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In a vast array of possible outcomes, Song Chi had stumbled upon the very one he least wished to see—his feelings at this moment were, understandably, far from pleasant.
Nevertheless, he still tried his best to control his emotions and shifted his attention to the damaged piece of special equipment before him.
According to the introduction by the higher-level members of the Shouyuan Race from the mother ship, this special device was named "Origin Core Harvesting Device." It was a technological product developed over tens of thousands of years after the accidental discovery of the wreckage of an alien starship by the Shouyuan Council.
Just as he had suspected, this "Origin Core Harvesting Device" could indeed extract the Origin Core of a Starry Sea Floating Land. This was the reason why there were so many barren Floating Lands within the territories under the Shouyuan Civilization.
However, the device had significant limitations: It required considerable time to extract the Origin Core from a piece of Starry Sea Floating Land each time it was used.
Moreover, it seemed that extracting the Origin Core from a third-rank Floating Land was the device’s limit. While they never attempted to extract from a fourth-rank Floating Land, the high echelons of the Shouyuan Civilization’s council were not fools, and they knew their limits.
Beyond these, Song Chi uncovered another point.
The Shouyuan Civilization was a technologically inclined civilization, and what they had developed to extend their lifespans were special genetic optimization agents.
The key factor was that the raw materials for these agents were closely related to the Origin Cores of Floating Land, which explained why, despite tens of thousands of years and the assistance of the Origin Core Harvesting Devices, they had never managed to cultivate a fourth-rank Life Floating Land.
It wasn’t just because their territory spanned tens of thousands of light-years in a remote Star Domain with no fourth-rank Floating Lands to be found, but also due to the limitless greed within the individuals of their race.
When it comes to personal longevity, how important is the potential of a civilization’s future?
Perhaps a handful of visionaries would say it is, but against the overwhelming undercurrent of endless selfishness, their power was as insignificant as an insect trying to stop a chariot.
After understanding all this, Song Chi couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.
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He remembered a saying from his past studies: The Shattered Starry Sea is boundlessly vast and teems with countless civilizations. Among these innumerable societies, a single minor decision, as well as the subtle dynamics within a race, can steer the entire civilization’s course, with the slightest misstep leading to destruction.
This saying currently seemed particularly fitting for the Shouyuan Civilization.
With a decent start, if the Shouyuan Race had less selfishness within or the leaders had more capability, in tens of thousands of years, they might have even been able to cultivate a fifth-rank Floating Land. With such a land as their foundation, they could conquer spatial stargate technology and continuously expand into surrounding Star Domains.
In that case, after tens of thousands of years, the outcome might have been entirely different.
Take Torch Human Civilization, for example: if the few warships at the beginning, after acquiring the initial Source Seed of Torch, had monopolized it for their own development instead of spreading it throughout the entire group, would there still have been the Torch Human Civilization, which has swiftly grown over three hundred thousand years to dominate the entire Torch Human river system cluster?
Perhaps they would have faced an insurmountable crisis at some point and been erased by the relentless flow of time long ago!
With a moment of reflection, Song Chi quickly pulled his thoughts together. He divided the dozens of Void Assassin Clan Soldier Figurines into three groups and dispatched them, rushing towards the third-rank Floating Land below at the fastest speed possible to scavenge for all the high-rank resources on this Floating Land.
A third-rank Floating Land could not possibly be entirely without value.
Without the interference from the Shouyuan mother ship with its only Fourth-Rank Combat Power unit, the Pseudo Fifth-Rank Void Assassin Clan Soldier Figurines faced no obstacles on a third-rank Floating Land, quickly clearing out all the medium-high rank resources of the Starry Sea Floating Land.
As for those low-rank resources, which couldn’t be collected in a short period, Song Chi wasn’t very interested.
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Later on, he could let the development teams within the Pulse come over or even bring over Soul Master and Soul Two from the Asteroid Belt.
Speaking of Soul Master and Soul Two, the Asteroid Belt was no longer suitable for them to stay any longer. After exploring the Ancient Starry Sky Battlefield, the family had also sent out a large development team to exploit the Asteroid Belt, spanning 21 light-years in diameter.
Furthermore, as he had actively reported the resource point, he too would have a share in the resources obtained from the extensive development, so there was no need for Soul Master and Soul Two to remain there any longer.
Several hours later, Song Chi’s expression had long lost its earlier anticipation.
"Truly a civilization rotten to the core, even these few remaining third-rank Floating Lands have been stripped of resources to the bone. Even the Floating Land Origin Cores are merely maintained at the most minimal balance..."
Internally berating with wild criticism, Song Chi found it almost incredible, failing to understand how an Intermediate Civilization could be so shortsighted.
After a thorough scavenging by the Void Assassin Clan Soldier Figurines, he discovered to his astonishment that even without extraction, all the usable resources on this third-rank Starry Sea Floating Land had been looted to an indescribable extent.
Even the slight volume that the Floating Land Origin Core itself accumulated each year by absorbing the dispersed energy of the Starry Sea was precisely extracted by the Shouyuan Civilization, leaving not the slightest chance for the Floating Land to improve— all to prolong the lifespans of the oldest members of the Shouyuan Council.
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