"From … the 'untouchables' who lived and died on the desert wasteland to the highest leader of the civilization on Earth and the best commander to march into the grand universe!"
Li Yao was greatly moved. "Such a magnificent, unbelievable life?"
He had mixed feelings, deeply shocked by Wanzanghai's indescribable rise.
Naturally, it was easy to despise and criticize the guy's shamelessness. Li Yao had once reprimanded a lot of schemers and careerists similar to Wanzanghai in a righteous manner.
However, what was more important than reprimanding was coming up with solutions and the hope of the civilization.
Li Yao had no time to dwell on whether Wanzanghai was good or bad, nor did he have the time to polish the dirt and dust that had fallen on his belief.
It was because as the nobles and magnates perished, and after Wanzanghai's powerful integration, the newly-born immigrant fleet had already marched out of the solar system toward the unknown distance.
The civilization on Earth ushered in a brand-new page and officially sublimated, or rather, 'transformed', into the Primeval Civilization. The earthlings were all destroyed by the solar storm. Right now, after being corrupted by the cold vacuum and the dark universe, they had a new name — the Primeval Civilization!
The 'cutscene' came to an end. Li Yao was faced with countless options that fell from the sky again, crashing his soul like a waterfall.
On one hand, he had to arrange the hibernation and awakening time of the scientists and engineers to ensure that the technologies necessary for space voyages could be pushed forward in an orderly manner. In the meantime, he had to ensure that the new generation on board received the best education so that a research team with new inspirations would be born. On the other hand, he had to plan and adjust the sailing route constantly so that they would not get lost in the boundless space. On the other hand, he had to pay attention to the scourge of meteoroids and cosmic radiation. Even a meteoroid that was as tiny as sand or dust could cause minor damage to the shell and the power unit of the starship. After tens of thousands of years of accumulation and enhancement, even the tiniest damage could lead to the fission and disintegration of the entire starship. It was a matter of life and death.
Other than that, the threat that was more serious and inconspicuous than the cosmic radiation and the damage of the starship was the changes in people's minds.
Earthlings used to live under the blue sky, on the solid ground, and bathed in the warm sunlight. They were a carefree planetary race.
But right now, they had completely lost their home and their roots. They had to wander in darkness and desperation for tens of thousands of years. Perhaps they would forever be homeless children in the sea of stars.
The narrow space, the claustrophobic environment, the deep sea of stars, the unknown destination, and the possibility of death in the next second … Such cruel torment was like a tank of black venom that corroded people's minds, turning them into two completely different lives from the past.
Similar transformations had happened in the Flying Star Sector before, too.
Just like Xiao Xuance, the leader of the Immortal Cultivators of the Flying Star Sector, had said, it was very easy to turn a determined Cultivator into an Immortal Cultivator in the black sea of stars. It often took only one second.
The people of the Flying Star Sector, on the other hand, still had their history. They still remembered the glory of the Star Ocean Imperium in the past. They also knew that there were countless Sectors and their own kind beyond their own small world. Such knowledge was enough for them to feel comforted and hopeful to resist the scourge of darkness.
The earthlings, on the other hand, had completely lost everything. In the future, although the sea of stars was vast, they could not find any more of their own kind that they could trust or a home where they could sleep in peace. How painful, terrifying, and desperate it was!
Such venom, after hundreds of years, thousands of years, or even tens of thousands of years of aimless travel, could twist one's humanity into any abnormal and hideous appearance.
Faced with all kinds of challenges, Li Yao was rather overwhelmed and in a flurry.
The key was that he was not making the choice that was in the best interests of the current situation, but he had to consider the development of the immigrant fleet in tens of thousands of years and make the choice that was in the best interests of the future. In many cases, it was inevitable that the interests of the passengers right now would be harmed. He even had to sacrifice a lot of things ruthlessly and ruthlessly.
Through such tests, Li Yao confirmed again that he was truly not cut out to be a commander.
Perhaps, he was only suitable to play the role of a hot-blooded high school student or a fluttering flag that was shouting idealized and sacred slogans. But when faced with complicated and perplexing practical problems, they needed more calm, rational, and even dark characters, such as Jin Tuyi, Boss Bai, Lei Chenghu, Li Linghai, and even Long Yangjun.
Li Yao felt that he had made a lot of mistakes.
Under his command, a series of serious problems broke out within the immigrant fleet. Quite a few internal conflicts were even raised.
Outside of the starship, they had passed through an interstellar dust belt that was as thick as ink, experienced a few unexpected radiation storms, and almost ran into another meteoroid shower. Every crisis was barely dealt with, and a series of damages were caused to the starship. A lot of precious resources were consumed, too.
When the test was pushed forward thousands of years later, they had only sailed dozens of lightyears away, but more than half of the immigrant starships had been lost. More than 30% of the hibernators had been killed in their sleep because of mechanical failures, lack of resources, or civil strife. Even the 'leader' that Li Yao played had been killed by the rebels who were suffering from claustrophobia during the civil strife.
The people who were still alive had long lost the vigor and vitality that they had when they marched out of the solar system thousands of years ago. Their beards were unshaven, their skin was loose, their eyes were sunken, and their faces were dull. They were like a bunch of walking corpses that were trapped in iron coffins, only driven by the last survival instinct to stagger forward numbly.
Scared, Li Yao thought that his performance must be terrible after making a series of wrong choices.
But the voice was silent all the time and did not comment on his performance.
When the "leader" that he played was killed by the rebellious crew members, the voice even comforted Li Yao that it was not a "mistake" because in real history, Wanzanghai, as the commander of the immigrant fleet and the first leader of the "Primeval Clan", had also met the same end.
Wanzanghai's commanding ability was naturally a hundred times higher than Li Yao's, but the countless practical problems and fatal threats that he was faced with were also a hundred times more complicated and arduous than the general choices in the test.
However tough and wise Wanzanghai was, he was just an ordinary person. After decades of lurking and cultivating, he was already close to the limit of the physiological lifespan of an Earthling when he left the solar system. It was impossible for him to stay awake to command the fleet for a long time. He could only enter the state of hibernation and wake up every five to ten years to deal with the problems that happened in the recent five to ten years.
Such a way of commanding was destined to be impossible for him to rule the brutal and disobedient radiators, modified humans, and superhumans for a long time.
Time could change a lot of things, including eroding the prestige of an iron-blooded commander.
The immaturity of the first-generation hibernation technology had a serious impact on Wanzanghai's wisdom and personality.
Gradually, he became moody and moody. Like many crew members, he even suffered from claustrophobia and paranoia.
He once pointed at the deep pathway on the starship and said that he saw countless ghosts from Earth wandering and wandering there.
He also once ordered the fleet to accelerate without caring about anything, even if it meant running out of fuel, because he saw that the souls of all the people on the burning Earth were not annihilated. Instead, they were condensed into a brand-new … ghost civilization by the solar storm and the magnetic field of spiritual energy, and the ghost civilization was following them silently, trying to carry out the cruelest revenge on them.
He did not even dare to enter the state of hibernation, because once he entered the state of hibernation, he would be drowned by the eyes of countless wronged souls, grabbed by the blackened hands of the victims, and dragged to the deepest level of hell.
Under such circumstances, it was only a matter of time before a fierce conflict broke out between the commander and the crew members.
Wanzanghai died. He was torn apart by the crew members who had been loyal to him in the past and thrown into the engine furnace, fulfilling his dream that he had always carried out — to become a small spark that pushed the civilization forward.
But the voyage still went on. After all, there was nothing that could stop them in the dark and cold vacuum.
In the thousands of years of tests that followed, Li Yao felt that his performance was getting worse and worse, and all the crew members were getting more and more desperate, cruel, and irritable.
They even felt like they had given up on themselves. They held back a surge of energy and wanted to completely destroy themselves in a great riot or natural disaster to end this never-ending nightmare.
It was not an expedition or an escape but a "death sentence" that would be carried out in ten thousand years. Many crew members thought so.
When Li Yao exploited his last brain cell and exhausted all his computational ability to maintain the migration fleet for ten thousand years, they were left with forty-nine starships that were riddled with holes, about fourteen million frustrated, angry, and resentful passengers, and empty fuel and resource cabins.
At this moment, they had not grasped the ability to travel in the four-dimensional space yet. However much they improved the speed of the regular voyage, they had only flown five hundred lightyears away. In a galaxy that could easily be hundreds of thousands of lightyears in diameter, their speed was even slower than a snail's. There was still a long way to go before they found the source of the meteoroid shower.
At the end of their rope, this place was going to be their burial ground.
"Have we failed?"
Li Yao was not a man who would give up easily, but now that he was at the end of his rope, he did not know how he could continue the test, either.
Perhaps, he should've been more ruthless in the beginning.
No, it was useless. Even if he exploited more potential of the crew members, would it make any difference if the exploration distance was reduced from five hundred lightyears to six hundred lightyears?
Li Yao was only rather puzzled. Didn't the voice say that he would be given three chances? But he had only received one suggestion, and he was already at a dead end. Was the voice going to eat its words?
While he was hesitating, an unbelievable, appalling picture suddenly popped up inside Li Yao's head!
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