750: The fragments of cosmic civilization...

What are engineering teams for?

In short: repairing bridges and roads, constructing buildings.

They are a collective term for personnel responsible for pipe jacking construction and the combinations required for construction projects.

"So what is the Star Track?"

Feeling like a raw recruit, Yang Dian had the Dimension Butterfly follow the spatial fluctuations left behind when Qi Ling departed, teleporting himself to the surface of Green Star.

Then, a sea of green heads came into his view.

Looking around at the Green Star people, who looked exactly like him—with the same yellow skin and black eyes, just with green hair—Yang Dian couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion:

"The Human Race really is a major race in the Universe."

It's just that his green-haired Human Race compatriots on Green Star weren't doing very well at the moment.

In the distance, tall buildings collapsed, and black smoke twisted into the air like the tentacles of a devil.

A wind kicked up dust, bringing the acrid, metallic sweetness of burning metal, sweeping across the massive plaza in front of Yang Dian.

And in this massive plaza before him, millions, perhaps tens of millions, of Green Star people were huddled together like livestock waiting to be slaughtered.

The groans of adults, the crying of children, the sighs of the elderly.

Countless suppressed, intermittent sobs echoed among the crowd, like the wailing of wind blowing through tattered cloth.

This is the fate of a defeated civilization.

On the high platform at the front of the crowd, Qi Ling, with his squad of Nuo Ling Civilization members, reached out and took out a gilded contract glowing with golden light, handing it to a Green Star person with withered yellow hair in front of him:

"General Adrian, as long as you sign this contract, the Green Star Human Race can receive the protection of our Nuo Ling Civilization and gain the opportunity to multiply and thrive."

Seeming to see the unwillingness in the old man's eyes, Qi Ling continued:

"By signing the contract, although you will need to relocate from this planet, your civilization can still maintain its Legacy."

"If you refuse, only destruction awaits you."

"And for us, it would just be a little more troublesome."

Yang Dian stepped forward two steps, curious, and leaned in to look at the contract that Qi Ling was pushing toward Adrian.

The characters were strange.

They looked like hieroglyphs, but were more complex, more like a simplified version of rule runes.

Although Yang Dian had never seen this type of script before, just by glancing at it, he naturally understood the meaning of the characters on it.

Resource handover... disarmament... population relocation... planet purchase...

In short, although the Nuo Ling Civilization had invaded Green Star and killed 99.9% of the Green Star civilization's population, they were a friendly civilization.

They wanted to lease Green Star from the Green Star people.

As long as the contract was signed, they would help them transfer the remaining surviving population.

Use existing resources to exchange for their help in transferring survivors.

Use the abandonment of arms to exchange for their protection, ensuring the safety of those remaining.

Use Green Star, a planet rich in Spiritual Qi and abundant resources, to purchase a dead star within the Nuo Ling Civilization that had no Spiritual Qi, no development potential, and could only be described as habitable.

"This behavior is just too ugly."

As he muttered, Yang Dian felt a pang of emotion again.

This is the way civilizations communicate.

The winner takes all, and the weak can only hope for the mercy of the strong.

Being able to let the Green Star civilization leave behind a spark, could the Nuo Ling Civilization even be called kind?

Adrian looked at the contract in front of him, which could be called a treasonous deed, and couldn't help but look up at the sky.

Unknown when, a few dark clouds had drifted into the sky, obscuring the dim sun behind them.

In the dark clouds, a massive platform constructed from unknown steel was looming.

Adrian pursed his lips, the foul-smelling air passing through a throat that felt as if it had been cut again and again by blades, and he extended his hands, trembling, to pick up the contract that represented shame.

Every clause on the contract spelled out the word "treason."

But looking at the elderly, the children, and the youths with lifeless eyes huddled together in the plaza.

It seemed he had no other choice.

After all, if he signed, the civilization could still continue.

Even if it was just a lingering existence.

If he didn't sign.

Only death awaited the civilization.

He had seen blue light reaching from the heavens to the earth descend, destroying one city after another that they were proud of.

Facing the Nuo Ling Civilization members in front of him, who weren't even as tall as him and looked, in his past opinion, even somewhat comical, they had no ability to resist.

"I..."

A hoarse voice came from his dry throat, and Adrian, following the surrender procedure he had rehearsed countless times, lifelessly recited his name and position:

"Adrian."

"Chief Executive of the Human Alliance."

"Representing the Human Alliance..."

Before Adrian could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by Qi Ling, who raised his right hand, which had only three short, thick fingers:

"You cannot represent the Human Alliance."

"The Human Alliance is a powerful civilization with the nine great super-civilizations as its absolute core, thousands of high-level civilizations as formal members, governing countless medium and low-level civilizations, with a sphere of influence spanning hundreds of millions of light-years."

"You can only represent this planet beneath your feet."

Adrian opened his mouth, lowering his pale and haggard face.

'Are we even to be stripped of our identity as humans?'

In bitterness, just as he was about to start over, Qi Ling spoke again, one step ahead of him:

"In your consciousness, I have captured 'conquest', 'enslavement', 'plunder'..."

"Do you think we crossed the endless sea of stars to conquer, enslave, and plunder?"

Yang Dian withdrew his gaze from the 'contract', or rather, the surrender document, and also looked at Qi Ling.

"No."

"We appeared on this planet only because the planet and star system you are in... happen to be located on a main route we have planned."

"And it just so happens that in your star's core region, as well as deep within this planet's mantle, there exists a type of Void Realm fuel necessary for interstellar long-distance travel."

"We just came to convert this place into a necessary supply point."

"To describe it in a concept you can understand..."

"A gas station."

"Just a gas station located on the side of a highway, used to replenish energy."

"As for your civilization, your history, everything you cherish and fear..."

"It is just a tiny, insignificant obstacle that carries a trace of warmth."

"Whether or not you sign this contract, the cleanup procedure will start on time."

"The difference is that the former allows you to leave behind a Legacy, and it will also make our work a little easier."

"The latter will only make me spend a little more effort to reorganize the World Spirit, making it willing to become the gas nozzle used for refueling."

Adrian opened his mouth.

He had thought of countless possibilities for why the Nuo Ling Civilization had invaded them.

But he never expected that they were just in the way.

Yang Dian, in the deep space, also fell silent.

"Building highways in the Universe for spaceships to travel on."

"Using star systems as service areas for starships to rest and repair."

"Is this what a true universal-level civilization is?"

"We are indeed far behind..."