Chapter 262: 261 Cleanup

We searched region by region, flew place by place. Since the True Realm has no concept of time, Wang Wu cannot feel how long has passed outside.

But as a cultivator who came to rescue, he naturally possesses some practical tools, including something that can tell the time.

His phone can also display the time here, though whether he checks it makes little difference, because based on past missions, a rescue mission in the True Realm usually lasts about one to three months.

He goes on one mission per year; the rest of the time is spent in classes and free time. If a mission is completed well enough, he generally won't need to take another mission for the next few years.

Of course, Wang Wu's habit is to take a mission every year; although he doesn't want to, there's no choice—it's his master's requirement.

This mission took longer than previous ones because the Songlan Realm's authorities only thought of themselves and never considered rescuing people.

Therefore, to search for survivors as thoroughly as possible, Wang Wu and his group stayed in that place for a full half‑year.

But the longer the time, the more achievement points Wang Wu's group naturally earned. In this mission they rescued a huge number of civilians, all thanks to the alien survivors native to that place.

They seem to possess a special technology that lets them survive even after being pulled into the True Realm.

How long they can hold out is uncertain, but in any case they eventually waited for their savior.

Namely, the few cultivators from the Qionglan Sect, including Wang Wu.

It only takes a few cultivators to save nearly ten billion people—yes, nearly ten billion, not tens of millions or even a few hundred million.

Nearly ten billion.

Just four people can achieve that, which sounds almost unbelievable.

But don't forget those four are super‑beings capable of sub‑light‑speed travel and can pack a planet with a flick of the wrist; thinking that way, rescuing nearly ten billion people in half a year doesn't seem unreasonable.

One might even think the rescued number is a bit low, but there's nothing that can be done, because the responsibility lies not with Wang Wu's cultivators but with the planet's original authorities.

To be fair, the Songlan Realm's authorities are indeed terribly corrupt, a situation not uncommon—perhaps even fairly typical—in the Qiongyuan Civilization.

However, most authorities aren't that incompetent—perhaps they're just that fearful.

When their own star system suffers a disaster, the officials in charge of the stellar system first think of protecting themselves and their families, not of rescuing as many people as possible to atone for their fault.

For officials, this is considered the most taboo behavior in the Qiongyuan Civilization.

Interstellar Civilization values population resources above all; in this nation, an official's most direct performance metric is the population count in his jurisdiction.

The more populous the star system, the better the official's performance score; conversely, fewer people means a poorer score.

And the officials of the Songlan Star System made a colossal mistake in this regard.

When a star system is struck, a Qiongyuan official's proper duty is to preserve as many lives as possible, not to have officials, their beneficiaries, and their families evacuate first.

Not to mention, as a Qiongyuan official, some of your relatives are to be stationed in other star systems or a unified location as hostages… ah no, residents.

Thus, when disaster strikes, choosing to protect only a small group instead of the masses is simply foolish, and ordinary officials wouldn't be that stupid.

Officials who make such errors are generally newcomers to the Qiongyuan, and as an Interstellar Civilization, they are constantly expanding into deeper reaches of the universe.

All civilizations encountered along the way—if weak, they are absorbed; if strong… there are no strong ones, the situation of this star system is already set, and no unknown super‑power beyond the existing few civilizations will appear.

In any case, the probability is very low.

Thus, under this premise, the Empire's expansion inevitably meets only weak civilizations, and the Qiongyuan Civilization is highly open and inclusive; when encountering passing aliens, they choose to absorb them and make them their own people.

As for dissent, there can be none—everyone looks the same, shares the same lineage, and even lacks reproductive isolation, so what's different?

Regarding language and script, they must be unified; the original language can remain as a dialect, but the official language is certainly the common tongue and script of the Qiongyuan Civilization.

The Songlan Civilization is a newly‑joined weak civilization within the Qiongyuan; because it just joined, the family that originally ruled the star system naturally remains in charge, leading them to make a mistake.

It is an error they never realized in the past and did not correct after joining the Qiongyuan.

In fact, this was intentional on the part of the Qiongyuan Central Court, designed to let the ruling families err so the court can reclaim authority and send its own people to govern the area.

This method has proven repeatedly effective for the Qiongyuan.

However, most of the time, the Qiongyuan's means of reclaiming power are not true disasters, because a true disaster would inevitably cause massive population loss, and population is the Qiongyuan's most valued resource.

Moreover, there are less harmful, better ways to regain authority, so there's no need to wait for a true disaster to act.

Of course, if a true disaster strikes before they have a chance to act, there's nothing they can do.

For example, now the Songlan Star System where Wang Wu's team is on a mission is facing this problem.

Having joined the Qiongyuan less than three hundred years ago, the ruling class remains the same group; although joining should have brought a qualitative leap in living standards, ordinary people in the whole star system still see little difference from before.

Before the true disaster erupted, there was already a simmering public discontent here, which is exactly the calculation the central court was making.

They stir up public resentment, then go with the people's will, overthrow the original ruling class, and replace them with new administrators.

Then the true disaster broke out.

It was originally just a minor issue, but the local authorities still hadn't changed their mindset even after nearly three hundred years in the Qiongyuan.

Thus, what followed was the classic suppression incident, leading to a worsening situation that eventually spiraled out of control.

(End of Chapter)