Wu Xiaoqing looked at A, paused for a moment, and subconsciously wanted to answer, but stopped again.

He looked at A for a few seconds before he said softly, "I thought you already had an answer to this question." ”

"Yes, we've had the answer for a long time," A said, "but I'd like to know your answer now." ”

My answer? Does it matter? ”

A smiled, raised his hand, and let the otherwise static world run again. He led Wu Xiaoqing out of the wasteland and walked along a path towards a small hill on higher ground.

When he reached the top of the hillside, A adjusted the time and chose a clear moonlit night, the silver moonlight sprinkled all over the earth, and the stars in the sky were like countless diamond-inlaid ceilings, dazzling and brilliant.

In this moonlight, A pointed to a place where a bonfire was lit at their feet, and Wu Xiaoqing saw that there was a group of people having dinner there. Judging from their attire, they should be primitive tribes, holding wooden spears in their hands and their faces painted with exaggerated pastels, which reminded Wu Xiaoqing of the primitive people he saw when he first went on a mission.

The primitive people must have just returned from hunting, and the fruits were abundant, and the women were processing the game with great skill, cutting it into large and small strips of meat, skewering them onto the branches, and roasting them over the campfire.

Many children gathered around the perimeter of the campfire, blinking and staring at the meat being roasted, but soon moved away a little under the shouts of the adults. But after the meat was roasted to a fragrant aroma, I couldn't help but come over.

"Civilization and morality are almost synonymous in many languages, and even in Chinese, they have very similar meanings. Because the premise of the emergence of civilization is also largely based on morality - you see, the meat is brought by the warriors, so when eating, no matter how hungry others are, you also need to wait for the warriors to eat first, and then the others will eat again. It's a morality that motivates hunting, simple and effective. A spoke slowly, as if he was not talking to Wu Xiaoqing, but telling a story to himself.

"As civilization progressed, so did the standards of morality. Here I just want to say one conclusion, the conclusion reached by our civilization - you can think of it as some kind of social law that we have summarized. ”

"We have found that the more developed the civilization, the more inclined its moral standards tend to be to explore more possibilities within its civilization. For example, in the case of slaves, if slaves are forced to work as coolies for the rest of their lives, for a civilization, that means countless possible farmers, craftsmen, builders...... All bound by slavery to the lowest level of coolies......"

"At this time, slavery for the whole of civilization is an obstacle to this possibility—to use your words, an obstacle to the development of the productive forces."

"Productivity and possibility, for a long time, were the same thing. In the growth stage of civilization, every bit of possibility is as precious as every glass of milk and every piece of meat that people eat when they grow up. ”

"In this process, civilization will gradually produce an illusion - it seems that as long as a civilization liberates all options that hinder the possibility as soon as possible and to the greatest extent, it can get the highest speed of development and get the best return."

"At this stage, the civilized order tends to be kind and tolerant. But in the final analysis, this kind of kindness and tolerance is not a completely independent choice of civilization itself, but a rational choice based on interaction with the environment - a rationality that favors interests. ”

"These words of mine should not be difficult to understand."

Wu Xiaoqing nodded.

"Do you agree?"

"Of course I agree...... If kindness and forgiveness bring real benefits in return, I'm almost beginning to be willing to trust God. But as far as I know, reality shouldn't be so rosy. ”

"In fact, most civilizations are so beautiful most of the time," A said, "and extreme and paranoid civilizations are often left behind in the stage of competition between civilizations, and even if they win the competition by chance, this characteristic is difficult to keep their civilization sustained." In a way, if there is God, then God is just and good. Soon, however, people began to find out the problem......"

"What's the problem?" Wu Xiaoqing pricked up his ears, and he felt that what he was going to hear next must be the key.

"Just like all living things, the prevalence of tumors increases dramatically after longevity...... The more civilization lasts, the more complex it becomes, and the challenges it faces...... and the more intense. This mission of the Federation, you should feel this way. Imagine what the future of this civilization would be like without you and without search and rescue teams? ”

"It will be destroyed by you."

"What about the factors that exclude us."

"There will be a winner."

"It's likely that the winner of this one is intellectual, right?"

Wu Xiaoqing nodded.

"The original one, the kind Federation civilization, those good Federation people, will they still exist?"

Wu Xiaoqing began to realize A's point of view.

"What I want to say is pretty obvious...... The power of morality, in the face of increasingly violent technological forces, is getting weaker and weaker. If the Federalists had made up their minds earlier, perhaps there would have been no such hidden danger as intellectuals at all. God's scales have quietly shifted their focus, but most members of civilization are still using their traditional thinking. You know, when the number of sheep on the grassland starts to increase, the next thing that will increase is the wolf. ”

Wu Xiaoqing has completely understood what A wants to say, and he has no place to refute A's logic - the kind of truth A said is really what he was worried about and guessed before. Now, his hunch seems to have been validated.

"You tell me this...... Do you want to change my attitude? ”

"No, I just want to know your attitude, out of concern for the future of the search and rescue team, a civilization."

"The future of the search and rescue team does not depend on me."

"According to our model...... You are the biggest variable in this civilization. ”

Wu Xiaoqing subconsciously wanted to deny it, but when he calmed down and thought about it, what qualifications did he have to deny A's judgment.

In fact, deep in Wu Xiaoqing's heart, he didn't have any worries about the future of the civilization of the search and rescue team.

This is not only him, but also Shen Changwen, who also faintly expressed it in private - because as long as people on the earth know a simple truth, it doesn't matter if a person likes to do good things, if he is poor, he is not a big problem, if he is poor, he is about to starve to death, and he thinks about doing good things all day long...... It's a bit of a H can't stop it.

For a long time, Shen Changwen's opinion was that no matter what they wanted to do in the future, the most important thing to do at present was to improve their living conditions. Until now, the search and rescue team civilization has almost always relied on the earth, on the one hand, it needs to rely on part of the earth's resources, and on the other hand, it has to keep it strictly secret...... Almost every rescue operation is danced with shackles, which is extremely awkward.

With the current strength of the search and rescue team, with a search and rescue ship, they can completely control any ordinary planet, and with a little modification, they can make a base by themselves. In this way, whether it is confidential work or performing tasks, it will be much more handy.

But Wu Xiaoqing never dared to tell the search and rescue team about this idea, and in fact, they didn't feel the need to say it - because the search and rescue team had completely blocked these openings when they pulled them in.

"He's too traditional...... An individual who lived at the height of the search and rescue team's civilization...... It is possible to carry this tradition with it until the end of this civilization. A didn't say who this "he" meant, but Wu Xiaoqing could hear that it was the search and rescue team.

"But...... Since you are now a member of this civilization, you have the obligation and responsibility to think about the future of this civilization," A said, "Although we do not appreciate the civilized behavior of the search and rescue team, we also do not want to see such a civilization step into decline early. Wu Xiaoqing, if possible...... You should try to make some changes and carry out the mission as you are now...... At best, it's just self-soothing. The tone is to save other civilizations, but it is more like some kind of self-salvation by the search and rescue team, proving that their civilization still exists. ”

Wu Xiaoqing couldn't agree with A's evaluation of the search and rescue team, but he didn't have a big opinion on his statement itself, he just doubted himself more: "Rebuild a civilization...... I can't imagine something like this, let alone do it myself. ”

"It's hard to rebuild, but the other way ...... If you think about it, it's not that hard. It's just that I'm afraid this is not quite in line with the tradition of the search and rescue team. For such an ancient civilization, their patterns of behavior have been enforced for hundreds of millions of years...... As I mentioned before, the core and most precious thing of a civilization is its own behavior pattern. To change this is to change the civilization itself, and to change is to perish to the civilization. But the difference is that if you take the initiative to change, there is still a chance to create a new search and rescue team, but just keep carrying it out...... As long as one mission goes wrong, it's really over. ”

Wu Xiaoqing didn't speak again, and A, just right, remained silent, and then said a word along the lines of this meaning - but Wu Xiaoqing already understood everything about what he was going to say.

"Looks like you haven't thought about it yet...... After waiting for a long time, A waved his hand, and everything in front of him disappeared again, and then the museum furnishings, those booths and artifacts, appeared in front of him again.

"Take care." In my head, it was the last two words A said to him.

Wu Xiaoqing didn't answer, his mind was still subconsciously thinking about the question A asked him at the end.

When Wu Xiaoqing came to his senses, he found that the museum staff was standing beside him: "Sir, the exhibition time is almost over." ”