Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 312 The First Earth (6k)

The place where destinies converge, within the cone of light.

Luo Qing dispelled all the gloom, and the released spiritual energy flowed back into his body. The telescope returned to its original position, and he ended this long observation.

Although he only observed for three days, he felt that this period of time lasted for three hundred years.

"Mr. Luo Qing, you look unwell. Is there anything our dragon can do for you?"

"The person in charge of the light cone system is worried," Long said.

It didn't know why this powerful quasi-god had such a tired expression. In fact, while the light cone telescope was rotating to observe, it and several humans had been paying attention to the status of the display screen.

Most of the displays were working fine, showing nothing but stars in deep space. The only thing that was visible was the display of ten thousand capsule-shaped spaceships less than 0.5 light-years away from Earth.

"Thank you, but I don't need it for now." Luo Qing declined the dinosaurs' offer.

The dinosaurs and humans stared at each other in bewilderment.

Seeing the worried expressions on the faces of the human observers, Luo Qing reassured them, "Don't worry, with me here, the sky won't fall down."

The space force officer couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Luo Qing, besides those ten thousand capsule ships, did you discover anything else that's very dangerous?"

Luo Qing nodded and said, "But I've already told your superiors, and they'll figure something out. It's not a big deal, don't worry."

One astronomer wryly remarked, "Regardless, the sudden discovery of ten thousand capsule ships behind the solar system, in addition to the Trisolaran Second Fleet, and at such close range, is terrifying."

"They're just some poor refugees," Luo Qing said.

“That’s a refugee spaceship traveling at one percent the speed of light…” the astronomer murmured absentmindedly.

Luo Qing remained silent for a moment.

The situation is now very clear: the solar system has become the target of everyone's attacks.

In a universe with a dark forest background, being simultaneously targeted by numerous civilizations is an extremely low probability event.

But it actually happened in the solar system.

It's a miracle that humanity has survived to this day.

The aforementioned 10,000 'capsule' spaceships are the "refugee ships" that Karl mentioned. According to Luo Qing's observation, this refugee fleet, which departed from the First Earth, has been drifting in the universe for 20,000 years.

It traveled at one percent of the speed of light for 20,000 years.

This speed is not slow, similar to that of human planetary warships, but there is one thing to note: this fleet set sail 20,000 years ago.

Twenty thousand years ago, humans were still in the Neolithic Age.

This indicates that the technological development of Earth 1 was far earlier than that of Earth 1, reaching the level that humans have today at least 20,000 years ago.

However, this fleet of spaceships was not too threatening. Luo Qing noticed in the observation room that there was a sparse trail of wreckage following behind the fleet. These were all broken or malfunctioning spaceships, totaling ten thousand in number.

In other words, the refugee fleet started with 20000 immigrant ships. After a long journey of 20,000 years, half of them were destroyed during the journey, leaving only half of them to survive.

While on a journey, half of the fleet was wiped out.

They truly deserve the title of "refugee".

Moreover, these spaceships only have fixed thrusters and no ability to turn, which means that the refugees actually had no choice but to fly towards Earth.

These 10,000 refugee spaceships, each the size of a small city and capsule-shaped, are easily handled by the firepower density that humanity has built in the solar system to prepare for the Devouring Empire. As for how to deal with these refugees, that depends on the decisions of Earth International and Fleet International.

Following the flight path of the refugee spaceship, Luo Qing successfully opened the box of the First Earth. The First Earth is 199.9 light-years away from the solar system and is located in a single star system with 6 planets.

The star system containing Earth One, hereinafter referred to as the First Star System.

Because 199.9 light-years is too far away, Luo Qing's observation of the first star system continued for a long time. Finally, he observed some key information: the first Earth is the third orbiting planet in the first star system. It is at a moderate distance from the star and is a typical Earth-like habitable planet.

Luo Qing also observed traces of civilization activity within the range of six planets, such as some artificial light sources, indicating that Earth 1 has already fully landed on the other planets.

First, Earth's development of other planets is far greater than humanity's development of planets such as Mars and Venus.

Most importantly, Luo Qing observed a translucent shell on that star, which severely reduced the star's luminosity to only one-thousandth that of the Sun.

In other words, 999 percent of the star's energy was intercepted by the civilization of Earth One.

Luo Qing knew what this device was called. As early as 1937, in the science fiction novel "The Star Makers," author Stapleton envisioned such a giant man-made structure to surround a star and capture most or all of its energy output.

This sci-fi concept device is called a Dyson sphere.

This is a Type II civilization that possesses a Dyson sphere, has developed all the stars in its star system, and meets the Kardashev index.

In terms of technological level, it surpasses that of humans; in terms of technological scale, it exceeds that of dinosaurs.

This is "Earth One," the "eldest" of the six Earths, and one of only two surviving civilizations. Its strength, whether in building the Dyson Sphere or sending a fleet of refugees at one percent the speed of light 20,000 years ago, demonstrates Earth One's formidable power.

After all, according to the Kardashev scale, although the civilization level of humans in the solar system has reached Type I, it is still a long way from Type II civilization.

Luo Qing once asked the Risk Mitigator Sensors about the classification of civilization levels, and the answer he received was that, according to the Kardashev Index Type II standard civilization, the corresponding level on a cosmic scale should be 10B.

In comparison, Earth during World War II was a Class 3B civilization, Earth during the Cold War was a Class 4B civilization, and Earth in the early stages of the Crisis Era was a Class 5B civilization.

The Dragon Ant Federation, which existed 65 million years ago, and the dinosaur spaceship 'Ring 1' that left Earth, had a civilization level of 6B.

The difference between 3B and 4B is not obvious, but there is a significant difference between 5B and 6B. The difference between levels becomes more and more obvious as you go further, which is somewhat similar to the cultivation realm.

There is almost no significant difference between Qi Refining levels 1 to 10. Foundation Establishment cultivators can surround and kill Golden Core cultivators, and Nascent Soul cultivators can fight against Deity Transformation cultivators by forming an array. However, no matter how many Body Integration cultivators there are, it is difficult to fight against Tribulation Transformation cultivators. Tribulation Transformation cultivators have no ability to resist Earth Immortals.

The higher the level, the greater the difference.

Luo Qing estimates that the civilization level of humanity in the solar system during the current Crisis Era 205 is around 6B to 7B.

One night more than a hundred years ago, while waiting for the "brain cells" to leap into the sky, Luo Qing talked a lot with the risk-taker. He once asked the risk-taker what the differences were between civilization levels A, B, C, D, and E, which were represented by Greek letters.
The risk-taker's answer is: because early civilizations developed differently, simple technologies, such as the use of fire, cannot be used as the basis for classifying civilizations. After all, there are ocean civilizations in the universe, and judging them based on their use of fire would be unfair.

Currently, there is a clear dividing line in the universally accepted classification of civilization development levels: before level C, the core standard is the degree of mastery of basic scientific knowledge and the existence of a knowledge transmission system; after level C, the core standard is the achievements of technological development.

Luo Qing wanted a more specific answer.

The risk mitigator sensor had to use the example of human technological development to give Luo Qing a clear concept.

Entry requirement for Rank E: Stargazing (Contemplating beyond the world)
1E: Biological Instinct Stage. Relying on genetic instincts to seek advantage and avoid harm (such as phototaxis and foraging).

5E: Experience Accumulation Stage. Individuals can summarize simple rules through trial and error, but this knowledge only exists in individual memory and disappears with the individual's death. Early hominids belong to this stage.
10E: The beginnings of oral transmission; knowledge begins to be passed down across individuals, but there is no abstract induction. Late Paleolithic clans were in this stage.

1D: Learn to summarize experience

3D: The birth of symbols and counting, the Neolithic period was in this stage.

7D: Summarizing natural phenomena and identifying periodic patterns. The Three-Body Problem 137 civilization (Mozi, King Wen of Zhou), the Shang and Zhou dynasties of human China (with their sacrificial rituals), pre-dynastic Egypt, and early Mesopotamia and Sumer all belonged to this stage.

10D: Abstract thinking is emerging, but knowledge remains at the level of experience and conjecture, and the inheritance system is fragile.

1C: Lever principle, systematic summary.

2C: The induction of motion, Aristotelian cognition.

3C: Breakthroughs in basic science, mastery of the three laws of mechanics or equivalent fundamental physical laws, and the ability to describe the relationship between motion and force using mathematical formulas. Newton's emergence single-handedly propelled human civilization into what is considered a "medium-level civilization" in the universal sense.

6C: A complete classical physics system, mastering the laws of electromagnetism and thermodynamics. Earth after the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century belonged to a 6C-level civilization.

10C: An initial exploration of the microscopic world, understanding atomic structure and quantum phenomena (such as the photoelectric effect), beginning to describe microscopic laws using mathematical models, and the transmission of knowledge entering the "academic community" stage. (Mid-20th century Earth belonged to a 10C-level civilization.)
Upon entering a Class B civilization, one finds that there are no specific knowledge levels, and the focus is primarily on specific technological achievements.

On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was detonated over Hiroshima, Japan, marking the first practical atomic weapon. This great nuclear explosion in Japan officially marked humanity's entry into a Type 1B civilization. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into low Earth orbit, marking humanity's entry into a Type 2B civilization.

1961年4月12日，苏联的“东方1号”宇宙飞船航天员加加林实现载人航天，标志着人类进入3B级文明。

On July 20, 1969, the American Apollo 11 mission marked humanity's first step onto an extraterrestrial body, signifying that humankind had entered the 4B level of civilization.

1970年12月15日，苏联的金星7号首先在非地球行星金星表面实现着陆，标志着人类进入5B级文明。

In less than 30 years, stimulated by World War II and the Cold War, the Earth completed five leaps in civilization level. The Soviet Union jumped three times, the United States jumped twice, and Japan jumped once (crossed out).

Five consecutive leaps are extremely rare in the history of cosmic civilization evolution. Even the Risk Mitigators' sensor database rarely records events of "jumping five levels in a row." Therefore, the Risk Mitigators refer to this thirty-year period as "Human Civilization Technological Explosion Event 1."

On August 25, 2012, the Ladder mission, launched under the auspices of the Planetary Defense Council, surpassed Voyager 1 to become the first man-made object to leave the solar system, marking humanity's entry into the 6B-level civilization stage.

From then until the arrival of the Risk Takers sensors on Earth in Crisis Era 82, human civilization remained at the 6B level.

In the words of the risk mitigaters, advancing a civilization's level becomes increasingly difficult; the leap from level 6B to level 7B requires a very, very long time...

Even after defeating the Devouring Empire, which was also a Class 6B civilization, and possessing 4900 star-class warships, modern humans still remain at the Class 6B level.

Before leaving, the Risk Remover sensor told Luo Qing that after the 5B level civilization, the assessment of higher-level civilizations has become more diverse and is no longer limited to how far the civilization's creations can be launched.

When Luo Qing continued to press for information beyond 6B, the Risk Eliminator told him that while humanity's own Kardashev index, based on energy utilization levels, was somewhat inaccurate, it did indeed correspond to several levels of civilization.

A Kardashev Index Type I civilization can also be compared to a Type 6B civilization.

A Kardashev Type II civilization can be compared to the highest level B civilization, which is 10B.

Kardashev Index Type III civilizations are meaningless. Civilizations capable of utilizing the energy of an entire galaxy generally wouldn't idly choose to "refine" a galaxy. They have sufficient vacuum zero-point energy, high-dimensional space energy, and other forms of energy available for such intermediate civilizations. If one had to put it into words, the risk mitigater told Luo Qing:
"Your dominant civilization in this galaxy, the Galactic Carbon-based Federation, is a standard Kardashev Type III civilization. Its arch-rival, the Silicon-based Empire, is also a Kardashev Type III civilization. The standard for these two civilizations in terms of civilization level is—a 3S-level civilization of [SSS]."

At the time, Luo Qing had no idea what the Galactic Carbon-Based Federation was.

He pressed the risk-taker on how he knew so much...

The risk mitigater's answer was: "Back when these two civilizations were fighting and causing disasters everywhere, this sensor, along with tens of millions of other sensors, served as reinforcements for the carbon-based federation and attacked the interstellar fleet of the silicon-based empire. I alone devoured at least 13 silicon-based warships."

Unfortunately, the silicon-based empire's stellar leaps were too frequent, and its battle lines shifted too quickly. Sensors, capable only of traveling at the speed of light, struggled to keep up with these silicon-based warships and thus played little role in the later stages of the war.

Tens of millions of risk-mitigating sensors have joined the battle.

It hasn't had much of an effect yet?
Also, what exactly is this "stellar frog leap"? It can't even keep up with the speed of light!
The young cultivator Luo Qing had never seen anything like this before and was immediately shocked.

As Luo Qing continued to press for details about this earth-shattering battle, the Risk Remover pointed to the dawn on the horizon: "I'll leave after sunrise. Are you sure you want to ask these irrelevant questions?"

Luo Qing naturally had more important questions to ask, so he quickly changed the subject, but he had already memorized the three terms: the [Chemical-based Federation of the Milky Way], the [Silicon-based Empire], and the [Stellar Frog Leap].

After the risk-taker left, Luo Qing didn't tell any humans about it, because he believed that such things were ancient legends in the cultivation world, and releasing this information would only cause online debaters to chat idly, without any real meaning.

The risk mitigater also told Luo Qing that building a Dyson sphere and advancing a Kardashev exponential civilization to a Class 10B civilization was actually a very laborious process.

There are many ways to reach a Type 10B civilization level, including but not limited to large-scale entry into four-dimensional space, achieving matter-antimatter annihilation, and large-scale utilization of vacuum zero-point energy.

When Luo Qing asked about the boundary between Class B and Class A civilizations.

The risk mitigater's answer to Luo Qing was very concise.

"Achieving standard vacuum light speed travel is the dividing line between Class B and Class A civilizations."

Luo Qing still remembers the last question he asked the risk-taker.

"What level of civilization is the Risk Mitigator civilization? Is it 10S?"

The Risk Eliminator's answer was: "God-level civilizations do not have a specific civilization level, but the Risk Eliminator, who is dedicated to eliminating risks and repairing the structure of the universe, is indeed one of the most advanced civilizations in the universe."

...

In conclusion, it is clear that Earth 1 poses a significant threat to Earth.

This is a legitimate civilization that built a Dyson sphere, entered the Kardashev Index Type II civilization by brute force, and proved its existence as a Type 10B civilization.

Earth was only a Class 6B civilization. It was only by throwing Yun Tianming's brain out and using the Ladder Project to cleverly break through the solar system that it was able to achieve Class 6B ahead of schedule.

Yun Tianming is great.

In reality, it would be reasonable for humanity to be classified as a 6B class only after the Great Depression ended and the first planetary warship was completed; anything before that was highly questionable.

However, the risk mitigater also stated that civilization level and combat power are not closely related, and there are numerous examples in the universe of high-level civilizations being destroyed by low-level civilizations.

Especially below Grade A, there are even precedents of Grade 1B civilizations using special methods to defeat Grade 10B civilizations.

When Luo Qing asked the Risk Taker if this special method involved revealing the other party's coordinates and launching a Dark Forest attack, the Risk Taker gave an awkward smile.

In short, if Earth 1 did not develop the military power of Earth 1 and was merely playing a small game of large-scale infrastructure construction within Earth 1, then if humanity's entire solar system fleet were to come out in full force, there is indeed a chance that Earth 1 could be wiped out.

However, First Earth clearly knows about the Dark Forest Theory, which means that First Earth definitely possesses considerable military power.

What's even more thought-provoking is that Earth clearly knew Earth's coordinates, but instead of choosing to publish them to trigger the Dark Forest attack, it sent a group of refugees to Earth.

This is something worth thinking about.

This is also why Luo Qing temporarily postponed his decision to abandon the Dark Forest attack on the First Earth; otherwise, he would have already had Luo Ji prepare a spell to throw onto the sun and broadcast it.

Those ten thousand capsule-shaped refugee ships represent a problem humanity will face more than 40 years from now. In comparison, the Second Fleet is also a problem humanity will face more than 40 years from now.

The latter problem is clearly bigger.

In the past, when Luo Qing chatted with Listener No. 1379, he had talked to No. 1379 about the theory of civilization levels. After understanding the basis for the judgment of the theory of civilization levels, No. 1379 rated the Trisolaran civilization as level 8B.

This is still a conservative assessment.
The Trisolaran civilization No. 196 was the most powerful Trisolaran civilization in history. If it weren't for resource limitations and interference from the three stars, it should have reached the level of a 10B civilization long ago.

The Trisolaran system once had 12 planets, but when the Trisolaran civilization of number 196 had just developed into the interstellar age, its last planet was swallowed up by the 'stellar breathing' effect.

'Stellar breathing' is a phenomenon unique to stars in the Trisolaran system, characterized by the sudden and irregular expansion or contraction of the star's atmosphere. Of the 11 Trisolaran planets, half were destroyed by stellar breathing, while the rest were destroyed by orbital fall caused by gravitational perturbations.

In the words of No. 1379, the Trisolaran First Fleet and the Trisolaran Second Fleet were the result of the Trisolaran civilization's desperate efforts.

The resources of the entire Trisolaran crust have been almost completely depleted by the previous 195 Trisolaran civilizations. The 196th Trisolaran civilization could only barely cobble together the first and second fleets from the leftovers of the previous civilizations.

Resource scarcity severely hampered the development of the Trisolaran civilization No. 196. A prime example is that, due to the lack of fuel resources such as oil and coal, the Trisolaran civilization No. 196 skipped directly from the age of burning wood and steam to the nuclear age, bypassing humanity's fossil fuel supply chain.

The price paid was that the leap process lasted for a full 10,000 years. It took Civilization 196 10,000 years to develop controlled nuclear fusion and completely get rid of the problem of extreme energy scarcity.

Since learning of the Devouring Empire's vision, Monitor No. 1379 said, "The entire Trisolaran world is eagerly awaiting, wishing that the Devouring Ring would immediately move to the vicinity of Trisolaris."

Then the Trisolarans will devour the Devouring Ring.

Luo Qing still trusted Listener No. 1379 quite a bit, at least more than the Trisolarans trusted Evans. Moreover, the results obtained after the four-dimensional divine thought line carpet-scanned the Trisolaran planet were basically consistent with what Listener No. 1379 had stated.

Resource scarcity and severe deficiencies have hampered the development of the Trisolaran civilization.

Therefore, Luo Qing made a classic misjudgment about the Trisolaran civilization:

"The Trisolaran civilization will remain at the 8B level for a long time. As long as we can handle the 415 Trisolaran second fleet that will arrive 40 years later at 10% of the speed of light, then humanity will have secured victory in the duel with the Trisolaran civilization ahead of time."

Luo Qing had also considered launching a Dark Forest attack on the Trisolaran system, but Luo Ji stopped him in time.

"Too close," Luo Ji said.

Luo Qing suddenly realized.

(End of this chapter)