Chapter 48
By the time Xia Anran returned to Yanshan Village through the portal, the mahjong game downstairs had long since ended. She had left a child portal in the capital to make it convenient for them to meet with the leaders at any time.
“Tomorrow, we can send private messages and post a sales link to the United Star System again,” she said, flipping through the various functions in the app. The cooldowns were almost over. But now that they had Ye Yuxing, the private message function seemed less important. The leaders would probably prepare the supplies in advance, so she wouldn’t have to worry about it.
[And you’ll be able to upgrade soon! Just two or three more streams and you’ll be there!]
The system chimed in.
[You’ll be able to unlock olfactory and tactile synchronization soon!]
“Why do I feel like you’re just stringing me along?” she said, deliberately teasing it.
The system exploded at the slightest provocation.
[WHAT!!!]
[I’m so good to you! You’ve hurt this system’s feelings!]
[I’m not playing with you anymore. I’m going to go be sad and lonely by myself.]
Seeing as it had performed meritoriously today, Xia Anran had specially charged her phone to full. She had recently discovered that the system had fallen in love with surfing the internet. It didn’t need to sleep, and every night, her phone was running in the background, either binge-watching dramas or cheating by using its code to argue with netizens. As a result, her phone was often on the verge of shutting down by the next morning.
The system’s explanation for this was that its earnings had been good recently, and it was upgrading and organizing its internal data, hence the high power consumption.
Xia Anran didn’t expose it, so the system still thought it was hiding it well, secretly pleased with itself.
…
Interstellar Era
Recently, the number one topic of conversation in the interstellar community was which nation would be the first to grow fruit.
The Beastman race was in a “just here for the show” state of mind. The fruits and green plants had no effect on their Horn Power. They were more interested in the animals on Earth. Almost every Beastman had a natural affection for these little creatures that looked so similar to them, a sense of kinship that seemed to be in their very genes and was impossible to resist. As for the newly discovered cub—the chicken egg—and its ability to enhance Horn Power, for the sake of the mental and physical health of their citizens, the Beastman leadership had decided to temporarily keep it a secret until they understood the principles behind it.
The citizens of the Interstellar Empire and the United Star System, however, were closely following the research progress of their respective nations. After all, who didn’t want to achieve fruit freedom as soon as possible?
Because the scientists from both sides would seize the only opportunity to communicate with Xia Anran during her livestreams to ask questions about cultivation, everyone knew that neither group had made any progress at all. The government’s public complaint boxes were about to burst.
“Sigh, another failure.”
Director Hukeni looked at the empty cultivation soil in the incubator, where not even a sprout had emerged, and was already almost numb to it. The researchers beside him also looked crestfallen, their spirits low.
“We’ve already done our best to follow the records in the documents, Director,” one of them sighed. “We’ve also incorporated the guidance Host Anran gave us, but it’s still not working.”
Director Hukeni nodded. He had great faith in the research capabilities of his subordinates. The researchers assigned to the fruit cultivation project, in particular, had been selected through a rigorous process and were top-tier scholars with both ability and a good attitude. He believed they had done their best.
Just as he was getting a headache, his communication line suddenly rang. It was his dear student, His Majesty the Emperor of the Empire, Phileas.
“Teacher, are you in the lab?”
Phileas had his usual elegant smile on his face. He seemed to have just come from somewhere and was chatting with him while walking, a very beautiful, long-haired woman by his side.
Director Hukeni nodded and took a moment to comfort the two researchers before leaving the lab.
Phileas also bid farewell to the woman beside him and found a quiet place to sit down.
“Still no progress on the fruit cultivation?” he asked casually.
At the mention of this, Director Hukeni sighed. “Don’t even talk about it. No matter how we adjust the plan, it just doesn’t work.”
Phileas let out an “Oh,” seeming somewhat indifferent to the matter.
Director Hukeni sensed something was wrong. In the entire interstellar era, the fruit had the greatest impact on their Interstellar Empire. And as Xia Anran streamed more and more, the enhancement of psychic power that could be obtained just by watching the screen was getting weaker and weaker. They had to cultivate the fruit as soon as possible. Phileas had always attached great importance to this matter, but today he was being very uncharacteristic. He looked preoccupied.
Director Hukeni suddenly thought of something. “Ahem, Your Majesty, you weren’t just… on a blind date, were you?”
The marriage law of the Interstellar Empire was arguably the thinnest of all its laws. The main points were the prohibition of bigamy and marriage fraud. Issues that were of great concern on Earth, such as the division of property and child custody, were basically not even mentioned. This was because almost all parents chose to hand their children over to the government for upbringing after birth. The state would be responsible for all expenses, and the parents only needed to provide companionship.
For adults, marriage was not a necessity at all. The government didn’t care if its citizens got married or not. Not just the Interstellar Empire, but the entire interstellar community didn’t pay much attention to marriage and birth rates. Eighty percent of the babies in the interstellar era were born from volunteer donations and raised by the state, which basically allowed them to control the number of newborns.
Phileas was not old and was not yet married. He himself was not in a hurry at all and did not even plan to get married. But his mother, because of her very good relationship with his father, was very enthusiastic about this matter and very much hoped that her son could also have a perfect marriage. She had even tried to set up Hukeni’s granddaughter with him before.
And then she had been decisively rejected by Director Hukeni. It was a joke. His Majesty was so scheming that if he said he was second, no one in the entire interstellar era would dare to say they were first. For a ruler of the Empire, this was a good thing, but as a partner, it was better to forget it. With his granddaughter’s sweet and naive personality, it was best to stay as far away as possible from a man who had a million schemes behind his eyes.
“Yes, don’t even talk about it. Mother keeps bringing it up, so I can’t just not see anyone,” Phileas said lazily.
At the mention of this topic, Director Hukeni’s radar went into overdrive, terrified that she would set her sights on his granddaughter again. So, he put on a wooden face and said a few perfunctory words, hoping to quickly move past the topic.
But Phileas raised an eyebrow. “Hey, I remember Mother seemed to be very fond of your Mu’en before. Speaking of which, I haven’t seen her in a few years. She’s already graduated from the Imperial Academy, right?”
Hukeni: !!! Danger, danger, danger!
Seeing his teacher’s terrified expression, Phileas finally felt he had had enough fun. He sighed languidly. “Teacher, how much do you look down on me? I think I’m alright.”
That’s because you have too high an opinion of yourself. Hukeni was furious but didn’t dare to say it.
“Rest assured, Teacher. I think of Mu’en as a little sister. But that little girl, I don’t know if she was swayed by Mother, but she does seem to have some feelings for me,” Phileas feigned helplessness. “You’d better keep a close eye on her.”
Hukeni: … The sky is falling. How much water has gotten into his granddaughter’s head to have fallen for this thing!
After having his fun, Phileas’s mood finally improved a lot. “Teacher, there is indeed something I wanted to ask for your opinion on today,” he said, his expression turning serious. “The Alpha System has been expanding aggressively recently. The Beastman race just sent a message, hoping to join forces with the Empire to wipe out the Alpha System.”
Director Hukeni’s brow furrowed. “Although the Alpha System has few people, their combat power is high. Astaroth, in particular, is one of the few 3S-class combatants in the interstellar era.” For psychic power users, winning by numbers was completely unfeasible. A single 3S-class powerhouse could be worth thousands of troops.
Phileas also said, “And the Alpha System is within the Beastman race’s territory. If we send troops, we will be deep in their heartland. What if this is a trap by the Beastman race…” Then they would be turtles in a jar.
“I believe our strategic focus should still be on further communication and exchange with Host Anran,” Director Hukeni insisted on his previous idea. “If we must find an ally, Earth, represented by Host Anran, is the most suitable partner.”
“What you said is also what I was thinking,” Phileas said. Having confirmed Hukeni’s thoughts, his mood instantly brightened.
Before hanging up, he added casually, “By the way, what I said about Mu’en just now was a joke. I’ve barely spoken a few words to that little girl.”
“So don’t frown at me like you’re about to eat me.”
And then he quickly cut off the communication.
Hukeni: … He had said this guy was too scheming!
…
While the Interstellar Empire was in a frenzy, the United Star System was in a state of prosperous growth.
With Ye Yuxing, who could contact Xia Anran at any time, their pressure was greatly reduced. Although their own fruit cultivation had made no progress, with the dedicated supply from Xia Anran, they were much more comfortable compared to the Interstellar Empire. And Xia Anran had already promised that once Ye Yuxing’s psychic power stabilized and he could maintain a long-term video call, she would arrange for professional agricultural professors from the Hua nation to answer their questions.
So, Ye Yuxing was now the treasure of the entire United Star System. He had a daily supply of fruit, and Leng Ying was fully responsible for managing his psychic power. Almost all resources were being directed to him, in the fervent hope that his psychic power would stabilize as soon as possible and bring even greater benefits to the United Star System. Qin Feng, as the person with the highest psychic power level in the United Star System, had also honorably taken on the role of Ye Yuxing’s sparring partner, responsible for enhancing his psychic power.
“I’m going to the Aler System for a couple of days.”
After today’s training, as they were leaving the training ground, Qin Feng said casually while taking off his special training gloves.
Ye Yuxing’s footsteps paused. “Has the handover been completed?” Although the Beastman race and the United Star System had long since signed the agreement to cede the Aler System, the transfer of prisoners and the clearing of supplies took time, so the official handover had not yet taken place.
Qin Feng nodded. “Pretty much. The Consul General wants me to lead a team to the Aler System for a preliminary investigation. After the information is collected, Director Li will lead a team over.”
Ye Yuxing said, “How long will you be gone?”
“Hmm, hard to say. At least a week, a month at most,” Qin Feng said, throwing up his hands. “As you know, our source of information is Astaroth. We’ve never actually been to the Aler System to investigate, so we’re not very familiar with it.”
“Then can I…”
“No,” Qin Feng interrupted him, patting his shoulder. “You have a great responsibility on your shoulders now. How would I dare to take you running around?”
Although it was expected, Ye Yuxing was still a little disappointed. His psychic power had awakened in a very strange way, and to this day, the Academy of Sciences had not been able to explain the cause. As a researcher himself, he was also very interested in this. Although it was a bit strange to study himself, he had indeed been doing a lot of private research on his own physical condition. The Aler System was rich in the energy that could awaken the psychic potential of the United Star System people. Perhaps he would find the answer there.
“Isn’t Host Anran about to be able to mail supplies over?” Qin Feng said with a smile. “Once those blessing bags arrive, we should know if it’s because of them.”
The moment he finished speaking, a member of the 1_1_5th Squadron quickly walked over. “Commander, someone in the third team has had a psychic power breakthrough, and his condition is not good!”
Qin Feng’s face turned grim. “I’ll be right there.”
Ye Yuxing bid farewell to the two and had just returned to his residence when his psychic power suddenly fluctuated. He was very familiar with this feeling; it only happened when Xia Anran was contacting him.
He closed his eyes, mobilized his psychic power to connect with his photon-computer, and sure enough, he saw the familiar chat interface.
[Anran]: The mailing cooldown ends in three hours. We’ve already prepared this time’s package. Keep an eye on the livestream link