Evolution - Chapter 122
Chapter 122
Only after boarding the ship on Wendeli did Ji Changqing learn that their group was headed for Hading Planet to rendezvous with Klopp’s faction, who had arrived three months prior.
Hading and Wendeli weren’t too far apart, but they were vastly different.
Wendeli Planet was nominally Imperial territory, but it lay outside the Empire’s border.
In other words, the Empire itself had abandoned it.
Not only did it lack any valuable mineral resources, but most of the planet was also desert and wasteland, with a few scattered habitable zones. The largest of these had been developed into a playground for the rich.
It was estimated that even if all the habitable zones were fully utilized, the planet’s output could support no more than ten million people.
However, the cost of properly defending a planet was immense, which was why the Empire was happy to designate it as a leased territory. They didn’t have to spend money on development or invest heavily in military defense, yet they could win the friendship of various races exiled to the Empire in exchange for expensive and rare goods.
Unexpectedly, it had gradually evolved into its current state: a large, lawless zone and a hub for illegal trade—a den of extravagance where money could buy you anything. This not only brought the Empire greater profits than developing the planet themselves but also occasionally boosted its population.
The powerful nobles who held sway in the Empire thought it was a beautiful arrangement, feeling they had struck an exceptionally good bargain.
Hading Planet, on the other hand, was an agricultural world within the border, utterly unremarkable in every respect. It had no particularly valuable resources, no exceptionally high-quality products, and its habitability was mediocre at best. Nor was its location a strategic fortress.
But developing it was still profitable.
With its long summers and short winters, the excessively high temperatures significantly reduced its habitability. The lack of special products or desirable landscapes eliminated any possibility of it becoming a tourist destination. Its only advantage was its suitability for agriculture. While other planets yielded two or three harvests a year, Hading could produce four or even five.
Of course, the taste and quality weren’t the best, but it was more than enough to supply the military.
Thus, it was developed into an agricultural planet dedicated to supplying nearby military forces with food and drink.
Although it was extremely far from the Empire’s central starfields, it possessed a considerable number of jump points. Most of these were on subsidiary planets guarding the central region, but it could still be considered well-connected. The only drawback was the prohibitively high cost of travel.
Therefore, settling Klopp and his fellow defectors here allowed the Empire to both suppress them with military force and exploit them. Even if Klopp’s group wanted to betray them again and defect, they wouldn’t be able to cause any significant impact.
No matter which way they turned, they were surrounded by legions of well-equipped troops. If they dared to cause trouble, they would be blasted into the most brilliant fireworks in the starry sky in a matter of minutes.
During the journey, He Qingzhi was passively forced to complete the event of “recognizing his kin.”
He was quite surprised by their impatience. They had acted so quickly, unable to wait even a few days.
Standing before the ship’s cockpit comms unit, he watched the He Family Head in the video feed, feeling his eyes had been truly opened. The man’s acting skills were truly remarkable.
“Qingzhi, it’s so good that you’re safe.” The He Family Head’s face was filled with joy, the very picture of a father who had found his beloved, long-lost child.
No, that wasn’t right. The joy was genuine, and the ecstasy of recovery was real, but it was the ecstasy of finding a rare and valuable commodity, not of finding a “beloved child.”
He Qingzhi offered a perfect fake smile. “Yes, I’m fine.”
That look, like he was sizing up goods, was so disgusting it made one want to kill him.
The He Family Head was completely oblivious. He said lovingly, “Our efforts to ask Viscount Klopp to bring you safely from Huantu to the Empire were not in vain.”
Oh, so Klopp had managed to get a viscountcy. Quite capable, wasn’t he?
He Qingzhi’s lips quirked as he replied coolly, “Is that so?”
In any case, to the man on the screen, he was just a prop for an acting performance. Whatever his reaction, it wouldn’t affect the master-class delivery, so it didn’t matter whether he cooperated or not.
As expected, the man was unfazed and continued to smile. “We’ll come pick you up when you arrive.” He feigned a sigh, though he was actually very pleased with himself. “The rules here are different. Don’t worry too much. Our family holds a barony, so we can protect you.”
What kind of baffling statement was that? Even though he had been mentally prepared, He Qingzhi was still taken aback.
A century of egalitarian education in the Alliance couldn’t change the idiotic nature ingrained in this kind of person.
Perhaps getting a noble title and being sent to farm on a remote Imperial planet was their dream come true?
Otherwise, why would he look so proud and smug? It had only been three months, yet his arrogant, self-righteous, idiotic face was no different from that of a native-born Imperial.
He gave a faint “Mm” and then remained silent.
Fortunately, the other party wasn’t interested in acting for too long. After cryptically stating his intentions and confirming he had achieved his goal, he happily ended the communication.
The impact of this communication was obvious. The captain of the escort team, which was guiding them to Hading Planet, politely suggested to the cargo ship’s nominal person-in-charge, “An Omega from a baron’s family should receive treatment befitting his status. If you cannot make proper arrangements, he can be transferred to our ship.”
The He Family Head’s call had been routed from their ship to He Qingzhi’s cargo ship.
He Qingzhi, of course, unhesitatingly refused the invitation. Pinching his nose, he did his best to imitate the reaction an Imperial-born Omega ought to have. “I want to stay with my companions. You know, they’ve always protected me very well.”
The captain expressed his understanding. Faced with an Omega who was handsome but lacked gentleness, he clearly didn’t harbor an over-the-top protective instinct. He simply softened his voice by an octave and said gently, “Very well, as you wish.”
When the person he was speaking to changed from the noble Omega back to the nominal head of the cargo ship, his arrogant demeanor returned. He stressed again, “You must take good care of the baron’s Omega.”
And so, He Qingzhi was moved from a bunk bed in the cargo hold to the most luxurious and comfortable room on the ship.
This made it convenient for him to meet with Ji Changqing to discuss matters.
“The situation isn’t looking good,” Ji Changqing said with a sigh, then added cheekily, “They’ll probably send you to a special Omega school on another planet, to prepare you to marry up.”
This was standard operating procedure for the He family.
They had originally kept this identity to make it easier to investigate things from the inside. But this group was so useless they had been thrown onto a remote planet to farm, with no opportunity to contact high-ranking nobles.
He Qingzhi’s face was grim, a chill in his eyes. “Being on the inside has its advantages, but being on the outside has its own as well.”
Ji Changqing nodded. “They’ll probably pick some outstanding people from the family to go with you, and try to break into the noble social circles at the same time.”
If the He family was going to send someone to a so-called “bride school” to fish for a rich husband, wouldn’t the Klopp family do the same? Based on their usual tactics, even if they didn’t have an Omega of the right age in their own bloodline, they could just force a “kinship” and produce a few.
“We need to hurry,” He Qingzhi said, a little agitated. “Three years at most!”
Alliance soldiers, including quasi-soldiers like military academy cadets, were all injected with long-acting suppressants that had minimal side effects—unless they were Betas, the chosen ones completely unaffected by pheromones. The suppressants were generally effective for ten years, but most people, unless they were planning to have children, would choose to get another injection in their ninth year.
This was to prevent the drug’s effects from weakening too much due to overuse, which could lead to accidents.
Six years had already passed.
“Maybe we won’t need three years. Don’t forget, we’re just trying to get back on the right track.”
From the moment they joined Star Hidden, their goal had been to one day return to a normal path and enter the military.
Besides, the longer it dragged on, the more dangerous it would be for He Qingzhi. Once the suppressant’s effects weakened to a certain point, an Omega would no longer be unmarkable. If the He family sent him off to be married and he was successfully marked, wouldn’t that be like handing the enemy a free kill?!
“People who are used to taking shortcuts will only get worse.” He Qingzhi didn’t want to dwell on the matter and changed the subject. “They will never be content to be trapped on Hading, a heavily guarded agricultural planet.”
Hading Planet was suitable for a reclusive retirement, not for ambitious traitors.
But the fatal flaw was that if a noble didn’t hold a post elsewhere, they had to spend at least half the year on their fief. This was the noble’s duty to guard their land—a noble was the lord of their fief, and their duty, broadly speaking, was to manage it, making them the natural head of its military, political, and economic affairs.
So both Klopp and the He family would try every means to secure a decent position to leave Hading Planet. Whether it was to run their shady businesses or to seek greater power in the Empire, they first had to build connections and grease some palms.
As for sending a representative? Don’t be ridiculous. How could people so power-hungry they would commit treason possibly have the self-awareness to sacrifice themselves to pave the way for the next generation’s family head?
They would definitely handpick a planet conducive to befriending high-ranking nobles, send their people to a “bride school,” and at the same time, send outstanding Alphas from the family as representatives—under the guise of accompanying and protecting their siblings—to start socializing.
Once they’d warmed things up and gotten a feel for the situation, it would be time for the family heads to make their appearance.
“For us, not being on Hading is better too.” The more crowded and prosperous a place was, the more people from all walks of life there were trying to make a living, and the easier it was to fish in troubled waters.
A great hermit hides in the city, after all.
The question now was, which planet would they choose?
Yes, which planet to choose?
On Hading Planet, the Klopp Family Head was also pondering this question.
They had arrived on Hading over three months ago, and in that time, they had more or less figured out the situation.
Back in the Alliance, he had schemed for so many years but could never get promoted to general. Finally, he managed to connect with a certain Fei’erman, and a few years ago, they used the Weirui Planet incident to both make a huge profit and successfully pin the blame on an Andelie. Riding on the merit of quelling the chaos, he was logically promoted to Major General.
But an Alliance Major General wasn’t enough to be granted a viscountcy upon arriving in the Empire. It was the thirty to forty thousand people under his command—a force from which he could assemble an army of no less than twenty thousand at any time. It was this show of muscle that made the Empire finally deliberate and grant him a viscountcy, while tossing a barony to the He family.
Of course, the Empire had always treated people from the Alliance with an attitude of “paying a high price for horse bones”—giving them a noble title for show, but as for real benefits, they would have to fight for those themselves.
The Empire intended to use them, but it was also natural to be wary of them. Sending him to this godforsaken place to farm was also a test.
The nobles on Hading Planet were all powerless minor nobles. To put it bluntly, they were a bunch of useless trash who only had the title of nobility. Occasionally, one or two had offended someone and been squeezed out to this place.
Hading Planet belonged to the Empire’s North Hub Starfield, in the North-Three Sub-Starfield.
The center of the North Hub Starfield was Yaoguang Planet, while the center of the North-Three Sub-Starfield was Baoling Planet. Baoling Planet was famous for its prosperous commerce and developed trade, whereas Yaoguang was the military and political center of the North Hub Starfield.
Simply put, one had money, the other had power.
Klopp stared at the star chart for a long time, his slender fingers jumping back and forth between Yaoguang Planet and Baoling Planet, before finally tapping decisively on Baoling Planet.
A smile played on his lips, and a cunning glint flashed in his eyes. “We’ve just arrived. It’s best to keep a low profile.”
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