[In September of the 15th year of the Pioneer Era, the Exploration Advance Team]

[Twenty-five years have passed since the discovery of the "New World", during which time the international government was under increasing popular pressure and finally had to form a coalition government, at least formally to unify our planet]

[Is our species so virtuous?] Is it possible to abandon all previous opinions and differences for a more long-term goal and move towards unity? 】

[Maybe it's because they've had enough of endless internal friction]

[All in all, the first exploration plan is on the agenda]

[I don't know if other civilizations in this universe have suffered similar things, but if they are, then we are undoubtedly too far behind them, and who will be the civilization that created these countless wormholes?] 】

[Our probe can't tell if the other side of the wormhole is a trap or a new world, but I'm willing to give it a go, and I have to consider if this is the only chance we have in this life]

[If you succeed, it is a great future, and if you fail, it is just the life of a few of us]

"-Hey! Star Puzzler, your days of writing in the ship's logbook at every turn are over, give me the recorder. ”

The Puzzled Star Scholar's record was abruptly interrupted, but he himself didn't care, instead laughed and said, "If you want, you can get it yourself......"

This is something they often do during their journey through wormholes, and human interaction is a rare spice during boring interstellar journeys.

Even if the ship is designed with a recreation room, a long period of loneliness is enough to cause mental problems.

The wormhole voyage is expected to take a year, and their home planet is still working on how to reduce that time even less.

It is said that sharpening knives is not a mistake for woodcutters, but the world on the other side of the wormhole is still too curious for them, and even when the wormhole navigation technology was developed, but it took ten years to cross the wormhole, there were a group of people who couldn't bear the desire to explore, even if it took twenty years to go back and forth.

But in the end, under the strong persuasion of more scientists, this group of people still reluctantly waited for the current one-year journey, and became the first batch of pioneers, and the Puzzled Star Scholars were among them.

Now, according to the time, their wormhole journey is also coming to an end, and a boatload of eight scientists with different strengths have also returned to their respective posts at this time, carefully testing the values of the instruments in front of them.

After a while, with a burst of abnormal turbulence in the ship's hull, everyone realized that their destination had arrived, and the instruments that were not working properly in the wormhole resumed their work, and quickly gave first-hand data.

“…… The cosmic background data has not changed much, and it is basically certain that it is still in this galaxy. ”

"The state of the wormhole is also normal, and the drone swarm can go back to report the news."

“……”

Each of the scientists in their respective roles reported their results, but only one looked strange because of what they had discovered.

“…… Strange, here...... The detection wave I just emitted happened an incredible faster-than-light phenomenon when it passed somewhere......"

Before everyone was surprised by this, there was a sudden disturbance of the instruments on the spaceship, and even the lights inside the spaceship flickered on and off, as if something was interfering with the normal operation of the spaceship.

Although the anomaly quickly disappeared, it still caused the people on the ship to be suspicious.

The Wandering Star Scholar also looked serious and solemn, because he thought that this was the work of a "higher civilization", and they had intruded into the territory of the other party.

“…… Sure enough, is the universe still dark...... It's a pity that we can't blow up the passage of the wormhole, and our civilization will be gone......"

At this time, his heart was a little gloomy, and the hope ignited by the wormhole passage was extinguished.

Although he is a staunch "Dark Forest" faction, and this hypothesis was also proposed by him, his heart has always longed for a glamorous interstellar stage, otherwise he would not have personally participated in this advance journey.

Now it seems that everything is over, they will be destroyed by this high civilization, and their civilization will be found by the way, enslavement is a good ending, and the worst case scenario is that everyone will become rations for alien civilizations, or hunt casinos.

However, just when their hearts were like ashes, a communication request popped up uncontrollably on the large central screen in the spaceship's control room.

This civilization has deciphered their system, and they have also deciphered their words, and they can do all this in such a short time, and it is obvious that the strength of the other party is much stronger than theirs.

But such a "high civilization" still "requested" to communicate with them, showing enough respect for them.

Confused, the Scholar connects to the communication and discovers that the other party is an alien, but seems to be very happy about their arrival.

"Friends, are you also from the other side of the 'moat'? I'm sure you've been limited by that damn speed of light for a long time, right? Never mind! Once here, that's all gone! ”

"I'm a member of the 'United Seekers' Alliance, and I'm also a 'Furukawa people', in charge of receiving civilizations from over there, I know you must have a lot of doubts, but listen to me slowly."

"When the wormhole first appeared, many of our civilizations that we didn't know each other came here and discovered the existence of the 'hyperspace channel' here."

"We soon encountered each other through this magical space, and at first we were at odds with the idea of being 'over there,' until we discovered a galaxy where images of us, our ancestors, and our ancestors suffering."

"We know the truth, we know that there is a civilization over here, taking pleasure in fooling us."

"Anger ignited us, and we began to unite to destroy the civilization that had caused it."

"Now that we've done it, and understand that we're all victims, there's a civilization in the more distant universe that's 'watching' us, and it's the culprit."

"In order not to repeat the mistakes of the darkness, we have formed alliances to seek the help of every civilization, whether to fight potential threats or to preserve ourselves."

"You ...... Are you willing to move forward with us for this ideal? ”

Speaking of this, the negotiator of the alliance stretched out his hand and looked at the crowd present expectantly.

The rest of the scientists looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

Only the Confusing Star Scholar strode forward and came to the central screen.

At this time, his eyes were no longer as full of doubt and jealousy as before, as if everything around him might harm him, but full of hope, and even tears.

He was the most opposed to all this, but he also wanted it the most, the ambivalence lurked in his heart, he used to admit the darkness for the sake of civilization, but now he felt that he had seen the day of his dreams.

So through the touch of the screen, he shook hands with the alien, even if the touch of his fingertips was a cold electronic screen, he seemed to feel a heart-to-heart heat.

The Dark Forest is a thing of the past, and now it is a connected world.

(End of chapter)