Age of Cosmic Exploration

Even with such a great limitation, the illusory space was undeniably the biggest trump card at humanity’s disposal. The crucial point was that its potential was so endless that even high-tier space civilizations would be envious of it.

Yao Yuan currently only had 0.00007 Immortal load capacity, but he could already access plenty of the illusory space’s functions. As his power of Immortal grew and thus improved his ability of suppressing Granzon, then the Immortal load capacity would increase accordingly.

Just think about it, the technological and information storage of a god-tier space civilization, the various powers of this illusory space, just the ability to wipe out everything within a 3/10 light-second was already something akin to a cheat. And who was there to say they wouldn’t be able to expand the radius to everything within one light year in the future?

Furthermore, there was the ability to conduct a controlled space warp every decade... what did that mean?!

That meant that as long as humanity didn’t receive any external threat, it was impossible for them to fall!

It was truly as ZERO promised, this illusory space was truly powerful enough to be humanity’s ultimate trump card!

"However, at the same time, this illusory space is also an unimaginably huge ticking time bomb... if it is ever revealed to any other space civilization that we have this thing... Basically, when the news gets out, it will be the last of humanity in space. Therefore, everything about the illusory space will be kept as the top confidential secret within the human government, a secret of the SSS level, the same confidentiality level as the information regarding the god-tier space civilization’s UFO inside the Hope. This means that other than myself, only Guang Zhen, the members of the Black Star Unit, as well as the leaders of the first ten Black Star Trooper units will have access to the information. Furthermore, should we need to expose the information to another party, it will have to get the approval of more than 80 percent of the existing members. Last but not least, this also concerns the three of you present here."

Yao Yuan looked at Jay, Ji Jie, and ZERO each in the eyes before continuing, "The three of you wouldn’t have known this under normal circumstances; however, due to extenuating conditions, it can’t be helped. Regardless, I wish for you to keep this secret to yourselves. Tell no one, not even your closest family members. Violators will be judged as humanity’s traitors. Of course, I am subjected to this rule as well. I will not reveal any information to those that do not have the right to know, so I hope the three of you will do the same."

ZERO thought about it for a long time before asking, "Then... can I tell Xiao Niao?"

"No," Yao Yuan replied immediately. "I need to have a discussion with everyone who has the right to know before I can decide whether we can reveal this information to the Thinkers. Therefore, before we come to that decision, I hope you will not speak a word of this to him... ZERO, in my eyes, you’re already part of humanity, so I hope you will not disappoint me, okay?"

ZERO pouted and nodded with disappointment. Jay and Ji Jie had no issues and accepted the order easily.

"Then we will need to deal with the aftermath of this relic type ruin," Yao Yuan sighed and said.

"I do not know how this level 8 space civilization originally planned to deal with these other space civilizations who lost, but from the value of the illusory space itself, I do not think they were kind enough to let them go easily. Furthermore, they did not have enough contribution load capacity left to utilize the illusory space for a ruin-wide memory wipe. Perhaps a level 8 space civilization will have a product that can replicate that effect, but the civilization was dying when they created this ruin, so... the biggest possibility was, they were going to let things run their course."

It sounded rather innocent on paper, but there was a vicious glow when Yao Yuan said that.

"Let things run their course?" Jay queried. "Meaning they are going to keep on existing in the illusory space?"

"I’m afraid it’s not so simple." Yao Yuan shook his head. "The only way to survive in this illusory space is to suppress the high-ranking demon’s existence. For that, one needs the Immortal load capacity. Without that, the contribution load capacity will be exhausted instead. When the contribution load capacity left in the illusory space runs out, then the only possible result will be..."

"They will return to physical space?" Jay guessed with a frown.

"Annihilation... Or more accurately, tossed out of the illusory space but with no way back to the physical space. It is similar to the weapon I mentioned earlier, they will exist in the dimension between existence and non-existence, practically left in oblivion..." Yao Yuan said with a blank face.

"You have to understand that entering illusory space requires either Immortal load capacity or contribution load capacity, and leaving the illusory space to go into physical space requires the same amount of energy as well. This is the theory of energy conservation, and this means that all the remaining space civilizations here..."

Yao Yuan shrugged with a face devoid of emotion. "Other than the civilization that inherited the ruin, the other space civilizations will probably keep on surviving in the illusory space until the time arrives, and then... they will be annihilated. This is the most logical resolution because one, it will ensure that the secret of the illusory space will not be leaked and two, the level 8 space civilization won’t need to exhaust so much contribution load capacity if they do not keep these people alive indefinitely."

"In other words," Jay said in a shaking voice, his hand reaching for his mouth, "all these space civilizations, these billions of lives, they will..."

"Yes!" Yao Yuan roared, "You’re right! They will all be annihilated! This is the end for them! No one can save, not even me!"

Jay’s face was blanched immediately. He mumbled, "But this, but this... these are billions of lives, there might even be peace-loving and innocent space civilizations among them..."

"Their peace is reserved for them only! It does not mean peace with other races!" Yao Yuan grabbed Jay and forced him to look at the interior of the Hope. "Take a closer look! This is who we are! We are only humans! We are the smallest survivors of the cosmos! You’ve been asleep, so you do not understand what we’ve been through. Let me teach you a valuable lesson, the cosmos... is no place for the weak! And we humans currently are one of the weak!

"Furthermore, even if I obtained the method to save them and could release them back into physical space, I... wouldn’t do it!"

Yao Yuan announced in a frigid voice, "I am the leader of humanity, so I have to put the safety of humanity first! What do you think will happen? A big happy family of different space races? You really think lifeforms from different backgrounds can sit at the table and share a cold one without plotting the downfall of the other? Don’t be naïve! Jay, you’ve not tasted the cruelty of space, but we have. We’ve been in space wars, we’ve been threatened, we’ve been framed, we were also once close to being wiped out!

"It is not my intention to deny the value of peace and compassion, because after all, we humans are not emotionless robots, but before we can show other people kindness, we must make sure we will not regret it. So this time... You’ll have to forgive me, I do not wish to have any regrets."

Yao Yuan released Jay and he concluded, "I’ve made my decision. Other than humanity, all the space races here... will be abandoned!"

Jay was still pale, but he had nothing to say. After all, Yao Yuan was right, he was absent for most of the struggles humanity had faced throughout these years. In the end, he merely said, "Yao Yuan, I’m sorry. Please understand that I’m not trying to pressure you or anything. I just woke up and didn’t even have the time to brush my teeth yet. My brain is still not working so well... Give me some alone time to think. By the way, do you have any cigarettes on you? Mind giving me some?"

Yao Yuan offered Jay a pack of cigarettes wordlessly. He took a few cigarettes and walked out of the meeting room. After the door closed, Ji Jie asked with hesitation, "Chancellor, he..."

Yao Yuan sighed. "Don’t worry about him, because no one can save these space civilizations, this is already a confirmed fact. Instead of laying the guilt on him, it’s better for him to think that I’m being cruel... Back to the issue at hand. From the information I’ve received, this level 8 space civilization still has some contribution load capacity left in the system. Unfortunately, I do not know how much exactly still remains, because the contribution capacity is not transferable. I only know that it is enough to enable us to escape the illusory space, because the level 8 space civilization’s last message was for the victor to use the remaining contribution load capacity to do exactly that. Moreover, they said that there would be enough left over to initiate another entry into the illusory space should we need it. As I mentioned earlier, I do not know the exact number, but this will be our trump card. When humanity faces real extinction, at least part of us can escape into the illusory space.

"Another important issue is the dark dimension... It has been going on for years. I do not know exactly how long, but it is at least more than 100 years. I do not know what still remains of the Hope, if anything at all. No matter the ending, that is all fake, an illusion at best. However, the feelings, especially animosity, that were cultivated during this time will not be fake. I am afraid that after they woke up, they will remember the things that happened in the dark dimension and will hold grudges... That will not be good for humanity’s future...

"Therefore, before waking everyone up and removing them from this illusory space, I wish to use all the Immortal load capacity I have to conduct a civilization-wide memory wipe. I want them to forget everything that has happened in the dark dimension. Since this is a memory-wipe of a god-tier space civilization, even Homo Evolutis won’t be exempted, and there will not be any side effects. However, this does mean that we will be unable to make use of this illusory space for the next ten years..."

Yao Yuan sighed before continuing, "After this, we will enter the star path and leave this galaxy."