Billions of years ago, in the Outer Sun Department, there were countless stars.

181 years after the escape fleet of Earth departed, on the flagship New Hope…

The strike, protest, and riot had lasted ten days.

The lights, which had been lackluster because of the energy control system, were blinking rapidly now and then because of the damage to the circuits, making the crowd inside the narrow cabin even more furious and confused.

“Objection! Objection! Why are the authorities reducing our food and water ration? Are we really going to starve to death?”

“The environment on board is getting worse and worse. We have to work in a high temperature of almost eighty degrees every day. This is not an escape, nor is it marching toward New Hope. This is torture worse than death. This is an indefinite death sentence!

“Three innocent workers were killed in the explosion yesterday. What are our wise leaders and all-knowing scientists doing? Are they planning to fill the holes with our lives?”

“Do they want as many of us to die as possible? The more we die, the more resources we can save for them to enjoy!

“What about Wan Canghai? We are going to talk to him. Where is the hope that he promised us? Where is heaven? Where is his new home?”

“Wan Zanghai, come out! Wan Zanghai, come out!”

The striking crowds were in a riot. They gradually congregated into a riotous tide that broke through everything in its way and surged toward the cockpit.

It was not until they ran into the military police, or the iron wall made of Wan Canghai’s trusted subordinates, that they were somewhat stopped.

However, faced with the armed, expressionless military police who were as cold as black statues, the protesters showed no signs of fear or retreat.

A hundred years of hard labor had worn away all their patience and their fear of the rules. They were in the vast universe where there was nothing but darkness ahead of them. Their way back had been cut off a long time ago. The glory, dignity, and rules of the past were not worth mentioning in this place. If they had the courage, they could’ve torn apart the iron coffins nearby and perished together with the military police and the ‘leaders’ or even ‘gods’ such as Wan Zanghai.

“Citizens, citizens of the ‘New Earth Fleet’, please calm down.

A muscular man in a black power suit with a scar on his face stood out. He was indeed the major general commander of the military police. His name was ‘Tie Xiong’, and he was also one of Wan Zanghai’s trusted subordinates. When Wan Zanghai was hibernating for a long time and his life was extended to the greatest extent, Tie Xiong was always the spokesperson of Wan Zanghai and the commander of the escape fleet.

Tie Xiong’s appearance somewhat calmed the protesters down so that he could finish the second half of his speech. “It is well known that we have just passed through a belt of interstellar dust that is as thick as a swamp. Three immigration starships have suffered heavy losses. Most of the other starships have suffered heavy losses, too. A lot of resources and energy have been consumed. At this critical moment, all the citizens must work together in order to overcome the difficulties together. I guarantee that the reduction of food ration and energy supply is only temporary. As long as we repair the synthesized food recycling line, the supply of the past will be restored!

Usually, such a guarantee was enough to calm most people down.

At the very least, when they were caught by the aftershock of the gamma-ray explosion and the weird gravity trap last time, the crew members were willing to share the same body with the bridge crew.

But this time, after a hundred years of suffering, many people no longer believed in the promise of the bridge crew and the slim hope.

“When will such days end?”

Someone shouted miserably in the crowd of people.

“When the Hidden Sea took us out of Earth, it said that we would find a new home very soon. Even if it was not a habitable planet, we could always find a place similar to ‘Mars’ and establish a small settlement. After all, we only have tens of millions of people right now. Any random planet would be enough to accommodate us!

Somebody started talking about the past again.

“Liars. You are all liars. Wan Zanghai is a liar, and so are you, Tie Xiong. We trusted you so much in the past in vain. Where are you going to take us and the remaining human beings?”

Some of them were waving their fists angrily at the military police.

Tie Xiong and his military police remained silent. They were indifferent even though the protesters were punching their noses.

Although the military police were the strongest force on the ‘New Earth Union Fleet’, or in other words, the hundreds of immigration ships, with advanced power armors enhanced by the apocalyptic technology, they were even better than the ‘Magnetic Explosive Infantry’ and the ‘Rocket Flying Soldiers’.

Even without the enhancement of the cutting-edge weapons, those who were qualified to join the military police were the one-in-a-thousand ‘persons’ and the ‘modified people’ who could compete with the tanks barehanded.

However…

Not just the flagship, similar protests and riots were taking place on almost all the immigration starships. The public opinion was like a surging tide that could set off a tsunami at any moment and swallow the fleeing fleet that was barely assembled and full of holes. Even the brutal, iron-willed man such as ‘Iron Xiong’ did not dare cast sparks on the barrels of gunpowder that had been dried.

Besides, he had abandoned almost ninety percent of the ordinary people on Earth when he was on the run. In the ‘Slaughter of the Outer Solar System’, most of the rich and powerful had been butchered. The remaining crew members were mostly the basic crew members of the Ten Thousand Treasures Sea, namely the ‘ability users’, the ‘modified people’, and the ‘genetic mutants’. Almost all of them boasted various kinds of superpowers, although to different degrees.

Too many ants could bite an elephant to death. If the crew members were desperate enough, the so-called ‘elites’ of the military police alone would not be enough to suppress all the crew members.

Therefore, Tie Xiong could only suppress the killing intent inside his heart and said, gritting his teeth, “Citizens, please don’t forget your sacred mission. Don’t forget that you are the only hope for the continuity of the civilization of mankind. Believe in the authorities. Believe in your leader, Wan Zanghai. Continue the ‘misery march’ for three to five years. Seven to eight years, tops. Everything will be fine. Everything!”

“We don’t believe it!”

“Put away your big lies. We’ve had enough!

“Moving forward is hopeless. We can only turn back and return to our home—Earth!”

“Hundreds of years have passed. No matter how intense the solar storm is, the influence should be gone by now. Besides, with the marvelous force of the meteoroids, the earth should be thriving again, shouldn’t it?

“It doesn’t matter even if we haven’t fully recovered yet. We only have tens of millions of people left, and we have such advanced technology. As long as we find a small place to live on Earth, which is enough for us to establish a settlement, we will slowly expand outward and rebuild Earth. One day, we will see our beautiful home shine again!”

“Yes. Back to Earth. Back to Earth. We are going back to Earth!”

A few gloomy and fanatical voices suddenly came from the depths of the crowd.

Tie Xiong’s pupils constricted violently.

Damn. It was the returners.

No wonder the riot had gone on for such a long time. It turned out that the Returners were fanning the flames and even manipulating the situation in person!

The ordinary protesters could be ignored, but the homers were viruses that were corrupting the future of mankind. Once they were discovered, they had to be killed immediately!

Tie Xiong gestured behind him. The power armor of the military police immediately hummed.

The crowd was stirred. The last member of the group who had been hiding shouted in a low voice, “Not good. They are going to attack. Everybody, run!”

The crowds were surging, raising surging tides, flash bangs, smoke grenades, and self-made incendiary bombs. The scene was beyond control.

…

An hour later, in the secret chamber behind the bridge of ‘New Hope’.

The place boasted the most advanced hibernation facilities and super computers that could control the entire fleet.

It was Xiao Xiao, who was the nominal commander-in-chief of the ‘New Earth Union Fleet’, the former chairman of the ‘Earth Council’, and the spiritual leader of all the fleeing human beings.

Myriad Hidden Sea was already very old.

The twists and turns of the Unified Earth, the endless disasters in the face of natural disasters, the hypocrisy of dealing with the rich and the powerful, the scheming and scheming, including the bloody massacre of the Outer Solar System, and the soul-stirring interstellar adventures that followed—all of which concerned the lives of billions of people—had seriously drained his vitality and mental power. Although he had trained his ‘strength of heart’ to the highest level, like his mentor ‘Urey’, and had been soaked in high-energy nutrition liquids 90% of the time, he still couldn’t help but show signs of aging. There were wrinkles on his face and age spots all over his body. Every breath he took seemed to take a long time, as if it were his last.

His eyes, which used to be clear and deep, were gradually replaced by suspiciousness. The sequela of overconsumption of his mental power broke out in recent years. He had serious hallucinations and auditory hallucinations. Most of the time, not only was he unable to deal with the complicated affairs of the fleet, he was even unable to control his temper. Like the rarely-seen, heroic leaders in history, he gradually turned into a muddleheaded, cruel tyrant at the end of his life.

When Tie Xiong bowed to Wan Canghai respectfully, he could even vaguely smell the scent of an old man from him.

It was a very intense smell that represented death and decay.

It was as if only the shell of the seemingly weak old man in front of him was still alive, while his internal organs and spirit had long died and were slowly decaying.

Even the intense aroma of high-energy nutrition liquids and hibernation drugs inside the hibernation chamber could not cover the disgusting smell.

“He is old.”

Tie Xiong thought to himself.

Then, he was shocked by his own thought. In any case, the Sea of Hidden Treasures was the only spiritual symbol of the remaining civilization of mankind and a living god. How could a god be old?

But after the shock, he felt that it was not a big deal when he saw Wan Zanghai’s somewhat neurotic face.

After all, he was not a god but a human being.

A human being would grow old and die.

After he died, he would give up his position.