Most of the Blue Home members belonged to the Home Party. They believed that transmigration technology would definitely be developed successfully, and they had provided a lot of funds to Project 101 in the past. They were very enthusiastic about the progress of the project.
When Wu Haibo arrived, the group surrounded him and asked him about the current situation of Project 101.
"With your great support, Project 101 has indeed achieved a breakthrough. I believe that after some time, the experts from our project team will personally come to Blue Home to tell you the good news."
Wu Haibo said with a smile, "Since today is a movie appreciation session, let's talk more about movies. The movie just now was truly magnificent and soul-stirring. However, do you think it's feasible to fill Earth with engines and push the entire planet out of its orbit on a journey spanning thousands of years?"
The group looked at each other. They knew that it was impossible for the transmigration expert to come here just to talk about the plot of the movie.
Meng Chao also thought about the meaning behind Wu Haibo's question.
After a moment, Wu Haibo revealed the answer himself. "Movies are just fictional art. Planetary engines might seem grand, but it's very difficult to turn them into reality.
"First, Earth and most of the theoretically habitable planets must have liquid water and an atmosphere. The continents are floating plates, and if you think of the Earth's crust as an eggshell, the entire planet is the egg white and yolk.
"A planetary engine is like the tip of a needle. If it's stabbed into the eggshell, the greatest possibility is that it won't push the entire egg forward. Instead, it will pierce through the eggshell, which means that the plates will be torn apart. Floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and all sorts of destructive natural disasters will descend one after another. It's not something the underground shelters can withstand.
"Second, based on the thrust of the planetary engine and the resources it will use, the idea of using thousands of years to reach our new home is a little too perfect. In truth, this journey might last for more than ten thousand years. Before we reach our new home, all the resources on Earth will be used up, and it will turn into a speck of dust that will gradually cool down in the dark universe.
"Third, even if we are lucky enough to reach a new galaxy, if a massive celestial body like Earth fuses with the orbit of the galaxy, there is a high possibility that it will change the orbit of the planet in the galaxy, which will lead to incalculable consequences. The orbit of two planets will intersect, attract each other, and even crash into each other.
"Hence, while the Wandering Earth project is romantic, it's unlikely that it will become a common method for a universal civilization to travel through space.
"Please let go of the wings of your imagination and think about it. If a civilization is advanced enough to soar on this side of the universe and the other side at will, what kind of carrier will they adopt? Planets or starships?
Everyone discussed for a while, and a young man wearing a black military uniform from Earth said, "Since using a planet as a carrier isn't feasible, it seems like we can only use starships?"
"That's right. The planet is too big, and pushing a planet to travel through space consumes too many resources. The consequences are also unpredictable. If it wasn't for the critical situation of a star expanding in a short period of time like in the movies, it seems that there is no need to risk everything."
Wu Haibo said, "Compared to using an entire planet as a vehicle, using a starship for interstellar travel is more conventional and technically easier to achieve.
"But starships have their own problems.
"The size of the starship is too small.
"Humans, or carbon-based intelligent life forms, are creatures that originated from planets after all. They naturally need vast space and a variety of resources in order to expand their civilization.
"In the vast universe, even Earth itself is just an insignificant speck of dust, much less a starship that is billions of times smaller than Earth. It can't even be considered a bacterium or a virus.
"It's hard to imagine that a civilization can use just a few hundred starships to colonize another planet on the other side of the universe.
"In fact, with the size of a starship, it'll be hard for them to even maintain the essence of their civilization."
Meng Chao understood what Wu Haibo meant.
It was just like Dragon King Town, which Ye Xiaoxing had introduced to him in the past. It was hard for human civilization to maintain the laws, morals, lifestyle, and reproduction methods of Earth when it came to a town or a starship.
The earthlings who left Earth on the narrow starships were only separated by a fragile shell from the dark and cold universe. They were destined to be eroded by the darkness and gradually mutated into another kind of civilization, another kind of creature. They were "aliens" instead of "earthlings".
Of course, as long as they could build a huge starship that could fit the entire city, they might be able to solve the problem of civilization mutating.
But with Dragon Citizens' current technology, building such a super starship seemed to be even more difficult than developing controllable transmigration technology.
"Planets are too big, and normal starships are too small. Is there a vehicle that can reach a compromise that can carry the sparks of civilization and spread them to the entire universe?"
Wu Haibo smiled and gave his answer. "Actually, there is. It's cities.
"Cities are the crystallization of civilization. All the production, organization, and war of human civilization revolve around cities. In many languages, 'city' and 'civilization' are the same word. Only when archaeologists discover a specific city-state can people confirm the existence of a certain civilization.
"In ancient times, there were still many humans living in villages and mountains. Then, as human civilization became highly organized, social production activities and people's lives became more and more concentrated in highly developed cities.
"You can totally imagine that when a planet's civilization reaches its peak, more than 90% of its population, technology, and social production activities will be concentrated in a few super cities.
"Based on the mass of the entire planet, the super cities and individual civilizations might only occupy less than 1% of the planet's mass.
"Aside from a few farms, farms, and mines, the remaining 99% of the planet's mass is practically non-existent in the mountains, rainforests, deserts, and oceans.
"If a civilization wants to spread to all corners of the universe, there's no need for them to push the mass of the entire planet like in the movies. They only need to turn the most essential core of their civilization — the city — into a super starship that can travel billions of lightyears."
This whimsical method of traveling in the universe left everyone dumbfounded.
Meng Chao's mind raced, and excitement shone in his eyes.
"The benefits of turning a city into a super starship are obvious."
Wu Haibo continued speaking without batting an eyelid. "First of all, the city has to be large enough and have at least millions or tens of millions of civilized individuals. It's enough to maintain the morals, laws, and lifestyle of the civilization on the mother planet and ensure that the spirit of the civilization will never change. At the very least, it won't change for hundreds of years.
"Second, the construction of the city is basically complete. Once the civilization descends to the Other World, it won't need to start from scratch and rebuild it. Instead, it'll be very easy to expand in the Other World. As long as they find enough resources, they can expand at a geometric rate. Even if they discover other intelligent life forms, they'll have enough mass to communicate with them or suppress them. In the end, the flames of their civilization will burn all over the Other World.
"Third, the 'fuel' needed to move an entire city might be astronomical, but it's much more convenient than moving an entire planet. Besides, the mass of a city won't be able to cause the trajectory of the entire galaxy to distort. It'll be relatively controllable and safe.
"In conclusion, I personally believe that when a civilization masters the ability to travel in the universe, especially space travel technology that surpasses light speed, they'll definitely turn their cities into super starships or expand their super starships into cities. The boundaries between the two will become increasingly blurry, and in the end, they'll merge into one."
When he said this, someone else finally registered what he meant.
The strategic analyst from the Other World's research center said with a contemplative expression, "Researcher Wu, are you saying that Dragon City is a starship of the ancient civilization?"
Wu Haibo smiled faintly. "It's not the right time yet, so I didn't say anything. Today is the movie appreciation session. I'm just expressing my thoughts after watching the movie, so I'm just casually chatting with you.
"Let's say — and I'm just saying let's say let's say that Dragon City is really a starship of the ancient civilization. This is a very logical explanation for why Dragon City transmigrated to the Other World, because this has always been Dragon City's mission. This so-called transmigration is just a voyage based on a predetermined route."
"But —"
His words caused a lot of commotion. Many of the core members of Blue Home became excited, and they started talking at the same time. "How could that be possible? I can understand using a planetary engine to move a planet, but sending a city to the Other World lightyears away unscathed? Isn't that too unbelievable?"
"It might sound a little unbelievable, but Dragon City has indeed transmigrated.
Wu Haibo shrugged. "Perhaps in the eyes of a civilization with the ability to travel through space, the boundaries between mass and energy aren't that clear. Turning an entire city into pure energy, then through the fluctuations of a high-dimensional space, transferring it to another coordinate in the three-dimensional space, allowing it to materialize again. Who said that the ancient civilization couldn't create such a miracle?
"The truth is right in front of us. Earthlings aren't much different from the monsters of the Other World when it comes to genes. We can breathe the air of the Other World, get infected by the Other World's viruses, feel the warm light of the Other World's stars, and cultivate the mysterious energy of the Other World. This means that transmigration isn't random. This is our destination."
This problem had been bothering Earthlings since they transmigrated.
At that moment, it caused the core members of Blue Home to discuss it softly.
Meng Chao raised his hand and said, "Researcher Wu, every brick and tile in Dragon City was built by Earthlings. It's impossible for us to give Dragon City the ability to move through high-dimensional space!"
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