Age of Cataclysm: I can light up the technology tree

Earth calendar, 2096.

Fifty years have passed since the human fleet left the solar system.

In the empty universe between the solar system and the Proxima galaxy, a large fleet of 1,251 starships "slowly" drifted at a speed of 10% of the speed of light.

Occasionally, a faint light would be emitted from the tail of the starship, and then it would quickly dim.

That was the light produced by the intermittent operation of the Hall thruster.

Although the star systems are extremely empty, there are still a small amount of interstellar dust and gas.

For starships with a speed of 10% of the speed of light, these extremely rare interstellar materials will still produce considerable resistance.

Therefore, under the premise of saving energy as much as possible, Zero can only control the Hall thrusters of all starships to perform irregular intermittent ejection.

Just as the fleet was heading normally towards its destination, several probes issued an alarm to the flagship [Earth].

A few seconds later, several large radio telescopes set up outside the [Earth] starship quietly changed an angle and aimed the lens at a dim star in front of them - Proxima.

…

Inside the Earth.

Central Supercomputing Center.

In the dim cabin, there were twinkling lights everywhere.

The humming sound of the cooling system filled the cabin.

A red light with a warning suddenly appeared in a corner of the supercomputing center.

[Abnormal situation detected! ]

[Situation classification in progress...]

[Error! The current situation is not scheduled! ]

[Warning! Warning! Level 1 abnormal situation! ]

The red light instantly filled the entire supercomputing center!

[Wake-up procedure in progress...]

[Wake-up personnel:...]

…

A burst of rapid alarms sounded in Lv Yongchang's ears.

Perhaps because of the long hibernation, the alarm sounded particularly ethereal, giving people a sense of unreality.

"Professor Lv..."

"Professor Lv, there is a problem with Proxima!"

Under the rapid reminders again and again, Lv Yongchang's consciousness gradually returned and he slowly opened his eyes.

He subconsciously took a breath.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

The deep sea fluid remaining in his lungs instantly made him realize the dangers of the world.

He coughed while reaching out to pull off his mask.

With a tingling feeling coming from his trachea, a long white tube was pulled out of his nasal cavity.

After a violent cough, Lv Yongchang finally recovered.

He endured the discomfort from his abdomen and climbed out of the hibernation cabin.

Zero's virtual image stood in front of the hibernation cabin, looking at him respectfully.

"Zero?"

"What time is it? Have we... reached our destination?"

As soon as the words came out, Lv Yongchang was startled by his hoarse voice.

"Professor, it is August 11, 2096 in the Earth calendar."

"2096?" Lv Yongchang's brows frowned instantly.

According to the planned schedule, they will arrive at their destination in the year 2146 of the Earth calendar, and now, the awakening time is fifty years earlier!

As the time of awakening gets longer and longer, his consciousness gradually becomes clearer.

He noticed the flashing red light around him.

After a brief moment of daze, his face changed drastically: "Zero, what happened?!"

The red light flashed, and he was awakened in advance...

Lv Yongchang instantly realized the reason why he was awakened.

[Level 1 Abnormal Condition]

In Lv Yongchang's settings, he would only be awakened in advance if this level of abnormal condition occurred.

As for what is a Level 1 abnormal condition...

It's very simple. When encountering an alien fleet, the hibernation chamber fails on a large scale, or the fleet loses more than 10% of its starships in a short period of time...

To sum it up, it's just one sentence.

Only situations that may lead to the extinction of human civilization are considered Level 1 abnormal conditions.

At this moment, countless bad thoughts flashed through Lv Yongchang's mind.

"Professor, it's Proxima civilization." Zero said as he unfolded a holographic projection in front of Lv Yongchang.

"The latest observation results show that Proxima seems to have undergone a series of abnormal changes."

Lv Yongchang stretched out his hand to slide the projection interface and took a rough look at all the observation data.

"This..."

...

A few hours later.

[Earth] Command Center.

"Everyone, the situation is urgent, I won't waste any more words."

Lv Yongchang stood in front of everyone with a solemn expression, and stretched out his hand to open the huge holographic projection on the side.

"Our destination, Proxima Centauri, has also encountered a similar situation as us."

As he spoke, he pointed to the right side of the projection: "Here are the latest observation results of Proxima Centauri."

"And on the left are the observation results of fifty years ago."

"You can clearly see that Proxima Centauri's brightness has dropped by a level in fifty years."

"According to Zero's calculation, at the current speed, in about 120-150 years, Proxima Centauri will go extinct and become a black dwarf that only exists in theory."

After the voice fell, everyone's face changed slightly.

"How could this be..." Fang Xu looked at the holographic image in front of him with an ugly face, "Like us, there is also an energy collection device of an advanced civilization in Proxima Centauri?"

Lv Yongchang nodded silently.

"It should be like this."

"In fact, this is also a foreseeable result."

As he spoke, he sighed deeply: "Since the information we sent can be detected by advanced civilizations, there is no reason for Proxima civilization to escape this blow."

"This also proves the correctness of the Dark Forest Law for us."

Fang Xu's face became more and more ugly: "What should we do now?"

"Still go to Proxima?"

Originally, it was thought that after escaping the solar system, humans would be greeted by a star system suitable for long-term living and development.

But who would have thought that it was a star system sentenced to suspended death!

"Of course."

Hearing Fang Xu's question, Lv Yongchang answered without hesitation.

This answer also stunned everyone present.

"Let me talk about the most fundamental reason first." Lv Yongchang smiled bitterly and shook his head, "We don't have enough supplies."

"Although there are still a lot of survival supplies, our fuel and replacement parts only allow us to go to the nearest Proxima."

Everyone fell into silence.

This is also the biggest pain point of human civilization at present.

"So, we still have to fight with Proxima for the star that is about to go out?" Fang Xu sighed hard and said softly.

"Yes."

Feeling the heavy atmosphere in the command center, Lv Yongchang took a deep breath and clapped his hands gently, attracting everyone's attention.

"Of course, there is also good news... to be precise, it is half good news."