The Way Back to Civilization

Chapter 1: (Prologue) Civilization Graveyard

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

In 2050, the first quantum computer was introduced.

In 2088, the first mature controllable nuclear fusion reactor was officially launched.

In 2100, the first starport was established.

In 2350, the first colonial spacecraft with a near-lightspeed engine sailed into the universe.

In 4500, humanity officially stepped up the civilization ladder to become a level-two civilization. A golden era filled with hope and a glorious future began.

{A Brief History of Mankind}

…

After several years of long voyages, following a weak signal, the Amarian fleet finally found the edge of the solar system at the start of the new year.

“Sir, the sensors haven’t picked up any active signals in the star system.”

In the flagship at the center of the fleet, an Amarian crew, who was in charge of operating the sensors, reported in an orderly manner.

Through the porthole, in front of the fleet was a shattered planet of death. According to the records, that was the home of the human race—Earth.

Not far away, there was a dark red star called the sun that was about to be extinguished.

Around it, a few fortresses equipped with macro cannons were surrounding the stellar orbit like cold tombstones.

The defense platforms, armed to the teeth, did not react to the arrival of the invaders.

As the commander of the Amarian fleet, Carl understood what was going on.

If he wasn’t wrong, like many ancient civilizations, there was a high chance that the race called humans had already disappeared in the long river of history.

What he had broken into was just another cold tomb…

Humans, a powerful civilization that existed in the legends. It was said that they were the leaders during the Battle of Heaven, were the ones who fought against Gods, and the race which united all…

In the records of past history, humans had once left behind countless glorious stories. However, such a great civilization had disappeared without a trace in a night at its most glorious moment.

Some said that they had hidden themselves, while others said that they had all moved to another dimension. According to the teachings that the Amarians believed in, humans had angered the gods because of their arrogance and were punished.

Carl was really not interested in research, so he wasn’t particularly knowledgeable or cared about the real reason. After all, in the cruel cosmic ecological chain, the rise and fall of a civilization was really mediocre.

The truth that all living beings could not escape was death.

After waiting for a moment, when the last ship entered the stellar orbit, Commander Carl issued a new order to his fleet through the battle channel.

“Prepare to start the recycling operation. We want to see what these spirits have left for us.”

Following the order, the destroyers on the side of the fleet began to approach the stellar fortresses.

This was a recycling fleet from the other side of the Milky Way, affiliated with the Amarian Empire. Its duty was to specialize in unearthing the technical templates of those lost civilizations.

In the eyes of the Amarians, rather than throwing these technologies that condensed the wisdom of civilization into useless trash in the cold space, it was better to recycle them and use them to contribute to the empire’s cause.

In the past few thousand years, the Amarians were able to build a huge empire that spanned half of the Milky Way in a short period of time thanks to the precious technology of the lost civilizations.

…

As time passed, everything seemed to be going more smoothly than expected. The landing torpedo launched by the destroyer successfully drilled through the outer armor of the star fortress and sent the members of the Methodist Army safely inside.

If nothing went wrong, it would not be long before those precious technical materials would be made into templates by the accompanying technical priests and returned to the fleet.

In order to successfully discover the mythical technology left behind by humans, the Amarian Empire did not hesitate to mobilize the most elite expeditionary fleet in history. A total of 13 precious Disaster-class battleships were deployed to this recycling fleet.

At this moment, the fleet that had gathered the Empire’s top forces had already gathered in the stellar orbit.

In the eyes of the veterans in the fleet, even humans in the golden age would not be able to easily contend with such powerful strength.

“Captain Carl, when this mission is over, the Empress might confer a planet on you.”

While they waited, a woman’s voice came from the communicator Carl was wearing.

“Focus on the task at hand.”

Hearing this, the woman on the other end of the communication device smiled.

“You’re still as serious and boring as ever. I don’t think anything will happen to this mission.”

Carl did not say anything. Looking at the surrounding fleet, he did not object to such a view.

…

After an unknown period of time, just as the recycling process was proceeding in an orderly manner.

Suddenly, the observer in front of the sensor shouted.

“Sir! It’s an attack response! The sensors show that there’s energy gathering nearby!”

In an instant, everyone in the command room could not help but become nervous.

“Attack? Could it be that the fortress’ automatic defense system has been activated?”

Faced with the panic of his adjutants, Captain Carl, who was standing on the bridge, gave an order unhurriedly.

“Inform the fleet to activate the electromagnetic shield and activate the combat formation at the same time.”

But as soon as he finished speaking.

“Look over there!”

Looking in the direction where the voice was pointing, people noticed that there seemed to be a light flickering in the distant void. Like a weak firefly in the night sky, it was gradually gathering in the asteroid belt formed after the planet shattered.

‘What’s that…’

Before Carl realized what was going on.

In the next second, in just half a heartbeat, a string of dark silver beams had silently passed through the huge fleet.

Under everyone’s shocked gazes, the fused particles emitted a dazzling light that was like a star, instantly illuminating this dark ancient graveyard.

The ear-piercing alarm reverberated in the cabins of every warship for a long time. The unparalleled energy emitted from the particles was far more lethal than the electric arcs shot out by the Judgement Ship that the empire was proud of.

It was only then that the arrogant Amarian soldiers realized that they were being attacked.

The beam of light did not last long. As the light dissipated, the shocked Amarian fleet began to quickly take precautions under the orders of their respective commanders.

“Prepare to counterattack!”

According to past experience, when a pre-emptive attack worked, most enemies would take advantage of the chaos to launch a fatal surprise attack.

However, the strange thing was that with the end of the first round of attacks, everything fell silent again. There was no sign of the enemy on the warship’s sensors, as if there was a ghost in this space.

Not long after, as the evaluation report of the fleet’s damage was transmitted into the command terminal, people noticed that Captain Carl’s face gradually revealed an ugly expression.

The report presented by the smart terminal revealed an unacceptable fact. At this moment, the right wing of the entire fleet had completely collapsed…

In particular, the light carrier that was in charge of relay command suffered a catastrophic frontal attack. After being torn in half by the silver spear of light, it completely lost contact with the fleet.

In just the first wave of probing attacks, four cruisers and one logistics aircraft carrier were confirmed to have perished in space. As for the losses of the destroyers and the Methodist warships, the computer could not even give an accurate statistic for the time being.

Everyone was busy trying to find the attacker in the void in front of them.

“Damn it! I don’t understand! What is that thing?!”

Faced with such a huge loss, the technical priest in charge of combat analysis shouted in despair.

“Our electromagnetic shields and armor are just a piece of paper in front of that thing!”

Almost at the same time, an urgent distress report mixed with continuous gunshots came from the radio station filled with static.

It was obvious that the troops of the Methodist Army in the fortress had also fallen into a bitter battle.

However, the strange thing was that according to the image data sent back by the soldiers of the Methodist Army, this elite unit that had experienced hundreds of battles was actually fighting a humanoid creature.

Judging from her appearance, she was a young girl with long grayish-white hair. She was like a gray shadow as she moved through the Methodist Army’s formation.

At the same time, the floating cannon behind her shot out particle beams with astonishing efficiency, reaping the lives of the soldiers.

She had rather upright facial features, crimson eyes, and fair and smooth skin. Apart from not having the characteristic pointed ears of the Amarians, the girl actually had characteristics that were so similar to the Amarians.

‘Who is she?’

‘Could she be a survivor of human civilization?’

‘But why did she look so similar to an Amarian?’

Staring at the girl on the screen, everyone in the command room could not help but feel puzzled.

At this moment, a voice message from the outside of the fleet bypassed the firewall of the fleet and was forced into the command computer of the ship, broadcasting it in front of everyone.

It was a young male voice. The other party was using one of the native languages of the human race. Under the deciphering of the accompanying language expert, the meaning expressed by the human youth was quickly translated.

…

“On behalf of all humans, I inform you that you are not welcome here, grave robbers.”