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Chapter 608: Kitchen Power

"Mr. Cheng, Mr. Liu, Mr. Lu, on behalf of the Federation military, I welcome your arrival." A lean, military-officer-like man, followed by four or five civil officials, greeted the three divine avatars who had descended upon Mars.

"General Ling, I trust you've been well." Liu Chen said with a smile.

"No need for politeness. I am already aware of your intentions. The Federation's quota for each of you is ten thousand zero-tier Martian creatures, one hundred one-tier Martian creatures, and an additional two-tier Martian creature. This is the registration book for the concentration camp." The man addressed as General Ling wasted no time, pulling out his phone and sending a data file to their devices.

"Each zero-tier Martian creature is priced at three thousand Federation Yuan, one-tier Martian creatures at one hundred thousand Federation Yuan, and two-tier Martian creatures at two million Federation Yuan."

Tens of thousands of war captives were being traded like commodities; the cheapest zero-tier Martian creatures were worth no more than a few cows.

"No problem. We trust you to handle things." Cheng Mu lightly patted General Ling's shoulder, revealing a knowing smile.

...

Up until now, they had always relied on acquiring "pseudo-believers" to provide faith, as cultivating fervent personal worship was simply not easy in this era of information tides.

And accustomed to their lofty positions, they found it impossible to stoop to becoming idols and attracting fervent fans.

Instead, it was the celebrities, originally active in the entertainment industry and reliant on popularity and traffic, who saw an opportunity. They successively tried to walk the Divine Path, for the emergence of Spirit Qi had truly laid the foundation for "Kitchen Power Governance" to be realized.

Unfortunately, the Federation's high-ranking officials also recognized this. Unwilling to see other systems grow powerful, they used various overt and covert methods to restrict celebrities' efforts to gather fans everywhere.

...

"'Labor makes you free.' They really dare to write that."

"That's the Commander-in-Chief's wicked sense of humor."

The phrase written at the entrance of the Martian concentration camp attracted their attention and was subtly criticized by them.

Because the Martian ground forces collapsed too quickly, the Federation easily captured a large number of prisoners. Under the guidance of ability users with special language comprehension, these captives began their lives in the concentration camp.

Looking out, supervisors in conspicuous green uniforms, scattered across various parts of the concentration camp like stars, were instructing a carefully selected group of "obedient and intelligent" Martians on how to use military stun batons and other disciplinary weapons to manage their less compliant compatriots.

Due to the vast numerical disparity between the currently landed Moon people and the Martian natives, "using barbarians to control barbarians" would be the primary method of maintaining stability in the concentration camp until large-scale immigration to the Moon began.

The various Martian races inherently harbored countless internal conflicts. By merely amplifying these contradictions slightly, it would be impossible for them to unite in resistance, turning them into a scattered mess.

...

Originally, in the Federation's Star Net Project, all alien races were to be sent to be made into soap. However, after obtaining the transfiguration art and the paths of Earth Immortals and Divine Immortals, their existence gained far greater value.

Now, whether as experimental subjects for civilization trials during the Earth Immortal's path to enlightenment, or as faith-providing dairy cows for the Divine Path's herding, or even as materials for dangerous live experiments by mages and wizards, their existence was far more meaningful than simply being cut down with a single blade. After all, corpses and living beings fetched two different prices.

Back then, the various mutated creatures on Earth had more than their share of experiencing being utilized in every conceivable way, right down to their very bones.

...

"My Lord, that alien has already taken the Heart of Yin Huo to the Moon, as he calls it." Thousands of kilometers from the landing zone, on the far side of Mars, a mysterious, priest-like monster respectfully reported to a cluster of purple ghostly flames.

"I am aware."

The purple flames flickered a few times, then returned to normal.

"Bo, have those few come over."

"Understood!"

"I never expected such a civilization to truly exist beyond the heavens, one capable of smelting the very earth into a mount. The chances of victory in this war are slim..."

...

Within the colossal divine hall, four alien beasts, whose very auras suppressed all, entered simultaneously. Wherever they passed, even the guards responsible for maintaining watch within the hall nearly suffocated.

Facing the ghostly flames positioned at the highest point, the four beasts showed not the slightest courtesy.

"Yin Huo, can you not see it?" The three-headed wolf-like monster named Qichakacha retorted with a question.

As the Spirit of Nature, revered by countless Martian lifeforms, Yin Huo could see everything her devout believers saw through their eyes.

"Then, the four of you—will you fight or surrender?" Seeing this situation, the ghostly flames ceased all pretense of courtesy, directly forcing the monsters, some of whom even coveted its own power, to choose a side.

"They are not enough." Said Nuo You, a ghost-like being whose form flickered uncertainly like a candle in the wind, yet whose presence was extraordinarily powerful.

"Agreed."

Budabubu simultaneously nodded with both the head on its chest and the one on its neck.

"If that is the case, then we shall fight on."

With a great enemy at hand, the five monsters, each harboring their own ulterior motives, reluctantly united.

Yin Huo, originally the Spirit of Nature, had a strong chance of becoming the absolute leader for all Martian lifeforms to wage this war against the Moon.

Unfortunately, the several Six-Tier beings that had emerged later already possessed a glimmer of possibility to challenge it. If the four of them united, they could even fight it to a standstill.

Under these circumstances, some concessions had to be made regarding the command authority.

...

"I shall deploy the Divine Mist; within it, most of the enemy's weapons will be rendered ineffective." Yin Huo, possessing a home-ground advantage, had found a way to counter the continuous retreat of the low-tier forces within the memory of a certain human traitor.

Liu Wu, who was set on revenge but lacked sufficient power, had inadvertently discovered the existence of the Spirit of Nature a few days prior and even conducted a transaction with it.

He divulged all the intelligence he possessed, exchanging it for the Heart of Yin Huo, a concentrated essence of power from the Spirit of Nature.

Yin Huo, being infinitely close to the Seventh Tier, had given Liu Wu the Heart of Yin Huo, which was enough to grant him an hour of Six-Tier transformation time. For him, a man with no path to revenge, it was an irresistibly enticing poison.

"Any of you might surrender, except for me."

As the Spirit of Nature, Yin Huo, once too much of Mars' indigenous life perished, it would also suffer a blow and fall into slumber, or even death.

One could say that if the Moon's invasion succeeded, barring any unforeseen circumstances, it too would have to perish alongside them.

It arose from faith, and it would also perish by faith.

From the moment its consciousness awakened, it had been the pan-consciousness of Martian life, a being of perfected Six-Tier existence. If it could not transcend this limitation, its destiny was simply to live and die with its race..