Cave Refuge

And when most of the high-ranking individuals within the Imperial Court learned that astronauts residing in the space station, once completed, would not suffer from various natural disasters, they began to fully support and promote the new space station construction plan.

After all, compared to front-line personnel constantly honing their skills in dangerous conditions, these high-placed administrative officers also improve their physical fitness through martial training in order to achieve longevity and extend their lifespans.

However, although they amassed a great quantity of spiritual elixirs through their power, due to the lack of time to forge themselves, they possess high realms but their actual combat abilities are not very strong.

Because of this, once it was confirmed that being in space would not be affected by the natural disasters occurring on Blue Star, they began to fervidly push the space project forward.

This is also why in prior natural disasters, despite the Imperial Court having control over many resources, it failed to play its proper role during these crises.

Although the Imperial Court operates in a partially invisible state, the officials at various bases play an irreplaceable role.

Just like before the natural disasters, the cry for free trade began with the Eagle Sauce Family and then shifted to Rabbit's Home. Currently, the Officials at the bases of Rabbit's Home, due to various reasons, frequently lose contact with the Imperial Court. This has ultimately led to a situation similar to what happened before with Eagle Sauce, where each state had its own governance—meaning each base's Officials have absolute control over the base.

Under normal circumstances, if the Imperial Court detects weakening control over any city, it would immediately arrange a new leadership team to firmly reassert control.

However, due to the space project, although this plan is seen as critical by the majority of the powerful in the Imperial Court and deemed top-secret,

there are no walls that do not leak. Despite the implementation of multiple levels of confidentiality, many people still became aware of the plan, and it didn't take long for it to leak out.

Even though the plan was leaked, the general public was completely unaware of it.

However, the higher-ups within the Officials at the various bases were bound to be aware, and it was after learning about this plan that they began to distance themselves from the Imperial Court.

After all, no one is a fool. Even if the space station were to be successfully built, there wouldn't be that many places available for relocation in its initial phase.

It's very unlikely that their names would be included in the first batch, or even the second or third batches of relocation spots. Even if their names did appear, it would be for them alone.

More importantly, they are well aware that although they may hold powerful positions in their bases, if they managed to obtain relocation spots and truly move into the space station, their lives would undoubtedly be like falling from the clouds compared to their current existence.

Furthermore, they conjecture that even if the space station is initially completed smoothly, for many years or even decades, the majority of supplies within the space station would still depend on ground support.

After experiencing so many natural disasters, now that they are finally in positions of power and close to living well, relocating to the space station would return them to the days when they had to carefully count every meal.

To have the power to dominate the world when awake, to sleep with the knees of a beauty when drunk; once someone has experienced such a life, reverting to the ordinary is more unbearable than death.

Just like those wealthy businessmen and high officials who commit suicide by jumping from buildings, did they truly have nothing left when they jumped?

Definitely not!

Even if they had lost all but one-thousandth, or even one ten-thousandth of their fortunes, that amount would certainly be more than enough for an ordinary person to use for a lifetime.

But for Monkey King, who has been to the Heavenly Palace, even returning to Huaguo Mountain would feel uncomfortable; otherwise, he wouldn't have decided to return to the Heavenly Palace even after being twice summoned by Taibai.

No matter how good the life of Monkey King in the Mortal World is, it still can't compare to being Horses' Fortune in the Heavenly Palace.

Because of this, the actual power-holders at the various bases, after a brief consideration, understood the pros and cons and thus would weigh their own gains and losses before deciding whether to support and the extent of their support for the Imperial Court's commands moving forward.

Initially, because the settlement station was located in Kyoto, although other bases were insubordinate in secret, at most it only affected the progress of the space program.

But when someone discovered the Affiliated Space of Blue Star, things began to change.

After testing, although the Affiliated Spaces varied in size, all their entrances were fixed and immovable.

The Affiliated Space shares the same time but not the same celestial phenomena with the Blue Star Plane, meaning the rise and fall of the sun and moon are the same, but the weather doesn't match the outside world; irrespective of wind, rain, or thunder, the Affiliated Space remains unaffected.

Simply put, the Affiliated Space is like a greenhouse.

But precisely because the Affiliated Space is like a greenhouse, if someone blocks the entrance to the Affiliated Plane, then this Affiliated Space instantly becomes an inescapable prison.

At first, because the discovered Affiliated Spaces were relatively small, even after some researchers have thoroughly studied their characteristics, they didn't pay too much attention to the Affiliated Spaces.

But when someone discovered a vast one, the situation gradually grew out of control.

Initially, since the Affiliated Spaces were not affected by Natural Disasters, they were transformed into greenhouses upon discovery, and people were subsequently arranged to settle within them.

Many things start with good intentions. Under the unified management of the Imperial Court, the Affiliated Planes, unaffected by Natural Disasters, consistently yielded substantial output.

As the Affiliated Planes could steadily produce a variety of crops, many grew envious. Some newly discovered Affiliated Spaces were not reported to the Imperial Court and were secretly kept as private properties of certain families.

If the Imperial Court was unaware of this situation at first, with the passage of time, even though the number of newly discovered Affiliated Planes significantly decreased, the power holders within various departments of the Imperial Court were not fools.

The Department of Trade and Commerce detected signs from the sales of Imperial Court's supplies. Its staff, through different methods of speculation or by discovering indirect evidence, realized that once a secret is known to a second person, it is no longer a secret.

However, perhaps because the Imperial Court already occupied the vast majority of Affiliated Planes, they turned a blind eye to those hidden spaces and did not bother to intervene.

After all, nowadays, even if those people conceal the emerging Affiliated Planes, the bottom line is they still have to grow crops.

As long as the Affiliated Planes produce crops, no matter whether they consume them or sell them, they are certain to drive down the price of grain.

As for hoarding to drive up prices, this is not the era before the Natural Disaster; such actions would be life-threatening.

If the price of grain rises due to a shortage, it is one thing, but if it's because of hoarding to raise prices, it will certainly lead to those who rob the rich to aid the poor.

After all, in this era where individual power gradually suppresses numerical advantage, good and evil, life and death are all dependent on the whim of the powerful. Evidence or procedures are...

Those powerful beings deem such mundane affairs beneath them. If they see something they dislike, they simply act on it. If they are stronger, they enforce their will; if not, they leave this place, out of sight, out of mind.

Thus, in this era, the price of grain is the most stable commodity, after all, apart from those powerful beings, there are also Awakeners and Artifact Masters with strange abilities.

Without significant power, strategic resources like food are not something ordinary people can tamper with.

Also, because food is managed by the prestigious families, there's no need to question their reputation.

After all, food commodities rely on small profits but quick turnover, aiming for long-term business, so the highest price in most shops is basically the recommended retail price set by the Imperial Court.