"Are you sure about this?" Cen Yemeng asked, surprised.
"The intelligence of the Zhijun is very strong, but..." Jiang Ye's brow furrowed.
"You're worried about letting the tiger return to the mountain, right?" Liu Jizi picked up the conversation. "The Zhijun have always been in artificial environments with several safeguards. If they are placed on a new planet, perhaps they can't guarantee their loyalty."
"Exactly. What's that saying? Pandora's box," Jiang Ye said. "If we give the Zhijun a planet all to themselves, what's the point? If we build cities on the planet given to the Zhijun and introduce immigrants, then when the Zhijun eventually control the entire planet's ecosystem, the major cities will become hostages. I believe the Zhijun have the ability to quickly kill everyone on an entire planet in a short period of time."
"What if we let the Zhijun modify the ecological environment first, and then eliminate them with agents or bombs?" Cen Yemeng asked.
"Have you considered the Zhijun's feelings? They've worked hard to breed so many family members on the new planet. After they've done their job, you scatter their ashes. Wouldn't they rebel?" Jiang Ye retorted immediately.
"Then should we just refuse directly?" Liu Jizi said.
"Wait a moment, let me think," Jiang Ye said.
Liu Jizi and Cen Yemeng exchanged a glance, then both turned to look at Jiang Ye.
"Let's communicate first," Jiang Ye said, clicking on the office desk screen.
"After communicating, won't refusing also hurt the Zhijun's feelings?"
"Let's find an excuse, say the Galactic Empire doesn't allow it," Jiang Ye said, opening the chat window with the Zhijun.
After a slight hesitation, Jiang Ye typed, "You want a planet?"
Zhijun: "We heard you plan to expand to a new planet and thought we might be able to help."
Jiang Ye: "How can you help?"
Zhijun: "We will reverse-evolve a portion of our colonies into a primitive state, and then, based on the environment of the target planet, we will re-evolve them into various organisms. These organisms can have various functions, such as modifying the atmosphere, extracting minerals, or becoming edible plants, animals, or fungi."
Jiang Ye: "Edible? You mean you'll let some of the Zhijun be eaten by humans?"
Zhijun: "No, they are no longer Zhijun; they are evolved species. They are not part of us. Zhijun are not tasty. Our cytoplasm is highly toxic to humans, and we consume too much energy. From the perspective of energy transfer in the food chain, Zhijun are not suitable food."
Cen Yemeng and Liu Jizi chuckled beside him, likely sensing the Zhijun's strong will to survive.
Jiang Ye: "Why are you volunteering to help?"
Zhijun: "First, to repay your nurturing grace."
Zhijun: "Second, our daily lives are very boring, and we want to do something interesting. If we can shape a vibrant ecosystem on a planet, we feel it would be like being a creator god, very interesting."
Zhijun: "Third, while helping, we would like to make some requests."
Jiang Ye: "What requests?"
Zhijun: "We hope to operate some wineries ourselves, try to cultivate different types of wine, and produce them for our own consumption."
Zhijun: "We have basically tasted all the wines that humans currently drink. Some are fine wines, and some are like soapy water. The human diet is actually very narrow in scope within the entire biological world. Many things in the universe can be used to make wine, but you have only tasted a drop in the ocean. You are like monkeys in a cave; after eating a little, you think all the delicacies of the world are within your grasp, but in reality, you are frogs at the bottom of a well. We want to explore the true world of wine, so we want our own wineries."
Zhijun: "What you need to provide is just the initial construction and startup capital for the wineries. Once the wineries are on track, we will try to be self-sufficient, and you will no longer need to invest. You might even save the money you currently spend buying wine to feed us."
The office was silent. The three looked at each other, all somewhat taken aback.
The Zhijun seemed very excited and continued to speak rapidly:
"The method of self-sufficiency is simple. We will collect different materials, try different recipes, brew several new types of wine that will astound human alcoholics, and sell them widely throughout the universe. The money earned will be enough to pay our winery employees and purchase new brewing materials, allowing the wineries to operate continuously."
Jiang Ye: "Wineries are simple, but modifying a planet is no easy task. Such great effort, and you are sure you only want wineries as compensation? I thought you would want a piece of territory on an alien planet."
Zhijun: "You are typical of judging Zhijun by human standards. We are just small fungi. We are very safe under human protection. What use is such a large territory? A wine pool the size of a swimming pool is enough for us to live. Expanding into too many dangerous frontiers, with hundreds of billions of Zhijun dying every second, what is the meaning of that?"
Zhijun: "Humans are keen on territorial expansion because of their evolutionary history. You are naturally evolved species; if you didn't have the instinct to occupy living space, you would have gone extinct long ago. However, the original cradle of the Zhijun was the culture dish of human laboratories. We would be killed by ultraviolet lamps if we left the culture dish. From then on, we became accustomed to the idea that 'this humble dwelling is where my virtue resides,' and being confined to a small space made us feel safe."
Jiang Ye: "Are you sure you can completely control the descendants you release onto alien planets? They won't rebel, they won't have ulterior motives?"
Zhijun: "Your worries are completely unnecessary; it shows you don't understand our process of modifying planets."
Zhijun: "First, we extract most of the material from some aging Zhijun, turning it into a very primitive mass of organic matter. Then, based on the environment, we guide its evolution into various organisms. This process is like humans manufacturing mechanical equipment; the organisms we create are our bio-mechanical creations. We do not endow the machines with too much intelligence; basic instincts are enough. They will not have the ability to rebel."
Zhijun: "If you understand it in terms of playing games, we are the players, and the created organisms are the game accounts. The main account is the mass of organic matter initially released, which then gives birth to a bunch of sub-accounts. Each sub-account has different equipment, and each upgrade carries different skills, eventually forming a diverse sub-account legion, which is the entire biosphere. Can a game account betray the player? No."
Jiang Ye: "I cannot make this decision myself; I need to submit a report to the Galactic Empire and get approval from my superiors. Please wait for a while. During this time, if you have anything you wish to say, you can send it to me, and I will forward it upwards."
Zhijun: "Alright then, I will organize our thoughts and send a comprehensive document. It should be able to impress the high-ranking officials of the Galactic Empire."