novelAlta Chapter 709: Fifty Years
Chapter 709: Fifty Years
Chapter 709: Fifty Years
Fifty years passed in the blink of an eye.
Infernal Sulfur Plane, side hall of the main control room.
Dark red molten light filtered through the dome crystal, casting slowly flowing shadows across the floor of the reception room.
Jie Ming leaned back in a long chair. Dozens of pale blue light screens from the magic network terminal floated beside him, with countless data streams sliding quietly across them. Sitting opposite him was Luli, the former planetary governor of the Tentacle Tree Civilization.
Fifty years ago, when he surrendered, this old treant’s canopy had already begun to wither.
According to the Tentacle Tree Civilization’s average natural lifespan of one hundred and twenty years, he should have turned into a piece of decayed old wood thirty years ago. Yet now, the cracks in his bark remained thick and aged, while the tips of his tentacles glowed once more with healthy emerald luster. Even the light in his crystal eyes had stabilized considerably.
The reason was simple: he had taken the cheapest basic life-extension potion from wizard civilization.
That low-grade alchemical solution, which in the Star Ring Federation could even be distributed in bulk as festival gifts, was already worthy of being called a “miracle” for a lifeform from a sixth-level technological civilization.
“The final batch of clansmen has completed migration,” Luli spoke in a low voice. His tentacles were neatly folded in front of his knees, still maintaining the standard submissive salute he had learned over fifty years. “This batch totals three hundred and twenty million individuals, all settled in the Seventh Resettlement Zone of the Infernal Sulfur Plane. Basic faith adaptability screening has been completed, and they have now been integrated into the secondary faith network of the Incense Fire Divine Dao system.”
“The ecological transformation of the Seventh Resettlement Zone has also been completed simultaneously. Gravity parameters, atmospheric composition, and day-night cycles have all been adjusted to match the original environment of the Tentacle Tree Civilization’s home planet.”
Jie Ming nodded slightly.
The android administrative network had already submitted complete reports on these matters long ago, yet Luli still insisted on reporting them in person.
In his view, this was not an efficiency issue, but a matter of attitude.
Luli fell silent for a moment. The light in his crystal eyes flickered faintly, as if weighing whether he should continue.
Jie Ming did not press him and simply waited quietly.
In the end, the old treant slowly spoke.
“To be honest… after these fifty years, I think I’ve come to understand.” His voice was calm.
“You don’t actually have very high expectations for us.”
The reception room fell quiet for a few seconds.
Luli continued:
“In your power structure, the Tentacle Tree Civilization probably belongs to the second tier. We are… a relatively useful subordinate race, and a supplementary source of faith within the Incense Fire Divine Dao system.”
“We cannot compare to the Black Giants, nor to those priests.”
He spoke these words with an unexpectedly calm and relaxed tone.
Jie Ming did not deny it, because Luli was right.
The Black Giant Legion was his true core military force.
The researcher system formed by Black Giant priests was the foundation of his faction.
As for the Tentacle Tree Civilization…
It certainly had value, but it existed primarily as a resource-type subordinate civilization.
Luli’s crystal eyes lowered slightly, yet his voice gradually grew more complex.
“Precisely because you don’t hold high expectations for us, the ‘breeding conditions’ you provided are carried out entirely according to wizard civilization standards—stable atmospheric environment, non-toxic drinking water, free public education, legal protections that prevent noble private armies from arbitrarily seizing people for experiments… and public healthcare that may be the most basic thing to you, but is simply heaven-shaking to us.”
When he reached this point, the tips of his tentacles curled slightly, an expression of something close to bitterness.
“These things are merely the most ordinary baseline in wizard civilization. But in our original society, they were a life we wouldn’t even dare dream of.” Luli let out a soft breath. “My clansmen don’t know these things. They only know that the new ruler is far better than the old governor’s mansion.”
“…And they are not wrong.”
In the reception room, the molten light flowed slowly.
Jie Ming listened quietly without interrupting, because Luli’s words were simply the truth.
Wizard civilization had never been a gentle civilization.
Yet for low-level civilizations, the “standard procedures” of wizard civilization were often high enough to be nearly paradise.
Luli suddenly raised his crystal eyes and looked at Jie Ming:
“Actually, judging purely by surface treatment, the Black Giants are even worse off than us. Their promotion resources must be earned through battle merits and missions.”
“While we only need to obey order to enjoy everything we currently have.”
He paused here for a moment.
“However, I can probably guess the reason. In your eyes, the Black Giants are ‘kin,’ so they must walk their own path.” Luli lowered his head slightly. “As for us… what you have given is ‘breeding,’ not ‘cultivation.’”
Jie Ming still did not refute him, because this was equally correct.
The Tentacle Tree Civilization was simply too weak—too weak to even qualify for true inclusion in the core system.
But Luli suddenly smiled.
On the face formed from ancient tree bark, the smile appeared exceptionally brilliant.
“But no matter what. At least the ordinary people of the entire civilization have indeed begun to live better lives.”
“As a governor who failed to protect his civilization, being able to see this outcome in the end leaves me with no dissatisfaction.”
“Therefore… please allow me to offer you my most sincere gratitude.”
After speaking, he slowly stood up, lowering his canopy to the standard farewell angle, then quietly withdrew from the reception room.
Once the door closed, the reception room returned to silence.
“Gratitude? It’s nothing more than each taking what we need.”
Jie Ming shook his head, then turned his attention to the dozens of floating light screens before him.
They displayed the quarterly universal education report submitted by the android administrative network, updates from the nest on the cleanup progress of Tentacle Tree Plane wreckage, Molten Mountain’s application for replenishing training losses of seventh-rank Black Giants, and the latest experimental data from the Divine Armament reverse analysis project.
His gaze swept across them one by one. After completing the replies, he raised his hand and closed all the light screens.
“Time to check on the ‘other side.’”
Accompanied by a low murmur, the teleportation array lit up. Silver-white radiance spread through the air.
In the next instant, Jie Ming’s figure had already vanished from the spot.
Tentacle Tree Plane, outer perimeter of the plane core region.
Inside a temporary research institute built on the synchronous orbit of a gas giant, cold white lighting illuminated the entire facility with exceptional brightness. The moment Jie Ming walked into the research area, he saw Viola and Dean Avery Knight gathered around a workstation.
The expressions on both their faces were almost identical—filled with excitement.
At the center of the workstation, a fist-sized sealing orb floated in mid-air. green and gray-white runes flowed rapidly across its surface. Inside the orb, a dense mass of shadow writhed wildly, like a living creature trapped within glass.
Jie Ming’s steps paused briefly before he immediately reacted:
“Found another one?”
“Yes, this is already the seventh,” Viola replied without lifting her head, reaching out to poke the surface of the sealing orb.
As if stimulated, the dark shadow inside the orb slammed fiercely toward her fingertip.
A ring of green ripples immediately spread across the sealing surface, but quickly stabilized again.
“This one is more active than the previous six combined.”
Viola licked her lips, clear pleasure in her pale green eyes.
“Serlas nearly let it escape. In the end, I had to bombard it with two full rounds of my Pain Law to pin it down completely.”
Jie Ming turned to look at Dean Avery Knight.
Dean Avery was gently rubbing his brow, obvious fatigue in his eyes.
Yet there was far more satisfaction.
“Basically done. During this period, we’ve thoroughly turned the entire Tentacle Tree Plane upside down three times.”
“Carpet scanning, dimensional cross-verification, stellar interior probing, black hole event horizon detection… we’ve checked every place that can be checked.”
He took a deep breath here.
“This one was dug out from the degenerate matter interlayer of a white dwarf during the third round of searching.”
“If nothing goes wrong, it should be the last one.”
Jie Ming quickly calculated in his mind.
With a total of seven, according to the original allocation agreement, each participating seventh-ring wizard would receive one sample.
As the plane owner and intelligence provider, Jie Ming could obtain two.
Factoring in the one he still needed to give to Viola, he would at least secure one sample for himself.