Chapter 444: Chapter 262: The encirclement operation has begun_2
The collector felt a chill in his heart.
He was somewhat dazed.
He still remembered when he first came to Gus Land, it was because he believed human civilization needed strong support, and such support could be most easily obtained from Gus Land.
In a blink, nearly two thousand years had passed.
Even with the existence of the Holy Land, two thousand years was still incredibly long. Lord Shen Shi was right, his impressions of the Mother Star and his hometown had indeed diminished.
It turned out that human civilization was now qualified to discuss matters "beyond Gus Land?"
"Have I... already been assimilated?" The collector’s emotions were somewhat bitter.
"Can’t you see for yourself whether you have been assimilated?" Shen Shi’s expression returned to calmness, he said with a bit of gentleness, "The reason you were chosen at the time was because you had a passionate love for the culture of human civilization, especially the culture from the Earth Star Period, so it was believed you had the ability to maintain your own purity far from the Mother Star and in a place far stronger than humanity, so I never doubted you. But remember, the Mother Star is the place that truly belongs to you."
Unlike the other future lines, in the third future line, human civilization had fled from the Mude System from the beginning and hid in the vast and boundless Barren Land.
Thus, there was no crisis of extinction.
Therefore, the collector didn’t need to take the cultural heritage of human civilization and flee to a safe place.
He came to Gus Land not voluntarily, but because of a summons from Shen Shi.
Ordinary people wouldn’t stay long in Gus Land, regularly rotating, but the general manager couldn’t. Too frequent replacements would impact human civilization’s interests in Gus Land. It was for this reason that Shen Shi selected the collector; the collector in the other future lines was enough to prove his inner strength.
Even at this moment, Shen Shi did not believe the collector showed any wavering.
He just left home for too long, too long, causing a feeling of timidity upon returning.
At this moment, the collector himself had come back to his senses, under the mighty Primordial Energy, once again finding his inner self.
"If that’s the case, then I will naturally return." His carefree and unrestrained face bore a bright smile, "Even if it’s just an equal stance, Gus Land does not qualify to have a Standing Member reside permanently."
"As long as you understand," Shen Shi said no more, just waved his hand, "Go make preparations, act cautiously, I want to see a detailed report."
"Yes!" The collector responded solemnly.
For human civilization, although failure this time would be a significant loss, it wouldn’t be debilitating.
But for the collector, failure would slow down his journey home.
Even for this point alone, the collector would absolutely not allow himself to fail. Shen Shi’s words and promise had completely ignited the motivation in his heart.
This time, it didn’t take too long.
Though gathering intelligence was equally troublesome, collecting data inside Gus Land was easier than investigating the vast information within the Mude System.
In just thirteen years, an extremely detailed report was handed over to Shen Shi.
Somewhat unexpectedly, the plan showed that a total of twenty B-level civilizations were willing to participate!
Twenty!
Excluding the core of Gus Land, how many representatives of B-level civilizations were there?
Including the eighteen B-level civilizations within the Mude System, plus humanity, and a few from outside of the Mude System hiding in the Barren Land, there were only twenty-four in total.
Including Gus Land itself, it meant only five civilizations did not join?
As Shen Shi reviewed the plan details, he realized how the collector accomplished it.
It was actually quite simple.
He performed a degree of separation between the resident parts of these civilizations inside Gus Land and their home entities, promising that the spoils from this action would be sent into Gus Land for free!
In other words, these spoils were very likely to belong to those in Gus Land, rather than their respective civilizations.
Even a part of the Es Civilization’s Mother Star Region that had been evacuated and further divided by so many forces might mean nothing to these powerful civilizations, but for the resident parts in Gus Land, it represented huge interests, enough to change their competitiveness in Gus Land.
Unable to prevent the action, to avoid their own decline, they naturally had no choice but to join in!
Even funnier, if not for the unanimous opposition from the other participating forces, the Es Civilization’s resident representative in Gus Land wanted to participate too.
He did his utmost to prevent these forces from invading his mother star, but unable to stop it, he feared that once this invasion succeeded, being the only non-participating one, they would fall to the bottom in Gus Land.
"Even these powerful civilizations can’t avoid the conflict between personal interests and civilizational interests."
This was Shen Shi’s biggest takeaway after reading the entire report.
Discrepancy is not conflict.
In a situation where change is impossible, seeking greater benefits for oneself is the choice of sentient beings, unrelated to culture or civilizational style, but simply the instinct of sentient beings to pursue benefits.
But since the collector had resolved the most difficult part, this action now became straightforward.
Shen Shi even felt a bit impatient.
"The encirclement and plunder action, officially commence!"
He issued the directive as a Standing Member, and with the fastest speed passed it through the Standing Committee and the Supreme Council, immediately, the colossal entity of human civilization, now with B4 strength, began full activation.
Although the Pirate Alliance and the Gus Land Alliance were the main forces, human civilization’s own strength still bore the most important responsibility. Besides, the various "cannon fodder" forces within the Mude System, especially in the Milky Way Galaxy, had their unique roles.
In a short span, more and more civilizations, began gathering near the Es Civilization’s Mother Star Region through the Holy Land.
The first arrivals were the "cannon fodder" lineup.
But in reality, they were all C7 and above civilizations, with the majority being C9 level!
Upon counting, there were as many as 700 strong!
"Ninety percent of the C9-level civilizations under the jurisdiction of Es Land have arrived," Shen Shi exclaimed, looking at the densely packed green dots on the star map.
This is a serious provocation against a B9-level civilization!
Don’t look at these civilizations, each being the undisputed overlord of a star domain like the Daike Civilization in the first future line. However, in the face of the Es Civilization, they were no different from ants, the enormous gap between C9 and B9 was starkly evident here, seen clearly by every civilization!
Even an Es Civilization with a greatly reduced defense force, was not something these "rabble" could dare to provoke.
The "cannon fodder" status was more than clear.
Yet most of the civilizations still came!
"This is the only chance they have to save themselves."
Gong Chu’s voice sighed softly in Shen Shi’s ear, this Standing Member responsible for the military field, even in the third future line, remained Shen Shi’s loyal and absolute supporter. At this moment, he was also looking at the star map before him, his calm voice conveying:
"These civilizations have, more or less, already been invaded and corrupted by the Es Civilization in the field of cultural recognition. Even in the face of evident issues within the Es Civilization, this corruption is hard to reverse, so if they still fantasize about maintaining their heritage, retaining their independence, they need this war! To tell themselves, to tell everyone within their civilizations—that the Es Civilization is not really that perfect and powerful!"