Chapter 387: The Rise and Fall of Civilizations

Ge Ya soon began to explain.

The Tianhuang Civilization was located in the Virgo Cluster of the universe, near the core, where a primary channel to the center of the cosmos lay about ten thousand light-years away.

Thanks to this convenient position, the Tianhuang Civilization developed within just a few hundred thousand years.

Tianhuang was a carbon-based civilization with a humanoid race renowned for their unparalleled physical proportions.

Their brains were highly advanced, and their mental prowess was exceptional.

Not only had they developed mechanical technology to great heights, but they also combined it with their formidable consciousness to create mind-driven technology, allowing a Tianhuang native to control intelligent machines from the comfort of home.

After hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, the Tianhuang Civilization was on the verge of reaching the seventh level.

At that moment, an aggressively expansionist silicon-based civilization—the Guangyu Civilization—unexpectedly seized the primary channel entrance, igniting a protracted war with Tianhuang.

The Guangyu Civilization, too, was nearing the seventh stage of cosmic development.

Their motive for seizing the primary channel entrance was to ensure their own upgrade to a seventh-level civilization.

Controlling the entrance not only meant easy passage to the universe’s center for exchanges with higher civilizations, but also accelerated their developmental pace.

It also allowed them to levy fees on neighboring civilizations wishing to use the channel, further boosting overall progress.

Clearly, controlling the primary channel entrance was like manning a toll booth in the cosmos, where most transactions between civilizations involved technology.

This strategic advantage is why the Tianhuang Civilization, despite only a few hundred thousand years, had soared to the pinnacle of level six and was stepping into level seven.

At this point, Du Qiu couldn’t help but voice his doubts.

“Why did the Guangyu Civilization have to take the entrance? They’re already at the peak of level six. They could simply pass through the primary channel to the cosmos’ center and naturally evolve into a seventh-level civilization.”

Hearing Du Qiu’s question, Ge Ya refrained from mocking his ignorance.

Instead, she countered, “The center of the universe is no place for a civilization that hasn’t reached level seven.

That’s why most civilizations dispatch trade fleets there—to exchange their unique technologies and resources for advanced tech from higher civilizations.”

“In that case, why can’t the Guangyu Civilization simply wait, send in a trade fleet, and exchange with Tianhuang without plunging into all-out war?”

Du Qiu still couldn’t comprehend the necessity of immediate conflict despite both being pinnacle level six civilizations.

After a brief silence, Ge Ya explained, “There’s a saying in the cosmos: to ascend to a seventh-level civilization, you must annihilate a fellow level six civilization.”

Du Qiu was taken aback. “There’s such a belief? It can’t be just a rumor—what’s the evidence?”

“There’s no concrete proof. It’s merely an unwritten rule among level six civilizations, yet every peak culture holds it dearly as truth.”

Du Qiu was stunned again. What kind of rule was that?

Could it be that the current war between the Dominant Civilization and the Ge Ya Civilization was fought for the same reason?

With that thought in mind, he steered the conversation back to the war between the Guangyu and the Tianhuang civilizations.

“How can the Guangyu be so sure they’ll defeat the Tianhuang? If they lose, wouldn’t that just open the door for Tianhuang to triumph?”

Seeing Du Qiu’s message, Ge Ya explained, “Perhaps the Guangyu had reached a developmental bottleneck. Without this war, their civilization might have collapsed on its own.”

“Collapse of a civilization?” Du Qiu asked, puzzled.

“Exactly. Have you never wondered why, in the vast cosmos, intelligent civilizations are so rare? In regions spanning dozens to hundreds of light-years, there’s often only one such culture. This is because civilizations tend to self-destruct.

Our preliminary estimates suggest that 80% of civilizations perish before reaching level two.

In the transition from level one to level two, the lethality of their weapons makes self-annihilation highly probable.

Another 15% fall victim to external forces during the level three phase. Since level three civilizations can leave their home systems, encountering higher-level ones becomes a fatal risk.”

Perplexed, Du Qiu murmured, “Can’t intelligent civilizations in the universe coexist peacefully? I recall something about a Ge Ya Alliance—you all supposedly live in harmony.”

Ge Ya replied, “We formed the Ge Ya Alliance because the Dominant Civilization sought to exterminate every intelligent species we encountered.

It was this common enemy that allowed me to unite so many civilizations in our fight against the Dominant Civilization.”

A moment of clarity washed over Du Qiu, and he said, “I’m sorry—please, continue with the story of the Tianhuang Civilization.”

It seemed Ge Ya hadn’t conversed with such insightful beings in a long while, so she resumed her tale.

The war between the Tianhuang and Guangyu Civilizations raged for nearly twenty thousand years before Tianhuang ultimately fell, its civilization on the brink of extinction.

At that desperate moment, to preserve their legacy, the Tianhuang launched a multitude of seed ships in all directions.

Subsequently, the Guangyu Civilization obliterated the Tianhuang.

Those seed ships, carrying the entirety of Tianhuang’s biological genes, were unmanned yet imbued with intelligence, traveling through the vast cosmos toward countless star systems.

Some were torn apart by cosmic storms, while others landed in star systems only to perish prematurely.

One such seed ship reached the Pleiades within the Milky Way, where it rooted itself.

Inside, the Tianhuang human genes were activated, sparking a planetary civilization akin to Tianhuang’s home world.

However, environmental factors during evolution led to significant differences between the Pleiadian species and the original Tianhuang humans.

The distinction was not in appearance but in the strength of their consciousness.

The Pleiadians possessed such feeble mental strength that they couldn’t activate the Consciousness Descent Module, causing the Tianhuang technological legacy to falter.

Initially, the Pleiadians were unaware of this shortcoming until they reached level five.

At that point, they clashed with another level five civilization, a battle that nearly wiped them out.

In a dire moment, the Pleiadians recalled the Tianhuang legend and, emulating their methods, launched their own seed ships to scatter across the cosmos.

Moreover, to ensure the emergence of people with strong minds like the Tianhuang, they programmed the seed ships to land only on planets with environmental factors similar to their home world.

Fortune favored the Pleiadians—they defeated that level five civilization at the last moment and secured ultimate victory.

Thereafter, their civilization entered a stable phase, followed by a search for their seed ships, which led to the discovery of seven that had successfully found planets resembling their home environment, initiating new evolutionary cultures.

Unfortunately, by the time they identified these seven planets, two civilizations had evolved too rapidly and self-destructed as soon as they reached level two.

The remaining five evolved extremely slowly, never quite reaching the stage of true intelligent civilization.

To protect these five, the Pleiadians established a system known as the Civilization Bastion, completely isolating and safeguarding the five star systems.

By now, Du Qiu was utterly shocked. Clearly, Earth was one of the planets where a Pleiadian seed ship had landed—one of those five civilizations.

So Du Qiu asked, “With you protecting these five civilizations, has any species evolved there with intelligence akin to the Tianhuang?”

Ge Ya sighed and replied, “It isn’t that simple. Although the environments of these five planets resemble that of Tianhuang’s home world, the conditions within their star systems differ.

This means that the humanoid species that evolved still couldn’t match the mental strength of the Tianhuang. Left with no alternative, the Pleiadians decided to intervene artificially in these five civilizations.”