All under heaven flocked toward profit; all under heaven struggled for gain. There was no such thing as absolute hatred, only eternal interests.
After all, money could make even ghosts turn a millstone. If something couldn't be done, it could only mean the price offered wasn't high enough.
It seemed that the old fox Dukao hadn't spent all those years in Huaxia for nothing. He knew this principle inside out.
Ye Chen looked at the document in his hand. It was a rough catalog of technical materials, along with descriptions.
After a quick scan, Ye Chen realized that the technology was roughly on par with that of the twenty-first century in his previous life. It also contained no manufacturing information for the Nuclear Peacebringer, that ultimate weapon.
Although the Nuclear Peacebringer wasn't worth much once a civilization had entered the stars, it had been the most powerful weapon back when they were still a Homeworld Civilization.
Clearly, the old fox—and tightwad—Dukao had set the price based on the Yanhuang Empire's current level of development. He was also guarding against Ye Chen.
At that, Ye Chen looked up at Dukao's projection and said coldly, "Dukao, since you know I'm aware of quite a few things about the universe, you should understand just how little this technical dossier is worth."
When he finished, Ye Chen stared at Dukao impassively. "Dukao, are you insulting me because you think I don't know how vast the world is?"
Dukao's expression didn't change. He knew in his heart that the deal was all but settled.
As an old fox, Dukao would never reveal his trump card right away. This dossier had only been a probe.
Ye Chen was merely dissatisfied because the items Dukao had offered were worth too little.
The only question now was how much to raise the price.
At the same time, after meeting Ye Chen and speaking with him, Dukao had begun guessing which spacefaring civilization was backing him.
Now that he saw how much Ye Chen knew about the universe—and how much he knew about the Denuo Civilization—
Dukao finally settled on the Lieyang Civilization as his target.
The Lieyang Civilization had a motive, after all. The Nuo Star God of War had once destroyed most of Lieyang Star with a single axe strike.
Moreover, the Lieyang Civilization's culture and system of government were very similar to those of the Yanhuang Empire. Both were feudal imperial civilizations. And the Lieyang Civilization had invaded Blue Star a few centuries ago, only to be driven back because of Sun Wukong.
After weighing all these factors, Dukao grew more and more convinced that the Yanhuang Empire was an empire established with the Lieyang Civilization's support, and that Ye Chen was a puppet emperor backed by Pan Zhen.
At that thought, Dukao smiled to himself. "Pan Zhen, Pan Zhen. I never thought that after all these years, you'd still be scheming against Blue Star.
"Still, your move was clever. You backed a local power on Blue Star, one that even shared its roots with Huaxia. That way, Sun Wukong couldn't interfere even if he wanted to."
As the guardian deity of Huaxia in the Super God world, Sun Wukong protected Huaxia itself. As for how people within Huaxia fought among themselves, he wouldn't get involved, even if they fought until they were at each other's throats.
That was because it was an internal conflict between their own people.
If Ye Chen had known that, in the space of a moment, the old fox Dukao had invented so much in his head—and even mistaken the empire he had founded for a puppet state backed by Pan Zhen of the Lieyang Civilization—he would probably have admired the man's imagination.
Sometimes, a person's own wild imaginings were the deadliest thing of all. Dukao had first decided that the Yanhuang Empire must have a spacefaring civilization behind it. Without anyone else having to tell him anything, he then pieced together a fictional enemy from whatever clues he had.
After quickly running through his thoughts, Dukao, now convinced he knew the whole story, smiled and said, "Please don't take offense, Emperor. This dossier was merely a welcoming gift. I had absolutely no intention of insulting you."
"Now that you have united Blue Star, it could be said that this is the inevitable course of events. As Blue Star's future ruler, what would it take for you to let us remain here and live?
"As long as your demands aren't too unreasonable, we can meet them."
Hearing Dukao's words, Ye Chen noticed that the man's tone had changed. He sounded much more confident. What's with this old fox? Why has his attitude changed so much all of a sudden?
Ye Chen pondered for a moment, but couldn't figure out what had caused the sudden shift in Dukao's attitude. After all, the man was a ten-thousand-year-old fox. Who could know how his mind worked?
Unable to figure it out, Ye Chen couldn't be bothered to try. The Denuo Civilization's people weren't leaving Blue Star once they entered it. Now, even if Dukao wanted to stay, Ye Chen wouldn't agree to let him go.
After all, Blue Star was his territory. Once these people had set foot there, how could he let them go without squeezing every last bit of value out of them?
He went straight for the most outrageous demand. "I want your Super Soldier technology."
Dukao's eyes turned sharp. He hadn't expected Ye Chen to be so greedy.
He wanted their Super Soldier technology? That was their most important asset. Dukao would never allow it to be leaked.
Thinking this, Dukao immediately refused. "Impossible. Since you know so much about the universe, Emperor, you should understand that Super Soldier technology is the foundation of every civilization. It absolutely cannot be shared."
Ye Chen didn't mind the refusal. He knew from the story that Dukao valued Super Soldier technology very highly.
Or rather, everyone in the Super God world regarded Super Soldier technology as extremely important.
But Ye Chen wasn't from the Super God world. He didn't care as much about the Super Soldier technology they valued, because his path was to elevate civilization as a whole, not to place an entire civilization's hopes on individual godlike beings.
So, from the very beginning, he had only been after the star-faring civilization materials in Dukao's hands: controlled nuclear fusion, warp drives, antimatter weapons, and weapons suited for warfare in space, among other things.
In his system, he could exchange for technical materials from star-faring civilizations, but they were all expensive. Besides, with a free source like Dukao right in front of him, why waste points exchanging for them through the system?
Wouldn't it be better to save the Civilization Points he would have spent on technical materials and use them to exchange for even better ones? After all, it wasn't easy for him to earn those points.
According to his plan, if he squeezed every last bit of value out of Dukao, this walking treasure trove, the Yanhuang Empire should be able to reach the level of a Level 2 Interstellar Civilization.
By then, he could use the Civilization Points he had saved to exchange for weapons technology from a Level 2 Interstellar Civilization.
Ye Chen then began haggling with Dukao. In the end, he brought A Zhui down from space. When Dukao learned that Ye Chen's wife was A Zhui, his expression was beyond description.
He hadn't expected Ye Chen to have ties not only to the Lieyang Civilization, but to the Angel Civilization as well.
Ye Chen felt no embarrassment at all about using A Zhui's identity to put pressure on Dukao. After all, there were people who would love to borrow that kind of influence but couldn't.
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