Mecha Star Wars.

Chapter 1484 The Scheme of Crystal City
The orcs of Crystal City have always held themselves in high esteem.

They looked down on everyone outside Crystal City, whether orc or human.

In their eyes, a creature without value has no reason to exist.

If it weren't for the fact that the massive Annimos needed those low-level and basic laborers to operate, and that they could still play a role, Crystal City wouldn't mind keeping only one district.

Such a high-ranking person would naturally have different needs from those in lower-class areas, which are simple and vulgar.

They provide the finest clothes and the most generous conditions, ensuring that everyone who comes here receives the best treatment...

"Stop, stop, stop..." Antonio interrupted impatiently, "Don't talk like you're really entertaining guests."

“No matter how good the conditions are, they can’t change the fact that people are being traded,” Lin Fan continued. “When you imprisoned their abilities, you cut off all their escape routes. What’s the point of these insincere gestures of goodwill?”

“Exactly,” Antonio agreed.

“The logic is sound, but it’s not entirely useless.” Adrian smiled and crossed his legs. “At least to a large extent, it can alleviate the discomfort of the recipient and help them relax as much as possible.”

"Sounds good? They even consider your emotions." Lin Fan nodded. "But according to your previous description, all these preferential treatments must have other purposes."

“Perhaps we can soften them emotionally or materially,” Antonio guessed, “that would make them easier to control.”

“But those without superpowers are no different from ordinary people. Why does Crystal City look down on everyone but treat them differently?” Lin Fan slowly shook his head and looked at Adrian. “Unless they can profit from it.”

“That’s right.” Adrian nodded with a smile. “In Crystal City, people are not a kind of living being, but a kind of resource.”

"Resources?" Lin Fan frowned slightly, his eyes narrowing. "Like the Burning Beast, serving as a resource similar to the Annie Demon Battery?"

The thousand-year-old's tail suddenly twitched, startling Adrian.

“No, no, no,” Adrian quickly denied, leaning back slightly, “they are nowhere near as good as the Burning Beasts… I mean, uh…”

“Don’t mention the Burning Beast,” Lin Fan patted Qian Sui’s back reassuringly twice, “Let’s talk about people.”

"Alright, alright." Adrian watched anxiously as Thousand Years' tail curled back up and stopped moving. He finally exhaled the breath he had been holding. "Simply put, it's about extracting the genes of those original creatures to enhance their beast soul abilities. So, powerful original creatures like you... uh, humans, are the most sought-after resource in Crystal City."

“Wait a minute!” Antonio reached out. “Don’t you orcs from Crystal City claim to have the most powerful beast soul genes?”

"Statistically speaking, they are indeed generally stronger than the people of Silvermoon City, but there are a few with lower values; genetics is a complicated thing..."

"Don't interrupt!" Antonio stood up abruptly, stomping one foot on the coffee table. "You have the most powerful orc genes on the entire planet, yet you capture superhumans from outside to extract their genes and strengthen your beast souls..."

Antonio turned to Lin Fan with a bewildered look: "I feel like I don't understand. Can the genes of these two species be mixed?"

“Seeing that they’ve continued for so many years, it seems they can,” Lin Fan reminded Antonio. “Don’t forget, the Anemocracy’s orcs have human genes, it’s just that their beast genes make up a larger proportion, so they are orcs.” “Oh right,” Antonio remembered, “the ones with a larger proportion of human genes are still in the Loess Plateau. So they can… wait, that’s still not right…”

"Don't be silly!" Lin Fan pulled Antonio down from his seat. "Listen to him. Say what's important, don't ramble on about the useless stuff."

Adrian wasn't angry even though Lin Fan scolded her. Her main concern was for the young lady, Qian Sui, whom she was constantly stroking.

“I’ve said the important stuff,” he said with a forced smile. “Those sold into Crystal City are softened up with the best environment to cooperate with the genetic experiments. Because data shows that the degree of cooperation affects the fusion of genes. The higher the cooperation, the higher the success rate of the genetic experiments. So…”

"Really?" Antonio asked incredulously.

“Lanxing has done research,” Lin Fan said, his eyes slightly lowered, “providing animals with a relaxed and pleasant environment will make their meat more delicious…”

"..." Antonio had clearly thought of that too. "Preferential treatment isn't for the sake of the subject, but for the result. To let people enjoy an extremely relaxing environment first, and then kill them? What kind of deep hatred or grudge could that be?"

“There’s no hatred involved.” Adrian shook his head, a mocking smile playing on his lips. “If it weren’t for increasing the success rate, of course, there wouldn’t even be these tedious steps. So the reason why the orcs of Crystal City are becoming more and more human-like is not because they admire human civilization, but because they need this illusion to deceive those native beings.”

The fake performance couldn't last long. But when they were all in a natural state of life, the sensitive natives would find it difficult to detect the deliberately disguised trap.

"Integrating into human society just to make it easier for the people being killed to relax?" Lin Fan chuckled. "You Crystal City really are going to great lengths."

“Who can argue with that? Raw materials aren’t so easy to kill as experimental subjects; the painful process could be quite long…” Adrian paused, seemingly lost in thought, “That’s why I despise it. Where does this illusory glory really come from?”

"You despise it, isn't it because you didn't benefit from it?" Lin Fan pointed out incisively, "Now that you've successfully seized power, can your position and perspective still be the same as before? When you find yourself looking down on all living beings, do you think you won't become the kind of person you once despised, extracting benefits from the genes of those pitiful people to consolidate your position and obtain beast souls?"

Adrian's face stiffened, and he was speechless.

“No, I still don’t understand.” Antonio glanced at Lin Fan, and seeing that she didn’t stop him, asked Adrian.

"Using human genes to improve orc genes... well, I won't delve into the details. Since you're still doing it, it must be effective. I don't understand," he turned to look at Impelio, then at Lin Fan, "Don't they have beast souls? Why can't beast souls evolve and improve on their own? Why do they need external objects? Logically speaking, even if beast souls and superpowers have something in common, they shouldn't be as easy to integrate as beast souls themselves, right?"

"You mean to ask why we don't use orcs with beast souls for fusion experiments, but instead use humans from different planets?" Lin Fan concluded.

“Yes.” Antonio nodded. “Theoretically, wouldn’t it be less likely to cause rejection if we used orcs? After all, different abilities from different planets, no one can say for sure if they’ll be compatible, right?”

“Maybe what they need is a different kind of superpower?” Lin Fan glanced at Adrian.

"Different superpower structures represent different compatibility. They want to find better ways to improve the data, so they keep trafficking people from the outside."

"As for why they don't use orcs," Lin Fan looked at his subordinate Qian Sui, "I guess it's related to the dead Burning Beasts. They even use the corpses of Burning Beasts as a power source for the Annie Beast Soul Cycle, and they're eager to get new Burning Beasts... It's hard not to think that the Beast Souls can't improve under such an environment of suppression. Think about the Perlan World."

That world was hampered by a lack of spiritual energy, which kept the highest cultivation level stuck at the Nascent Soul stage, preventing further advancement.

“Oh, I see.” Antonio nodded. “So they’ve been trying to integrate foreign genes, not only to fill the gaps in their own development caused by the environment, but also to prepare for the day when the energy of the Beast Soul environment runs out?”