Book 10: Chapter 15: The Fork in the Mission

Qin Lun stared at the arguing Apostles in the hall and his mind began to wander. His thoughts drifted back to two days before.

Two days ago, a practice drill that should have gone smoothly encountered an unexpected incident. The Apostles were attacked in space by creatures that looked like giant spiders.

This sudden ambush let the Apostles learn about the existence of the Gigius Insectoid. According to Captain Marx, the Gigius Insectoid and the Gith were both sapient races from the Gith Star System.

The Gith Star System was an extremely large galaxy. It contained about 800 billion stars along with many star clusters, nebulae, and various kinds of interstellar gas and dust. Its diameter was about 340,000 light years. The thickness at its center was roughly estimated to be 100,000 light years. It was a spiral galaxy with one galactic core and seven spiral arms.

After the Gith entered their Second Cosmic Age, they began to leave their own solar system and venture deeper into the Gith Star System. During their exploration and space colonization, the Gith discovered thousands of life-bearing planets. Among them, 54 planets had natives who possessed human-like intelligence.

In the early part of the Second Cosmic Age, the Gith were an extremely aggressive sapient race. They wiped out the natives on those life-bearing planets, then took over and developed the resources of those planets. They transformed the environments to suit Gith settlers.

For now, we won’t mention planets without human-like intelligence. The sapient life races that did have human-like intelligence fought to protect their homes. They resisted the Gith invasion desperately. Sadly, among those 54 intelligent races, most were uncivilized. Only 13 races had modern technology.

Even so, these races had not yet entered the Cosmic Age. The resistance forces shattered like soap bubbles against the Gith’s starships.

The Gith’s early colonization went very smoothly. They quickly occupied nearly a quarter of the Gith Star System. At their peak, they held three and a half galactic spiral arms. Then, they began to advance toward the galactic core.

The Gith’s golden age lasted until the end of the Second Cosmic Age. Maybe their luck ran out. When the Gith advanced toward the fifth spiral arm, they met two powerful enemies at the same time. One of them was the Gigius Insectoid.

The Gigius Insectoid had also entered the Second Cosmic Age and left their own solar system. This sapient race was not humanoid. They were a rare intelligent insect species.

This might be related to the terrible environment of Gigius Star. The planet was covered with active volcanoes that smelled of sulfur and salt lakes. The surface was full of salt-tolerant plants containing radioactive substances. Only some special insect species could survive and reproduce there.

The Gigius Insectoid was a matriarchal society. They had most of the physiological traits of insectoids. For example, each colony had only one queen. Most individuals were low-intelligence workers and soldiers.

Strangely, even though the Gigius Insectoid had entered the Second Cosmic Age, their development path was very unique. They did not have so-called technological civilization. Instead, they developed a special biochemical civilization.

The Gigius Insectoid did not have technological weapons. Their weapons were their own bodies, claws, and teeth. For instance: The giant spiders that Qin Lun and the others encountered during the drill were genuine insects. Even the starships they used to travel through space were actually giant insects themselves.

According to Captain Marx, the Gigius Insectoid’s history might be even longer than the Gith’s. They were also more aggressive than the Gith. But the territory the Insectoid currently held was pitifully small, only half a galactic spiral arm.

The Gith captains who first encountered the Gigius Insectoid were very puzzled by this. However, they soon learned the reason.

The Insectoid couldn’t leave their own spiral arm and expand to other spiral arm galaxies like the Gith did. That was because early in their development, they met an opponent of equal strength.

The Insectoid had demon-like bodies. Their opponent, however, was a beautiful species that made the tall and handsome Gith feel ashamed of themselves. They were called the Hismael.

It wasn’t until after the Gith won the Three Races War that they discovered a shocking fact on the Hismael’s homeworld. Although the Hismael and the Gith looked completely different physically, their ancestors came from the same source: the Gith Angel. The Gith inherited the human form of the Gith Angel, while the Hismael inherited the soul of the Gith Angel.

In the ancient records of the Hismael, their common ancestor, the Gith Angel, possessed an extremely brilliant civilization. Their footprints were all over the Gith Star System.

However, unlike the Gith, the Gith Angel were a very peace-loving sapient race. They never invaded planets that already had signs of life. They only made minor modifications to barren planets. They helped weak life-bearing planets develop their own civilizations, just like they did on Gith Star.

Even so, the Gith Angel still felt they had invaded the Gith Star System too heavily. In the later stage of their civilization, they finally embarked on a path of no return. They began to pursue eternal life. They abandoned their physical bodies and only kept their souls. This gave birth to the Hismael.

The records about this part were vague, and there was a large gap in history. The Gith and the Hismael had different views on this. The Gith believed the Gith Angel failed and eventually disappeared from the universe. The Hismael believed the Gith Angel succeeded, but they left the Gith Star System to explore other parts of the universe.

However, they both agreed on one point: During the process of life transformation, the Gith Angel experienced many setbacks. They lost a lot of crucial technological knowledge as a result. This caused their descendants, the Hismael’s civilization, to regress for thousands of years.

If that hadn’t happened, the upstart Gigius Insectoid would never have been able to stand against the Hismael.

Captain Marx didn’t say much about the Three Races War involving the Gith, the Gigius Insectoid, and the Hismael. He only hesitantly stated that the Gith won the final victory. They drove both the Gigius Insectoid and the Hismael out of the Gith Star System.

Seeing the ugly expression on this war hero’s face, Qin Lun could guess without thinking that the way the Gith achieved this victory wasn’t very honorable. Just think about it: The giant spiders they encountered during the drill almost caused the Apostles, caught off guard, to suffer a great loss.

It was hard to imagine how the Gith, who didn’t even have Bingren or APB force fields back then, could defeat them. As for the Hismael, who had suppressed the Gigius Insectoid for thousands of years in a corner of the spiral arm, that goes without saying.

It was very likely that the Gith took advantage when the two races had severely weakened each other. They profited from the conflict and thus won the war. Then, using the spoils of war, they developed biochemical technology similar to the Gigius Insectoid’s. They also used Hismael technology to explosively enter the Third Cosmic Age.

Qin Lun’s guess was very close to the truth. The Gith’s opportunity to enter the Third Cosmic Age came precisely after they won the Three Races War.

However, the only thing the Gith didn’t expect was that, although they won the war in the fifth spiral arm, another exploration activity at the same time also dug their own grave.

They entered the Third Cosmic Age only a little over 2,000 years ago. During an exploration deep into the galactic core, they attracted the cosmic plankton, Jannamer.

“Extreme prosperity begets decline.” This phrase seemed tailor-made for the Gith. The appearance of Jannamer dealt a devastating blow to the Gith, who occupied nearly one-third of the life-bearing planets in the Gith Star System.

Like the defeated Gigius Insectoid and Hismael 2,000 years earlier, they were also driven out of the Gith Star System. They also lost over 90% of their population during the war and the subsequent interstellar wandering.

This catastrophic disaster caused the Gith immense pain. It also brought them new ways of thinking. The Gith began to reflect on their past space colonization. They gradually came to understand the practices of their ancestors, the Gith Angel.

If, during their expansion in the Gith Star System, they hadn’t been so aggressive, and had been able to understand and respect other sapient races, perhaps they wouldn’t have been so isolated and helpless in the war against Jannamer. Or they might not have attracted Jannamer at all.

“Qin Lun, Qin Lun…” Robin’s voice pulled Qin Lun out of his memories. He looked up and realized everyone was looking at his face.

“This… what is it?” Qin Lun embarrassedly rubbed his nose and asked with an awkward smile.

“Your opinion?” Robin shot him an annoyed look and repeated what everyone had just been discussing. “Two days ago, you were the one who suggested asking Marx to give us the right to act independently. So what’s your view now?”

“Oh…” Qin Lun understood what Robin meant. He immediately remembered the request Captain Marx made to the Apostles two days ago, after they learned the Gigius Insectoid appeared on their route.

Captain Marx was very familiar with the giant spider-like Gigius Insectoid. The Gith called them “Black Crabs.” They were Gigius Insectoid scouts. They usually appeared ahead of the main Gigius Insectoid army, or near their bases.

The Black Crabs captured anything with life signs along their scouting routes. They provided intelligence for the main army or the base, and eliminated potential threats. Their presence meant there was a Gigius Insectoid army or base nearby.

The Gith’s current homeworld was quite far from this location. Captain Marx wasn’t worried about their safety. But the Faith’s destination was not far from here. Marx worried that the destination might be a Gigius Insectoid base.

Originally, the Faith chose that planet, codenamed X-352, because of its unique geographical location and potentially good environment with water and atmosphere. It was suitable for building a small base.

But thinking about it now, back then, the Gith managed to wander to the Scorpius Galaxy after leaving the Gith Star System. So the Gigius Insectoid, and even the Hismael, might also be in the Scorpius Galaxy. It’s just that because the three races’ development time in the Scorpius Galaxy was still short, they hadn’t encountered each other yet.

Based on this judgment, Marx requested the Apostles to take a small starship and go to planet X-353 first. They would conduct a forward reconnaissance for the Faith.

The argument among the Apostles right now was precisely about this. Some Apostles wanted to use this chance to escape the Faith’s control and gain independent action rights. Others were worried about the safety of this trip. After all, that place might be a dangerous Gigius Insectoid base.