been very mature in the 2060s.
"The 2060s, that's 40 years from now. Without external intervention, is it possible for humanity to develop to this extent in 40 years?"
"Yeah, this—it's indeed a bit strange!"
Jubian whispered, seemingly afraid of disturbing some unspeakable force.
"That's not the only strange thing."
The Big Boss tapped the table, reminding the players that the following line of reasoning was very important.
"Soon after the cangyuan one left Earth, a technological explosion occurred on Earth, to the extent that Cangyuan was able to terraform Li Star, where you first started, by approximately 2200. It should now be confirmed that Li Star is not in our Milky Way galaxy, right?"
"Yes," Mage replied. "The distance between this planet and our Milky Way galaxy is at least tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of light-years. It is speculated that in the 22nd century, humanity discovered a small number of ultra-long-distance wormholes leading to other galaxies and relied on these rare wormholes for intergalactic colonial expansion."
"It's also possible that they activated Stargates left by an alien civilization," Jubian added.
The Big Boss: "Hmm, whether through long-distance wormholes or Stargates, to initially explore these interstellar routes, you first need to acquire a large amount of zero element to build Zero Element Furnaces or warp drives, right?
"You've already said that the principle of zero element prospecting is a kind of 'force field resonance.' If I understand correctly, this means that before prospecting, the prospector needs to have some zero element resources in hand, right?"
Black Smoke: "Yes."
The Big Boss: "Then, where did our earliest zero element reserves come from?
+
Hiss!
This question stumped everyone.
"Indeed, this is a paradox hidden in 'future history'!"
Jubian began to realize the real point of doubt.
"You are very sharp in spotting problems!"
"No, not me. This is a major question summarized by the country's most excellent think tank after an all-night discussion."
The Big Boss waved his hand.
"Regarding these questions, the think tanks have put forward many hypotheses, but currently, due to lack of evidence, none can be confirmed. It's similar to freely making up stories, with very low credibility. If we tell you directly, it might first affect your judgment in the game; secondly, due to the extremely sensitive nature of the hypotheses themselves, it could easily cause panic throughout society. So, after careful consideration, it was decided to temporarily keep these hypotheses confidential from you and the entire society."
All four players expressed understanding.
"Understood! We will investigate along this clue in the game."
"Then I'll leave it to you. Also, there's another thing that's worth investigating."
"Please tell us!"
The Big Boss took a sip of water.
"Alright! Humanity, having undergone a technological explosion in the 22nd century, theoretically had the full capability to intercept the cangyuan one, launched less than a century earlier. At the 2200 mark, its distance from Earth would not exceed 15 light-years.
"Cangyuan had already invested a huge amount of resources in this ship. Sending out a second fleet to catch up quickly, completely modifying the cangyuan one, and installing a Zero Element Furnace and a warp drive, should theoretically be the most economically beneficial choice.
"But it's clear that Cangyuan never did that. Did they not want to chase, or could they simply not catch up?"
Couldn't catch up...
Couldn't catch up!?
This sentence inspired everyone, including the Academician who was listening in.
What means of travel would be faster than mass effect travel, warp travel, or even wormhole jumps?
The answer was obvious.
"Do you mean that shortly after the cangyuan one set sail, it recovered a jump drive from the dark universe and activated it before humanity's technological explosion?"
"No, you misunderstood!"
Mage, the smartest person present, held down Jubian's shoulder, who was so excited he was about to stand up.
"The Big Boss means that Cangyuan's entire colonization project was just a pretense! The true goal of the cangyuan one when it set sail was to go and recover a jump drive, and use it to completely break away from human civilization, sailing to the edges of the universe unreachable by all other humans!
"This is why Executive Officer, as the overall head of the project, never appeared in public and had to be raised in isolation. Cangyuan couldn't afford the loss if he accidentally leaked information to the media or was kidnapped and interrogated by other forces in his youth!
"This is also why we all previously felt that Charlotte was clearly holding back! She must know about this too!"
+....
Goosebumps immediately rose on Jubian's body.
'Yes, you're right! Otherwise, in this vast universe, how could the cangyuan one, while traveling at high speed, coincidentally discover a jump drive that didn't belong to human civilization! There's no such convenient good fortune!
"But this hypothesis is also unreasonable! How did Cangyuan initially know the location of that jump drive?
"Why didn't the cangyuan one bring such a precious alien artifact back to the company, but instead continued its long voyage? And why did it reappear in the sight of post-disaster humanity, near Li Star, after the apocalypse? This—this, this, this!"
Jubian felt his brain was about to explode.
Mage's lips were tightly pursed, and he shook his head dejectedly.
I don't know either!
"So this is also what I'd like you to pay attention to and investigate," the Big Boss said.
"It can currently be confirmed that Executive Officer and Charlotte should both be aware of the secret; and, even if they didn't want to bring it up proactively in the past, after recovering the cangyuan one, they would have no choice but to reveal the truth of the plan to you, their employees."
Lu Yuan, in the game, inexplicably sneezed.
He truly knew nothing!
The breakthrough lies only with Charlotte and the cangyuan one itself.
"My request remains the same as before: you continue to follow the main quests of the game, explore the game's worldview and background settings, but, absolutely do not arouse the GM's vigilance and dislike."
There was no need for the Big Boss to say more; the GM's will incarnate should be Executive Officer.
"Understood!"
All four stood up.
"Mission accomplished!"
At the same time, in another city.
Ye Xing, who had just logged off, came to his computer to prepare the opening for a new video series.
'Journey to Paradise Island'!
Come on, Interstellar GTA, Post-Apocalyptic Morality and Rule of Law!
Suddenly, he noticed a news item that had shot to the top of the hot search list, with extremely high popularity.
'Nuclear Fusion Reactor to Go Online Tomorrow'
Tsk!
Ye Xing was unimpressed.
Is the Engineer Guild crazy?
Just one reactor going online, a common occurrence on Li Star, is it worth such high traffic?
Our Investigator Guild, some are going to Paradise Island to investigate Azrael, investigate the mysterious middleman who previously traded with Dark Sun, and steal zero element prospecting technology. Another part is going to Ruins Star to search for pre-disaster super Soldier training bases.
Which one isn't a major mission affecting the main plot progression? And we don't see you bragging about your achievements like this.
They're really putting on a show!
He contemptuously gave a middle finger, stretched, and went to the fridge for a cola.
Only then did he realize something was wrong.
Wait a minute..
Nuclear fusion?
Are you kidding me...!
I'm so confused! This is the real world, damn it!!!
He quickly rushed back to the computer screen.
He saw that not only was the top of the hot search list abnormal, but all other newly trending news items were also extremely abnormal!
The entire internet had completely exploded.
This world was no longer the same as before.