Generally speaking, a cultural transformation movement targeting a large civilization would last for two to five generations, while the Kunde Race's closed transformation has only lasted for less than thirty years. It is premature to talk about opening up now.
The empire's decision to lift the ban ahead of schedule likely stems from ulterior motives.
Han Xiao's eyes darted around, and he had a vague guess.
Although the Kunde Race was defeated, the trillion-strong remnant race still represents a substantial human resource. Now settled within the Black Star Army's territory, they have practically become part of the Legion's possession. Meanwhile, during the cultural transformation process, the Black Star Army is also continuously engaging in ideological construction, promoting the Legion's benefits, and attempting to cultivate the Kunde Race's aspirations and loyalty in advance.
The Empire is probably doing this to stop the Black Star Army's propaganda against the Kunde Race as soon as possible, to prevent the Legion from continuing to cultivate its ideology, to avoid turning the Kunde Race into a talent pool for the Legion, and at the same time, to let the Kunde Race have not been fully transformed, cause some minor trouble for the Legion.
"Tsk, what a petty trick..."
Han Xiao curled his lip.
I met with Mabrus not long ago, and there's already a reaction. There must be some high-level instruction behind this. The change in the Empire's attitude towards me is subtly evident.
Han Xiao didn't seem to mind; in fact, it was good news for him. After a few seconds of contemplation, he said, "Reply to the Empire that you welcome the inspection team's visit. Have someone negotiate a time with the Empire, and we'll also arrange an inspection team to accompany the Imperial envoy on the field visit."
"Understood." Sylvia nodded. "There's another matter. The Infinite Financial Group has been three months behind on its final payment to the Germinal Financial Group. I had the finance department negotiate with them, but they've been making excuses and won't give a response. Would you like to look into this personally?"
"The Infinite Financial Group owes me money? Has their cash flow been fine lately?"
"Enterprise has already had it calculated; the Infinite Financial Group's business is very stable, and in some areas, its performance has even set new records. Its cash flow is healthy, but the other party is just dragging their feet on paying."
"How much exactly is owed?"
"There are a total of thirty-four cooperative projects, amounting to a total of 48.2 billion Enas, you..."
Before Sylvia could finish speaking, Han Xiao glared at her, interrupting her.
"Oh ho, this bastard actually owes money and won't pay it back. I'll go talk to him myself."
After saying that, Han Xiao pulled out Sorokin's private number and dialed it directly.
The phone rang for a while before the call finally connected, Sorokin's image appeared on the screen, accompanied by his seemingly enthusiastic voice.
"Lord Black Star, what a rare guest! I was wondering why I was in such a good mood today; it turns out you have a distinguished guest at your door. May I ask what you need?"
"Nothing much, I just heard you owe me a lot of money lately, so I've come to remind you to settle the remaining balance."
Han Xiao raised an eyebrow.
Sorokin immediately put on a troubled expression and began to pour out his heart:
"Oh dear, the conglomerate is in a bad situation lately, with a tight cash flow. You know, for a large conglomerate like ours, we burn through hundreds of millions every day just to maintain our power. Right now, I don't have any money to spare."
"Stop lying to me. Do you think my finance department is just for show? My reports show your business is doing well, and you've even expanded your operations significantly. You're telling me you have no money?"
"It's because we've expanded our business and need to spend more money to open up channels. The rate at which we're burning through cash is exceeding our expectations, and we simply can't spare any more funds."
"Nonsense, don't blame me for not warning you. If you don't settle the final payment within the agreed time, you'll have to pay a penalty. Don't regret it later... By the way, I heard recently that you were using your headhunting company to try and poach my employees, trying to lure the Enterprise team to switch jobs with high salaries. Is that true?"
"Hehe, I'm a businessman, it's all normal business operation, don't take it to heart."
The two exchanged barbs for a while, Sorokin remained unmoved and refused to budge on the money.
Seeing Little Sorokin's unusual behavior, Han Xiao's eyes suddenly flashed, and a vague guess formed in his mind. He immediately changed the subject and said meaningfully, "It seems that this is not a business issue, but rather a conflict between us regarding our identity."
Upon hearing this, Sorokin revealed a half-smile and slowly said, "I thought we had a tacit understanding for cooperation, but it seems I was wrong..."
The two spoke ambiguously, simply because they didn't want to leave any evidence, but in reality, they both understood each other's meaning.
Ever since Han Xiao took advantage of Gaud's disappearance to report Sorokin's unusual situation to the Empire, Sorokin has been subjected to open and covert searches and targeting by the Empire. For the past two years, he has had to be careful in everything he does, living in fear and constant annoyance.
Sorokin initially thought the Empire was conducting a routine search of suspects, so he tolerated it. However, the Empire's recent actions made him increasingly suspicious. He made inquiries through his connections and was shocked to discover that the Empire's internal motive for the search was actually suspicion of his identity.
Currently, only Black Star knows his secret in the universe. Originally, the Infinite Financial Group's offer of concessions and cooperation was meant to silence Black Star, but now that the Empire and the Tu Shu are targeting him, it can only be that Black Star leaked the information. This fills Sorokin with a mixture of shock and anger.
That's why we're in this situation today. Now that he's been betrayed, Sorokin doesn't want the Black Star Army to keep Life Drain on him.
"If there's nothing else, I'll log off now. Hehe, I still have work to do."
Sorokin a forced smile and hung up the call.
The screen went black, and Han Xiao put away his communicator, his expression playful.
He did this on purpose, forcing Sorokin to come out of the shadows. I'm quite curious to see how Sorokin will respond.
"You think I'm just trying to annoy you? Actually, I hope to make you lose your temper. If you take the initiative to attack me, that would be even better, then I'd have a perfectly legitimate reason to hit you."
Han Xiao's eyes flickered, and he chuckled.
Sorokin's identity is similar to Gaud's, both serving as a protective shield. However, Han Xiao dared to target Gaud because of the level difference; he could see all of Gaud's abilities and was confident he could take him down easily. But Sorokin is different; his level is higher than Han Xiao's, and his stats are full of question marks, suggesting he might be hiding something. Han Xiao is worried about a potential disaster.
Most importantly, taking down Gaud was a huge undertaking; if they didn't act, everyone would suffer. Sorokin wasn't that important, so Han Xiao didn't want to break the association's rules for personal reasons—this was one of the few remaining principles he upheld.
Of course, this only applies if he doesn't take the initiative. If Sorokin becomes desperate, Han Xiao wouldn't mind playing a tune for him, "Welcome to the Netherland."
On the other side, as soon as the contact was severed, Sorokin's expression fell, and his face darkened.
He now regretted that he shouldn't have hesitated when his identity was exposed; he should have eliminated the threat of Black Star earlier.
Although gathering all the soul seeds would render this body unusable and cause me to lose this disguise, keeping Black Star would still put the disguise at risk of being exposed.
Since I'll suffer a huge loss no matter what, I might as well drag Black Star down with me.
Sorokin's expression was uncertain. Although he was determined, he was actually torn between worrying whether he was making a mountain out of a molehill and whether he could actually defeat Black Star.
"Regardless, I need to make arrangements for my future. It would be a waste to leave such a massive amount of assets of the Infinite Financial Group to others. I need to find a way to inherit a portion of its wealth. Such a large flow of funds, even through black market channels, will attract attention from all sides. It would be best to break it down into smaller amounts and convert the funds into tangible assets..."
Sorokin gritted his teeth.
Whether you take action or not, it's always good to prepare an escape route. This way, you'll have the confidence to act at any time and avoid being on the defensive.
"Black Star's physical body is indestructible; his spirit is the only point of attack. But that's relative. No matter what, he has Peak Beyond Grade A resistance, making him extremely difficult to kill. And since he has the Sovereign Mecha, banishing him to Unexplored Universe won't work. So, based on my abilities and the Universal Treasure I've secretly collected, there's only one plan with a high success rate: severely injure or seal his soul, forcing him into a long slumber."
In that case, I'd better retrieve the Soul Flame; that would increase my chances of success. I don't know if the Soul Flame currently has a host. If it does, I'll have to kill him and take back this ability user...
Sorokin thought to himself.
A few days later, the Empire and the Black Star Army agreed on a date for the expedition and sent envoys from the Central Galaxy to the Shattered World.
The Imperial expedition team would spend a considerable amount of time on the road, so Han Xiao instructed the garrison troops on the hundreds of Kunde Race's inhabited planets to spread the news of the expedition team's impending arrival to every planet, telling the Kunde Race that as long as they performed well, they would see the light of day again.
Normally, inspections of cultural reforms are conducted in secrecy, because if the subjects of the inspection know the news in advance, they may "cheat" in order to lift the ban early and deceive the inspection team. There have been similar cases in history.
This time, however, the Empire didn't react much. Releasing the Kunde Race as soon as possible was also their covert objective. While Han Xiao's actions were somewhat irregular, they suited the Empire's wishes, so they turned a blind eye. Han Xiao, in turn, hoped to release the Kunde Race quickly so he could receive his mission rewards. Thus, he acted opportunistically, satisfying both the Empire's interests and his own needs, making everyone happy.
Both sides got what they wanted. The only difference was that Han Xiao guessed the Empire's intentions, but the Empire didn't know what benefits he would gain.
The news of the upcoming Imperial expedition spread rapidly across every Kunde Race planet, gradually igniting hope in the many Kunde Race who had been living aimlessly.
Kunde Race's 77th residential planet, south of Sigea City, apartment F0044, rooftop.
Standing on high ground, Barton looked out over the entire city. Rows of tall, gray, rectangular apartment buildings stood in neat rows, all identical in height, shape, and spacing, like upright metal coffins. The city's layout exuded a strong sense of industry. The sky was overcast, and the setting sun was faintly visible through the clouds, casting a decadent, dim yellow glow over the city.
Barton had lost count of how many times he had seen this monotonous and uninteresting scenery. In his eyes, it was not a city, but more like a lifeless, large prison.
A biting Cold Wind swept past, carrying with it the sounds behind them.
"Brother Barton, the news says this is the first inspection tour by the Crimson Dynasty's expedition team. Are we really able to leave this place?"
Upon hearing this, Barton turned around and saw hundreds of people standing on the rooftop, all of them young Kunde Race.
He was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded, his tone resolute.
"We definitely can!"
They were all children of the apartment's residents, born during the "Great Lockdown." Barton, the oldest, was the undisputed leader of all the young people here.
During the cultural transformation, their lives were entirely at the mercy of others. Their residential areas were planned out, and the residents of each area were also assigned to specific areas. They had to report to the local intelligent management system before they could leave their designated living areas, and every move they made was under surveillance.
The Kunde Race, under control, are not allowed to develop technology. The only thing they can spread is a portion of their supernatural knowledge. This is the work of the Black Star Army, who see the Kunde Race as a talent pool and do not want to turn them all into shut-ins.
Cultural transformation has permeated every aspect of life, including daily necessities, news propaganda, and educational courses. More than 20 years have passed, and it has become a normal part of the Kunde Race's lives. They receive this information every day, and the change in their thinking happens subtly.
However, the first batch of newborns born during the Great Lockdown era, the former glory of the Kunde Race only exists in their language. The young people cannot imagine what that was like. On the one hand, they receive education in public schools, and on the other hand, they are affected by the hatred left by the previous generation.
Some of the elders who experienced the defeat of the Kunde Race still harbor deep-seated hatred and admonish their descendants not to forget the hatred. Others remain silent, choosing to let their descendants forget the past. Only in this way can the tribe be freed one day and have a new future.
Planetary blockade, societal decay, and divisive ideologies have collectively created a generation lost and confused, with no one knowing where the future lies.
Now, the arrival of the Imperial expedition team has finally given them a hope more precious than anything else.
"In our lifetime, we may only have this one chance... Whoever fails to do so will be a sinner against the entire tribe."
Barton scanned the hopeful gazes and said in a deep voice.
A young man sighed, "Brother Barton, we might be fine, but you know, there are too many people with grudges in this apartment building alone... This is probably not what the inspection team wants to see."
Barton remained silent for a moment, then slowly raised the pincers. Tiny arcs of electricity danced across his skin. He whispered:
"Someone always needs to take the lead and set an example. We still have time to prepare. Go ahead and negotiate with everyone in the apartment who harbors hatred. For the sake of the community, they will know what's good for them."
If someone is truly filled with hatred, their will twisted, unwilling to make any changes, and holding everyone back...
Barton's voice paused for a moment, a look of pain spreading across his shell.
"Then kill them, even if our family members are among them."