Chapter 694 - 687: East Thirteen Districts

Chapter 694: Chapter 687: East Thirteen Districts

「Three days later.」

Working almost without sleep, Zhou Yuanjue skimmed through the vast amount of intelligence and knowledge stored in the supercomputer. He finally had a basic understanding of True Realm Civilization and the True River Realm.

Most of the information Nainte had shared about the True River Realm was correct.

The True River Realm spanned three hundred million light-years of the material world. The three great World King Level Civilizations stood as its supreme hegemons. Approximately three hundred million years ago, they united with numerous other powerful civilizations to form the True River Pan-universe Alliance, establishing the general Laws for interstellar civilizational exchange.

In reality, however, the True River Pan-universe Alliance’s control over the True River Realm was nowhere near as absolute as one might imagine. At the very least, it couldn’t achieve the same level of authority as the Earth Realm.

After all, the entire True River Realm was simply too vast. Its countless civilizations, life forms, and powerful individuals made complete control a fundamental impossibility.

Thus, the overall structure of the True River Realm more closely resembled the feudal system of the ancient Donghua Warring States period.

The True River Alliance had divided the True River Realm into twenty-three "Regions." Within each region, powerful High-level Civilizations and factions jointly formed a regional committee. While operating under the broader legal framework established by the True River Pan-universe Alliance, each region also had its own set of more specific laws.

The three great civilizations occupied the three most central regions, numbered 1 through 3, which were also known as the "Core Three Regions."

Earth Civilization was located in the area designated as the "Eastern Thirteen Regions." Its joint regional committee was led by five civilizations serving as permanent council members. The Sacred Lotus Civilization was one of these five, possessing immense power and a highly advanced society.

The guidance mission was truly not something Earth Civilization could afford to resist. Doing so would be an indirect provocation of the Sacred Lotus Civilization’s authority—an extremely dangerous act within the Eastern Thirteen Regions.

Furthermore, joining the Sacred Lotus Civilization and becoming one of its members didn’t seem to be as rife with exploitation and coercion as Zhou Yuanjue had initially imagined.

In fact, compared to the sheer scale of the Sacred Lotus Civilization, all the resources and power possessed by Earth Civilization were negligible—as insignificant as an ant.

The only thing a High-level Civilization might value from them was "life resources."

The universe is vast, with civilizations as numerous as trees in a forest and life numbering in the countless trillions. Even with minuscule odds, such a massive population meant that even a Low-level Civilization could give birth to a prodigy of immense potential.

Whether in technology, knowledge, or the path of Cultivation, the undeniable truth was that a single genius could change an era, a civilization, or even the entire universe.

Just like Zhou Yuanjue’s own meteoric rise on Earth.

This was the key reason why High-level Civilizations were willing to accept and guide Low-level Civilizations.

Moreover, according to the data, even completing the Sacred Lotus Civilization’s guidance mission didn’t guarantee entry. If a candidate failed the compatibility test, they might be assigned to one of the Sacred Lotus Civilization’s subordinate civilizations or other large organizations.

As for Earth, it would nominally be a subordinate civilization of the Sacred Lotus Civilization. But other than the construction of a contact channel and periodic visits from a designated representative for guidance missions, there would be almost no further interaction.

’Before, we worried our civilization’s autonomy would be compromised, but in reality, the true risk seems much smaller than we expected. Did we overestimate our own civilization’s value?’

Zhou Yuanjue fell silent for a moment before murmuring the words aloud with a sigh.

All of their worries seemed to have been completely unnecessary.

In the eyes of those High-level Civilizations, the entire planet of Earth, the whole of Earth Civilization, had a current value little higher than that of an ant.

This was the reality of it. The universe was simply too vast.

Since that was the case, many of his concerns could be easily resolved.

Next, he focused his attention on the specific procedures for the guidance mission. On this point, Nainte had indeed lied.

Or rather, he had greatly exaggerated the importance of guides like himself.

In reality, those who took on these guidance missions were never powerful figures. Across the vast universe and the True Realm, countless such beings went missing every day. Some perished in uncharted territories, while others wandered into certain True Realm Wonders and became trapped there forever.

Unless they had a powerful background, no one cared much whether they lived or died.

Even the mission dispatchers at the Sacred Lotus Civilization didn’t recognize the guides by face. They only recognized the guidance mission directive, stamped with the "True Racial Seal," and a biometric match between the guided individual and the records in their database.

In other words, even without Nainte and his partner, as long as Zhou Yuanjue could pilot the Aircraft Carrier skillfully, he could fly back and complete the mission himself.

’Still, even with this basic intel, having an experienced guide for our first contact with a High-level Civilization in the True Realm would save us from a lot of unnecessary danger and trouble,’ he thought. ’But this guide would have to be completely obedient.’

A faint smile touched the corners of Zhou Yuanjue’s lips. A plan was already forming in his mind.

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Afterward, Zhou Yuanjue used the Aircraft Carrier’s supercomputer and its magnetic signal transmission capabilities to transfer the relevant data to human civilization’s electronic devices. This allowed humanity’s top leaders to quickly familiarize themselves with the information and make the appropriate decisions and judgments. Meanwhile, he began to set his own plan in motion.

This long journey would require an obedient guide.

The massive Aircraft Carrier stood silently in the center of a wide landing field, its hull reflecting a faint, cold light under the noon sun.

Nearby, Zhou Yuanjue had moved a massive Seal crystal in front of the Aircraft Carrier—it was the one containing Nainte.

Zhou Yuanjue slowly walked forward, reached out, and placed his palm on the Seal crystal.

GLURGLE GLURGLE!!

The Seal crystal around Nainte’s head rapidly softened and squirmed, peeling away like a viscous liquid to reveal his head.

With the Seal on his head removed, Nainte’s consciousness slowly began to reawaken.

His gaze was slightly hazy at first, but it quickly sharpened, locking onto Zhou Yuanjue.

"Well? Have you made a decision? Cooperating with us to complete the mission is the best choice for both of us. I hope you don’t do anything foolish."

Nainte said quickly.

"No. Besides that, we have a better option."

A smile touched the corners of Zhou Yuanjue’s lips.

CRACK!! CRACK!!

To Nainte’s astonishment, a large amount of black liquid began to secrete from the pores all over Zhou Yuanjue’s body. The fluid rapidly solidified, forming a suit of carapace-like armor across his skin.