Everyone was curious about the Saint Clan’s stance.
The Alliance had gone to great lengths to shift everyone’s attention away from the Saint Clan, yet Haisena’s single sentence had pushed the Saint Clan back onto the stage.
The merfolk’s attitude, to some extent, also represented the attitude of the other powerful races.
They still remained silent, but they were clearly in agreement with Haisena’s statement.
At the very least, before officially stating their positions, they all wanted to know what the Saint Clan planned to do.
The other races that had already begun wavering also withdrew their thoughts of immediately expressing their stance and silently sat back down in their original seats.
Because of this, the atmosphere at the scene became strange.
Julien, who had raised the proposal, stood onstage with no one paying him any attention, while the representatives of every race below were all waiting for the Saint Clan to speak.
Anyone who did not know better, seeing this scene, would probably think the Saint Clan was the host of this conference.
And under countless gazes, Mansendis lifted his eyes and said in an indifferent voice, “The Saint Clan refuses to sign the treaty.”
Hearing this, Haisena raised a brow, revealing an expression that did not look surprised at all.
Julien’s expression, however, grew solemn.
The representatives of the various races looked at one another. Though they had countless thoughts in their hearts at this moment, on the surface, these old foxes did not reveal them in front of the cameras.
For a moment, the entire conference hall was extremely quiet, as if performing some absurd and bizarre large-scale silent play.
And the direction of this performance had changed because of a single sentence from the Saint Clan.
The Saint Clan’s attitude was very clear and very firm.
They had no intention whatsoever of signing this so-called peace treaty.
Just by glancing at the contents of the treaty, one could tell Mansendis would absolutely never agree to it.
One clause in the treaty stated that the Alliance had the right to evaluate and inspect the resources of every race that signed the treaty.
When this clause had first been established several hundred years ago, it had originally been a mutually beneficial provision between the races.
With the Alliance acting as an intermediary guarantor, the various races could integrate the resources they possessed and sell them across the star regions through the Alliance’s channels.
For races from lower-level civilizations, if they traded directly with races from higher-level civilizations, they could easily suffer unfair oppression. Going directly through the Alliance’s channels could avoid this situation.
Moreover, some smaller races had relatively backward technological levels. They might not know what kinds of resources they possessed, or whether the other races needed them. In cases like this, they could also apply to the Alliance.
The Alliance would send staff members to assist them, and the Federation could also provide support with advanced technology and instruments for later development.
When this provision was first established, it had undoubtedly helped many weak races and changed the fate of many races.
But after several hundred years, many things had changed.
A provision that had originally been genuinely mutually beneficial had also become a tool for Alliance officials to seek private gain.
From assistance at the beginning, it had turned into a rule where anything that needed to be sold across star regions first had to pay the Alliance an inspection fee.
For example, if certain races discovered some kind of resource on their own planet, after the Alliance came to evaluate it, the Alliance would also collect relevant handling fees for the subsequent mining and sale.
Over time, this became a heavy burden for many small and medium races.
The powerful races had also become increasingly dissatisfied with the Alliance doing nothing, yet relying on treaty regulations to take away a portion of the profits.
And this provision was even more fatal to the Saint Clan.
As everyone knew, the Saint Clan alone occupied an entire star region, and in the Ninth Star Region, there was not much else, but there were the most ores.
Once this treaty was signed, if the Alliance used the excuse of helping smaller races, they could occupy the moral high ground and demand that the Saint Clan sell their ores.
At that point, should the Saint Clan sell or not?
If they sold, the treaty stipulated that all goods moving between star regions had to undergo Alliance inspection, and only commodities with qualification certificates issued by the Alliance could be sold between star regions.
Once inspected, never mind anything else, the Saint Clan would first have to pay the Alliance an inspection fee.
And these fees were secondary. What the Saint Clan could not tolerate most was that confidential data such as what resources they possessed and how much of those resources they had would all be exposed before the Alliance.
In contrast, what the Saint Clan could gain from this matter was merely the status of a treaty-signing race, along with some prestige that might be completely useless to the Saint Clan.
After all, one could say selling ores could make money, but the problem was, the Saint Clan did not lack money, nor did they have trouble selling their ores.
They did not even need the Alliance’s channels. As long as the Saint Clan said they were willing to sell ores, a huge number of races would eagerly run over to the Ninth Star Region to beg to buy them.
It could be said that signing the treaty had no benefits for the Saint Clan at all. Instead, it was a situation where the Saint Clan would have to cut off a portion of themselves and hand it over.
The representatives of the other races saw this clearly, and their dissatisfaction with the Alliance’s increasingly lofty attitude in recent years deepened.
The Alliance’s actions were completely unacceptable to any race with independent sovereignty.
Especially when the Saint Clan also had an extremely forceful sovereign.
From the fact that Mansendis had immediately driven every other race out of the Ninth Star Region after taking power and only allowed the Saint Clan to occupy it, one could see that his way of doing things was exceptionally hard-line, and that he possessed an extremely strong desire for control.
With Mansendis’s personality, how could he possibly allow anyone to touch even the slightest bit of the Saint Clan?
All one could say was that the Alliance had miscalculated.
Unlike the other races, the Saint Clan had never cared about the outside world’s opinion.
Therefore, Mansendis dared to say what the representatives of the other races did not dare say directly.
He did not leave Julien even the slightest bit of face.
In front of the livestream, in front of everyone, the Saint Clan expressed their refusal with a hard-line attitude.
After speaking, Mansendis stood up.
“If this is what you call a conference to discuss peaceful development, then I believe there is no need to invite the Saint Clan next time.”
It was simply a waste of time.
Mansendis did not say this sentence aloud, but everyone could sense this meaning from the silver-haired sovereign.
They even felt themselves that...
If this was the so-called peace conference, then it was indeed a waste of time.
After Mansendis rose, the other Saint Clan members also stood one after another.
The tall, upright Saint Clan all stood together. Their expressionless, aggressive appearance was still extremely frightening.
Wen Yuzhi had originally still been eating his little cake. Seeing this, he also stood up. It seemed that after seeing his dad angry, the young man’s lips pressed tightly together as well. His face went tense, his expression cold.
When his gaze touched Julien, Wen Yuzhi’s face even revealed rare disgust.
—It was this person who made Dad angry!
He hated this old man.
Perhaps because of Old Master Wen, Wen Yuzhi had always been very polite toward elderly people, and he respected these elders from the bottom of his heart.
This was the first time Wen Yuzhi had ever been so impolite toward an elderly person.
But to Wen Yuzhi, family was the most important. Especially Dad.
Now that he sensed someone had offended Mansendis, the young man, in his anger, also put away his usual obedient and well-behaved appearance and showed his sharp claws.
His pale-gold pupils were filled with anger. Under the light, those eyes, even more beautiful than gemstones, shone brightly, dazzling like a blazing sun.
[Good baby, I thought Cub was a soft, cute little kitten. I didn’t expect Cub to look so fierce when angry...]
[How is that a little kitten? This is clearly a little leopard. Our Cub is super fierce!]
[Whispering quietly, even angry puffed-up Cub is so beautiful. The moment Cub glared over, I felt my heart trembling.]
[Our Cub is protecting Dad so fiercely!]
It was also at this moment that some viewers in the livestream room finally realized that no matter how obedient, soft, and harmless Wen Yuzhi looked on the outside, he was fundamentally still a Saint Clan member.
And a Salileno of the Saint Clan at that.
Thinking of the arrow the young man had shot in the square, then looking at Wen Yuzhi’s huffy appearance, whether it was the livestream room or the people at the scene, everyone was somewhat worried that this furious Saint Clan little highness might shoot Julien with an arrow on the spot too.
However, Wen Yuzhi was very calm.
He was angry, but since Dad had not spoken, he obediently stayed by his side.
Mansendis’s expression, however, remained calm. He did not seem to care about Julien’s awkward stiffness onstage, nor did he care about the gazes around him.
The silver-haired sovereign’s expression was so indifferent that it was difficult to tell whether he was happy or angry.
He merely picked up the cake the cub had just taken a bite from. Holding the cake in one hand, he then used his other hand to take Wen Yuzhi’s hand and directly left the seats.
“Wait—!”
Julien finally found a chance to speak.
He tried to stop the Saint Clan.
But Mansendis turned back and asked him one question. “What do you think the Alliance is?”
The Alliance... The Alliance was, of course...!
Julien opened his mouth, but before the words could leave him, he froze.
And Mansendis did not care at all. He turned around, held his child’s hand, and left with the other Saint Clan members.
Just as when they had entered, when they left, no race dared block the Saint Clan’s path.
“Equality, respect, cooperation, mutual benefit. This was the slogan the Alliance promoted at the beginning of its establishment. Promoting exchange and cooperation between the various races and maintaining order and peace in the universe was the original intention behind the Alliance’s founding.”
Haisena said aloud the words Julien had failed to say.
And yet, the Alliance of today—what part of the above had it achieved?
Thinking this, Haisena sighed. She shook her head, then also stood and left with the merfolk.
The departure of the Saint Clan and the merfolk was like a signal. The other races also stood one after another.
They did not leave as directly as the Saint Clan and the merfolk. They still gave Julien a little face, at least walking up to him and leaving only after bowing apologetically.
Very soon, only some small and medium races remained in the conference hall.
Their position was awkward.
Those powerful races could simply leave, but they had no choice but to sit there because they could not afford to offend the Alliance.
However, the Pat race was not among them.
As soon as the Saint Clan left, the Pat race’s president also very swiftly fled with his people.
Now there were even fewer people in the conference hall.
The atmosphere could not have been more awkward. No one spoke, and no one continued the contents of the conference.
At this point, the conference definitely could not continue. Even Julien could only announce the end of this conference.
At the beginning of this conference, the Alliance had built up so much momentum. At its end, it was just as battered and hasty.
People leaving midway before the conference had even ended—this was the first time the Alliance had encountered such a situation.
Raymond An could not stop regretting it. He felt that they should never have invited the Saint Clan. Perhaps from the moment they set their sights on the Saint Clan, this move by the Alliance had already been wrong.
Listening to Raymond An’s regretful words, Julien said nothing. He merely looked at the now-empty audience below the stage and let out a deep, deep sigh.
............
On the other side.
Wen Yuzhi was still angry when a piece of cake appeared in front of him.
It was Mansendis.
He had brought the cake out from the conference hall.
Right now, the cub could only eat one piece of cake each day. If he forgot the little cake in the conference hall because he was angry, he would definitely regret it again after going back.
Mansendis had simply brought the cake out with him too.
Compared with treaties or whatever else, in the silver-haired sovereign’s eyes, these matters were not as important as one cake belonging to his child.
Wen Yuzhi was, of course, extremely moved. Dad even cared so much about a small thing like this for him.
And beyond being moved, Wen Yuzhi felt even angrier toward those people who had offended Dad and the Saint Clan.
“They’re shameless. They want to take advantage of our family,” Wen Yuzhi said huffily.
The ores produced by the mining planets the Saint Clan was currently extracting from, aside from supplying the Saint Clan’s daily use, had all been treated by Mansendis as Wen Yuzhi’s allowance.
Stealing a cub’s allowance—the Alliance could indeed be called very shameless.
When the other Saint Clan members heard little highness’s scolding, they nodded repeatedly.
Stealing their little highness’s allowance—was that not obviously bullying a child?
Bai Yi had not spoken throughout the conference.
But after learning that the Saint Clan’s ores were equivalent to the cub’s allowance, he said coldly, “I’ll go kill them.”
As for who “them” referred to...
Of course, it was those people who had made Wen Yuzhi angry.
Seeing Bai Yi’s killing intent as he prepared to turn back, Wen Yuzhi hurriedly stopped him.
“No... we can’t just casually kill people.”
Most importantly, this matter was not their fault. But if they killed someone in public, then even if they were in the right, they would become unreasonable.
Therefore, Wen Yuzhi hurriedly persuaded Bai Yi to stop.
Bai Yi did not care who was right or wrong, but he did listen to Wen Yuzhi.
Since Wen Yuzhi said he was not allowed to kill people, he obediently stood in place.
After soothing Bai Yi, Wen Yuzhi went to ask Alvin, “Do we almost never trade with the outside world?”
Alvin nodded. “There are some transactions, but very few.”
Due to their overwhelming strength, the Saint Clan had never been poor from the moment they were born.
In addition, Dark Tower Star had abundant resources. The Saint Clan could be fully self-sufficient in many things.
They had no need to, and were too lazy to, deal with the outside world. As a result, even now, the only ones who had managed to hug the Saint Clan’s thigh were the Pat race.
Oh, now the merfolk had to be added too.
But aside from them, [N O V E L I G H T] the Saint Clan almost never interacted with the outside world.
Wen Yuzhi also instantly understood why the Alliance wanted the Saint Clan to sign the treaty even if they had to discard their dignity.
The Saint Clan possessed so many resources. How could it not be easy to attract envy?
Those people present might not necessarily lack the same thoughts as the Alliance.
They simply did not dare reveal them.
In the past, the Saint Clan had been rich, yes, but they had not so easily made people’s eyes go red with envy. After Mansendis took power, however, he occupied the Ninth Star Region, and before long, abundant mineral veins were discovered on those barren planets.
And this was not just one planet. It was an entire star region’s worth of mineral veins.
How could the people outside possibly not covet such astonishing wealth?
Yet the Saint Clan, because they were too lazy to deal with the outside world and did not lack money, refused to sell even though they had mines. The others could only drool over them, unable to even touch a single piece of ore.
If this continued for a long time, those jealous people would grow psychologically ill from envy.
No wonder the rumors about the Saint Clan had never stopped circulating throughout the interstellar world.
Wen Yuzhi pursed his lips.
He ran to Mansendis’s side. The young man hesitated a little as he lifted his head.
“Dad... I have too much allowance. It’s just sitting there anyway. Can we sell off a portion we don’t need to other people?”
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