CHAPTER 403: CHAPTER 242: THE LIMITS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

By the time the Es Civilization receives the news and finally has the time to act, such an interstellar pirate fleet would have already escaped to unknown parts.

"Full retreat at maximum speed!" The Ma Sect emphasized the core command once again.

Any ship that could escape should do so.

If they really are interstellar pirates, they won’t pursue total extermination, because destruction isn’t the goal, plundering is. As long as they can loot the majority of the population, they won’t care about small numbers, and they’ll have to leave people behind to guard the spoils. With these factors combined, some are given the chance to escape.

And Shen Shi indeed had no intentions of complete extermination.

The reason is quite simple.

If the Daike fleet is entirely wiped out on its way to Blue Star, subsequent attention will invariably focus on Blue Star. After all, compared to encountering B-level fleet-level interstellar pirates en route, Blue Star Civilization’s unexpected development speed makes exterminating them more probable.

Destroying the Daike people and even the Daike Civilization is no longer Shen Shi’s primary objective; delaying the appearance of the Es Civilization is.

Under this understanding, the Human Fleet perfectly played the role of interstellar pirates, controlling over ninety percent of the Daike Fleet intact, but about ten percent still escaped, with humans symbolically dispatching a few warships to pursue them, ultimately allowing a small fraction to escape.

Just this small portion that returns with news to Daike Civilization, which then passes the message to Es Civilization, and begins investigations and a series of actions, would take at least one to two hundred years.

And when the battle finally settles, Shen Shi instructs others to clean up the spoils while he hurryingly enters the future timeline.

To see what changes have occurred this time in the future timeline.

And indeed, the results did not disappoint him!

Human civilization’s progress encountered an immense setback!

Originally, with the success of Shen Shi’s Gus expedition, human civilization had further advanced, achieving thousands of crucial B-level technologies, nearly putting a foot into the B-level civilization tier. But now, this number regressed to about a thousand, barely returning to the level of human civilization’s first victory in Gus Land.

The reason for the regression is simple: the Es Civilization’s "support" delegation’s visit was delayed by nearly four hundred years!

Longer than Shen Shi anticipated!

He mistakenly overestimated Daike Civilization’s standing within Es Civilization; at this moment, Daike Civilization was still far from reaching the C-level pinnacle. Their plight did not catch Es Civilization’s attention, and after being plundered by interstellar pirates, Daike Civilization’s development speed was further slowed, leaving them without the capacity to target human civilization for a long time, even prematurely entering a decline phase thereafter.

Far weaker than the initial Daike Civilization.

"Although the strength has regressed, this is actually a good thing." Shen Shi’s eyes seemed to shimmer with unusual light, as if he’d discovered the correct pathway.

That is, slow down Es Civilization’s involvement as much as possible while strengthening human civilization’s development speed.

This is not contradictory.

Just digesting the gains from Gus Land alone, coupled with previous trades from the second future timeline’s "Fire," would suffice for humanity for a thousand years.

In other words, a millennium to step into B-level?

If that could truly be achieved, Es Civilization’s cultural invasion would be of little concern. Their strength, no matter how formidable, could not devour human civilization capable of creating such miracles!

At this moment, Shen Shi felt a sudden excitement from seeing clarity on the path ahead!

"These warships and Daike people should not be kept, I’ll take them all and sell them to Star Sea Company, just enough to repay part of the loan." In the end, Shen Shi took away all the spoils along with those Daike people who had fallen into deep slumber.

He planned to hand the warships over to the future world of line one.

As for those Daike people, they’d be transformed into Primordial Energy Batteries that cannot be dismantled or released, thus enhancing the strength of human civilization in the future timeline of line one.

After resolving all this, Shen Shi once again embarked on his return journey.

At this moment, the memories of those humans have been unlocked, and everyone understands the energy expended over the past hundred years, and the new generation of humans understands their identity, knowing they are about to return to the Mother Star of human civilization.

This plunged the entire ship, not to mention the humans on Blue Star, into a certain excited mood.

A mere hundred years is not enough to be forgotten by human civilization.

All the relatives of those who left could finally reunite with their families.

Even Shen Shi had some longing for his parents and family at this moment.

And of course, his own children and granddaughter.

Perhaps even a great-granddaughter might have been born.

However, it must be said that at this moment, Shen Shi’s sentiments toward these emotions have become much less intense. Everything he cares about is already by his side, and the long duration and unique mission have ultimately changed him.

This is Starry Era Year 324 when Shen Shi once again returned to Blue Star.