Age of Cosmic Exploration
chapter-366

Chapter 366: Information… and Arrival

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

They bought the least items at the machine factory, but the price of each was sky high. In total, they had spent about one-third of their money, and even though they were not left with much, it was still quite a hefty sum.

Next would be the technology and information trading centers. In reality, everyone, including Blue 6, did not have high hopes for technology trading, so stopping there was more for the purpose of sight-seeing.

This was because there was a tighter control on technology than on machines and blueprints. Even a normal level 2 space civilization's technology required a large amount of reputation, much less a level 3 space civilization's technology. Generally speaking, it was impossible for a space civilization that was not from the Shelter to purchase any technology. Of course, selling the technology was a non-issue and the price of technology was the highest among all the possible trades. Some technologies would not be traded with money, as money could not measure them, so those could only be traded using soul or other technology.

Of course, there was no harm to go sight-seeing… For example, when Guang Zhen saw a shop selling the complete cold agglutination technology, it caused the group to salivate greatly. They all wanted to buy it. However, the first trade condition alone was enough to deter them. They had to have reached the reputation level of Honorable at the Shelter. Other than that, there were also other ridiculous conditions. In other words, this technology was not purchasable via money. After all, it was a technology from the fifth revolution.

The group spent the rest of the day in the vehicle as they moved towards their last stop and probably where they would spend the most time for this shopping trip… the information trading center!

The cosmos was actually not that quiet. Many civilizations were constantly communicating in their own ways and, not as mankind envisioned, warring every time they met. After all, without the limitation of light speed and the law of conservation of life, the materials in space could be described as limitless. Therefore, there would be no war for supplies, and in reality, if not for the fact that there was still the need to preserve one's own civilization against others, there probably would not have been any conflicts in space. After all, the law of conservation of life would have already taken up too much time to deal with.

Therefore, the information in space was also limitless and most of it could be called a priceless treasure. For example, the coordinates for the ruins of a dying civilization, mining spots for rare minerals, or coordinates for other Shelters and star paths. There was a lot of different useful information, and it was all marked with a price.

The humans' arrival at the trading center did not raise any eyebrows, because compared to the previous trading centers, the information trading center was the most crowded. This was because most information would be traded using money, and the reputation value was not involved. Many civilizations were there to trade rumors that they had heard for money or used money to confirm rumors that they had heard. All sorts of trades were carried out in this small trading center.

Guang Zhen's main purpose of this trip was to purchase information on the star path at the fringe of this solar system. He wanted to know the coordinates of the star path, find out about the current situation there, and to investigate the various civilizations' reactions to the incoming space decay, to see whether they had knowledge of that or not. This information would decide the blueprint of what humanity would do for the next decade.

The trading procedure there was fairly simple. Similarly, the information of the trade items could be downloaded from the communication port. If there was information that attracted the eyes, one would enter the building to consolidate the trade. Of course, there was also the so-called official trading center. The place had a ginormous information plaque and various tradeable information panned through the plaque.

While back on the ship, life on the Hope had pretty much returned to normal. In fact, after the Hope entered the Shelter, other than the initial one or two days of fear and anxiety, everyone's moods slowly relaxed since nothing notable really happened. Life continued smoothly, and entering the Shelter did not affect the Hope much.

In the following days, as the large amount of supplies, food, minerals, and machineries arrived, the Hope sighed in great relief, relieved that the trades were successful. This meant that there was order in the Shelter and no alien civilizations were out to bully those who were weaker than them. With the law in place, humanity did not need to worry about sudden attacks when they were in the Shelter.

However, this peace did not last for long…

It was around 2 AM when Yao Yuan was shook awake. He was in deep sleep then, but he flipped over with alertness as his two eyes flew open when the communicators rang. His body was still waking up, but his mind was indubitably alert.

"What's going on?"

Yao Yuan looked at the source of sound. Due to his job description, he had numerous communicators. One of them was connected to the Hope's central mainframe, it allowed him to initiate the ship's self-destruct sequence at the shortest notice.

The communicator that rang was the emergency communicator. When Yao Yuan noticed that it was this one that rang, his heart skipped a beat as he grabbed the communicator to answer it.

A male voice came from the other end immediately. "Chancellor, this is Liu Bai… We have an emergency. Several hundred aliens are gathered outside the Hope, they call themselves the coalition of several level 2 space civilizations. They are the citizens of this Shelter and they claim the Hope is harboring one of their fugitives and demand we give them an acceptable explanation."

Yao Yuan shook his head as he jumped up to rush into the bathroom to splash his face with cold water. Then he roared, "Fugitive? You must be kidding! We have only been here for how many days? Furthermore, this is space age; couldn't they have used the surveillance in the harbor? They would have known easily if there was anyone that entered the Hope illegally… Where are these aliens now? Have they entered the Hope?"

Liu Bai continued, "No, not yet, our Defense Unit soldiers are keeping watch at the various entrances, but these aliens are extremely adamant, like they have some real proof on them…"

Yao Yuan shivered as the cold water splashed his face. At the same time, he had entered the Thinker mode and replied immediately, "No matter what, do not allow even one alien into the Hope, and f*ck the proof! It is because they do not have proof that they are braying for blood and not storming in directly… Wait for me, I'm coming over now."

10 minutes later, Yao Yuan arrived at the Hope's central command. A few Black Star Troopers who were on duty that day and about 10 Defense Unit majors were present.

"Liu Bai, bring me up to speed on the details."

Yao Yuan was sitting in the captain's chair, looking at the few giant siege machines and about several thousand aliens gathered outside of the Hope with a drawn face… Yes, the number was increasing. The initial number of 20 plus alien civilizations had increased to 60 plus, and it was still increasing…

After a bow, Liu Bai said, "At 2:40 AM, the first alien race arrived. In about several minutes, about 10 other alien races arrived, and they demanded we allow them access into the Hope because they suspect we are harboring one of their most wanted fugitives. Of course, that demand has been denied. After that, more space civilizations arrived. Currently, there are representatives from about 68 alien races gathered outside of the Hope."

"Fugitive? Ridiculous excuse!"

Yao Yuan was so angry that the vein on his brain was almost popping. He paced the room before sitting back down the chair. "Continue denying their demands… By the way, what else have they said?"

Liu Bai nodded and continued, "Yes, they claimed that if we refuse their demand to enter the ship for inspection, then they will pool together their grievances to report to the only level 3 space civilization currently watching over the Shelter to expel us from this Shelter, or we leave on our own… That was what they said."

There was an unstoppable fury burning in Yao Yuan's eyes. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself and finally uttered, "Wake all the Black Star Troopers now. The Hope is now in first grade alert state… At the same time, get Professor Bo Li, Speaker Matt, and every high official on the Hope here. It is time for a large meeting…"

The efficiency on the Hope was high. In fact, when they heard that aliens were mounting a forced entry into the Hope, everyone rushed to the scene no matter how tired they were. Even some mid-tier officers had arrived. Other than the general public, who still did not know anything, the rest of the Hope was on high alert.

"…That is how the current situation is. These aliens are demanding to come in for an inspection or want us to get out of this Shelter. Also, about half an hour ago, our men asked the patrols of this Shelter's level 3 space civilization to intervene and they said… for the sake of this Shelter's peace, they advised us to be obedient. Right, that is just hilarious, they want us to be obedient…"

Yao Yuan's anger was enough to swallow the sky and there was an indiscernible iciness in his voice.

To his consternation and surprise, when he said these words, other than the silent Black Star Trooper and Defense Unit majors, the rest of the representatives and government officials were busy discussing… other than denying the aliens entry into the Hope, most of them were discussing the option of…

They wanted to agree to the aliens' demands and leave the Shelter in the Hope with the few vassal spaceships in tow?!