Chapter Two: Earth's Bonds

"Damn it, she's trying to purge the entire Eastern Li Dynasty coalition!"

After a brief moment of shock, Fatty Xu immediately understood as well.

His face twisted with resentment, Fatty Xu gritted his teeth and said, "From what I've heard, her bonded planet specializes in genetic engineering. She’s bound to burn through massive native resources, using sheer numbers to fill the gap!"

"Doesn't your bonded planet also focus on genetics?"

Hearing Fatty Xu’s words, Ye Han’s mind stirred. He asked, "Is there any way to limit her?"

The Ninth Sequence was mostly technological, but due to the different bonded planets and conditions, each pursued different specialties.

"If you want to restrict her, the only way is through the gene lock!"

Fatty Xu shook his head without hesitation. "To crack the gene lock, you have to get a natural human gene sequence. But from what I’ve heard, Luan Shuanyu’s planet has long since popularized genetic engineering—original natural humans probably vanished into history ages ago."

There was logic in Fatty Xu’s words.

For those on the genetic path, once the gene lock is cracked, it’s like dropping a biochemical nuke; such an obvious flaw would never be left behind.

Fatty Xu had just reached level two, but he'd already cleansed his own planet of natural humans.

Luan Shuanyu, a level-three prodigy, could never have left such a vulnerability.

Ye Han nodded thoughtfully, murmuring, "Even if the local forces can’t intervene, Xiyuan Star might be a different matter."

"Xiyuan Star?"

Hearing Ye Han’s muttering, Fatty Xu propped his chin on one arm. "That’s one way, but it’ll take too much time!"

The temporal flow between the Liyang Main Realm and bonded worlds differed, but as for the exam site, Xiyuan Star, the flow was an astonishing 1:30—one day in the main realm equaled a month on Xiyuan Star.

Seeing Fatty Xu deep in thought, Ye Han patted his shoulder. "All right, if there’s nothing else, I’ll go back and prepare. The exam’s tomorrow. I need to figure out how to handle it."

"Wait!"

Fatty Xu grabbed Ye Han’s arm just as he was turning to leave, gritting his teeth. "I just finished two ‘carbon-based fabricators.’ I’ll send one to you, keep an eye out for it."

The carbon-based fabricator, also known as the gene blood pool, possessed formidable cloning abilities—the foundation of any civilization focused on genetic engineering.

Fatty Xu’s bonded planet’s civilization had only just mastered this technology.

"No way. You need both fabricators at this stage. Without one, your civilization’s strength drops by at least 30%," Ye Han refused without hesitation.

The college entrance exam was a decisive threshold, affecting future resource allocations within the pan-human alliance.

Fatty Xu treated him as a brother; no matter what, Ye Han couldn’t drag him down now.

"It’s fine, I’m not planning to use a numbers strategy for the exam. I have other plans. The fabricator is optional."

Fatty Xu patted his chest in assurance. "Don’t worry. I’d never joke around with the exam. Just watch me."

Before Ye Han could refuse, Fatty Xu immediately projected his consciousness onto his bonded planet.

Looking at Fatty Xu’s now-unconscious, sleeping body, Ye Han’s emotions churned—bitterness, gratitude, resentment, all mixed together.

"You damned fatso!"

Rubbing his dry eyes, Ye Han cursed. "Why don’t you ever remember to lie in your sleep pod before linking to your planet? Do you want me to play nursemaid forever? One day I’ll carve all this fat off you!"

Despite his grumbling, Ye Han still hauled Fatty Xu’s 200-plus pound body into the sleep pod before leaving his house.

Back home, Ye Han didn’t waste a moment and got into his own sleep pod.

The temporal flow on Starrealm No. 07 was 5:1 compared to the Liyang Main Realm. With the exam tomorrow, that meant five days on his bonded planet.

Yet the planet was a mess, and five days wouldn’t be enough to straighten it all out.

But Ye Han was determined to struggle anyway.

...

A gray, desolate universe. A battered planet, scarred and ruined, hung alone in the void.

"Hanlan Star is finished!"

Sweeping his consciousness across the entire planet, Ye Han couldn’t suppress a surge of anger, even though he’d descended here once before.

His predecessor had taken the technological sub-branch of ‘virtual engineering’—focused on information development, building virtual worlds with data processing as the foundation, supplying other worlds with research and entertainment platforms.

While this path was a bit weak in direct combat within the starrealm, its prospects were bright.

But now, because of the “package” issue, global species had evolved, and without sufficient military might, humans were utterly outmatched.

As for the embryonic virtual world already constructed...

Ye Han was at a complete loss for words.

What—was he supposed to invite those aggressive evolved beasts into the virtual world to settle scores?

"Looks like I’ll have to ask Earth for help," Ye Han sighed in resignation.

Hanlan Star had developed modularly, so while it could surge ahead in a single field, its overall balance was disastrous.

With a population of 1.1 billion, Hanlan Star’s entire arsenal of conventional firearms barely reached ten thousand units, and there was not a single piece of heavy weaponry to be found.

Had things been more balanced and there were just a few more weapons, humanity wouldn’t have lost over half its numbers and seen corpses strewn across ruins within three days.

"Open the Guide panel!"

Suppressing his frustration, Ye Han forced himself to look away from the planet and prepared to call for help.

...

Bonded Panel

Name: Ye Han (Hanlan/Earth)
Authority: Level 1 (9.4/10) (All planet assessments stacked; Level 2 at 10, Level 3 at 100, and so on)
Assessment: 9.4/— (Achievement assessment score × cohesion)
Cohesion: 0.1/— (Comprehensive civilization cohesion index)
Origin: 857/— (Main Realm monthly gain: intelligent population × cohesion)
Talents: Enlightenment, Spatial Jump (downgraded, frozen)
Achievements: Virtual Data Analyzer (score 60), Smart Framework Source Code (20), Neural Touch Device (14)
(Only three achievements may be drawn from one planet, replaceable)
Bonded Planets: Hanlan Star (Pan-Human Alliance—Liyang Star Domain) / Earth (Unbound)
Coordinates: 12-171-19-001-14-411 / 01-001-1-023-07-006
...

As Ye Han carefully examined the panel reflected in his consciousness, he found himself uncertain.

This personal panel was distributed by the Myriad Heavens Pool to every alliance citizen. Membership in the alliance was the threshold for receiving a panel, but the alliance had no authority to monitor it.

His previous panel had not included Earth as a bond.

And since crossing over yesterday, Ye Han had not yet descended onto Earth; thus, aside from the manually entered ‘Earth’ name and the automatically generated coordinates, the other fields were blank.

"Never mind, Hanlan Star’s current situation needs the mother planet’s guidance!"

Gritting his teeth, Ye Han hovered his consciousness over the Earth option beside his name.

As his consciousness triggered, a prompt box abruptly popped up on the panel.

"Do you wish to bind planet at coordinates ‘01-001-1-023-07-006’ to the current alliance?"

Beneath the prompt was a massive broadcast from the Pan-Human Alliance, easily over ten thousand words.

Ye Han curiously read through it and finally understood the gist: if a citizen bonds with a new world planet not yet belonging to any alliance, connecting its coordinates to the alliance would bring massive support.

Moreover, the person who connects it would permanently receive one hundred-millionth of the new world’s yield—a share protected by the laws of the Pan-Human Alliance.

But if you don’t connect the planet to the alliance, it won’t be protected, its native life cluster will be wild, and if such a planet invades an alliance world, it will be considered an illegal invasion.

It was pure carrot and stick: bind it and receive protection and rewards; don’t bind it and you’re breaking the law.

Who were they trying to scare?

Ye Han didn’t even blink—he flatly refused.

Did they really think he’d wait around for a handout?

Didn’t they realize that even a one hundred-millionth share of world profits revealed a lot?

As for illegal invasion—compared to what lies behind that carrot, so what?

"Do they think I’m a fool?" Ye Han sneered. "Trying to fool me with that tiny share."

Treaties aren’t signed lightly; who knows what would happen once Earth is bound to the alliance?

Ye Han decided this was something Earth’s think tanks needed to deliberate carefully.

Ignoring the message, Ye Han shifted his consciousness to Earth.

"Ding. First-time consciousness descent onto bonded planet. Full scan in progress..."

A shimmering rainbow halo radiated from Ye Han’s consciousness, instantly enveloping the entire Earth.

Standing in the void, Ye Han gazed at the familiar blue planet, seized by a sense of profound nostalgia.

"Ding. Planetary data scan complete. No achievements detected. Default upload in progress; guide may select replacements."

With the mechanical voice, a brand new panel appeared before his eyes.

...

Bonded Panel

Name: Ye Han (Hanlan, Earth)
Authority: Level 3 (560.4/1000)
Assessment: 9.4/551
Cohesion: 0.1/0.7
Origin: 4,933,900,857
Talents: Enlightenment, Spatial Jump, —, —, —, — (awaiting extraction)
Achievements: Virtual Data Analyzer (60), Smart Framework Source Code (20), Neural Touch Device (14), Dongfeng-86 (50), Capital Theory (230), Marxist-Leninist Texts (450)
Bonded Planets: Hanlan Star (Pan-Human Alliance—Liyang Star Domain) / Earth (Unbound)
Coordinates: 12-171-19-001-14-411 / 01-001-1-023-07-006
...

As Earth’s data filled the blank fields, Ye Han’s panel instantly transformed.

First came a change in authority. With Earth’s assessment added, his authority leapt up two full levels to level three.

Each level-up allowed a talent to be drawn.

Not only was his previously frozen "Spatial Jump" talent restored, but four more talent slots awaited extraction.

"I’m a dual-bond! At level three, I have six talent slots—twice as many as others at the same level!" Ye Han could hardly contain his excitement looking at the fresh panel.

All these talents could be bestowed upon natives of his bonded planets at the cost of some Origin.

The more bonds, the stronger the foundation!

"Earth’s time flow is 10:1 compared with the Liyang Main Realm—one day there equals ten days on Earth. With 7.075 billion people, Earth brings me over 4.9 billion Origin every ten months. With this backing, I’m set for the exam!"

Focusing on the combined Origin field, Ye Han’s gloom instantly lifted.

This was confidence—true confidence!

After a day of pent-up anxiety, Ye Han finally let out a long breath.