Chapter 267 Free Trade Market

Olaya's hoarse voice slowly echoed in the cockpit of the starship, and Chen Fan and the other two could not help but freeze in their places.

"What...what?"

Selling young and middle-aged members of their own civilization?

Such a thing could actually happen in a third-level civilization that has entered the interstellar era!

At this moment, Chen Fan couldn't even believe his ears! !

What is the concept of a third-level civilization?

Although the level is very low, it can only be regarded as the bottom-level grassroots civilization in the human-connected universe, but such a civilization is fully capable of controlling several adjacent star systems, and their exploration radius can even reach 100 light years! !

"Isn't this self-destruction?!"

Seeing the helpless and sad expressions on Olaya and Baroka's faces at the same time, Chen Fan couldn't help but curse: "Why do you do this?"

"Is it forced by the Bray civilization... or the Bray Alliance?"

"No."

To Chen Fan's surprise, Olaya denied Chen Fan's words without hesitation: "We volunteered."

Chen Fan was completely stunned this time.

He subconsciously turned his head to look at Councillor Baroka, trying to get different information from him.

But...

Baroka, who was squatting on a chair beside him, shook his head slowly, and a look of crying and laughing appeared on his slightly rounded head of a giant salamander: "It is indeed our Swamp Civilization who volunteered."

"Not only the Swamp Civilization, all the low-level civilizations in the Bray Alliance did this voluntarily."

"This..."

Chen Fan's eyelids jumped slightly.

Good guy, it's not just the Swamp Civilization!

It turns out that this Bray Alliance is a gathering place for human traffickers!

Chen Fan took a deep breath and calmed down his emotions: "What's the reason?"

"There must be a reasonable reason, right?"

"For resources and for the development of civilization." Olaya answered first, "There are all kinds of resources in the free trade market established by the Bray Alliance."

Chen Fan raised his eyebrows: "For example?"

"The most basic ones can be basic productivity and labor resources." Olaya casually gave an example, "The Pek civilization is only a second-level civilization, but the intelligent creatures of this civilization usually have three to five brains. They can complete several different tasks at the same time. Thanks to this peculiar body structure, the Pek people have become the recognized best assembly line candidates of the Bray Alliance."

"For example, the Nigler civilization is a fourth-level civilization. They are more keen on war, so they have become famous mercenaries in the free trade market."

"In addition to human resources, there are also quite a lot of minerals, metals and energy resources in the free trade market. Helium-3, antihydrogen... Almost all of these common resources can be bought in the free trade market."

Speaking of this, Olaya's voice paused: "Of course, the most important thing is technology."

"As long as there are enough alliance coins, you can even buy a complete grand unified theory in the free trade market."

"This is enough to allow an ordinary third-level civilization to quickly advance to a fifth-level civilization with a little say!"

Chen Fan had a vague understanding in his heart.

The so-called free trade market is simply a large-scale comprehensive market for interstellar civilizations to trade. It's

just that the things that can be bought in this trade market are more diverse, that's all.

[This is overdrawing the potential of low-level civilizations. ] Yi's voice suddenly sounded in Chen Fan's mind, [Rashly imparting advanced technology to low-level civilizations will destroy low-level civilizations. ]

[In fact, the Human Union also has a similar interstellar trade organization, which can also buy some technical resources. ]

[But the Human Union has a complete review mechanism. As long as you don't meet the purchase qualifications, you can't buy the corresponding technology even if you spend a lot of credit points. ]

Chen Fan nodded thoughtfully.

The point is not what Yi said, but...

why did this free trade market make the Swamp Abyss civilization pay such a heavy price?

After all...

"Do we have to buy resources?"

"As a third-level civilization, the Swamp Abyss civilization should have enough strength to find resource planets in the universe on its own, right?"

Chen Fan frowned and questioned Olaya: "As for technology, doesn't the Swamp Abyss civilization have its own researchers?"

Olaya opened his mouth but didn't say anything in response.

As an officer in charge of patrol work, he really didn't know much about this information.

"Let me tell you."

Baroka sighed softly and stood up from a chair beside him.

Perhaps because of better living conditions, Baroka's figure is much taller than Olaya's, and his muscles are much stronger.

Of course, Baroka also has more sarcomas, ulcers and abnormal hyperplasia due to genetic mutations.

"The foreign exchange reserves of the Swamp Abyss Civilization have long been exhausted, and the most important expenditure is on purchasing star sand from abroad."

Baroka's expression was a little bitter: "The Swamp Abyss Civilization has a very small share of star sand, which certainly cannot meet the needs of the civilization." "

So we have to purchase star sand from abroad through some non-compliant channels."

"What?!" Before Chen Fan could speak, Olaya on the side couldn't help but exclaimed, "Didn't the Alliance say that it would crack down on illegal star sand smuggling?!"

Baroka shook his big head, and his eyes revealed a bit of helplessness: "Do you believe what the Alliance said?"

Olaya's voice was choked in his throat.

"The Alliance did crack down on illegal star sand smuggling, but this crackdown was targeted at individuals."

Baroka said with a bitter look: "In fact, among the cases of Xingsha smuggling, individual smuggling accounts for the smallest proportion."

"Most of the illegal star sands circulating in the free trade market are sold by advanced civilizations themselves."

"Among them, the star sands sold by the Bray civilization account for the majority."

Olaya stared at Barroka in front of him, not knowing what to say for a moment.

As for Chen Fan...

he was also shocked by the Bray Alliance's actions.

Who can beat this official who acts as a scalper? !

"In fact, it's not just the Swamp Civilization." Baroka sighed deeply again, "Almost all low-level civilizations will face this situation."

"Their own star sand is not enough, so they can only use their foreign exchange reserves to buy high-priced star sand in the free trade market."

"This will greatly consume the foreign exchange reserves of low-level civilizations."

"Low-level civilizations can't afford resources, so they can only step by step towards the path of selling cheap labor."

Chen Fan's eyes moved slightly: "So, the problem is back to the starting point."

"Why do we have to buy resources in the free trade market?"

"Resources in the universe shouldn't be so scarce, right?"

"Because..." Baroka paused slightly, "cheap."

Baroka's tone strengthened slightly: "Very cheap!"

"Cheap?"

Chen Fan was stunned again. This was another answer that he didn't expect: "How cheap can it be?"

"Well... let me put it this way, if the cost of mining a certain ore for the Swamp Civilization is 100, then the price of the same ore in the free trade market may be only 1-5, or even less than 1."

Chen Fan: "..."

This is more than cheap, it's almost like giving it away for free.

"No way, we are just a level 3 civilization." Baroka spread his hands, "High-level civilizations use level 5 or even level 6 technology to mine, so the cost is naturally much lower than ours."

Chen Fan understood instantly.

This is a crushing of productivity levels.

Just like the comparison between modern civilization and stone civilization, the productivity levels of the two are completely not of the same order of magnitude - the productivity gap between level 6 civilization and level 3 civilization is even greater than this.

"Besides," Baroka continued to add, "There are many civilizations in the Bray Alliance, and most star systems have been designated as their own territory by high-level civilizations. If you want to mine the resources needed for the development of civilization in the universe..."

Baroka shook his head and sighed, "I'm afraid it's not that easy."

Before Chen Fan could express his opinion, Baroka said again, "In addition to the above two reasons, there is actually another very important reason."

"The supply in the free trade market is fixed. If the Swamp Abyss civilization does not buy resources, other civilizations will obtain more resources in the trade market."

"As one civilization grows, the other civilization will probably be surpassed by the surrounding civilizations soon, and the civilization's voice will be reduced. The final result is that it will be swallowed up by some developed civilizations."

Chen Fan widened his eyes.

What the hell? !

This is a complete conspiracy! !

First, the cost of resource extraction is raised, then the price advantage is discontinuation, and finally the limited supply gimmick is used to make the lower-level civilizations involute each other!

In addition, foreign exchange reserves must be used to purchase resources, and even highly addictive resources such as star sand are used to control low-level civilizations...

In this way, the low-level civilizations in the Blay galaxy are harvested in an all-round way without bloodshed.

Winning is a numb thing.

"Your Mining Alliance..." Chen Fan looked at Baroka in front of him with a strange expression, "It's quite interesting."

Baroka showed a helpless bitter smile on his face: "There is no way, the situation is forced, and we low-level civilizations have no say at all."

Chen Fan looked at Baroka with some curiosity: "Since you have done this before, why do you want to stop it this time?"

"Because there are almost no young and middle-aged people in the Swamp Civilization."

Before Baroka could answer, Olaya had already taken over the conversation: "To this day, there are almost no young and middle-aged people of the right age in the Swamp Civilization. The remaining people in the civilization are basically middle-aged and elderly individuals with low labor capacity."

"If the so-called population migration is carried out again, the young and middle-aged people in the Swamp Civilization will probably die out completely!"

Chen Fan's heart moved.

He remembered what he saw in that style street-basically the people walking on the street were middle-aged and elderly individuals.

This is a civilization with extremely serious aging.

A civilization that has been squeezed to the last drop of blood and is about to die.

Chen Fan sighed softly: "I understand."

He turned his head and looked at the silent Baroka: "Now tell me what you think, Senator Baroka, what are you going to do?"

Baroka raised his head and looked at Chen Fan wrapped in a mechanical exoskeleton with a dazed look.

He did not answer Chen Fan's question directly, but hesitated to ask Chen Fan:

"If I'm not mistaken."

"You..."

"It shouldn't be the civilization of the Bray galaxy, right?"

(End of this chapter)