Chapter 6: Limits and Possibilities

Hard work determines your floor, but brain development defines your ceiling… or does it?

Watching the direction of the strategy team, Mu Qingxue couldn’t help but think of that saying.

But right now, what she really wanted to say was…

Hard work truly does set your lower limit and natural brain development sets your upper limit, but—

—whether you can actually reach that so-called ceiling still comes down to effort!

She’d personally looked up Lin Yu’s records.

His family’s evolutionary lineage only stretched back seventeen generations.

But what exactly is an evolutionary lineage?

It was a concept proposed by humanity several centuries ago.

In essence—

It’s counting how many generations your ancestors have been part of the evolved human race.

For instance, if your ancestor was one of the very first astronauts and your family has lasted over 600 years through 33 generations—

—then your family’s evolutionary lineage is thirty-three generations long.

The more generations you have, the stronger your descendants become naturally. In Lin Yu’s case, his ancestors were all common folk. In other words—

His relatives were among the last batch of humans to enter space and come into contact with dark energy in the age of advanced evolution.

Seventeen generations of evolution just couldn’t compare in theory to families who had passed through twenty or even thirty generations.

That’s also why geniuses so often come from prominent lineages.

Back then, only the powerful, influential, or wealthy families could beat others to space and become the first to experience the evolutionary wave.

So from a young age, Lin Yu, born to an ordinary family, worked harder than anyone.

Of course, in this era, pretty much every child from a typical household puts in extra effort. Most have a lower baseline brain development, so if they can’t reach the ceiling, at least they want to make sure the floor doesn’t drop out from under them.

Yet even among the hardworking, based on the information Mu Qingxue had seen, Lin Yu stood out. He put in far more effort than anyone else.

A fleet commander only ever sets general goals.

Like ordering what formation to arrange or what weapons to use in combat.

But actually making that order a reality for the entire fleet is exactly why operation staff exists.

After all, if you just shouted orders at every warship captain individually, everyone would definitely be left scratching their heads.

Sure, I know you want this formation, but where exactly does my ship go?

“Can everyone really just grab whichever slot they want?”

The fleet commander’s orders don’t flow straight to every ship. Instead, the operation staff break them down and send out the specifics to each vessel.

So each ship simply receives its set of coordinates to move to.

In short, the role of the operations team is to turn the commander’s intentions into reality.

By Mu Qingxue’s estimate, even if she were in charge just now, she could probably compress the operation down to about a minute—but definitely not Lin Yu’s forty-seven seconds.

Sure enough…

This guy’s natural brain development…

It’s definitely not lower than hers!

As for the exact figure, she couldn’t be sure.

Maybe twenty-eight, or twenty-nine percent?

“Please don’t tell me it actually hit thirty percent…”

Shaking her head, Mu Qingxue brushed away her scattered thoughts.

“Ling Wei, move on to Major Item A, Subject Seventeen!”

“Yes, General!”

——

A whole month passed.

Nearly every day was spent drilling through a mountain of training courses. The fleet’s coordination only kept getting better.

That month, eight new warships joined the fleet: one cruiser, two destroyers, four frigates, and an aircraft carrier.

But as for reaching full strength…

According to the military’s timeline, that wouldn’t be until next March—six months away.

Until then—

The Fifth Fleet received its very first formal order from the military.

To participate in the Human Federation’s 200th anniversary parade on November 1st, just a month later!

Normally, fleet reviews like this are handled by the First Fleet.

For one, they have the most advanced equipment. For another, the other fleets are busy with defense assignments and can’t leave so easily.

But this time the Fifth Fleet is joining too, thanks to an unspoken tradition inside the Federation’s navy.

Whenever a new fleet is formed, it takes part in that year’s review—then heads out to the border.

Of course, not every ship gets to join. Normally, only a dozen or so vessels participate.

But this time’s different.

It’s the bicentennial!

That’s nothing like the yearly event.

Definitely not!

So this year, not just every ship from the Fifth Fleet but even the First Fleet will be on parade. More than four hundred warships, all converging in Earth’s orbit.

Besides the grand review, there’ll also be various fleet formations and tactical demonstrations.

Such a spectacular scene has only happened twice even in the Federation era—at the founding, and a hundred years ago at the centennial.

To make sure nothing goes wrong, Mu Qingxue had them double up on fleet coordination drills in recent days.

Meanwhile—

The Kuiper Belt.

This is already the very edge of the Solar System.

Go farther and there’s still a stretch of a hundred thousand astronomical units—1.58 light years—called the Oort Cloud.

But that isn’t truly part of the Solar System.

There are close to ten billion bodies in the Kuiper Belt, at least a hundred thousand of them over a hundred kilometers wide.

Together, they form a moat that guards the Solar System round the clock.

That’s why a lot of people call the Kuiper Belt the Sun’s shield.

At that moment, a frigate from the Fourth Fleet was out on patrol duty.

Humanity’s never actually found aliens, but statistically, there must be tons of civilizations out there in the Milky Way.

After all—

There are more than a hundred billion stars in the Milky Way alone, and even more planets.

And who said life can only arise on planets with oxygen?

That line of thinking is just human arrogance, really.

So, even though humanity can’t leave the Solar System yet, the Federation’s never let down its guard against a possible alien invasion.

“Captain, we’ve got a lost contact with Sensor GpZ.”

The captain didn’t find it especially concerning.

Along the Kuiper Belt, the Federation had scattered millions of sensors to build a warning grid.

With those numbers, plus the local conditions—

there are bound to be occasional failures for all sorts of reasons.

That’s why whenever they went on patrol, the ships always carried spare sensors to swap out as needed.

“Navigator, plot a course right away.”

“Route already mapped!”

“Good. Helmsman, take us over.”

“Aye, Captain!”

——

Between Neptune and the Kuiper Belt.

Here, dozens of space stations of varying size clustered around a vast open-air spaceport that stretched over eighty kilometers and rose five levels tall.

Warships of all kinds were docked within, a sight both imposing and awe-inspiring.

Not far from the main spaceport, a colossal space station housed the headquarters of the Fourth Fleet.

Inside, Vice Admiral Dmitry Volkov, the fleet’s commander, was working his way through a stack of reports.

Thump, thump, thump—

“Come in!”

“Vice Admiral!”

A soldier pushed open the office door and stepped inside.

He straightened, then announced with a clear voice.

“What is it?”

“Sir, two minutes ago, we lost contact with the Don River destroyer!”

“Hmm? What happened?”

Lost contact…

That’s never a good sign.

Even though the Federation loses plenty of ships every year, a warship—

—especially a destroyer—

—has never gone missing in two hundred years of history.

Volkov set down his files, frowning deeply.

“According to the Don River’s last report, they noticed a sensor failure and were heading over to replace and recover it.”

Volkov tapped quickly at the console on his desk.

A moment later, a virtual projection popped up before him.

Displayed was the Don River’s last known location, right at the edge of the Kuiper Belt.

Of course, that was to be expected.

Most Federation sensors are positioned along the Kuiper Belt.

“Maybe they went into the Kuiper Belt and got cut off by magnetic interference?”

“What’s Vikov playing at this time?”

Volkov looked irritated.

Vikov had always been one of his brightest hopes, making lieutenant colonel at twenty-nine and taking command of the Don River destroyer.

His future was looking bright.

But taking the ship into the Kuiper Belt without permission and causing a major loss like this would stain his record permanently and ruin his career.

Volkov thought this was a monumentally stupid move.

So why was Volkov convinced the Don River entered the Kuiper Belt?

Because Vikov had asked him before if he could go explore it, but Volkov had refused—and chewed him out.

The Kuiper Belt’s magnetic fields were notoriously unstable, risking severe interference with communications and equipment.

Even the Federation’s top research teams only entered after making absolutely thorough preparations.

“Which ship is closest right now?”

“The Petrov Glory cruiser is about seven hours from the Don River’s last known position!”

“Oryol, then. Send him out at once—bring Vikov back here!”

“Yes, Vice Admiral!”