A Colossus rushes in at the start

Chapter 283 The New Route is Too Lazy

The other party claimed to be the bee colony that was originally in charge of that civilized breeding farm, and hoped to stop the recycling of materials from these psionic civilizations, and wanted to talk to Lu Shang.

After a moment of contemplation, Lu Shang gave orders to the planetary creatures.

"Don't connect to their psionic networks. Share your senses with me, and then arrange for me to communicate with them directly through language."

……

The swarm moved quickly and soon completed the task according to Lu Shang's instructions. After Lu Shang's senses were shared with the planetary creature, a 'conscious' psionic creature appeared before him.

However, this is not true 'awakening'; the psionic creature's consciousness is still dormant, and something else has taken over the body.

After learning that Lu Shang's consciousness had been integrated into the planetary life form, the other party took the initiative to greet him, "Hello, Lu Shang, the main brain."

Lu Shang sized up the other party. At first glance, this psionic creature looked like a large red lobster, with its body encased in a shell and its joints being arthropods, giving it a fierce and fully armed appearance.

The only difference between them and lobsters on Earth is that they have four large claws and their shells are covered with a layer of civilized clothing as decoration.

"I'm not doing well. My good mood was ruined by your presence."

Lu Shang said irritably, then continued, "Tell me your situation honestly, and I will consider how to deal with you based on your responses."

The creature summarized and replied to Lu Shang: "We have found a new path for the bee colony. This path is new and full of infinite possibilities. We hope the bee colony will allow us to continue on this path."

Lu Shang countered, "So-called new paths mean parasitizing other civilizations, allowing them to reach the pinnacle along with the swarm?"

The other party admitted, "That's how it is. During that containment failure, our strategic plan was to use the infection of parasitic spores, along with appropriate covert guidance, to gain control of the psionic creature's body and thus achieve final victory."

"But we noticed a problem and ultimately gave up on doing so, choosing instead to lie low."

Lu Shang frowned and asked, "What problem have you noticed?"

The other party countered, "Why must the swarm engage in a fierce battle that could lead to annihilation against other civilizations and the unknown terrors deep within the cosmic ocean?"

Lu Shang retorted with an absurd expression, "If we don't fight, are we just going to let other civilizations ride roughshod over the swarm? Or even wipe out our entire race?"

The creature replied, "There is no direct link between continuation and conflict; the swarm has other paths to choose from."

"The universe is vast, and the cosmic ocean is boundless. In this infinite limit, there are always stronger threats. Ultimate destruction has made us realize this problem. The swarm cannot be truly invincible, and the swarm will one day be destroyed. This is something that must be avoided."

"We cannot prevent extinction, but we can minimize the probability of extinction, namely through expansion and latency."

"They constantly expand and parasitize other civilizations to avoid perishing along with one of the parasitic civilizations. They lie dormant to avoid conflict, which inevitably leads to one side winning and the other losing, but the swarm does not always win."

"A bee colony can win many times, but if it loses even once, it is highly likely to perish. Therefore, lying dormant and avoiding fighting are the best options for the survival of a bee colony."

As long as there is no competition, there is no winning or losing. As long as they remain undetected, they can lie in wait, attaching themselves to those civilizations that are constantly climbing upwards. When a civilization reaches its peak, the swarm will naturally reach the peak as well—this is the thought of the swarm in this civilization breeding farm.

That's what they thought, and that's what they did. Even when Lu Shang's swarm arrived, they didn't actively contact the swarm, instead lying flat like a 'dead' swarm.

If the swarm weren't currently preparing to eliminate all the psionic creatures they were parasitizing, this swarm could probably have remained elusive until that civilization's breeding ground universe completely went into heat death without revealing a single sign.

If Lu Shang had any doubts before, he is now basically certain of the identity of the other party's bee swarm.

Lu Shang said, "Your method is meaningless in the face of ultimate destruction. How do you plan to solve this?"

"We are still pondering the question of ultimate destruction," the psionic creature replied.

Lu Shang said, "Really? But I already have a solution in mind."

The psionic creature paused, then asked, "Which direction?"

"Let the bee colony become a V-shaped civilization," Lu Shang said.

The initially excited psionic beings immediately showed great disappointment upon hearing Lu Shang's answer: "That's an impossible direction."

"It seems you've given this thought," Lu Shang said.

The psionic creature dominated by the swarm network admitted, "Yes, to become a Type V civilization, it needs to truly transcend infinity, but death is an absolute barrier that cannot be crossed; it is a dead end."

"Lu Shang Mainframe, have you figured out a route to that goal?"

When asked about this, Lu Shang replied helplessly, "No, we haven't found it yet."

To achieve a V-shaped civilization, one needs to dominate the entire cosmic ocean, but the cosmic ocean is infinite, so dominating the cosmic ocean is equivalent to dominating an infinitely large conceptual entity.

If that were all, it wouldn't be anything special. The problem is that the infinite universe also has an infinite scale, and within this infinite scale, there are infinite possibilities.

In this infinite range of possibilities, there is always something that can instantly destroy a civilization, including, but not limited to, ultimate destruction.

Therefore, the crucial prerequisite for becoming a V-type civilization is not expansion, but immortality; what stands in the way of becoming a V-type civilization is death itself.

Tucker, the super-intelligent being, hopes to unite all civilizations in the cosmic ocean to reach the V-type civilization level. It believes that it can utilize the infinite possibilities of intelligent life to solve the infinite problems of the cosmic ocean.

But as things stand now, Lu Shang thinks it's a bit of a pipe dream. A united civilization would just be a larger civilization, unable to get to the root of the problem.

After a brief exchange, the topic returned to normal.

The swarm network, controlling the lobster-like psionic creature, asked Lu Shang, "What do you plan to do with us and these other psionic civilizations that have been given swarm networks?"

Lu Shang was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked abruptly, "What if I said I wanted to eliminate you all?"

"I gladly accept."

Lu Shang then shook his head slightly and said, "I am not the old ruler, unlike it, which cannot tolerate other bee colonies exploring new paths. As long as it is for the sake of the bee colony's progress, I am happy to see more possibilities."

(End of this chapter)