Age of Cosmic Exploration

Since it was a relic type ruin, then it meant that humanity had a chance of capturing the ruin as well... However, that chance was small, considering the other space civilizations humanity had to fight for it.

If they lost... well, that was dependant on whether the ruin’s owner was kind or cruel. Either the losers would be allowed to leave safely or they would all become sacrifices for the winner. It would make sense for it to be the latter, as the lives of several billion space civilizations would be decimated to be turned into soul for the victor, allowing the victor to reach its full potential. This combined with the reward provided by the relic type ruin would allow the victor to become a high tier space civilization as soon as possible!

Therefore, humanity shouldn’t bank on other people’s kindness. There was only thing for humanity to do, which was to survive no matter what and try its best to be the final victor!

Even though the hope of that was incredibly small...

"Units 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, and 15, unit captains, please bring your troop members to area C to arm yourselves..."

The units that were named followed their captains happily as they left the training field. In comparison, those units who weren’t named had glum faces. After all, this batch of equipment was the best the Hope could offer. Since the Hope was going to enter the ruin tomorrow, this batch was all the equipment the Workshop could muster up given the supplies and time constraint. Therefore, they would be given only to the few elite Black Star Trooper units, the rest of them would be using old equipment.

Guang Zhen and Yao Yuan were in a room just off of the training field, they were discussing this new batch of weapons.

"Actually..." Yao Yuan was hesitant, but he eventually voiced his concern. "It is quite a bit of waste for us to build this equipment. After all, these are untested prototypes. Plus, we are heading into the territory of a level 3 space civilization soon, so these weapons and armors from the peak of a level 2 space civilization are a bit outdated..."

Guang Zhen though shook his head and said, "Ol’ Yao, it’s not that I want to mock you, but you’ve been more and more like a woman lately, fussy about such details. I know managing a whole civilization isn’t easy, millions of mouth all wanted to get something from you. If we run low on energy or supplies, the whole ship might head towards chaos... I know that, but Ol’ Yao, this is more important than all that. What if the inside of the ruin is different from what we predicted? We cannot be over-prepared..."

Yao Yuan sighed slightly and didn’t say anything else. After all, it was well within Guang Zhen’s jurisdiction to order the upgrade of equipment for either the Black Star Troopers or the Defense Unit. As long as it was not related to massive weapons like the Genesis, then Guang Zhen, as the vice-captain of the Hope, commander of the Defense Unit, and vice general of Black Star Troopers, could give this order. As long as it was not out of line, even Yao Yuan wouldn’t have been able to intervene.

The two of them moved on to other topics. After all, the Hope still had enough supplies left to support this batch of equipment upgrades. The real concern was the entry into the ruin. Currently, the Hope was so close to the giant tree that the normal civilians on the Hope could identify the grains on its bark and leaves. Combat could be ignited at any moment.

And then... nothing happened. The Hope entered the ruin without much fanfare. However, it was a completely different view inside the ruin!

On the second day, the Hope was incredibly close to the giant tree’s surface and the distance between them was slowly decreasing. In fact, a normal civilian could now see the patterns on the bark clearly. The Hope was so close to the giant tree that the bark itself felt like a piece of land made entirely out of wood.

"1,137 kilometers away from the giant tree, 1,127 kilometres, 1,117 kilometres, 1,107 kilometres... the speed remains unchanged!"

Everyone waited with bated breath inside central command. The workers waited quietly, posted at their designated stations. According to the surveillance, the Hope had maintained the same speed ever since it had been taken over. If the ship didn’t slow down soon, the Hope would crash land onto the surface of the giant tree itself.

However, this was nothing to worry about, because before the Hope was taken over, the Hope’s surveillance device was already directed at the giant tree’s surface to discern how other alien civilizations entered the ruin. When they were close enough to the giant tree, a hole would suddenly open on the surface to suck them in. There was no accident of collisions.

The real concern was everything inside the ruin, that was the real test.

Yao Yuan maintained an expression devoid of emotion as he listened to the data provided by the workers. His eyes were glued to the 3D image beside him that showed the current progress of armed units on the Hope and the situation of the civilians going into hiding.

Discounting the fear and anxiety of the civilians, the Hope’s workers and armed units were relatively calm as the ship slowly headed towards the giant tree. When the Hope was less than 100 meters away from the surface of the tree, a bottomless pit appeared right underneath the Hope, waiting for the ship to fall into it.

The Hope’s surveillance devices had started working when the hole opened itself on the surface of the tree, but unfortunately, they had no way of telling what was inside it. Any light or electronic signal directed at the hole were pulled into it, like it was a black hole.

Yao Yuan looked at the giant hole on screen. He felt some degree of danger coming from it, but it was not strong enough to be a cause for concern. He even asked Zhang Heng for his opinion and the Hope’s most powerful Diviner agreed with him. This hole, whatever it may be, was safe...

"At least entering it will not be dangerous... but we can’t know what lies beyond it."

Very soon, the Hope fell into the hole while still maintaining its speed. As the Hope moved into the hole, the hole slowly closed up. The light coming from above the Hope decreased in intensity until there was no more. All of the surveillance devices on the Hope, like the electromagnetic radar, the light ray radar, the gravity radar, even the incomplete spatial radar, they all stopped working when the Hope fully entered this giant hole. It was as if the Hope was inside an empty and quiet darkness.

Everyone on the Hope who was looking at the screen started to get worried. The fear came from the unknown. In fact, the Hope’s function had returned to normal, all of its weapons and mobility engines had been recovered, but it seemed like no matter how far or how fast they moved, they were still caught inside this endless darkness.

However, the scariest thing was that Yao Yuan had disappeared. Yes, when the Hope fully entered the Hope, Yao Yuan suddenly disappeared without a trace. When did he disappear, how did he disappear, where did he disappear to, was he still alive, these were questions that couldn’t be answered. The only things that remained were fear, anxiety, and even despair...

Other than Yao Yuan, there were two more cases of disappearances. One was Jay, who was still in a coma, and the other was a Black Star Trooper unit’s vice-captain, Ji Jie. What was the reason behind the disappearance of these three people? No one could tell...

Just like that, the Hope continued to be trapped in this darkness. For a month, six months, a year... First, Guang Zhen took over for Yao Yuan. Even though not everyone was happy about that change, it was necessary. The pressure on Guang Zhen increased tenfold. Without anyone really noticing it, the Hope had been trapped inside the darkness for ten years.

In these ten years, the technology and population on the Hope continued to increase, but... the supplies and energy levels kept decreasing. If this was allowed to continue, humanity would exhaust itself inside the giant tree.

In the 30th year the Hope was trapped in the darkness, the first unofficial armed resistance occurred. Even though it was quickly stomped by the Black Star Troopers, the people knew that this was merely the beginning. If the militaristic governance and the poverty in terms of food, supplies, and spirit was allowed to continue...

Thankfully, a breakthrough appeared on the 40th year the Hope was trapped in the darkness. Just as humanity was at the end of their thread, where most Black Star Troopers started to doubt the validity of their duties, the Hope suddenly left the darkness. No one could tell or even remember how that happened, because their attention was elsewhere. Before their eyes, a planet with blue surface and a peaceful solar system unveiled itself...

"...What is this?"

Yao Yuan looked at the group of people who had collapsed around him and immediately pressed a button hidden within the armrest of the captain’s chair. Instantly, a hole appeared underneath him and he dropped into the ground. Inside, his trusty red space armor awaited. He put it on with record speed.

Just as the chair was dropping itself downwards, Yao Yuan managed to catch a glimpse of the 3D image that showcased the surroundings of the Hope. This... was the interior of the giant tree. Lines that looked like electrical circuits or wood grains crowded the walls surrounding the Hope. This was the inside structure of the giant tree. The lines were glowing with green-colored energy, and the Hope was idling quietly inside this halo of green glow. Yao Yuan also managed to catch the various alien spaceships that were parked around the Hope.

This... was the interior of the giant tree! They were officially inside the ruin!