Chapter 328: Diplomatic Visit

After receiving a kind of culture shock from the other side, the president turned toward Dr. Hampton.

"Dr., I watched the video, and the report also said that the technology of the natives on the other side seemed to be stuck around the Tang or Ming Dynasty. But from what you presented to me, the opposite seems to be true."

"They have developed long-range communication and even have their own mass media. Should I believe the report, or should I believe what I’ve seen now and evaluate this civilization as having the same technological level as us?"

Dr. Hampton smiled before replying.

"Mr. President, the report you are referring to was written from a particular methodological assumption. Captain Marcus appears to have approached the civilization on the other side by using Earth’s historical development as his primary framework for evaluating technological advancement. In other words, he seems to have assumed that technological progress follows a broadly universal trajectory, with civilizations advancing through roughly comparable stages."

"That assumption, however, is not necessarily valid. Technological development is heavily influenced by environmental conditions, available resources, population structure, cultural values, historical events, and the specific problems a civilization is required to solve. When those variables differ significantly, there is no reason to expect two civilizations to arrive at the same technological solutions in the same sequence."

"I should also point out that I submitted my own assessment alongside his. I have not yet had the opportunity to examine Captain Marcus’s full report, but if I were to infer its general conclusion from the material we have already reviewed, I suspect it contains an argument along the lines of, ’There is nothing a nuclear weapon cannot solve.’"

After hearing this, the general glared at Dr. Hampton.

"Captain Marcus was a good soldier, Dr. Are you implying that he was trying to trick us into going to war with the civilization on the other side? This is a very serious accusation."

Dr. Hampton turned toward the general.

"I did not imply that, General, nor am I accusing him of deliberately misleading us. I am simply pointing out that his assessment appears to be influenced by personal bias."

"Of course, bias itself is unavoidable, but in this case, it seems to have affected his conclusions to the point that I would not recommend using his report as a primary reference when formulating policy toward another civilization."

"Especially when the available evidence does not indicate that this civilization is technologically inferior to our own."

"From my understanding, their world is comparable in scale to our solar system, or at least a significant fraction of it. That is only a preliminary estimate based on native accounts, but such a vast world would naturally require different solutions to transportation and communication. Their civilization has consequently developed vehicles capable of greatly reducing travel distances across their world."

"We also have no reliable estimate of how much of their world has been explored. According to the information we have gathered, expeditions to unexplored regions, ancient ruins, and newly discovered territories occur almost every week. Apparently, such discoveries have become relatively commonplace."

"Furthermore, their history appears to include several apocalyptic events that caused repeated collapses in technological development. However, they were able to preserve certain key technologies and knowledge from previous eras and adapt them to later civilizations."

"Some groups known as Hidden Ancient Clans even preserved technologies from much older eras and therefore suffered far less technological regression during those collapses."

Dr. Hampton paused after speaking for so long, then took a breath before concluding.

"So, Mr. President, I would strongly advise against classifying their technological development as being comparable to that of Ming Dynasty China. The available evidence simply does not support such a conclusion."

"And as a side note, our scientific community has estimated that, under the most optimistic conditions, the earliest we could develop a warp drive comparable to theirs and transition into an interstellar civilization would be around 2180 CE. That is, of course, assuming we do not destroy ourselves first."

The president looked at Dr. Hampton.

"Are you saying that they have a higher level of technological advancement than us?"

Dr. Hampton looked straight into the president’s eyes.

"Yes, Mr. President."

He paused for a moment.

"I’m not going to sugarcoat it. If a severe conflict were to break out between our two civilizations, it would not be a war. It would be a one-sided massacre. A squad of high-level cultivators from that side would be more than enough to destroy Earth’s civilization."

Dr. Hampton stated it plainly, and everyone in the room knew that an academic man like him would not make such a certain statement unless it was supported by overwhelming evidence.

The room fell silent as everyone tried to digest Dr. Hampton’s statement.

As for the president, he did not like it at all.

This was the first time their country had found itself on the losing side in both military and economic terms. The overwhelming demand for resources from the other side alone was already enough to give him a headache.

The president remained silent for a few more moments before he regained his composure.

"Thank you very much, Dr. Hampton. Your opinion will be seriously considered," the president said.

"By the way..." The president turned toward the diplomatic team. "Do we know when the diplomatic team from the other side will arrive?"

"In the next two weeks, Mr. President," the diplomatic team leader replied.

"Good. Make sure there are no problems with the diplomatic visit. Also... do we know who will be coming?"

"It’s the young master of the Hidden Ancient Clan that is considered the most powerful force on the other side, Mr. President," the diplomatic team leader said.

— Two Weeks Later - Riverine Containment & Research Facility —

Under the dome of the facility where the portal was located, a light shone from the portal as a foot stepped out of it.

The person who stepped out was Wei Chen, followed by three others: Mo Xingyao, Dream Butterfly, and lastly, Lian Cheng, who had come to inspect the situation on-site and determine whether he could establish a connection to build the item transportation array on this side of the portal.

The moment the group stepped out of the portal, they could feel it throughout their bodies.

They had become weaker... much weaker because of the different laws governing this world.

Back in their own world, they could easily demolish a mountain with a single palm strike. But in this world, the laws were different, and their power had been altered accordingly. They no longer possessed the same degree of destructive and defensive power they had on the other side.

On this side, Wei Chen could still decimate an entire mountain, but the scale of the destruction would not be as exaggerated as it would have been on the other side. More importantly, the amount of energy he would need to expend to accomplish such a feat would be considerably greater.

After they arrived, Mo Xingyao, Dream Butterfly, and Lian Cheng all looked around with the curiosity of children seeing something new for the first time.

The same could not be said for Wei Chen. He merely glanced around before looking ahead, where he noticed a man with a bald, M-shaped hairline walking toward him.

Unbeknownst to Wei Chen, his unusual calmness was noticed by the approaching man. However, the man merely smiled, concealing his thoughts as he continued walking forward.

He stopped in front of Wei Chen and cupped his fist.

The man was Caucasian, but his familiarity with Chinese, the native language of the other side, was so fluent that he sounded like a native speaker.

"Hello, guests."

He then looked at Wei Chen.

"You must be Young Master Wei. I am James Stanton, the special envoy. I’ll be the one entertaining you and taking care of you during your stay here."

Wei Chen smiled back. He extended his hand and spoke in fluent English.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Mr. Stanton. We’ll be troubling you from now on."

Seeing that Wei Chen had returned his greeting according to their customs, James Stanton gave a diplomatic smile and extended his hand as well, shaking Wei Chen’s hand.

"Likewise, Mr. Wei. If there is anything you need or if you encounter any inconvenience, please feel free to let us know. We’ll do our best to meet your expectations," James said with a smile.

Seeing her husband speaking in the native language of this side, Mo Xingyao could not help but feel a sense of awe and respect for him.

Where did this guy even find the time to learn the language of this side?

One of the most troublesome aspects of negotiation was the inequality of information. If the people on this side understood their language, but they did not understand the language of the people on this side, negotiations would be extremely difficult to conduct with confidence. They would have no way of knowing what was actually written in the contracts.

But with her husband’s knowledge of the language of this side, her plan to expand the Thousand Treasure Pavilion’s trade to this world would go much more smoothly.