475: No psychological burden at all

The ripples caused by Savage's success far exceeded expectations.

This was especially true when the research departments of the major powers, after exhausting all efforts to obtain code and even physical wreckage of Jiuzhou's unmanned mining ships from the black market, discovered that the technological leap they had anticipated was merely a mirage; the reality was a cold, hard wall.

"...In short, the logical architecture is completely foreign. None of our existing compilation environments can effectively adapt to this parallel processing framework. Forcing a simulation only leads to a logical collapse."

"Damn it, how do they process so many different modes and precisions of data in real-time with such low hardware overhead? Our imitations have latency so high they look like idiots!"

"The code segments extracted from the core autonomous decision-making module don't look overly complex, but its evaluation functions and state space definitions don't match any AI theory we know. Without underlying theoretical support and corresponding training data, this thing is a book from heaven."

So said the head of a top commercial laboratory in the Caldari State in a confidential report submitted to the Council.

The secret research institute of the Amarr Empire reached a similar conclusion.

"Its hardware craftsmanship and Materials science are also far beyond our country's current highest standards. Reverse engineering is not feasible in the short term."

The conclusion was brutal. Jiuzhou's technology was a complete 'black box' to the current New Eden.

Without the corresponding basic science, material processes, and software ecosystem, obtaining just some 'parts' and 'code' was like giving a mobile phone to a primitive human.

They might see its exquisiteness and perhaps learn how to use it, but they could never build a second one, let alone understand why it works.

The path of reverse engineering was proven to be a dead end. But greed did not fade because of this; instead, it became even more fervent because it was 'unobtainable'.

Since they couldn't build it, they would steal what was already there!

While the individual value of Jiuzhou's unmanned mining ships was proven to be lower than expected, they were vast in number and spread across the newly controlled Star Domains of the east.

Most crucially, Jiuzhou didn't seem to care much about the losses.

"The Jiuzhou people don't seem to care if these mining ships get stolen," a rumor circulated through mercenary and pirate circles. "Last time 'Black Sail' succeeded, the Jiuzhou patrol didn't even give chase when they arrived; they just watched them run."

"I wouldn't know about that. All I know is that the chips and parts in those ships sell for a lot of money on the black market when broken down. The risk is lower than robbing merchant ships, and the returns are high and stable!"

"Besides, their unmanned mining fleets are spread across hundreds of Systems. They won't even notice if a few go missing."

"Hiss, that makes sense!"

Consequently, ill-intentioned observers began to appear frequently on the fringes of Jiuzhou-controlled space, especially at the edges of newly expanded Star Domains like the resource-rich 'Cobalt Blue Frontier' and 'The Vault'.

Small bands of pirates, down-and-out mercenaries, and even some audacious local militias began to view Jiuzhou's unmanned mining fleets as new 'mobile gold mines'.

Inside the 'Sharpening Sword' base, Zhao Youcheng looked at the reports of new attacks from the past week on the star map. Not only was he not annoyed, but the corners of his mouth were actually turned up in a smile.

"Well, they really do treat us as a gold mine." He turned to look at Lin Yizhou. "Old Lin, you were right about this."

Lin Yizhou's gaze swept over the incident reports, his expression calm. "Alright, let's begin operations according to the pre-arranged plan. Use the patrol escort squads as units, paired with the new recruits."

Soon, several Jiuzhou patrol escort squads, led by veterans with rookies, were deployed to the hotspot star Systems.

The 'bait' was cast, and the 'fish' soon took the hook.

In an asteroid belt on the edge of the 'Cobalt Blue Frontier', a pirate assault ship squad trying to use the old method of approaching to fire capture nets was caught red-handed.

The pirates tried to fight back, but their firepower was either easily blocked by the frigates' shields or evaded.

In less than two minutes, all three pirate assault ships were blinded and deafened. Under the 'embrace' of swarm drones and the 'friendly gaze' of the frigates' main guns, they had no choice but to signal their surrender.

Several young recruits, under the guidance of veterans, completed the first 'real combat' engagement of their lives.

Sweat beaded on their foreheads, but their eyes were bright.

Similar incidents occurred in multiple Star Domains. Sometimes it was escorting and anti-looting, sometimes it was ambushes and counter-ambushes, and sometimes it even evolved into small-scale chases.

The pirates and mercenaries who came to 'pick up gold' soon realized something was wrong. Even more terrifying was that the other side seemed to be enjoying the process?

However, the Jiuzhou side didn't seem to intend to completely wipe them out; instead, they would intentionally 'accidentally' let some lucky ones go.

Punching bags that one could hit without any psychological burden were hard to find; they had to be raised sustainably.

While the 'cat-and-mouse' training games were ongoing on Jiuzhou's eastern border, in the vast central Star Domains of New Eden, the fires of war between warlords and corporate groups growing over the ruins of the old Empire were burning fiercely and showing signs of intensifying.

The battle for mining rights between Blackstone and the Deep Space Logistics Alliance escalated. Each side brought in allies, expanding the fleet scale to over fifty ships, engaging in a brutal war of attrition.

The conflict between the 'Red Flame' and 'Cinder' tribes spread from one planet to neighboring colonies, with both sides even deploying some heavy siege weapons that had originally been phased out.

Miraculously, however, these weapons were unexpectedly effective.

The civil war of the 'Free Planets Alliance' turned into a three-way melee, with former allies blasting each other amidst the wreckage of shattered space stations.

'Business wars' between local corporations also frequently turned into 'artillery battles' between escort fleets. Although the scale was small, the frequency was extremely high.

The reports of conflict handled by the Jiuzhou Intelligence Center daily piled up like mountains. According to the latest quarterly summary, there were over forty recorded armed conflicts per day across New Eden, totaling over fifteen thousand annually.

Tactics ranged from grand fleet clashes to insidious lane-mining, from orbital drop decapitation strikes by elite squads to planetary guerrilla warfare involving the entire populace.

It was a diverse collection, practically an encyclopedia of war for a chaotic era.

In the strategic analysis room of the 'Sharpening Sword' base, a giant screen displayed summaries of various conflicts categorized by type.

Information such as tactical analysis, equipment comparisons, casualty statistics, and socio-economic impact assessments was extremely detailed.

"I feel like what I learned in school has very few similarities here." A researcher from the Eastern Federation Academy of Sciences shook his head. "Despite having the capability for space travel and faster-than-light navigation—setting aside whether the lack of change in civilizational form is an isolated case—there has been absolutely no progress in productivity."

"They carry electromagnetic rifles onto spaceships just to fight over a few patches of land. Even those major nations actually produce things like synthetic meat as a staple of their food structure. I can only say I don't understand it."

"Even the historical Nova United States couldn't do something this abstract."

"But it must be said, this place does have some things worth mentioning." Another researcher responsible for psychological and behavioral analysis chimed in. "The basic soldiers and junior officers tempered in this high-frequency, high-pressure, life-or-death environment often possess outstanding battlefield survival instincts, split-second decision-making abilities, and adaptability to harsh environments."

"This is something that even the strictest training in a long-term peaceful environment can hardly simulate completely."

"So, this place is still very valuable."

"That's true." The first researcher nodded slightly in agreement.

Zhao Youcheng watched the two scholars converse with his arms crossed and nodded along.

While Jiuzhou was training its troops in the east, in the Guitar Galaxy—the most prosperous core of New Eden—a 'war' without gunpowder but equally fierce was rapidly reaching a conclusion with a nearly crushing posture.

The Interstellar Peace Corporation, after using the 'Ancestors' as a front and 'exchanging' a 'Technical Guide for Large-Scale Space Structure Optimization and Modular Construction' with the Sisterhood for that crucial 'tax-exempt corporate slot' in the Guitar Galaxy, ramped up its commercial machinery and officially entered the fray.

After transforming the Star Track network in the heart of the Sisterhood's territory into the Corporation's Silver Rail System, the Corporation's fleets began to swarm into New Eden like locusts.

As for the Sisterhood, they stood at attention as soon as they saw the Corporation's fleet.

The Corporation's offensive was simple and direct, completely disregarding any business war rules known to New Eden merchants.

Goods from various sub-brands under the Corporation—from daily consumer goods, entertainment equipment, and engineering machinery to high-performance composite Materials, precision instruments, and even some 'non-sensitive' high-end items—poured into the Guitar Galaxy like a tide through the tax-exempt 'Interstellar Peace Corporation' channels.

The quality, performance, and even the price of these goods formed a dimensional strike against local products.

A multi-functional engineering plier from the Corporation was more durable and performed better than the Caldari-made version, yet the price was only half.

An immersive entertainment System from the Corporation offered an experience far superior to the top-tier goods enjoyed by Amarr nobles, yet the price was much more accessible.

In particular, the Corporation's supply chain and logistics efficiency shortened the time from order to delivery to a degree that left local merchants in despair.

Furthermore, driven by CONCORD's 'Technical Standards Committee', a set of standards based on the Corporation's System quickly became the universal rule for New Eden.

Uncertified local products, no matter how low the price, began to sit unsold.

After achieving overwhelming dominance in goods and standards, the Corporation began its harvest: the Credit System entered the field.

The Corporation announced that in all its trade, it would prioritize settlement in credit points.

And the way to obtain credit points was extremely simple: sell any resources or goods it recognized to the Corporation. Or, directly use the currencies of the Six Great Powers or CONCORD to exchange them according to the exchange rate published by the Corporation.

At first, the merchants were skeptical.

But they soon discovered that using credit points for transactions with the Corporation not only provided extra discounts and priority supply rights, but the credit points themselves were unimpeded within the Corporation's vast trade network. They could even be used for loans and investments through the interstellar financial services provided by the Corporation.

Most importantly, compared to ISK, it held its value.

In contrast, the currencies of the Six Great Powers were unstable, CONCORD had not yet established enough credit, and cross-power transactions were cumbersome and high-risk.

Like a snowball rolling downhill, more and more merchants, enterprises, and even some local governments began to accept and use credit points to facilitate business with the Corporation or simply to preserve the value of their assets.

In less than half a year, a jaw-dropping sight emerged.

In the Guitar Galaxy and the 'Continental Hotel' region of the New Continent, over 80% of legal commercial transactions began to use credit points as the unit of pricing and settlement.

The Corporation's goods occupied the absolute mainstream of the terminal consumer market, and its technical standards and certification Systems became the de facto industry norms.

Under the intense competitive pressure, New Eden's local industrial and consumer goods either transformed into suppliers of raw Materials or Elementary products for the Corporation, retreated to niche markets or remote Star Domains, or simply went bankrupt.

Dr. Aria—no, rather, Researcher Aria, who had successfully joined the New Eden headquarters of the Interstellar Peace Corporation—offered her loyalty to the Amber King, whom the Ancestors worshipped, after receiving their approval.

To be honest, her purity was higher than that of some veteran employees.

As for Grand Archbishop Hana and other high-ranking officials of CONCORD, while they rejoiced in the skyrocketing fiscal revenue and the increasingly prosperous jurisdictions, a faint, indescribable complexity of emotion also rose in their hearts as they looked at the ubiquitous goods printed with the Corporation's emblem.

They had gained prosperity and power, but they also seemed to have unknowingly yielded something more fundamental.

However, after thinking about how the massive power of the Ancestors they had witnessed was just the tip of the iceberg, they immediately reached a reconciliation with themselves.

Meanwhile, at the monthly summary meeting of the New Eden project team in Pierpoint, a certain supervisor looked at the chart on the screen regarding 'New Eden Market Share and Credit Penetration Rate' and simply nodded calmly.