Chapter 28 Farewell to the Star Alliance ~ "Wow! Sylph has really grown up..."
Wow! Sylph has really grown into a young woman!
The moment Sang Zhitao emerged from the inner hall, she was stopped by Xi Ya, who was already waiting outside. Xi Ya circled around Sang Zhitao several times, her mouth full of surprise.
"Yeah~ I finally don't have to be carried everywhere I go~" Sang Zhitao happily spun around to show her.
"So, is Sylph considered an adult now?" Sia asked curiously.
“No, Sylph will not be considered an adult until she is a hundred years old.” It was Irene, who was standing next to her, who spoke.
She looked at Sang Zhitao with doting eyes, not forgetting to straighten her slightly disheveled collar.
Xiya was somewhat surprised to hear this, but she didn't say anything. She just pulled Sang Zhitao aside and whispered about what she had seen and heard in the past few days.
After exchanging a few words with Irene and Kro, Irene came over to Sang Zhitao and said, "Go have fun with Xiya. The commander will be communicating with them this afternoon."
When Sang Zhitao heard that they would be contacting Earth in the afternoon, her excitement, which had been building up after what Xi Ya had said, immediately subsided. She gently shook her head and said, "No, I miss them too. I'll go with them this afternoon."
After saying that, she looked at Xiya and said, "I'm sorry, Xiya, I have something to do this afternoon."
Xiya didn't understand what the two were saying, but she didn't say anything more. She just nodded and smiled, replying, "It's okay, you go ahead and do your work."
The group went together, ate a meal, and took a nap before Sang Zhitao followed Yi Lei to the inner hall.
At this moment, hundreds of screens were displayed in the inner hall, so densely packed that they gave people goosebumps and made them wonder if they had trypophobia.
The commander introduced Sang Zhitao to everyone, but only nodded to her and Yi Lei.
Except for a few who showed a hint of understanding, everyone stared at Yi Lei and Sang Zhitao in surprise until they saw their pointed ears, at which point they all revealed their understanding.
"Everyone, today is our first day communicating with the alternate dimension. I have already told you all the things to be aware of, so please don't interrupt later," the commander said to the crowd.
The hundreds of people on the screens were all kings of their respective races. They had already been excited when the commander informed them, and now they all nodded to maintain their kingly composure.
The commander exhaled softly, grasped the doorknob, and gently turned it, opening the door.
Behind the door was the leader of the Eastern Base on Earth, and Li Mingguo was on the large screen in the center.
"Respected representative from another world, the Eastern Kingdom extends its sincere greetings and desire for friendly cooperation to your world... We look forward to initiating a historically significant friendly cooperative relationship based on equality, respect, and mutual benefit..."
A standard diplomatic statement, solemnly and respectfully announcing Earth's stance to the alien world.
The kings and commanders of all races were stunned for a moment. They had not expected that the people from the other world would treat this exchange with such a solemn attitude, but they also felt more goodwill towards them. They believed that such a high regard for their planet would surely bring them miracles.
The commander stepped forward, gave a Star Alliance salute, and then said solemnly, "Thank you for your planet's trust. We look forward to cooperating with you."
After a brief exchange, they both sensed each other's sincerity, and their vigilance and wariness relaxed somewhat.
"This is our requirements list. We'd like to know what you need?" Li Mingguo, representing Earth, handed over a document through the door.
He carefully placed the document inside the door and gently pushed it a few times. When the document was pushed about a third of the way, he suddenly felt a strong suction force pull the document in instantly, and he hurriedly withdrew his hand.
It's unclear what the underlying principle of the communication channels between the two sides is, but when the file was transmitted to interstellar space, it had already been transformed into interstellar language.
The commander carefully reviewed the results of the document using his personal computer before sending it to the kings. He then sent the compiled document to Earth in the same way.
People around the world carefully made several copies of the document and then began to read it.
While everyone was looking through the documents, the big shots from the Information Engineering Department couldn't wait to crowd around her, their eyes glued to the personal computer in her hand.
The commander felt a chill run down his spine from the intense gaze. He looked up and was startled to find several faces close in front of him.
Just as she was about to ask what was wrong, she heard the person opposite her being called away.
"Hello, everything you need is fine. We just want to know why you need these. Would you mind telling us?" Li Mingguo asked, holding the documents after quickly flipping through them.
Both parties were cautious during their first collaboration, and their requests were not many. The documents were just a few A4 pages, which were reviewed in a short time, and they understood each other's needs.
The commander had naturally reviewed Earth's needs as well. Upon hearing the other party's words, she nodded and explained, "Naturally, our races are currently facing difficulties in producing offspring. We suspect that as we have evolved, our genes have developed flaws, while your planet possesses primitive genes. We hope to find the answer through this."
"I'm also curious why you have such a high demand for spirit stones? Your needs are basically just spirit stones and mineral samples, don't you want plant ones?" she continued to ask.
Li Mingguo first agreed to the trade of biological samples before explaining the impact of the spirit stones on crops on their planet, focusing on the treatment of patients.
Upon hearing this, the commander felt even more favorably toward Earth. His first reaction upon receiving such a special crop was to use it on the sick, which was enough to show the kindness of Earth's rulers.
After several rounds of detailed communication, they finally signed a detailed agreement before making resource preparations for the first transaction.
Sang Zhitao had fallen asleep shortly after the meeting began, and was only gently woken up by Yi Lei when the meeting ended.
She rubbed her eyes, yawned, and asked, "Is it over?"
Yi Lei nodded before saying, "Let's discuss the first round of the transaction first, and then we can talk more after we've determined each other's needs."
"Is Sylph going back to rest?" The commander tidied himself up briefly and walked up to her curiously.
Just as Sang Zhitao was about to nod, she suddenly remembered the winks that several bigwigs in information engineering had secretly given her, and asked curiously, "Commander, can technology be traded on Earth?"
The commander paused for a moment, then seemed to realize why those people had been staring so intently at her wrist. After thinking for a moment, she shook her head and said, "I'm afraid that won't work."
Sang Zhitao was somewhat surprised; she had thought that non-resource items would be easier to exchange.
The commander smiled and explained, "When your soul first came here, it chose a direction. The Covenant and they are not on the same path. They cannot use our technology."
Sang Zhitao was even more confused: "Science...isn't it the same as physical knowledge?"
The commander shook his head and said, "No, our technology contains the magic we are born with, which is difficult to explain with your technology. And the place where your soul belongs once rejected everything unnatural, so you can only choose the path of nature."
Sang Zhitao frowned, increasingly puzzled, especially thinking about the miracle brought about by the Spirit Stone. She simply asked, "Then why is the Spirit Stone useful to Earth?"
“Perhaps it’s because it belongs to nature,” the commander explained.
"Then how can we give Earth magical or supernatural powers? Can't we choose a different path?" Sang Zhitao had more and more questions.
"I don't know, but I believe you will have the answer. Your journey will not end here; time will give you the answer," the commander replied softly.
Instead of getting the answer she wanted, Sang Zhitao received words that only confused her more, which gave her a headache.
However, her headache didn't last long. That same night, the long-lost green light reappeared, this time while she was awake.
"Irene!" she cried out as she looked at the green light emanating from her body.
Irene quickly came to her side, without touching her, and whispered comfortingly, "It's okay, Sylph, you're just going home. Relax, sweetie~"
With her reassurance, Sang Zhitao finally relaxed. Looking at the green light surrounding her, she realized for the first time that the green light came from the jade pendant left to her by her parents.
"Eri, the Spirit Stone!" She felt the suction from the void and reminded Eri.
Irene quickly tossed her the two hundred strung-together spirit stones. Sang Zhitao held the spirit stones tightly, feeling the power of the void.
In an instant, she felt the world turn upside down. After a moment, she regained her balance and found herself back in the base's observation room.
The alarm sounded, and everyone noticed her return.
"Tao Tao!" Sang Lezhi was always the first person to hug her.
Everyone made way for the two sisters.
"I'm back." After comforting her sister, Sang Zhitao looked at the others.
Li Mingguo nodded repeatedly: "Good, good, it's good that you're back, it's good that you're back."
Sang Zhitao's return did not shut down the passage. As the commander said, after she stabilized the passage's energy, the passage no longer needed her.
She also sensed that she would not be able to return to the Star Alliance for at least a long time. After telling Irene through the door, she explained the situation to her friends one by one before finally feeling at ease and able to live her own little life on Earth.
The first round of inter-realm trade did not go smoothly. Unexpectedly, things from Earth were easily transported to the Star Alliance, but minerals and plants from the Star Alliance were difficult to transport to Earth.
"I'm afraid it's because our paths are different." After observing several attempts, the commander chose to communicate directly with Li Mingguo.
"Tao Tao said it's because your things possess magical power, right?" Li Mingguo had a premonition after Sang Zhitao returned and told him the details, so he wasn't disappointed.
"Yes, based on our current attempts, apart from the elven stones from the elven race, there's no other way to get through the passage," the commander nodded in response.
"Not even mermaid grass?" Sang Zhitao looked at the mermaid grass bracelet in her hand, somewhat surprised.
The commander nodded: "That won't work either."
"Then I...?" Sang Zhitao asked hesitantly.
“You are different; everything about you is unrestrained,” the commander explained.
“In that case, let’s just trade spirit stones,” Li Mingguo replied. After discussing it with the experts at the base, they finally decided on a purchase quantity of 1,000 spirit stones per year, which was the limit that the elves could afford.
Although the wind spirits have given Sang Zhitao no less than five hundred spirit stones, which seem common, they are not. The main reason is that Sang Zhitao is the only cub, which is why she is so pampered.
Each race produces only 500 Elf Stones per year, and the Elf race has only five branches, meaning that the entire Elf race produces just over 2,000 stones per year. Half of that has already been used up.
“The biological samples you need can only be provided temporarily, but the spirit stones we need are a long-term transaction. I wonder what else we can provide you?” Li Mingguo frowned slightly as he flipped through the list, looking at the items marked as settled and no longer needed.
The commander thought for a moment, then turned his gaze to Sang Zhitao beside him. After glancing at her Hanfu and exquisite hair ornaments, he said, "Sylph should have said that our cultural and entertainment industry is very developed here."
“Yes, Tao Tao said your novels and movies are very exciting, and we'd really like to see them.” Li Mingguo immediately guessed her purpose and nodded in reply.
The commander smiled before continuing, "I've heard from Sylph that your country has a history of five thousand years, while your lifespan is only a little over a hundred years. It must be a very brilliant civilization. I'm very much looking forward to your culture."
“My country’s culture is so profound, and its clothing has changed over generations, each with its own unique style. Our country’s food culture is also world-renowned. I look forward to having a cultural exchange with you.” Li Mingguo had already noticed the other party’s gaze on Sang Zhitao’s clothing, so he spoke directly about it.
Both of them were shrewd and understood each other's intentions in just a few words, and they smiled at each other simultaneously.
Sang Zhitao, standing nearby, felt that the two of them looked exactly like two big foxes negotiating, and couldn't help but shudder.
Subsequent communication went extremely smoothly, and Earth's clothing became a hot topic and sought-after item in the Star Alliance.
Unlike Earth, which kept the other world a secret, the Star Alliance had already shared this matter with all its members. They had long heard that the other side was a very brilliant and profound civilization, and they were eagerly awaiting official news.
No one expected that the first piece of news would be a variety of exquisite costumes from another world. Not only were different dynasties noted, but also the period in which the dynasties were located and the characteristics of the costumes. Furthermore, many movies and TV series were shown to them for their reference.
Earth became the hottest word in the Covenant for a time.
Earth culture has also become the most popular culture.
After obtaining a large number of spirit stones, the Eastern Kingdom began large-scale breeding and even invited seed companies to negotiate.
The discovery of the special element in the new 01 shocked the Chinese people even more.
"No wonder my neighbor's child with brain cancer suddenly came back a while ago. We thought they had given up on treatment. We didn't expect him to be so lively and energetic. Every few days, someone would bring him food. We thought it was a relative, but it turned out to be the government," one netizen exclaimed in surprise.
"My country is amazing, my mother is amazing!" Many netizens exclaimed in amazement.
"So Mom, when will we be able to eat food that can make us live forever?" Some people also saw the news about lifespan extension.
"Upstairs, it's extended to 280-300 years old!" someone retorted.
“That’s not enough! I’m only thirty years old, which means I can live for another two hundred years!” someone else corrected him.
"I heard that the time required for education will gradually be extended?" Some people were more curious about other things.
"Luckily I graduated, otherwise I would have had to study for decades! That would be terrifying!" someone exclaimed.
"What are you thinking? This stuff is something you absorb slowly. There's no hope for our generation." Some people were pessimistic.
"You can't say that. At least our generation isn't afraid of getting sick anymore, so there's nothing wrong with staying healthy." Many people are hopeful.
Sang Zhitao naturally saw the online discussions. She thought there would be many negative or dissenting voices, but she didn't expect to see support from the people. The warmth in her heart grew stronger, and she unconsciously became surrounded by a green light without realizing it.
So, several months after leaving the Star Alliance, Sang Zhitao disappeared from the observation room once again, and the long-dormant alarm sounded throughout the base once more...
-----------------------
Author's Note: The Interstellar Elf arc is complete~ The next world begins tomorrow~
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com