Chapter 295 - 130: Five Choices
Humankind has speculated in various ways about the moral standards of higher civilizations.
Many think that higher civilizations, like primitive beasts, emphasize reproduction, crave the plunder of more resources, and love expanding their territory in hope of ruling the universe.
Some believe that civilizations capable of interstellar travel have likely overcome internal conflicts and achieved unity, opposing meaningless resource wastage, and would approach humanity with more rational and peaceful attitudes.
Others think that the biological structure and sensory systems of higher civilizations might differ greatly from humans.
In their world, pain might bring joy, while happiness would cause sadness, thus their moral notions might be vastly different from humans'.
However, no matter the speculation, in humans' minds, higher civilizations navigating the sea of stars are definitely not foolish, nor could they be naive.
Even if the lower class of their society is enveloped in Eden-like petri dishes, living happily from birth to death without needing to think about anything other than pleasure.
The ruling class responsible for guiding the civilization forward and determining future directions would certainly be wise.
Chen Zhou used to view higher civilizations in such a way.
But when he truly encountered these beings imagined in fantasies, he realized their ethics neither served racial continuation nor were restrained by ethics and social norms like humans.
Nor were they like the imagined silicon-based life forms following extreme rational paths based on resource consolidation and probability theories.
Their moral logic, in certain aspects, resembled humans', yet had elements defying common sense.
Their vile humor, mischievousness, and some level of keeping promises had been displayed to Chen Zhou more than once.
And at this moment, the mysterious Space-Time Administration Bureau showcased a display akin to childish boasting—
A puzzle board composed of 3,000 pieces suddenly transformed into a glowing blue mirror. The gap on its surface still hadn't healed, but this did not hinder its demonstration to Chen Zhou of what was called "unfathomable" technological prowess.
The gradually dazzling light of pale blue grew increasingly potent, enveloping everything inside the kiln cave.
The thin light curtain seemed to congeal into substance, blurring Chen Zhou's vision.
The world in his eyes soon turned into pure blue, a frozen, motionless blue, like ice from tens of thousands of years ago, imprisoning him within.
The doors, windows, outer walls, tables, and chairs of the kiln all vanished within this blue light.
Only one abrupt existence remained in this "cage" expanded from over 3,000 puzzle pieces—
The missing 3,001st puzzle piece, its shape enlarged several times, tilted sideways, like a door departing the cage.
Astonished, Chen Zhou tentatively reached out to touch the light-screen-formed "wall" before him.
Initially believing it a kind of high-end "hologram" technology causing an illusion to the human eye, only when his fingers touched the stable blue light screen did he realize its light had truly solidified into substance.
Or rather, those unremarkable small squares floating in the sky had already imprisoned him in an independent space.
Space-Time Administration Bureau's unabashed display of skills reminded Chen Zhou of a widely circulated video on the internet.
In the video, a foreigner holding a tablet with a lively fish on the screen, put it in front of a cat.
As the cat extended its paw to touch the fish, the foreigner swiftly slid the screen, causing the fish to disappear, leaving the cat with an open mouth, staring at the screen in shock, racking its brains to fathom why such a large fish suddenly vanished.
He felt, at this moment, he was like that toyed with cat, and the blue space entrapping him might hold no difference from tablets for higher civilizations.
...
Having not yet escaped the shock, Chen Zhou found his attention drawn to several lines of text abruptly appearing right in front of him.
These lines used standard regular script, totaling five lines from top to bottom, representing the five types of rewards available after completing the puzzle.
The first in line was "Knowledge."
Below knowledge were "Tools," "Resources," "Seeds," and Random.
The first four options were simple two-character phrases, but the fifth option bore a simple note—
"This option allows randomly obtaining two items from the previous four, but the prize pool will have a mix of more low-level items and a few rare items."
"This…"
Considering the five options from top to bottom, Chen Zhou fell into contemplation.
The first option, knowledge, likely stands for the knowledge already existent on Earth, which he hopes it is—
Chen Zhou has always had a clear perception of himself, understanding his own grasp and reserve of knowledge quite well.
Even if this option could reward him with manufacturing data for warp engines or antimatter reactors, he wouldn't be able to learn nor produce them.
Moreover, in view of the difficulty level of this "Pure Blue Hell," such high-end items appearing in the reward is evidently impossible, with an imbalance between effort and reward.
Then, according to the principle of balance, this option should bring him something like a skill book such as a fully comprehensive pottery-making handbook, or a complete guide to herbal medicine, flora and fauna catalog, professional animal husbandry manual, farming manual, etc.
Of course, this option has the chance to bestow useful knowledge or grant him knowledge of no use.