Chapter 446

"A trial with a sixty percent mortality rate?"

Gan Ge raised his eyebrows, and the smile on his face completely disappeared.

"Ma'am, I need to remind you of something. We came to join the alliance, not to die."

"If joining your alliance requires exchanging a ninety percent casualty rate among our personnel for a qualification, then we might as well not join."

His tone turned stern.

The soft fear the hard, the hard fear the ruthless, and the ruthless fear those who fear nothing.

Diplomatic maneuvering is nothing but a contest of aura.

The other side wanted to use a high‑risk trial to manipulate the Yanhuang Civilization, so he simply flipped the table, indicating he was done playing.

Sure enough,

As soon as he said that, the faces of the other four representatives all shifted slightly.

They went to great trouble to invite the Yanhuang Civilization here, not to scare them away.

The unique technology displayed by the Yanhuang Civilization, especially the firewall capable of crashing systems and the highly efficient dimensional leap technology, holds great appeal for them.

Their goal is, through a high‑pressure trial, to force the Yanhuang Civilization to reveal more of its cards,

Ideally, they would suffer heavy losses in the trial and be forced to seek the alliance's aid, thereby achieving total control over them.

But now, the other side seems completely unwilling to play along.

"Ambassador, you've misunderstood."

Or Wo Xilin stepped in to smooth things over, her voice returning to its earlier gentleness.

"The alliance's trials treat all new members equally, with risk and opportunity coexisting."

"Civilizations that pass the trial not only gain official member status, but also receive generous rewards from the alliance,"

"including rare cosmic resources, technology sharing with advanced civilizations, and even an exclusive territory in a star field."

She began to dangle bait.

"As for the sixty percent mortality rate, that's merely historical data for ordinary quasi‑Seventh‑Level civilizations. I believe that with the Yanhuang Civilization's strength, the odds of success will be much higher."

"Oh? Then what exactly does this trial entail?"

Gan Ge followed her line and asked.

Wo Xilin didn't answer directly; instead, she raised her hand and traced a line in the air.

A dynamic star chart unfolded before everyone.

At the center of the chart was a region marked in deep red.

It was an extremely unstable region of space, where countless tiny spatial rifts and energy storms raged, forming a chaotic cosmic scar.

"This is the Forgotten Abyss."

Wo Xilin introduced.

"Hundreds of millions of years ago, a war erupted here between two Eighth‑Level civilizations."

"The outcome was mutual annihilation of the two Eighth‑Level civilizations; their residual power tore at reality, leaving here a wound that never heals."

"Within this abyss churn fragments of chaotic rules, violent turbulence, and… the lingering resentment of the defeated Eighth‑Level civilizations."

"Resentment?"

Zhou Yunhai caught that word sharply.

"Yes, it's a compound high‑dimensional contamination zone blending cognition, spiritual pollution, soul, and karmic curses."

"It has no physical form, yet it can erode any nearby matter or life, assimilating them into part of the abyss."

Wo Xilin pointed to a constantly writhing black shadow on the star chart.

"One purpose of the alliance establishing the G‑37 outpost is to suppress and study this Forgotten Abyss."

"Every thousand years we need to send fleets into the abyss to clear the monsters spawned by the 'resentment' and reinforce the seal."

"And the initiation trial for new members is to participate in one abyss‑purification mission."

She looked at Gan Ge and Zhou Yunhai and said slowly:

"Your mission is to lead your fleets into the shallow layer of the Forgotten Abyss,"

"independently purge all monsters in a designated sector, and bring back a Resentment Core as proof."

"During the mission you will receive no support from the alliance; life and death are left to fate."

"That is the full content of the trial."

Inside the Command Center, the Yanhuang senior officials watching the live broadcast all turned grave.

"This is too treacherous!"

Zhou Shaoqing snapped: "This isn't a trial at all—it's just using us as cannon fodder! What damn resentment? Even Eighth‑Level civilizations mutually annihilated; whatever's left can't be easy to handle."

"They just want to use us to kill each other!"

Mao Xinyang also saw through the scheme.

"If our fleet suffers heavy losses in there, they can openly request aid and further control us."

"If we are wiped out entirely, that's even more to their liking; our exposed technology and secrets will become their spoils."

Meanwhile, in the distant Tiangong micro‑cosmos, Qin Hao and Qian Yin were also paying attention to the situation here.

"Old Qin, we can't let them go!" Qian Yin's face was filled with worry.

Qin Hao said nothing.

His gaze pierced the endless void, as if he could directly see that so‑called Forgotten Abyss.

At the shipyard.

Gan Ge listened to Wo Xilin's introduction and fell silent for a moment.

He neither immediately agreed nor refused.

He just asked a seemingly unrelated question.

"I want to know, what level of alliance authorization will we receive upon completing this trial? Will we be able to access information about level-eight, even level-nine civilizations?"

That question left all five representatives stunned for a moment.

They didn't expect that, after hearing about such a dangerous mission, the other side's concern wasn't about how to stay alive, but about the profits after mission success.

Especially their craving for information about higher-level civilizations.

This ambition, they did not hide at all.

Wo Xi Ling gave him a deep look and nodded, saying:

"Sure. As long as you can bring back the resentment core alive, you will receive the Alliance's 【C】 member authorization."

"You can freely access all public information in the Alliance database about level-seven civilizations and part of level-eight civilizations."

"Deal!"

Xie Ge bluntly spat out two words.

He didn't even turn to ask Yunhai Zhou for his opinion, just hammered out the decision directly.

Because he knew that Qin Hao at the headquarters would definitely agree.

For the Yanhuang Civilization, risk has never been a problem.

The question is, whether the benefits behind the risk are great enough.

An opportunity to come into contact with the secrets of a level‑eight civilization is worth them taking a risk.

Besides, the number of ships needed to deploy for the mission doesn't have to be large.

"Good, you have guts."

Lei Zhan grinned, his smile tinged with a hint of cruelty, "I hope your strength can match your courage."

"The trial will begin in seven days. During these seven days, you can dock at the port to resupply and prepare."

Having said that, the five representatives' figures turned to nothing and vanished on the spot.

A Hongmen banquet aimed at the Yanhuang Civilization was formally set out.

Meanwhile, Xie Ge and Yunhai Zhou, this pair of pawns pushed onto the stage, exchanged a smile.

They gazed at the Forgotten Abyss marked as extremely dangerous, and instead of fear, their eyes burned with fervent fighting spirit and anticipation.

Hunter, or prey?

Who knows?