The "Tower" Connecting to the Sky!

Surprise, bewilderment, incredulity... as well as shock and disbelief. A kaleidoscope of expressions was painted across every face. Gaia. The Tree of Ein Sof. And— The Progenitor standing behind it all. More than that. From the mouth of the man named Ye Shi, the crowd present also heard many things they had never heard of—or even imagined. In the starry skies beneath their feet, there had once existed a civilization far more prosperous and vast in territory than the Human Alliance. After discerning all the truths of this universe, It had shattered the void and departed, traveling to another universe outside the box. Planet Gaia, located in Alpha Centauri, was merely one of Its countless legacies left behind in this universe... These discoveries were already astonishing enough. It was no exaggeration to say that they had opened the door to a new world for a human civilization reborn from the ashes. Not to mention the well-meaning advice It had left for newborn civilizations, which could save young humanity decades or even centuries of detours. According to Its advice, humanity didn't necessarily have to tread the exact same path, but they could trace the route It had once taken to seek their own truth. Beyond these stunning discoveries, this young man named Ye Shi had also brought back the truth of history from a world five light-years away. What was bitterly ironic was that the force reducing the Human Alliance to ashes had never been some alien civilization lurking among the stars. From beginning to end, it had been humanity itself. It wasn't even a responsibility that could be pinned on any specific organization or individual. It was a responsibility shared by everyone. Both the dead and the living. The former served as the price already paid, while the latter had to bear that cost and thoroughly settle accounts with the mistakes of the past... "...This might sound a bit hard to accept, but that's what I saw on Gaia." Pausing, Ye Shi added, "And it's also what the seventeen surviving crew members from the Gemini gradually discovered after surviving the disaster." Silence gripped the surroundings. Even the reporters holding cameras and voice recorders were momentarily struck dumb, frozen in place at a loss for words. Finally, someone broke the silence. Recovering from his daze, a reporter from Ideal City spoke up. "I don't doubt what you said about 'It.' It's just... psionics and the so-called 'Window of the Horizon,' or 'Fourth Wall'... how can you prove they actually exist? How do we know you didn't just inhale some hallucinogenic gas on an alien planet and hallucinate?" Whispers rippled through the crowd, snapping many people out of the trance induced by that grand blueprint. Standing at the hatch, Dora couldn't help taking a step forward and saying in a sincere tone, "I can prove what he said is true." A subtle expression crossed the reporter's face. He shot her a polite, hinting look, hoping she would produce some proof. The cultural gap was laid bare at this moment. Among Gaians—at least among the forest tribes—there was no such thing as "evidence." Information transmitted via psionics had to be something held with unwavering conviction in one's heart, and both parties had to believe it without doubt. In Dora's mind, she had already displayed the evidence. Yet in the reporter's eyes, she was merely staring at him unblinkingly with big, dewy eyes. A self-absorbed person might have mistaken it for affection. Fortunately, everyone present was rational; even the reporter receiving the "loving gaze" was merely puzzled. "All right, there's no psionics here... that won't work," Ye Shi said with a soft cough, halting Dora's efforts. If she kept trying, she might actually cause some lucky soul present to awaken psionics—after all, that was how his own had awakened. But it took too much time. If he had to convince every single person this way, the cost in time and physical effort would be far too much for him to bear. The survivor factions on Earth all came from materialist roots. To convince them, he had to use methods those "foolish materialists" could understand. Facing the gazes returning to him, Ye Shi adopted a solemn tone. "Among the many relics I brought back, one belonged to Dr. Qiu Shiye. Reliable evidence shows that he was inspired by the Progenitor civilization and, guided by them, spent his entire life completing that incredible 'perforator.' He then followed in the Progenitors' footsteps to another world, becoming light in another universe. "...With the aid of psionics, I received the inspiration he left behind and activated the 'perforator' through an alternative method. I allowed light from that other universe to pass through the Fourth Wall and inject into the reactor's gas storage tanks, obtaining the energy needed to make the return voyage from five light-years away—" Before he could finish, an exclamation from a Rank D researcher on the edge of the crowd cut him off. "That's impossible! Are you saying you conjured a tank of reactor fuel out of thin air?!" The young face was filled with incredulity and doubt. It was purely an academic skepticism. Ye Shi explained patiently: "Yes. Matter and energy from our universe can only exist in the form of electromagnetic waves once they reach the Creator's universe—such as the light I mentioned. Conversely, when light from the Creator's universe is projected into our world, it naturally unfolds into something else... That's just my personal theory. As for why it unfolded into helium-3, I'm not sure either, but I can tell you that it didn't come from nothing. "There are limitations to information transmission through psionics. From Dr. Qiu Shiye, I could only obtain information based on things I already understood, like how to operate the perforator. As for the principles behind it and how Dr. Qiu Shiye received Its revelations, I don't know—unless he comes back from that other world to tell me in person." Looking at the stunned Academy researcher, Ye Shi turned back to the reporter interviewing him. "As for psionics, it's actually very easy to verify... After all, the Alliance's research institutes have already opened a project on it, and we've even been using it for a long time. It's just called by a different name. The Gemini crew called it psionics, while we call it the 'morphogenetic field.'" That was hardly a forbidden topic. The morphogenetic field had long been an open secret in the Alliance, and now it had become an open subject of research. The Wasteland Era had ended. They no longer needed to hide their hole cards to maintain a strategic advantage. What mattered more now was establishing closer trust with their partners and gaining a deeper understanding of themselves. The time to do this had arrived. Ye Shi pulled a newspaper page from his pocket. It was an issue of the Goblin Observer published three months prior. Ever since making that bet with Jiang Xuezhou, he had found paper and a pen aboard the Orion and copied down an issue of the Goblin Observer that he had seen through the "morphogenetic field." Though he had only copied a single page, it was more than enough. Given the distance between the solar system and Alpha Centauri, even electromagnetic waves would take five years to travel! This single page proved a great deal. Watching the crowd quickly press in, Ye Shi spoke slowly: "The date signature at the bottom and the age of the ink are enough to prove when I wrote this down... As long as you match the edition number to the Goblin Observer issue published three months ago, you'll know whether I'm telling the truth." Watching the drama unfold, In Debt God's eyes went wide. "Holy crap, that works?!" Of course he knew Ye Shi wasn't bullshitting, but he hadn't expected the guy to bare everything right in front of everyone. And he had Brother Guang's tacit permission, too! A gleam flashed in Fang Chang's eyes, an intrigued smile touching his lips. Meanwhile, the Goblin Observer reporter who had earlier been pushed to the edge of the crowd finally summoned all his strength to squeeze back to the front. The moment his eyes fell on that handwritten sheet, his skeptical expression turned into one of pure, terrified shock. That article— He had written it himself! "It's word for word..." His face practically squished out of shape by the crush, he blurted out the words. The instant those words left his mouth, the entire bridge of the defense platform erupted in uproar! ... ... [Your Respected Majesty Salen, In accordance with your orders, I accompanied General MacLaren to the Alliance's defense platform in low-Earth orbit to attend the triumphal ceremony held by the Alliance to welcome the heroes returning from Alpha Centauri. Owing to the great distance, I was unable to view with my own eyes the magnificent warship constructed during the Human Alliance era... But in truth, whether I saw that bygone glory or not no longer matters, for far more astonishing sights lay before me. This is no exaggeration, merely what I saw and felt. From the moment I stepped into the space elevator's climber car, the shock and amazement in my heart never ceased. Massive cars shuttle back and forth through the air, hoisting payloads of dozens or even hundreds of tons into the heavens beyond my sight. The shock that spectacle gave me was not merely about sheer scale. It was also about quantity. Soon, we boarded one of them. As the elevator steadily climbed, it was not long before I saw the Southern Sea shrink to the size of a palm, saw the desert at the continent's center, and even glimpsed Norton City and Triumph City far to the west... Indeed, the cars do not simply rise vertically; they trace an elegant arc above the atmosphere, heading straight for receiving stations located thousands of kilometers above the ground. That is the space station deployed by the Alliance in geosynchronous orbit, shaped like a steel ring perpendicular to the earth! We flew to the middle of the ring... roughly its center, and then two folding cantilever arms extended from its inner rim, docking with our car. Exiting through the narrow hatch, we entered the interior of the annular ring structure and transferred to another transport. And the moment we finally reached our ultimate destination, I looked through the viewport and beheld a sight I will never forget. Across that steel structure hundreds of meters long and wide stood rows of electromagnetic naval guns of staggering caliber and length! They bristled like upright lances, pointed straight into the darkness beyond the atmosphere. To be frank, those weapons gave me a profound sense of security—so much so that the lonely, frigid expanse of space no longer seemed quite so dark in my eyes. I had seen similar massive cannons on the islands of the South Sea Alliance, but here dozens were densely arrayed! More than that. The confident expressions of the personnel told me they possessed even more of them. According to what they said, just three shots from one of these electromagnetic guns can overload the deflector shields of a corvette core, easily replacing the orbital space debris to counter the threats at the Lagrange points. I cannot imagine how terrifying a full salvo from this battery would be, and even less can I imagine what would happen if they turned those barrels toward us. I hear the South Sea Alliance possesses a specialized warhead that allows shells to fly through the atmosphere with minimal kinetic energy attenuation. If that is true, then from the very moment the Alliance mounted electromagnetic guns upon the Low Earth Orbit Defense Platform, the era of iron airships was over. I do not know how to put my shock and despair into words. In certain fields, we may have truly been left far behind by our rivals. And what is even more disheartening is that while we are still trying to vie for supremacy on the ground, they have already set their sights upon the stars and begun making preparations for the future of human civilization. Forgive me for writing such words in this private, confidential letter. I feared that any euphemism on my part might lead Your Majesty to misjudge the current situation... which could prove fatal for us. The Wasteland Era has ended, and the margin for error left to us may be very small. Perhaps we should adapt to the tide of history as soon as possible, shifting our mindset from confrontation to cooperation, and actively participate in matters concerning the progress of civilization like the other survivor factions. The new era no longer requires an overarching hegemon, and before us lie perhaps only two paths— Either let the glory of the Wilante fall silently like dust, or let it become one of the brightly shining stars in the radiant heavens. Your loyal emissary, Myriarch Ostierte.] ... As the triumphal ceremony welcoming the hero home drew to a close, this reunion separated by more than two centuries finally concluded. As for the earth-shattering news Ye Shi had brought back from Alpha Centauri, the survivors on Earth would likely need some time to digest it. Including his proposal to establish an extrasolar exploration fleet. While it was indeed a great idea, something of that magnitude was not something that could be decided by one person's word or a simple nod of the head. Behind the scenes, out of sight of ordinary people, pushing through the creation of this "fleet" would still require political maneuvering. None of that, however, was any concern of Ye Shi, the guy who had shot his mouth off in the first place. After returning to the Low Earth Orbit Defense Platform, he received an assignment directly from the Shelter Administrator— Escort the "emissary" from Planet Gaia down the space elevator back to the surface, and travel by ship and train to the Mutual Aid Community Building in Dawn City. In reality, one could fly directly from the South Sea Alliance to Dawn City by plane without needing to transfer between so many modes of transport. The Administrator's intention, however, was to give her the opportunity to travel around Earth and see more of it, gaining a better understanding of the "Ancestors'" planet. After all, this place could be considered half her maternal home. Furthermore, the Mutual Aid Community needed time to prepare and discuss how to handle relations with the "Gaian civilization." Even though the Alliance's opinion carried decisive weight, Chu Guang still had to consult the views of others, particularly the Academy and the Enterprise. Upon hearing the arrangements made by the Ancestors' "chieftain," Dora proved remarkably cooperative. Back on Planet Gaia, she had long been eager to see how the legendary Ancestors living in the heavens actually spent their everyday lives. Taking the elevator car back down to the surface, the moment she stepped out through the opened hatch, the sight before her eyes made her jaw drop. "It's so huge!!"