Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

In the year 4400 of the Earth calendar, 345 years have passed since the start of the Human Alliance Expedition.

Over the past 345 years, the development of the People's Federation has never stopped.

Whether it's the preparations for the expedition or the scientific research work of the Academy of Sciences, all projects are proceeding in an orderly manner.

With the continuous improvement of the sixth-level technology tree, the power of human civilization has become much stronger than it was 345 years ago.

However, in order to discreetly gather supplies for intergalactic navigation and to avoid attracting the attention of other potentially advanced civilizations, the Renlian people, under Lü Yongchang's orders, likely curbed their expansion.

Even so, the current territory of human civilization has reached 1800 light-years.

Dyson spheres are widely used in border areas.

To be precise, it is the frontier region that is biased towards the direction of the solar system.

The reason...

After that war, the area became a complete "civilization-poor" zone.

Weak civilizations perish in the aftermath of war, while powerful civilizations, like humans, leave their homes and seek a new life elsewhere.

Only a large number of empty star systems and stars that are still in their prime remain.

This perfectly meets the requirements for using the Dyson Sphere.

Therefore, a large number of Dyson spheres were deployed in this star field, drawing energy from these young and vigorous stars.

The widespread use of the Dyson sphere has only exacerbated the already dire situation of this star system.

The starlight was dim, and apart from the silently working machinery and the occasional fluctuations in spacetime, there were only various celestial bodies operating rigidly according to their own rules.

It looked exactly like a dead star field.

……

Kepler 452b, Antarctica.

Office of Lü Yongchang, Central Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The holographic projection displays a clear and standard star map.

The central region of the star map is a hollow area filled with nebular matter.

The light emitted by the stars was barely visible inside; only the faint starlight from the surrounding star fields struggled to illuminate this desolate region.

From a distance, it looks like a small, dim scar in the brilliant Milky Way, inconspicuous, yet inexplicably inspiring fear.

A yellow warning sign is clearly visible on the star map.

This part of the star field has always been marked as a dangerous area in the star map of human civilization.

"I never imagined that the Human Alliance's territory would expand to this star system..."

Recalling the past, a hint of nostalgia and regret appeared in Lü Yongchang's eyes.

I still remember that human civilization escaped from this star system using the "tail-cutting plan".

Yes, this is exactly the star field surrounding the original Gliese 555 system!

That war completely destroyed the original structure of this star system.

Humanity, a Type IV civilization, in order to extricate itself from the attention of the two advanced civilization factions, the Cleaners and the Pastoralists, implemented the Tail-Cutting Plan in the Proxima Centauri region and embarked on a journey towards the black hole from the Gliese 555 system...

Subsequently, in the struggle for the two-dimensional Proxima Centauri, the Cleaners and the Pastoralists engaged in a small-scale conflict covering a star field of fifty light-years.

This desolate, empty region, spanning fifty light-years, is a remnant of this small-scale conflict.

This insignificant scar on the Milky Way silently tells passing civilizations about this war belonging to advanced civilizations.

The desolate star field had almost no use, so Lü Yongchang's gaze did not linger there for long.

His gaze swept across this desolate star field and landed on the "other side".

On the opposite shore, fifty light-years away from the edge of the desolate star field, there is a dim point of light.

That dim spot of light represents a star system.

Even though the human-made planetary system is vast and has tens of thousands of habitable star systems, this small star system still holds irreplaceable significance.

That is the true origin of human civilization!

The Solar System!

This dilapidated star system has no material value whatsoever.

But for human civilization today, this star system has a more important spiritual value!

As the expedition was about to officially begin, Lü Yongchang, who had learned from Zero's reminder that the Human Alliance's territory had expanded to this desolate region, felt a slight stirring in his heart and dispatched a newest model of probe starship to it.

This is the vanguard.

After all, that area involves a war between the Cleaners civilization and the Pastoral civilization, so it's always wise to be cautious.

This probe-type starship will conduct a comprehensive survey of the surrounding 100 light-year area.

Once safety is confirmed, the People's Federation will officially launch the expedition plan.

The originally planned expedition route was slightly modified under Lü Yongchang's orders—the human fleet would retrace its past escape route and once again set off from that dilapidated little Heng system to launch an expedition towards the Andromeda system!

To not return home in wealth and honor is like wearing fine clothes at night!

Before leaving the Milky Way, let the souls of humanity who sacrificed themselves in this star field see just how glorious human civilization has become!

P.S.: I'm having serious writer's block. I wrote two chapters and then deleted them all. I'm taking a day off today to sort out the rest of the plot.

Five updates tomorrow!

Thank you to Haoyuezhidong for the verification!

Thanks to the expert from Datang Technology Empire for the certification!

Thank you to Song Yunzan for the amazing verification!