Chapter 41: The Passage of Time: Eight Hundred Years of Development

Tianyixing, Qingtian Plateau.

Here, in this sanctuary far removed from the conflicts of the known universe, time seemed to possess a heavier, more profound substance.

Eight hundred Tianyixing spring and autumn seasons had already slipped away since that awe-inspiring descent known as the "Tianyi Advent" on the crimson plateau and King Hefeng’s solemn vow.

At the heart of the Qingtian Plateau, the rudimentary altar of oaths once piled from rough red rocks was long gone.

In its place stood a colossal structure symbolizing absolute power and efficient governance: the Tianyi Star Government Building.

It did not strive to be an ornate palace, but rather a cold embodiment of efficiency and might.

Forged entirely from high-strength composite alloys and the unique "Ages Gold" native to this universe, it presented a deep, restrained pure black exterior embedded with countless golden veins.

Its lines were rigid and its angles sharp, resembling countless massive cubes stacked and interlocked after the most precise cutting, brimming with geometric beauty and industrial majesty.

Its height pierced straight into the clouds, standing like a hiltless heavy sword planted upon the spine of the planet under the plateau's pure blue sky, silently proclaiming the core of sovereignty.

Named the Tianyi Government Building, this edifice served as the center of civilization for politics, law, personnel, administration, economy, scientific research, military affairs, and national defense.

Its structural integrity was sufficient to withstand the destructive forces of solar flares.

On the top floor of the building, commanding the most expansive view, was the "Office of King Tianyi."

Hefeng stood with his back to the massive floor-to-ceiling panoramic window, his hands clasped behind him. Outside the window lay the core zone of Tianyi Star—a steel forest of rigorously planned, wide, straight roads interspersed with functional buildings.

Further in the distance stretched the vibrant green plains and winding rivers extending infinitely toward the edge of the plateau.

Today, he wore neither the Heavenly King Armor symbolizing supreme martial might nor the Sword of Sovereignty.

Instead, he wore a white shirt as an inner layer, covered by a meticulously tailored, high-texture, pure black administrative jacket.

This attire, born from the memories of his past life and vigorously promoted by him among the upper echelons of the Tianyi civilization, had now become the standard uniform for all middle and senior government officials on Tianyi Star.

It discarded the cumbersome aristocratic decorations of the old Angel civilization, emphasizing simplicity, competence, unity, and discipline, perfectly matching Hefeng's pursuit of "efficient order."

The deep black fabric made his posture appear even more upright. His short black hair was meticulously groomed, and his black pupils calmly surveyed the planet's core zone operating below like a precision instrument.

Eight hundred years of peaceful development had left few traces of time upon his face. The peak genetic traits of a third-generation super soldier and lavish living conditions allowed him to retain his prime heroic physique. Only his eyes held a deeper, more profound sense of control and a wisdom that seemed capable of piercing the future.

It had been one thousand years since he left the Angel civilization: one hundred years of navigating the Boundary Sea, one hundred years of exploring the new universe, and eight hundred years of civilization building. Hefeng was now eleven thousand five hundred years old.

"Your Majesty, the final approved edition of this year's *White Paper on Civilization Development* has been verified without error. Please grant your final signature," a steady voice sounded from behind.

Hefeng slowly turned around.

By the massive alloy conference table stood more than a dozen senior officials dressed in identical pure black administrative jackets.

They were the core backbone of the Tianyi Star government, managing various fields such as resources, industry, agriculture, population, education, and internal affairs.

Each of them held a heavy electronic document pad with the Tianyi flame emblem printed on the cover.

Speaking first at the front was the Minister of Internal Affairs, a male angel named Jiahao, who had originally served as a logistics officer in the Second Legion. Known for his rigor and efficiency, he was a talented individual personally promoted by Hefeng.

Hefeng nodded slightly and walked over to take his seat at the head of the table. Immediately, an attendant respectfully placed a primary document pad before him on the smooth alloy tabletop.

Without immediately reading it, he lightly tapped his fingertip against the glossy surface.

With a low hum, a massive holographic star map emerged in the center of the conference table, precisely displaying Tianyi Star and its surrounding explored territories spanning dozens of superclusters, where the blue regions representing the Tianyi civilization dotted the space like stars.

"Begin," Hefeng's voice was flat, yet carried unquestionable authority.

"Understood!" Jiahao straightened his back and began his concise annual report, while other officials supplemented him when their respective fields were mentioned.

The report was entirely digitalized, efficient, and precise.

Population: "As of zero hours yesterday, the total population of the Tianyi civilization is 135 million."

"Among them: pure-blood Angel descendants number 26.5 million (an increase of about eight times compared to the baseline 800 years ago);"

"Hybrid descendants of Angels and other Gene-River life forms number 86 million (growing rapidly);"

"Non-Angel Gene-River immigrants number 23.5 million (strictly screened, all being high-quality genetic or technical talents from various fields of affiliated spacefaring civilizations)."

Resources: "Under the 'Great Wall of Light' (countless superclusters converging into a Great Wall), the production capacity of all main mining areas under the jurisdiction of each supercluster and star system remains stable, with the annual extraction of rare metals reaching 103% of expectations;"

"Over three million agricultural planets have achieved fully automated production, with sufficient supplies of nutrient paste and synthetic protein, and a surplus rate of 18%;"

"Regarding energy, large-scale fusion arrays operate stably, and antimatter core reserves are ample (thanks to the plunder of the Heavenly City back then)."

Military: "The Tianyi standing legions (non-wartime establishment) maintain a scale of 1.2 million. The 'Sword of Thunder' standard-issue weapon has completed its first-generation mass production, with a 100% equipment rate."

"Suryan armor (basic model) boasts a 100% equipment rate. The new recruit training system is sound, and combat readiness is optimal."

Genetics and Society: "The gene pool operates smoothly. The proportion of newborns who are pure-blood Angels remains stable at the policy target line (60%)."

"The 'one child per century' policy has yielded remarkable results, maintaining a high natural population growth rate. The universal super soldier conversion rate is 100% (first-generation basic type). Social order is stable, with no reports of large-scale unrest."

Foreign Relations: "Over the past century, newly incorporated affiliated civilization systems include 7 spacefaring civilizations and 31 pre-nuclear civilizations."

"Basic integration has been completed across all, providing resources, primary industrial goods, and partial military manpower. There have been no large-scale rebellions or uprisings."

"Deep space monitoring stations continue to scan toward the Boundary Sea and neighboring unknown cosmic regions, detecting no signs of higher civilization activity or recognizable signals from the known universe."

Jiahao concluded, "In accordance with your highest instructions, the 'Contact-Evaluation-Assimilation/Control' process has been executed smoothly. None of the target civilizations possess the capability to threaten Tianyi."

Hefeng listened quietly, his fingers unconsciously sliding across the document pad to review more detailed data charts.

He showed little interest in the expansion of affiliated civilizations. In his eyes, these spacefaring and pre-nuclear civilizations were merely "resource nodes" providing minerals, labor, and some genetic diversity.

The efficient administrative machine of the Tianyi Star government would process them like ore, extract their value, maintain their basic operations, and prevent them from becoming a nuisance. True power stemmed from the core.

"The Academy of Sciences." Hefeng's gaze shifted to an elderly man standing slightly behind with a distinctly different temperament.

The named elder immediately stepped forward. He wore a white research uniform, the collar of the inner lining revealing the silvery-white edges unique to the Academy of Sciences.

His figure was slightly stooped, his face covered in deep wrinkles, and his hair was sparse and nearly all white, yet his eyes were exceptionally bright and sharp, as if burning with an unquenchable flame of thirst for knowledge.

He was none other than the President of the Tianyi Central Academy of Sciences—Azmuth, a 29,000-year-old male angel and one of the prized scientists Hefeng brought from the old Angel civilization.

"Your Majesty!" Azmuth's voice was somewhat raspy, yet filled with a sense of power. He had no need to look at a report; all the data was branded into his hyper-powerful brain. "Phase I of the 'Tianyi Cauldron' project (basic framework and core algorithm construction) was successfully completed 50 years ago and has been operating stably."

"Phase II project (hyper-dimensional computing matrix expansion) progress: 37.8%, in line with expectations."

"Phase III project (ultimate energy interface and spacetime anchoring module) preliminary research has been initiated, with a theoretical model verification pass rate of 89.3%."

His speech was rapid, carrying the precision and fanaticism typical of a scientist: "Currently invested resource proportion: 88.7% of the civilization's total resources."

"Over 97% of the energy of all members of the Academy of Sciences (777 core scientists and the 1.7 million research teams under their leadership) is concentrated on this project."

"Other fields, such as second-generation super soldier genetic optimization, novel propulsion, and ecological modification technologies, are maintaining minimum-level research; progress is slow but has not stalled."

"What are the bottlenecks for the celestial computer?" Hefeng asked directly.

"The main bottlenecks lie in theoretical breakthroughs regarding the preliminary analysis of the 'essence of the universe' and 'high-dimensional dark energy,' as well as the stable acquisition and purification technology of 'chaos crystals' required to manufacture hyper-dimensional computing units."

"The latter has engaged the entire industrial capacity of 13 affiliated spacefaring civilizations for extraction and primary smelting, but the refining stage still requires leadership by the Academy of Sciences, and efficiency remains a bottleneck."

Azmuth spoke bluntly, "In addition, Your Majesty, we lack... a reference model."

"The design blueprint of the Clock Tower is a legend among legends; that was the crystallization of 200,000 years of history of the fallen Shenhe civilization."

(The Shenhe civilization existed for 200,000 years, while the Angel civilization has only existed for about 100,000 years. The Shenhe civilization was consumed by the ultimate fear over ten thousand years ago.)

"And we are operating entirely in the dark, relying on the directional inspirations you provided and countless trial-and-error deductions to carve out an unprecedented path."

"This takes time, a vast amount of time. Conservatively estimated, completion will still require... three thousand years."

Three thousand years!

For super soldiers possessed of long lives, this was not entirely unacceptable, but it was still a daunting number.

A heavy silence fell over the conference hall. The other officials kept their eyes fixed on their noses and their noses on their hearts.

They were long accustomed to the fact that before the supreme project known as the "Tianyi Cauldron," all other matters had to step aside.

Resources? Give them!

Manpower? Give them!

Priority? Highest!

This was the iron law of King Tianyi.

Hefeng remained silent for a moment, the depths of his deep black eyes devoid of any ripples.

Three thousand years was within his expectations.

Familiar with the plot of *Super Seminary*, he was more clear than anyone else about the terrifying difficulty and strategic value of a celestial computer.

The Clock Tower was the peak of computing power in the known universe and the ultimate crystallization of the wisdom of the Shenhe civilization.

The Holy Knowledge Treasury, the Tianji Calculation Cloud, Demon One... these celestial computers, which had not yet appeared but would later become illustrious, were all the fruit of countless wisdom and resource accumulations by top-tier civilizations.

Could he forge something surpassing the Clock Tower in an unknown universe, under relatively limited resources (though the Heavenly City was emptied back then, a gap still remained compared to the accumulation of a mature god-tier civilization), and lacking top-tier references?

This in itself was a massive gamble, a super-engineering project spanning thousands of years with the future of an entire civilization as the stake!

"Resource allocation remains unchanged, and priority remains at the highest level."

Hefeng's voice broke the silence, calm yet imbued with an iron will, "President Azmuth, everything the Academy of Sciences requires will be unconditionally guaranteed by the Tianyi Star government."

"Manpower, material resources, computing power... as long as the Tianyi civilization possesses it, it will be prioritized for the Tianyi Cauldron."

"Tell all researchers that their work is forging the spine of the Tianyi civilization and building the cornerstone for our future rise to the pinnacle of the universe! Three thousand years... we can afford to wait."

"Understood, Your Majesty!" Azmuth's cloudy eyes burst with astonishing brilliance, a fanaticism akin to that of a martyr.

To be entrusted with such a heavy responsibility and to participate in such a great creation project was, to him, an honor transcending life itself.

Hefeng's gaze swept over the other officials: "All other fields will continue to operate according to established plans."

"Population growth is the foundation, resource supply is the guarantee, and order stability is the premise."

"I do not wish to see any link drag down the progress of the Academy of Sciences." His words were flat, yet they caused all the officials to shudder inwardly, straightening their backs even further.

"Understood, Your Majesty!" came the uniform response.

Hefeng picked up his electronic pen and signed his name on the final page of the primary document pad—the *White Paper on Civilization Development*.

His handwriting was vigorous and powerful, carrying the aura of metal and iron: Hefeng. This simple signature meant that the development blueprint of the Tianyi civilization for the coming year officially took effect.

"Dismissed," Hefeng rose to his feet.

The officials bowed and swiftly yet quietly exited the stargazing hall.

Hefeng walked once more to the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking his domain.