"Prosperity and decline are the sufferings of the people. The ancient people were not lying at all!"
The messy-haired passenger sighed. "No wonder so many civil business ships are still risking their lives to trade despite the chaos outside and the space pirates' fleets on every sailing route. Dongling, you do know a lot."
Huo Dongling blushed and said, "What do I know? That's what my father complained about every day. During our long trip for trade, the critical assets were all sold out in every port that we passed. Nobody wanted the raw minerals that were not refined. More than half of our food and fuel were consumed. There was no telling what would happen after we arrived at the Seven Seas Grand Market. My father was so worried that all his hair was falling off. He sighed in a corner all day long. Even though I didn't want to listen to it, I still remembered his complaints!"
"Then …"
The messy-haired passenger pondered for a moment and said, "Dongling, if you have to choose one, which do you think is better, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors or the 'authorities' behind the four Kurfürst families? Would you rather live under the governance of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors or the 'authorities'?"
"The Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, of course. The Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors is a hundred times better than the four families!"
Huo Dongling blurted out, "It's true that the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors is a bunch of businessmen who make money from us in every possible way, but they more or less have their boundaries and follow certain business rules. They even help us occasionally.
"Although we described them as cunning just now, those asteroids were managed by them in advance and given to us at half price. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for us to have a home of our own.
"After giving the asteroids to us at half price, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors would also sell us abundant resources for exploration and mining on credit, teach us the necessary technologies, and even provide us with convenient loans. Of course, all those things had to be paid back. The interest was not low, but it was enough to keep us alive anyway!
"After that, although the business fleets of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors monopolized the channels of import and export on the asteroid, they often brought us bizarre magical equipment and new businesses from the outside world. If the young people in the asteroid settlements made a name for themselves, it was possible for them to work as employees of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. Their families would be able to enjoy higher interest rates and technical support. Their lives would be even better!
"All in all, my dad told me that the residents of the settlements on the planets were like hens that could lay eggs for the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. The Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors would raise the hens until they were fat and strong before they dug out our eggs. That's what they call … fishing a big fish with a long line!"
The passenger with messy hair nodded and said thoughtfully, "Let's fatten up the hens first and then eat the eggs slowly. That's not bad. What about the four families?"
"The four great clans are vicious jackals and wolves who only want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Why would they care about our lives?"
With hatred beaming out of her eyes, Huo Dongling gnashed her teeth. "However cunning the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors is, they at least provide us with loans, technology, education, and a market. What have the four families and the so-called 'authorities' given us? Nothing, except for taxes and fines!
"The Immortal Cultivators who belong to the four families rarely show up in a year. Whether we are caught in famine, plagues, mining accidents, or the excessive radiation caused by the scourge of cosmic storms … nobody from the authorities has ever come out for disaster relief. But every time we have some savings in our hands, those jackals from the authorities will show up in broad daylight.
"The port construction tax, the environmental protection tax, the sailing route safety tax, the special national defense tax, the Imperium revival tax, the human evolution tax, and the taxes of the Imperium!
"Those taxes are collected by the authorities legally. As for the fees and fines that the local Immortal Cultivators collect in private, they are even more uncountable! Refuse to pay? They have sabers and guns in their hands. Are they really bold enough to kill us? Even if they don't kill us on the spot, they can put on the skin of space pirates and loot us again. How can the poor settlements on the planets resist them?
"If they steal our money, it will be great if they can keep us alive and fatten us up like the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors did. However, the lords of the four families never care about our lives. After all, we are ants, weeds, and hominoids who deserve to die on our own!"
The messy-haired passenger frowned harder and harder.
As Huo Dongling talked, her eyes turned red again. Tears rolled down her cheeks for a long time before she continued, "The Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors has a large-scale construction plan. According to the plan, the settlements on the South Spirit Planet should've exceeded ten decades ago and been completely connected with a stable atmosphere of our own. In such a case, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors would've had bigger businesses for us to do, and they could've sold more goods to us. Everybody would've benefited. In the words of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, it would've been a win-win!
"However, the Immortal Cultivators of the four families have been extorting us from both the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and the colonized planets like ours every year. They have also raised a bunch of space pirates to rob us. The savings that we've accumulated through all our trouble have been swept away by them every time. If such things happen again and again, how can we build our hometown?
"Take this time for example. The four families have declared that the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors is a rebel army and forbade us from doing business with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. Whoever dares to communicate with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors will be the rebels.
"We are all good people who have always been loyal to my lord and His Majesty. Of course, we do not want to 'accede to the rebels'. However, since the lords do not allow us to do business with the rebels, please provide enough food, clean water, and compressed air to help us through the difficulties!
"At first, we all stayed at home dutifully. None of us had the courage to trade with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. We only hoped that the fleets of the four families would deliver relief assets and point out the direction of our future development. At the very least, we would not be starved to death, right?
"Hehe. We did expect an 'official army', a wretched 'emperor's army', but as it turned out, not only did the high and mighty army not bring a single food or a single water-cleaning chip, they also spoiled a lot of our assets that we barely had! Then, they simply left, leaving nothing for us. Not even the slightest hope!
"Just like that, the South Spirit Planet is not so bad. I'm told that many settlements on the asteroids have been butchered and razed to the ground by the Kurfürsten's fleets. It seems that because they failed to attack the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, they are now using the heads of the civilians as their credit. Dad said that it is called 'fake credit'. What …"
"Fake credit for killing innocent people," the messy-haired passenger said.
"Yes, fake credit for killing innocent people!"
Slightly shivering, Huo Dongling said, "It's true that we want to pledge our loyalty to His Majesty, the Kurfürsten, and the high and mighty lords of the Immortal Cultivators, but they do not want our loyalty at all and only want our lives. So, we can't just wait to be killed. So be it. At the very least, if we take an adventure in the Seven Seas Grand Market, chances are that we can find a way to survive!"
These words had been pent up in the little girl's heart for a long time. Along the way, it had fermented with fear, almost driving her crazy. Today, she could finally vent it out to her heart's content. She felt as if every pore on her body had opened up, and she was dripping with sweat.
It was not until she finished talking that she realized that the passenger with the beautiful eyes before her could be one of the "lords of the Immortal Cultivators" that she condemned. Shuddering, she cringed and observed the guy's face in fear.
There was not much expression on the passenger's face, but his beautiful eyes became particularly deep. Cold killing intent popped up in the warm brilliance, which scared Huo Dongling out of her wits.
"Don't be scared, Little Dongling."
The passenger said, one word after another. His voice was not loud, but it was enough to shake the stars and the sea of stars. "Trust me. The war will be over soon. You will have a chance to return to your hometown and build your hometown … Trust me!"
"Yes, Mr. Li."
For some reason, although the guy's boasting sounded too absurd, Huo Dongling still couldn't help but want to believe in him, in a better future, and in a better hometown.
Right then, Little Bear shivered slightly, and orange brilliance beamed out of the cabin.
They were about to pass through the last stone belt.
After passing through the stone belt, it would be the planet with the largest volume and mass in this space zone, as well as its two enormous satellites.
The planet and its satellites constituted a rather unique, highly unstable three-star system that tore apart, involved, and exchanged materials with each other. As a result, the three-dimensional space nearby was highly unstable, too. Natural wormholes often appeared everywhere.
A space jump in this place could save fuel and maintain the structural integrity of the starship to the maximum. Therefore, it was the most favored jump point for the civil fleets.
This place was the last jump point before they reached the Seven Seas Grand Market. Once the jump succeeded, they would appear inside the Seven Seas Space Zone, where the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors still had powerful garrisons and a deep defense system that covered the entire space zone, which could guarantee the safety of the business teams traveling from the south to the north.
However, before the jump began, this place was still the dreaded "hell's gate". In the overwhelming stone belt that was brimming with radiation, it was very possible that the hunting warships of the four families were guarding the sailing routes and ambushing the civil business ships that intended to go to the Seven Seas Grand Market.
Even the most experienced captains had to be fully alert when they passed through the perilous stone belt.
Otherwise, the remnants of the starships that were rotating at a high speed in the stone belt might end up as their end in the next second.
The dozen cargo ships that made up the business team entered the stone belt carefully and in fear. Everybody was praying to the gods that they would not run into the most ferocious hunting warships.
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