Deep Space Wandering Fleet

The superluminal communication base station is akin to a post office on Earth. Mails must be first sent to a specific post office, then delivered to precise locations by postal workers.

Hence, the curvature spaceship plays the role of the postal worker.

Soon after, a large tree in front of them sent another price list. According to the current distance, sending one unit of data costs 180 AmiBa Points. Renting a curvature spaceship from the Amoeba Faction is priced based on rental time, with a starting price of 100 AmiBa Points. Even if traveling a short distance, it still requires 100 points.

Humans and the Half-sphere people collectively have just over a thousand points, which is quite meager. Unless people are willing to sell some anti-gravity materials or vital technologies to the Green Leaf Alliance to exchange for AmiBa Points, which they are reluctant to do.

"Money is always too little when you need it!"

Zhang Yuan sighed, flew over, and had a discussion with the Half-sphere Civilization leader nearby, in an attempt to exchange for their AmiBa Points.

Both sides have been on friendly terms for so long that they no longer need AmiBa Points as currency to secure credit; the Alliance Currency is sufficient for bilateral trade.

And several hundred AmiBa Points are not a substantial amount for the entire alliance, so after some negotiation, Zhang Yuan acquired them at a fairly reasonable price.

"A little over 1000 AmiBa Points, which can send just over 5 units of data in total, and hire one curvature spaceship from the Amoeba Faction. Five units of data is not much, so your alliance can deliberate for a while."

"By the way, if your alliance is willing to spread our fruits and seeds to more distant planets, the charges can be cheaper. Only cost price will be collected!"

After all, the main reason these plants set up the trade market is to spread their seeds.

"How is the cost price calculated?"

"By dispersing seeds to 20 planets with suitable environments, you can send 2 more units of data for free, how about that? You just need to spread the seeds, nothing else is required. And rest assured, none of this will disrupt local ecosystems, they are just plants!"

"An extra 2 units of data? Let's consider it further..."

Comparing the complexity of human technology, the complete curvature technology requires about 2.6 units when compressed to the limit.

This data size is considerable, starting from the raw data of neutron star collisions, to various experiments, and followed by improvements over hundreds of years, all needing to be transmitted.

This means that once the other party obtains this data, they could develop the curvature engine in just a few years, becoming a true Level 4 Civilization!

If some parts are missing, it may take decades or even a century to complete it independently.

As for other miscellaneous technologies, such as subatomic materials and anti-gravity technology, totaling around 10 units; subatomic beam cannon technology, 1.6 units; brain modification is even more complex, with data currently amounting to 398 units, even the simplest version would require 92 units of data, which humans simply cannot transmit.

"Are we really going to give away the curvature technology?"

"We need to understand how other human branches are surviving. Once we leave this time, we may never get another chance to meet... If they have been completely assimilated by the Alef Civilization, or have fallen too far with no room for advancement, sending technology would be meaningless."

"Indeed."

"Also, we must discuss with the alliance behind us about which technology to send."

"That's right, we don't have those things on hand anyway."

Zhang Yuan suddenly thought of something and said to the large tree, "The less data sent, the fewer AmiBa Points required, is that so?"

The large tree replied, "Yes, but the minimum communication fee is 5 AmiBa Points, and you can only send a small amount of information."

"Then we can do this, we send a minimal amount of information first, then hire a curvature spaceship from the Amoeba Faction to find our former kinsmen and bring them to the information outpost, can we do that? How many people can the hired curvature spaceship carry?"

The large tree replied, "Bringing ordinary lifeforms to the information outpost is no problem. The standard curvature spaceship of the Amoeba Faction doesn't have extensive space or a sophisticated life support system. However, it can easily accommodate dozens of lifeforms, hibernating through ten years..."

"If you have enough AmiBa Points, you could hire a better spaceship."

Having seemingly thought of something, all the leaves of the tree suddenly shook: "By the way, if you already embody the ideology of a Level 5 Civilization, you can upload your consciousness to personally visit that starfield. The premise is your consciousness must adapt to silicon-based transformation, or it could easily collapse, leading to disastrous consequences."

To think that you can personally visit a distant star domain through consciousness upload!

This fact astonished everyone, but they soon accepted it. The capabilities a Level 5 Civilization can achieve are sometimes beyond even the superhumans' grasp temporarily. It's perfectly normal for more established civilizations to have these capabilities.

After a long while, Diplomat Old Yang couldn't help but ask, "Is long-distance consciousness upload... safe?"

The large tree said, "This technology is well-established and generally failsafe. We perform an aberrant safety check before transmission."

In reality, this plant doesn't really know if it's safe. Since that device was gifted by the Amoeba Civilization, as long as those big insects claim it's safe, accepting that safety claim is enough.

Shortly, a small spaceship delivered a cylindrical robot.

The large tree said, "This is a regularly used communication robot within the Amoeba Faction's information outpost. Your civilization can take it back to assess whether your consciousness can be uploaded to this machine."

Zhang Yuan stepped forward to adjust it for a while; it's essentially an ordinary Level 4 civilization industrial robot, with an advanced computer system, possessing regular sensory and mobility capabilities, certainly incomparable to the silver-white robots specialized in combat.

A person's self-awareness and important memories approximately constitute 1.9-2.6 units of data. Due to the current modular thinking used by superhumans, they can temporarily discard those large knowledge databases and reconnect them upon return to compress data further.

This suggestion indeed led people to think of a better method: first, teleport a superhuman over there, rent a curvature spaceship, and personally search for the humans in the Solar System.

In this way, they would definitely be able to investigate more information, and then, according to the observations, gift them some technology rather than simply sending a piece of technology unilaterally as before.

After completing this task, the superhuman could return through consciousness upload. Try to save as much as possible; the data transmission volume is still sufficient.

"The risks seem a bit high." Diplomat Old Yang couldn't help but speak: "Every superhuman is an extremely valuable asset. Uploading consciousness onto this type of robot—isn't the risk a bit high? It's not a silver-white robot and doesn't have very high resistance capabilities."

Zhang Yuan was quite curious about this journey and promptly said, "Old Yang, for the current New Human Civilization, it's about to achieve self-transformation and thought-level sublimation. It will no longer be the original human civilization, and both parties are about to part ways."

"But we still hope that our former selves can live a bit better, right?"

"From this point on, we might never intersect again, so let's give them one last gift... For us, such a gift is nothing."

Old Yang was silent for a long time and finally nodded, "Okay, understood."

"Actually, I also support your idea."

Thus, the group took a Zeus-class spaceship back to the Mother Star and discussed for a while with the base camp at the rear.

They spent some more effort studying that ordinary robot, confirming that the self-awareness of the superhuman could indeed be uploaded onto this robot...

All of it took roughly a week, and the group finally decided on this plan, also selecting a representative to go to the Solar System.

Zhang Yuan accepted the task without hesitation; frankly, there was no better candidate. The number of humans left from the Earth Era was not many, and he was the only one who became a superhuman.

Next, the group came to the Green Leaf Alliance again, explained their purpose, and a few saplings resembling palm trees led Zhang Yuan and others to the superluminal communication venue.

For these plants, the smaller the individual, the stronger its mobility; larger ones prefer to stay in one place, basking in the sun.

Thus, important occasions were managed by saplings.

The superluminal communication venue resembled a large glass test tube several stories high, and Zhang Yuan was not unfamiliar with it. Because, a long time ago, he had used it in the Huantai Civilization's trading market.

"Our race never had this big toy! Haha, normal species' self-awareness, if uploaded onto a robot, would quickly collapse. Esteemed guest, you might be the first guest here to use this consciousness upload device! Few Level 5 Civilizations come to our trading market..."

"But rest assured, its chance of error is very low! Because, five thousand years ago, it was maintained by insects of the Amoeba Faction. It certainly won't break in such a short time."

"Five thousand years?" Zhang Yuan had some thoughts about these plants' sense of time.

"Yes, after all, we are very long-lived beings, though not comparable to Level 5 Civilizations." This sapling, seeing the unfamiliar guest, kept talking, just like a chatterbox. Meanwhile, it frantically promoted its beautiful fruit, hoping Zhang Yuan would take it back to plant, which was indeed a plant's instinct.

Each type of plant could also choose its grafting direction, cultivating more delicious fruits through grafting, which sounded a bit strange.

During this preparation time, Zhang Yuan chatted idly with this fellow.

"In ancient times, we were mobile plants. Our Mother Star is a very arid planet, rarely raining. If we didn't migrate long distances, even plants would dry up and die, so we evolved the ability to move."

"As for optical perception... you know, plants naturally have phototropism, possessing optical perception abilities. If that ability were further refined, it would be equivalent to animals' optical perception."

"Of course, evolving intelligent producers is even rarer! Because it's a completely unnecessary function!"

This plant proudly said, "We gradually developed a cultural phenomenon, forming words through moving leaves... The main reason, of course, was encountering a more advanced civilization, accelerating progress."

"As for the other two species, it's basically the same situation."

"I see," Zhang Yuan said with a smile, "Thank you for clearing up my doubts. So, your ideology is completely different from those evolved from consumers."

"Indeed, we do not advocate the concept of survival competition."

At this moment, the sapling said, "Instead, we believe that sharing the fruits we produce with other species is the meaning of existence... If your civilization is willing to plant these seeds and nurture them within the civilization, we would be very supportive."

"Of course, the premise is not to slaughter, destroy, or torture them indiscriminately..."

The sapling began promoting its clan members confidently, including claims such as "Their fruits are delicious," "No allergies, antioxidant properties, prolonging many species' lifespans," and "Improving the environment," etc...

Such florid statements were almost dazzling, even making Zhang Yuan somewhat tempted to plant these on his own planet. It did seem... quite interesting, with no major downsides.

"Your civilization can also gift the seeds to encountered alien civilizations. The seeds have strong vitality and can survive wherever there's air and sunlight, overcoming most harsh environments, adaptable to most microorganisms."

"Sir, when we return, we will plant the seeds... According to the agreement, at least 20 suitable planets will be seeded."

"That's really wonderful, thank you very much," the sapling courteously responded.

Zhang Yuan couldn't help but remain silent. In a sense, the Green Leaf Alliance was quite successful. Their philosophy, their behavior patterns—perhaps various interstellar civilizations gathered around the Dyson Sphere were all nurturing these peculiar plants.

"In this way, these plants' life force is much stronger than ours! Maybe in future times, their presence will be seen throughout the universe. From another perspective, this is also a significant success..."