Chapter 85: Killing the Hen for the Eggs?
Chapter 85: Killing the Hen for the Eggs?
Su Yu and his companions continued to seal the spiritual energy within the bodies of the high-ranking Skrulls.
Once their spiritual energy was sealed, these high-ranking Skrulls were no longer much stronger than third-stage cultivators, making them far less dangerous.
During the sealing process, Su Yu noticed that the kitten, Chenxing, was staring intently at Yang Jian’s trident, her eyes filled with curiosity.
Knowing what Chenxing was curious about, Su Yu asked on her behalf, “Senior Yang Jian, how does your trident become stronger the more you fight? From your performance earlier, your final strength was no less than that of an ordinary peak divine-level being!”
After saying this, Su Yu added, “Of course, if you don’t want to tell us or if it involves your secrets, you don’t have to.”
“Oh, you mean this.” The elder Yang Jian smiled, not intending to hide anything. “My trident is made from extraterrestrial meteorites, which have an exceptionally strong absorption effect right from the moment of their creation.
This weapon can gradually absorb the surrounding energies of other types during battles, gathering them without dispersing. In the battle just now, it absorbed a small portion of my strength, as well as a bit of yours, Chenxing’s, and Elizabeth’s, and condensed the strength in its core.
That’s why the trident’s power increases the more it fights.
My old friends all know about these things, so there’s nothing I can’t tell you about.”
“Oh, I see.” Su Yu and the kitten Chenxing nodded simultaneously.
Yang Jian’s weapon was actually made from extraterrestrial meteorites.
It’s well-known that extraterrestrial meteorites come from the entire galaxy and can have all sorts of strange properties. It’s not surprising that they can temporarily absorb surrounding spiritual energy for use.
However, this “growing stronger with each battle” characteristic of Senior Yang Jian’s is truly very useful! It might perform even more impressively in future major battles.
...
Just as Su Yu was lost in thought, he heard the elder Yang Jian’s voice again.
“Little friend Su Yu.” The elder pointed at the anti-gravity crystal drill below, frowning. “What should we do with this anti-gravity crystal drill the Skrulls placed here? Should we destroy it, or let it continue running to extract all the spiritual energy from the spring?”
“Hmm? Of course, we should destroy it! What else?” Su Yu blurted out, wondering if this was even a question.
Now that the elder Yang Jian’s trident had cooled down, he stored it within his body and continued, “If we destroy the anti-gravity crystal drill like we did before, there’s nothing wrong with that.
But if we don’t destroy it and let it continue running, we will gain a significant amount of spiritual energy for the final battle!
Of course, this is a case of killing the hen for the eggs, but the gains from ‘killing the hen’ might really prevent us from starving to death.
Little friend Su Yu, what do you think?”
The amount of spiritual energy that a giant spring could produce using an anti-gravity crystal drill was undoubtedly astronomical!
If they could make good use of the anti-gravity crystal drill now, the spiritual energy they gained could save many lives in the final battle!
The act of killing the hen for the eggs would definitely be criticized by future generations, but if they didn’t do it, they might not have any descendants at all.
That’s why the elder Yang Jian posed this question to Su Yu.
“This...” Su Yu understood the elder’s meaning but didn’t know how to decide.
Following his usual line of thinking, he would have immediately dismantled the anti-gravity crystal drill without a second thought.
But now, they were only two months away from the final battle.
In these two months, if they only used conventional methods to extract the giant spring’s spiritual energy, they would obtain less than 1% of what the anti-gravity crystal drill could provide.
Should they dismantle the anti-gravity crystal drill? Or should they harvest a large amount of spiritual energy and let the spring wither away?
This time, Su Yu really hesitated.
...
Ailijie, Chenxing, and Tina also knew what was troubling Su Yu.
To help him, the three of them first used their mental powers to have a small discussion.
After the discussion, Ailijie, as the representative, said to Su Yu, “Kexing, do you want to hear our thoughts on whether we should extract the spring’s spiritual energy?”
“Oh? What do you think? Tell me quickly!” Su Yu’s eyes lit up, urging her on.
Ailijie, after all, was the head of state of the Golden Sparrow Empire, trained from a young age in state affairs. She definitely had her own unique understanding of this kind of “killing the hen for the eggs” behavior, and Su Yu was very eager to hear their thoughts.
“We think it’s best to destroy the anti-gravity crystal drill,” Ailijie said seriously.
“Destroy it?”
“Yes.” Ailijie explained, “Because if we don’t destroy the anti-gravity crystal drill, it would set a very bad precedent.
No non-English characters were found in the original text, except for character and term transliterations that seemed to already fit an English context. However, I've reviewed the text to ensure consistency and made minor adjustments for clarity:
"Blue Planet" is assumed to be the English equivalent for the characters' home world, so no changes were made.
Character names (e.g., Alyssa, Su Yu, Yang Jian, Tina, Morning Star, Elizabeth, Hu Jing) appear to be transliterations or already in English, so no changes were made.
Terms like "Skrulls" seem to be from a science fiction context (possibly Marvel), so no changes were made.
Rewritten Text (no significant changes):
For example, take the Sparrow Leaf in our world, or cigarettes and liquor in your world. When people try these things for the first time, they know they are harmful, so they feel a strong sense of guilt. But after the first time, there will quickly be a second and a third..."
Morning Star suddenly interjected, "For example, your Blue Planet's trend of men wearing women's clothing."
"That counts too," Alyssa smiled and continued, "People on your Blue Planet are now using anti-gravity crystal devices to extract large amounts of spiritual energy, enjoying the immediate benefits. Soon, you will definitely use these crystal devices to extract more from the springs, gradually losing any sense of guilt.
As the war progresses, you'll likely become dependent on the 'anti-gravity crystal extraction' model, as it requires little cost to obtain a large amount of spiritual energy, leading to repeated actions.
In the end, you might even drain all the springs on your planet!"
"Don't think this is impossible. If you set a bad precedent, these things will follow one after another.
When the last spiritual energy spring on your Blue Planet is drained, even if you win the war against the Skrulls, the human race on Blue Planet will be doomed due to the depletion of spiritual energy.
Think this through carefully."
Listening to Alyssa's analysis, Su Yu felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
Alyssa's reasoning made perfect sense. Once the Blue Planet humans have the first taste, they will want more.
If they drain all the 'golden eggs' from these 'hens,' the future of Blue Planet humans will be bleak.
Su Yu and the venerable Yang Jian exchanged a glance.
Then Su Yu said with a bitter smile, "Senior, we should destroy the anti-gravity crystal devices. Even if our generation makes more sacrifices, we must leave hope for the future of humanity."
"I don't oppose that," the venerable Yang Jian stroked his beard and said to Su Yu, "But little friend Su Yu, I hope you can keep a few anti-gravity crystal devices for yourself.
If humanity ever faces a life-or-death situation, I hope you can extract all the spiritual energy from the springs to fight the enemy to the bitter end.
Otherwise, if humanity goes extinct, how can we leave any hope?"
"Alright... I will do as you say," Su Yu nodded solemnly.
He then thanked them earnestly, "Thank you for providing such valuable advice. Otherwise, I might not have thought of this."
"You're welcome. We just did what we could," Alyssa smiled calmly, and Tina and Morning Star also smiled.
However, no one noticed that Tina's smile seemed a bit forced, her brows slightly furrowed, her expression unnatural. Perhaps it was due to the intense battle earlier.
...
Final Space Blade!
In the air, a nearly kilometer-long translucent space blade stretched out under Su Yu's spell.
Swish!
The space blade fell from the sky, slicing the anti-gravity crystal device in half like cutting through tofu.
Hearing the internal explosions as the device shattered, Su Yu breathed a sigh of relief.
At least now, he didn't have to agonize over whether to drain the spiritual energy from this spring.
But what the venerable Yang Jian said made sense. It was time to privately stash some anti-gravity crystal devices. If Blue Planet humans ever truly faced a critical moment, these devices could provide an extra layer of security.
Su Yu steadied himself, descending to a kilometer above the Skrull base, and shouted in Skrull, "Skrull troops in the base, listen up. I am Su Yu, a god-tier powerhouse from Blue Planet.
Your god-tier powerhouse Elizabeth has abandoned you and fled, 76 high-tier experts of sixth rank and above, 13 have been eliminated, and 63 have surrendered.
Now, I demand that you drop your weapons, raise your hands, and surrender immediately! Any resistance will be met with lethal force!"
Su Yu's voice quickly spread throughout the Skrull base.
The 15,000 Skrull soldiers inside did not resist, each raising their hands and obediently dropping their weapons to surrender.
This battle wasn't their fight, and with the high-tier experts already surrendered, their resistance would be futile, so they surrendered without hesitation.
Su Yu and the venerable Yang Jian flew down to the ground to supervise the Skrull surrender.
They also relayed the great victory through AI Blue Whale to the United Government headquarters and the large force of high-tier Blue Planet cultivators en route.
The good news did not mention the controversy over the anti-gravity crystal devices.
Upon receiving the news of this victory, the United Government and the forces were elated, their morale soaring!
Chairman Hu Jing's face lit up with joy.
Initially, according to AI Blue Whale's calculations, the Blue Star cultivators could only secure one giant spring, and even then, with significant sacrifices.
However, just over an hour later, they had reclaimed a spring without any bloodshed! This was something they had not anticipated at all.
"Blue Whale, your prediction was off this time!" In the headquarters of the United Government, Chairman Hu Jing teased the AI: "Su Yu and Elder Yang Jian only took half an hour to reclaim a spring, which is far from what you predicted."
"Comrade Chairman," AI Blue Whale calmly responded, "This is mainly because I severely underestimated Su Yu's strength. My database had no information about his suit, and the entire model was based on his original power, leading to this significant miscalculation."
"That's not your fault," Chairman Hu Jing waved his hand. "Now, Blue Whale, with the new data, can you recalculate how many springs we can secure before Chancellor Cao and the First Emperor return?"
"Of course," AI Blue Whale replied.
Without any delay, the AI's calculation was complete. "Comrade Chairman, the number of springs we can secure depends on the Skrulls' response. There are two possibilities: First, if the Skrulls send their two peak gods, Plank and Manina III, to Blue Star, we can only take four more springs. If they don't send the two peak gods, we should be able to secure six springs."
"Is that so?" Chairman Hu Jing nodded thoughtfully.
What he didn't know was that AI Blue Whale's prediction was quite accurate.
Meanwhile, in the Skrull high council, Manina, Kusman, and the four Skrull gods were discussing the matter.
Kusman asked, "Should we send the two peak gods to Blue Star to guard the springs? This way, we can harvest the spiritual energy from two more giant springs."
Stem looked at Manina, "Emperor Sun, what do you think?"
After Elizabeth's near-fatal injuries, the leadership of the high council was handed over to Stem, the strongest of all the gods.
Stem highly valued Manina's opinion and asked him first.
"I think..." Manina pondered and replied, "We should send our ancestor and Sir Plank. The two Blue Star gods can't act on our planet due to the war's fairness principle, so we don't need to be overly cautious. Compared to that, it's more important to gain more spiritual energy."
"But the only drawback is..." Kusman frowned, "We don't know when the End Realm will end. If our gods are not near the realm when it ends, our sixth-stage cultivators inside will be in great danger, potentially surrounded by enemy races!"
"Indeed, we must be cautious about that," Manina nodded in agreement.
This time, 16 Skrull sixth-stage cultivators entered the End Realm, all of them outstanding new talents from various countries. Their safety was a matter of great concern to all Skrulls, and the United Government could not afford to leave them stranded in the middle of the Wild Continent.
"Perhaps we can do this," Stem suggested. "When the realm ends, the only ones likely to attack them are the White Eagles and other enemy races. We can have Sir Plank and Manina III display their power to warn these enemy races not to act, and we can offer them some resources in return. This should ensure the safety of our sixth-stage cultivators."
The "carrot and stick" strategy always works.
Manina thought for a moment and nodded. "Yes, I think this plan is feasible. What do you all think?"
"I agree."
"Me too."
...
In the high council room, Kusman and the other three gods voiced their agreement, and the plan was unanimously approved.
Stem nodded. "Since everyone agrees, it's settled. When the two peak gods return, they will each guard the Rocky Mountain Spring and the Mitchell Mountain Spring. Otas and I will go to the Artur Peak Spring, and Rai, you and Sibo will guard the Osorno Spring. Everyone clear?"
"Understood," they all replied.
(End of Chapter)
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