192: Chapter 191 The Poet, Party B, and the Black Market for Resources

The meeting with the "Wandering Poet" was arranged in a place that could not be located by any physical or conceptual weapon — the "Hazy Corridor."

This was a temporary neutral zone established by the web weaver protocol, appearing like an infinitely extending corridor hung with glowing veils on both sides, with a semi-transparent floor through which one could see nebula-colored blocks flowing slowly beneath.

Zhou Zhe was wearing a formal suit adapted from traditional Dragon Country Civilization attire (Chu Yunshen insisted on "cultural display"), carrying an insulated lunch box in his hand — inside were "Sober-1" tea eggs specially made by Great Strength, kept at just-out-of-the-pot spiciness using a vacuum thermal device.

Standing beside him was an "avatar projection" of the emotional aggregate, its appearance shrunk to the size of a normal human, its surface still flowing with contradictory luster, but to show respect, it had added a virtual cloak embroidered with potato flower patterns.

"Are you nervous?" the emotional aggregate asked, its voice much clearer than usual, as if it were trying to control the mixing ratio.

"A little." Zhou Zhe took a deep breath, "After all, the other party has lived for a hundred thousand years, and I haven't even finished paying off my mortgage."

"Don't worry." The potato flowers on the emotional aggregate's cloak glowed slightly, "According to my data analysis of the Ancient Sages civilization, the characteristic of the 'Wandering Poet' faction is — the more unconventional you are, the more they like it."

Deep within the veils, the halo grew brighter.

A figure slowly emerged.

There was no expected divinity or majesty; the "Wandering Poet" looked... like an old scholar who had just woken up, draped in an old blanket.

Its form was neither human nor non-human, woven from constantly changing ancient characters and mathematical symbols, those symbols flowing slowly, like breathing.

Its face had no fixed features, but one could clearly feel a gentle, weary curiosity.

"Child who grows potato flowers." It spoke, its voice not sounding like a voice, but more like an echo of a poem directly in your memory, "And... the singing contradiction. Welcome."

Zhou Zhe bowed slightly according to the etiquette taught by Chu Yunshen: "Zhou Zhe, representative of the Dragon Country Civilization, greets the Ancient Sages. This is our diplomatic envoy, the emotional aggregate."

The emotional aggregate tried to bow — the potato flowers on its cloak almost fell off.

"No need for these empty formalities." The Wandering Poet waved a hand, the hand woven of characters bringing up a string of glowing punctuation marks, "Sit. I hate formal occasions, which is why I chose this... dream-like place."

Three meditation cushion-shaped light clusters rose from the ground. Zhou Zhe and the emotional aggregate sat down, while The Poet floated cross-legged in the air.

"I watched your live stream." The Poet looked at the emotional aggregate, "'Meaning is something you grow' — that sentence reminded me of the first poem I wrote when I was young."

It raised its hand, and a line of glowing ancient characters appeared in the air, then automatically translated into imagery that Zhou Zhe could understand:

[I once asked the starry sky: Why do you twinkle?]

[The starry sky replied: Because someone is watching me.]

[I asked: What if no one is watching?]

[The starry sky laughed: Then I will grow an eye that will watch me.]

The luster on the surface of the emotional aggregate fluctuated faster: "Were you... also 'grown'?"

"All civilizations are." The Poet said, "Using curiosity as seeds, using mistakes as fertilizer, and using time to wait for it to bloom. But in recent epochs, those old guys in The Council have forgotten how to farm and only think about how to mow the lawn — neat, quiet, not prickly."

It turned to Zhou Zhe: "Your potato flowers have pricked their hands."

Zhou Zhe opened the insulated lunch box, and the spicy smell of the tea eggs mixed with the scent of spices wafted out — this was a "sensory anchor" suggested by β-2 to prevent the conversation from being assimilated by the Ancient Sages's conceptual field.

He respectfully handed over one: "This is a 'sober souvenir' from our civilization, please taste it."

The Poet took the tea egg. Its finger composed of characters lightly touched the eggshell, instantly reading all information: the chili variety, the marinating time, the temperature of Great Strength's palm, and even the daily diet of the hen that laid the egg.

"Interesting." It "swallowed" the tea egg whole into its body — its character structure fluctuated slightly, as if digesting, "Spicy, painful, but real. Much better than those 'Eternal Nectars' of The Council; that stuff is so sweet it makes one want to format oneself."

The potato flowers on the emotional aggregate's cloak shook happily.

"Back to business." The Poet's figure became slightly more solid, "The Council voted six to one to pass the 'Resource Restriction Initiative for Abnormal Energy-Consuming Civilizations.' To put it bluntly: they want to cut off your 'external network'."

Zhou Zhe's heart tightened: "What are the specific measures?"

"First, prohibit any level 2 or higher civilization from transferring or selling energy-related technology to you." The Poet called up a virtual scroll, "Second, remove the Cradle Node from the 'subsidy list' of the Galactic Public Energy Network; your energy purchase price will rise by 300%. Third... the most troublesome one: they will dispatch an 'Audit Delegation' to check the 'legitimate sources' of your existing energy, and if violations are found, they have the right to seize it directly."

"What is the standard for violation?"

"They decide." The Poet shrugged — countless punctuation marks rattled, "For example, the emotional energy you recover from the graveyard might be defined by them as 'illegal mining of cultural heritage.' The electricity you generate using plant symbiosis might be judged as 'misappropriation of patented technology from extinct civilizations'."

Zhou Zhe felt a chill down his back. This was not war; it was legal suffocation.

"But it's not without loopholes." The Poet's character fingers traced in the air, sketching out a complex network diagram, "The Galactic Public Energy Network has been built for over a hundred thousand years; the pipelines are old, and there are many monitoring blind spots. Those little guys from the web weaver protocol who support you have already found seventeen nodes where you can 'leech off the network'."

It zoomed in on one of the nodes: "Like this one — the 'Sleeping Giant' nebula, where there is a Dyson cloud remnant left by an ancient civilization, still producing energy spontaneously, but the ownership is ambiguous. The Council has always been too lazy to confirm the rights, so you can quietly connect a pipe there; as long as you don't drain it too hard, you shouldn't be discovered."

"Is this considered stealing electricity?" the emotional aggregate asked.

"It's considered 'rational utilization of ownerless energy'." The Poet blinked (although it had no eyes, Zhou Zhe felt it blinked), "The gray area of cosmic-level law is most suitable for the survival of party b."

Zhou Zhe remembered Stardust's famous quote. Sure enough, party b must learn to use the gaps in the rules wherever they go.

"Also." The Poet called up another image, "I have upgraded the 'diplomatic envoy' status of the emotional aggregate — it is now 'Representative Work of Galactic Intangible Cultural Heritage,' enjoying cross-civilization protection. If The Council wants to move against you, they must first hold a hearing to discuss 'whether to destroy cultural heritage,' and that process... won't finish in three hundred years."

The emotional aggregate immediately asked: "Is there a subsidy?"

The Poet laughed: "Yes. According to the standards of the web weaver protocol, you will receive a 'Cultural Conservation Fund' every year, enough for you to buy fertilizer for all the potato flowers."

"Thank you." The emotional aggregate said seriously, "I will issue an invoice."

The conversation went very smoothly. The Poet even took the initiative to offer to help humans optimize the "emotional energy recovery" technology — "Using the structure of poetry to encode emotional fluctuations can increase conversion efficiency by 40%, and the Audit Delegation won't understand it; they will think it's artistic creation."

In exchange, The Poet only made one request:

"Send me some tea eggs every year." It said, "And... recordings of your cafeteria. I'm old, and I need some fresh 'noise' to remind myself: the universe isn't dead yet."

Zhou Zhe solemnly agreed.

At parting, The Poet suddenly stopped him:

"Child, do you know why I support you?"

Zhou Zhe shook his head.

"Because your civilization... is still coughing." The Poet's voice became distant, "Coughing is the respiratory system's self-cleaning reaction. And those old guys in The Council haven't coughed for hundreds of thousands of years — they have adjusted themselves to an eternally steady breath, but that stability is only one step away from suffocation."

It finally said:

"Keep coughing. Even if you cough up tears."

"That is proof of being alive."

On the shuttle returning to the Cradle.

Zhou Zhe organized the conversation record and sent it to Lin Shen. The emotional aggregate sat beside him, the potato flowers on its cloak replaced by the "Poem Markings" gifted by The Poet, flashing on and off.

"I think The Poet is like a... retired old programmer." Zhou Zhe said suddenly, "Seeing through the absurdity of the system, but still secretly leaving backdoors for newcomers."

"All Ancient Sagess were once 'party b'." The emotional aggregate said, "It's just that some party b's became party a's and forgot how to change requirements; some party b's became poets and learned to write acrostic poems in the requirement documents."

When the shuttle passed through a layer of nebula, Zhou Zhe received an emergency communication from β-2:

"The resource restriction order has been officially issued. Three energy transit stations on the periphery of the Cradle have cut off supply simultaneously, and the backup energy is only enough to last for seventy-two hours."

"The schedule of the Audit Delegation has also been announced — arriving in seven days. The leader is the sixth seat of The Council, 'Iron Abacus,' known for being 'stingy and pedantic'."

"In addition, the potato patrol team caught a 'Sweet Nothingness' infiltrator on the seventh floor."

Zhou Zhe was stunned: "Infiltrator? What does it look like?"

β-2 sent a photo: a palm-sized, cotton candy-like translucent creature was being held down on the ground by the Potato Chief with root systems. Illusions of comfort kept appearing on the creature's surface — beaches, hot springs, never-ending milk tea, but every time they appeared, the Potato Chief played a "Project Overdue Warning Recording," and the illusion collapsed immediately.

"It tried to release 'micro-comfort mist' in the cafeteria ventilation ducts." β-2 explained, "But the potatoes have an instinctive vigilance against 'sweetness of getting something for nothing,' and caught it on the spot."

"How to deal with it?"

"The Potato Chief asked if it could be modified into an 'anti-comfort alarm' — tied to the patrol vehicle, it would scream as soon as it detects sweet fluctuations."

Zhou Zhe couldn't laugh or cry: "...Lock it up for now, wait for Manager Lin to decide."

Cradle, Core Command Ring.

Lin Shen was presiding over an emergency meeting. In addition to the human team, there were Stardust, Aurora (remote), and Zhou Zhe and the emotional aggregate who had just returned.

"Summary of the situation." Chu Yunshen called up the data board, "Energy crisis countdown of seventy-two hours; Audit Delegation arrives in seven days; we have three plans."

"Plan one: Accept the 'electricity stealing' support from the web Weaver nodes, the risk is increased punishment if discovered."

"Plan two: Accelerate the practical application of the 'Poetics of Emotion Power Station' and 'Potato Photosynthetic Grid', striving to reach 30% energy self-sufficiency within seventy-two hours."

"Plan three: Negotiation. Find a way to reach some compromise with the Moderate Faction in The Council before the Audit Delegation arrives."

Zhao Yan frowned: "Compromise? They are clearly trying to mess with us."

"But 'messing with' also has degrees." Chu Yunshen said, "The Poet revealed that there is disagreement within The Council regarding the intensity of sanctions. Iron Abacus wants to deal a heavy hand, but the second seat 'Gardener Chief' (the one in charge of cosmic ecology) is worried that excessive restrictions will trigger civilization backlash. We can try to contact the Gardener Chief and demonstrate our eco-friendliness — for example, the emotional aggregate and the potato flowers."

The emotional aggregate raised its hand (cloak lifted): "I can go give a speech. I've already thought of the title: 'On the Positive Contribution of Despair Moss Blooming to Galactic Biodiversity'."

Stardust floated above the conference table: "I'll add a plan four: Reverse audit."

Everyone looked at him.

"Doesn't Iron Abacus want to check our energy sources?" Stardust's starlight body split into countless light points, each representing a data stream, "Then we take the initiative — investigate the energy projects under The Council's name to see if there are any violations, waste, or 'unreasonable subsidies.' For example, I heard that Iron Abacus's own hometown, the 'Eternal Vault' star sector, enjoys energy subsidies five thousand times ours every year, but they do nothing there but count gold coins, and all the energy consumption is wasted on maintaining the luster of the gold coins."

Aurora's golden eyes flickered: "This belongs to... adversarial investigation. It may escalate the conflict."

"But it can create bargaining chips." Stardust condensed back into a human shape, "A classic tactic of party b — when party a keeps harping on the coffee money on your expense report, you slap a copy of his public-funded travel receipt on the table."

Lin Shen pondered for a moment: "Walk on multiple legs. Director Chu is responsible for contacting the Gardener Chief; Zhou Zhe and the emotional aggregate will accelerate the construction of the power station; Zhao Yan will strengthen defenses to prevent secondary infiltration; Stardust... carry out the reverse audit privately, don't leave any overt evidence."

"As for the energy gap —" he looked at β-2, "Calculate, if the potatoes increase photosynthetic efficiency to the limit, how much can they contribute?"

β-2 calculated at light speed: "Current daily average energy contribution of the potato group is 0.8%, if the 'Growth Incentive Protocol' is activated (using extra light and nutrient solution as rewards), it can be increased to 2.1% in the short term. But long-term overload will lead to premature aging of potatoes, which may trigger labor disputes."

The Potato Chief happened to roll in to deliver the report (it now also serves as the "Potato Guild Representative"), and upon hearing this, immediately held up a sign:

[We can work overtime.]

[But the conditions: triple nutrient solution, and at least one hour of 'meaningless dazed time' every day.]

[In addition, protest against the discriminatory term 'premature aging', suggest changing it to 'reasonable hibernation after passionate burning'.]

Lin Shen: "...Agreed. Overtime treatment will be as you proposed."

The Potato Chief rolled away satisfied.

Before the meeting ended, Aurora suddenly said: "Ashes sent a message from the Executive Court. The 'Non-standard Concept Defense Guide' he participated in compiling has passed the initial review, and the Executive Court agreed to set up a 'pilot application zone' in the Cradle. This means that if the Audit Delegation's behavior is judged as 'conceptual attack,' we can cite this guide for legal defense."

"For example?"

"For example, if Iron Abacus uses 'resource audit' as a disguise to actually release Sweet Nothingness variants, we can counterattack with 'workplace anxiety recordings' without being held accountable." Aurora paused, "Of course, the premise is that we can prove the other party struck first."

Lin Shen nodded. This counted as timely help from Ashes.

After the meeting, Zhou Zhe stayed in the command room, looking at the busy Cradle outside.

The starlight was as usual, but shadows were already gathering at the edges.

He opened the "Poem Markings" data package given by The Poet, which contained the optimized emotional energy encoding scheme. Those ancient poems were broken down into energy flow paths, the tones of sadness corresponding to voltage fluctuations, and the rhymes of joy corresponding to current peaks.

"Generating electricity with poetry..." he whispered to himself, "Does this count as... the most romantic party b?"

There was one last tea egg left in the insulated lunch box.

He peeled it and took a bite.

The spiciness rushed to his forehead, and tears instantly welled up.

But his brain was as clear as if it had been washed by poetry.

He opened the work log and created a new entry:

[Project: Civilization Coughing Sound Preservation Plan]

[Goal: Before suffocation arrives, collect all 'noise' worth coughing up tears for]

[First batch of samples: cafeteria noise, project arguments, potato hiccups, the sound of The Poet inhaling while eating tea eggs]

[Purpose: Someday in the future, if the universe really goes quiet, play these noises — As proof that we once lived.]

Save, encrypt.

Outside the window, the broadcast sound of the potato patrol team came faintly:

"Please note, the comfort index has risen again! Now playing defense audio: the classic line from the finance department when rejecting budget applications —"

Then a cold male voice: "This cost, cannot be controlled."

The sound echoed under the starry sky.

Like a cough.

Stubborn, living, coughing.