A sudden change.

An entirely unanticipated, panoramic transformation, and absolutely not the scene that Chen Jin wanted to see. It even disrupted his original plan, introducing infinite amounts of flux.

However…

This was an established fact, and was bound to occur.

Since the dawn of the interstellar era, scientists on Earth had spent more than 50 years in launching a multitude of high-precision scientific instruments into deep space to find traces of alien civilizations. But, whether in the Milky Way or the other galaxies, no signs of civilization had ever been detected.

Logically speaking, this was impossible. The universe was massive, and it had been born more than 10 billion years ago. Out of the countless star systems, even if the probability of cultivating a civilization was low, a certain number of societies would still emerge in the end. For example, on the side of the planet Haierfa, the Selain civilization was born at less than a hundred light-years away, and the level of their civilization was higher than that of Haierfa.

If high-precision instruments were used for detection, one would discover that there were at least hundreds or even thousands of traces left behind by the activities conducted by civilizations in the Milky Way.

Nuwa hence had told Chen Jin: in the Milky Way alone, there were 368 civilizations that had a 99% probability of still existing. In addition, more than 8,000 broadcasts from various cultures have been detected.

The universe on the side of planet Haierfa was full of energy.

Around Earth, however…

Scientists had found nothing in 50 years, and most of the broadcasts had been confirmed as neutron star activity. The whole Milky Way and the entire universe were so deserted that only human civilization seemed to exist. Even the Dark Forest Theory was unable to clarify these peculiarities… after all, there would always be some movement when a hunter shot their rifle. This place, however, had always been quiet and silent.

How could this be explained?

“Civilizations ‘vanishing’ to other places is indeed the perfect explanation,” said Nuwa.

“Then why weren’t the humans on Earth taken away? Why were we left alone?” said Chen Jin. As an intelligent species, why were human beings left behind?

“Could it be that… there’s not enough space in that ‘Heavenly Realm,’ and it couldn’t accommodate too many people?” Alice interrupted, voicing her guess.

“Nah…” Chen Jin shook his head. “Intelligent civilizations throughout the entire cosmos could be squeezed into that Heavenly Realm, so why didn’t they bring along humans on Earth, who only has such a wee population? It was definitely not because of a lack of space, but an intentional abandonment. Humans were deliberately left behind.”

“I concur.” Nuwa expressed her agreement and raised a guess: “If the Protoss migrated millions of years ago, human beings at that time were in the stage of evolving from apes to humans. It is perfectly reasonable for the Protoss to not bring them along.”

“Apes?”

Chen Jin’s pupils constricted; he appeared to have grasped some key insight.

“But, with that being said, why are the Protoss coming back now?” Alice said, posing another question. “The Heavenly Realm seems so wonderful, abundant in celestial particles, and just like heaven, while this universe, on the contrary, is so barren. So why would the Protoss even think of returning? What exactly is the reason?”

“The reason that they are coming back is very simple,” Nuwa said. “It can only be that the Heavenly Realm has deteriorated, and is now even worse than the physical universe which is scarce in celestial particles, to the extent that they have to move.”

“So awful that they have to leave ‘heaven’?” Chen Jin pondered this for a moment and said faintly, “If there is a place that has extraordinary people everywhere, where humanoid nuclear bombs are all over the place, that place must not be too far from destruction. After all, the presence of those powers cannot be restrained by law. They would surely be used in a disorderly manner.”

At last, the situation would become so bad that they could only return to the barren ‘mortal realm,’ resulting in a sudden, panoramic change.

It made even Chen Jin somewhat worried on the inside.

“Nuwa, in the scene of the press conference, our end was very enthusiastic, but the old man from the Protoss was arrogant in attitude and impolite in his speech. His eyes seemed to convey a disposition of contempt and disdain. More severely, I would say that he was displaying very rude behavior, let alone respecting the rules here. I am afraid that those so-called Protoss will not be very easy to deal with.”

Above all, they wanted to take over all the resources here and enjoy being treated like princes.

Even the thought itself was triggering enough.

“Maybe the rules in the ‘Heavenly Realm’ are completely different from ours. The Protoss praise power, and a setup where the mighty are exalted and the weak submit. On our side, everyone is equal before the law. At most, only a few wealthy people get to do whatever they please, but they are still not in possession of any sort of power. Hence, in the eyes of those gods, humans are like ants who naturally deserve no respect.”

“Ants?” Chen Jin grinned. “Is it because they have not seen the power of our nuclear weapons? We humans, who are the masters, of science are not as simple as ants.

“Perhaps that is the reason that the old man from the Heavenly Realm was willing to attend that press conference. It is purely because science is classified as an external force, not the true ability of an individual. Maybe that is why they despise it.”

“…”

Chen Jin went into silence, and his heart become shrouded in a haze.

He had already realized that, after those Protoss from the Heavenly Realm returned to Earth, they had no way of knowing whether and how many conflicts would erupt between those who were not accustomed to legal constraints, have completely different habits and ways of thinking, and those indigenous to Earth.

The adjustment process on both ends was bound to be very difficult.

More importantly, Chen Jin’s plan was also completely disrupted.

After all, his various arrangements onEarth were mainly to speed up the development of science and technology, and to provide services for planet Haierfa. He meant to go down smoothly and quickly on his path of scientific and technological development, thus allowing himself to enjoy prosperity and classy triumphs in both universes.

It could be said that Earth was his most powerful backing, and planet Haierfa, the future he was opening.

Now, the resurgence of the so-called “Heavenly Realm” and the recovery of those so-called “celestial particles” have completely screwed up his objective.

“Galaxy Era,” which had been continuously operating for nearly a hundred years and had a one billion-player base, had lost almost 10% of its users within a short period of three months.

“The Earth is about to enter a ‘Mythical Era.’ Nobody plays this kind of pure tech game anymore—technology has already fallen out of favor,” a player said.

Exactly.

The recovery of only a small amount of celestial particles and the emergence of only some 10,000 people with superpowers had caused the Earth to alter beyond recognition. The appeal of science had greatly plummeted as most people went about pondering how to “enhance” themselves.

If this continued, it would only take a little while for science to become the hobby of a few people. The so-called self-cultivation would rise to become the mainstream.

“There’s no need to worry, master.” Nuwa remained composed. “The path of science will not come to an end so easily. No matter what changes, the essence of everything will still be science.

“With all the changes happening on Earth, it seems that the pure, material, technological route will no longer be smooth. However, we could shift our key research direction onto the ‘celestial particle’ and solve its mysteries. Once we attain a breakthrough, we can add the ‘celestial particle’ into ‘Galaxy Era’ and build a new virtual world with a 99.999999% simulation degree to let players acquire the same sense of self-cultivation in the game.

“As long as we keep up with the times and indefinitely close in onto the reality of existence, players will still return to ‘Galaxy Era.’

“Given the uniqueness of the celestial particles, if we develop extraordinary technology on that basis and introduce them to planet Haierfa, it actually isn’t a bad thing at all. It will bring about a new technological revolution.

“In short, as long as we study the nature of everything, we will eventually become the most powerful beings in existence,” said Nuwa with a face full of confidence.

Yes, indeed. No matter what the strange substance or phenomenon, no matter what kind of name it was given, its ultimate essence would still be science.

With this figured out, Chen Jin’s eyes brimmed with a superior glow.