The Endgame Chronicles (by Hugh White) novel Chapter 917

Chapter 917

“Did I really have a choice? Hayley shot back coldly. “You people already brought the war right to our doorstep.”

The old man still wore that calm, kindly smile. “That isn’t war. We’re helping humanity evolve.”

“Evolution, my foot!” Hayley’s eyes burned with anger. “Your so-called evolution is turning the entire world into zombies. That’s billions of human lives! How could you possibly justify that?”

“Have you ever seen the stars?” the old man asked instead of answering her.

Hayley frowned in confusion.

The next second, the vast galaxy overhead suddenly expanded infinitely around her, while the black floor beneath her feet transformed into a projection of endless space.

Earth appeared directly below her. It felt as though she were standing in the middle of outer space itself, watching the planet slowly rotate beneath her feet.

“If you’ve ever been aboard a space station, you’d understand how small Earth truly is,” the old man continued calmly. “The universe is unimaginably vast. Compared to it, Earth is nothing more than a grain of sand in an endless ocean. Humanity, living on that grain of sand, is even smaller and more fragile.”

The image of Earth beneath Hayley’s feet began shrinking rapidly, the tiny blue light quickly swallowed by darkness as enormous celestial bodies emerged around her one after another.

Jupiter, Saturn, the sun, the endless Milky Way stretching across the void…

“So what?” Hayley asked.

The old man waved his hand again.

The fading blue light returned instantly, and Earth expanded rapidly in front of Hayley. The giant screens around her shifted seamlessly, as though she were truly descending from space herself, diving through layers of clouds toward the planet below.

Continents and islands rushed into view. Then came the endless ocean.

With a crashing roar, the perspective plunged beneath the sea. All around her was an endless blue abyss.

Schools of massive and tiny fish swam silently past her feet as the light around her grew dimmer and dimmer. The deeper she descended, the darker the ocean became, yet she still couldn’t see the seafloor.

Then deep-sea creatures and sunken ships appeared. A suffocating pressure closed around her until every image around her finally dissolved into complete darkness.

“Forget the vastness of the universe,” the old man’s mechanical voice echoed once more.

“Even on Earth itself, there are countless places humanity has never truly reached.

“Humans are fragile carbon-based lifeforms. Your physical limitations only allow you to survive on the thinnest surface layer of this planet, and the civilization you’ve built is equally fragile. The universe doesn’t even need to destroy you. A minor disaster from Earth itself is enough to wipe humanity out completely.

“Doesn’t this kind of civilization seem weak and primitive to you?”

Hayley listened to his cold, emotionless words, but her gaze remained steady.

“I don’t know what you consider primitive or advanced civilization,” she said slowly. “All I’ve ever seen is human civilization. I haven’t seen any of these so-called higher civilizations you’re talking about.”

Decider One stared at her, his holographic eyes carrying an almost endless depth.

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