NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 114 - 114: 113: First heard of the Wasteland Star Field! (Third Update)
Translator: 549690339
Du Gang suppressed his emotions and asked, “So, what’s the standard for a first-class civilization?”
Pang Ze replied lightly, “There are two criteria for attaining first-class civilization status.”
“First, the natural evolution of technology to the standard of a first-class civilization, i.e., the ability to reasonably utilize the resources of the mother planet, to achieve interstellar travel, colonization… In terms of energy technology, they must proficiently employ quark fusion!”
Quark fusion. Du Gang knew about it from discussions during his physical education class.
Not long ago, a scientific journal had published an experiment on quark fusion.
In a nuclear fusion experiment using heavy water as the raw material, an atom of deuterium and an atom of tritium release about 17 trillion electron volts of energy when they fuse. However, the quark fusion resulting from the collision of two subatomic particles produces 138 trillion electron volts of energy!
This experiment proved that quark fusion is an even more advanced form of fusion than nuclear fusion, with its power exceeding that of nuclear fusion by a factor of eight!
However, due to some technical obstacles, it is not yet applicable in practice. It’s estimated that it will take Earth’s human civilization at least another one hundred to two hundred years of development to truly master quark fusion.
Obviously, Earth’s civilization hasn’t yet mastered quark fusion, hence it does not meet the standard of a first-class technological civilization.
Du Gang asked again, “What’s the other criteria for ascending to a first-class civilization?”
Pang Ze smiled and said, “Meteorite Level!”
“As long as a civilization has produced its first ‘Meteorite Level’ powerful individual, it indicates that their civilization has reached the standard of a
first-class civilization… even if this civilization has not developed technology!”
“Trust me, the difficulty of advancing to a first-class civilization at the Meteorite Level is definitely greater than advancing to a first-class civilization through technological advancement!”
“However, the difficulty of upgrading from a first-class to a second-class civilization is exactly the opposite!”
Du Gang was very curious about the information on the universe at this point and hurriedly asked, “So you mean it’s more challenging for a first-class technological civilization to advance to the second class? Why?”
Pang Ze chuckled, “Well, let me give a straightforward example. Say, your countries’ carrier pigeons, which are responsible for delivering messages, each cost ten dollars!”
“Then, someone tells you that they will install a base station for you for free and offer you a communication device for the same price you pay for a pigeon. What would you choose to use, carrier pigeons or phones?”
“Of course, we’d use phones!” Du Gang answered.
This is an example of a natural technological blockade. When it comes to competing products, if someone else’s is better than yours and still cheaper, it makes it very difficult for you to develop your own product.
Du Gang thought about the situation with chip technology on Earth, where buying chips for domestic cell phones costs hundreds to thousands of billions each year. But research and development for new chips cost ten times that of buying them!
Because while you are doing research, others are also researching. By the time you’ve developed the fifth-generation, they’re already onto the fifteenth!
Given the same price but different products, the market will make its own selection!
This is just the technological gap between different countries on Earth.
If we were to consider the universe, the technological disparity becomes even more pronounced, spanning hundreds or even thousands of generations!
Possibly, you could research for thousands of years and still not catch up with the latest technology included in other civilizations’ most recent products!
But the problem is, research needs funding. The cost of other civilizations’ research is covered by consumers, while the cost of your research can only be kept by your civilization, unless you’re willing to let your civilization always use carrier pigeons!
So, a technological blockade forms naturally!
Within a few dozen seconds, Du Gang understood why a first-class technological civilization finds it hard to ascend to the second class.
It’s like an assembled computer company; the company earns more from assembling and reselling than from research and development. So, they don’t invest time and money into research and development… In reality, this is a vicious cycle, and the technological gap only continues to grow.
Why would technology that’s been developed over hundreds of thousands or even millions of years be accessible to you in just several decades or centuries?
After understanding these issues, he felt somewhat burdened. It seemed that in the field of technology, Earth’s civilization was about to enter that vicious cycle.
But still, curiosity drove him to ask, “So, what’s the symbol of a second-class technological civilization?”
Pang Ze chuckled and said, “Antimatter annihilation is a technique far stronger than quark fusion.”
“If quark fusion is within your comprehension, antimatter annihilation certainly… it is unimaginable…”
“The energy resulting from this technology is about one hundred or a thousand times that of your nuclear fusion? Sorry, I actually don’t know very much about this subject either!”
Pondering for a moment, he continued.
“Well, let me put it this way. The spaceship in the sky there is our Association’s three-star Class E spaceship, equipped with spatial jump technology, capable of covering a distance of twenty light years… The technology applied to it is antimatter annihilation. Only the amount of energy generated by this technology can power a spatial jump!”
“Of course, the materials required for antimatter annihilation are very costly. You have no idea how high the fees charged by those civilizations that control this technology are…”
Having heard about the second-class civilization, Du Gang had a basic understanding of its strength. It’s incredibly powerful!
“Are such Tier-two civilizations rare?”
Pang Ze laughingly answered, “Tier-two civilizations are not rare, but tier-two technological civilizations are indeed rare!”
“Let me put it this way, even in the entire wasteland star domain, there are
Tier-three civilizations, but not a single Tier-two technological civilization!”
Du Gang pointed at the spaceship floating in the sky and questioned, “And what about these spaceships which you have?”
“We bought them from the neighboring star domain!”
Pang Ze suddenly pressed a button on his wristwatch, and instantly, numerous images were projected out of thin air.
“Let me show you the real universe!”
Soon enough, an image of a spiral galaxy appeared on the projection.
Du Gang was taken aback, “The Milky Way Galaxy?!”
Pang Ze nodded, “Yes, it is the Milky Way Galaxy!”
He asked back, “Do you know where the Milky Way is located in the universe?”
Du Gang shook his head. He and his physical education teacher had discussed this matter – Earth had not yet discovered how vast the universe is or where its center is located.
Pang Ze smiled and said, “The center of the universe is there!”
As he spoke, he extended his hand out and pointed up at the sky.
Du Gang’s mouth twitched, and he chose not to respond.
Pang Ze chuckled, then continued, “Alright, actually, I also don’t know where exactly in the universe the center is located. I didn’t expect you would not fall for it…
“Returning to the main topic, regardless of where the center of the universe is, it indeed exists!”
“Galaxies like our Milky Way are around two trillion in number…”
Du Gang did not refute this. Earth has discovered approximately 5 billion galaxies of the size similar to the Milky Way. Given the technological level of these advanced civilizations, it is quite plausible that they have discovered many more!
“Our Milky way is very far from the center of the universe. It could be said to be in the suburbs, roughly in the vicinity of the ‘fifth ring road’. Of course, between each ‘ring’, there could be hundreds of billions of similar galaxies…”
“Let’s return to the topic of the Milky Way. We do not need to understand about other places!”
He asked again, “Do you know how many stars there are in the Milky Way?”
“Around 1.25 trillion?”, Du Gang tentatively guessed. This is the number of known stars Earth has discovered in the Milky Way.
“More than that!”
Pang Ze laughed, “The Milky Way has approximately one trillion stars, which means that there are one trillion galaxies…”
“The universe is too vast, and so is the Milky Way. Merely talking about galaxies is quite complex, so we generally use other terms to name some star domains. Each star domain encompasses a group of galaxies…”
“For instance, in distant places, there are powerful civilizations ruling over hundreds of thousands to millions of galaxies, forming their own exclusive nations. We then name the star domains after these nations…
“The place where we are currently located is in the third spiral arm, the ninth segment end of the Milky Way, Imown as the Wasteland Star Domain!”
“Wasteland Star Domain…”
Du Gang mulled over it and then asked, “So are we under the rule of a nation named Wasteland?”
Looking at him regretfully, Pang Ze laughingly said, “The real situation is much worse than that. I’ll tell you more in a bit…”
“Right now, I’m going to talk about the Purple Orchid Star Domain!”
Saying this, he waved his hand and brought the rotating image of the Milky Way closer.
Soon, a foreign star domain appeared with countless luminous stars shining within it.
“The Purple Orchid Star Domain, also referred to as the Purple Orchid Kingdom, spans an area with a diameter of three hundred light-years. It consists of more than a thousand galaxies and is the nearest star domain to us…”
“The Purple Orchid Kingdom embodies what I meant when I referred to the only Tier-two technological civilization here. Their actual civilization level has reached Tier-five, but their technological civilization is only at Tier-two.
From this, what can you infer?”
Du Gang said abruptly, “They are also technologically blockaded?!”
Pang Ze nodded, “Correct, the Purple Orchid Kingdom has existed for several hundreds of thousands of years. Such a long duration of development has only led them to Tier-two technological civilization. This gives you an idea of the dominance the higher-level civilizations have over the lower-level ones in the field of technology…”
“Tier-five civilizations…”
Du Gang quickly asked, “The fifth-level civilization you’re referring to, is it based on military power?”
“Correct, Meteorite Level can be referred to as a first-level civilization; having a Meteorite-level strength is a second-level civilization; if you have a Comet-level strength, it’s a third-level civilization. Our Domain of Waste is the strongest third-level civilization…”
“However, we generally don’t refer to them as civilizations, but as power structures. For example, first-level forces, second-level forces, third-level forces, and so on!”
“Understood ! ”
Du Gang nodded, then asked, “The Domain of Waste you keep mentioning, how big is it? What are you referring to?”
Pang Ze swiftly adjusted the star domain map and displayed the galaxy, which included the solar system.
“See, the spherical domain that spans over a hundred light-years in diameter is the Domain of Waste…”
In the projection, all the galaxies were displayed in three dimensions, with varying heights and orientations.
“We call the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy’s movement as the Galactic Disk or Silver Plane. What lies above this plane is the Upper Silver Plane, and below it is the Lower Silver Plane…”
Du Gang frowned, “How do you differentiate between up and down?”
Pang Ze opened the projection of the Milky Way Galaxy again, “All celestial bodies are in motion… the Milky Way Galaxy revolves around the center of the Universe, stars revolve around the center of the Milky Way, planets orbit the center of their stars
“The Milky Way Galaxy consists of four parts: the galactic center, the galactic core, the galactic disk, and the galactic halo…”
“Do you see this small ball at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy? This spherical shape is the galactic core, comprised of extremely high-density star systems…”
“When we look at the galactic core from the galactic plane, you’ll find that one side of the core is larger than the other. The side where the core looks larger, we call it the Upper Silver Plane, and the opposite side where the core looks smaller, is the Lower Silver Plane. This way, we can distinguish ‘up’ and ‘down’ even in the Universe…”
“So you just need to use this plane as a reference point, and you can then identify the position of various galaxies…”
“Interestingly, your star system is located on the Silver Plane, in a relatively central position!”
Du Gang nodded, feeling that he now understood the concept of the Upper and Lower Silver Plane in the Universe.
“The domain we are in, the Domain of Waste, is approximately a spherical space with a diameter of over one hundred light-years, containing more than three hundred stars, hence, more than three hundred galaxies…”
“Among these, there are four third-level forces, over twenty second-level forces, and several first-level forces…”
Pang Ze smiled, “Your star system here is a newborn star, it doesn’t have many planets. Some star systems have hundreds of planets…”
Du Gang interrupted to ask: “Is your Cosmic Civilization Protection Association one of the three-level forces?”
“Yes!”
Pang Ze nodded and said, “Although our Cosmic Civilization Association has branches scattered around the Milky Way Galaxy, we mostly mind our own affairs… ”
“Here in the Domain of Waste, without a Comet-level overseeing the
Association, would you believe that the Star Thieves would dare raid our base? They’re quite bitter towards me…”
Du Gang was surprised: “Star Thieves? Are they really a thing?”
“Yes, many people are willing to participate in such brazen robbery. There is no unified force in the Domain of Waste, so the Star Thieves are very rampant. Many forces are openly merchants, but operate as Star Thieves behind closed doors…”
“Then why haven’t they come here?”
Pang Ze laughed, shrugged his shoulders, “Oh, you are too naive, they are Star Thieves after all, they’re in it to rob! What do you have here? Even if you have minerals, do you think they’ll become miners?”
Thinking about it, Du Gang found this to be the case. If the Cosmic Civilization Protection Association in the Domain of Waste is a third-level force, then under their protection, even if the Star Thieves conquer primitive civilizations, they wouldn’t dare to exploit them. So primitive civilizations are useless to them.
“Star Thieves typically hang out around the outskirts of prosperous star domains, always ready to hunt down passing merchant fleets of various civilizations, or rob wealthy planets…”
Speaking of money, Du Gang quickly asked: “What is the commonly used currency in Cosmic Civilizations?
Pang Ze smiled, “I don’t know about other places, but in our Domain of Waste, we generally settle transactions in Purple Orchid Coins, which is the currency of the Purple Orchid Principality…”
Having said this, Pang Ze paused, his expression becoming more serious.
“You’ve basically understood the fundamentals of the Universe. Now, I have to talk about the Domain of Waste. The following information may challenge your existing understanding…”
“How I wish I didn’t have to tell you all of this-!
“The Realm of Silence?” Du Gang paused, finding this term more like something out of a fantasy than reality.
Pang Ze nodded and said, “The Realm of Silence, a place devoid of life!”
“Do you know how long a Seven-Color Purple Class warrior can live on a waste planet?”
He didn’t wait for Du Gang to answer and spoke to himself:
“They can live 200 years!”
“Then do you know how long a Seven-Color Purple Class living near the Silver
Halo can live?”
“They can live 2000 years!”
Du Gang looked at him in surprise, not understanding the meaning of his words.
Pang Ze said seriously: “You didn’t hear wrong, and I didn’t speak wrong. The same Purple Class warriors, if they are in two different places, their lifespans are different!”
“Not only is this the case for the Silver Halo, I can say that at the center of the universe, Purple Class warriors can live even longer, perhaps 20,000 years, or even 200,000 years…”
He suddenly showed a complex expression and continued: “They could even live forever!”
“What?”
Du Gang looked at him in shock, not understanding the meaning of these words.
Pang Ze stretched out both hands, gestured and said: “Imagine, my left fingers represent the center of the universe, then my right fingers represent the edge of the Realm of Silence!”
“The center of the universe represents life, beauty!”
“The Realm of Silence represents death, loneliness!”
“Our waste planets are on the edge of the Realm of Silence, and we may fall into the Realm of Silence at any moment…’
“The most desperate thing is that all the star systems where we live in the Waste Planet Domain revolve around the Silver Halo, but in reality, they are moving away from the Silver Halo and approaching the Realm of Silence!”
After saying this, Pang Ze paused for a while, waiting for Du Gang to digest this information, then continued: “Have you heard of entropy?”
“Entropy?”
Du Gang was stunned. There was indeed a theory of entropy on Earth, which he once discussed with his physical education teacher.
“I’ve heard of the Law of Increasing Entropy…”
He was vaguely familiar with the second law of thermodynamics related to entropy.
Pang Ze nodded and said: “Knowing entropy is enough, our universe exists entropy, although invisible and intangible, it truly exists…”
“The entropy in textbooks is too complex to understand in days and nights, let me explain in simple terms!”
“You can understand it this way. Our entire universe has entropy. The center of the universe has less entropy, so people can live longer. The Realm of Silence is full of entropy, no life can exist!”
“Entropy is the thing that drains your life force… No, it takes away the life of all objects!”
“The reason we have a lifespan limit is because of the existence of entropy!”
“Whether it’s other objects or planets, under the influence of entropy, everything will head towards destruction…”
“The Law of Increasing Entropy means that entropy is always increasing.
Nothing in the universe can escape the persecution of entropy.
“Now, do you understand why our place is called the Waste Planet Domain? The next star domain to enter the Realm of Silence, full of entropy, is here!”
“Of course, the Realm of Silence is vast, and there are many Waste Planet Domains. Our place can only be regarded as the Waste Planet Domain of the third spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy.. ”
Du Gang frowned and asked: “How far is our star from the Realm of Silence?”
“Ten light years. The rotation speed of your star is one-thirteenth of the speed of light, it will be sucked into the Realm of Entropy in about ten to twenty thousand years…”
“So, if I go to the Silver Halo now, does that mean my lifespan will significantly increase?”
“Yes, the closer to the Silver Halo, the less entropy relatively, so humans can live longer…”
These theories shocked him.
He thought all humans were the same, with similar lifespans. Turns out, that was not the case.
Humans living in the Silver Halo have a lifespan nearly ten times longer than those here!
And if it’s humans living at the center of the universe, they might even be immortal…
Incredible!
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