Chapter 72: Chapter Seventy-four: One Nine

The new batch of Dragon Gate's entrance selection was in full swing, and Jian Mu also successfully endured the most difficult preliminary selection stage.

After the first round of screening, the original hundreds of thousands of martial artists who had signed up dwindled to fewer than a thousand, and Jian Mu finally breathed a sigh of relief, able to spare some leisure to observe the selection.

The first batch of the Heartnet selection was naturally a combat power test, after all, even someone as strong as Chén Chén's life link cannot now directly see a person's talent points like in a game; only the most primitive method can be used.

Of course, the requirements of Dragon Gate Kindergarten are not high either.

The second round of screening was the pleasant interview session, because A Yun in the Xin Wang Shi Jie is just an ordinary cloud (unable to use talent abilities), so the simplified interview is not an illusion test, and this stage is not yet necessary.

【Second stage examination, Ten Steps Ask Heart】

It's actually just a survey.

It is merely a survey that cannot lie or evade, one question per step, ten steps to examine the heart; once the test begins, one must go through to the end.

Each question directly probes the depths of the soul, reflecting people's hearts.

In a certain examination space.

First step—

【You have two pairs of underwear, one dirty and unusable, one washed but not dry, which will you choose to wear?】

Jian Mu: emmmm, it's hard to understand where this directly hits the soul, but it is indeed a difficult choice to make.

Second step—

【Are humans good or bad in nature?】

Jian Mu: truly a vexing question, but the correct answer is also as simple as can be.

【Do you like a fair world?】

……

After not looking for a while, Jian Mu felt bored.

The humans' answers are really boring.

I also don't know why A Yun likes to play with humans.

By the way, I also don't know when the father will nurture new younger siblings; it should take a long time.

Jian Mu's thoughts are often as broad as a child's; wherever he thinks, he flies there.

The examination time flew by; proceeding efficiently in the Heartnet, the second round of screening ended in just half a day.

However, the results of the second round were not announced immediately; according to the official explanation, because the final score needs to combine both rounds, manual grading approval and final statistics require some time.

The real reason is to ferment the foreshadowing buried in the real world long before the examination began.

Before the examination even began, there were many rumors:

"It is said to have come from within the World Tree."

"All the content of this World Tree's heart examination is in the newly added compulsory course of the World Tree!"

From the global examination registration to the end of the second round, a whole week has passed; what was originally just a topic for tea‑time chatter, after a week of fermentation, gradually became one of the hottest topics nowadays.

All that's left is for the examinees who finish the test to come out and add the final spark to this rumor.

Using this spark, push the World Tree's compulsory content onto the table.

A book titled Heaven and Earth began to be talked about with relish.

The book says:

"Individuals give benefits to the group, and the group gives value to individuals."

The book says:

"Nature will not be destroyed, because we are part of nature, or rather, destruction ought to be part of nature."

The book also says:

"Nobody will like fairness, because it only deprives the value of living individuals."

This world has truth, because anything can be truth.

In ancient times there was Dong Zhongshu who abolished the hundred schools to honor Confucianism alone, and there were the Four Books, Five Classics, and eight‑legged exams for selecting officials; the meaning of the examination lies not in the examination itself, but in the content people must study for it.

Today is the same.

Only, today's sacred learning has changed.

And wanting to pass the examination is not just knowing its form but also understanding its meaning, internalizing it, after all, in the examination one cannot lie, skip, or withdraw midway.

————

Jiangnan Base City.

Luofeng and Xuxin's brief separation felt sweeter than a new marriage; after a week they had taken an important step in their relationship, becoming inseparable like glue and lacquer.

Of course, even being happy and forgetting Shu has a round limit.

After one round……

That day, Luofeng finally remembered Babata's plan to build a Universe spaceship, and decided to go to various countries to purchase some Universe spaceship scrap.

Although Luofeng doesn't yet have the plan to venture into the Universe anytime soon, letting Babata first build the Universe spaceship is always a good thing.

First and foremost, naturally one must seek the officials of China.

Luofeng, as an outstanding non‑graduate of the previous Dragon Gate cohort, had already become the main force in Jiangnan during the full‑scale beast tide, twice reinforced the Shu battlefield, and with A Yun's media secretly controlling the hype for the new Dragon Gate generation, Luofeng in China's region is also well‑known.

And during the war within a year, Luofeng had already met several veteran planet‑level powerhouses in China.

After getting to know each other, they then learned Ji Heng's background......

After learning from Babata's description how vast this starry sky is, Luofeng's vision and strength rose a level, so Ji Heng's revealed identity was not too surprising; the former wariness due to Ji Heng's identity thus disappeared.

On the contrary, over the past year the two have fought side by side on the battlefield more than once, forming a considerable bond.

And in this war, Ji Heng's performance even surpassed that of Chén Chén.

Relying on the light ability awakened after breaking through the planet level, Ji Heng possessed, in the entire war, a formidable slashing capability second only to Hong, Thunder God, Chén Chén, and the legendary strong one "Qian" from the World Tree.

Of those three, all are veteran experts, and Ji Heng also earned the title of "second‑day genius" of the new generation by relying on battlefield activity second only to Chén Chén.

Luofeng was behind one person, ranking third.

Although Jiang Jiang's apparent strength had not broken through to planetary level, because she was the youngest among the few people and had a record of defeating Ji Heng, no one looked down on her, and she was ranked fourth.

Luofeng originally planned to contact Jia Yi, who had considerable face in Huaguo, but Jia Yi seemed to be busy with something recently and also told Luofeng an important piece of news.

The civilizational relic waste collected by Huaxia Country had long been gone.

All of it was provided by the World Tree Strategic Department, and the World Tree, in order to support various battlefields, was basically doing a 'loss‑making trade', which included the ship wreckage Luofeng wanted to purchase.

The disconnected Barbata's mood remained poor; he could only control, via his own local network, equipment within short range that was not covered by the Heartnet.

As one and a high‑intelligence lifeform, the master's communications cannot be assisted by himself; this is a great insult, and if not unexpected, such insult will persist for a very long time.

Fortunately, Luofeng had already promised to gather the materials for building a ship himself. Although Luofeng was obviously just placating himself and had no immediate plan to leave Earth, at least there was some hope.

Thinking of this, Barbata felt a bit better in his heart.

……

«What! They've taken all the materials!? »

«I***»

«****»

Barbata, unable to contain his anger, burst out with vulgar language from his hometown.

«Luofeng, can't you see? They're targeting us two! They're surely waiting for us to go buy from them, then they'll open their mouths wide like a lion, and we won't buy! I don't believe they really intend to keep us stuck on Earth forever! »

After saying that in one breath, Barbata also felt a bit regretful.

Based on the abilities currently shown by the World Tree, even just considering its information‑network technology, it is quite advanced in the Universe; I have no idea whether the other party is a power in the Universe or whether they have the capability to enter the Universe.

Having lost control of information, Barbata's arrogance and confidence when facing this group of earthly natives are decreasing day by day.

Without information, there can be no calculation; without calculation, Barbata has no reliance or confidence.

This is a round‑after‑round scheme of calculations, but Barbata is powerless to resist.

Barbata was also fortunate that Luofeng did not heed his angry words; instead, he comforted himself, saying there was no need to rush and that he would continue to think of a way.

As long as the appetite isn't too huge, it's all acceptable—just consider it as paying off Luofeng's debt.

The trade in ship wreckage was conducted personally by Ji Heng as intermediary; after receiving news from Ji Heng, the relic wreckage from each country's transactions flowed separately into the two major system departments within the World Tree.

One is the World Tree's Scientific and Strategic Department, said to be used for manufacturing space‑craft; its head is named Yao Jiu, who, according to rumor, assumed the deputy director post of that department at the same time as Chen Chen.

Although Luofeng has had no dealings with Yao Jiu, he happens to have a good personal relationship with Yao Jiu's older brother, Chen Yang, the commander of the Shu‑Zhong battlefield legion.

The other is the World Tree's Transportation and Circulation Department, Yunzhong Aviation; its boss, whom Luofeng naturally knows, is Dong Jun, the city lord of Longmen and one of the World Tree's prominent figures.

Through Chen Yang's introduction, Luofeng met Yao Jiu; in the Xin Wang Shi Jie, Yao Jiu also posed a question Luofeng could not avoid.

«What do you intend to do with these materials? »

Before coming, Luofeng had already prepared his explanation:

«I want to build a space‑ship. »

Chen Yang: ……

Yao Jiu: ……

The explanation was outright frank.

Of course, it wasn't completely frank either; Barbata and the matter of Mo Xingxing naturally couldn't be revealed too much—it was enough to indicate that, thanks to a fortuitous encounter, he possessed the technology to build a space‑ship.

«Are you planning to go out and make your way in the Universe? » Yao Jiu said, somewhat incredulously.

Luofeng hadn't expected Yao Jiu to be uninterested in the fact that he possessed space‑ship‑building technology; instead, Yao Jiu asked other questions, and Luofeng responded by setting aside his half‑true, half‑false explanation.

«Well, according to the relics I've obtained, this Universe is extremely vast; there are even stronger warriors, civilizational empires that rule hundreds of billions of planets, and making contact with powers in the Universe would also benefit our Earth. »

Yao Jiu nodded while listening, especially after hearing Luofeng's last sentence, his gaze toward Luofeng became noticeably more friendly.

«That's indeed a good idea, but Elder Brother Luofeng, you're thinking of interstellar travel too simply. »

«As you said, the Universe is huge, but our Earth is tiny; the strong out there are very strong, and we are still far from being strong enough. »

«But your understanding of the races and powers in the Universe is too singular; if I'm not mistaken, the technology you've gathered certainly includes some higher intelligence, which surely told you many things about the Universe. »

«But you cannot be overly blindly optimistic. »

Yao Jiu, appearing quite knowledgeable, explained to Luofeng.

«You should think about how the so‑called high‑level, medium‑level, and low‑level cosmic civilizations in the Universe are formed, why the various star systems under their rule belong to them, and how they dispose of a life‑bearing planet‑team discovered on a star…»

«What exactly are those so‑called high civilizations? If we are discovered, will we be allowed to develop, or will we be consumed? »

At first, Luofeng listened without much concern, since from the wording it was clear that Yao Jiu's understanding of cosmic civilizations wasn't deep; many of his remarks were based on speculation.

But the more he listened, the more it felt wrong.

Regarding the issues Yao Jiu raised, Barbata had never brought them up himself—or rather, he had been deliberately avoiding them.

«Survival is the first need of civilization; civilization continually grows and expands, but the total amount of matter in the Universe remains constant. »

«Then the only nutrient for civilization's growth is to devour other civilizations as fodder. »

Luofeng felt his heart pound; according to Yao Jiu's words, interstellar adventure was not just a personal matter but could affect the fate of the whole Earth.

The current Luofeng is not yet the foremost strong savior of the world, nor is he the one standing at Earth's pinnacle worrying about its future; naturally, facing such pressure frightened him a bit.

«According to our current data analysis, being ruled and exploited by a higher civilization is still the best scenario we can foresee; following your idea, the most likely encounter would be another kind of situation. »

«That is, encountering space pirates; the scrap metal we recovered is merely the most common and ordinary grade in the Universe, so no matter how you vary your construction technique, you can only build an ordinary ship—its defensive capability may not be nil, but if struck by a force of stellar level or above, it's game over. »

«Once powerful space pirates follow the vine to find this place, Earth could become a livestock ranch for meat beasts, or be swiftly squeezed dry of all value by the most brutal means before the civilization is completely erased. »

Seeing Luofeng's solemn expression, Yao Jiu merely thought Luofeng was empathizing and blaming himself, so he patted Luofeng's shoulder to comfort him.

«Elder Brother Luofeng, I can understand your feelings; it's also because most countries abroad haven't popularized this knowledge, leading you to have a misconception in this area. »

«Of course, it's also because Elder Brother Luofeng has progressed too fast—he reached planetary level before twenty, and earlier exposure to these topics left him no time to study them. »

Saying this, Yao Jiu's admiring expression seemed genuine; having Chen Yang as a sister, Luofeng somewhat understands that she lacks talent in martial arts, so she directs her energy toward research.

Although holding the position of deputy director of the Scientific and Strategic Department at a young age has attracted some gossip outside, within the circle Luofeng knows, her reputation is excellent.

However, Luofeng bro, you can also review a bit in your free time; our seniors had already envisaged these things even before the Great Nirvana period, and I recommend you check out Three Body, or our theoretically edited book Civilization Law Tree based on its basic concepts.

By the way, intelligent systems are a good thing, but we cannot rely on them completely, especially since they are not even intelligences we ourselves developed.

Luofeng bro, you should know that most of the relic intelligences we have discovered do not have basic programming that requires them to be loyal to humanity's commands, and we cannot predict how they will react when encountering other intelligences in the Universe.

Universe spacecraft, artificial intelligence, and the ability to cross the star sea...

With our technology, perhaps we still need to strive for tens of thousands of years, but I believe that day will surely come; even if I cannot see it, you will definitely be able to see that day.

Although it was in the Heartnet's virtual space, Luofeng seemed to still see light flickering in the girl's eyes.

Only at this moment did Luofeng realize that these people in the World Tree seemingly all possess that trait.

They truly are a group of idealists full of a sense of mission.

Luofeng continued chatting with Chen Yang and Yao Jiu for a long while; the more they talked, the more he felt he should be like them, and the more he felt he had gained a sense of burden and mission.

By the way, Luofeng bro, if you want to go out into the Universe earlier, there is actually a way.