Chapter 840: Chapter 247: Material Shortage (2)

"Alright, I’m good now, the rest will have to wait."

Chen Ming quickly returned to the Stardust Level with Bai Quan.

It took three days to travel from the Fourteenth Legion Branch to this place, and it would similarly take about three days to reach the colony Lou Wei had arranged for testing Chen Ming.

So Chen Ming decided to warp directly there, wanting to reach the colony faster and conduct some preliminary investigations to establish plans for future expansion.

The warp ended quickly, and Chen Ming arrived at his destination smoothly.

Moreover, having notified the local military in advance, there were no issues or obstacles when the Stardust Level suddenly appeared. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

After arriving in the Star System and seeing the two planets with colonies,

Chen Ming chose to first go to the habitable planet with the Light Industry Colony.

As the Stardust Level entered the atmosphere, the colony’s appearance was exposed to his view.

The first impression that struck Chen Ming was one of decay and decline.

The most striking feature of the colony, the Earth Core Melting Furnace Power Tower, was operating very weakly.

Especially now, during daylight, the dilapidated buildings and abandoned facilities everywhere made the entire industrial colony look lifeless.

It was a stark contrast to the advanced scientific research colony he had just left.

It was hard to imagine these two scenes were in Star Realms not too distant from each other.

Of course, although they were not far apart, Chen Ming was previously in a more Prosperous Star Realm.

Now, he was in an Edge Star Realm very close to the Mechanical Race Star Realm, where the Empire was about to wage war.

This highlighted the differences between Star Realms at different stages of development.

However, Chen Ming had already understood the colony’s situation through Bai Quan’s documents, so he wasn’t overly surprised by what he saw now.

He started lowering the spaceship to get a closer look.

As the altitude decreased, more details came into view for Chen Ming.

On the outskirts of the Light Industry Colony on the habitable planet, there were many residential areas for the people working there.

Although many of the workers had left over the years, making large parts of the residential areas look empty, just seeing the areas where traces of life remained, Chen Ming could tell.

The living conditions here were regressed by at least thirty years compared to his era before crossing.

They could barely survive but couldn’t live decently.

Even in such an era, when truly at the bottom, many signs of regression appeared.

And as Chen Ming passed overhead, he noticed many people looking up at his spaceship.

Among these people, many looked at the spaceship with unfavorable expressions, seemingly harboring inexplicable hatred.

Whether this was due to their dire living conditions or just because they were Zuo Jing was uncertain.

Without evidence, he tended to assume the former.

Chen Ming didn’t pay much attention to these people.

Previously, he avoided looking at those living miserably because he was powerless to change it; seeing them only added to his troubles.

But now, he didn’t look because he had the ability to change the situation and intended to devote his time to these matters.

The Stardust Level moved directly over the Industrial Colony and began recording and analyzing the entire colony’s situation.

It could only be said that about 90% of the colony’s industrial facilities were in a state of paralysis.

Almost all these paralyzed facilities were down due to malfunctions or damage, rather than neglect over time.

This situation was somewhat different from the information gathered; the reality was even worse than the somewhat delayed intelligence suggested.

Moreover, important civilian facilities like the water purification plant and power exchange station showed signs of damage.

However, these areas had been patched up, with government personnel stationed nearby for protection.

Otherwise, if issues arose in these two places, Chen Ming felt the entire colony would collapse.

This certainly wasn’t the directive of the Zuo Jing hierarchy, but the spontaneous actions of the most extreme, unbalanced underclass in Zuo Jing.

They firmly believed technology brought disasters, so they had no bottom line in destroying these things, creating difficulties for themselves.

As Chen Ming watched the colony gradually fall behind, he felt a complex stir in his heart.

He said to Bai Quan, who was also observing the colony, "I can’t quite understand why the Empire still finances these people, and why so many are willing to stay in such a place."

"I just took a look, those laborers that Lou Wei’s faction brought in are mostly fixed in a few places, the rest are people who were originally here."

"The Empire still has money now, but soon the finances will run into a deficit, otherwise the Empire wouldn’t be eager to open a second front."

Bai Quan corrected Chen Ming’s notion and added, "As for those people, it’s precisely because they were originally here, so many aren’t unwilling but unable to leave, relying on the Star District Government’s welfare to survive, at least they won’t starve."

Bai Quan’s words made it difficult for Chen Ming to comprehend: "It’s really hard to imagine a time when there’s not even enough to eat."