Chapter 312: Conceptual Creation, the Trump Card!

Half an hour later.

Inside a meeting room.

Only six people attended the meeting.

Qin Hao, Luo Lao, Zhang Yunfeng, Zhou Shaoqing, Mao Xinyang.

And Qian Academician, participating via hologram from the distant Mars base.

"I oppose!"

When Qin Hao said he would go check the situation alone, Zhou Shaoqing sprang up from his seat, the chair scraping the floor with a piercing screech.

"Are you crazy?! Going alone to the Singularity Sea?!"

"Do you know what kind of place that is? It's a graveyard that can devour the elite fleets of both great empires! It's an absolute forbidden zone!"

"You're just going to your death!"

Zhou Shaoqing's voice trembled with extreme agitation.

He wasn't questioning; he was afraid.

Afraid of losing Qin Hao.

Now he is the core existence of the entire Yanhuang Civilization.

If Qin Hao met with an accident, he couldn't imagine how heavy a blow the civilization would suffer.

"Shaoqing, sit down."

Luo Lao's voice was low.

Zhou Shaoqing's chest heaved violently, but he slowly sat back down, his eyes still fixed on Qin Hao.

"I also disagree."

The speaker was Mao Xinyang.

He wasn't as agitated as Zhou Shaoqing, but his tone was equally firm.

A string of simulation data appeared on the light screen before him.

"From a strategic standpoint, your personal safety, Chief Commander, is now deeply tied to the stability of the entire civilization."

"We have just defeated the two great empires, and the new order of the Milky Way Galaxy is not yet fully consolidated. Biajie and Ke Huang are merely temporarily submissive, and the civilizations under them are restless."

"If news of your mishap leaks, even just losing contact, it could trigger a chain reaction. Everything we have just built could easily fall into crisis."

Mao Xinyang's analysis pointed to the core risk in every word.

Qin Hao is the ballast stone of the Yanhuang Civilization's massive ship.

The ballast stone must not be moved.

"From a technical standpoint, I must also oppose." Qian Academician's projection also spoke, his expression unprecedentedly solemn.

"The essence of the 'spatial viscosity' effect is a 'locking' of space itself. This is not an energy-level confrontation but a rule-level suppression."

"Any of our current engine technologies, whether warp or space jump, are based on distorting or tearing space."

"When space itself is 'locked down,' becoming even 'harder' than ultra-dense alloy, any engine will lose its function."

He paused, his tone extremely heavy.

"I cannot imagine any known technology capable of breaking through this effect."

"Your spacecraft, no matter how modified, will ultimately have only one outcome."

"Trapped there, becoming a new tombstone in the metallic graveyard surrounding the Singularity Sea."

The three core figures.

From the perspectives of personal feelings, overall strategy, and science and technology, they all gave negative answers.

Moreover, their reasons were flawless.

Zhang Yunfeng and Luo Lao remained silent; they both already knew what Qin Hao intended to do.

Faced with fierce opposition from almost everyone, Qin Hao's face remained calm, showing no ripple.

He quietly listened to everyone's words.

Then he lifted his gaze, his calm eyes sweeping over Zhou Shaoqing, Mao Xinyang, and Qian Academician.

He neither argued nor explained.

He simply asked the simplest yet heaviest question.

"Besides this method."

"You... do you still have any other hope?"

One sentence.

Just one sentence.

The entire meeting room instantly fell into a deathly silence.

Zhou Shaoqing's crimson eyes instantly dimmed.

The flickering data stream before Mao Xinyang seemed to lose its meaning as well.

Qian Academician's projection moved its lips, but emitted no sound.

Indeed.

Any other hope?

Where is there any other hope?

Is it to be forever trapped by the 'Final Barrier' in the Milky Way Galaxy prison, awaiting death?

Or to watch helplessly as the sole clue, the Singularity Sea, remains forever out of reach, waiting in despair for an unknown fate?

The two great empires, over hundreds of thousands of years, have proven that all conventional roads end in dead ends.

The method Qin Hao proposed, though offering a nine-in-ten chance of death, or even ten deaths with no life.

But...

It is the only one, a path that still seems to have a glimmer of possibility.

The atmosphere in the meeting room, which had been fierce opposition just moments before, shifted into a deeper sense of helplessness.

Seeing the change in expression on everyone's faces, Qin Hao knew they had understood his choice.

"I won't joke with my own life."

"Nor will I stake the future of civilization as a gamble."

He did not explain to Academician Qian and Mao Xinyang how he would break through the "spatial stagnation", for that involved his deepest secret, which could not be spoken.

Only Luo Lao and Zhang Yunfeng knew that the system could replicate conceptual creations; nobody else knew.

"I have absolute confidence."

Absolute confidence!

They looked at Qin Hao's eyes, calm to the point of profundity, which held no madness, only a composure born of absolute confidence.

This confidence inexplicably soothed the restless agitation in everyone's hearts.

Qin Hao did not pause; he looked toward Luo Lao and spoke the next step of the plan.

"During my absence, the Yanhuang Civilization needs to enter a 'silent development' phase."

"Domestically, halt all large-scale military expansion. Concentrate all resources, fully digesting, absorbing, and integrating the entirety of the two empires' technological legacies."

"We will, in the shortest time possible, completely transform their foundations into our own."

"Externally, maintain the status quo, even feign weakness if appropriate, to paralyze Biajie and Ke Huang, making them think we have been addled by victory and are now enjoying our gains."

"To buy the most precious time for our internal digestion."

The entire plan is logical and thorough.

Adept at both offense and defense.

He went to seek that "door".

Meanwhile, the civilization gathers strength behind, ready to rush out the door at any moment.

Everyone, including Zhou Shaoqing, fell silent.

They could find no reason to rebut.

Eventually, all gazes gathered on Luo Lao.

Luo Lao slowly raised his head, locking eyes with Qin Hao.

He saw the plan, and also saw the confidence in Qin Hao's eyes.

As if that all-devouring singularity sea, before him, was merely a threshold easily crossed.

After a long while.

Luo Lao's voice sounded in the meeting room.

"I agree."

He glanced around, his gaze sweeping over the faces of Zhou Shaoqing, Zhang Yunfeng, and Mao Xinyang in turn.

"Let's carry out Comrade Qin Hao's plan."

"This plan's codename is Pathfinder."

"Effective immediately, all related resources will be supplied unconditionally and with priority."

He used his prestige, second only to Qin Hao's, to suppress all objections.

Zhou Shaoqing et al. opened their mouths, but ultimately only let out a heavy sigh.

"Yes!"

They all rose to their feet, standing at attention and saluting.

Orders must be obeyed.

Even though their hearts remained filled with worries as heavy as mountains.

The meeting ended.

The resolution was passed.

……

Late night.

Qin Hao alone returned to his resting quarters. He slowly closed his eyes, a thought stirring.

The next second.

The system panel appeared.

【All-Things Replication System】

【Current Permission Level: Level 4】

【Current Available Functions: ……Conceptual Creation】

Qin Hao's gaze locked directly onto those four words "Conceptual Creation".

A crystal-clear directive formed in his mind.

"System."

"Targeting the breakthrough of the singularity sea's 'spatial stagnation' effect..."

"Create a device immune to that effect."