243: Chapter 243 Meteor City Cluster

Now that the payment has been received, it's time to get to work.

Gao Yuan first looked into the nebula that trapped Cangming No. 1.

The diameter of this nebula's expanse reached ten light-years.

Upon learning this news, Gao Yuan was stunned.

A ten-light-year nebula—never mind clearing it, just traveling from one end to the other would take a thousand years at humanity's current speed within the Spiral Arm.

How could this be cleared?

Even with the technology, given its sheer volume, it would likely take tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years.

Gao Yuan felt like backing down.

At that moment, a line of text appeared before his eyes.

This time it wasn't code, but Chinese characters.

"It's not as difficult as you imagine. If everything goes smoothly, it can be completed in about five hundred years! During these five hundred years, humanity can enjoy the best services; it will be the most comfortable period since your inception."

Gao Yuan fell into deep thought...

Five hundred years...

Even though human lifespans had significantly increased, they were still under two hundred years. In five hundred years... aside from himself, Gao Gan, and a few others, everyone else would be dead, including his own sons...

Of course, new generations would grow up. Even calculating at fifty years per generation, that would be ten generations of effort.

Was it worth it?

"Without our help, you won't reach the Galactic Center!"

The subtitles continued.

Gao Yuan suddenly laughed.

What was he thinking?

Was it as if they could leave just because they wanted to? Did they even have a choice?

With the other party's miraculous methods, there were likely countless ways to keep humanity here.

Moreover, the current issue was that even if he wanted to leave, those in the Meteor City Cluster probably wouldn't. Counting from the upheaval of the Solar System and humanity leaving Earth, they had been drifting for decades...

A new generation had grown up, and they had never known a day of stability.

They didn't even know what ideals were...

From the moment they were born, they had struggled for human survival.

Now that they were here, human nature was being unleashed. The future was something for him to worry about; ordinary people didn't care about that at all. They only cared about whether they were living well!

Here, it was more comfortable than ever before. As long as they didn't fall out with Cangming No. 1, it was absolutely safe.

"Fine, I will give it my all! However, Cangming No. 1, I hope that once you are out, you will keep your promise and help us!"

"Of course! I told you, in this place, the Four-Dimensional Civilization cannot harm you! Because... here, you are ghosts!"

Gao Yuan didn't understand why, but he knew it was a good thing.

"Now, what should we do?"

"I have already sent a complete Dyson Sphere Plan to your Academy of Sciences. You can begin now!"

Gao Yuan went to the Academy of Sciences.

The research environment in the Academy of Sciences now was worlds apart from before.

Every imaginable piece of equipment was available here.

Anything that had ever existed in human knowledge could be obtained here.

"Gao Gan..."

Gao Yuan called out.

Gao Gan's lab was filled with steam. He held a cigar in his hand, with two women attending to him, and even the figure of Gao Qiu appeared across from him.

Seeing Gao Yuan enter, Gao Gan waved his hand, and everything on the scene vanished, leaving only the laboratory equipment.

"Brother, you're here!"

"What was that just now?"

"Actually, I've wanted to do this for a long time. I've never taken a bath in the lab. Since I was very young, Father wouldn't let me smoke, especially in the lab where everything had to be perfectly neat, without a single flaw! Just now, I not only took a bath, but I did it in front of Father... and I smoked! But after doing it, I realized it's actually quite boring!"

Gao Gan's eyes looked a bit lonely.

"Is this a Holographic Projection?"

"Yes, an extremely advanced Holographic Projection that can manifest anything... This technology can truly make everyone a god!"

"It's all illusory, not real!"

Gao Yuan said.

"Of course I know... but who among the people below cares if it's real? To be able to see it, feel it, touch it... that's enough! Anyway, were you looking for me?"

"Did the Academy of Sciences' mainframe receive the technical data?"

"I'm not sure... I haven't checked! And no one has reported it! Either it wasn't received, or simply no one has bothered to look!"

Gao Yuan looked stunned...

They're ruined...

If they stayed here for long, would everyone become useless?

At this thought, Gao Yuan felt he had to do something.

Compared to any technology, the collective decadence of humanity was a more serious issue. Gao Yuan had to do something; technology could be slowly explored and developed.

But if all of humanity lost its enterprising spirit, it would be the end!

It wasn't like being on Earth now. Gao Yuan didn't have the ability to hold a meeting for everyone.

Because the kyushu xiaoyao zhi was gone.

So Gao Yuan contacted Cangming No. 1.

Soon, the other party responded.

"What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to project subtitles in front of everyone!"

"Alright!"

Soon, a subtitle appeared before the eyes of all humans.

"Hello everyone, I am Gao Yuan! You are all very satisfied with your current lives! However, we are still surrounded by dangers. While relaxing, please do not forget our mission! According to the agreement reached with Cangming No. 1, everyone must work for six hours a day to enjoy these benefits! Otherwise, you will be expelled from the Meteor City Cluster!"

"Our job is to rescue our ally, Cangming No. 1. Since you are enjoying the facilities they provide, you have an obligation to help them regain their freedom!"

"All citizens between the ages of 16 and 180 need to get to work! Your tasks will be sent to you within three days!"

After Gao Yuan sent this out.

He let out a long sigh of relief. He remembered a comment on the internet from many years ago.

It said: If aliens enslaved humanity and required everyone to work six hours a day, allowing them to enjoy life outside those six hours, would you still resist the enslavement?

At the time, Gao Yuan remembered many people saying that this wasn't slavery at all—it was clearly a benefit!

Now, Gao Yuan was making all of this a reality.

He didn't care what ordinary people thought, but Gao Yuan had to keep everyone working consistently so they could form a habit. This way, even if they left these Meteor City Clusters in the future, they wouldn't become useless.

After sending that, Gao Yuan finally went to the Academy of Sciences and had the researchers find the technical data sent by Cangming No. 1 from the mainframe to begin their research...

This dyson sphere technology was a bit different from what humanity had previously imagined. In human concepts, a dyson sphere was a 'spherical' body composed of countless satellites orbiting a star!

These satellites would completely envelop the star and capture most or all of its energy output, and the satellites would carry massive Solar Sails! These Solar Sails could absorb the star's energy and convert it into electrical power to be transmitted back to planets via long-range transmission technology...

This would allow for the acquisition of immense amounts of energy.