Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 248 Children of the Stars
In the year 2457 of the old Earth calendar, four years into the human calendar, the legendary colony ship "The Faraway" departed, destined to reach its target planet, the ideal blue planet, 140 years later.

But for humans who are still within the solar system, the story is far from over.

In the century that followed that brief but far-reaching union of humanity, a generation shaped by suffering died, voices yearning for peace and reason vanished, and a new wave of division began to surge once more.

Just as that girl lamented a hundred years ago:
"What is the meaning of everything we are doing now? What is the meaning of our existence in this universe? What is the meaning of this endless war? This spiral of ascent will only bring us infinite suffering and final destruction."

Within the Kuiper Belt asteroid belt of the solar system, countless space pirates, mining companies, and ambitious individuals converge in this chaotic world—a lawless and disorderly realm, a paradise for crime.

176 years after the birth of the Human Union, in the 178th year of the Human Calendar, a new separatist force emerged. This force, which called itself the protectors of the asteroid people, used the enormous advantages brought by the asteroid belt to engage in a fierce battle with the fleets of the Human Union.

Two hundred years later, humanity is once again facing off against its own kind.

Those warriors who cherish peace and ideals may have once been scholars, artists, or explorers of outer space, but now their swords are being wielded against the very people they once swore to protect.

"What has never changed? Ha, this fucked-up war."

In the unprecedented battle that erupted at asteroid KB-769, facing the billions of warships scattered across space, the fleet commander gripped his white military cap and mocked himself.

The human alliance collapsed, not because of war, but because of a military coup.

Those who gather for profit will inevitably disperse for profit; those who gather for righteousness will inevitably disperse for righteousness.

Ironically, the human union, born out of the ideal of peace, ultimately collapsed due to the military's usurpation of power. The military no longer wanted to maintain peace within the outdated framework; it needed to unify all of humanity, regardless of the cost.

An era known as the "Great Crash" has begun.

On the ruins of the Human Union, various separatist forces emerged. The former Human Union army—the Overlords—occupied the Earth, while numerous space habitats and planetary settlements became the territories of these separatist forces. Thus, the chaos continued for more than two hundred years.

Until a ghost from an old era returns...

……

In the year 428 of the human calendar, an unidentified signal appeared in the outer reaches of the solar system.

"What the hell is this thing? It looks like a signal coming from some ancient relic? An old-fashioned unmanned machine?"

Sensing the signal received by his brain processor, a miner directing unmanned mining machinery on an asteroid was puzzled. A strange signal was coming from 7.6 light-minutes away from him.

Unlike the currently prevalent subspace communication, this signal uses the very ancient quantum communication method.
But he soon stopped being confused.

A strange spaceship appeared before him. Unlike the materials commonly used in spaceships within the solar system, this spaceship... didn't even look like a spaceship, because many parts of it weren't made of matter at all.

With the advent of the space age, metals were officially phased out, and humanity began using various topological materials. These topological substances, exhibiting a variety of strange properties at the quantum level, became humanity's new favorite. Compared to metals, which possess extremely high strength and performance only in three-dimensional space, these substances, with eleven-dimensional structures at the quantum level, are even more bizarre, capable of withstanding all sorts of strange requirements of the space age.

But no type of topological matter can compare to the bizarre spaceship before them…

Much of it is not matter, but rather forces and waves generated by a field generator. Rather than a spaceship, it is more like a field generator moving through space. Its almost transparent frame even allows miners to see its internal structure, the strange devices of varying sizes inside, and the seemingly floating, bright-eyed, confident little girl.

This spaceship looks like a large toy with only a small part of its internal structure and the rest rendered with lighting effects.

However, the powerful spacetime distortion it caused, as evidenced by the strange beams of light moving around the spaceship, shows that the ship is not as fragile as it appears.

"A reconnaissance aircraft from the First Fleet of Hope Star in the First Distant Sector of the Human Union sends its greetings, citizen. Please assist me in contacting the nearest Human Union administrative body. I will convey the sincere greetings of Hope Star in the First Distant Sector of the Human Union."

The little girl raised her hand in a salute reminiscent of an old-fashioned human union, and spoke in a seemingly serious tone in her childish voice.

miner:……???
After a brief exchange.

"Huh? The syndicate disbanded?! (＃°Д°)"

……

On that day, a sensational message spread throughout the entire solar system: the legendary colony ships "Faraways," which colonized the planet Ross 128b, 11 light-years away, more than four hundred years ago, have now returned with their fleet.

According to this fleet, the travelers took 145 years to reach the planet Ross 128b and named it "Hope" according to their prior plans.

It was indeed a planet very suitable for human habitation, but it was also very dangerous. The numerous strange plants and animals made things quite difficult for the first colonists. And after 100,000 fertilized eggs developed into embryos, it took the colonists more than two hundred years to finally gain a foothold on that planet.

At the same time, they also drew a lot of inspiration from those strange plants and animals.

Compared to the humans of the solar system, the colonists were far behind in many technologies such as communication and combat, but their spaceships were far faster than those of the humans of the solar system.

Once upon a time, 7% of the speed of light was considered the limit for human spacecraft speed, believed to be achievable only by "farthers" who could accelerate without limit in the void. Even today, most human spacecraft in the solar system only reach around 2% of the speed of light. But now, human warships on Hope Star can easily reach 20% of the speed of light, and in extreme cases, even 30% of the speed of light.

For this reason, after establishing a foothold, Hope Star immediately dispatched a large fleet in hopes of engaging in trade with the Human Union.

After learning of the collapse of the Human Alliance, the Hope Star Fleet, which was stationed on the outskirts of the solar system, decided not to enter the solar system and to conduct only conservative trade to avoid conflict with various separatist forces.

A habitable planet that is not yet fully developed!

Confined within the solar system, humanity seems to have seen new hope. Amidst the undercurrents, after more than two hundred years of fighting each other, humanity has finally remembered the call from space once again.

But on the other hand...

Inside a secret room, the commander of the Hope Star Fleet, who was now famous throughout the solar system, sat upright, silently looking at the old man in front of him.

Although the old man was over a hundred years old, no one dared to underestimate his authority. As the former leader of the Human Union's army, no one in the world held more power than him.

Two seemingly unrelated people are secretly meeting in this secret room, which is beyond everyone's imagination.

The elderly man looked at the young commander in front of him, and the young commander also looked at the elderly man in front of him. They sized each other up.

Suddenly, the old man began to chant in a low voice, reciting the old human language commonly used during the era of the human union.

"The gods rejoice, the gods rejoice..."

"You are a person who knows the will of Heaven, you are a person who has seen the secret..."

The young commander took over, speaking the same language, though with some differences in pronunciation and intonation, the overall feel was exactly the same.

"You must remember this..."

Looking at the young commander in front of him, the old man paused for a moment, and then the elderly man and the young commander recited the same passage together.

"Things that cannot be spoken, sounds that cannot be heard, appearances that cannot be seen..." "On Hope Star, how many people still know the secrets?"

"Very few, only thirty people including myself."

The young commander lowered his head and said in a deep voice.

The old man remained silent, then murmured something.

"Time... has changed so much. Our ancestor designed and built the Faraway, knowing he wouldn't be able to wait for you, so he sent his descendants to wait for you. My great-grandfather waited his whole life, but he didn't see you; my great-great-grandfather waited his whole life, but he didn't see you; my grandfather also waited his whole life, but he didn't see you until he died; and my father, before he passed away, he held my hand tightly and looked at me intently. Although he didn't say it explicitly, I knew what he wanted to say."

“I thought I might not be able to wait any longer, but I never expected to meet you all at my age.”

The young commander remained silent, unsure of what to say.

Seeing the young commander's silence, the old man shook his head.

"Now that you have taken root and flourished in that distant place, perhaps it's time to do some things that were decided long ago..."

……

In the year 435 of the Human Calendar, seven years after the Hope Star Fleet departed, the first planet-destroying weapon created by humanity in the solar system was born, and its target was... Earth.

On the spaceship, the old man stared wide-eyed at the planet before him, the homeland of humanity, which he had ordered to be destroyed.

That place is home to over a hundred billion people; it is the core and most important location for the hegemon.

But the old man understood that even if this planet was destined to be destroyed from the beginning, it had to be destroyed. The whole purpose of the overlord's birth was not to occupy this planet, but to destroy it better in the distant future.

But destroying this planet would mean affecting the entire solar system, and even Mars' future habitability is uncertain. Therefore, humanity must travel to other star systems...

For the past four hundred years since the birth of the Human Union, and for the past nine hundred years since the year 2000, the ultimate goal passed down in the hearts of generations of Hermitage masters has always been the same: for this goal...

"Even at all costs..."

That year, when my father passed away, I held his hand tightly, my aged eyes fixed on him, my gaze filled with nothing but fierceness.

The father said nothing, but he knew everything.

There's no way to carry out a large-scale evacuation operation. The more people who know about it, the greater the risk of infection and erosion. And nobody knows when that planet will awaken, so the only option is to "spare no expense."

Faced with an antimatter weapon weighing 8000 million tons, even Earth could not withstand the massive energy release exceeding 1e^32J. The Earth's crust, more than 17 kilometers thick, was violently torn apart, exposing its scorching core. The intense gravitational waves could be clearly felt even in space hundreds of millions of miles away.

The spaceship was shaking, and some people's faces changed.

There were so many scattered planetary fragments that no one knew if another would come flying in at any moment. On other planets, the impact had already caused earthquakes of varying magnitudes.

At this moment, even the inhabitants of Mars can easily see the ejected matter from the sky.

The scorching liquid metal core, stripped of its outer layer, resembled a water sphere undergoing violent shaking. It was torn apart by the explosion, twisting strangely, and eventually disintegrating into several parts, silently floating in the air, waiting to cool down many years later.

No one can hear the sounds emanating from Earth, but everyone will feel fear in the face of this unprecedented and terrifying force.

But the old man didn't feel any fear; all he could feel was exhaustion and a sense of relief. His hands, which had been clenched tightly, now loosened.

It was a long and arduous journey, spanning dozens of generations, but it finally came to an end in his hands.

“Master, we have received information that the rest of the Overlord’s forces are preparing to arrest you.”

Behind him, a man dressed in a gray robe spoke.

"I know."

"So, do you want to..."

"That's not necessary."

The gray-robed man behind him was about to say something, but the old man simply replied calmly.

It's no longer necessary.

"The mission of the Secret Order is over, and we have no reason to exist."

He spoke calmly.

Outside the spaceship, he could vaguely see a group of spaceships surrounding him, with high-powered gravity traps already deployed to prevent his escape.

He knew what awaited him. By personally destroying the Earth, he had almost uprooted the very foundation of the overlord's existence. Naturally, those people were furious, but wasn't that the very meaning of the overlord's existence?

“My death is deserved, but my death will rid humanity of fear, that nightmare that has existed since the beginning of our existence. Without Earth, humanity will have no home, we will be a group of wandering orphans, but we will make the stars our home and travel among them.”

Gazing at the Earth shattered into numerous pieces, a light shone through the old man's cloudy eyes.

"We are no longer children of the earth, we will become children of the stars..."

……

On the chessboard of the Crystal Sky, the blurry humanoid figure struggled. Finally, it resolutely conjured a knife in its hand and severed its roots that were attached to the chessboard.

On the chessboard, the black and white pieces have vanished, leaving only the solitary black and white kings. No longer bound to the board, after countless years, the pieces on this board are finally no longer pieces; they are free.

Floating in the crystal sky, the blurry humanoid figure circled a few times before plunging into the cosmic stars...

"This...this is..."

The father's face was filled with horror as he looked at the newborn baby.

The bewildered baby had its eyes tightly closed, but numerous bolts of lightning coiled around its body, causing the newborn to float in mid-air.

……

That year, a strange power began to emerge among humans. Some babies were born with all sorts of unusual abilities, and this power was eventually called "psychic energy".

(End of this chapter)