Age of Cosmic Exploration

Zhang San had no idea that humanity’s news industry was so vibrant. When the spaceship that carried him passed the second meteorite cluster, a reporter and film crew entered the spaceship. Even though they were from the government’s news group, their proficiency couldn’t be challenged.

The reporter was a beauty with a head of lustrous, long, black hair. She was in a professional outfit and nude, silk stockings. She looked to be in her 20s. Of course, that didn’t mean that that was her actual age, but Zhang San didn’t mind that. After all, she did look like she was in her 20s in person.

The reporter asked Zhang San many questions and even brought up the incident of him stealing money to purchase a book when he was a boy. Of course, the focus of the interview was on his occupation after his graduation and the thing that happened to him within the most recent year. They talked about his working conditions on first defense base, the way he felt when he was going through it, and what he felt like knowing he was going to be a Homo Evolutis. In fact, this interview sounded more like an interrogation than an interview because a normal reporter wouldn’t ask about such details.

Then again, he couldn’t fault this reporter, because Zhang San’s awakening had practically lit up the entire human society.

After all, human society was no longer the same group that left Earth. Currently, even the most common of citizens knew about the importance and value of Homo Evolutis to the human race; they were something not less than a guardian for humanity.

Of course, these things were far away from normal civilians. After all, unless their direct descendants showed signs of racial senescence, or else normal civilians wouldn’t feel the importance of Homo Evolutis.

The real reason for the civilians’ interest in Zhang San was the social benefits.

With great power comes great responsibility as well as great benefits. The situation of Spiderman in the movie where he was mistreated in spite of his great power wouldn’t happen in real life. This was an unimaginable crime in a space society. Only the most corrupted space civilization would suppress their brightest out of jealousy, and such a space civilization would be destroyed almost instantly in space...

Currently, the Hope had managed this power struggle well. First, all of the people in power in the government were mostly from old Earth. Even though they were all elites handpicked from Earth, they didn’t hold influential posts back then. In fact, many of them had the bitter experience of having their power taken away from then. Of course, this wasn’t all that had helped them gain influence on the Hope. The real reason was because they had stuck it out with humanity, from the initial anxiety to the current peace, the dangers of space and cruelty of space civilizations, they had experienced them all. Perhaps after the first generation of human heroes had wilted away, there might be a situation where the weak would have to take the helm, but as of now, when Yao Yuan was the Chancellor, that situation hadn’t happened yet.

It was why the current society was such a meritocracy and not a monarchy. Such a society was incredibly vibrant, and the fact that Zhang San had risen from an unknown civilian to becoming a Homo Evolutis without going through separation from a life-preserving planet was something incredibly shocking. In other words...

If such a windfall could happen to a nobody like Zhang San, it could happen to them too. If they became a Homo Evolutis, their benefits in human society would improve drastically. Furthermore, the Homo Evolutis were like superheroes in most people’s heart...

Therefore, all of society’s passion was lit up by Zhang San’s sudden awakening...

At the same time, in a secluded corner in the City of Light Moon stood an inconspicuous-looking skyscraper. There was merely a sign that hung on the front door, it said HE Research Center. The only things that gave away the uniqueness of the place were the two soldiers posted at the entrance and that the confidential clearance needed to enter this place was over grade A.

"...In other words, no one at the first defense line other than Zhang San has awakened?"

Yao Yuan was inside the building listening to the report from various researchers. In fact, Zhang San’s situation was more complicated than what the normal civilians were led to believe. Based on their usual understanding of Homo Evolutis awakenings, they all happened after a departure from a life-preserving planet. This brought up an interesting question... could this place be a life-preserving planet? Could it create soul? Perhaps the lifeform was not carbon-based but something else completely, and that was why they hadn’t found any of them?

If that were the case, could humanity only live on this planet for another three years?

"No, this is not a life-preserving planet!" Yao Yuan vetoed this possibility instantly because they were already in year 24. If this was a life-preserving planet, the neutron star fragment would have already appeared.

"So we have to figure out what is so special about Zhang San. Is there other method of awakening that still hasn’t been discovered yet?" Yao Yuan sat down and mumbled to himself.

Suddenly, another researcher said softly, "Could it be some kind of hidden gene that can only be activated under certain circumstances and Zhang San just so happened to trigger it..."

Yao Yuan looked to the source of the voice. The man who spoke was just a young intern; he didn’t seem to be a registered researcher. When Yao Yuan looked at him, he was instantly spooked. He lowered his head immediately because he didn’t dare to look at Yao Yuan.

Yao Yuan said gently, "Don’t be alarmed. Do you mind elaborating on what you just said? I find it to be quite intriguing."

The teen looked to the professor beside him, and the older gentleman nodded, giving him the courage he needed to add, "Actually, our group has been toying with a hypothesis regarding the presence of this hidden gene that is responsible for Homo Evolutis awakenings, or rather, every lifeform has this gene in them, but the way of activation is different for each lifeform. However, the common thread is the soul. After all, why is there a mass awakening after we depart from a life-preserving planet? The only reason is because we have been exposed to a large amount of soul before we were then exposed to the deep emptiness in space. Yes, this means that loneliness and emptiness is another important trigger in the awakening."

Yao Yuan had heard this theory before. It was the first theory the HE Research Center came up with when it was first established. However, there was no way to detect this hidden gene even when using the technology from a level 2 space civilization. This Homo Evolutis gene appeared to be no different from normal gene structurally speaking, and so this theory had been vetoed early on.

This young man continued, "Our group believes that the reason we are unable to locate this gene is because when we were experimenting on the Homo Evolutis gene structure, the hidden gene was not activated because it didn’t feel the sense of loneliness. So if we can make this gene feel loneliness, then perhaps more information can be gained."

Yao Yuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. They had to make a gene feel lonely? How was that possible? He thus changed the subject. "Let’s go back to Zhang San. How is his situation related to this hypothesis?"

"It’s age..."

At this point, the professor who had been silent explained, "From what we saw on Zhang San’s resume, he was still too young during the previous incidents of awakening. Of course, Miss Eva completely undermines this hypothesis, but we believe she is an exception rather than the rule. Furthermore, from the data we collected, the general age of awakening is still above 18, so we believe... perhaps Zhang San’s hidden gene already collected enough soul during the earlier mass awakenings, but he was too young or too well-protected by his family or had too many friends and family members, or perhaps he didn’t realize that space is a dangerous place yet. After all, he was a mere child, so he wouldn’t have understood the dangers that the Hope was constantly exposed to at the time. The lack of loneliness and isolation meant that his hidden gene was not activated until he left the comfort of his family and friends for the first time and worked at some place that is far away from human contact..."

After he said that, the professor shook his head. After all, these were all hypotheses, they had no real grounds, so he himself didn’t quite believe it.

However, Yao Yuan used his Thinker power and thought about it and concluded, "No matter how impossible it sounds, after you remove all the other impossible possibilities, what’s left has to be the truth... perhaps Professor’s answer cannot be verified for now, but we cannot dismiss it so easily. According to this hypothesis, perhaps there are still hidden Homo Evolutis among our new generation or those below the age of 20...

"It’s worth trying!"