Chapter 294: Be Your Own Hero
The three staggering revelations, the extinction of the Nix Civilization, the true nature of the Great Filter, and the theory of Gene Philosophy, spread rapidly throughout the Noah. This was not classified information, and the government made no move to suppress it.
Everyone who heard the news transitioned from initial intrigue to stark, pale terror, as if they had just witnessed the most horrifying truth in the universe.
The revelations were so sudden and shocking, and their combined weight left no room for anyone to even catch their breath. The once-powerful Nix Civilization had perished without putting up any meaningful resistance, leaving everyone with a profound, shared sense of sorrow.
If a civilization as robust as the Nix fell victim to this trap, what about humanity? What would be their ultimate fate?
It felt as if a crushing mountain had been placed squarely onto the shoulders of the Federation!
A somber atmosphere permeated every level of society. The slight relaxation that had settled in since they discovered the planet’s vast resources instantly vanished, replaced by an extreme, oppressive seriousness.
Yes, the sheer weight of this existential dread felt as if it could snap the collective spine of humanity! It forced every single citizen to truly realize the terrifying insignificance of their civilization.
Although humanity had felt insignificant before, this time was fundamentally different. Previous brushes with despair stemmed from immediate, life-or-death crises and basic technological limitations. But this...
The Great Filter was right in front of them, impartial and entirely unyielding. It aggressively blocked the path of all civilizational progress. It prevented them from flying over it, taking shortcuts, or changing direction. The only option besides fighting it to the death—pushing the boulder up the mountain for generations was to passively retreat and await extinction.
If you don’t advance, you perish. It was that brutally simple.
But moving forward was infinitely easier said than done.
Even the children walking to and from school grew quiet. The teachers all wore grim, serious expressions, and even the most boisterous troublemakers became unusually well-behaved. Their young, impressionable hearts seemed to absorb the heavy atmosphere surrounding them.
Without breaking through the Great Filter, even the most staggering abundance of planetary wealth was only temporary. Everyone now knew that without controllable nuclear fusion, massive fossil fuel reserves were ultimately meaningless. Humanity’s usable energy remained finite!
They could choose to enjoy a few centuries of mindless revelry, but eventually, someone would have to pay the ultimate price—even if the end of the world was still thousands of years away.
It’s very long, very far away... That was exactly what the Nix people used to think.
The introduction of Gene Philosophy, and the terrifying concept of the ultimate "philosophy tree," made humanity feel absolutely hopeless. Let alone ordinary citizens or brilliant scientists, even Jason—a leader with an iron will, experienced a crushing sense of oppression, as if he were truly gazing into the merciless eyes of a god.
Interstellar Civilizations weren’t even the apex predators of the cosmos. There were Extraordinary Beings far beyond them. It seemed that even hard science and technology were not the main themes of the starry sky, but merely auxiliary tools.
The Federation was not an Interstellar Civilization... they were just a primitive species struggling in the dirt!
"When a fish in a bowl finally catches a glimpse of the vast ocean, most are so terrified by its sheer depth that they frantically jump back into their tiny bowl, retreating to their comfortable haven. But a few... a rare few will yearn to swim out into the deep blue."
"Insects living in a dark sewer will likely die from the scorching sun if they leave the damp. But there will always be a few maverick insects that crawl out anyway, desperate to leave the filth, even if it costs them their lives."
Jason sighed heavily, looking out over the massive crowd. "I don’t know what you are all thinking. Are you just going to live your lives happily and carefree, leaving the burden of this crisis to the next generation, and the generation after that...?"
"After all, the countdown to our energy crisis is measured in tens of thousands of years. It definitely won’t happen in our lifetime."
"So, we can just dump the problem onto our children, until the problem compounds and can no longer be solved. We can wait until we no longer have the strength or resources to overcome it... and then we will be trapped on this rock, meeting the exact same pathetic fate as the Nix."
"...Are we just going to let ourselves be slowly strangled to death by the Great Filter?"
The grand assembly hall was completely silent. Apart from Jason’s voice echoing from the podium, there wasn’t a single sound. The thousands of people present held their breath.
After a long silence, Jason continued, his voice rising in intensity. "Or... let’s launch a real, desperate challenge against the Great Filter! Let us become the first generation of true pioneers!"
"We will overcome our base genetic instincts, we will violently suppress our fear, and we will take the most agonizing first step!"
Even a toad at the bottom of a well should have the courage to dream of tasting swan meat!
"What about you?! Tell me what you’re thinking! Tell me your true thoughts!" His voice boomed through the speakers, his tone sharp and demanding. He was so emotionally agitated that the veins on his forehead visibly bulged.
"I can promise you this: I, Jason, will never jump back into the bowl! I will never be a cowardly fish! I will launch a final, unyielding challenge against it, even if it drains every drop of my life’s blood and every ounce of my wisdom!"
This was an extremely important, large-scale assembly. Many high-ranking officials stationed on the planet’s surface had traveled back to the Noah specifically to attend. The massive room was packed with high-level military officers, department heads, senior scientists, and relevant council members. Approximately 2,600 people in total—the absolute core leadership of their civilization.
The sole purpose of the meeting was to address the Great Filter.
Jason felt a knot of deep unease in his stomach. He truly didn’t know what these people were thinking.
Faced with a crisis that wouldn’t actually manifest for thousands of years, choosing to sacrifice today’s comfort seemed like completely unnecessary paranoia. But in reality... it was the only way to survive. To have any chance of beating the Great Filter, they needed to start the grueling marathon now, not later. The sooner, the better!
These were the elite minds of humanity. They could not be easily swayed by a few passionate words from their Captain. Their true thoughts represented the true thoughts of the entire civilization.
Yes, the collective willpower of these individuals would determine humanity’s future trajectory! Now was the moment to make the ultimate decision!
His heart pounded wildly in his chest.
"I second that!"
The moment Jason finished speaking, Professor Hao Yu was the very first person to shoot to his feet. He yelled those three resounding words, said absolutely nothing else, and sat back down immediately.
However, his heavily bloodshot eyes proved that the esteemed physicist had not slept a wink in days.
Suddenly, Jason saw tears glistening in the old man’s eyes, a complex mixture of profound excitement and grim realization. A thousand complex arguments could be summed up in those three simple words, offering Jason the absolute best and most steadfast support!
Professor Hao Yu was a massively influential figure in the scientific community. After he took the lead, others immediately found their courage and stepped forward to express their will in a powerful, resounding manner.
Dr. Arthur Lambert was next. He looked noticeably thinner and exhausted, but after hearing Jason and Hao Yu’s determination, he stood up resolutely.
"Gentlemen, it’s just an engineering problem we could never hope to finish in a single lifetime... So let’s start it right now! Why the hell not?"
"This project is agonizingly long! Since it’s impossible to finish quickly, there won’t be any quarterly performance evaluations or immediate corporate research pressure! What is there to be afraid of?"
"From now on, we can officially slack off on short-term profits, but we have to work ourselves to the bone on the real science!" A unique streak of dark humor briefly lightened the tension in the room... although everyone knew Dr. Lambert was only half-joking, and no one actually laughed.
Dr. Lambert wasn’t embarrassed by the silence. Instead, his voice grew loud and passionate. "So... I completely agree with Captain Jason! We must challenge this Great Filter right now, rather than arrogantly leaving the burden for our descendants!"
"If we back down today, then every generation after us will definitely back down too! We are not being overly pessimistic; we are being realists!"
After Lambert finished his piece, he sat down heavily, looking as if he had just exhaled a massive sigh of relief. This was clearly a monumental decision he had wrestled with for days.
After he sat down, no one spoke for a long, agonizing minute. The room threatened to fall back into a deathly silence.
Just then, a booming shout shattered the quiet: "Ladies and gentlemen, show some damn courage!"
It was Chief Engineer Isaac, the head of the Aegis Industrial Complex and another heavyweight figure in the Federation. He glared at the silent crowd below him and growled through gritted teeth, "I don’t care what it is! I don’t care how impossible it is!"
"We absolutely cannot allow ourselves to be eliminated like this!"
"We cannot afford to be wiped out in the very first round of cosmic screening!"
"We are the Federation! We are not the failures of the old world! We have enough courage, and we have enough strength!"
"Our society is strong enough to bear this burden!"
"Absolutely not! We will not be eliminated!"
With a resounding bang, the towering Russian man slammed his massive fist onto the table.
That loud bang seemed to strike a chord deep within the hearts of everyone present.
Yes, if they didn’t even have the courage to face an impossible challenge, then what were humans? Mere insects? Even moths had the blind courage to fly directly into a flame. What about humanity?
Were they just going to roll over and accept that they couldn’t cross this hurdle? Were they just going to collapse in the mud, happily accepting their own slow decay?
Were they going to numb their minds with this newfound era of "extreme wealth," partying year after year until their descendants choked to death in the dark?
What kind of pathetic existence was that?!
With another loud bang, a hot-tempered member of the civilian parliament slammed his fist on his desk. His face flushed bright red as he roared a single word: "Bullshit!"
Although it was highly informal, everyone understood exactly what he meant. He was calling bullshit on the idea of surrender.
The deathly silence was finally, permanently broken. Gradually, one by one, people began to stand up.
Courage is something that lies dormant in the heart of every human. One person’s courage is just a small spark, barely enough to warm their own hands. Ten people’s courage can help a group survive the cold. A hundred people’s courage is a formidable force.
But the unified courage of an entire civilization... it was more than enough to force a broken spine to stand perfectly straight!
A subtle, electric feeling began to take root in the assembly hall. As more and more individuals stood up and joined in, the feeling grew exponentially stronger.
This feeling was impossible to describe, yet it completely transcended the invisible genetic net that regulated base biological behavior. It spread rapidly through the venue, gradually forming an overwhelming, unparalleled momentum!
It was like a raging wildfire, or a towering tsunami. It flowed continuously and endlessly. Once it took shape, it was absolutely unstoppable! At this moment, any lingering resistance or cowardice was utterly overwhelmed by this storm-like momentum!
The crowd in the hall began to roar, with more and more officials jumping to their feet, eagerly accepting the impossible challenge. They were using sheer human wisdom, anger, and spite to violently tear through the behavioral limitations imposed by their own Gene Philosophy.
So what if they had to push the boulder up the mountain for a thousand years?
It wasn’t just a single individual suffering. It was the entire civilization!
We are ready to take on the challenge!
Our civilization is ready to fight!
Faced with the increasingly frenzied, roaring crowd, Jason felt an overwhelming surge of emotion. He had never been so vulnerable. Hot tears blurred his vision.
He had never cried in front of his people before. But he wasn’t the only one; many of the hardened military officers and stoic scientists were openly weeping. After making this extraordinary, civilization-defining decision, they were deeply moved by their own collective resolve.
Humanity was small, yet they were equally great. They would be the true pioneers—the first generation to bleed against the ultimate obstacle.
They were about to take the most agonizing step in cosmic history.
His people had not disappointed him. This civilization... it truly belonged to all of them.
They originated from single-celled life on Earth 3.8 billion years ago. They had risen from the irradiated ashes of the old world. They had experienced absolute despair and endured unimaginable pain in the dark void.
They were the last surviving seeds of Mother Earth, the final legacy of the Solar System.
They absolutely refused to die in a place like this.
No way!
Even if they had to bleed, suffer, and grow old for this impossible dream... they would forge an unbreakable path for their descendants.
They were the Federation.
Great Filter... we’re coming for you!
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