High Martial Arts: Slay enemies to become stronger, forge invincibility from billions of corpses.

Song Chen withdrew his gaze and looked at Chen Xi again.

He was more practical than Li Qingcang. The contract hadn't been signed yet, the figures were still negotiable, the interest rate was negotiable, and there were always more solutions than problems.

But the prerequisite is that all the conditions must be understood first.

"I have a few more questions," Song Chen asked.

"Ask away." The light of dawn flickered slightly.

"Why didn't you interfere with the development of Earth? You've invested so much, why didn't you intervene at all? Are you just going to wait for it to develop on its own?"

"What if something goes wrong along the way, and they end up fighting a civil war like the dinosaurs and wiping themselves out? Wouldn't your investment be wasted?"

"Two reasons," Chenxi said.

"First, history has shown that civilizations that are forcibly fostered usually lack the ability to repay their debts on their own."

"In the early stages, the Alliance attempted direct intervention, sending mentors, establishing outposts, and even using military force to help its affiliated civilizations eliminate threats."

"As a result, those civilizations grew up in a greenhouse, and as soon as the alliance withdrew its support, they collapsed immediately. They couldn't get their investments back, and their principal was all lost."

"Later, the Alliance changed the rules, only laying psionic networks and not interfering with the progress of civilizations. Only civilizations that fought their way out of the bloodbath had the ability to repay the money."

"Your alien beast crisis, your base city defenses, and the fact that you spent fifty years going from zero to the Star Core level—none of these were arranged by the Alliance."

"The alliance is only responsible for paving the way; the rest is up to you."

Song Chen didn't speak. He thought of the city walls of Anning City and those strange beasts. It turned out that in the eyes of the Cangxing Alliance, these were just proof of repayment ability.

"The second reason," Chenxi continued.

"Intervention will increase costs. One Source Spirit Star Stone is worth three thousand Cosmic Crystals. Sending mentors, building outposts, and maintaining orbital monitoring will increase costs by at least five times."

"The Alliance supports trillions of civilizations across various star systems, and each one is growing fivefold, which is simply beyond the financial means to sustain."

"So you're casting a wide net and gambling on the odds?" Li Qingcang asked.

"That's one way to understand it."

Song Chen nodded, preparing to ask the next question.

But before he could speak, Chenxi spoke first.

"Your most important question right now is not these things."

"Most importantly, you need to travel to Flowing Star within a month to sign the repayment agreement and the treaty on affiliated civilizations."

Song Chen was stunned, his voice rising half an octave: "What? A treaty on subordinate civilizations? What does that mean?"

"The Alliance has always valued ritual. All civilizations nurtured by the Alliance that have not yet paid off their debts are subordinate civilizations of the Alliance."

"This is mandatory; there are no exceptions."

"Forced?"

"Yes, mandatory." Chenxi repeated.

"The moment you stepped into this spaceship, I had already reported the news of the successful investment by the Blue Star civilization to the Alliance."

"Your civilization ID, assessment data, and investment records have all been entered into the Alliance's civilization database."

"You must complete the signing process on Flowing Star within one month."

Song Chen and Li Qingcang exchanged a glance.

A cold glint flashed in the speaker's eyes; he knew all too well what the word "subordinate" meant.

In the old days, the Great Xia was forced to sign countless unequal treaties by foreign powers, each of which was labeled "subordinate," "protected," or "leased."

Now, things have changed. The great powers have been replaced by interstellar civilizations, and the treaty has been upgraded to a cosmic version.

"And then what?" Song Chen asked.

"After signing the treaty, will humanity officially become a subordinate civilization of the Azure Star Alliance?"

"Yes," Chenxi said.

"Is a treaty negotiable?"

"The repayment period, interest rate, and resource conversion method are all negotiable."

"But the status of a subordinate civilization cannot be discussed. This is the fundamental system of the Alliance. All civilizations that have not yet paid off their debts must accept the jurisdiction of the Alliance."

"You can think of it this way: the alliance is the head office, and you are the loan customers. The head office has the right to supervise the loan customers."

Song Chen's lips twitched slightly. Head office and loan customers.

That analogy is quite apt, so apt that it makes you want to curse.

"I have one last question." Song Chen suppressed his anger and steered the conversation back to reality.

"How are we supposed to get to Flowing Star? Humans can't even leave the solar system, and you expect me to reach the administrative planet of the Cangxing civilization within a month?"

Chenxi pointed to the floor beneath their feet: "Simple, take this spaceship."

Song Chen looked down and saw his silhouette reflected on the silvery-white metallic surface of the floor, with fine lines flowing slowly across it.

"This spaceship is a Star Core-class spaceship, equipped with a warp drive, which allows it to perform interstellar space jumps," Dawn explained.

"The spaceship carries the Soyuz's standard star map, covering the entire Milky Way galaxy, from Blue Star to Streamer. With the spaceship's warp drive capability, it will take about seven days."

"You mean you're going to give us the spaceship?" Li Qingcang asked tentatively.

Dawn nodded: "Yes, this spaceship is a gift from the Alliance to every newly advanced Level 1 civilization."

"The spaceship also stores a wealth of basic data about the universe, including civilization hierarchy systems, interstellar trade rules, lists of common dangerous civilizations, and methods for obtaining cosmic crystals..."

"You'd better study all the materials before you set off."

Song Chen stared at the dawn, then asked, "Now that the spaceship is ours, what are you going to do?"

The light of dawn flickered gently, and then it spoke softly: "My mission is complete."

Song Chen felt something was disappearing, like a book that had turned to its last page and was about to close.

"You're not just a simple program, are you?"

Chenxi did not answer the question.

Its light and shadow began to fade, dissipating layer by layer from the edges.

The three-meter-tall humanoid silhouette gradually shrank, and points of light peeled off its body, drifting towards the dome of the hall and merging into the simulated starry sky.

"Remember to go to Flowing Star." Dawn's voice grew softer and softer, as if it came from a very distant place.

"Humans, I have lived on Earth for 600 million years and have witnessed the rise and fall of countless civilizations on this planet. You are the only ones who have succeeded."

"I...don't want to see this planet destroyed by divine punishment."

The light and shadow dissipated until only the area above the chest remained.

"Go, go to Meteor Star."

"For you, the Alliance is a very good home in the universe, so don't resist it."

As the last word fell, the ball of light and shadow completely dissipated.

Countless tiny points of light slowly rotated a few times under the dome of the hall, and then went out one by one.

Song Chen stood there, staring at the spot where the dawn had disappeared, motionless for a long time.

"Its last sentence doesn't sound like something a program would say," Li Qingcang said in a low voice.

"Perhaps."

Song Chen took a deep breath. No matter what Chenxi was, now was not the time to stop and reminisce.

He needs to go to Flowing Star within a month to sign two treaties, one for repayment and one supplementary. The problem is, he doesn't even know what a cosmic crystal looks like.