Chapter 455: with translation of chapter title

She looked toward Lei Ge again.

"Ambassador Lei Ge, does your Yanhuang Civilization accept the Alliance's commission to arbitrate the ownership dispute over the Sea of Stellar Radiance?"

Lei Ge's heart jolted.

This directly posed a tough problem, putting Yanhuang Civilization over the fire.

"Yanhuang Civilization is a member of the Alliance; we ought to have the responsibility to mediate these conflicts, so we certainly accept."

Lei Ge quickly gave his answer.

For a moment, all civilization members stared at Lei Ge in unison.

In those gazes, there was schadenfreude, sympathy, and mostly the look of watching a clueless hothead jump into a meat grinder.

The Sea of Stellar Radiance is a notorious mess.

The Blue Crystal Civilization and the Rift Void Civilization have been wrangling over this fat prize for thousands of years, and behind it lie the allegiance issues of several long-standing council civilizations.

Whoever touches it ends up reeking, possibly offending both sides, ending up an outsider to both.

Wa Xi Ling's move, nominally a promotion, is actually setting him up for a fall.

"Since Ambassador Lei Ge has taken on this heavy task, please all parties temporarily halt the dispute; seven Alliance days later, we will hear Yanhuang Civilization's ruling at the Sea of Stellar Radiance."

Wa Xi Ling rose from her high seat, and the originally tense atmosphere eased slightly with her gentle voice.

"Hmph!"

The representative of the Blue Crystal Civilization, a crystalline being whose surface flowed with a faint blue halo, walked up to Lei Ge and, looking down, emitted a clear vibrating tone.

"Newcomer, some things may look tempting, but if your appetite is too small, be careful not to burst your belly; we Blue Crystal Civilization have plenty of friends in the Alliance Internal Affairs Department."

That's a naked threat.

Beside them, the illusory figure of the Rift Void Civilization drifted over, its voice flickering near and far, exuding a chilling tone:

"Not afraid of the wind snapping your tongue, the dimensional coordinates of the Sea of Stellar Radiance have long been branded with our Rift Void Civilization's mark—think it over before you speak."

The two played off each other, completely disregarding the newcomer who had just obtained a Class C permit.

In their eyes, Yanhuang Civilization is merely a lucky upstart; to survive in the circle, one must ultimately obey their looks.

Lei Ge merely couldn't be bothered to rise, casually flicking at nonexistent dust on his sleeve,

"If you two think volume wins the argument, the Alliance might as well rename itself the 'Roaring Club'; otherwise, let's see the real outcome in seven days!"

Having said that, he directly took Yunhai Zhou and turned to leave before everyone's eyes, leaving them a back view.

Heavenly Palace Universe, conference room.

On the holographic screen, the disputed Sea of Stellar Radiance slowly rotated.

It is an extraordinarily splendid nebula, unlike ordinary interstellar dust; here the clouds show an eerie purple-gold hue,

with countless high-energy reaction points flashing within.

"Is this the Sea of Stellar Radiance?"

Qin Hao's voice came through the comms, revealing no emotion.

Although he was absorbing energy, the communication was still fine.

"Yes."

Lei Ge pointed at the data analysis report: "According to the Alliance database, this place produces a high-dimensional energy ore called Star Marrow."

"This ore is the core fuel for dimensional weapons, with extremely high purity."

"Star Marrow..."

Qin Hao, inside the Heavenly Palace microcosm, watched the jumping detection values on the system interface, and his heart clenched sharply.

【High-Purity Dimensional Energy Source!】

【This energy source can be directly converted into Energy Points, with a conversion rate a hundred thousand times that of ordinary black hole energy!】

【If the region's energy is fully absorbed, there is more than enough to parse zero-information.】

Qin Hao had been worrying about Energy Points, but he hadn't expected that just as he was about to doze off, someone would bring him a pillow.

As for arbitration? What about the dispute between the Blue Crystal and Rift Void Civilizations?

In his eyes, this is just two beggars with golden bowls begging, still fighting over who gets an extra piece of steamed bun.

"Old Lei."

"You say, two kids fighting over a toy to the point of being unable to separate; as an adult, what's the fairest way to handle it?"

Qin Hao spoke, a smile on his face.

Lei Ge blinked, then realized, his eyes flashing: "Confiscate?"

"Not only must we confiscate it, but we must also tell them that this toy is too dangerous; for their safety's sake, we reluctantly take on its custodianship."

"I have already analyzed it; the energy structure of this starfield is in a delicate critical state.

Tell them their mining methods are too crude; at any moment they could trigger a dimensional collapse, by which time not only the ore but the entire G-37 subdivision would have to go down with it."

"Is... this really true?"

Zhou Yunhai hesitated a bit.

"Not now, but once we go there, it will be."

Qin Hao said lightly.

"The Heaven's Net System's Dimensional Disturbance Module ought to be brought out for a show."

Lei Ge and Zhou Yunhai exchanged a glance, both seeing fervor in each other's eyes.

This is going to be black-on-black!

And they're wielding the "Safety Convention" as a big stick, openly engaging in black-on-black!

Half a month later, at the edge of the Starlight Sea.

Two massive fleets had long been facing off here.

On the left was the Blue Crystal Civilization's fleet, its warships carved entirely from huge blue crystals, like floating icebergs, exuding a bone-chilling cold.

On the right was the Void-Split Civilization's fleet, their warships twisted and bizarre in shape, as if constantly jumping through space, making them hard to lock onto.

The atmosphere was tense, gun muzzles appearing and disappearing in the void.

Just then, a fleet descended from four-dimensional space, swaggering as it inserted itself between the two fleets.

It was precisely the Pangu Fleet.

Compared to the two civilizations, which routinely field hundreds of billions of warships, the Pangu Fleet's mere ten thousand ships looked thin, even shabby.

"Is this the Yanhuang Civilization's show of force?"

Inside the Blue Crystal Civilization's flagship, the commander snorted,

"You send only this few ships? Is he here to mediate, or just sightseeing?"

"Patch through their comms—I want to see how this newcomer plans to judge."

On the Pangu flagship, the comms were connected.

However, this time it was Qin Zheng and Zhou Yunhai who came, their figures appearing on the huge screens of both civilizations' flagships.

Qin Zheng was seated in the captain's chair, holding a cup of steaming tea, not even glancing at the screen.

"Gentlemen, you've kept me waiting," Qin Zheng said calmly.

"Cut the nonsense!"

The Void-Split Civilization's commander, a hothead, had his phantom-like body violently fluctuate.

"Announce the result already! Who does the Starlight Sea belong to? If you dare favor those Blue Crystal stoneheads, don't blame me for breaking alliance ties!"

"Exactly!"

The Blue Crystal commander quickly added, "Our Blue Crystal Civilization's patience is limited!"

Facing pressure from the two seventh-level civilizations, Qin Zheng leisurely blew on the tea leaves floating on his tea's surface and took a light sip.

"Not bad."

After setting down the cup, he finally lifted his head.

His gaze, through the screen, fell on the two commanders.

"After the Yanhuang Civilization's professional team conducted a ten-day on-site survey, we have reached a most regrettable conclusion."

Qin Zheng sighed, his face full of anguish: "Your two peoples' mining technology is simply too backward."

"What did you say?!"

"Impudent!"

The two commanders exploded in anger simultaneously.

Though their technology isn't top-tier in the alliance, it's definitely mainstream—yet a newcomer who just joined the alliance dares to mock them as backward?

"Don't jump the gun," Qin Zheng said, pointing a finger in the void.

The next second, a data model so complex it made scalps tingle was transmitted to both flagships.

The model showed that energy nodes within the Starlight Sea were undergoing an eerie redshift, with countless red warning signs spreading like a virus across the model.

"See that?"

Qin Zheng pointed at those red zones: "Because you two have long engaged in unregulated, even barbaric, violent mining,

the Starlight Sea's underlying dimensional structure has already suffered irreversible cracks; this star field is now a dimensional bomb about to explode."

"Nonsense!"

The Blue Crystal commander roared, "Our detectors have found no abnormality whatsoever!"

"That's because your detectors are blind."

Lan Ge bluntly retorted, "Or rather, with your technical level, you simply can't comprehend this level of crisis."

No sooner had he spoken than, as if to prove his point,

deep within the formerly calm and splendid Starlight Sea, a violent tremor suddenly erupted without warning.

Boom——

Although no sound can be heard in the vacuum, every warship's radar went berserk with alarms.

Only seen, at the nebula's center, a visible purple-gold ripple suddenly expanded.

Where it passed, space shattered like glass, and even a few unmanned scout drones that ventured too close were swallowed whole, leaving not a scrap.

"Alarm! Alarm! Detected ultra-high-energy dimensional turbulence!"

"The constants are undergoing violent fluctuations!"

The command rooms of the two fleets descended into chaos.

They watched that dreadful ripple; an energy burst of this level,

if uncontrolled, could tear every warship present to shreds!

"How could this happen?!"