Evolution - Chapter 116
Chapter 116
Ji Changqing looked puzzled. She felt this planet had a strange magic that could distort a person's self-perception and their perception of others.
They were so poor they had to clear land and farm just to survive, yet an auction house—the kind only the filthy rich had the confidence to frequent—had actually sent them an invitation, cordially inviting them to attend?
And people so poor they could barely feed their own men actually had the nerve to say they wanted to go?
Did they have some kind of misunderstanding about their own financial situation?
She couldn't help but feel troubled, wondering if her grassroots origins meant she just didn't understand the world of the wealthy. Perhaps there was only a subtle difference between a magnate and a magnate of debt?
The two of them, Ming Zixing and Jixin, their egos blindly inflated by this planet's strange influence, were already huddled together excitedly, looking over the auction items and pretending to be experts as they offered their uninformed opinions.
It was just that their points of interest were a little different from what one might consider normal. They showed no interest in the so-called “man’s romance”—things like mechas, or materials, minerals, and energy sources that could enhance mecha performance.
Instead, their focus was on:
“Wow, this emerald starts at thirty million, but it’s so enchanting.”
“Of course it’s enchanting. It was once set in a scepter. But that blue jade crown is clearly more beautiful, and it’s only expected to fetch twenty-two million.”
Ji Changqing was taken aback. It was like listening to two best girlfriends discussing jewelry.
But they were both men.
But she quickly came around. This wasn't a world with only two genders; it had six. She felt a pang of shame, realizing she was always looking at new things through an old lens. That wasn't good.
Who decreed that boys could only like the clash of arms and not precious gems? That girls could only love fine clothes and not the blade of a sword?
It was all just brainwashing, turning people into fools who loved to slap labels on everyone they met.
She sighed inwardly, feeling the last vestiges of her old biases hadn't been purged. She still needed to remain vigilant and clear her mind.
“Hmm, they even have a beastman cub this time. Huh, a tiger beastman?”
“Isn’t that too expensive? You could buy five adult beastmen for that price.”
But Jixin, who had brought it up, disagreed. “A cub can be raised as a guard. The adults are only bought for the fighting pits. It’s different.”
Ming Zixing pursed his lips, seemingly unconvinced, but he didn't say anything more. Instead, he remarked, “These people are really something, actually managing to get a cub from the beastmen.”
Jixin was silent for a moment, then snorted. “How could a human have brought it out? Who knows what kind of dealings went on behind the scenes.”
Beastmen were extremely protective of their young. How could any human possibly snatch a cub from right under their noses? It had to be the work of other beastmen.
Ji Changqing glanced at Jixin impassively. It sounded like this guy had some background, unlike Ming Zixing, who was like a simpleton, only half-understanding the subtleties involved.
She had taken a course on magical creatures, after all. Non-human intelligent species, integrated into the Galactic Interstellar Alliance system, inhabited less than one-twentieth of the planets in the entire Alliance. But due to differing planetary energy systems, these non-human species rarely left their home worlds.
Just as it's hard for people to leave their comfort zones, even if these non-human species could leave their planets and adapt to most environments, the vast majority still preferred to stay where they felt comfortable rather than wander about.
The planets of these non-human species would have commercial or tourist cities specifically open to humans. To visit these planets, humans had to go through layers of screening. Aside from official visits, most came for sightseeing or trade. But unless it was an official visit, humans were absolutely forbidden from entering the planetary heartlands, let alone abducting cubs.
To maintain harmony among intelligent species and avoid conflicts and interplanetary wars, the Alliance strictly prohibited the trafficking of intelligent species/populations. The Empire, however, didn't seem to regulate it as strictly. They called it “natural selection, survival of the fittest,” believing the weak deserved a harder life.
Such things could never be completely eradicated just by strict laws. It was just that in the Alliance, these activities were hidden away, and if discovered, would earn you a call to the authorities. In the Empire, people paraded them openly, basking in the envious gazes of the crowd.
Jixin, with his apparent background, and the relatively clueless Ming Zixing chattered back and forth, poring over the auction list, completely engrossed in their conversation.
The expression on Ji Changqing's face gradually went numb, and she stared blankly into space.
In between their nonsensical commentary on the auction items, Jixin and Ming Zixing would occasionally glance over, secretly observing this infamous figure they had never fought before. Ah, no, that wasn't right. They had already clashed covertly once during the journey from the barren planet to their landing on Wendeli, and they had come out on the losing end.
They always felt something was off. The rumors only labeled her as cruel, bloodthirsty, lecherous, and extremely perverted. But in their remote confrontation, she had shown the ability to seize power, rally a team, and take the initiative?
If she were that capable, would she have been ostracized and exiled?
But then they remembered how ruthless she was on the barren planet, even killing her own people and stringing them up for all to see. That level of perversion and audacity... seemed to fit her reputation, didn't it?
But her single-minded focus on infrastructure, planting, and developing agriculture was also suspicious. Based on her rumored persona, she should have sold the people on her cargo ship to them for a price, demanding money, guns, and food. She should be violently intimidating and exploiting her subordinates, then spending her days eating, drinking, and fooling around.
But... hmm, looking at her now, with that blank, listless expression, staring into space, seemingly interested in nothing...
“Ah Qing, aren’t you going to take a look? What if there’s something you want?”
Might as well try to fish for some information.
Ji Changqing turned her head. To avoid any confusion, she had her subordinates call her “Sister Qing.” As for these two, since they were at least equals on the surface, they called her Ah Qing. She gave them a massive eye-roll. “Looking is pointless. It’s useless.”
Ming Zixing laughed. “How do you know it’s useless when you haven’t even looked?”
“Of course. Because I know I’m poor. Extremely poor.”
The smiles on Jixin and Ming Zixing's faces slowly vanished. Those words were too damn piercing. They... they were also very poor.
Ji Changqing radiated a contempt that screamed, “I don't even know why you're looking so excitedly. Don't you know you're paupers?” The probing spirit that had been burning so brightly in the two men was suddenly extinguished.
They felt their own paranoia was ridiculous.
A pervert's thoughts were always bizarre. As normal people, why would they court disaster by trying to understand one?
After a round of mutual probing and posturing, they didn't actually idle around. They sat down together and began discussing how to clear the land and get through the next six months.
Thanks to universal cultivation, out of nearly nine thousand people, seven or eight thousand could be considered able-bodied laborers. Even among the group that had been treated as cargo, a few days of full meals were enough for them to mostly recover.
Among Jixin's and Ming Zixing's people, there were no agricultural talents. They made their living with their fists and hadn't unlocked any planting skill points.
Instead, it was among the “cargo” that they found a few people from agricultural planets. Ji Changqing personally backed these individuals as technical experts, giving them whatever people and resources they needed to take charge of clearing the land.
After all, their food supply for the next few months depended entirely on them. They had to be fully supported.
As for those not selected for the land-clearing team, Ji Changqing didn't coddle them. She gestured pointedly at the two leaders, Jixin and Ming Zixing. “These people are all our capital. If everyone pulls their weight, we'll be stable.”
If you can't farm, then build houses, patrol the perimeter, gather intelligence, or organize hunting parties. What, you think you can just act like a big shot in a place like this?
Jixin and the others readily accepted her advice, assigning dozens of their combat engineers to lead the newly acquired people to work.
Ji Changqing gave the duo playing dumb a sinister look for a full thirty seconds. Feeling she had adequately expressed her contempt, she said slowly, “It seems the people in charge think highly of you.”
A chill shot through the duo's hearts, terrified she would snap and go full pervert at any moment. They truly had no idea how normal people were supposed to coexist and work harmoniously with a pervert. The feeling was like carrying an unexploded bomb, afraid that with one wrong move, it would go “bang” and blow up in their faces.
For a moment, they even repented inwardly, wondering if their perfunctory actions just now had set her off.
While they were wildly overthinking things, Ji Changqing summoned her own people. She picked six hundred of them, divided them into teams of ten, and after surveying the surroundings, chose the direction closest to the mountain forest. “Go search the forest. Scout out the situation and return before sunset.”
She marked out an area and emphasized meaningfully, “Pay attention to the area where we'll be clearing land and setting up camp. You only need to cover one-third of it.”
Besides the direction they had come from, there were three other sides that needed scouting.
Ji Changqing was very considerate. She sectioned off one-third of the dense, layered mountain forest, then added an adjacent section of low hills, barely managing to carve out a third of the total area.
Her meaning was clear, and the duo playing dumb understood it perfectly.
They were now three teams. Her people had taken on the farming, while the other two teams were building houses and digging channels. That meant the tasks of defense, security, and clearing threats from the forest would also be divided equally. Each would manage their own sector. There was no need to force everyone together, compete for dominance, or worry about others poaching their people.
Fine. Jixin and Ming Zixing didn't want to trigger her perverted side either. They summoned their own men and gave them their orders.
Anyway, there was plenty of time. They had six months. What was the rush to figure her out?
No need to rush.
The area they had chosen was hilly terrain. On three sides were low hills, estimated to be no more than 200 meters in elevation. On the fourth side was a continuous, layered forest of mountains, each taller than the last. The first layer was under 200 meters, but as far as the eye could see, there were at least three more layers of forest behind it, with the tallest peak in the back rising to an elevation of about eight or nine hundred meters.
In the middle was a long, narrow piece of land, wider from north to south, consisting of uneven slopes and flat ground. The flat ground was about three hundred mu, and the slightly undulating parts that could be leveled with current machinery and manpower amounted to about one hundred mu.
The flat ground was chaotically overgrown with clumps of low shrubs and knee-high weeds. Hidden beneath this vegetation were countless small stones, with a few short trees interspersed among them.
The slopes were different. Trees were more numerous, while shrubs and weeds were sparse, shaded out by the canopy and looking malnourished.
The flat ground was easy to clear. Interstellar agricultural machinery was quite formidable. All it took was for people to cut down the trees, dig out the roots, and clear the low shrubs. The weeds and small stones didn't require manual labor at all. Once the machines started, one vehicle would madly cut, shred, and bag the weeds—which could be used as fertilizer—while another followed behind to till the soil. As it rolled, it would sift out larger particles like roots and pebbles, bagging them, and then spit out fine soil to cover the fields.
It was exceptionally convenient and fast.
According to the little planting experts, the three hundred mu of flat land could be cleared in three days at most. The slopes were more difficult. Felling trees and digging roots would take a day or two, and all told, it would take six or seven days to finish the hundred-mu slope.
Ji Changqing, the country bumpkin, was amazed by this land-clearing speed!
Farming in the interstellar age was no big deal at all! There was no more “every grain of rice comes from sweat and toil.” There was only “lazy people change the world” and “technology is the primary productive force.”
They weren't planning to live here permanently, so they didn't need to be too meticulous. A rough job of clearing and planting, plus building enough houses for ten thousand people, would be more than enough.
This wasn't the agrarian age where they needed to “build high walls, store up provisions, and take their time declaring themselves king” to conquer the world. They were just passing through. As long as they didn't starve, it was fine.
Everyone worked with great enthusiasm for several days, and the wasteland transformed at a speed visible to the naked eye. By the fifth day, the temporary camp was already taking shape. Except for the slopes, which weren't fully cleared, the other tasks were winding down. Even the security outposts in the forest had been built.
The sixth day of land clearing was their twelfth day on Wendeli Planet, and also the date of the semi-monthly auction. In the afternoon, the auction house sent a convoy of hover cars to pick them up. Jixin and Ming Zixing went gladly, each taking ten guards as they set off in high spirits.
Ji Changqing couldn't be bothered to witness her own poverty. Besides, someone decisive needed to stay and watch over the camp, lest trouble break out while they were all away.
Tonight, she had to stand guard at the camp, so she couldn't slip into the forest as usual.
She had claimed a third of the territory in the highest northern forest, which was conveniently separated from the other two teams by a particularly high mountain range. She had preemptively set up a guard post on the summit and chosen a suitable valley to secretly train her troops and further consolidate her team.
Since it was training, there were naturally day drills and night drills. As she was on duty, she entrusted the night drills to her subordinates to carry on as usual.
This also gave her a chance to meet secretly with He Qingzhi and Saiweiyala and exchange information.
Lately, Saiweiyala had been much busier than Ji Changqing and He Qingzhi! Those two combined mental and physical labor, so they at least had time to rest. But as a technician—and one who had to teach herself and explore on her own—she had been working her fingers to the bone, researching how to safely transmit information.
When a technician got serious, they worked day and night. She now looked almost as ghostly as she had before meeting Ji Changqing's group. The little bit of weight she had managed to gain back had vanished.
She was skin and bones, with dark circles under her eyes, truly like a little ghost.
Ji Changqing silently averted her gaze.
Saiweiyala rattled on for a bit. Although she wasn't yet sure if she had successfully sent the message, she had discovered something rather strange.
“I was trying to figure out how to connect to a signal point, right? So I scanned the signal point distribution. It wasn't very clear, so I could only judge based on the strength of the feedback. But I found that the signal point distribution here is almost as dense as in the port area.”
She took out a small detector she had made herself. The screen was covered in little dots.
“This is the port area.” She pointed to the densely packed side, then to the other. “I remember on the planetary distribution map, this entire region is supposed to be wasteland.”
Ji Changqing and He Qingzhi exchanged a look and both put a hand on the young girl. “Your detector, will it attract their attention?”
“Of course not.” Saiweiyala had the proud look of a top student looking at a slacker. “It just passively captures fluctuations, like catching wind force, sound waves, or radio waves. It's not trying to connect or intercept and decrypt signals.”
“That’s good.” Ji Changqing breathed a sigh of relief. She knew there were definitely a lot of shady dealings going on here, but it wasn't her business. With cold detachment, she said, “None of this concerns us. Don't attract anyone's attention. Just rest, build up your strength, and prepare. The real start is six months from now.”
He Qingzhi gave her a big thumbs-up!
Saiweiyala said she understood. She knew her limits.
The next morning, Ji Changqing ate early and went into the mountains to train her troops. She was an early riser and moved quickly, arriving at the mountain camp just as the group was finishing their morning exercises and eating. Seeing her, they enthusiastically invited her to eat with them, simultaneously boasting that during their night drills, they had run into a strange beast that no one recognized. It had taken a great effort to kill it, and now it would be an extra dish for lunch.
As they were talking, the person in charge of cooking hurried out and asked Ji Changqing to come over.
“Last night's kill... when we were skinning and deboning it just now, something felt off. We dug this out.”
Ji Changqing looked over and froze.
Damn it! She knew this thing! It was from the first lesson of her special training in prison—an observation chip commonly implanted in living organisms in labs! They were usually used to monitor the reactions of test subjects to drugs, or on exotic beasts.
She strode over to the beast, which had already been skinned, deboned, and was being cut into chunks of meat. “Are all of its parts here?”
Someone replied in a low voice, “They're all here. When we found this thing, we collected everything and put it here.”
Ji Changqing tried her best to look, but she couldn't make out the beast's original form from the pile of fur, bones, meat, and organs. She swallowed hard. “Can... can any of you describe what it looked like?”
The people present just stared at her blankly.
Ji Changqing sighed. She was asking too much. This godforsaken place wasn't Blue Star, where everyone would immediately take a picture and post it to their social media!
She thought for a moment. They had already dragged it back and butchered it. If something was going to happen, it was already a done deal, wasn't it? She might as well just pretend it was an abandoned pet beast and deceive herself.
“It’s nothing. In a place like this, it might just be someone’s abandoned pet,” she said nonchalantly. “But do you recognize this kind of beast? Is it edible?”
The people there scratched their heads and replied honestly, “Can't recognize it. It's a bit like a tiger? But not quite.”
As a former scriptwriter who had read countless web novels with wild plots, Ji Changqing's mind was already racing with numerous scenarios. For example, the “mad scientist whose bizarre experiments violate all human ethics will surely be punished by justice” script; the “lab animal full of viruses ends up killing everyone on the planet” apocalypse script; and even romance scripts like “The Domineering Beastman Fell in Love with Me,” and so on and so forth.
She really wanted to take a sample slice back for analysis to figure out which script they were in. But considering she lacked the necessary lab equipment, she had to abandon the idea. She only offered a half-hearted reminder, “Since no one recognizes it, you should test if it's poisonous before you eat it.”
In any case, she wasn't going to eat it. First, she was afraid of strange viruses. Second, she was inexplicably reminded of the tiger beastman cub from the auction. A guess had already formed in her mind, but she had no desire to confirm it.
Stuck in the Empire, she couldn't exactly report it to the Alliance, could she?!
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