Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 322: Cursed Planet and Negotiation (2)

"…What did they do that they have to offer so much in compensation?" a scientist that followed the negotiation team asked.

It was a simple question, but Yao Yuan took a long time to answer, "His soldiers killed a number of our Black Star Troopers."

This created more confusion. One of the people around Yao Yuan immediately asked, "Haven’t they compensated for that? His few alien soldiers have committed suicide. Furthermore, isn’t death to be expected during war?"

"The value is unequal!"

Ren Tao, Xiao Niao, and Yao Yuan answered in unison. Then Yao Yuan explained, "We’ve been dismissing one important detail, and if the alien didn’t bring it up just now, we probably would have lost a lot in this negotiation! The important detail is… cosmic adapters are extremely rare in space!"

"That’s right." Xiao Niao added, "We’ve been raised in the understanding that every human is equal to one another and that there is at most the difference in occupation or capability that might cause some discrepancy, but under our laws, every man is treated the same. Even if the emperor kills someone, he has to be punished the same way a beggar would."

Everyone in the team nodded in agreement. He continued, "However, alien civilizations don’t seem to share this understanding. From all our known information, they value cosmic adapters above all else. For these space civilizations that have been in space for millions of years, normal lifeforms can be incubated in a test tube, they are ‘cheap’, but a cosmic adapter can decide the survival of the whole civilization… In actuality, we should have known about this for a long time, but since we only just recently entered space, our thinking is still somewhat stuck in the time when we were still on Earth."

Yao Yuan continued as he nodded, "Xiao Niao is right. The people that died on our side were Black Star Troopers. They were soldiers… and according to our normal understanding, soldiers dying during war is not something to really be concerned about. I understand it is cruel, but it is because of this mindset that we forgot that the few soldiers that they killed were the extremely valuable cosmic adapters!"

At this point, comprehension slowly dawned. Then their initial shock slowly turned to excitement.

This was especially true for Guang Zhen; he let out a shocked expression. "I know this sounds uncouth, us benefitting from the death of these soldiers…but I have to ask, do they really plan to compensate so much for our loss? Just because they had killed some of our soldiers?"

Yao Yuan shook his head. He answered after some thought, "Their race’s survival has nothing to do with us. Do not give us lectures on humanity or kindness, as this is space, cruel space. From the junkyard civilization to the lying merchants until this race’s infiltration of the Hope, they did not hesitate to start their massacre. Do all of you still remember Eva’s original prediction? She said that other than cosmic adapters, we would have lost 80 percent of our citizens! So why shouldn’t we benefit as much as we can from this situation? Although he did promise something incredible, a whole set of technology that enables us to evolve from a level 2 space civilization to a level 3 space civilization, a whole set of it..." Yao Yuan started laughing in an evil way near the end.

Guang Zhen was confused by what he said, but he slowly understood it. His eyes were practically shining when he said, "I get it now, the alien doing all the talking is someone important from his civilization. In fact… he might be someone of your level in his civilization, he’s the civilization’s leader?!"

"Not quite, but that's not far from the truth…" Yao Yuan turned to address Ren Tao, Xiao Niao, and Bo Li. "I wonder if any of you have realized this, because I did… that alien seems to be a cosmic adapter as well, right?"

They hesitated before nodding cautiously. Yao Yuan ignored their hesitation and powered on. "Then that explains everything, like why he said he will offer his service to us human beings. Unless he is the chief scientist for his civilization, why would a normal alien offer something like that. Of course, that compensation…"

Suddenly, Ren Tao interrupted, "Yao Yuan, don’t tell me you plan to go claim that compensation? Stop kidding. You might want to die, but I still want to live. You really think we can get that compensation from that giant space fleet? We will most likely get captured !"

Yao Yuan laughed and shrugged. "Of course I understand. The aliens in our custody are so cooperative now because we have the upper hand, but if they returned to their civilization, we would be less than microorganism, probably a mess of meat for them to play with. Do you think I am dumb enough to believe him? No matter how big the benefit, you have to be alive to enjoy it! Although, since he did bring up something like that… Don’t any of you think that having an alien strategist that knows plenty about space is beneficial to us?"

Therefore, in the following negotiations, Yao Yuan’s group maintained a high posture. According to Yao Yuan’s order, they prenteded to be holding unimaginable resentment and anger during the negotiations. At the same time, the people from the Blue Race relaxed…

Yes, this might sound weird, but that was what the people from Blue Race felt. Earlier, when Yao Yuan’s group came in, they were too calm, as if the cosmic adapters that died did not matter. This observation chilled the Blue Race people to their cores. This gave them the idea that they were going to die, that these people had decided to kill them, which was why they did not want to waste any more time on them…

Now, the humans’ reaction finally fitted their expectations, and that was the proof they needed to be sure that they would not be executed… Since these people had started negotiating with Blue 6, it meant that they planned to keep them alive.

"…First, we are not going to gain contact with the Blue Race again in any short amount of time, so we are not going to give any of you freedom. Until then, all of you will swear fealty to us humans and serve us using your vast knowledge. When the time is right, we will make contact with the main Blue Race fleet.

"Second, when you are in our service, you are not allowed to harbor any intention to lie or harm us. If we suspect any of you of doing that… Please pay attention: even if it is just suspicion on our side, we will most likely execute you and your friends, and there will be no due process, so please do not challenge our patience and hatred. After all, you have comitted an unforgiveable crime against us humans!"

Yao Yuan announced all that with a severe expression. Blue 6, who was sitting on the other side of the glass pane, sighed in relief. Then he said, with a smile, "Yes, I understand. Before you get in contact with the Blue Race’s main fleet, I will contribute to your civilization as one of the members. Of course, I wish to have a better living environment and quality of life, one that matches my position. At least I ask that the current humiliation be stopped. After all, we are both civilized societies, it is below us to be so hung up on such a small altercation, right?"

Yao Yuan’s group was stunned. However, thanks to their earlier experience, none of them spoke, as they had handed that responsibility to Yao Yuan. After all, they were dealing with a level 3 space civilization, a civilization that had spent millions of years in space. Perhaps there was such a rule in space? One to prepare a better living environment for alien captives? But that just sounded preposterous to Yao Yuan.

Blue 6’s demand startled Yao Yuan. His Thinker power was in full capacity as he directly asked, "Then what kind of life quality upgrade do you wish for… Do not try our charity, you are not worth as much as to offset the slight that you have caused my civilization!"

Blue 6 let out an expression that meant he understood. He pointed at himself and said, "Of course I understand that. The reason I am offering my service to you is to resolve this slight, is it not? My requests are simple. First, I need to have a personal space, not this life of imprisonment where I am observed constantly. Next will be a certain degree of freedom because I need exercise, or my muscles will go into atrophy. Furthermore, since I have temporarily joined this civilization, I need to know the details and information of every mission. This is for the sake of my own safety… These requests are not that out of line, right?"

Yao Yuan thought about it and said, "I cannot fulfil your requests at the moment. We are preparing to complete an important task. To prevent any of you from causing unforeseeable damage, we cannot grant you any of those requests. However, we will accept parts of your requests and we can discuss the rest after this important thing is over and done with…"

"See, this is what I am talking about." Blue 6 shrugged his shoulders. "I should have the right to know what this important mission is. After all, as a temporary member of this civilization, and for the safety of my own life, I will give my best advice on how to proceed."

Yao Yuan studied Blue 6 for a long time, unable to tell whether this alien was telling the truth or not… Could there really be such an alien that was so loyal to his responsibility? Was he kidding or not?

In the end, Yao Yuan decided to give Blue 6 some information, including the solar system that they were going to and the alien races that possibly existed there. He hoped Blue 6 could live up to his promise.

Who knew that when this information was revealed to Blue 6, he would let out an expression of abject fear, and he only gave a few cryptic words…

"Cursed planet…

"…The place where demons are born!"