Five years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Over the past five years, the environmental improvement project at Dawn Star has never stopped and has been carried out quietly.

Compared to the beginning, Dawn Star now resembles Earth somewhat.

But it's only a little bit.

It will still be a long time before humans truly leave the closed-off cities and begin living under blue skies and white clouds.

Meanwhile, the human enhancement program is also continuously progressing.

With the entire Academy of Sciences and Parliament setting an example, the human enhancement project has progressed at a significantly faster pace.

Although some old-fashioned people still don't trust the so-called gene modification technology, seeing their relatives, friends, and even complete strangers on the street taking off their exoskeletons, turning off their home medical pods that they run every night, and breathing in the air of freedom...

These old fogies couldn't suppress their inner restlessness and joined the human enhancement program.

Everything seemed to be thriving.

But after five years of development, a problem has become increasingly serious.

...

"According to the latest calculations, the combined fertility rate curve of the Human Rights Federation will intersect with the combined mortality rate curve in three hundred years."

Zero's voice echoed in the office.

The holographic projection shows a winding, curvilinear graph.

The downward-sloping curve represents the overall fertility rate of human civilization.

The slowly rising line below represents the overall mortality rate curve of human civilization.

Compared to calculations from a few years ago, the time it takes for the two curves to intersect has been shortened by nearly two hundred years.

Lu Yongchang sat in his office chair, looking at the two continuously extending curves that eventually intersected in the holographic projection, and sighed softly.

As shown in the chart.

As time goes by, the older generation from Earth, and even from Proxima Centauri b, continues to die, while the number of newborns declines year by year. Ultimately, this leads to a "kiss of death" between the combined fertility rate curve and the combined mortality rate curve.

Especially in the last five years.

The number of newborns each year is plummeting!

For interstellar civilizations, the intersection of these two curves signifies the decline of the civilization and its eventual demise.

Like the human civilization on Proxima Centauri, the Human Alliance eventually encountered this fatal problem.

However, there are still some differences between the human civilization of the Union and the human civilization of Proxima Centauri.

The population crisis on Proxima Centauri is caused by a small population base and a severe shortage of resources.

The People's Federation, on the other hand, is exactly the opposite.

With a massive population base, billions of people within the [Homeship] remain dormant and have not yet been awakened.

The area also has relatively abundant resources for survival.

After reaching Type III civilization, especially after another breakthrough in computer technology, Zero's computing power was greatly enhanced, which in turn greatly improved the productivity level of human civilization.

One hundred years from now, the environmental transformation of Dawn Star will be declared a success.

Humans will also leave the confined, closed cities, and billions of people in hibernation pods will be awakened one by one.

However, this still cannot solve the problem of declining overall fertility rate.

The reason is simple.

Compared to the Earth era, or even the Proxima Centauri b era, the cost of reproduction on Dawn is far too high.

Both human enhancement programs and life extension technologies are designed for fully developed adults.

Therefore, before reaching adulthood, humans are just as weak as they were in Earth's early days.

This leads to a problem.

On Dawn Star, where gravity is 1.9g, reproduction has become a huge problem.

A newborn baby certainly couldn't withstand the 1.9g gravity on Dawn Star.

Of course, the Human Resources and Social Security Academy of Sciences has also taken corresponding measures to address the issue.

Dawn Star Synchronous Orbit Large Space Station.

A circular space station can generate an equivalent gravity of 1g through its rotation, which, to some extent, can greatly simulate the Earth's environment—this is extremely beneficial for the growth and development of infants and young children.

Only upon reaching adulthood can these newborns born on the space station undergo modifications using technologies that enhance human capabilities and extend lifespan.

The time required for this growth and development varies from person to person, with an average time of about 18-20 years.

For the safety of the new generation, the timeframe for both human enhancement and lifespan extension modifications was set at 25 years old.

That is, the time when the human brain has fully developed and matured.

This is also the time for the new generation of humans to undergo their "coming-of-age ceremony".

Only after completing the "coming-of-age ceremony" and undergoing both human enhancement and lifespan extension modifications can they truly be considered new humans.

There is nothing wrong with this regulation for newborns.

But for parents, this regulation is the culprit behind the precipitous drop in the birth rate!

Under traditional parenting models, it is impossible for either parent to abandon their child and live alone on the surface of Dawn Star.

This created an awkward situation.

Having a child requires at least 20 years of time from both parents.

For the new humans with an average lifespan of one thousand years, twenty years is actually nothing.

Moreover, the parliament has various comprehensive safeguards in place to protect this long period of childbirth.

You can even use childbirth as an excuse to take up to twenty years of paid leave.

That's what they say.

But if it really happened to you, it would be a completely different story.

Even if current human technology allows for free travel between geostationary orbit and the ground, the hidden costs of up to twenty years are still unbearable for ordinary people.

then……

Over these five years.

The three completed geostationary space stations are sparsely populated.

The number of newborns is also declining year by year.

In an attempt to salvage the declining overall birth rate, the Academy of Sciences launched a medical pod specifically for infants and young children two years ago.

After birth, these infants can enter a state of light hibernation in this specialized medical pod.

The so-called light hibernation state is very similar to the deep sleep state, and the body's metabolism and growth and development do not stop.

in other words.

Infants and toddlers can "sleep" in this specially designed medical pod until they reach adulthood.

Then complete the coming-of-age ceremony and begin your new life.

This greatly reduces the time cost for both parents to raise the next generation, but it also creates another serious problem.

Educational issues for the new generation.

No one would want to teach a healthy 25-year-old adult how to use the toilet, eat, and walk.

Moreover, language skills are often learned during infancy and early childhood.

then……

This alternative plan went bankrupt shortly after its inception.

This dealt a severe blow to the already poor birth rate, causing it to decline even faster.