Chapter 1 The Ancient Story

Throughout the entire starry sky, countless races and civilizations, all intelligent beings, circulated an ancient story.

A story about the greatness of the past.

In the not-so-distant past, the former rulers of the universe wantonly manipulated everything in the world. They controlled all things with psionic power and ruled over thousands of people. The warp drive allowed them to control the power to traverse time and space, turning the long distances that even light could not cross into a simple leap from one side of the bed to the other.

Those were the most prosperous and desperate days for many civilizations among the stars. Under the rule and mutual conquest of the most powerful ancient forerunners, the flames of war raged endlessly in the galaxy. The number of extinct races was as numerous and meaningless as stardust. But because of this, many super technologies and powerful individuals that seem like miracles today emerged in that era, radiating brilliant light.

But it all ended. All the glory, all the pride, whether it was the sorrowful cries of slaves or even livestock races, or the arrogant sneers of the shining upper-class residents, all vanished in time, like tears in the rain.

The 'Silent Era' had arrived.

Starting thousands of years ago, the power of psionic energy gradually weakened. While this brought panic, it was also considered a cyclical rise and fall of psionic energy. The subsequent resurgence of psionic energy also proved this point. Although a small number of intelligent beings were worried, most members of non-top civilizations did not pay much attention to these trivial matters.

But starting from a certain moment a thousand years ago, in that instant, all the remaining psionic users were horrified to discover that all psionic communications were silent. The originally noisy and dazzling stars instantly became deathly silent. The many planets that were originally connected to each other, using hyperspace channels as highways, instantly became independent of each other, unable to exchange goods or maintain contact.

Psionic energy, severed.

Psionic energy, in this universe, is common sense, the essence that supports the existence of some substances and phenomena. Its disappearance plunged all civilizations related to it into the dust.

Huge interstellar empires disintegrated, and the behemoths composed of corporate alliances fell apart, even turning into dust. The cosmic hive, which occupied a corner of the galaxy, could only choose to sleep and return to the depths of the mother planet after losing the mental integration brought about by psionic energy... All powerful, ancient civilizations, one after another, ceased to speak out. Some mother planets of vast countries, having been completely transformed into planetary cities, faced the resources from other colonies being cut off, all residents could only starve to death in miserable famines and plagues.

More than ten million races became extinct, and the original interstellar map was completely erased.

The noisy universe became quiet as a result.

And this, then, is the 'Silent Era'.

Silent Era, 1023.

'The Revival Era'

Somewhere in the third spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy, a peculiar trapezoidal spaceship was slowly sailing in the dark space.

Ke Talun embedded himself in the command cabin of the third-generation long-range exploration ship. Four mechanically modified claw limbs were fixed on the driver's seat. At the same time, the mechanical modification parts connected to his body's nerves were perfectly integrated into the ship's command system. The captain of this exploration ship patiently waited for the psionic communication to be restored.

This was a peculiar creature that looked very much like a crab. It had four claw limbs for walking, and two powerful tentacle limbs on both sides of its body that should have evolved from antennae, possessing keen touch, considerable flexibility, and agility. This peculiar creature had undergone a very high degree of mechanical modification, and its back had a large number of electronic interfaces for embedding itself in the ship's command cabin.

Soon, with a slight psionic hum, a message that seemed to come from the distant sky arrived in Ke Talun's mind.

【Voyager 12, the Council of Elders is listening.】

In response, the captain immediately reported: "Not long ago, we received a distress signal from the edge of the third spiral arm, but the time point recorded in the signal is very ancient. Based on our judgment, it should be a signal from before the 'Silent Era,' during the civil war of the 'Thousand Stars Trade Community,' the predecessor of the Corporate Alliance."

Hearing this news, even the Council of Elders on the other end of the psionic communication was surprised. Undisguised astonishment came through the psionic signal—Ke Talun was not lying, they all knew that.

【According to the history we excavated from the 'Forerunner Ruins,' this period is at least 172,000 years away from now...】

They couldn't help but be surprised. The 'Talin Council of Elders' was a newly emerging civilization that appeared around the Silent Era. 170,000 years ago, their race was still cultivating algae in the lakes and oceans of Talin Star. The entire planet was an observation point for a certain advanced civilization observing primitive organisms. In fact, if they hadn't picked up a lot of relics from that advanced civilization's observation point, the Talin people would probably still be fighting among themselves on a single planet.

170,000 years, excluding the advanced civilizations that once settled in the shining sectors, was enough for a civilization to rise and fall more than a dozen times. The Talin Council of Elders all knew very well that they were just a civilization that had slowly developed around the Silent Era because they were too primitive, thus avoiding the huge impact brought about by the severing of psionic energy.

And now, a signal from such a distant past had arrived...

【Show the star chart coordinates.】

The Council of Elders issued an order, and Ke Talun sent the star chart.

【Wait, isn't this the forbidden zone marked on the ancient star chart?】

But because of this, doubts followed: 【And it's still one of the oldest 'Black Domain Forbidden Zones'!】

Because he had to conduct long-term deep-space navigation, Ke Talun's body had undergone full prosthetic modification. Except for the nerve ganglion used for thinking, all other parts were mechanized, so he was basically unaffected by any emotions.

He did not share the Council of Elders' doubts. He simply retrieved the information on the Black Domain Forbidden Zone from his memory bank.

The oldest civilization, the Forerunners, appeared in this galaxy 800,000 years ago, but it was not until 500,000 years ago that a large number of civilizations began to fill the entire galaxy.

And the 'Black Domain Forbidden Zone' began to appear sporadically in various corners of the galaxy starting 430,000 years ago, black zones that were impossible to navigate, impossible to communicate with, and impossible to detect. All civilizations, including the exploration ships of the oldest Forerunner civilizations, would completely disappear after entering them, and even the signal of being destroyed would not return.

This was a result that was almost like falling into a black hole, causing all civilizations at the time to call those areas where passage was prohibited the 'Black Domain Forbidden Zone.'

Of course, from the perspective of the post-Silent Era now, those forbidden zones were just naturally formed high-risk cosmic spaces that naturally shielded psionic conduction. After the severing of psionic energy in the Silent Era, these forbidden zones became less mysterious and revealed their true nature.

But now, in a forbidden zone that theoretically should have disappeared with the Silent Era, a signal originating from hundreds of thousands of years ago suddenly appeared, as if a ghost had reappeared... Who could understand this?

【Analyze it.】

After receiving the full text of Ke Talun's signal, the Council of Elders decided to analyze this unencrypted psionic signal as much as possible—because the transmission distance was too far, the signal was somewhat distorted and needed to be restored to be clearly understood.

However, several days later, the news obtained after the analysis caused all the high-level Talin people to tremble and their tentacles to twitch.

【An Ω-level super psionic civilization?! It already existed hundreds of thousands of years ago? Is this kind of giant Forerunner civilization hidden in this forbidden zone?】

【Ω-level, according to the pre-Silent Era classification, there are multiple Sovereigns inside who can destroy planets with their individual power... multiple psionic Sovereigns who can destroy planets?】

【It's not surprising that this kind of powerful existence survived the thousand years of psionic severance... Wasn't it said recently that the old shining area (the central area of the galaxy, where stars are extremely dense and unstable, and the civilizations that settled here have extremely high technical levels, all of whom migrated here later) discovered a revived cosmic beast? It awakened from a gas giant and destroyed the Zebol people's colony...】

【But before the colony was destroyed, the Zebol people obtained part of the beast's body—now their biology and materials science are advancing by leaps and bounds, and that beast is currently in the recovery period, so it is estimated that it will not make any moves for several centuries (for ease of viewing, all measurements in the universe are unified).】

The Talin civilization, in essence, was a civilization that started by analyzing Forerunner ruins—after all, in this wreckage of a once-brilliant galaxy, it is difficult for new civilizations not to encounter traces left by the ancient rulers.

However, precisely because of this, the nature of their civilization is inclined towards boldness and a willingness to explore.

Moreover, only the unknown is scary, and now, knowing that the other party is an Ω-level super psionic civilization... even if they have only a slight connection with them, it would be a good thing!

【This is the Council of Elders, Voyager 12, you are the exploration ship closest to the signal source. We hope that you will explore the signal source point from a long distance and try to figure out why a ship from 170,000 years ago would suddenly release a psionic signal.】

"Understood, will guarantee completion of the mission." The calm reply, began to use the ship's internal signal to notify other crew members, Ke Talun began to prepare to change course and reset the target.

Preparing to depart—

Using the mechanized vocal organs, making a slight hum, the captain observed the entire universe in a 360-degree view through his visual signals connected to the ship, and 'smiled' in his heart.

Accompanied by a slight tremor, the trapezoidal spaceship slowly turned and started towards the hazy and magnificent stars in the distance.

Then, it was departure.

Earth Calendar, May 24, 2017.

Grönland, United International Headquarters, Conference Hall.

"...So, we have reason to believe that the Immortals and Gods were actually very aware of the existence of aliens back then. They were definitely able to monitor alien communications and understand them."

At this moment, a private meeting that had not been made public was being held.

"Then why didn't they give any feedback? The Immortals and Gods are arrogant, but they shouldn't be autistic."

In response to Su Zhou's analysis, a Japanese researcher asked somewhat strangely, "Communication is the nature of civilization..."

In response, Su Zhou, as one of the representatives of the Zheng Nation (lit. Correct Nation, meaning China), patiently explained: "Think carefully, if you were an Immortal or God, you live in the suburbs of the galaxy, surrounded by dozens or hundreds of natural habitable worlds, connected to your home star by space-time channels, rich in resources and comfortable to live in... would you have any desire to explore the stars? Why would you care about the signals of a group of unimportant people? The technology of the Immortals and Gods is not bad, they can transmit across worlds!"

Thinking carefully, if he had this condition, he probably wouldn't bother to go out, so this Japanese researcher sat down convincingly and stopped asking questions.

Su Zhou continued to explain, he shrugged and said, "As for why the Immortals and Gods seem particularly autistic, it's probably because they muted their own microphone while muting everyone else's."

"Everyone, now is not the time to discuss what the Immortals and Gods were like back then. What we should be thinking about now is how to deal with the aliens who may come—although the signal from the Xiuge Military Industry Complex's spacecraft is to warn others not to come, it is well known that it is better not to say anything. Once someone warns not to approach, then someone will definitely deliberately approach. This is the essence of life."

"We are not Immortals and Gods and do not have overwhelming force against aliens. What if they drive an expedition fleet of hundreds of thousands of ships and flatten us? What if they fire a super weapon from tens of light-years away and flatten our entire solar system? What if..."

Although Su Zhou's alarmist talk sounded like nonsense, those present did not say 'that's impossible,' but instead pondered seriously on how to deal with this situation.

Even though in the recent two months or so of practice, countries have successively sent lunar rockets and begun reverse-engineering research on spacecraft materials and the various engines they carry, even if they are completely reverse-engineered, it is very difficult to establish a spacecraft production line and experiment with spacecraft suitable for earthlings, and it will take a long time to plan.

The result of the meeting was nothing more than the four permanent members of the Security Council sharing some information with each other, and there was no other progress.

In response, Su Zhou, who left the United International and boarded the plane back to the Zheng Nation, felt a sense of urgency while understanding.

"Without cosmic power, the Earth civilization, which can only shrink on Earth in the face of aliens, is just meat on the chopping board."

"But even if there are blueprints and technology, it is not something that can be done overnight to manufacture a spacecraft..."

Thinking like this, Su Zhou could only sigh: "Transcendent power for a civilization cannot be as popular as technology, benefiting most people and ordinary people without talent, but transcendent power is a good way to raise the combat power of a civilization in a short period of time."

"If you don't become an Immortal or God for a day, you will have no power to fight back in the face of aliens... um, I should also develop my true body's 'cosmic battle form'!"

Clenching his fist secretly, the young man made up his mind.

"Speaking of which, it's about time, I should go to the world of Yala (pinyin transliteration of world name), see if there is any inspiration to learn from—even if there isn't, it's good to cultivate for a while longer!"

—The alien travelers are about to sail from afar.

—Earth is about to enter a new era.

After the fall of the ancient great existence, the many tiny sparks that were ignited again on the black curtain are now shining, waiting for the moment when they will make the galaxy boil again.

And the originally silent civilization has shed its heavy shell and is preparing with trepidation and anticipation to send out its own voice to this vast universe.

A new chapter is about to unfold.

—tobecontinued……

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