Given the two choices Zero offered, Jing Yuan came up with a third one himself.
He knew he wasn't answering the question directly, and he also understood both Zero's and the Xianzhou's position.
Besides its eight giant ships, the Alliance had only a little over a hundred planets.
The number of planets owned by the Xianzhou wasn't even a fraction of what other powers in the universe possessed.
But if you picked any one of those planets at random...
Other planets might work for a hundred years and still not earn as much as one year of tax revenue from a Xianzhou affiliated world.
The Xianzhou naturally wouldn't place Igor's homeworld under the Alliance's protection just because of one sentence from Jing Yuan.
But what if he wasn't a "Galaxy Ranger"?
What if he was the successor chosen by the current Marshal?
Before learning Zero's identity, Jing Yuan had read the file on the "Father of the Xianzhou" and learned about his daily schedule.
When fighting the Goldbloods, he went an entire month without eating, drinking, or sleeping.
After becoming Marshal, he stayed awake for thousands of years without rest.
Even the "Reignbow Arbiter" would descend upon the Xianzhou for the former Marshal.
Jing Yuan was stunned.
No wonder they sealed those files...
They were way too made up. Who would believe this?
After learning the truth and attending Zero and his master's wedding...
Jing Yuan: "..."
The current Marshal had given him a planet with great symbolic meaning and placed high hopes on him.
Yet all he wanted was to follow the Aeon's footsteps and become a "Galaxy Ranger."
As the saying goes, knowing yourself is a virtue.
Jing Yuan considered himself an ordinary person.
One giant ship held hundreds of billions of people. Eight giant ships, plus over a hundred planets...
The position of Marshal simply wasn't something an ordinary person could handle.
Now, back to the two choices Zero had given him.
Either it was because they were friends.
Or because the planet could bring Jing Yuan profit.
If it was the former, then just throw some Strales at it.
If it was the latter...
Then Igor's homeworld would instantly become his private property.
Jing Yuan suspected Zero wanted him to use this planet for practice.
His original goal had been to become a "Galaxy Ranger."
To help Igor.
To help his hometown escape its difficulties.
Not to stay on some planet.
If, because of him, Igor's homeworld became a tool for practice or his private property...
After thinking it over, Jing Yuan came up with a third choice.
He suggested letting Igor's planet join the Xianzhou and become an ally of the Alliance.
At first glance, it sounded like the unrealistic dream of a young man.
Considering Jing Yuan's current age, though, it didn't feel out of place, nor would it affect Igor's hometown.
On the other end of the jade abacus, Zero fell silent.
Who taught Jing Yuan this?
Did he figure it out himself? Learned how to tear the roof off on his own?
Zero chuckled, "Write a proposal to Tengxiao. If you can convince him, then this planet will become an ally of the Alliance."
'Go ahead.'
'Write a hundred thousand words and see if Tengxiao agrees.'
Jing Yuan: "..."
'What does "trouble comes from careless words" mean?'
This was it.
He had just gained a hundred-thousand-word assignment for no reason.
Whenever General Tengxiao received documents from affiliated planets, he either handed them to the strategists or casually tossed them to Jing Yuan.
Why would he ever read a proposal from Igor's homeworld?
Jing Yuan immediately changed his answer.
"Igor is my friend."
Zero replied, "Oh. Have fun."
After saying that, he ended the call and went back to reading.
Over the past few years, Zero still hadn't found a system with higher authority.
Zandar said about this, "Eric, the old you spent decades, even centuries, perfecting it. How could you take it apart in just a few years?"
Zero could only be patient and keep studying.
As time passed, the High Elders of each Xianzhou donated their assets one after another.
Matthias finished the "Mother-Child River Water" project, reluctantly said goodbye to Zero, and led part of the research team to Cangcheng.
Soon after, the first Vidyadhara child was born on the Luofu, letting out a loud cry.
Zero and Jingliu stood outside the operating room at the Alchemy Commission with Dan Feng and the other dragon elders, witnessing this special moment together.
The dragon elders had tears in their eyes as, for the first time, they openly showed submission to the High Elder.
"High Elder!"
"Imbibitor Lunae..."
"Lord Dan Feng, we... we Vidyadhara..."
Dan Feng looked dazed.
He didn't respond to any of his people.
Instead, he instinctively looked at Zero.
Zero smiled back.
"Now we've fulfilled our agreement."
"Dan Feng, you can finally have someone write your biography and build your statue."
"The entire Xianzhou, and even the whole universe, will remember your name."
You weren't the High Elder.
You weren't the Imbibitor Lunae.
You were simply Dan Feng.
History would remember you as "Dan Feng."
Dan Feng opened and closed his mouth, but after a long while, he still couldn't say a word.
Zero chatted with him briefly, "Yubie's statue should be repaired too."
Leaving the remaining time to Dan Feng and the dragon elders, Zero walked outside with Jingliu.
Dan Feng remained frozen, unable to recover for a long time.
The two walked side by side.
Jingliu took out her jade abacus, held it out to Zero, and softly said, "The pastry shop you like has new products."
Zero looked down.
"They look delicious."
"Buy two, get one free? I'll bring one for Zandar."
Dan Feng withdrew his gaze, automatically ignoring the noise around him.
He wanted to build a statue for Marshal Zero.
As for the regulations previously issued by the Xianzhou...
The Vidyadhara territory was, more or less, his private property as High Elder.
Could they really interfere with his private property?
How many Strales were left in his account?
Dan Feng thought to himself.
In the end, he decided to donate the money to the Xianzhou.
He opened his jade abacus and tapped into the chat app. By chance, he noticed his account name and paused.
Dan Feng stared at the two words, "Imbibitor Lunae."
Using "Dan Feng" directly felt too strange.
After thinking for a long time, he remembered a line from an old poem.
Frosted leaves are redder than flowers in February.
'Then I'll call myself "Frost Leaf."'
Dan Feng changed his name and contacted the current Marshal.
After explaining why he was calling, the Marshal sent him a contact.
Dan Feng added the person as a friend. As he scrolled through the photos and posts they had shared, he learned that the current Marshal had specially established a charity organization.
At the beginning, the former Chief Strategist, Guanliang, had donated 800 billion Strales.
Guanliang had accompanied Zero for thousands of years. Since he had donated 800 billion in one go, the current Marshal and the others couldn't donate more than him, so they settled for making donations in batches.
Among the posts was a statue of the "Father of the Xianzhou."
But there were even more pictures of smooth roads built through barren lands.
Schools built in remote areas.
The smiles of children after receiving educational grants.
It seemed the current Marshal had considered Zero's feelings. He hadn't named schools or scholarships after Marshal Zero, but instead did good deeds in the name of the Xianzhou, occasionally slipping in a statue or gifting copies of Walking With You.
Members of the charity organization were scattered across the sea of stars, making sure every donation reached where it was needed. Every expense was recorded down to two decimal places.
As Dan Feng continued scrolling, he saw a very familiar figure...
Jing Yuan.
The white-haired boy from his memories had long since lost his youthful look and become an adult who could stand on his own.
In the photo, Jing Yuan had one arm around the shoulders of a red-haired man beside him. Both of them looked toward the library being built in the distance, smiling at the same time.
The red-haired man was no longer young. A few fine lines had appeared at the corners of his eyes when he smiled.
Dan Feng swiped the screen.
The next photo showed all kinds of books donated by the charity.
Dan Feng took a screenshot and forwarded it to Jing Yuan.
[Frost Leaf: Not coming back to the Luofu?]
'Walking With You was one thing...'
'But why was your Five Thousand Years here too?'
'Aren't you afraid Zero will have Jingliu beat you up?'
[Jing Yuan: ...]
[The Marshal said Zero likes vacations. As long as I avoid his vacation planets, it'll be fine.]
Dan Feng thought to himself, vacation planets didn't need donations.
He casually sent another message.
[Frost Leaf: Have you visited the planet the Marshal gave you?]
Perhaps Jing Yuan had something to do, because his reply came much more slowly.
After waiting for a while, he finally answered.
[Jing Yuan: I have. It's way too expensive.]
[Just one night costs ten thousand Strales. Add the other expenses, and a week costs at least a hundred thousand. That money is enough to build a school on another planet.]
Dan Feng understood.
Did this mean...
Jing Yuan no longer wanted to become a "Galaxy Ranger"?
[Frost Leaf: So you started donating?]
[Jing Yuan: Yeah.]
[I can only do what I'm able to.]
Even through the jade abacus, Dan Feng could faintly sense the confusion in Jing Yuan's mood.
The High Elder had seen countless things.
This was nothing.
If time were turned back to the "Imperial War" or the "Swarm Disaster," Jing Yuan would have seen even more incredible sights.
Before Dan Feng could think of the right words, another message arrived.
[Jing Yuan: Brother Dan Feng]
[Do you think I chose the wrong path?]
Dan Feng smiled.
[Frost Leaf: Do you know how Zero would answer your question?]
[He'd say that since you've made your choice, you should believe the path you're walking is the right one.]
[If you chose wrong, then make it the right choice.]
[Jing Yuan: ...That really sounds like Zero.]
[Frost Leaf: If you have time, come back.]
[Jing Yuan: Okay.]
The conversation ended. Dan Feng then opened the group chat for the High Elders.
Everyone was excitedly talking over each other about the newborn member of their race.
When Dan Feng appeared, they became even more excited.
From this day on, the Vidyadhara race could continue.
This wasn't something that could be settled with Strales alone.
After thinking for a moment, Dan Feng sent them the charity organization's contact information.
The next day, Zero brought the complimentary desserts and the eight reports he needed to hand in that day to the research institute.
There, he met Hui Feng.
After discovering the problem with the system, Hui Feng had left the Luofu.
According to Zandar, Hui Feng had made many friends in other worlds, and had left the Luofu to help those friends and save worlds.
Hui Feng hadn't attended his wedding, so she made up for it when they met again.
"Happy marriage, Eric."
After saying that, she immediately asked about Zero's research progress.
"Have you found the administrator account?"
'Have you found the system with higher authority?'
Zero smiled.
"You seem very concerned about my research..."
"Are you hiding something from me?"
Hui Feng blinked.
"...Why would I be?"
Zero didn't press the matter further.
Once he found the system, all his questions would be answered.
At last, persistence paid off.
One day, Zero solved the puzzle he had left for himself.
The system interface he had looked at countless times without any change shattered like a spiderweb.
Just like when he first loaded the Xianzhou Simulator, a flash of white light appeared before his eyes, followed by a game interface made up of long passages of text and unknown symbols.
Zero clicked "Start Game" in the lower right corner.
The screen instantly turned black.
White words appeared in the center.
[Welcome back ^_^]
Zero thought to himself, 'That face is way too punchable.'
A moment later, a system notification popped up automatically.
There were two unread messages in the mailbox.
One was called Game Instructions.
The other was In Memory of My Tens of Millions of Reconstructions and Self-Rescues.
Without hesitation, Zero opened the first message.
[Dear Player, welcome back.]
[Although the journey was difficult, you've finally officially started the main storyline.]
[Alright, don't ask why it was so difficult.]
[From here on, explore on your own.]
Zero: "..."
'Don't ask why it was so difficult?'
'Do you have no shame?'
Zero stared at the blank page below and kept scrolling.
After scrolling for over ten seconds, he finally saw more text.
[Since you've read this far, I'll tell you a few honest things.]
[The first me was only one step away from success. You might not understand my choices, just as I might not understand yours.]
[I went through all this for our homeworld. I couldn't let a heartless tyrant of the star sea return with an empire and rule our home planet.]
[The system you're seeing now is the real "game" system.]
[It records all data from previous playthroughs and has every function a game should have.]
[You can travel to the worlds of other players.]
[For now, let's call their worlds mods.]
[Just like in Genshin Impact, where players can enter their friends' worlds.]
[It stores all drops and items from every mod.]
[Of course, as the game's creator, you can use cheats and ban accounts.]
[For example, countless fleets? The lives and deaths of other players?]
[What's next? Ascending to a higher dimension? Or ruling other lower-dimensional worlds and becoming the Lord of All Worlds?]
[All of it depends on a single thought from you.]
[May this journey finally reach the "Stars."]
[Of course, even if you run into the Contingency or the Prethoryn Scourge, don't worry. I've fought them before. It's no big deal.]
[A friendly reminder: whether you choose the Aether Phase Engine or Cosmogenesis, ascension will succeed.]
[Your choice will always be the right one.]
[You're destined to succeed.]
[The key is whether you take part in the ascension project.]
[Whether you succeed depends on how many doctorate degrees you have.]
Zero: "...."
Did he really have to earn dozens of doctorates?
[Do you remember that note about cats and dogs?]
[Make every cat and dog angry, and let them share the most romantic scenery.]
[Climb to the highest branch of a tree, and let them share the most romantic scenery.]
[Did you think I was soft-hearted? Did you think dying twice cleared their debt?]
[Wrong.]
[I thought about it for a long time before coming up with these two most valuable ways for them to die. ^_^]
Zero studied the words before him.
People still lie when writing a diary.
He didn't trust Eric.
Besides, no one understood himself better than himself.
If it were Zero, would he tell the whole truth?
No.
Eric and Zero were different.
Eric had grown up spoiled by loving parents. Both materially and emotionally, he had everything he needed.
Because of that, Eric had humanity.
As long as someone was human, there would always be things they didn't want others to know.
Zero took a deep breath and looked at the other unread message.
Its title was In Memory of My Tens of Millions of Reconstructions and Self-Rescues.
It looked like Eric's memoir.
This was the cycle when he had first arrived in the lower-dimensional world and met Zandar.
Zero opened the message.
[I've always believed I was lucky.]
[My parents always told me:]
["You are our pride."]
["We're honored to be your parents."]
["The luckiest thing in the world was having you."]
[They always supported me, always had my back, giving me the freedom and courage to travel across countries without fear.]
[When I was fifteen, I met Zandar.]
[Zandar would definitely take me home.]
[He sent me to the best school in the universe.]
[As usual, the first class began with self-introductions.]
[The teacher guided us into talking about our childhoods to judge our family backgrounds.]
[One person gave a completely different answer.]
[On a planet where prices were extremely high, where living expenses were at least a million every month, and where students could casually spend hundreds of billions at school, he stood out completely.]
[He studied every moment of every day and politely asked others whenever he had questions.]
[By chance, we gradually got to know each other.]
[He told me about his poor homeland and the endless wars there.]
[When he was eight, his parents cried over farmland that was about to be harvested but was destroyed by shells from a neighboring country.]
[When I was eight, my parents took me on a flight to an island, where we went out to sea together to watch dolphins.]
[He said, "Eric, I spent many years before I could come to this school... before I could meet you."]
[I said, "Along the way, you've seen scenery that we've never seen. Believe me, you'll become the greatest leader."]
[He smiled and didn't talk about himself. He only said...]
["Of course. I'll make the entire universe remember the name of my homeworld forever."]