"They've finally left."

"Yeah, the aliens are gone..."

A few white-haired gorillas watched as the alien spaceship quickly departed. With the final crisis averted, their moods gradually relaxed, and they chatted and laughed among themselves.

This time, they gained so many benefits, which would certainly allow them to rapidly develop for a period in the future!

The mere thought of the enormous rewards from technological advancement made each white-haired gorilla's heart burn with excitement... Even for the Sinking Civilization, technological development is ultimately beneficial. Technological advancement means a bigger pie.

Moreover, their entire civilization doesn't have many high-end talents, and digesting these technologies would take a very long time, so cooperation outweighs competition in this civilization's future.

One of the Lainino people seemed to have thought of something: "By the way, that alien also gave us a gift... said it was a final little gift."

"What gift?"

"Open it and you'll know."

"We mustn't be careless! Who knows what risks it might pose?"

These Lainino people returned to a safe room, cautiously placing the box on the table, their expressions tense, even holding their breath...

Soon after, they dispatched a robot to the safe room.

With a light "click," the box was opened.

They were surprised to find that inside was just a beautifully crafted postcard, with nothing else. The card depicted the appearance of the human Mother Star "Earth"—a blue planet similar to Lainino Star.

On the back of the postcard was a series of writings.

"Dear Lainino Civilization, thank you for your hospitable reception. Your beautiful planet reminds us of our once-warm Mother Star and our people living on it. We don't know how they're doing, so here, we wish them all well."

"And thank you for providing us with a pleasant time. Our students received good education here, and the sociologists' surveys were very successful."

"This is how travel among the stars is; without reaching the destination, you never know what stories await us ahead."

"Sometimes we wonder, if we could just keep traveling like this, perhaps it wouldn't be that bad..."

"Finally, we have some not-so-good news to tell you: the political landscape of the Milky Way is undergoing significant changes, and even our interstellar alliance is merely a grain of sand in the tide of the times. We can also say we're just refugees."

"Regrettably, if your civilization can't leave its Mother Star within a thousand years, it will likely face the fate of assimilation."

The words that followed provided a brief introduction about the Alef Civilization and what the concept of "assimilation" truly meant.

"Assimilation?"

"A more powerful civilization coming back to occupy our planet?!"

The few white-haired gorillas first fell into silence for a long time, then immediately spread this message with faces full of terror.

They didn't know whether this news was true or false, but even a one-in-a-thousand chance was a genuine existential crisis!

A Level 5 Civilization is coming!

...

Of course, humans didn't care how the Lainino people would handle the final little gift, whether they would spend the last thousand years in indulgence or seize the opportunity to develop themselves. How they chose was irrelevant to humans.

"A thousand years are too short. If they can't possess curvature technology, they won't get far and will still be assimilated by the Alef Civilization."

"So I think there's a high probability they'll continue living as they did before... even though we've informed them of this news."

At this point in the discussion, everyone aboard the spaceship nodded, sighing in unison.

A thousand years is both short and long, far surpassing the lifespan of a generation in the Lainino Civilization. For every member to cinch their belts and develop technology, that's something this civilization is basically incapable of... This is a fact.

When the last batch of diplomats returned, the engineers unloaded crate after crate of goods. These included a large number of insects and a small number of Lainino people, all of whom were frozen, lying in hibernation chambers.

These were the humans' gains over the past two years.

"Professor Zhang, should this batch of indigenous people be enough?"

"Enough, enough. Including the previous batches, there are five thousand in total, more than enough..."

Zhang Yuan looked at the natives in the hibernation chamber and sighed, feeling like a Black Wizard manipulating souls. With so many natives being experimented on, the way others looked at him was always a bit strange...

But what can he do? It's not feasible to experiment on their own kind, is it?

To sacrifice a few natives whose minds were damaged by drugs is the extreme limit of what human morals can accept...

Zhang Yuan glanced again at the various massive insects confined in the glass room, including two unique wise species, who were curiously observing their surroundings.

He smiled and asked, "These must be the wise hive-mind species, right? How is their intelligence level?"

A professor specializing in insects replied, "Mediocre. They weren't willing to board the ship but were forcibly taken by us."

"According to our current research, this hive-mind's intelligence is about 70, capable of learning some of our texts and counting, but we shouldn't hold too high expectations for how much they can develop."

"I see..."

Zhang Yuan felt a bit disappointed, but he quickly became philosophical. Humans don't have such good fortune to randomly find a species with the potential to be a super species.

The professor then asked, "And on your end, with enough experimental material, do you have confidence in overcoming the last hurdle?"

"You mean Thought Acceleration?"

"Yes."

Zhang Yuan smiled and said, "Theoretically, Thought Acceleration isn't much of an issue. After all, we have Virtual World Technology, and we've overcome the biggest hurdle of uploading thoughts. In about a hundred years—no, just fifty or sixty—the technology can become truly mature..."

Thought Acceleration is already the final big step in the entire system toward becoming a Level 5 Civilization.

If we take this big step, humanity will be poised to achieve self-modification and complete an intellectual leap.

Once intelligence leaps ahead, all other problems will no longer be issues.

"So, within a hundred years, we could become a Level 5 Civilization?" The entomologist asked a bit gossipy, "Really only a hundred years? Can we really achieve silicon-based transformation, making us countless times smarter than now?!"

A hundred years isn't a particularly long time compared to our current lifespan.

Every scientist craves a smarter version of themselves, and under these premises, even at some cost, people are willing.

Many experts and scholars gathered around, eager for a definitive answer.

"It's possible but not guaranteed!"

Zhang Yuan shook his head, "Even if the technology is fully mature, it doesn't necessarily mean we'll step into a Level 5 Civilization. As you know, there are still many challenges... ethics, morality, and several philosophical views need to be resolved. Let's hope the future is bright."

And just like that, once all the materials were sorted, the curvature engine above the War Star began to operate, and the Alliance Fleet set sail again, heading into the depths of the void...

...

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