Chapter 179: Project Butterfly
At the park near Han’s home, the three people ate meat buns and drank hot chocolate, just like two years ago when they had just met.
It’s just that now there weren’t any more raiders that dared to come too close to Earth. The strong rise of the Federal Air Force brought Earth a quiet and peaceful environment that its people had dreamed for for years. With a Flying Dragon class and three Ghost Axes, Earth could for sure squeeze into the top 300 rankings for the strongest fleets in the Alliance.
Han was eating the meat bun and watching the people exercising in the little park. When he was a child, he remembered seeing the elders exercising in the park with a worried look, worrying about Earth’s future, and worrying about their children’s and grandchildren’s employment.
But now, the haze that had been surrounding Earth had been dispersed, and light began to appear on their face. The discussion was no longer centered on how children could not find work, but rather about whether to join the Federal Air Force or the Federal Engineering Group.
“That sculpture that’s raising a bronze cow looks like Pang Zuolin.” Han pointed at the stone statue that was sitting in the middle of the carousel.
“It’s him. If it wasn’t because you prohibited it, the city would already be covered with your sculptures. We grew up listening to Ke Lake’s story, but the kids nowadays are all listening to tough bone Han’s story. My little nephew heard that we were classmates and he had been annoying me to see you.” Li Qi said with a smile.
The fatty Chen Zhong also started laughing, saying that Han was now the hero on Earth, but with a sudden in change in subject, Chen Zhong asked in curiosity, “Bro, did something go wrong? You are usually so busy that you have no time to come back, but how come you suddenly have time now.”
Han said with a bitter smile, “Because I found out that my hard work was actually useless. The Milky Way Alliance has their own system, a small figure like me couldn’t play any role, so I came back. As someone from Earth, it’s still most important to take care of my own kin. As for people outside of Earth, saving them would be god’s work, not mine.”
Anyone could hear the sadness inside Han’s words, but since he didn’t want to share, Li Qi and Chen Zhong didn’t continue to ask. They all knew very well, the smile on Han’s face was fake, and all the pressure was hidden deep inside his heart.
“How about coming to my house for a visit?” Han invited Li Qi and Chen Zhong.
Chen Zhong started laughing “heartlessly”, Han asked him why he wass laughing and Chen Zhong just didn’t want to share.
Leaving the park and taking a turn, there was the residential area Han used to live in.
Outside of the residential area there was actually a lineup, and the sign of the neighborhood was covered by an even bigger copper sign. On top, it was proudly displayed “Han’s Former Residence”.
Han frowned, feeling it was both aggravating but also hilarious. “What do you mean former residence? First of all, I’m not dead yet, second of all this is my only house on Earth, I haven’t moved yet.”
Li Qi said, “There isn’t anyone to blame. After hearing that you lived here before, every day there were a lot of people that came to visit and made it pretty chaotic in this area with chicken flying and dogs jumping around. In desperation, the government had no choice but to bring order to this place and brought in district management, and over time this really became a tourist hot spot.”
Han had no choice but to accept the fact that his only home has turned into a tourist attraction. He spent the night in a hotel, met with some classmates and friends in the past, and left Shanghai the next day at noon to the Nazca base.
This wasteland was still the same, but a lot of large-scale construction had happened. As the military expanded, more and more soldiers came here and gradually turned this place into a military-based city.
Han met a lot of people he needed to meet here, the three giants, Ke Lake, Old Mo, and so on.
But Han didn’t share his worries with anyone, he still smiled like usual. Now the flagship production line’s capacity has reached the speed of one Ghost Axe every two months, and that really excited Han.
After the first two days of frequent meetings, Han locked himself up again and rarely met guests, nor did he participate in the federal military or political meetings, solely focusing himself on practice and research.
Han heard from the Three Addicts about the news that the Protector was coming to Earth, and towards being able to see this legendary figure, Han was feeling slightly excited.
But Han also knew very well that not even the Protector could change the Alliance’s attitude, otherwise he wouldn’t have been kicked out of the Galaxy many years ago after bringing out the shocking theory of the Milky Way collapsing.
After Han returned to Earth about a week later, the Protector arrived under a small fleet’s escort, with a group of his students, and many top tier bodyguards which Han identified from first glance.
On an uninhabited island in the tropics, Han met the Protector.
He was a blind elderly man, although without sight, he still had an excellent insight on the surrounding environment, and when he got off the spacecraft onto the white sand, he didn’t even need other people’s help.
A row of loungers and umbrellas, freshly squeezed fruit juices and ice cubes, that was how Han greeted the Protector.
Half laying in the chair, the Protector smiled and said, “Your home planet is a very beautiful place. Looking at your current state, it seems like you are on vacation?”
Han said, “You can say so. A sudden idleness after being used to living a busy life, I’m still slowly adapting to this pace of life, unlike you who doesn’t have the look of being on holiday bringing so many people and all having a worried look on your faces.”
The Protector said, “Can’t blame them. I’ve figured things out, they haven’t.”
“You figured out what?” Han asked in curiosity.
“You tell me first, towards the Alliance, what do you think?”
Han let out a long sigh, looked at the coastline in the distance and whispered, “Sickness is inside the bone, its hopeless.”
The Protector lightly clapped, “Yes, that’s also what I figured out. Using surgery to try to cure a patient with terminal illness, it’s inappropriate. It’s better to just put him down in peace.”
“You probably know, in the past, my people and I have been working towards saving the Alliance, and we’ve also done a lot of work. But now, I suddenly realized that the Alliance had been hopeless all along. That actually allowed me to feel more at ease. After all, it’s impossible to try to save a patient that’s going to die for sure.”
Han pouted, “You didn’t come all the way to Earth just tell me this, right?’
“Of course not.” The Protector said, “I came because I want to invite you to my Butterfly Project.”
Han lightly said, “I’m listening.”
The Protector said, “I had someone investigate your past and noticed that the reason you achieved all this was because you always persevered, wanting to protect your home and your people.”
“But now, I think you also feel a bit disheartened, after you finally saw what the Alliance had decayed to.”
Han said, “I am indeed disappointed. Mankind isn’t the most powerful species in the universe, and in the face of the unknown universe, we can only keep moving forward, fight nonstop in order to survive, and greed will only get us killed.”
The Protector nodded, “I completely agree with you. Only the most prudent and dedicated people are eligible to live in the universe, so this time I came to provide you with a choice.”
“Your obsession is to guard the home and save the people on Earth, but clearly, with the return of the prehistoric civilization, you won’t be able to do both. If you join my project, you won’t be able to save your home, but you can save your fellow countrymen, and allow the fifteen billion people on Earth to survive through this calamity.”
Han slightly hesitated, frowned, and listened carefully.
“The world thinks, it’s me who used the vector model and calculated the demise of the Milky Way, but that’s wrong. I am not a prophet, but a mathematician. A friend of mine told me this, I didn’t believe him so I used a set of vector model algorithms to compute the predictions he told me.”
“And you already know the result, my calculation had the same result as his predication, and that’s why I set up a sanctuary in the Oblivion Realm and became the so-called Protector.”
“That friend of mine also gave me a coordinate. He said, that’s a very hidden and ultra-long-distance wormhole, through which we could reach a distant star field that’s safe.”
Han was shocked, and said in surprise, “Project Butterfly is actually leaving the Milky Way and live in another star field?”
The Protector didn’t deny it and said, “That’s one way of putting it, but that’s only a part of the plan. In the absence of other options, we can only choose to save the blood of the human race, and only if humanity can live on in the vast universe can we have hope.”
Han deepened his voice and said, “That star field you were talking about, how far is it?”
“15 million light years away.”
Woo~
Han let out a long breath. The diameter of the entire Milky Way was only about 120 thousand light years. Going 15 million light years away to live, that was really far. If there was no natural wormhole, then it will take even the fastest spacecraft a full 57 years of continuous traveling to cover that distance.
I’m afraid that not even the most famous explorer family, Ancient Maple Leaf, had gone somewhere that far.
“How many people are willing to migrate to the new star field?” Han asked again.
“Not too many.” The Protector said with a bitter smile, “In the absence of the Alliance’ support, if we promote the news of the Galaxy’s demise, not only will it be a violation of the law, the vast majority of people will think of us as madmen. After all, mankind had lived in Milky Way peacefully for too long.”
“Our compatriots are still desperately studying new technologies, and ready to go big and improve the level of civilization on Earth.” Han said as if self-deprecating.
“Participating in Project Butterfly can also improve the level of civilization of the Earth. You already know, there are so many skilled masters of all kinds of fields in the Oblivion Realm.” The Protector said.
Han laughed and said, “Those people.”
Han originally wanted to say something like there’s no good people in the Oblivion Realm, but he suddenly changed his thoughts and his eyes lit up.
Good people?
What are good people?
The three addicts couldn’t be considered good people, but they were all equipped with top skills in different fields, and Han could only have lived until today because he took the evil path and learned a lot of skills that the Alliance banned.
From Han’s point of view, this evil way was the right one to take!
Despite being disgraced by the Union, but what supported Han to live to today, was the drugs, fusion beasts, robotic technology, and forbidden techniques!
If he participated in Project Butterfly, wasn’t it the same as sending everyone on Earth onto the “evil” path he took?
Jumping out of all the shackles of the Union to go learn directly from the most notorious outlaws in the galaxy, for a weak planet like Earth, how is it not a way out? If one wants to stay alive in the dark jungle, it’s not enough to just follow the law, but also to learn how to be cruel enough!
“No need to rush to answer me. After all, this is an important decision related to 15 billion people’s life and death.” Although the Protector was blind, he could still hear Han’s heart beat accelerating, so he whispered, “This is a giant project and I will still need to do a lot of preparation. Now I have to go. Once you made a decision, you can contact me.”
“But, I still need to remind you. The time left to us is running out.”
