Chapter 218
Qi Heng is professional in painting.
It’s easy to teach a bug who is just starting to pick up a paintbrush.
He first looked at the painting drawn by Qi Xi. The cub's painting was very immature because it was taught by Qi Heng, a pseudo-male insect who was a real human. The painting style was exactly the same as that of kindergarten children on Earth.
A circle of wavy lines closes the clouds, the irregular round sun has curved eyes and a mouth, and there are radiating crooked lines on the edge... and the pointed house below and the prickly triangular grass are indispensable.
Any person on Earth who sees this will exclaim, "Wow!"
However, if you look closely, there are some differences. At least among the figures standing next to the house, in addition to the two characters who are obviously him and Chu Xiu, there is also a fat insect and a ghost floating around on the screen (A0).
After connecting to the Internet, any electronic information and smart devices become places where AO can play at any time.
As the drawing tablet that Qi Xi often holds in his hand, A0 certainly wouldn't forget to leave a small program on it, and then come in from time to time to take a look around and chat with the little bug.
It was clearly an AI with powerful functions that even a level 6 civilization would want to snatch away. However, once it encountered Qi Xi and Qi Lan, A0 automatically turned into a babysitter, and was more skilled in taking care of the children than him and Chu Xiu.
Qi Xi is different from other young children. He has his own ideas and is willing to do things on his own.
Qi Heng taught him to paint, which was more like guiding him to expand his thinking.
What is important here is the process; the final product is actually not important.
Compared to Chu Xiu, Qi Xi had very little time to see him, so as soon as he came back, he clung to him and didn't care about his female father who he had forgotten.
Qi Heng had a smile on his face and lowered his head, watching Qi Xi paint intently.
It wasn't that he didn't notice the gazes that fell on him from time to time.
——Besides him and the bug cub, there is only one bug left in this office.
So who is it that keeps looking over here? The answer is really no need to guess.
Chu Xiu, who was just a few steps away from them and was working on a chair, couldn't help but be distracted and pay attention to the situation on the other side.
If a female insect had gone through all kinds of trials and tribulations during adulthood and finally ascended to the position of the empire's chief consul, then even in the presence of the Overlord, she would probably be able to maintain a level of expression.
But now Chu Xiu, due to the loss of most of his memories, his experience has regressed almost as fast as his apparent age.
Of course, this is just a metaphor. In fact, his mental age is much older than his appearance.
It's just that his memory is fragmented and incoherent, and the memories of the past are different from the present. Therefore, when facing Qi Heng, he often can't make himself appear particularly 'mature'.
——Only in front of Qi Heng.
In the remaining memories, when he was the chief consul of the empire, the Lord no longer interfered much in the management of the empire's affairs, and most of the time, he left it to the consuls.
It’s never been like it is now, where we do everything ourselves.
The feeling of having someone to rely on and not having someone to rely on is somewhat different...but Chu Xiu couldn't put his finger on how it was different.
Chu Xiu stared at the open document in front of him, which had only a few words on it.
He seemed to be concentrating, but in fact his eyes were a little dull, and his entire brain was almost blank.
With the Lord around, it was really easy for him to be distracted, especially when they were alone.
Focus, concentrate.
Chu Xiu repeated it in his mind several times, closed his eyes and opened them again, and finally with some difficulty pulled his attention back from the edge.
His subordinate was operating to retrieve a document. He looked up in the direction of Qi Heng and said, "I received the latest intelligence from Lu Ze. What are your thoughts? Do we need to interfere with his actions?"
This is a work requirement, and it is definitely not an attempt to use my power for personal gain to speak to Your Majesty.
Chu Xiu convinced himself in his heart.
Hearing this, Qi Heng looked over and said without hesitation: "What do you think?"
He had read all the information Lu Ze had sent back, so he didn't need to think too much to know which latest information Chu Xiu was talking about.
It should be the information about the 'Arena'.
"Arena" is a general term used by advanced civilizations to refer to this type of competition program. On the surface, everyone knows that there is no "official" outcome for such programs, but in fact, different forces are behind each program.
This program is an interstellar event, only open to civilizations above level five. It can be said to be a private program for level five and level six civilizations.
A more civilized way of saying it is to place various ethnic civilizations in a designated competition area and have them compete. In fact, this type of program is no different from the ancient killing battles.
If there is any difference, it may only be in 'killing'.
——Not every competition uses deathmatch as its selling point. In some competitions, there may not be a single death toll.
However, since it is a program aimed at advanced civilizations and since it is a program with competition as its main attraction, then of course the most important thing cannot be missing - the participants.
According to Lu Ze's intelligence, most of the people participating in this type of program come from various lower-level civilizations, and only a small number are interested members of higher-level civilizations who come out in person.
But most of them just go through the motions and experience the atmosphere.
Only a small group of people like killing, so they deliberately enter the killing ground to enjoy the pleasure of fighting freely and killing lives.
After all, it is a program competition and the members participating in the program are from other lower civilizations, but in the eyes of higher civilizations, the members of lower civilizations are not the same as them.
It’s like when humans watch animals killing each other, it only arouses the violent elements in their hearts, but they don’t feel any grief for the animals.
If that were all, then this show or competition would have nothing to do with Qi Heng on Tianyun Star.
How could it be possible that Lu Ze had specifically written it into the report and reported it to him, so it had nothing to do with him?
According to Lu Ze, eighty percent of the adult female insects sold at the Starlight Expo went to the Arena.
...They are truly the star race in the 'Arena', and they can be seen in almost every game and every competition area.
This is a joke from hell.
Similar situations to the Zerg are those members of lower civilizations who "actively participate".
Compared with the Tianjia Zerg who can be bought and sold directly, these members of lower civilization races still have a fig leaf when they participate in the competition.
They all signed a voluntary participation form, indicating that they wanted to participate, before being thrown into the "competition arena".
In reality? It's just the same as the Zerg, just with a nicer name.
After all, the Star Alliance had long ago explicitly prohibited human trafficking of lower-level civilizations, including those that had joined the Star Alliance Interstellar Covenant. However, there were always more solutions than problems, and some methods could circumvent these rules to achieve their goals.
Interstellar society has always been like this. Without strength, you have no say, and if you are not strong enough, you can only sit at the table.
Chu Xiu didn't hesitate for long and said decisively, "We must save him."
"Yeah, that's what I thought." He nodded, agreeing with Chu Xiu's idea: "Even if there's no way to rescue them right now, we need to at least think of a feasible solution first and then work on it step by step."
Ever since Lu Ze went to the Western Ring Star Belt, he has been sending back a lot of information, and information about the "Arena" has always been mixed in with his daily reports.
It first appeared in the content of black market transactions, and later a separate part of the information about the "Starlight Expo" was written, and the 3S-level female insect with the oath mark was also included.
Afterwards, Lu Ze has been consciously collecting relevant information, so although Qi Heng is on Tianyun Star, he is well aware of the relevant information.
This time, Lu Ze's report was obviously more detailed. He even found out about the forces behind the 'Arena' and infiltrated several competition areas where competitions were held all year round.
Just looking at the numbers Lu Ze stated in the intelligence, there are quite a few Tianjia Zerg trapped in the "Arena".
The Tianjia Zerg in the 'Arena' are female Zergs that have not been deprived of their wings and have undergone normal evolution. In a sense, they are the closest to the Tianjia Zerg from ten thousand years ago.
In terms of physical fitness, evolutionary potential, and upper limit of lifespan, they are very similar to the Tianjia Zerg ten thousand years ago.
Because of this, the Zerg that can survive in the 'Arena' are generally older than their counterparts in the outside world whose wings were broken off in their infancy, and whose physical potential and lifespan are greatly reduced.
Over the years, even if the fighting in the 'arena' is very brutal, that is still a huge number.
——Don’t forget, the Tianjia Zerg is a race famous for war in the starry sea. Even in the harshest environment, they will struggle to survive. This is an instinct engraved in their genes and bones.
Of course we need to save them, the question is how.
Qi Heng sighed in his heart.
Their current weakness means that they are unable to save all the Zerg in cruel situations, and they may even have to abandon some of them when necessary.
For example, last time, he was able to save the Zerg on Tianyun Star, but he was unable to do anything about other Zerg in the same situation as Tianyun Star.
The remedial measures that were later devised were ultimately just for Lu Ze to buy as many of the trafficked cubs as possible in the Western Ring Star Belt, but some of the cubs still fell into the hands of other forces.
To this end, for nearly a month, Lu Ze carried out several black-eating-black missions with "Ashes" in the Western Ring Star Belt, and successfully rescued some of the insect cubs that he had not paid for in the beginning.
"I've thought about it. Regarding the Arena, we can let Lu Ze build a force first, and we'll control it from behind."
Qi Heng said: "With a spokesperson on stage, it will not be easy to expose us even if problems arise."
After meeting Chu Xiu, when he encountered some problems, he would discuss with Chu Xiu to see if there was a better solution.
He's not arrogant enough to think he can solve all problems.
Even though he always seems calm and composed and doesn't have to worry about anything, he actually feels tired too.
When playing games, if your strategy goes wrong, all you’ll end up with is a string of numbers, nothing to worry about.
But in reality, if the strategy goes wrong, lives will be sacrificed, and no amount of compensation can make up for it later.
Qi Heng can strike hard in the game and declare war at will.
However, when it comes to reality, he becomes a little "timid" and "cowardly", and he has to think over and consider the consequences of every decision he makes.
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The author has something to say: Thanks to 'Youxi' for throwing the mine~
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