Peter, Will, and Dylan shouted excitedly at the television screen, their faces flushed red.

Although the three of them were notorious slackers, their moral compasses were relatively normal; they naturally wanted their civilization to grow stronger. Especially when they recalled the stories of the medical teams sacrificing themselves to fight the Martian virus, they felt a profound surge of emotion.

The broadcast continued: "A new batch of the longevity serum will be distributed to major medical centers after the New Year's holiday. All costs will be covered by the Federation. Registration will begin shortly after the celebrations..."

Hearing the news, Peter clenched his fists tightly, his heart pounding with excitement.

It wasn't just because his own lifespan would be extended; he was only twenty-seven years old, a long way from old age and death. He had barely even thought about his own mortality.

While living longer was certainly incredible, what truly made him happy was knowing that the medical workers who had perished fighting the Martian virus had not died in vain. Their sacrifices had directly fueled humanity's progress.

Their souls could finally rest in peace!

This was a moment of absolute pride for humanity!

Overwhelmed with emotion, Peter actually shed a tear. He was genuinely happy and felt a profound sense of gratitude.

However, at that exact moment, Black snorted coldly in his mind. "Isn't this... just a byproduct of the degraded repair cells scraped from my stasis pod? How bizarre. Can your people actually utilize such biological garbage?"

The alien suddenly remembered that this human race possessed absurdly good luck and a terrifying talent for reverse-engineering salvaged trash. It quickly changed its tune: "Even so, your people will only live for a little over a century. How pitiful."

"Shut up! If you don't speak, nobody will think you're mute. I might die of old age eventually, but if I die, you die with me, remember?!" Peter retorted irritably. The two of them were perpetually at each other's throats.

After announcing the miraculous news, Jason gave the public a few moments to digest the revelation. Once the excitement had slightly settled, he shifted the focus to the progress made in several other key areas, including the upgraded material recycling systems, the artificial ecosystem, and the automated service drones.

These scientific advancements directly improved the daily lives of the citizens.

"We look forward to the future with hope and yearning. Each and every one of us is striving to elevate our civilization into a true Interstellar Empire!" Jason declared, outlining his grand vision for the future of their science. "This is our primary objective. Perhaps our only objective! Next, I will explain exactly how we plan to achieve this monumental goal."

"First, we must secure a resource-rich, Earth-like planet to serve as our new foundation. Due to the vast, unforgiving distances of the cosmos, this goal may not be achieved within the next year, but I firmly believe we will not be wandering the void forever!"

"Second, the construction of the Super Hadron Collider. We will use this machine to unlock the ultimate truths of the universe! We want to discover the true nature of dark matter. We want to know if super-particles exist. We will explore Supersymmetry and accomplish what scientists of the old world never could: a Grand Unified Theory! Material poverty cannot stop our relentless pursuit of knowledge. We will bravely step forward and carve our own path through the darkness of the unknown!"

"Third, we will develop true, independent spacecraft that belong to humanity! We are researching more efficient, powerful propulsion systems and highly maneuverable flight modes. In fact, research in this area has already yielded incredible results. Our heavy-duty ion engines recently underwent a qualitative leap in performance. I believe that in the near future, independent flight will become a reality..."

"Fourth, we will conquer controllable nuclear fusion! Once we master this technology, we will permanently solve our energy crisis! I have placed controllable nuclear fusion last not because it is unimportant, but because it is the most complex and difficult hurdle we face! However, the Federation has never feared a difficult challenge! The harder the task, the more we must rise to meet it!"

"All we can do is move forward, forward, and infinitely forward!"

It was a passionate, deeply inspiring speech.

In their dorm, Peter, Will, and Dylan cheered wildly. In that moment, they all unanimously decided to dedicate their lives to scientific progress.

Of course, they had made that exact same resolution many times before. Having the idea was one thing; sticking with it to the bitter end was another. Still, during the first few weeks of these motivational spikes, they usually worked incredibly hard. Through these repeated bursts of effort, even complete novices like them had actually managed to learn quite a bit.

The label "slacker" was entirely relative; compared to the average elite Federation citizen, they were definitely bottom-tier. But by old Earth standards, their current knowledge base would easily rival a college graduate's.

Meanwhile, the dark entity in Peter's mind simply responded with a constant, cold chuckle.

Seeing a primitive race hyping each other up with grand speeches left Black utterly speechless. But since it couldn't out-argue Peter anyway, it just kept chuckling dismissively.

As Jason concluded his address, thunderous applause erupted from the live audience and echoed through the ship's viewing plazas.

In truth, Jason had gotten so caught up in the emotion of the moment that he had completely gone off-script, delivering an impassioned, impromptu speech. He had omitted large sections of the original draft and added entirely new content from the heart.

Overall, the reception was phenomenal.

After he stepped down from the podium, a group of officials and scientists quickly surrounded him, applauding his brilliant delivery.

Jason subconsciously glanced over at Lily. The original manuscript had been painstakingly written by her, carefully balancing scientific jargon with political rhetoric. She had spent days revising and polishing it, only for him to abandon it halfway through. He felt a sharp pang of guilt.

However, Lily just stood off to the side, smiling warmly. She didn't seem to mind at all, which put Jason at ease.

Jason shook his head and addressed the crowd. "It wasn't my words that inspired them; it's the reality of our situation. Our civilization has been entirely transformed. Every citizen is deeply proud to be a part of the Federation. That kind of pride can't be sparked by an empty speech alone; it's something everyone physically feels. We've paid a heavy, bloody price over the past few years, and now it's finally time to reap the rewards. Our technology is advancing at a breakneck pace, a single year now yields the progress of two decades on Earth. So, no, it's not my words that inspire them. It's our collective actions."

Arthur Lambert and the other scientists nodded in fervent agreement. Whenever they realized *they* were the ones actively driving the progress of human science, they felt a massive surge of excitement and pride.

The very lifeline of their civilization was entirely in their hands; they had no choice but to push forward! That kind of pressure and purpose was unparalleled. It couldn't be faked by a single speech.

The group chatted animatedly for a while before gradually dispersing to their respective departments.

However, Marcus grabbed Jason's arm before he could leave, his eyes wide. "Captain, is there still a New Year's Eve banquet tonight? The kind where we can eat our fill for free?! I've been suffering on standard rations all year, and my stomach has practically shrunk! I absolutely have to gorge myself tonight!"

Jason immediately burst into laughter. "Yes, of course! Everyone has been so incredibly frugal with their portions lately that we actually have a massive surplus of food reserves. In short, everyone can eat until they drop tonight!"

But Jason couldn't stay and chat for long. As the year drew to a close, he still had a mountain of administrative work to wrap up.

After a hasty goodbye to Marcus, he prepared to rush off to another scientific summary conference. All the major research groups held their annual reviews during this holiday period, and as captain, he was expected to attend all of them. He was drowning in work!

"I can't handle all these reviews by myself. Can you help me out?" Jason asked, turning to Lily. "I'll cover the biology and materials science conferences. You take the physics and aerospace dynamics summits..."

He paused, offering a soft smile. "Let's meet up after all the meetings are over... and have a proper meal together."