If I Can't Play, Then Nobody Gets to Play! (Flips Table)
"Nikita, brother, you may know war and planetary environments, but you're not so familiar with economics."
Li Aozi gave a simple explanation:
"In the Layered Abyss civilizations, everyone uses Anjin—the most stable currency—as money. Anjin is protected by divine power and contracts, often serving as a casting tool, so basically everyone holds Anjin as foreign currency reserves."
"For a civilization, its central bank's foreign reserves are the key to balancing interstellar expenditures—especially influencing the exchange rate of that civilization's currency against Anjin, as well as maintaining confidence in the interstellar financial market. The more substantial your foreign reserves, the stronger you are in resolving crises—economic downturns, wars, plagues, natural disasters, or [Society] invasions."
"A simple economic principle: a depreciated currency supports exports, while an appreciated currency supports imports. Generally speaking, civilizations prefer to keep their currency's exchange rate lower than Anjin to secure a low-cost advantage in the interstellar market, thereby slaughtering the competition."
"Even for a Narrative-level civilization, while they're never short on money, they still need to hoard large amounts of Anjin for maintaining order in the interstellar market, so their hegemony can continue."
"Increasing foreign reserves… fundamentally aims to stabilize domestic capital, preventing the middle class from fleeing, and stopping investors from moving their businesses and workshops to other civilizations—especially the middle class."
"In an interstellar civilization, mid-level citizens are the best source of skilled troops. They care about their children's education and about path ascension, yet they have no private assets to speak of, so they're not loyal to the nation."
In short.
The Crystal Tower wants to keep people.
"I compared the official data on emigration to outside civilizations over recent years. Emigration rose by around 60% each year. In one peak year, 64 million people outright abandoned their Crystal Tower passports, mostly young, working-age folks at Epsilon-tier (5) up to Zeta-tier (6) …"
Li Aozi was more than familiar with this pattern.
Adding foreign reserves guarantees capital confidence. Once businesses and workshops decide to stay, the mid-level families dependent on them must remain as well.
It's a standard practice. Poor people stuck below Zeta-tier (6) can't set foot on the battlefield, so it's not like they're going anywhere, and they might hope to change their family's destiny by fighting anyway.
Not long from now, the conscription target will be mid-level citizens.
Interstellar warfare differs from mortal warfare. Soldiers cost a lot to develop, and any moment they could become space debris—retrieval is tough. Troops below Epsilon-tier (5) wouldn't help beyond raising the death toll and undermining morale.
The Crystal Tower's situation remains the same as five years ago. They're desperately short of manpower for the front lines, but they can't dispatch mere mortals—transport alone isn't worth the fuel.
Unless they're players who keep reviving and grow stronger in battle, born berserkers.
"So this time we're out of luck, caught in the Crystal Tower's middle-class grab. What can we do?"
After analyzing, Li Aozi saw no direct solution.
"Those fighting us over high-value planets are no small fry. They must be workshop owners and top academics the Crystal Tower wants to curry favor with—maybe behind them is some Kappa-tier (10) mage. No need for us to battle that bunch over profit. We'll just mind our own business."
"Hmm…maybe not."
Nikita rubbed his chin, speaking meaningfully:
"I'm an old dog with no grasp of economics, but I trust my experience."
"The Vanlenkov Autonomous State was a national army that fought from the edges of the Layered Abyss to the supernova belt. In our homeland, there's a saying: 'War itself is the best form of travel.'"
"They may have insider tips from the authorities on a planet's advantages, but when it comes to local conditions—culture, customs—they can't beat an old guy like me."
"I've looked through the directory several times and remembered most of it. There are things they can't possibly know better than I do."
Nikita's eyes lit up, and he extended an invitation to Li Aozi:
"So, Leoz?"
"'No alien knows the mindset of these planetary natives better than I do'—I can say with confidence, few in this universe could make that claim."
"How about we pull off a little trick and snatch some wool from these academic masters?"
Li Aozi pondered.
Moments later, he opened his hands:
"Why not?"
Li Aozi curled his lips:
"Being rewarded for hard work is satisfying—but seizing from someone else's plate tastes far sweeter!"
Nikita and Li Aozi shared a grin as they hatched their plan.
The Crystal Tower civilization intended to rake in final profits on White Candle Star, which already irritated Li Aozi, and it now seemed they might have leaked his identity as a bidder.
That annoyed him even more.
In fact, you could say he was angered.
After all, who was he?
Given that Li Aozi beat the [Mechanical Society] invasion and protected the Identification Eye fragment, calling him White Candle Star's savior wouldn't be an overstatement.
For various reasons, plus his personal moral code, Li Aozi never bragged about subduing "Society." He's a typical realist, building his own achievements, turning Faithkeep Village into the largest city on White Candle Star after Trivira City was destroyed—thanks to his strength and foresight from a past life.
With a population of six million—players, locals, alien refugees, hired scientists, and laborers—he alone oversaw the life and death of this planet when no other interstellar civilization would take over.
Remember, this planet still hosts the Tanas people, same race as the Crystal Tower's main population.
It was purely by his power and resources that these thirty billion Tanas remained safe.
Yet, in spite of that, the Crystal Tower wants to squeeze out one last sum, caring nothing for his deeds and contributions.
Thirty billion people—Azure Star plus its Outside World doesn't even reach 2.6 billion.
The Crystal Tower doesn't care, nor does it care about a student junior shaped by its own civilization.
Li Aozi was not happy.
First of all.
His money didn't materialize out of thin air. Even thinking of going to space, he had planned a harsh campaign, cutting expenses to raise fighting power. It's taken a hundred years of hard grinding, risking his life for that amount of Anjin.
After making money from spirit larvae, Li Aozi didn't immediately use it on himself; otherwise, he'd be Kappa-tier (10) by now.
Instead, he invested it carefully to protect his assets while elevating White Candle Star's economy, so people here wouldn't revert to starving in an instant.
Though profit-driven, Li Aozi is a principled industrialist who cares about those around him. This planet treats him well, so he'd never betray its people's hopes.
Secondly, something else weighed on his mind:
For its own strategic aims, the Crystal Tower civilization abandoned White Candle Star's thirty billion inhabitants as a shield to cover the real Identification Eye fragments leaving.
For five years, Li Aozi was busy stamping out pirates who smelled blood, sacrificing a lot of time he could have spent developing himself. He still hadn't managed a second class shift.
Frankly, the Crystal Tower itself offered him little help.
His student credentials came from Ms. Nastisha of White Candle Star. His friends and classmates were local. His scholarship companions, also local bottom-rank students.
After the government pulled out, the former Education Minister, Balkomon, spent months "recuperating" in outer orbit. He didn't go to some specialized atmosphere planet to heal, so obviously he was guarding the planet.
The benefits he's received were from the original White Candle Star residents, never from the Crystal Tower civilization, which actually removed anyone who supported him.
From a village chief to a city mayor, the planet itself cherished Li Aozi, and he had no intention of letting its simple, honest people down.
Li Aozi has a quirk: he hates owing favors.
Anyone who helps him, he ensures they get rewarded—and sometimes even more.
Nomi, Qiu Ran, and the Metro Brotherhood saved his life, so in return, he helped them undermine Old Frost-Plated.
Yalixiya helped Li Aozi a lot, so he aided in turning the Grand Duchy of Gulante into a republic.
The Grand Duchy of Gulante gave him plenty in return. In exchange, he gave them a batch of heavy weapons and encouraged many players to fight for Gulante.
N4 told him that even David Lin struggled to negotiate with Gulante's troops, who received these armaments.
Isaac provided him with a summonable body, so Li Aozi gave him unlimited perks, letting him spend his funds freely.
Gretorvo and Xia Jianjing helped him get into space. He repaid them, and they're now Prime Minister and President.
Hence he regrets those he couldn't repay.
For instance, Du Zexin, Lucite, and Hobbs.
Their abrupt departure and enduring absence still gnaw at him.
As for Yavanna, though he knows she's a [Society] citizen—a councilor, even—he's still chosen to tolerate her until she left. In the Star Abyss, that's a capital offense.
"From now on, I'm not letting the Crystal Tower squeeze another dime out of me."
Li Aozi sat up straight, took a deep breath, eyes bright:
"They like bargain-hunting, right?"
"So let's see to it they get nothing."
"Pay me back every cent you've earned from me!"
If I can't make money, then nobody can!