Foreign Minister Old Yang sighed and said, "The topic of Level 6 Civilization is too complex, not suitable for us to discuss now. Let's change the topic. If you could understand the ultimate cosmic question and its answer, but would die instantly after knowing it, would you be willing?"

Zhang Yuan didn't hesitate much and said, "There would be some people willing, probably not a small proportion... Anyway, I'd definitely be willing!"

"I'd be willing too."

"Willing!"

Everyone quickly gave their own responses.

Li Zhendong was silent for a while and suddenly laughed, "The ultimate question... Certainly willing."

Old friends at the gathering surprisingly gave the same answer, making Old Yang a bit taken aback; he didn't expect the group's ideas to be so consistent, with everyone showing him strange smiles.

After a few seconds, seeing Old Yang's slightly incredulous expression, Zhang Yuan explained, "Old Yang, the temptation of the universe's ultimate question is too great. It encompasses the meaning of existence, includes everything. Knowing its answer means knowing everything, including when you'll die."

"Thinking this way, dying doesn't seem like a big deal... Anyway, I'm certainly willing."

"The ultimate question of the universe holds too high a value, far surpassing the cost of an individual life in my opinion. You should narrow the scope a bit, like the solution to the Black Box problem, the true mystery of quantum consciousness, breakthroughs in predictive mathematics. Faced with these relatively smaller questions, if I knew the answers and then died instantly, I might hesitate for a while."

Many scientists present nodded, agreeing with Zhang Yuan's viewpoint.

When faced with more knowledge and personal life, there is a scale.

Human life value is limited; sufficient knowledge can indeed leverage life. This is the common thought among all the scientists present.

"This should be a difference in value systems. For some civilizations, enough money can leverage life; but for us, enough knowledge can leverage life."

"Comparing superiority and good-bad aspects, I think the latter might be better because valuing knowledge can advance civilization."

Even Li Zhendong, usually slick and smooth, was seriously contemplating the question: How much is his life worth?

In reality, does the so-called Dao, the ultimate truth of the universe truly exist?

Nobody knows.

Zhang Yuan sighed and said, "Between happiness and ideals in life, how should one choose? Which is more important between fish and bear's paw? This question probably will never have a real answer. The answer may vary by person, and what we hope for is that anyone, making any choice, can receive respect and understanding from others."

"The greatest success in life is to live your life in your own way. Now these Lainino people have made their choice, for various reasons not joining the Alliance, so we should respect their choice. We're not interested in interfering with the Sinking Civilization's choice either."

Old Yang spread his hands, "Alright, alright, you've successfully convinced me. I finally understand the difference between the Sinking Civilization and us. This gap brought by history is difficult to make up, though not a true qualitative change, it is still a significant, significant change..."

"It seems we've been moving down this path for a very, very long time."

He took a sip of coffee, suddenly thinking of something, "Oh, there's another quite interesting thing to tell you all. Our scientific team on Red Kan Star, the secondary star of Lainino Star, found several suspected Wise Species... possibly even Hive Mind species!"

"Oh?!"

Zhang Yuan's expression shifted, showing interest, "Wise insects?"

The insect varieties on Red Kan Star are overwhelmingly numerous, conservatively estimated at a billion species, even though the Lainino people provided some biological specimens they collected to the humans, it's just a drop in the bucket.

There are still vast numbers of species hidden within forests and soil awaiting discovery.

The new humans' reconnaissance capabilities are naturally unrivaled by the Lainino Civilization. With the vigorous inspection of various reconnaissance robots, they really discovered some very strange, suspected wise life forms.

"Heh heh, I knew you'd be interested. This is just sent over first-hand material, anyway, nothing confidential."

Old Yang retrieved several photos from his personal device to show everyone.

"The first species, for now, calling them alien bees. They live in forests, have wings, can fly, with an average mass around one kilogram, slightly bigger than a fist!"

"Their living mode is somewhat similar to Earth's bees, sucking plant sap, processing some food into insect glue with relatively long shelf life, with a certain social division of labor."

Robots found one insect nest after another, where insect glue is very luxurious healthcare product for Lainino people, said to prolong life. These bee-like species hide deep in forests, not easy to find, with very low production of insect glue.

"Really can prolong life?"

"Of course it's fake... so-called insect glue is just some carbohydrates and proteins."

"The second species, for now, calling them alien ants, they live underground, dig holes, with individual average mass of 2.2 kilograms, considered quite large insects... The whole nest is somewhat like Earth's ants' division mode, with some individuals able to ingest the humus in soil, then process it into nutrition cream type substances for the entire species."

Zhang Yuan stared at the photos for a long time, these hideous insects are naturally not cute in appearance, he couldn't see how these guys possess wisdom.

In a skeptical tone, he asked, "Such ant, bee hive-type community organisms are abundant, almost every Life Planet can find them. Why do you think they have a certain level of wisdom?"

Old Yang laughed and said, "Listen to me, those bee-like communities are very aggressive. You know, the Lainino Civilization's Noble Youth often comes to this planet to slay insects for excitement, some program groups host insect-hunting games... The hatred between both sides may have lasted for thousands, even tens of thousands of years."

Zhang Yuan nodded.

He knew of this.

"This bee species, once attacked by Lainino people, is very vengeful, immediately retaliates. They have very hard, toxic stingers; getting stung once is fatal or seriously injured."

"But in front of steel and bullets, insect attacks are ultimately powerless, so this species was once a primary target for strikes by Lainino people."

"After brutal slaughter, these alien bees mysteriously hid... not disappeared, but deliberately avoiding Lainino people's pursuit, fleeing upon seeing Lainino people, very strange, right? Generally speaking, the concept of a natural enemy needs a long time to form, but these alien bees changed very quickly, seeming smart..."

"They are even the main force behind insect tide outbreaks in the forest!"

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