Li Yao was greatly alarmed. He vaguely understood what Su Changfa was implying.
Su Changfa rolled his eyes and asked with a fake smile, "Fellow Cultivator Li, how would you deal with such a situation if you were in the Flying Star Sector?"
Li Yao pondered for a moment and replied, "If it were the Flying Star Sector, the 'daring team' would probably be formed by the Cultivators and the elites of the ordinary people, such as the experts who had practiced certain Cultivation arts. They would excavate the crystal mines no matter how many sacrifices they had to make, wouldn't they?
"After all, without the crystal mines, it would be difficult for them to break out of their home planet. They would not be able to develop further and would be trapped on their mother planet one day!
"The Flying Star Sector is different from the Curly Dragon Sector that Senior Su described. Our mother planet, 'Iron Plateau', suffered an apocalypse five thousand years ago. The environment there is extremely harsh. Also, a lot of aggressive 'qi-trainers' are living there. Outsiders cannot approach it easily, either. Therefore, we have no mother planet with abundant resources to count on. We have to count on ourselves!
"Struggling to survive in the harsh universe, the Cultivators and ordinary people of the Flying Star Sector are not as delicate as those of the Curly Dragon Sector. They will still try their best when they cannot survive anymore!
"Besides, I believe that the high death rate is only temporary. After the environment of the resource planets is gradually improved, the mining and refining magical equipment is upgraded, and the mining experience is enriched, we will certainly find a set of effective approaches to reduce the death rate to an acceptable level."
Su Changfa smiled and said, "So to speak, the Cultivation civilization of the Flying Star Sector is still on the rise. It is not completely corrupted yet.
"The Cultivation civilization of the Curly Dragon Sector, on the other hand, is too sick to be cured!
"The natives of the Curly Dragon Sector have been comfortable on their mother planet with abundant resources for too long. The hundreds of years of carefree days have worn away all the hardworking, persevering, aggressive, and self-sacrificing nobility in their souls!
"The ordinary people of the Curly Dragon Sector have been spoiled by the Cultivators. They consider it reasonable and justified to sacrifice all the benefits that they would receive in the future!
"The Cultivators, on the other hand, have been dwelling in the halo of 'savior' for too long. They have gradually lost their way in the cheers and admiration of the public!
"When the harsh environment of the resource planets, the hardships and dangers of mining, and all the cruel truths were presented to them one after another, the ordinary people and most of the Cultivators found it impossible to accept everything!
"Except for a few Cultivators, nobody is willing to go to such a place to die!"
"Is it ethical, righteous, or unpardonable to trade the lives of flesh and blood for cold crystals?" Li Yao asked.
"The issue raised a protracted debate in the Curly Dragon civilization. The entire society was torn apart into two parties with opposing ideologies. Everybody was wasting their precious time and energy on meaningless debates!"
"The discussion has been going on for decades. During the decades, the few remaining mother lodes of crystals on the Curly Dragon Planet were still being consumed rapidly, but the Curly Dragon Sector never sent a single mining starship to the resource planets!
"Decades later, perhaps under the stimulation of the perilous resource warning line, the people of the Curly Dragon Sector finally reached a consensus. The crystal mines must be exploited, but not without the deaths!"
"Not just the deaths, even the most tiring work is a violation of human rights and the core ideology of the Curly Dragon Sector!"
"Therefore, they tried to establish a mining system that was absolutely safe and comfortable at the cost of precious resources.
"In the mining system, the mining starships were as luxurious as interstellar cruises, and the mining bases were more comfortable than luxury hotels. Most of the dangerous work was done by spiritual puppets. All the interstellar miners needed to do was to sit in the base, savor the wine on the light beam, and click on the cursor!
"Even so, few people were willing to go to the resource planets for mining. The few miners who were willing to work in the frontier all thought that they had made a great sacrifice. They greedily demanded higher salaries, benefits, and working environment time and time again!
"In the end, the salary and benefits of an interstellar miner were multiple times higher than those of a university professor on the Curly Dragon Sector. After the mother lodes of crystals were excavated, they were not sent back to the mother planet but devoted to the modification of the mining bases!
"They did not improve the efficiency of mining. Instead, they built a lot of entertainment facilities that had nothing to do with work in the mining bases, claiming that it was a 'humanized working environment'. They also shortened the working hours to five hours a day and threatened to go on strike every now and then.
"Hehe. You can't have your cake and eat it too. How can there be such a good thing in the universe that allows people to exploit the crystal mines so easily?
"Under their unscrupulous actions, the cost of mining and transportation has significantly increased, to the point that it cannot even make ends meet. The fuel, assets, labor, energy to drive the spiritual puppets, maintenance fees for the spiritual puppets, and the wear and tear of the starships after every ton of raw minerals of crystals is much more than the value of a ton of raw minerals of crystals itself!"
"Of course, such a system could not last forever. Finally, some Cultivators who could not stand it proposed a reform, but it was already too late!
"The miners and part of the management on the resource planets established a strong union, which turned into an enormous interest group. They united and bargained with the mother planet. They even extended their hands into the government of the mother planet.
"The natives of the Curly Dragon Sector regarded high welfare and a relaxed working environment as basic human rights. Most people in the society supported the union of mining, believing that they were the greatest 'sacrifices' who had made contributions to the entire civilization. The Cultivators who grew up in such an environment could not impose any coercive measures on the ordinary people, either. Under the aggressive attacks of the union of mining, they compromised weakly time and time again despite their overwhelming strength!
"Every time the Cultivators backed off, the union of mining unions would be more arrogant and demand better treatment!"
"The miners' theory sounded quite reasonable at first. The crystals were mainly excavated for the training of the Cultivators and to provide energy for their magical equipment. Naturally, the Cultivators had the greatest benefits!
"With that in mind, wasn't it only natural that they demanded the Cultivators to pay a higher price for the benefits?
"Such a theory was accepted by most of the ordinary people. Even a lot of idiotic Cultivators agreed with it. They betrayed their own side and became members of the union of mining!
"Just like that, the cancer that parasitized the Curly Dragon Sector grew larger and larger. It gradually absorbed the nutrition of the mother planet like a cancer. Not only did it fail to resolve the shortage of crystals, it even accelerated the deterioration of the problem!
"The half-automatic mining system that adopted tremendous spiritual puppets had tremendous hidden problems in itself, too. As the spiritual puppets were worn out, the invisible risks were accumulating bit by bit until they reached the tipping point!
"Finally, on a resource planet named 'Blood Dragon Planet', the communication between the spiritual puppets and the mining base was cut off because of a cosmic storm. Also, the crystal chips of the spiritual puppets happened to malfunction, and the miners who were responsible for the safety inspection did not notice it in time. As a result, an accident of an unprecedented scale was raised, and more than seventeen hundred miners were killed in the accident!
"The gory accident made the natives of the Curly Dragon Sector doubt the safety and rationality of mining on the resource planets again!
"Is it really reasonable to trade a life for a cold crystal? Is it really righteous?
"If a civilization has to be sustained by the death of ordinary people, what is the value of such a civilization at all?
"Blood crystals! What the Cultivators like you are consuming are the 'blood crystals' that are exchanged for with the blood of ordinary people!
"Such voices are everywhere in society, and they are popular in the name of freedom of speech."
"The high compensation made the five insurance companies and the entire mining group on the verge of bankruptcy, raising the most gory economic crisis on the Curly Dragon Sector.
"The union of mining took the opportunity to launch an attack. All the miners returned to the mother planet from the resource planets and launched a huge demonstration. They aimed their spears at the world of Cultivators and demanded better benefits and safety. They demanded a lot of money and proposed a whimsical condition!
"With the technological level of the Curly Dragon Sector at that time, their demands were delusional and impossible to be met!
"This time, the Cultivators finally had nowhere to retreat.
"However, even at the moment of life and death, the Cultivators were still unwilling, unable, and dared not attack the union of mining workers ruthlessly. Therefore, they established a mining team made of Cultivators entirely, hoping to solve the resource problem on their own.
"How was it possible?
"Cultivators were few in number after all. Also, mining on the resource planets was mostly simple, repetitive, and unskilled work. It was a complete waste of their lives for them to go into the mines in person!
"Just like that, the crystal collection system of the Curly Dragon Sector continued to function at a very low efficiency. For hundreds of years, the number of Cultivators grew smaller and smaller.
"The decline was caused by two factors.
"Firstly, the mother lodes of crystals on the Curly Dragon Sector had run out. The spiritual energy was thinner and thinner, too. The sector entered the 'Age of Doom' again. Naturally, the number of newly-awakened Cultivators plummeted!
"Secondly, the living environment on the resource planets was extremely dangerous. The Cultivators were burning their soul and life to mine crazily. Their average lifespan was much lower than when they were on their mother planet, but the accident casualty rate was significantly higher!
"Also, after devoting most of their time and energy to the meaningless mining work, they had no time or energy to train themselves. Their level could not be improved. Every death meant one less Cultivator!
"The ordinary people did not feel that it was a bad thing.
"It was because, in the competition between the union of mining and the Cultivators, the union of mining had criticized the Cultivators brutally.
"The crystals were dug out for the enjoyment of the Cultivators. The ordinary people could live a good life even without crystals!
"Most of the natives of the Curly Dragon Sector were bewildered by such an ideology and were not interested in what happened on the resource planets. After all, the enormous wealth left by their ancestors was enough for them to live a comfortable life for hundreds of years.
"For an ordinary person, hundreds of years is indeed a long time. They might not see the end of it in their entire life.
"But for a civilization, hundreds of years is nothing more than a blink of an eye!
"Just like that, after another hundreds of years, the glorious civilization of the Curly Dragon Sector finally reached the end of its life.
"The number of Cultivators hit rock bottom. It was no longer enough to maintain the collection system of the mother lodes of crystals. All the mining bases were in disrepair and half-dead.
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