Chapter 142: The Unsettling Feeling

“…This area is our city’s industrial production zone. This area is the entertainment zone. And this area is the research and education system zone…”

After the Human Civilization delegation arrived at the Stuo Civilization’s Interstellar Fleet, they entered a spherical Stellar Fortress over five hundred kilometers in diameter.

Due to the immense size of this Stellar Fortress, or indeed any Starship,

it was actually hard to feel, from the inside, that one was inside a space vehicle.

It felt more like stepping onto a city built on solid ground, filled with a unique, alien style.

Looking towards the far distance from their position, only when their gaze reached the very end could they faintly sense the ground curving gently upwards.

Following the planned itinerary, as the Human Civilization delegation followed a representative of the Stuo Civilization towards that civilization’s museum within the city,

they also passed through several parts of this stellar city.

The Stuo Civilization did not purposely block or hinder the Human Civilization delegation’s view,

so naturally, the members of the Human Civilization delegation didn’t mind observing the sights within the Stuo Civilization’s stellar city.

The main transportation within this Stuo Civilization stellar city seemed to be a sort of rail system.

At least, the vehicle the Stuo Civilization representatives led the Human delegation onto now was exactly such a rail vehicle.

A dense network of rail tracks connected every corner of this Stuo Civilization stellar city.

But these rail vehicles were a bit different from the high-speed trains commonly seen in Human Civilization.

They weren’t always connected multi-car trains. During their operation, individual cars would detach from the main route the train was traveling and enter a branch track.

Similarly, individual cars from branch tracks could merge back onto the main route.

Observing the overall flow, it was probably being managed by Artificial Intelligence or an Intelligent Program.

“The surface of Stuo Civilization’s home planet is mostly flat, with few tall mountains. There are also very few large water systems penetrating inland. So, a long time ago, we began using rail transport,”

“and through all these years of civilizational development, even after we left our home planet, we’ve maintained this habit,”

the Stuo Civilization representative Sies explained briefly to the Human Civilization.

The rail carriages within the Stuo Civilization stellar city also had transparent viewports,

allowing those inside to see the city’s sights.

Since the Stuo Civilization was also a group civilization with a habit of living together,

naturally, many tall buildings could also be seen within the Stuo city,

though the architectural style was vastly different from that common within Human Civilization.

The visual systems of Stuo Civilization individuals could also recognize different colors.

But the colors within this Stuo city were rather uniform, not particularly complex or vibrant.

Instead, the whole place was covered in a shade of dull yellow, similar to the color of the exoskeletal scales on Stuo individuals themselves.

The dome over this Stuo city also simulated the sky, likely using a method similar to Holographic Projection.

Unlike the simulated blue skies, white clouds, and sunny weather common in Human off-world cities,

the sky over this Stuo stellar city always had thick cloud cover, within which colors resembling an aurora occasionally flowed.

To Human eyes, it felt intensely unreal and even magical.

Furthermore,

there were a few other peculiar things common throughout the Stuo civilization.

Man-made lakes planned within a stellar city were something Human Civilization could quite understand.

But within this Stuo stellar city, artificially constructed water systems seemed surprisingly numerous.

Beside the rail tracks leading to every corner of the city, rivers or streams could often be seen.

Everything within this Stuo stellar city seemed engulfed by water systems.

However, considering what was learned earlier about the Stuo intelligent species’ affinity for water,

it wasn’t really surprising.

Another thing distinct from Human Civilization was, as the Stuo representatives provided explanations along their route,

it became clear there were no residential areas for Stuo individuals within the city.

Neighborhoods like those in Human Civilization simply did not exist.

Because the life rhythms of Stuo individuals differed from Humans – sleep happened during the gaps within daily life.

Stuo individuals didn’t actually have personal dwellings akin to houses in Human society.

Instead, it was really the entertainment and leisure zones they used.

But this seemed to result in a blurry line between work and rest within Stuo society.

According to the Stuo delegation’s explanation,

essentially, doing things for others, or what they needed to do to survive, was work.

Doing what they themselves wanted to do was rest.

From the perspective of Human physiological rhythms and habits, it was actually hard to truly grasp this Stuo way of social functioning,

just like how the Stuo might struggle to understand why Human individuals need to go “home” after work.

The concept of “home” itself is difficult to find an exact corresponding word for within the Stuo Civilization.

……

“…Friends from Human Civilization, this is our Stuo Civilization’s home planet.”

After a short while, the Human delegation still reached the Stuo Civilization’s museum.

Visiting the museum meant learning more about the Stuo Civilization’s history,

just as the Stuo delegation had previously visited Human Civilization’s Civilization Museum.

Inside this museum,

the Human delegation saw a model of the Stuo home planet –

a gigantic sphere hovering at the museum’s center using superconductive magnetic levitation and Holographic Projection added to it.

From this planetary model, it could be seen:

Unlike Human Civilization’s home planet with its several large landmasses,

the Stuo homeworld had just one single landmass.

This land was mostly flat, without many obvious mountain ranges or significant hills.

Then, surrounding this land, stretching from the planet’s North Pole to its South Pole, was an unbroken ocean.

Because of this, the very center of the Stuo continent was basically barren desert without much life.

This geological environment shaped the Stuo homeworld’s unique ecology.

The whole ecosystem was confined to a band along the land’s edge, several hundred kilometers wide, where land met the sea.

The Stuo Civilization called this the Life Zone.

Within the Life Zone, dense vegetation flourished, supporting a huge variety of land animals, insects, fungi, and other organisms.

However, unlike the plant life on Humanity’s homeworld, most vegetation on the Stuo planet was a color resembling yellow sand and dry leaves.

So overall, the entire Stuo home planet looked like it was covered in the hues of a yellow-desert wasteland.

“…The Stuo Civilization originated here, then spread along the Life Zone until we became its true dominant species.”

Also, because the Stuo planet only had one landmass, the civilization, from its tribal era onwards, fragmented into several factions internally during some short periods.

However, a prolonged national era like Human Civilization’s had never truly emerged.

By a period similar to Human Civilization’s feudal age, the entire Stuo Civilization had already completed its full consolidation.

Yet upon hearing this part of Stuo Civilization’s history,

many researchers within the visiting Human Civilization delegation quickly noticed a concern.

Drawing from Human Civilization’s own experience, early consolidation of an entire civilization might not necessarily be a positive outcome.

Just like Human Civilization, Stuo Civilization was the sole intelligent species on their home planet.

After achieving full consolidation, they also faced the problem of lacking “external enemies” or outside pressure.

So why did Stuo Civilization eventually abandon their homeworld’s foundation, what drove them to venture into space?

“The history of Stuo Civilization is somewhat longer than that of Human Civilization.”

“After becoming the dominant force in the life zone of our home planet, scientific advancements began to emerge. From these beginnings to reaching Star System Civilization status took roughly fifty thousand years.”

Sies of the Stuo Civilization delegation shared this with the Human Civilization group.

Fifty thousand years—this felt incredibly long when compared to Human Civilization’s current timeline.

Looking back fifty thousand years, it was unclear whether Human Civilization had entered its tribal period or developed written script.

And looking forward, people today couldn’t possibly imagine what Human Civilization would be like fifty millennia after now, where it would be located,

or even if it would still exist at all.

Considering this timeframe, Stuo Civilization most likely endured the exact challenges Human Civilization currently foresees:

a prolonged struggle within their developmental journey.

Yet as Stuo Civilization hadn’t revealed the specifics, the Human Civilization delegation had no way of knowing what extraordinary events occurred internally during those fifty thousand years.

“…Across Stuo Civilization’s history and culture, water has always been recognized as our fundamental life source.”

Sies, the individual from Stuo Civilization handling the reception, guided the Human Civilization delegation through this museum—perhaps specially designed for their visit.

Stuo Civilization’s reverence for water was completely different from Human Civilization’s concept of water as the source of life.

Historical records showed that oceans on their home planet, perhaps due to their scale, never inflicted major disasters impacting their civilization’s development or survival.

Myths recorded within this museum even portrayed their homeworld’s oceans as gentle, kind, and nurturing figures.

And although Stuo Civilization grew in terrestrial life zones, their culture consistently depicted the ocean as the “mother” of their civilization.

“It’s possible the memory of our homeworld’s oceans is ingrained in our genes. Therefore, being near water systems calms our hearts and brings us reassurance.”

This part of Stuo Civilization’s Civilization Museum might seem less critical.

But understanding such details helped Human Civilization learn more about Stuo ways of thinking.

Thus, researchers from the Human Civilization delegation also paid close attention to these exhibits.

Additionally, this largely explained why Stuo Civilization’s stellar cities featured so many artificial water systems.

…

After the museum tour concluded,

and before leaving Stuo Civilization’s museum, much like before,

the Human Civilization delegation, representing their people, presented Stuo Civilization with a gift commemorating this visit.

Stuo Civilization reciprocated with a gift of their own.

Human Civilization offered carefully chosen specimens of two plant species, paired with a literary work themed on love.

Stuo Civilization presented soil samples collected during their migration to a life-bearing planet,

along with a cultural cornerstone of their own—a long poetic work praising the oceans of their home planet.

Following the museum visit,

Stuo Civilization guides led the Human Civilization delegation to the industrial production zone within the Stellar City.

The areas accessible to Human Civilization visitors naturally excluded those housing critical Stuo technologies or advanced equipment manufacturing.

Only sections where goods replicable by Human Civilization were produced were shown.

Observations confirmed that Stuo Civilization’s Smart Industrial Clusters largely ran on Intelligent Programs managing the entire supply chain.

But differing from Human Civilization,

which had entrusted its entire Smart Industrial systems to Strong Artificial Intelligence,

Stuo Civilization retained significant numbers participating directly in production, even performing redundant tasks.

This highlighted a stark contrast between the two civilizations.

Human Civilization, after its productivity revolution during the Intelligent Era,

liberated everyone from production roles, channeling them into the realms of more creative research and innovation.

Stuo Civilization adopted a different approach:

Those capable of research pursued it;

Those incapable continued in productive manufacturing.

Although their contributions remained non-essential and replaceable within smart production itself,

social structures placed them in these roles, requiring participation even if seemingly insignificant to the broader civilization.

Judging which civilization approached this correctly was difficult.

Human Civilization allowed everyone freedom to pursue personal ambitions and ideal pathways without survival constraints.

It also marshaled maximum intellectual capital toward civilization’s progress,

ensuring collective societal advancement even if individual breakthroughs proved scarce.

Stuo Civilization’s model wasn’t inherently wrong either.

It simply reflected a divergent societal choice.

…

After the production zone tour,

the Human Civilization delegation’s reverse visitation within Stuo Civilization’s Stellar City shifted toward its core function.

Aligned with prior meeting protocols, Stuo guides took the delegation to facilities resembling their universities and schools.

Both delegations convened again at this venue for academic discussions including theoretical collaboration,

expanding beyond previous limits of physics and math into additional scientific fields.

However, before theoretical exchanges and collaboration began,

during the routine tour of Stuo Civilization’s academic institutions within the Stellar City,

another development

first drew sharp attention from both the visiting Human researchers and Qin Yu back at Human Civilization’s Negentropy Research Institute.

“…Stuo Civilization’s next generation, born through maternal body division and deemed physically fit upon confirmation, enters the educational system.”

“As previously mentioned to Human Civilization, this comprehensive educational journey concludes around ‘eighty years’ of age.”

Human researchers immediately sensed something unusual as Sies explained.