The social structures Noldrei described were indeed difficult to imagine.
Mr. Yang carefully considered the implications. In a proliferationist society, there would be no such thing as a monopoly on wisdom. The only competition would be over who could create more, stronger, intelligent life.
In this process, an organization would be forced to resolve the conflicts and suffering inherent in life's struggles; otherwise, it would be consumed by the new life it created. Therefore, in such a society, there would be no difference between conservative and progressive factions—only between the progressive and the extremely progressive.
And yet, to escape the influence of proliferationism, one would inevitably have to use proliferationist methods to make humanity accept one's own ideas. The result, however, would be that in using those methods, one would become the creator of the next iteration of proliferationism.
"What an indescribable and yet enviable social structure…"
Mr. Yang found it genuinely difficult to judge whether such a society was good or bad. In his personal view, a social structure like that was beyond the ability of an ordinary person to evaluate.
He asked curiously, "Weren't you worried about running out of social resources?"
Noldrei shook his head. "What resources? Why would they be insufficient? Yang, you haven't considered the historical problems of the Xianzhou. They've already traversed the stars and even possess the power to terraform planets. And yet, they still don't have enough resources. Is it possible that the problem isn't a lack of resources at all?"
"Could it be that the Xianzhou has never historically considered what the future of life, or intelligent life, is even for?"
A flash of insight went through Mr. Yang's mind, and he immediately understood what Noldrei was implying about the Xianzhou.
It wasn't a lack of resources at all. The problem was with the social system the Xianzhou had constructed. The distribution of power was clearly too fragmented and disparate.
"You have a point. Ahem, let's not discuss the Xianzhou's problems."
Mr. Yang skipped over the topic. After all, the Express crew had just accepted gifts from the Xianzhou; it wouldn't be right to gossip behind their backs.
Stelle hadn't really understood, but she could grasp why Noldrei was so unconcerned with that kind of history. She was also a bit confused, having noticed a problem with Noldrei's words.
"You said you were created in a proliferationist society," Stelle couldn't help but ask, "but why are you now, on your home planet, still following that path of geneticism?"
Her question made the others realize something was off as well.
"Because I traveled back in time, of course," Noldrei said frankly, revealing his reason for coming to this universe. "The people of my era figured, since the future of proliferationism is so powerful and unchangeable, why not try to travel to the past to change it?"
"The result was that I was sent here."
As he said this, Noldrei even sounded a bit dissatisfied.
"I never, ever imagined your society would be so backward. That a strange interstellar civilization like the Xianzhou could even exist is truly incredible. And you have Aeons, beings who have existed for billions of years."
"When I think about them existing for all that time, yet the universe hasn't really changed much—still using digital currency, flying around in spaceships like cars, and humanity doesn't even have the ability to survive in space…"
"I just find it unbelievable. Why?! Why do you have all this power, yet you still make people live in these dilapidated houses, use these broken-down vehicles, and even eat such primitive pig slop! It's utterly incredible!"
Noldrei's face was a mask of incomprehension. His questions struck the members of the Express crew like a physical blow.
Suddenly, the food on the table seemed to lose all its flavor.
"What's wrong, Pom?" Even Pom-Pom couldn't help but look up at the group, who had all tacitly stopped eating.
"Even if you ask us that kind of question..." March 7th glanced at Dan Heng, then at Mr. Yang, hoping the only two male members would help answer. They were the ones she usually relied on most when they were out and about.
Noldrei continued his tirade. "With the Xianzhou's current power, they could terraform a planet suitable for human habitation in five or ten years. That would free up a massive amount of the Xianzhou's power source for more urgent tasks. They could harvest more resources from the planet, saving a huge amount of time. They could turn starskiffs into more efficient food production tools, or just create superior, simpler molecular food."
"It would be no problem to use starskiffs to link up nearby star systems and form a temporary interstellar network."
"And the way they use that Cavern ability is even stranger… Ugh… I can't even be bothered to talk about it. They should be building more Xianzhou-like flagships, but they don't seem to have any plans to do so. It's all a bit baffling."
Noldrei threw out the many questions he had about the Xianzhou. The confusion he felt over these issues could only be resolved through more cosmic voyages.
Dan Heng felt that Noldrei was overestimating the Xianzhou. The current Xianzhou was not the same as the one during the golden age of the Alchemy Commission. Many creations born from the power of the Abundance had long been abandoned.
Take the ability to terraform planets, for example. Most of the difficulties could be solved simply by utilizing the power of the Abundance.
But could the current Xianzhou do that? Of course not.
Now, Dan Heng understood a little of the strange feeling Noldrei had when looking at the Xianzhou.
It was like when Dan Heng, during his own travels, saw a primitive tribe that had found a high-strength communication device from an alien civilization, mistook it for a hard, sacred relic, and used it to bash in the heads of disobedient tribesmen.
While the difference wasn't quite that extreme, it was enough to simply illustrate the disparity between civilizations.
"It's unbelievable, isn't it? Yeah, why don't the Xianzhou do that? Why didn't I ever think of that?!"
Stelle hadn't considered these questions before. It was only after Noldrei's prompting that she realized the structural disparities that existed within the Xianzhou.
They could clearly produce more resources to serve their people, yet the Xianzhou of the past had fought wars over the distribution of resources and power.
It was a history so ridiculous it was hard to stomach, yet within the absurdity lay a certain logic.
Himeko opened her mouth to speak several times, but stopped. She was reminded of the situation on her own world.
For example, the strange fact that even when there was enough food for everyone to eat six meals a day, plenty of people still starved to death.
March 7th's expression faltered. "Is the entire universe this dark?" she asked, aghast. "This sounds even more absurd than the situation on Jarilo-VI. At least on Jarilo-VI, they were truly suffering because of a scarcity of resources."
Noldrei pointed at her and said with admiration, "You truly are a child full of wisdom!"
Dan Heng coughed violently, nearly choking on his food.