102: Chains of Civilization

The night in Tianqiong City was as silent as the deep sea.

Lei Wen lay on the soft, large bed in his home. A sliver of pale moonlight leaked through the gap in the curtains, casting directly onto his open eyes.

In his mind, the scene from the conference room earlier that day played on a loop. Six hands raised, passed unanimously. A decision—a mere decision—had sentenced a civilization 5.4 light-years away, a civilization that loved peace, cherished art, and had just let out its first cry toward the universe, to death.

He tossed and turned, closing his eyes, but the large, clear eyes of the Kari People emerged before him like ghosts.

The images of them cheering as they celebrated landing on their moon intertwined with the fantasy of the Interstellar Fleet descending from the sky to place shackles around their necks, creating an inescapable nightmare.

"Am I an executioner?" he asked himself in the darkness.

"No, I am a night watchman," another cold voice replied from the bottom of his heart. "For the sake of Human Civilization being able to move forward forever, some decisions must be made."

Reason and conscience battled crazily, making him toss and turn in bed all night, cold sweat soaking his pillow. It wasn't until the sky outside began to pale and the first ray of dawn pierced the darkness that Lei Wen climbed out of bed, sporting heavy dark circles under his eyes.

He felt a slight headache and was listless.

"white flower, get me an 【Enlightenment】."

Following the slight hum of the household smart robot's mechanical arm, a vial emitting a deep blue glow was handed to him.

Lei Wen did not hesitate in the slightest; he tilted his head back and drank it in one gulp.

The cold liquid slid down his throat, and immediately, a cool and powerful energy rushed into his brain. His originally chaotic thoughts were forcibly organized in that instant; the fatigue was dispelled, replaced by an absolute calmness and sharpness.

The emotional turmoil belonging to humans was temporarily suppressed by the drug.

Lei Wen took a deep breath, straightened his collar, and his gaze became sharp as a knife again.

"Prepare the shuttle, go to the General Bureau."

...

The shuttle cut through the sky and landed on the top floor of the Interstellar Affairs General Bureau building.

When Lei Wen walked into the spacious director's office, the first thing he did was have white flower open the built-in holographic projector on the desk.

"Contact Dr. Li Jingheng and the Infrastructure Department of the Earth Council." Lei Wen issued the command to the holographic desktop. "The follow-up arrangements for the antimatter project cannot be delayed any longer."

Soon, a document, already drafted with the assistance of white flower, titled "Resolution on Establishing the Antimatter Scientific Research and Industrial Base at the Lagrange L2 Point," was distributed to all relevant departments.

"Earth's environment is too fragile to withstand any mistakes," Lei Wen said firmly to the department heads in the subsequent video conference. "Although the underground laboratory in the Wuyi Mountains is sturdy, it is located on the densely populated Earth after all. Once a milligram-level antimatter leak accident occurs, the consequence would be a disaster of Hiroshima-level proportions."

According to Lei Wen's plan, a large space laboratory would begin construction at the Lagrange L2 point on the far side of the moon. There, it had a stable gravitational environment and was shielded by the side of the moon that always faced away from Earth, serving as a natural barrier for conducting dangerous high-energy physics experiments.

Lei Wen tapped that coordinate heavily on the holographic Star Map. "All antimatter extraction, storage, and future trial production of antimatter engines must and can only be conducted there."

"I want the highest level of security there. Except for core personnel and necessary material transport, any unauthorized spacecraft that approaches is to be destroyed without warning."

This was the most critical step for humanity to step into deep space. Only by mastering antimatter could humanity truly be considered qualified to cross the threshold of the star system.

After dealing with the most important energy issue, Lei Wen turned his attention to military deployment.

Although the Human Federation Starrealm Army seemed powerful within the Solar System, possessing thousands of warships, Lei Wen was very clear that these ships were like trying to row a canoe across the pacific when faced with an interstellar expedition.

"A military reorganization is necessary."

Lei Wen's fingers swept across the Star Map, making a bold decision.

"Cancel all construction plans for the Third Interstellar Fleet." He said to a senior agent beside him. "Notify all major shipyards immediately to stop all new orders for frigates. All existing production lines are to be converted to produce civilian transport ships and engineering ships."

"But Director," the senior agent hesitated, "Will the shipbuilding giants have any objections? Especially Paradox Technology and the Nikola Group..."

"We don't need so many ships that can't fly out of the Solar System." Lei Wen interrupted him. "With current ion engine technology, it takes four hundred years to fly to Proxima Centauri. If there is a civilization on Proxima Centauri comparable to ours, four hundred years later, when our fleet arrives, they will have become outdated antiques."

"That is an ineffective arms race; it is a waste of resources."

Lei Wen's thinking was very clear.

"The existing Second Interstellar Fleet will be fully handed over to the Solar System Security Force. Their mission is to patrol the long shipping lanes from Earth to Saturn, combat space pirates, maintain public order, and protect our industrial lifeline."

"As for future expeditions... retain the establishment of the First Interstellar Fleet, keep the pacific as the flagship, but this fleet does not need to expand for now. They will be trained as a seed force."

"Once the antimatter engine technology matures, and once we can build sub-light speed ships that are fast enough, we will use the First Fleet as the skeleton and utilize the latest technology at that time to raise a true interstellar expeditionary force overnight."

"What we want is an elite force capable of reaching the battlefield within decades and forming an absolute technical crush on the enemy, not some bloated, so-called Invincible Armada like the Spanish had back then."

The military reform plan was quickly finalized.

However, just as Lei Wen finished thinking about his own deployment, a shadow that had been lingering in his heart surfaced again.

That was time.

He was waiting for technological breakthroughs, but what about the opponent?

The Kari Civilization, a civilization that seemed like a newborn calf in Lei Wen's eyes.

Although according to Grey Wind's reconnaissance report, their technological level was still stuck in Earth's 1980s, at least a hundred years behind humanity, which had now received technical gifts from the Faleim People.

But they possessed something that humans once lacked the most, and still did not possess to the same extent as the other party—

Absolute unity.

A civilization that had achieved planetary unification, had no internal friction, and where all resources and wisdom were directed toward one goal, possessed terrifying potential.

Lei Wen thought of the term "technological explosion."

Humans themselves had achieved a technological explosion in the past twenty years under the "threat" of the Faleim Civilization and the guidance of Paradox Technology, so what about the Kari People?

Without any external help, they had already managed to land on their two moons and successfully build extraterrestrial camps relying solely on their own unity.

If they were given fifty, eighty, or even a hundred years...

When the human expeditionary fleet crossed 5.4 light-years to arrive at Kali Star, would what greeted humanity no longer be backward gunpowder weapons, but plasma cannons as advanced as humanity's, or even more advanced antimatter missiles?

After all, war and survival pressure were the best catalysts for technology.

Although the Kari People didn't know humanity wanted to invade, since they had already broadcast to the universe, perhaps they would also realize the dangers of the universe and begin preparing for war crazily?

This uncertainty made Lei Wen feel a deep sense of unease.

"Cannot gamble." Lei Wen shook his head, his eyes becoming cold. "We cannot gamble that they are developing slower than us."

"To ensure the victory of the expedition, to reduce the casualties of human soldiers..."

"We must lock their future."

Lei Wen sat in his chair, his fingers rhythmically tapping on the desktop.

He was thinking about how to curb their technological development through non-contact means without the civilization noticing.

The most effective means to curb technological development was to lock the progress of basic science, or to interfere with scientists' cognition of microscopic things.

Just like the Trisolarans in "The Three-Body Problem" used Sophons to block Earth's technology.

Although Lei Wen didn't have a super proton like a Sophon that could unfold to eleven dimensions, he had Grey Wind.

Every nano-unit of Grey Wind was not inferior to a "Sophon."

"white flower." Lei Wen called out in his mind.

"Yes, Father."

"Activate the high-dimensional quantum entanglement communication device. I want to contact Grey Wind."

A moment later, Grey Wind's familiar face appeared on the screen. Her human avatar, where her main consciousness resided, was currently in that stealthy small reconnaissance ship, with the purple surface of Kali Star in the background.

"Yo! Boss! Missed me?" Grey Wind was still that carefree self. "I'm still continuing to monitor here. These little green men seem to be holding some large celebration recently; it's quite lively."

"Grey Wind, I have a new mission for you." Lei Wen was in no mood to joke; his expression was exceptionally serious.

"Hmm? Go ahead." Seeing Lei Wen's expression, Grey Wind also put away her cheeky smile.

"I need you to do something. Something that might not be glorious but is crucial to humanity."

Lei Wen paused and said slowly:

"I want you to use your nano-individuals to conduct a covert, long-term, destructive operation against the Kari Civilization's basic science and cutting-edge industry."

Grey Wind blinked her large, azure eyes, seemingly digesting this instruction: "You mean... you want me to commit sabotage?"

"Not just sabotage." Lei Wen explained, "If you directly blow up their cities, it will only arouse their hatred and unity, and might even accelerate the development of their military technology."

"What I want is a more subtle containment."

Lei Wen's train of thought gradually became clear, and he began to detail the plan called "Civilization Shackles."

"First, target their materials science. Let your nano-individuals infiltrate their top-level materials laboratories. When they conduct key material synthesis experiments, such as high-strength alloys or semiconductor materials, use the microscopic interference capabilities of the nanobots to artificially create impurities or change the crystal structure."

"Make them think their theories are wrong, or make them unable to produce qualified high-performance materials no matter how hard they try. Without materials, their spacecraft won't fly fast, and their armor won't be hard."

"Secondly, target their precision industry. The Kari People are developing computer technology. You can lurk in their chip manufacturing plants. Whenever they try to challenge higher-precision lithography processes, you create tiny errors, making their yield rate shockingly low, keeping their electronics industry stuck in a crude stage, locking the improvement of computing power."

"And energy." A flash of ruthlessness flickered in Lei Wen's eyes. "If they try to conduct nuclear fusion experiments or other high-energy physics experiments, you must create data deviations or equipment malfunctions at critical moments, leading them toward the wrong theoretical direction. When appropriate, you can also directly increase the power to detonate and kill their key scientific personnel."

"Don't the Kari People love art? Find a way to make them focus the entire civilization's attention on artistic creation. Make them believe that developing technology is a dead end with no future, but that art is a treasure that every civilization loves, that art is the passport to this universe. Make them pour the resources originally intended for scientific research into artistic creation, crowding out the space for scientific research projects."

"You can even create some 'natural disasters'." Lei Wen continued to add. "For example, create 'accidental' meteorological anomalies near their space launch sites, or make their rockets explode frequently during liftoff due to 'quality issues'."

"Finally, you must make all their particle colliders useless scrap metal. Interfere with the results of their particle collision experiments, making all the data obtained from particle collisions useless, chaotic information."

"In short, I want the entire Kari Civilization to fall into a vicious cycle."

"Make their tentacles unable to touch the microscopic world."

"Make them feel that science has limits."

"Make them feel that no matter how hard they try, there is always an invisible wall blocking them."

"Make them develop self-doubt, fall into stagnation, and even despair."

"Until the day our fleet arrives."

After listening to this long, cold, and precise plan from Lei Wen, Grey Wind was silent for a while.

She looked at the calm man on the other side of the screen and suddenly felt that he was more like a cold machine than she, the weapon created.

But she did not refuse.

"Wow..." Grey Wind exclaimed, "Boss, this move of yours is really vicious. This is simply cutting off the hope of a civilization."

"However," she changed the subject, a cunning smile appearing on her face, "I like it! Although I prefer to use cannons to blow up the enemy's warships, this method sounds quite challenging too!"

"Rest assured, this little thing won't stump me." Grey Wind stretched out her finger, with a silver nano-cloud swirling around her fingertip. "My children can infiltrate any gap, whether it's a circuit board or a petri dish. I will be the inescapable nightmare of this civilization. I guarantee they won't even imagine what happened."

"Be careful to stay hidden." Lei Wen finally exhorted. "You must not expose your existence. Make them think all of this is bad luck or their own incompetence, not an alien attack."

"Understood! It's not like I haven't done this kind of accident-creation expert work before!" Grey Wind saluted. "Just wait for the good news. I will prune their technology tree neatly, and I can even 'prune' it back a bit!"

The communication ended.

Lei Wen leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.

He knew what a cruel order he had just given.

This was stifling the future of a civilization, destroying the lifelong efforts and dreams of countless Kari scientists.

This was more insidious than direct slaughter, but he would not regret it.

If the Kari People mastered antimatter or discovered the secrets of faster-than-light travel, then what might be floating on the space battlefield in the future would be human corpses.

And on that purple planet 5.4 light-years away, an invisible war against science and truth was about to begin silently.

The Kari People did not yet know that in the starry sky above their heads, the "friend" they once longed for had already cast the most vicious curse upon them.

Their era of technological stagnation had begun.