Chapter 217: The Different Paths of Survival

“You can really tell when someone’s thinking on a higher level.”

“Look at these Kela—it’s wild how they’ve made having kids one of the core parts of their trial.”

In the Potential Assessment Department, the team assigned to the Kela were glued to the screens, watching the flood of information as they let out one sigh after another.

Their group managed a total of thirty-seven research-focused civilizations.

Of course, the Federation wasn’t foolish enough to just drop these species on their new planets and walk away.

In truth, every planet’s orbit was crowded with satellites, all keeping a constant watch on everything the various species did below.

Even before any group was relocated, they’d had subdermal chips implanted under their skin.

So even their private conversations were subject to surveillance.

For the folks in the Assessment Department, sipping coffee in the office was enough to keep tabs on every move these species made.

“Tell me about it. You know, the other thirty-six species we’re responsible for are all here for a research potential assessment too, but they’re so desperate for time to work, they’ve cut their sleep schedules down to the bone. Who has the spare energy to make babies?”

“But honestly, who’s to say which approach is actually right? Hard to tell right now.”

“Guess we’ll just have to wait and see…”

——

At the same time.

Another office.

This one oversaw a group of combat-oriented species.

They were currently using live satellite feeds to monitor a species called the Haili.

On average, Haili weren’t exactly dumb, but they seemed to have zero talent for scientific research.

Combat, though? That was where their genius shone.

If you needed an example, think about main characters from some classic anime—like Luffy or Naruto. That’s the vibe.

You might say they’re not the sharpest, but really, their intelligence just doesn’t kick in unless it’s a fight.

But once battle starts…

The Haili are pretty much built like that.

So to put them to the test, the Assessment Department put in extra effort for their trial.

They rounded up all kinds of vicious beasts from different star systems.

Some of them were so terrifying that there was no way a humanoid could take them down with just primitive tools.

Every sort of monster imaginable was piled onto a single continent.

The Haili’s test? Brutal and straightforward.

Survive—and become the rulers of this land within thirty years!

Like we said, the Haili have no scientific talent at all. They’ve got to rely on the rawest methods to live and fight.

Honestly, the department ran sim after sim: if you swapped the Haili out for humans—even ones boosted by Gene Enhancers—then dumped them here, without any modern weapons…

They wouldn’t last a year. Every last one would be fertilizer, enriching this planet’s soil.

Just goes to show how tough the Haili’s trial really is.

But given the 2,707 species facing assessment, is anyone’s test actually easy?

The Federation isn’t out here running a cosmic charity, much less playing saint.

If your civilization doesn’t show massive potential, why would the Federation bother helping you?

——

Meanwhile.

Back on the Main Spiral Arm, Sandik had started selling Jump Engines through the Milky Way’s black market.

At first Sandik was cautious, only putting out three units to test the waters.

He knew even if there weren’t any explicit rules, Jump Engines were definitely not something you could just unload in bulk.

If he suddenly dumped a hundred on the black market—

You can bet the next day, every Level 4 civilization in the Milky Way—including the Fanguang Alliance—would turn the galaxy upside down looking for him.

So he kept up the old routine, acting as if just a few had slipped out by accident.

That small number wouldn’t set off any Level 4’s alarms.

Then, he waited.

The Jump Engines he’d snagged from the Federation had a little hidden code added to their software.

Sandik couldn’t have done this himself, so he got a contact inside the Federation to sneak it in before he left.

Black market deals are supposed to keep buyers and sellers anonymous.

But there are ways around that.

Sandik’s trick was to hide a way to contact him inside the goods themselves.

Of course, even if a buyer reached him, they’d never know who he actually was.

Any future transactions had to follow Sandik’s method, too.

With this, Sandik could bypass the black market entirely for future deals.

And the point wasn’t to dodge black market fees—it was simply because…

If you went through normal channels, a couple Jump Engines might slip under the radar. But ramp up the numbers, and all those Level 4 civilizations would be on you in a heartbeat.

So those first three were just to find buyers.

That’s all there was to it.

Once he had interested buyers and established private contact, skipping the black market altogether—

That’s when Sandik planned to go big.

By then, even if he sold twenty or thirty to each group,

No one else would know except him and the buyers for a good while.

Plus, with all the hoops Sandik built into his process, even if one buyer got exposed later, it wouldn’t touch him.

After all, the buyers never knew who the seller was to begin with.

——

Six months after closing those initial black market deals.

Just as he’d planned, all three buyers reached out in turn.

Each wanted to buy more.

But Sandik laid down a new rule: he wouldn’t take Galactic Credits. Only rare resources.

Or technical data from Level 2 or 3 civilizations.

Not just any tech, though—the buyers had to summarize it first, and only after it was verified to be something the Federation wanted would he accept.

To pull this off, the Federation actually gave Sandik a Subordinate Civilization Platform terminal and a special account.

The account only let him access one module.

The contribution module.

With it, whether it was items or technical files, Sandik could immediately check if the Federation needed it, plus see how valuable it was.

Keep in mind, direct deals using Galactic Credits outside the black market are incredibly risky.

After all, the currency itself was created by seventeen Level 4 civilizations working together.

Who knows what methods they have to monitor every transaction?

So bartering remains the safest way to go.