Chapter 275: Good Times
Jason was experiencing the most leisurely, carefree, and joyous period of his life.
Whether it was the societal evolution of the Lizardmen, the excavation of the Nix Civilization ruins, or the automated mining operations in the Arctic region, everything was finally running smoothly. As the man at the helm, he no longer needed to micromanage every little detail.
There were no unexpected disasters or life-or-death crises; he simply enjoyed the immense satisfaction of watching the Federation progress day by day.
"This is incredibly relaxing."
This feeling far surpassed any fleeting thrill; it was a deep, enduring joy and a tremendous sense of accomplishment. If he had to describe it, it felt like successfully launching a startup and turning it into a global corporate empire! It was like going from a penniless young man to a world-class CEO with millions rolling in every single day.
It wasn’t just Jason; almost everyone on the Noah was immersed in this wonderful, addictive feeling.
There were countless technological ruins buried underground. To humanity, these scraps of metal were more precious than solid gold. Scavenging the ruins was truly an addictive endeavor. Whenever a crew unearthed a piece of decent salvage, they would tremble with excitement, every cell in their body cheering with joy.
Not only the humans, but even the Lizardmen had become hopelessly addicted to the scrap-collecting lifestyle...
If I run out of credits, I have to go scavenge. If I don’t, I won’t have any money to spend, and no one will pay my wages. I’m never going back to the village to hunt, and I don’t know how to do any of the harder jobs. Digging through the ruins is the only way I can make a living... Being at the excavation site feels like coming home. I don’t want to go back to my village for months unless there’s an emergency. The ruins are better than the village! Everyone here is talented, they speak well, they can do math, and they know how to fight. I love it here!
Thus, heavily influenced by the Federation, the native Lizardman Civilization fully embraced the scavenger lifestyle.
That being said, the Federation didn’t belong to Jason alone; it was built by all its citizens, and civilization progressed through their collective, incremental efforts. The higher an individual’s sense of participation in society, the greater the satisfaction they experienced. This created a positive feedback loop, forming a powerful virtuous cycle.
Every day brought new archaeological discoveries: ancient tech companies, advanced manufacturing plants, database servers... It was absolutely wonderful!
This massive "scavenging" project primarily broadened humanity’s technological foundation rather than deepening it. The Nix Civilization’s technology level was roughly equal to the Federation’s, and in some areas, even slightly inferior. Most of their scientific principles fell well within human understanding and could be reverse-engineered quickly.
However, the Nix possessed a complete, unbroken technology tree. They had many practical engineering applications that the Federation currently lacked, perfectly bridging the gaps in humanity’s industrial capabilities.
"With this, our foundational science and engineering applications will be rock solid. We won’t have to worry about a weak industrial base anymore, which saves us decades of time..."
"We need to categorize and integrate all these basic technologies into a central database so they can be accessed whenever needed..."
"The Nix’s artificial intelligence technology seems a bit more advanced than ours. They invented quantum computers ages ago, so their supporting algorithms must be more refined... We can definitely adapt those." Of course, this wasn’t true sentient AI; it was still bound by strictly coded programming parameters.
Jason smiled to himself, his mood absolutely fantastic.
Expanding a civilization’s tech tree involved countless minor, tedious tasks and massive amounts of engineering grunt work, but it rarely required groundbreaking theoretical leaps. Therefore, he didn’t have to worry too much. Even though the rest of the scientific department was swamped, Jason, as the supreme commander, found himself unexpectedly idle.
Naturally, this didn’t mean he was on a beach vacation. It just meant he had the time to sip a cup of coffee, play a game of chess for an hour, and clock out without working overtime every single night. For him, a standard workday was basically a vacation.
Jason leaned back in his chair and rubbed his tired eyes.
Across the desk from him, a young woman was typing diligently at her computer. She was his long-time work partner, and also...
After all this time, he had finally realized that Lily’s "fine" probably meant "I agree."
Therefore, his personal life had finally seen a monumental breakthrough. Jason had officially escaped the miserable fate of being a perpetual bachelor. Granted, the whole courtship process had been awkward and unconventional, but that was just who they were.
This is fine, Jason thought to himself.
Overall, it felt pretty good. It was simple, ordinary, and deeply heartwarming. Perhaps they were just getting older and had moved past the phase of passionate, fiery romance. Or maybe they were just both workaholics who didn’t know how to date like normal people. A person didn’t need much to be truly happy. Having enough food, staying warm, looking forward to a bright future, and having a brilliant woman by his side, it was more than enough.
At least, Jason was perfectly content with it.
Now that they were officially together, their daily routine hadn’t actually changed much. They still worked in the same office, ate meals together, and engaged in a bit more casual banter than before. Their physical intimacy was mostly limited to holding hands. They hadn’t really found the time to take things further... But there was no rush. Everything would happen in due time.
He looked at the girl working diligently across from him and decided to exercise his newly acquired boyfriend privileges. "Pour me a cup of coffee!"
He would never have dared to make such a bossy demand in the past, but now it was a fun little game.
"Huh?" Lily looked up, confused. She had been completely engrossed in a massive stack of technical reports.
As Jason’s chief science advisor, she needed a comprehensive understanding of the Federation’s scientific progress, down to the smallest details. Consequently, she was busy from dawn to dusk, unlike Jason, who could afford to slack off.
Hearing his demand, she immediately frowned. "...Pour it yourself. Don’t bother me unless the ship is exploding."
Despite her grumbling, she stood up and quickly poured him a cup herself before plopping back down and resuming her work.
She talks tough, but she’s a softie, Jason thought, taking a sip and almost bursting into laughter. She always maintained a cold, aloof exterior, but she was surprisingly accommodating. She usually did whatever he asked without much resistance. Her icy expression was just a defense mechanism; he had figured that out years ago.
Perhaps her personality was shaped by some difficult childhood experiences... Thinking about this, Jason felt a pang of sympathy and affection.
Humans were flesh and blood, not silicon-based machines; they couldn’t sustain high-intensity work forever. And this girl had been by his side for nine years now, hadn’t she? She wasn’t superhuman. She couldn’t function on two hours of sleep, nor did she have a rugged physique. She got tired easily and needed rest, entertainment, and care. Underneath her brilliant mind, she was still just a young woman.
Since taking on a larger share of the workload, Lily had lost the slight chubbiness in her cheeks, and it had never come back. While she looked more elegant now... her workload was simply too heavy. She needed a break.
Jason sighed, opened his desk drawer, and pulled out a few boxes. "How about you take a break and play a game with me?"
Lily seemed a bit annoyed by the interruption. She didn’t stop typing. "No, I’m busy right now... I’ll play with you later."
"Come on, your brain has been running hot for hours. You need to take a break, stand up, and stretch. It’s bad for your health to sit and stare at a screen all day." Jason persisted, "How about a game of Connect Four?"
Hearing this, Lily’s lips twitched into a faint smile. She replied with deadpan seriousness, "No. Connect Four is a mathematically solved game where the first player can force a win. It’s fundamentally unfair."
"Then... Ludo."
"Even with the skill involved in rolling dice, the probability variance makes it statistically unfair."
"Just roll them randomly! No skill required. We can even have a robot roll them for us."
"Well... fine. Just one game." Lily reluctantly pushed her keyboard away.
A grown man and woman sat across a desk, intensely playing a children’s board game...
