Chapter 131 Am I Hungry?

Li Wen didn't explain this very complex issue to Xinghe, he simply said with a concerned expression, "You know where the medical pod is, don't you?"

Earth was represented by just a dot of light, so even if the blue light indicated the medical pod, Li Wen still couldn't determine its exact location.

After pondering for a moment, Xinghe nodded and said, "If we search for it with our base point as the center, it's easy to know where it is."

After saying that, Xinghe looked towards the mecha that he had taken off and had been in the middle of the reception room all this time, and spoke a sentence that no one else could understand.

The mecha's face suddenly emitted a beam of light, and in front of the mecha, the light formed a blue planet, Earth, recognizable at first glance.

The dot of light from the communicator overlapped with the Earth projected by the mecha, and then Xinghe said, "You can take a look at where the medical pod is now."

A few generals couldn't wait to stand in front of the projected image of Earth, but one of them immediately said in a deep voice, "Is this Africa State? North Sudan?"

Another general thought for a moment and said, "No, it's the northern protrusion of South Sudan, the border area between the two countries."

They quickly identified the terrain, and then one general looked at Li Wen and said, "It's not in the Alps."

Li Wen breathed a sigh of relief and said with a thoughtful look on his face, "It's not in Europa, no wonder we couldn't find it, they really did move it, but why Africa State again?"

"Could it be that the sanitation workers and the Graycloaks have joined forces?"

After a general finished speaking with a frown, he looked towards the person next to him and said, "This is a new discovery, a new situation indeed."

Gao Yuan was dying of curiosity, but he knew he must not speak up at this time, absolutely not.

But Xinghe could ask.

"What are you talking about?"

Li Wen looked at Xinghe and said, "You should have already understood Earth's history, so I'll keep it brief. The communication device and medical pod were left to... a civilization that wasn't very responsible. After a long passage of time, they evolved into a secret organization—not striving for the survival of mankind, but hiding this secret for their own interests."

"Oh?"

"One of our agents accidentally discovered the secret of the communicator and medical pod. He got ahold of this communicator and sent it back from Europa, but he didn't get the medical pod, so we weren't able to develop an effective vaccine in time. However, because of this communicator, we believed that the threat from the aliens was real, and so we resolved to prepare for the alien invasion."

Li Wen let out a long sigh, his face a picture of helplessness, "If we could have gotten such detailed intelligence earlier, our losses wouldn't have been so great, it's such a pity, so hateful…"

Not swayed by his own emotions, Li Wen looked at Xinghe and said, "If we get the medical pod, can we immediately produce a vaccine against an epidemic virus?"

Xinghe nodded without hesitation and then said in a grave tone, "The Serpent People's gene technology is quite advanced, but compared to us, it's still not advanced enough."

Li Wen, with a keen interest, asked, "So what level has your gene technology reached?"

After thinking for a moment, Xinghe replied very calmly, "Immortality."

"What?"

Everyone seemed somewhat surprised, while Xinghe still maintained a calm demeanor, "Immortality. If nothing unexpected occurs, life can be extended indefinitely."

Gao Yuan said absently, "That's incredible."

"We achieved immortality, so our civilization was destroyed."

Many people, including Gao Yuan, couldn't comprehend what Xinghe had just said.

Xinghe looked at the others, then nodded and said, "Incomprehensible, is it? It's quite simple. We also once struggled to combat diseases until our genetic technology made a breakthrough. Any disease could be solved at the genetic level, and aging could be indefinitely postponed by culturing cells ex vivo. Thus, our lifespan became longer and longer, extending from hundreds of years in Earth time to thousands, and with no difficulty, could be extended to tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years."

Gao Yuan said, puzzled, "How wonderful that is, so why do you say it will lead to the extinction of civilization?"

Xinghe sighed and explained, "With no one dying, everyone attained nearly infinite lives. Our planet's population kept growing, but soon, our people lost the will to reproduce. After gaining nearly infinite lifespans, the need to pass on our genes became less important.

When life was finite, our civilization was one that strived to develop. The old died, and the new were born, bringing with them new ideas. But after attaining immortality, resources began to grow scarce, so we prepared to expand into the universe. However, we soon realized that our people had lost the desire to procreate, so even though lifespans were infinitely extended, the population did not expand infinitely."

Then, our planet's civilization fell into stagnation until our homeworld was destroyed. Our entire civilization moved to a new planet, but nobody was willing to give up their eternal lives, yet they didn't know what to do with these endless lives. In the end, some chose self-destruction."

Xinghe still appeared calm as he spread his hands and said, "Life can be extended indefinitely, but the mind cannot keep up with life. So, after some went mad, they detonated bombs powerful enough to destroy planets, and that's how our lives were destroyed. Do you find it funny?"

Funny?

It did seem quite funny, in a sad way—a civilization so advanced, yet destroyed in such a ludicrous manner.

No wonder Xinghe said their species had no sense of gender. It made sense—if lifespan was infinitely extended and the desire for reproduction lost, living merely as individuals, then gender indeed became meaningless.

Gao Yuan asked cautiously, "Xinghe, how old are you?"

After asking about gender, Gao Yuan followed up with a question about age.

After some thought, Xinghe replied, "According to Earth customs, I am 2,336 years old. According to the rules of interstellar travel, discounting the time spent in hibernation, I am 26 years old. My friends, I am the youngest among the Celestials. That was the case when I left."

Gao Yuan asked cautiously, "So you..."

Gao Yuan wanted to ask Xinghe if he was naturally born, but realizing the question was too personal, he ultimately refrained from asking.

However, Xinghe volunteered, "I am a Clone, one of the latest batch of Clones. Our survivors tried to recover the instinct for natural reproduction, but found they had lost it. Adjusting the body is easy, but no one could psychologically readapt. So, they left the task to the new humans, to us."

Li Wen's focus was entirely different from Gao Yuan's. He asked carefully, "Then your... elders, the ones who have lived a very long time, are they all scientists?"

Xinghe smiled, shook his head and said, "No, they are only beneficiaries of civilization, not creators. They can use the achievements of civilization but no longer possess the ability to create or even continue it. As I said, our civilization has long been stagnant. Everyone stopped thinking, and those who were willing to think... they went insane, and then they destroyed our civilization."

What should the conversation turn to now?

Just then, some sounds seemed to come from Xinghe's body.

It sounded like a gurgling noise, and Xinghe appeared surprised, while Gao Yuan found it strange.

After a moment, accompanied by a series of puffs, Xinghe seemed to have farted...

"What is this?"

Gao Yuan felt slightly embarrassed, but Xinghe looked astonished. After a moment, he finally had a moment of realization and said, "I see now, after leaving the Mecha, my body has started some natural functions. So, I suppose what I'm feeling now is... hunger?"

Xinghe looked at Gao Yuan and then gently pressed his own stomach, saying, "Am I hungry?"

What a question to ask—how was Gao Yuan supposed to know how to respond to that?

"Don't you eat anything?"

"Eat? Like you do? Of course not, that way of obtaining energy is far too primitive. I don't need to eat while in hibernation aboard a spacecraft, nor while inside a Mecha. Eating implies the need for excretion, which we don't have. But now I've run out of energy supply."

Xinghe looked at Gao Yuan with a slightly worried gaze, and Gao Yuan nodded, saying, "Yes, that means you do need to eat."