The Eve of the 265 Expedition

"The spaceship's Power Furnace needs to be refueled in four trips. When entering the star system, it can rely on gravity to accelerate, which can reduce consumption by 30%. It can also produce supplies by relying on the sun, but maintenance and repair... still lack skilled workers."

Just as Li Aoz was busy with the expedition plan, a message suddenly popped up on the system panel: [You have triggered an emergency event - "Establish Prestige"]

[Type]: Event [Duration]: 72 hours [Difficulty]: D [Description]: "You have your own insights into the vast Star Abyss, but this is not a project for you alone. As a newly arrived president, you cannot leave until you have won the trust of the people."

[Settlement Conditions]: A. "New Official Takes Office" - The old laws are no longer suitable for the current situation. You need to change some outdated laws to regain the people's confidence in you;

Reward: The White Candle Autonomous State gains the [Law Reform] buff, increasing judicial efficiency by 10% and reducing the scale of financial crimes.

B. Eliminate Hidden Dangers - You have taken over a country in ruins, with the risk of impending disasters everywhere. Within 72 hours, you must resolve these hidden dangers as much as possible to clear obstacles for your expedition plan.

Reward: White Candle Autonomous State conscription rate +2.5% (permanent) ——————————

"Oh?"

Li Aoz exclaimed in surprise, "It can actually trigger events? White Candle Star's potential is quite impressive."

If an event quest can be triggered, it basically means that there are definitely some important main or Side Quest ahead.

Li Aoz's target star system is called ' Kiju-331 ', located on the edge of the Galaxy Eye, but only Li Aoz knows that there are many unexplored planets in this star system.

"I remember that in my previous life, Kiju-331 was discovered by an adventurer named Jialantu Yundai."

That was a magical area, which in a sense did not even belong to Star Abyss's sphere of influence.

The Kiju-331 star system is quite large and is related to the Main Storyline of version 4.0. Li Aoz wants to advance, he will need a lot of help.

With reinforcements from the players on Azure Planet, Li Aoz's strength is unprecedented. However, the players' equipment and experience in space battles are still insufficient, so this is a good opportunity to train them.

By increasing the difficulty for players in advance, they will have to endure more challenging training, making the 4.0 version easier to play when it arrives.

"This time an event even appeared, it seems there will be many interesting places on the expedition."

Of course, Li Aoz didn't search simply to explore and open up the map.

He was motivated by a desire to help White Candle Star out of her predicament, but he also had his own selfish motives.

To become the [Moonstring Bishop], Li Aoz needs a [Weak] Sequence Aura.

This arcane energy, however, requires the 'material orientation' of one of the Star Abyss Origin Species to provide.

The Qualia-Direction and entropy are on the same level. Although Li Aoz is familiar with the Walkthrough, the universe is ever-changing, and being fully prepared is better than anything else.

"In my previous life, the Qualia-Direction appeared in Kiju-331. I wonder if it will be the same this time."

Li Aoz was unsure of Qualia-Direction's whereabouts, so he could only search for information while tentatively exploring the dwelling place.

"Then, let me see what other problems White Candle Star has on hand..."

"How are those students doing?"

Second-level Superintendent Du Bolan rubbed his head, carrying a boxed lunch and coffee to the cordon. While distributing the food, he asked his colleagues on the front line.

"Thank you—I don't know the specifics. They're still on a hunger strike. We're making announcements every hour and sending familiars to patrol the area. Right now, we're just ensuring their safety."

A policeman shook his head:

"Seriously... what are these people thinking? They just can't continue being mages, it's not like they can't find a job."

"There was nothing they could do. They initially thought they were connecting with the Crystal Tower Civilization, but who would have thought that the Crystal Tower Civilization would completely abandon them so soon after they enrolled?" Du Bolan explained.

"Shouldn't they be looking for the Crystal Tower Civilization? We're independent now, what's the use of them getting anxious?" a young police officer muttered. "No matter how much they protest now, there's no way they'll get inter-civilizational assistance. What are these young people thinking?"

Du Bolan didn't know what to say for a moment.

Fortunately, the new police officer spoke without thinking and hit the nail on the head, "The Crystal Civilization... we don't want them."

Du Bolan looked toward the campus, where even with police tape cordoning off the entrance, he could still see young people sitting cross-legged, holding up banners in protest.

"President Lioz must give us an explanation!"

"Our youth cannot be wasted!"

"I was originally a mage, but my education ruined me!"

White Candle Comprehensive University, formerly known as White Candle Star Interstellar University which was spared from the disaster during the Crescent Moon Incident, was formed by merging with a number of other universities. Its teaching level has already declined significantly, and the teaching staff are all nearing retirement. To put it bluntly, they are old relics who are about to die. Not only is the level of teaching questionable, but the facilities are also very rudimentary.

Whether these students can truly become Zeta-rank mages is already unknown. Taxpayers have been funding their university education for five whole years, which is more than enough.

Who knew that even in its current dire state, the Crystal Tower Civilization would still withdraw its last remaining teaching staff, further exacerbating its already impoverished educational environment.

"This is a man-made disaster, a purely man-made disaster."

Du Bolan sighed.

In fact, protesting at this critical juncture is quite detrimental to the newly established regime.

Because of the White Candle Star that had just fallen into Lioz's hands, the internal affairs were in extreme chaos.

How chaotic is it?

Government officials like Du Bolan still enjoy the allowances of the former Crystal Tower Civilization because Dina is the exclusive currency of the Crystal Tower and can only be printed by the Crystal Tower Civilization. Their salaries are actually paid by the Crystal Tower.

This led to a bizarre phenomenon: the high-ranking mages and upper-class people of the Crystal Tower used Ammonium Gold to settle accounts, allowing Lioz to buy a planet with a GDP of only 0.7 billion Ammonium Gold. Meanwhile, the civil servants who had already become independent actually had an average income two thousand times higher than the average GDP because their organizational structure had not been changed.

At the same time, due to the significant reduction in the amount of Ammonium Gold in Lioz's possession, it was insufficient to support the White Candle Autonomous State in printing its own currency.

Government officials are now arguing about whether or not to return to the gold standard.

In summary: the government personnel of an independent country, including violent institutions such as the police, need to be paid salaries and bonuses by the former overlord civilization.

It sounds outrageous, and it really is.

In fact, this situation has lasted for five years, and many people still prefer the Crystal Tower Civilization and miss the era when it was Interstellar Civilization.

It's understandable to yearn for a better life, but the current terrible state of White Candle Star is like a princess who has fallen to earth, enough to make people cry out 'a low point of human civilization', 'life will get sweeter and sweeter', 'alas, Yedie'.

Ninety percent of political problems ultimately stem from economic issues.

After the students fasted for 37 hours, the police officers of the White Candle Autonomous State ran out of options.

"There's no other way, we'll just have to report it to our superiors," Du Bolan said, looking troubled.

The frontline officers were stunned:

"Who should we report this to? Our Ministry of Education in the White Candle Autonomous State hasn't even been established yet! The Ministry of Foreign Affairs? But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs doesn't handle this, does it?"

"Then we can only report it to His Excellency the President."

Du Bolan adjusted his hat.