Above, the vast boundless starry sky is far more dangerous and cruel than humans could ever imagine.
Just like in the images Shen Shi initially saw.
[The Earth Star Era is declared over, and the dark Starry Era begins with a full-scale invasion war.]
In the beginning, humans, as a primitive race being forcibly invaded, were only the lowest G-level. One after another, people like him were stuffed into those black containers, used as "batteries," sold, and used, with even "consciousness" and "emotions" reduced to mere tools.
Three thousand years, from G-level to D-level.
What did humans experience?
And what did they pay?
Shen Shi dared not think, dared not know.
But he already understood.
When a race is labeled as "slave," even in the vast starry sky, it's hard to find a place to settle. One can only pray to escape to an unknown place, then hide timidly, living a completely closed and terrified life.
Yet, thinking about it, it is somewhat ironic.
Even future humans three thousand years later can't really be called powerful or even free. Every twelve years, five percent of the population is threatened, but he, because of this Cosmic Battleship, must strive to control his swelling emotions.
In the end, it's because his perspective, vision, and mindset are too weak at the moment.
Even the rich covered in wealth may struggle greatly, but a poor person would scream in excitement upon finding a small piece of gold.
Even now, he still has thoughts like "escaping with tens of thousands to uninhabited places to survive might not be so bad".
After all, it is far better than the fate of billions who remain here.
Isn't it?
However—reason suggests that there is a difference between leaving without trying anything and leaving after trying something.
Even though Shen Shi initially wanted to flee and traded for the Cosmic Battleship to escape, at this moment, he still couldn't help but feel a slight impulse to resist.
"Even the Pasture Master can't have the ability to span three thousand years." Shen Shi whispered in his heart.
If his abilities and ambitions could be elevated to a certain degree, perhaps he wouldn't just want to change the fate of modern human civilization, but also the fate of humanity three thousand years later!
In the next moment, without using Sebas, but directly ordering the central AI in his mind, Shen Shi's figure instantly arrived in a vast room.
This is the captain's room.
The largest room on the entire immigrant warship.
It seems empty, yet it is equipped with a simulation effect for all things, allowing the "void" here to become "everything" through formless force fields and Primordial Energy-based informational content.
At least at this moment, as Shen Shi walked through, sunlight, beaches, the ocean, and even a gentle sea breeze appeared in the room.
Shen Shi marveled.
Technology changes life; this phrase isn't an exaggeration. Currently, in the whole of human society, only he could enjoy such a dreamlike extreme technological experience.
But he wasn't here just to enjoy.
Sitting on the beach chair, he naturally adjusted to the most comfortable position.
"Let's begin, starting with three thousand years of human history."
In an instant, beams of light screens appeared in front of him.
Yes, Shen Shi was here to learn.
Ai Xin'Er's words were quite right. Since realizing his shortcomings, he must strive to learn and grow.
Shen Shi now knew what the "Independent Information Library" gifted by the Collector was: a backup of information, a part of the publicly available information in future human society. In modern terms, it's a partial backup of online information.
Of course, future human society's information is tiered.
Important information is not made public.
What he possesses at the moment is only some public information under the lowest permissions.
But it's enough for now.
Shen Shi clearly understood that, for him, the first step was to familiarize himself with interstellar society and the future three thousand years ahead. This was not just broadening his vision, but also preparing for further transactions—Time Crystal might very well be the greatest fortune for him and all of human society.
As the information he wanted to know continued to surge in, Shen Shi gradually immersed himself in it.
At this moment, he hadn't yet decided whether to do something.
But he believed that his future self would provide the answer.
This is confidence in one's ability to grow!
...
The effects of learning on the ship were even more dramatic than he expected.
Not only because of the comfortable environment.
But also because the existence of Primordial Energy could greatly enhance his mental state.
Just a ten-minute nap could feel like sleeping for ten hours, leaving him full of energy.
The physical burden also had ways to be alleviated.
The central AI always changed the environment, adjusted learning content, provided food, and played music at the most opportune moments, keeping him in a good state for extended periods.
If there had been such effects while studying in the past, not to mention getting into a better university, Shen Shi would even have the confidence to pursue scientific research as a career, becoming a top researcher!
Aside from the learning effect, the future information also brought him immense shock.
This was something current humans could never imagine over three thousand years.
Facing an invasion by an Interstellar Nomadic Fleet rated as E-level in the Mude System, humans had to surrender within a week, plunging into the darkest six hundred years where a large population was captured directly to serve as Primordial Energy batteries, either sold or submitted.
The remaining population fell into complete captivity.
They could only live in coffin-sized "rooms," sustained by injected nutrient solutions, their genetic material extracted for breeding, forbidden from learning any knowledge, and fed false histories and pasts, incomparable even to livestock—yet intruders did not allow humans to extinguish emotions nor become numb, for only the most intense, profound, and soaring consciousness made the best "batteries."
So the invaders constantly fed humans with false hopes, allowing the presence of rebels, to cultivate excellent Primordial Energy batteries.
In that six hundred years of resistance history, Shen Shi saw only deeper despair.
To a certain extent, human civilization was nothing more than a name.
But the turning point in this darkest history came in the five hundred and seventy-third year of the Starry Era.
Long-standing, massive profits built on the blood and tears of humans also brought disadvantages to the invaders, causing increasing internal divisions and external crises—the intelligent race invading humanity was not considered highly advanced even in the interstellar, and they themselves were full of flaws.
In the five hundred and seventy-third year of the Starry Era, the invaders' leader, an individual named Walkley, died on an alien battlefield.
In a short time, this relatively weak "Mude System E-level Race" was further fractured and divided in the strife for interests.
And humans, as the object of their contention, seized the opportunity.
Although they ultimately didn't escape the Pasture Master's control, they broke free from the most tragic G-level fate.