Chapter 517: Chasing Dreams

Under Ye Nan's guidance, the squad walked for an entire afternoon and finally found everyone.

This was thanks to the fact that the bug attack hadn't lasted long. Although everyone had scattered and run, many had joined together to form small teams, circling the crash site of the warship, none daring to go too far.

Soon, they returned to the warship's crash site, looking at the wreckage in silence.

"When can we go back?" Someone broke the silence.

"Soon," Lei Ting said.

"How soon is soon?" the voice asked again. "You brought us here just to look at the wreckage?"

Although the other soldiers remained silent, observing the development of events, they somewhat agreed with their comrade's words.

Holding onto the expectation of rescue, even though they had been chased everywhere by the bugs, they still circled the warship wreckage, all for the dream of returning home.

"Not long from now," Lei Ting said, then fell silent. Having returned here, he didn't know how to proceed. He turned his head, his gaze falling on Ye Nan, hoping Ye Nan could give him an instruction. Unknowingly, he had become dependent on Ye Nan's commands.

"How long is 'not long'? The food in the warship can only last ten days or half a month," the voice said anxiously. "If no one comes to rescue us before the food runs out, we will all starve to death."

People need to eat, and this planet was desolate. Short-term combat was fine, but long-term survival was a problem. The reason they refused to leave the warship wreckage was also because the warship contained the food they needed.

"You won't starve to death," Ye Nan stepped out at the right moment. "I can guarantee you that someone will come to rescue us soon. Of course, they might not be what you imagine."

"What do you mean by 'not what we imagine'?" the voice seized on Ye Nan's words and asked directly.

Ye Nan looked over and saw a soldier as short as a monkey speaking.

Speaking of which, a height of 1.62 meters wasn't exactly short, but the soldiers here were all tall. Placed in the crowd, he appeared exceptionally short.

"This person is the Major's adjutant," Lei Ting whispered in Ye Nan's ear.

"So that's it." Ye Nan suddenly understood. He had wondered why someone kept spreading negative thoughts; it turned out it wasn't that he wanted to spread negativity, but that he was working against Lei Ting.

"But this is also good," Ye Nan murmured, a smile appearing on his face. "'Not what you imagine' means those coming to the rescue might not be people from the Human Federation."

"If they aren't from the Human Federation, could it be the bugs coming to rescue you? Brain-dead," the short soldier said with disdain.

Brain-dead! Hearing this word, the smile on Ye Nan's face stiffened, then he smiled even more brilliantly.

The short soldier who had finished speaking suddenly felt something was wrong. He felt a chill all over his body. He looked down and saw that all his clothes had turned into rags, lying on the ground.

Everyone was stunned, then burst into uproarious laughter. The sound of "haha" was endless. The short soldier's face turned as red as a monkey's butt.

His hands danced in the air, performing various ridiculous actions.

"Did you do this?" Lei Ting whispered in his ear, his voice carrying a hint of laughter.

Seeing someone exposed, especially in such a pathetic state, was truly hard not to laugh at.

Ye Nan turned his head and looked at Lei Ting. That affirmative gaze directly confirmed Lei Ting's guess.

"Alright," Ye Nan clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention back. "Although you stripping in public is truly entertaining, I still want to say: mind your conduct."

Ye Nan teased the short soldier and, in a relaxed tone, explained the matter: "What I meant by saying those coming to rescue us aren't from the Human Federation doesn't mean it's the bugs. The universe is vast; it's not just one civilization."

As Ye Nan's voice fell, the laughter gradually stopped. Regarding their future, most soldiers were still very serious.

"I know you have many doubts in your hearts, but I want to tell you about my situation. Can you let me finish speaking before you talk?" Ye Nan smiled kindly. Ever since he successfully won Lei Ting over with a blueprint of the future, Ye Nan's confidence in his public speaking ability had greatly increased. At the same time, he understood why ancient cults were so prevalent: beautiful ideals have an incomparable attraction to ordinary people.

To ensure his effect, he spread his psychic power, carefully invading their minds, making them feel intimate with him unknowingly.

This kind of invasion was hidden; compared to seducing emotions, it was weaker and more imperceptible.

For Ye Nan, controlling a person's mind and turning them into his friend wasn't too difficult, but there were tens of thousands of people here. Modifying them one by one without alerting others was simply impossible, so he chose this method: wide range, weak effect.

"I come from the Space-Time Empire and am the Emperor of the Space-Time Empire. When joining the Pan-Galactic Federation, I met Peters, the rescuer stationed by the Human Federation in the Pan-Galactic Federation. At his invitation, I came to the Human Federation," Ye Nan's voice was calm.

"But..." Ye Nan's voice suddenly rose, "What did I see? I saw an unsound welfare system, I saw cruel class exploitation, and I saw that in front of citizens, the property safety of commoners could not be guaranteed at all."

Immediately, Ye Nan's mood sank, carrying a hint of frustration. "I cannot imagine how you live in such a society."

Ye Nan's emotions affected everyone. All the soldiers present had unnatural expressions on their faces.

"You must know that in our Space-Time Empire, there are numerous welfare systems that guarantee a person is free from hunger and cold from birth, ensuring they have enough time to pursue their dreams. Whether you dream of becoming a psychologist or a great scientist, you have enough time to do it and achieve it."

"Compared to the Space-Time Empire, the Human Federation is like hell, a sinful hell. It makes you rush about for food, clothing, housing, and transportation; it stifles your dreams. It is simply unforgivable."

"So I made up my mind. I want to change this situation. I want to let your Human Federation join the Space-Time Empire and share a beautiful life together."

Ye Nan was like a cult leader, constantly promoting his ideals, seducing human longing, and coupled with his psychic power inducing the deepest emotions in these people's hearts, he immediately won everyone's trust.

"Do not hesitate. Join us, join the Space-Time Empire, and everything you should have can be obtained." Ye Nan tried his best to promote the beauty of his Space-Time Empire, painting a beautiful blueprint, turning his ideals into their dreams, and winning them over.

"Is it really like that?" a soldier asked, gathering his courage.

Under the blueprint painted by Ye Nan, what honor and disgrace, what national independence, were all empty. In the face of freedom and equality, these things were nothing more than ridiculously clumsy words.

"It is like that," Ye Nan seduced. "What I said is all true. This is my dream and the goal I have always wanted to achieve. And I already have a sound plan."

"I plan to replace ordinary people with robots for heavy labor in the next two to three years. I plan to popularize basic welfare, that is: guarantee everyone's food, clothing, housing, and transportation, and guarantee everyone's life foundation."

Ye Nan was like a politician giving a speech in front of the public. Everything he spoke about was topics they cared about and things closely related to them.

"But wouldn't that turn us into pigs, eating and sleeping, bored to death?" another soldier asked. This soldier's words immediately drew collective disdain from everyone.

The soldier felt the disdainful gazes, scratched his head blankly, not understanding why he had suddenly become an enemy of the world.

"Very good, this is indeed something worth considering," Ye Nan clapped his hands and praised the soldier loudly. "When humans are still worried about food, clothing, housing, and transportation, they cannot feel the existence of loneliness. But when a person is free from worry about food and clothing, they can feel the terror of loneliness and boredom."

"That is an emotion that can drive people crazy."

"However, there are too many ways to solve this situation."

"Whether it's virtual online games or other sports like mountain climbing and tourism, as well as music, dance, movies, TV shows, poetry, and literature, etc., there are countless ways of entertainment, enough for everyone to live a fulfilling life every day."

"But these are just minor paths. The true great path is to pursue dreams."

"Everyone has their own dreams. Whether this dream is fleeting or a lifelong goal, as long as it is a dream and as long as you go to realize it, it will make one's body and mind feel happy."

"And the basic welfare of the Space-Time Empire can allow you to boldly pursue your dreams without worrying about your food, clothing, housing, and transportation."

Ye Nan's words made everyone's heart beat faster. No matter who it was, they had all had dreams. Perhaps these dreams were just a flash of inspiration, or perhaps these dreams could only be realized in sleep. But dreams were the greatest pursuit of humanity, and Ye Nan could provide the conditions for chasing dreams, giving them welfare, and letting them use their own hands to chase one dream after another.

"Chasing dreams, can I really do it?" A soldier raised his hands, looked at them, and his eyes became misty.

Dreams, he had always had them, but he had never realized them. Thanks to the Pan-Galactic Federation, the Human Federation developed rapidly in technology, but in livelihood technology, it was a mess.

Because the military forcibly divided the public into two classes—commoners and citizens—allowing citizens to have all the advantages: when a commoner opened a restaurant and a citizen opened a restaurant, the result of the competition was that the commoner went bankrupt.

Better citizens would use some hidden means to crush commoners, while worse citizens would directly let the police come and kill or maim the commoners.

If it weren't for the fact that to become a citizen, one must make contributions on the battlefield, I'm afraid the commerce of the Human Federation would have been monopolized by citizens long ago.

But it was such a small class that made the entire commoner class complain.

As someone born a citizen, he didn't live well. When he was young, he had his parents' help and was free from worry. But when he grew up a little and became sensible, he understood that he had to shoulder responsibilities, and the consequence of shouldering responsibilities was that his dreams were suppressed.

"If it's really as Ye Nan said, promoting basic welfare and letting humans no longer worry about food, will my life trajectory change?" the soldier murmured. A picture appeared in his mind: a man in strange clothes jumping on a stage, various gorgeous dances displayed in his movements, one cool action after another, causing the fans under the stage to cheer frantically.

"If I really lived in the world described by Ye Nan, would I really become a star?"

Immediately, the soldier shook his head. Time would not flow back, and he could not return to the past. Besides fantasizing in front of the TV, he had no other thoughts. The pressure of life made him have no ability to realize his dreams at all.

"You certainly can," Ye Nan smiled slightly and continued along the soldier's words. "Chasing dreams is everyone's talent, a power bestowed upon you by heaven, and no one can deprive you of it."

"But I..." the soldier hesitated.

"Do not doubt," the smile on Ye Nan's face became even more sunny, and a ray of light radiated from his body. "Do not be scared by any difficulties. Realize your dreams; no one can stop you."

At this time, Ye Nan was like a cult leader. He was spreading his ideas to his followers and brainwashing them, but he was different from that kind of cult leader.

What the cult leader painted were all products of human fantasy, and he had no ability to realize them at all. But the beautiful future painted by Ye Nan was the goal he was striving for. Most importantly, it was not illusory, but a real, achievable beautiful future.

"Realizing your dreams, it's easy to say, but it's very difficult to do," the short soldier was the first to wake up from the painting painted by Ye Nan.

Originally, because of the antagonistic relationship between the big man and Ye Nan, he was very disgusted with Ye Nan, and coupled with the fact that he had just made a fool of himself in public, he blamed everything on Ye Nan. Just now, Ye Nan invaded everyone's mind, making him have a trace of good feeling for Ye Nan, but soon, this good feeling was worn away, so when Ye Nan was seducing others, he jumped out to destroy it.

"Say it's difficult, and it's difficult; say it's easy, and it's also easy," the smile on Ye Nan's face deepened. "The reason you feel it's difficult is because you have to rush about for life, but joining the Space-Time Empire, all this will become different."

"Without worries and troubles, you have enough time and energy to pursue your dreams."

"Don't listen to him, he is just a... woo-woo!" The short soldier suddenly found that he couldn't speak. The sound reached his mouth but couldn't be emitted, as if his mouth was blocked by something.

"Chasing dreams, no one can stop you from chasing dreams." ===== CHAPTER 518 =====