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

For the next few days, Song Chen didn't go anywhere but did only one thing: brush up on his knowledge of the universe.

The Disciplinary Department's database is open to internal staff free of charge, containing everything from general cosmic history to civilization hierarchy, from maps of galactic power distribution to the customs and taboos of major civilizations.

From the basic theories of the Star Core-level cultivation system to a compilation of practical cases from past generations of disciplinary envoys.

The amount of information was so vast that an average person could never finish reading it in a lifetime, but Song Chen didn't need to read it all; he only needed to know what he needed to know.

On the first day, he read through the "List of Known Civilizations in the Milky Way".

There are over three million known civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy, with Type I civilizations making up the vast majority, approximately 2.8 million. Type II civilizations number around 200,000, Type III civilizations around 10,000, and Type IV civilizations fewer than 20.

There are three Level 5 civilizations, all of which, like the Cangxing Alliance, have influence in the Milky Way, but it is not their home base.

As for Type 6 civilizations, there are none in the Milky Way.

Three million civilizations are distributed across the spiral arms and star clusters of the Milky Way, and their interactions constitute an extremely complex interstellar political landscape.

The next day, Song Chen studied the organizational structure and operating rules of the disciplinary department.

The Disciplinary Department is one of the core departments of the Cangxing Alliance, with the Galaxy General Bureau and several star district branches under it.

The ranks of disciplinary messengers are divided into four levels: trainee, official, senior, and special. Their positions and ranks within the team are calculated separately.

The team has a full complement of eight members, with the captain and vice-captain holding fixed positions, and the other six being regular team members.

On the battlefield, the captain's orders are the highest command; those who disobey will be demoted at best, and expelled from the disciplinary department at worst.

On the third day, he focused on the cultivation system.

The seventh-order Star Core Realm, the eighth-order Star Crown Realm, and the ninth-order True Star Realm are the last three orders of the Planetary Evolution Path.

The key to advancing from the seventh to the eighth rank lies in condensing Star Source Power. It takes one million units of Qi and Blood plus one million units of Spiritual Power to condense one point, and one hundred points of Star Source Power to break through.

To go from the eighth to the ninth rank, one needs to expand the Star Source Power from 100 points to 10,000 points, and at the same time expand the Star Crown from a single layer to nine layers.

The ultimate goal of the Planetary Evolution Path is the True Star Realm, where the star core within the body is fully matured, becoming a stable miniature celestial body. From then on, it no longer relies on external spiritual energy and becomes the source of spiritual energy itself.

After the Planetary Evolution Path comes the Stellar Evolution Path, with the tenth level being the Radiant Transformation Realm, the eleventh level being the Sublimation Realm, and the twelfth level being the Eternal Realm.

The database provides a very brief description of the Star Evolution Path, with only some conceptual introductions and no specific cultivation methods.

In three days, Song Chen watched everything he could.

Those who haven't watched it yet, will continue watching it on the way.

As for the relationships within the team, because of Lars, no one dared to neglect him, but they didn't treat him as a teammate either.

Song Chen didn't seem to care; he hadn't come to the universe for socializing.

On the evening of the third day, Kane pushed open the door to his dormitory and said directly, "The mission is here. Pack your things, we'll depart in two standard galactic hours."

"Our destination is a planet called Emerald Star, 23,000 light-years away."

"What mission?"

"Collection." Kane smiled.

"The winged civilization on Emerald Star joined the alliance 30,000 years ago, with an initial investment of 80,000 cosmic crystals, but now the debt has ballooned to one million."

"I've already owed interest for three installments. The legal department has sent three collection letters, and the extension application has been approved three times. This is the fourth and final one."

"If they can pay it back, the matter is settled. If they can't, you'll know what to do next."

Song Chen suddenly felt it was ironic that his first mission was to accelerate the development of a civilization that, like Earth, had been rushed into maturity through investment.

It's a very subtle feeling, like you just borrowed money from a creditor, and then you turn around and help that creditor collect debts from someone else.

"Understood." He stood up and began packing his equipment.

Two standard galactic hours later, Song Chen stood on the military dock of the Court of Judges, facing a standard operational ship of the Department of Punishment.

The ship is shaped like a shuttle, about eighty meters long, and has a matte black finish. The bow is painted with the silver sword emblem of the disciplinary department.

Compared to Lal's private flagship, this ship is less elegant and more rugged, with traces of multiple repairs visible on its hull.

Several armor plates are a distinctly different color from the surrounding ones; these are the new plates that were replaced after being punctured and haven't yet undergone weathering treatment.

Soon, the entire Seventh Action Team boarded the ship.

Kane stood at the bow gangway and waited until everyone else had boarded before being the last to board.

As the spaceship ascended, the planetary shield of the Court of Judgments briefly opened a passage above their heads, with pale blue arcs of light splitting in the middle to reveal the darkness of outer space.

The spaceship then accelerated, passed through the tunnel, and the shields closed again behind them.

The neutron star radiation ring of the Streamer flashed past the porthole, then was stretched into countless colorful threads by the warp drive.

The spacecraft embarked on a long jump journey.

Even with the warp technology of the Cangxing Alliance, it would take five days to reach 23,000 light-years.

In the spaceship's rest cabin, Song Chen opened his information terminal, a standard wristband issued by the disciplinary department. Wearing it on his wrist, he could project a holographic screen with a single press.

He pulled up the data on Emerald Star, and a detailed cross-sectional diagram of the planet and densely packed text files unfolded on the holographic screen in front of him.

Emerald Star is located on the outer Orion Arm of the Milky Way, about 14,000 light-years from the solar system.

The planet has a diameter of about 53,000 kilometers, an area that is dozens of times larger than Earth, and a surface gravity that is 8.6 times greater than Earth's.

The atmosphere is mainly composed of nitrogen and oxygen, with a slightly higher oxygen content than on Earth, making it friendly to carbon-based life forms.

The planet has three continents, and oceans cover about 12 percent of its surface.

The planet gets its name from the color seen from space; the vegetation covering the land has a unique emerald green hue, and under the sunlight, the entire planet looks as if it is wrapped in a layer of green silk.

The document turned to the next page, revealing detailed records of the winged people.

Winged humans are carbon-based flesh-and-blood life forms, humanoid in shape, with one or two pairs of membranous wings on their backs.

Adult winged humans have an average height of 1.8 to 2 meters, a wingspan of 3 to 5 meters, and weigh about one-third more than humans of similar size.

The membrane wings consist of elongated ribs and a membrane covered with fine scales. When flying, the membrane wings unfold into a fan shape and fold up close to the back.

The Winged People's social structure is a typical tribal federation. Historically, they were divided into dozens of tribes of varying sizes, each with its own territory and chieftain. Tribes sometimes formed alliances and sometimes fought each other.

Culture is renowned in the universe for its unique "winged dance" and "wind song".

Winged dance is an art form that combines flight skills and physical performance. Winged people weave intricate patterns in the air through precise flight trajectories and the unfolding and folding of their membranous wings, and it is known as "poetry in the sky".

Wind songs are a unique vocal art form of the Winged People. Their vocal cords are structured to produce sounds of multiple frequencies in the air. It is said that a complete wind song can make people hear the sounds of wind, rain, thunder, and birdsong.

There are several famous art groups in the universe that specialize in performing the winged dances and wind songs of the winged people. Their tickets for each tour are ridiculously expensive, but every show is sold out.

But these are not the things Song Chen cares about.

He flipped directly to the latter half of the file, which detailed the psychic era and investment history of the winged race.