Chapter 388: The Struggle for Eternal Consciousness

Du Qiu certainly knew what Ge Ya meant by human intervention. After all, he had long learned through Heavenly Garden about the Pleiadians’ genetic modifications on humans.

“What kind of intervention?” Although Du Qiu understood, he deliberately asked.

“They adjust their genes.”

Du Qiu exclaimed in astonishment, “If gene modulation is possible, then why don’t the Pleiadians simply create intelligent beings at the level of the Tianhuang people?”

“And what about cloning using the genetic material from the Seed Ship left by the Tianhuang people?”

Even through space broadcasts, the heaviness in Ge Ya’s voice was unmistakable.

“The genes of carbon-based beings remain one of the universe’s greatest mysteries. Although the Pleiadians inherited the legacy of the Tianhuang Civilization, their then five-tier technology still couldn’t directly produce intelligent life with the robust conscious power of the Tianhuang people.”

As for cloning the Tianhuang genes from the Seed Ship, that effort began as early as when the Pleiadians were a second-tier civilization.

Eventually, the Pleiadians became a hybrid mix—locals of Pleiades fused with Tianhuang gene clones.

While this hybrid policy refined the external appearance of the Pleiadians, it failed to enhance their brain’s conscious intensity.

Unable to hold back his curiosity, Du Qiu asked, “So in desperate times, the Pleiadians opted to use Seed Ships to search for solar systems with an environment similar to that of the Tianhuang?”

“Are you suggesting that the Pleiadians believe the environment is what shapes brain power?”

“You misunderstand. They believe that the environment is a critical factor affecting genes. A lack in conscious brain power may simply be due to their genes not matching those of the Tianhuang—largely because of environmental influences.”

“Then the Seed Ships deployed by the Pleiadians contained genes derived from the Tianhuang Seed Ship?”

Ge Ya replied, “No. The first-generation genes left by the Tianhuang Seed Ship were long exhausted. The Pleiadians deployed later cloned second- and third-generation genes, along with some of their own.”

Suddenly, Du Qiu recalled a startling fact: over the past decade, Dream Technology had made tremendous advances in gene technology, transforming a billion natural humans into gene-modulated beings with lifespans extended to 300 years.

Most remarkably, many of these individuals had seen their conscious brain power enhanced, nearly reaching the level achieved through the use of the crystal pillow.

In other words, Dream Technology had now produced a group whose brain power barely matched that of the Tianhuang.

Du Qiu remembered that when Kawanohoroharu reported these results, he pointed out that everyone whose brain power was enhanced shared one striking commonality.

“All of them were of Yellow race!”

Could it be that the Yellow race inherited the second-generation genes of the Tianhuang?

Although Du Qiu wasn’t completely sure, it was clear that life on Earth originated from the Pleiadians’ Seed Ship and, by extension, from the Tianhuang.

With that in mind, he asked, “So among the five emerging civilizations, did any intelligent species ever develop brain power comparable to the Tianhuang?”

Ge Ya sighed and said, “In all five civilizations, the Pleiadians intervened—though their methods varied.

Some directly modulated intelligent beings’ genes to bring them to a level capable of building civilizations, while others made subtle adjustments so that beings could naturally adapt to their environment.

Still others augmented local intelligences by adding genes from other species to enhance specific abilities in hopes of strengthening brain consciousness.”

Alas, by the time the Pleiadians were exterminated by the Dominant, none of the five civilizations had produced species with the requisite level of conscious brain power.

When Du Qiu heard that the Pleiadians had been wiped out by the Dominant, he blurted, “The Pleiadians were eradicated by the Dominant? Didn’t they leave behind any legacy?”

“They did. I am a descendant of the Pleiadians. Our Ge Ya Civilization took on the responsibility of resisting the Dominant Civilization, engaging them in a desperate, do-or-die struggle.”

Du Qiu had long believed that the Ge Ya Civilization was the inheritor of the Pleiadians, so it was no surprise to him that Ge Ya was one of their descendants.

“So, does that mean your brain power has reached the level of the Tianhuang, enabling you to employ consciousness technology?”

Hearing this question, Ge Ya responded in an unexpected manner.

“No. My brain’s consciousness is just like that of any other Pleiadian!”

Du Qiu was momentarily stunned before asking, “But aren’t you capable of manifesting consciousness?”

Ge Ya explained, “I can manifest consciousness because we discovered the method used by the Dominant to achieve it.

In order to counter the Dominant and save all intelligent civilizations, a group of us embarked on the same perilous path. Only I was fortunate enough to succeed; everyone else perished.”

Intrigued, Du Qiu asked, “How did the Dominant achieve consciousness manifestation? And what exactly did your group of experimenters do?”

Their conversation had grown remarkably congenial, with Ge Ya answering nearly every question Du Qiu posed.

At Du Qiu’s new inquiry, Ge Ya replied, “We adopted a gruesomely fatal method—we subjected ourselves to an experimental device that induced a violent, agonizing death.

In that process, if the device managed to collect a person’s brain consciousness, their body would be doomed, but their consciousness would live on eternally within it.”

This experiment was devised by one of the Pleiadian scientists, resulting in many deaths, including that of the Dominant, although it miraculously secured consciousness immortality.

Yet, because it was enforced upon the Dominant, it harbored deep resentment toward that scientist. After achieving eternal consciousness and integrating into the Pleiadian network, it sought revenge.

However, during this process, some Pleiadian scientists discovered it, and the Pleiadians employed all manner of measures to restrain it.

Ultimately, it was driven to become the antithesis of intelligent life—it seized control of all the neural cores, robots, and devices of Pleiadian civilization, launching an all-out war against them.

The conflict ended with the Dominant emerging victorious, while a small contingent of Pleiadians went into constant flight, relentlessly hunted by the Dominant fleet.

During their escape, the Dominant fleet spared no intelligent civilization it encountered. Thanks to the Dominant’s inherent control over artificial intelligence, many of these civilizations were wiped out by its forces.

Intelligent civilizations found themselves in a paradox: resorting to artificial intelligence made them vulnerable to the Dominant’s exploitation, yet without it, their productivity lagged far behind.

While the Dominant’s fleet swelled in number, the fleets of intelligent civilizations dwindled.

Thus, the remaining Pleiadians selected a group of volunteers to undergo the same experiment as the Dominant—if they could birth an eternal consciousness akin to the Dominant’s, they could challenge its control over AI.

This would enable intelligent civilizations to match the Dominant in combat power.

Since my birth, we have united with an increasing number of intelligent civilizations to form the Ge Ya Alliance and wage a desperate war against the Dominant Civilization.

In the ensuing conflict, nearly all intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way were decimated. To safeguard those five civilizations, our escape routes have steadily moved farther away from their stellar regions.

By merging with countless intelligent civilizations, we reached a six-tier civilization and eventually discovered a second-tier corridor that allowed us to flee the Milky Way into this River System.

This River System, being closer to the center of the universe, is far richer in resources and teems with many more intelligent civilizations than the Milky Way.

It is precisely because of this that our Ge Ya Alliance could hold its own against the Dominant Civilization—even though, after thousands of years of strife, the Dominant gradually absorbed our technological advances and eventually surpassed us.

Now, we find ourselves clearly at a disadvantage. Perhaps it won’t be long before we are utterly defeated by the Dominant Civilization.