Chapter 346: Accelerated Review, Severing the Past

The arrival of a newly descending faction sparked heated discussion across the networks of Earth's various races.

Every descent event is a major challenge for the Earth Alliance.

During the docking process with alien races, conflicts and clashes easily erupt.

Take the last descent event, for example: the Eclipse Race had just dispatched spiritual-communication robots to make contact when a mysterious faction launched a ferocious assault head-on.

But the most typical case was the Crustacean Race's descent two hundred years ago.

This race had barely completed their provisional registration when they demanded exclusive mining rights to the Pacific seabed mineral veins, and even threatened to levy passage fees on other races for crossing the seabed.

At the negotiating table, their chieftain adamantly refused to compromise, declaring he'd rather go to war than accept a small allocated patch of land.

The Crustacean chieftain's stubbornness only broke once the Eclipse Race mobilized an orbital cannon array and fired a single volley, after which he was finally willing to negotiate properly.

There was also the even more absurd descent event of the Symbiote Race.

This race had just obtained their provisional identity when they put forward a demand to parasitize other races, prettifying it as "promoting civilizational fusion."

But this kind of parasitism is essentially clinging to a host to absorb nutrients—how could the various races of the Earth Alliance possibly agree?

In the end, the problem was still resolved through military deterrence.

Next, there were the Skyfeather Race from back then.

This race preferred to dwell in the sky, and upon obtaining their provisional resident status, they immediately launched a floating-island construction plan, claiming they wouldn't compete with surface races for living space.

The plan seemed fine on the surface, but in reality harbored all sorts of hidden dangers.

First, the vast airspace occupied by the floating islands would affect other races' aerial navigation; second, there was the lighting rights of major cities.

When a floating island drifted to a stop above a city, that city below would face an endless night, and satellite-signal reception would also be disrupted.

Also under military deterrence, the Skyfeather Race abandoned this plan and switched to the floating islands now fixed above the ocean.

Many modern races call themselves "Earthlings," but when their ancestors first descended, every single one came bearing their own agenda.

Each race's history textbooks prettify those crisis years as "civilizational fusion," deliberately downplaying the gunpowder smoke at the original negotiating tables.

And negotiations between races have always been built upon military might.

It was precisely the formidable force displayed by the Eclipse Race that turned these conquerors' ambitions into signatures on the Earth Alliance charter.

These were still the relatively easy races to deal with.

Although there had been unpleasantness, in the modern era of shared culture, many problems were long ago no longer problems.

The new generations of each race trade barbs online, but deep down they all believe that when an invasion descends, the Earth Alliance should unite and face the outside threat as one.

The most outrageous are those races that offer no communication whatsoever—descent means open war.

Although in the Earth Alliance's external wars, ordinary people lost any meaning in participating long ago.

Yet every outbreak of war means devastation and suffering for all living things.

They still follow the developments of descent events, hoping each one will be another peaceful contact rather than a smoke-filled civilizational war.

The horrors of the Mechanical War remain fresh in memory, and the poison of genetic ailments still lingers in the present generation.

But what none of the races' members expected was that this descending faction, the "Destiny Race (Dragon Sparrow Race)," was actually very cooperative with the Earth Alliance's contact and arrangements.

Before the descent, the high echelons of every race in the Earth Alliance were extremely tense.

One important reference for judging a race's strength is the generation technology and intensity of their spatial passage.

On the pre-contact "Descending Faction Threat Report," the Destiny Race was listed as S-class—the highest level of descent threat.

Their potential war capability, in the eyes of every race, was even higher than the mysterious faction that descended over the Atlantic last time, briefly probed with war games, and then swiftly departed.

Before the descent, tension permeated the hearts of every race's high echelons.

Fearing that a new round of descent war would begin, plunging Earth once more into the turmoil of war.

But reality turned out to be the exact opposite.

What is certain is that the Destiny Race that descended is extremely powerful.

Without any device, they could easily imprint their own thoughts into the minds of every living being in the trading city through a spiritual network.

This ability already exceeded the level the Earth Alliance had estimated.

Yet what they expressed was a desire for peace.

At this, the various races of the Earth Alliance did not lower their guard, and dispatched representatives to attempt contact.

What they received was the other side's clear statement that there would be no offensive behavior of any kind.

During the talks, they even gifted the Earth Alliance a generous resource package.

The intensity of the resources inside far exceeded Earth's level, leaving representatives of every race clicking their tongues in astonishment.

The Destiny Race's series of actions instead left the Earth Alliance races even more puzzled.

The other side had come bearing resources and claimed to be a faction in exile, yet their behavior in every aspect didn't match what they said.

If they were a plundering faction, the initial contact behavior being a disguise didn't quite hold up either.

Every resource the other side gifted was genuine—qualities simply couldn't be found on Earth.

But since it was clear the other side came bearing goodwill, the Earth Alliance also showed sufficient sincerity and immediately initiated the docking arrangement procedures.

……

Two days later.

After completing identity registration, Brother Ming Hou and his clansmen, having undergone a series of tests and civilization-compatibility assessments, were ultimately settled in an undeveloped area on the edge of the Siberian wasteland.

The permafrost here still retained high concentrations of contamination, not yet fully purified.

The Human Federation official—the only one in the Earth Alliance with the authority to allocate land—assigned this patch to them as a provisional residence.

But the conditions were explicit: there were no ready-made cities here, no complete facilities, and even the basic energy transmission network had yet to be laid.

They could build their own home here, but every problem would have to be solved on their own.

Or wait for the Eclipse Race's assistance project to launch.

At this moment, Brother Ming Hou stood on the barren permafrost, his silver-white long robe stirring gently in the cold wind.

It surveyed its surroundings—distant snow-capped mountains stretching endlessly, and nearby bare permafrost with sparse mutated coniferous forests.

Releasing its perception, it could detect the radiation contamination in the soil.

"That's enough."

Being recognized by the Earth Alliance and gaining the chance to join the Alliance was already the best possible start it could have hoped for.

Next, it only needed to wait for the Eclipse Clan's judgment to obtain resident status.

It only hoped the pace could be quicker.

Raising a hand, it lightly tapped the void; the power of destiny rippled outward from its body like waves, spreading across the permafrost.

The contaminants were instantly broken down under the scouring of the power of rules, and the readings on the nearby radiation detectors instantly dropped to zero.

The permafrost churned and softened within the silver light, transforming into a flat foundation.

Thirty thousand clansmen also acted at this moment; space folded like a mirror, and the spiritual materials they carried poured out from their spatial artifacts.

The next second, buildings grew on their own as if alive.

Silver-white spiritual metal gathered in the air, then rose from the ground, weaving together into a dome structure overhead.

The Fate Tower rose at the center, its spire condensing a crystal capable of releasing a barrier that could shroud the entire city.

Viewed from high above, energy veins spread outward like a spiderweb, centered on the Fate Tower.

Ten minutes later, a miniature city capable of holding thirty thousand people already stood upon the permafrost.

The silver-white building complex formed the star-track array unique to the Destiny Clan, while the observation matrix of the central Fate Tower slowly rotated, its perception range rapidly expanding.

But then it recalled the "privacy protection" required by the Earth Alliance.

In the end, Brother Ming Hou still curbed the continued expansion of the perception range, locking it to the land beneath their feet.

If it were expanded to cover the entire Earth, that would obviously arouse unnecessary suspicion.

Then, at the city's outer perimeter, an energy barrier rose from the ground, isolating the extreme cold and the contaminants of Earth's environment outside, forming an independent pocket of space.

At this moment, a supervisor at the Earth Alliance Security Center, upon seeing the live satellite monitoring footage, instantly widened his eyes.

This group of outsiders calling themselves "exiles" had actually completed the construction of a small city in the time it took to brew a cup of tea.

This scene also made the vast number of netizens watching the surveillance drop their jaws in shock.

Since the Destiny Clan had not yet officially joined the Earth Alliance, according to the "Observation Regulations for Newly Arrived Races," all of their activities would be openly monitored by every race on the globe.

The Earth Alliance had opened a dedicated "New Race Observation" channel on the Star Web platform; any citizen could, after identity verification, view the high-definition satellite footage in real time.

At this moment, the channel's online population was skyrocketing at a rate of tens of thousands per second.

"No way, you're really an exile faction? Feels more like immortals descending to the mortal world—a whole city just completed like that?"

"I'm stunned, ten minutes to build a city? Eclipse Clan engineering team, come out and take a beating—look at the level of these Chou Wai Jie people, you guys need to step it up."

"Are they really exiles? I seriously suspect they came to steal our Monster World qualifications. I suggest not issuing them identity status. With these thirty thousand outsiders joining, my chances of grabbing a player qualification get diluted again—feels awful."

"Don't be funny upstairs, okay? They don't even know what Monster World is, and you're talking about stealing qualifications? Their generation hasn't even integrated into the Earth Alliance yet—they probably aren't interested in virtual games at all. I bet even if the higher-realm beings gave them Monster World qualifications for free, they wouldn't want them, and might even suspect virtual games have hidden risks—possible mind control."

All major social platforms across the globe instantly exploded.

The topic of the Destiny Clan building a city in ten minutes shot to the top of the trending searches.

Every race was exclaiming that this newly arrived race was likely a powerful force capable of rivaling the Eclipse Clan.

Fortunately, this force was not an invading one; from the start it had displayed absolute sincerity.

After arriving, it cooperated fully with the Earth Alliance's investigation, with no extreme behavior whatsoever.

This also made the members of the Earth Alliance realize that the Alliance was about to soon gain a powerful new member.

However, Brother Ming Hou's plan was not yet finished.

Its choice to come to Earth had the core objective of obtaining player qualifications.

Under normal circumstances, a newly arrived race wanting to integrate into the Earth Alliance and obtain formal status for its clansmen required an assessment waiting period of six months to one year.

But this process was far too long.

It could sense the disappointment in its clansmen's hearts.

This barren little world, for clansmen accustomed to high-energy worlds, was far too impoverished.

The contaminants permeating the air had already caused them mild sensory discomfort, and the thin spiritual energy concentration left no room for development.

They could only create an isolation zone and operate within a fixed, small range.

Although it had not yet caused any substantive impact on the clansmen's physiques, as long as they lived in this kind of environment long-term, the degradation of their life forms would be a gradual process.

Brother Ming Hou realized that to let the clansmen shake off this discomfort and unease as soon as possible, it had to accelerate the qualification acquisition process.

After careful deliberation, it decided to proactively demonstrate sincerity to the Earth Alliance.

For example, by initiating cooperation through the sharing of resources and technology.

Two more days passed.

An Eclipse Clan shuttlecraft slowly descended onto the open ground within Fate City.

When the hatch opened, a young figure wearing the Eclipse Clan's "Diplomatic Envoy" attire stepped out.

Brother Ming Hou personally stepped forward to greet them, a gesture that left the clansmen behind it utterly bewildered.

In their view, this Eclipse Clan envoy with such faint life fluctuations was not even a match for an ordinary Destiny Clan warrior.

But Brother Ming Hou understood just how terrifying the power behind the Eclipse Clan was.

What it wanted was not the Eclipse Clan's recognition, but the recognition of the one behind the Eclipse Clan.

In the clansmen's eyes, the Eclipse Clan was very weak.

But in the eyes of higher-dimensional deities, whether it was the Eclipse Clan or its own Destiny Clan, there was essentially no difference.

A slightly stronger ant was still an ant.

It needed the Eclipse Clan as a channel to help itself pass the review as quickly as possible.

After a brief exchange with the diplomatic envoy, he reached out and handed over a translucent data tablet:

"In accordance with the New Member Admission Regulations, please fill out this background investigation questionnaire truthfully."

The envoy conveyed the thought directly into its mind through spiritual communication.

Brother Ming Hou did not resist the infiltration of spiritual force; after nodding, he took the data pad.

Although he could read Earth's script perfectly well, he still chose to pick up the spiritual communication device docked to the data pad, press it against his temple, and look down.

He then began filling in the contents using the Jing Shen Lao Yin method.

Native world coordinates, documented length of civilizational history, core combat development system, explanation of mastered cross-spatial dimensional technology, current racial population scale, whether carrying life contamination (energy contamination), type of social structure, whether retaining military armament, primary purpose for joining the Alliance, whether able to accept the Civilizational Coexistence Covenant…

Below there was also a special matters declaration field.

A detailed account was required of all spatial activities initiated within the most recent three standard years (including but not limited to exploration, colonization, warfare).

……