Chapter 164: Year 110
Chapter 164: Year 110
The year was 110 of the Human United Era (HUE).
By this time, Academy Member Qin Yu’s apparent age in this lifetime had reached 174 years.
To outsiders, while Academician Qin Yu’s body still seemed quite robust, and his mind remained as sharp as it had been in his youth—perhaps beyond what anyone could fathom—
his overall appearance truly was that of a very old man.
At 174 years, people in this era considered him very, very old.
However, apart from the researchers at the Negentropy Research Institute who could interact with Qin Yu daily,
the vast majority of people across the broader Human Civilization likely didn’t realize this, or perhaps chose not to think about it.
From the pre-Intelligent Era to the Intelligent Era, from before the Doomsday Crisis to the HUE era, from the mother planet civilization to a Stellar Civilization,
none of these vast changes seemed tied to time itself, yet they had all unfolded under Academician Qin Yu’s guidance.
And Academician Qin Yu had always been there.
It seemed just natural that Academician Qin Yu would always exist afterward too.
…
That year,
Stuo Civilization and Human Civilization jointly completed the final segment of the Civilization-grade Ring-shaped Fundamental Experimental Facility, the last of 34.26 million sections.
Together, the two civilizations finished this last step in the 33-year-long construction of the Civilization-grade Ring-shaped Fundamental Experimental Facility.
The Civilization-grade Ring-shaped Fundamental Experimental Facility formed a single structure spanning 12 million kilometers in diameter.
Two Stellar Civilizations had consumed over sixty-five percent of their collective productive capacity over 33 years.
The construction was now done.
Within Human Civilization, Huaxin News Agency broadcast the historic final step of the two civilizations’ assembly of the Facility live.
This moment would undoubtedly be etched into Human Civilization’s history, preserved for ages.
Images captured by cameras aboard the starships, even now as the Facility was fully assembled,
could not show the entire structure in a single frame.
But even seeing just a small fragment of the Facility that nearly filled the camera’s field of view—expanding far beyond the visible limits on both sides,
stretching past the camera range without revealing the ends or even the curve’s beginning—
was enough to fill everyone with profound awe.
What gave perhaps a better sense of the Facility’s sheer scale
was a composite image shown by Huaxin News Agency during the broadcast, comparing it to Neptune, the nearest planet.
If Neptune appeared as a tiny speck in the image,
the thin ring structure of the Civilization-grade Fundamental Experimental Facility completely dominated the frame.
People currently living on the orbiting stellar city, Triton (Sea Guardian One) near Neptune, felt this comparison’s impact most strikingly.
Without a doubt, this was, until now, the greatest industrial, scientific, and civilizational construct ever built
by Human Civilization—and adding Stuo Civilization—either of them had ever achieved!
…
As the last segment finished and the entire Civilization-grade Fundamental Experimental Facility was complete,
comprehensive testing immediately began.
Now, vast numbers of intelligent machinery scattered near the Facility’s ring structure, along with moored starships, began retreating.
The bustling areas within the Facility gradually grew ‘quiet’.
Simultaneously,
after the live broadcast concluded,
Huaxin News Agency, representing the Human Coalition (HCC), issued the official news report,
announcing the completion of the Civilization-grade Fundamental Experimental Facility.
“Huaxin News Agency Report.”
“Verified by the HCC, the Negentropy Research Institute, and relevant Stuo Civilization institutions.”
“The Civilization-grade Ring-shaped Fundamental Experimental Facility—a supermassive space-based acceleration collider—part of the joint foundational theoretical research project between our civilization and Stuo Civilization, has recently completed construction.”
“The 33-year construction period has concluded successfully. The monumental experimental device, a result of collective effort between Human Civilization and Stuo Civilization, has become reality.”
“This Facility is the pinnacle achievement of our civilization’s current technological and industrial capabilities. It represents a monumental attempt by Human and Stuo Civilizations to explore the universe’s deeper mysteries and seek transformative advancements for long-term civilization development…”
Accompanying this formal announcement,
cheering erupted everywhere across Human Civilization’s domain:
from Earth, the Earth-Moon System, to Mars, and out to Neptune.
Though for these thirty years, most people within Human Civilization hadn’t been directly involved in the specifics of the Facility’s construction—
the process was largely guided by Strong Artificial Intelligence under the Brain Intelligence Project, utilizing Smart Industrial Clusters with minimal human labor—
and though the entire build had little tangible impact on most people’s daily lives,
as a mega-project consuming over 65% of the entire Human Civilization’s productivity,
it was nearly impossible for people not to follow its progress over these decades.
Even though the Facility hadn’t yet yielded actual benefits just yet,
the mere fact that such an unprecedented mega-project had been completed by their civilization
was thrilling enough, sending surges of excitement through everyone.
This was a great accomplishment of the entire Human Civilization. As members of it, how could anyone not be stirred and inspired?
That they could muster such immense productive capacity to finish it alone was already a massive honor for Human Civilization.
And this honor belonged to the whole civilization, thus naturally to every single person within it!
“Long live Human Civilization! Long live the HCC!”
This was likely the most chanted phrase in the wave of excitement.
On Human Civilization’s unified social platform,
the top trending topic was ‘Completion of Civilization-grade Ring-shaped Fundamental Experimental Facility Construction’.
Second place went to the chants above.
Naturally, at third place, people hadn’t forgotten the name of Qin Yu.
“HCC is awesome… Watching Huaxin’s livestream today, I felt a bit dazed. Since when is our civilization so powerful? We can build megastructures of this scale now!”
“… Maybe it’s because we developed so fast. Going from what Stuo Civilization considers a Star System Civilization to a Stellar Civilization took us less than a hundred years. I also want to say HCC is awesome! Negentropy Research Institute is awesome!”
“The Civilization-grade Ring-shaped Fundamental Experimental Facility… over 12 million kilometers in diameter… do you grasp that? The more I think about it, the more pumped I get…”
“Oh, I grasp it… I’m on Triton in Neptune’s Orbit. Just trying to picture it… I’m stunned that alongside Stuo Civilization, we built something of this magnitude.”
Across the HCC,
people discussed fervently.
Similar reactions echoed throughout Stuo Civilization.
Perhaps because they had previously attempted similar but smaller constructions for the same purpose,
making their understanding of the scale required for the Facility even clearer,
their awe might have been even greater.