Chapter 399: Do you want Mom to tell you a story?

Regarding humanoid ship lifeforms, they are the core technology of the massive interstellar civilization known as the Iron Law Star Alliance.

This massive civilization has guided countless civilizations across the universe, but their method of guidance is not like the Alliance's, which assists civilizations in truly independent advancement into space; instead, they dispense technology and fleets, forcibly incorporating civilizations into their territory.

While granting power to these small civilizations, they also exact a price, and being under their control is only one of those costs.

In the struggle against the endless torrent of heavenly disasters, these tiny civilizations are nothing more than expendable cannon fodder that can be discarded at any moment.

As the primary combat power bestowed, the manufacture, distribution, and allocation of humanoid ship lifeforms follow a strict review process—neither too many nor too few.

So, to no longer be controlled by others, we must attempt to independently replicate humanoid ship lifeforms!

For our civilization, for our nation, we must create them, and we must indeed create them!

On the capital planet adjacent to Zhang Jie's orbital path, a human in a research uniform was delivering an impassioned speech.

Unlike the number of ships openly docked at the satellite shipyard port, humanoid ship lifeforms determine a nation's covert military strength and also set the upper limit of their power.

Simply put, the technological gap is too vast; the power possessed by superior civilizations can never be matched by them, nor will they even try to match it.

All they wish to do is preserve their own civilization amidst this torrent of heavenly disaster, which is entirely understandable.

And replicating humanoid ship lifeforms is the best choice.

I declare! The first phase of the replication plan will begin execution today!

But… dismantling and analyzing a civilization's core technology—how could that possibly be easy?

Such a plot has occurred more than once, and not just in a single civilization.

As a vast civilization seeking to command all living forces across the Star Sea, if they truly are as a certain researcher said—merely treating other civilizations as disposable cannon fodder—then preserving themselves in this way is entirely understandable.

But where there is war, there are casualties—that is inevitable. If scheming individuals amplify these voices, they will only grow louder, requiring careful rebuttal; yet for both sides, the difference is merely positional, not a matter of right or wrong.

But all signs indicate that someone wishes to divide this civilization's living forces, having already planted a seed of doubt within each civilization's interior and nurturing it until it takes root and sprouts...

However, all this will only give a certain Star Sea overlord a headache, and has nothing to do with you, a little bum loafing about on the Garbage Star.

Eight years old: after the human female's previous lament about the starry sky, you began often staring blankly at the feces‑yellow heavens, even though it is eternally feces‑yellow and you have never seen a real starry sky, yet this does not hinder your fantasies of it.

Need to fly up to the heavens....

How to fly up to the heavens?

At this moment, Zhang Jie lay on the mat beside the skylight, gazing at the sky shrouded in poisonous gases and various substances, continually pondering this matter.

Although he always claims disinterest verbally and appears indifferent on the surface, his inner thoughts and daily actions have long betrayed Zhang Jie.

The human female noticed this early on; to her, Zhang Jie is merely a child who likes to talk tough.

'Could it be… that I need to strap a bomb to myself and blow up?'

As Zhang Jie kept pondering how to pierce this sky, the human female had already driven her newly assembled junk electric mini‑tractor back here.

"Xiao Jie! Come down and help move things!"

"Oh!"

Although Zhang Jie is stubborn as a mule, he still listens when he ought to.

In response to the human female's call, Zhang Jie flipped himself down from the five‑to‑six‑meter‑high shelter roof and landed steadily on the ground.

The human female has raised him well, never lacking in his food and drink; now Zhang Jie is as sturdy as an ox, so anyone who glances at him will surely say:

'Is this really an eight‑year‑old?'

In short, no child raised on the Wasteland turns out like him; frailty is merely the smallest issue, and not surviving to adulthood is the norm.

Compared to others who must constantly seek food, the reason the human female can raise Zhang Jie to be robust is that she possesses a one‑of‑a‑kind thing.

It is an organic‑matter synthesizer; according to the human female, this device is standard equipment on interstellar‑traveling warships, and its function is simple: using energy to catalyze inorganic material, producing the essential energy source that allows carbon‑based life to survive.

Although I don't know why the human female possesses such a device, Zhang Jie knows that it is precisely because of it that he and the human female can live comfortably on this Wasteland, where even clean water must be bought.

This time, the human female brought back a pile of miscellaneous books.

"Hehe, today's haul isn't bad."

The human female looked at Zhang Jie, who was nearly up to her chin, and cheerfully lifted a book that still looked quite new.

It was a fairy‑tale book.

"What is this?"

Zhang Jie gazed dubiously at the childish cover; paper books are not uncommon, but the purpose of these objects is no longer merely to store text—more often they carry a commemorative significance.

"A fairy‑tale book! I've searched long and hard to find this!"

"Xiao Jie~ do you want Mom to tell you a fairy‑tale story?"

"?"

A huge question mark popped up above Zhang Jie's head, and gooseflesh instantly spread all over his body.

"Listen to a fairy‑tale story? How could that be? How could he do something so childish!"

He's already an eight‑year‑old man! Just thinking about it makes him feel uncomfortable all over.

Especially the way the human female looks at him with that… that expression…

Damn, it's ridiculous—goosebumps falling all over the ground.

Yet in the end, Zhang Jie still lay beside the human female with a look of utter resignation, listening as she began to tell the fairy‑tale story....

Simply put, as a mature man, the last thing he should do is let his mother feel hurt!

Cough… the truth is, he simply can't withstand the human female's soft‑hard persuasion....

Saying that Zhang Jie unintentionally became mature, she wants to reminisce about his few childish periods and such....

In short, Zhang Jie compromised, yet this fairy‑tale story is far from the boring tale he imagined.

Accompanied by the human female's gentle voice, a story titled "Wingless Bird" slowly unfurled....