CHAPTER 470: CHAPTER 470: SHUJI REVITALIZATION PLAN

Mo Ran, who was conversing with her retainers, suddenly sensed a familiar presence appear. She immediately raised her hand to signal those beside her to be silent, then rose and respectfully bowed towards a certain direction: "Mo Ran greets Mr. Yu."

On the shadow wall not far away, a cluster of crystals slowly expanded and spread like it was blooming, morphing into a plane resembling a screen. First, some unstable lines and symbols appeared on the transparent crystal, and then a silhouette gradually emerged. After quite a while, it finally shaped into a figure, and Yu Sheng’s voice resonated with the crystal’s vibration, slightly distorted: "Ah, it’s always such a hassle, getting a picture to come out clearly is really not easy... By the way, why do you hang that thing there?!"

Mo Ran was taken aback for a moment and then realized that Yu Sheng was referring to the painting hanging on the wall behind her.

However, the expression on the face of this City Lord Fairy was quite earnest: "Of course it should be hung. The Taixu Spirit Hub has already confirmed your honorary title, and you are the newly appointed Star Guardian of Shuji—in truth, one painting is not enough; when the dust settles, each city will need to establish temples and mansions for you..."

Yu Sheng had just been speaking casually, but upon hearing the other’s words, he was suddenly stunned: "... Wait, this entire string is actually the official ’honorary title’ given by the Taixu Spirit Hub?!"

"Yes."

"Yuan Hao talked with me about so many unrelated things and never mentioned this... That old scoundrel!"

Upon hearing this, Mo Ran quickly lowered her head, not daring to make any judgment.

Seeing this reaction, Yu Sheng could only shake his head: "Alright, alright, if you love to hang it, then hang it, after all, it’s your custom. But the business about building temples and mansions is unnecessary—that’s a waste of resources, and I don’t live there. I’m mainly here to see how Shuji is doing and to chat with you about the future."

When Mo Ran heard this, she immediately waved to dismiss irrelevant people, then approached the crystal wall, wearing a serious expression: "Yes, Mo Ran is also discussing this with her retainers. Currently, the city is already improving; many facilities that were halted due to the Inference Star Body’s erosion are being gradually repaired these past few days, and the situation in other cities has already stabilized—thanks to you, as long as the skies don’t fall, people can still survive."

"Hmm... Hey, don’t stay so tense all the time, relax a bit, I don’t eat people," Yu Sheng looked at the young lady, all tense while reporting work, feeling awkward, and couldn’t help but remind her again before continuing, "So let’s talk about the future, the development of Shuji’s future—let’s be clear, I’m not an expert in this, as far as I know, the Star Guardian isn’t responsible for this. I’m just asking casually, now that Shuji’s mines are gone, and the surface is devastated, how are you planning to survive in the future?"

Upon hearing Yu Sheng’s words, Mo Ran’s expression relaxed slightly, but she couldn’t help becoming solemn again immediately after. After contemplating for a moment, she slowly began: "These past two days, I’ve also communicated with the City Lords of Tan Yuan, White City, and several other major cities, addressing this issue. It’s true that Shuji seems to have reached a dead end. As a border planet with no special value, its future may not even manage to regain vitality, let alone thrive.

"Every day, people leave this planet with their families, having lost everything in the previous disaster, with no hope for the future. In these situations, we are helpless too...

"However, I discussed with Lord Yun Shan, and the future of Shuji may not be entirely without a path."

Yu Sheng couldn’t help but become curious: "Oh?"

"... Just some immature ideas, and somewhat bold, if you feel they are inappropriate, please don’t take them to heart," Mo Ran seemed quite conflicted saying this and added several layers of armor to caution Yu Sheng, only continuing after confirming his nod with a somewhat nervous expression, "We think that while Shuji may have nothing now, if we have to say there’s something... it would only be ’having been parasitized by the Dark Angel.’"

Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow—unfortunately, the resolution of his interactive image was too low, Mo Ran probably didn’t see it.

The young female City Lord continued: "Shuji is the first planet fully parasitized by the Inference Star Body yet survived, and it is the most deeply associated surviving planet with the Dark Angel in history, with the most traces left on the surface. We also personally witnessed your battle with the Inference Star Body—the Inference Star Body may have fallen above Taixu Spirit Hub, but its fatal wound was in Shuji’s storm. For those with an interest, these are actually ’valuable.’

Pausing at this point, she looked up as if to confirm Yu Sheng’s expression, but since she couldn’t see clearly, she pressed on with determination: "We want to publicize this and see if we can attract some tourists and further develop the areas where crystal tendrils emerged as places to visit. The Universe is vast; surely there will be those with the interest and courage for novelty.

Furthermore, we could try to contact other planets or even other forces to establish some research projects on ’Angel Relics.’ As far as I know, the academy on Terra and the Boundary Special Service Bureau would surely have an interest in this, and if they are willing to come, Shuji would gain another path.

Additionally, we plan to research these crystals to see what purpose they can serve. Although many people are terrified of those things now, apart from crystals, there’s nothing else left on this planet...

"The Guardian People are worried these days, mostly because they’re afraid of having no future. If that weren’t the case, who would willingly leave their homes? So no matter what the future holds, we have to find some ways to develop, even if it means breaking some taboos..."

Yu Sheng listened to Mo Ran ramble on. He realized this "Fairy" usually seemed aloof, but once she started talking, she really had a habit of going on. Eventually, he couldn’t help but interrupt: "Your plans are all pretty good actually, I barely have to worry about anything."

Mo Ran, who was feeling uneasy, was suddenly taken aback by his response: "Huh?"

"I said your plans are all pretty good," Yu Sheng chuckled, "Why are you so tense?"

Mo Ran opened her mouth: "Uh, that’s because turning the areas polluted by Angels into tourist spots and studying the Angel Relics with outsiders is somewhat taboo..."

"What’s taboo about that?" Yu Sheng laughed, "I even think you can broaden your horizons a bit more. After all, this is the place where the Dark Angel was killed. You could promote it as a place where the land is rich and the underground mined crystals can ward off disasters — but only those that you’ve blessed work, the unblessed ones don’t.

"And as for those useless surface crystals, you can export them, or cut them into pieces to use as ornaments or as raw gemstones for jewelry. The Angel Relics are such rare things, though they’re not ’Angel Catalysts’ like the core materials, they’re still non-renewable resources. You can make up some little stories about them, add some features like warding off evil, prolonging life, enhancing kidneys, strengthening yang, whitening, and anti-aging. Just don’t exaggerate too much. I’ve seen those things, and at least they’re non-toxic and harmless.

"Then there’s your cultural tourism project. Don’t just focus on the tourist attractions, add some inspiring background stories, and build a few battlefield relics where the Guardian People valiantly resisted the Inference Star Bodies. Not enough real relics? Who said they have to be real! Build a couple fake ones in each city, and I’ll certify them as real. Then go to Terra to advertise — don’t go to Boundary Land. Although it’s a transportation hub, the locals there don’t know much about the outside, and there’s little traffic.

"And after that? You could start a concept stock for the Inference Star Bodies... By the way, does something like that exist in the Feiyu Star Domain?"

As Mo Ran listened, her expression was off from the second paragraph, and after Yu Sheng finally finished, she was stunned for another two or three seconds before she spoke: "Really? Is this possible?"

"Why not," Yu Sheng said offhandedly, glancing at Mo Ran, "Your thinking can’t be rigid, you need to be flexible at times like this..."

Mo Ran didn’t know what to say for a moment — heaven knows, she truly hadn’t dared to think of these outrageous moves. The main reason being that this matter involves the Dark Angel, and anyone with a sane mind can’t be as carefree as Yu Sheng when dealing with the Dark Angel. The psychological barrier was there, which stopped her from thinking too deeply.

The other reason was even more straightforward:

The Guardian People have lived by mining for generations, and the whole planet is lacking people like Mr. Yu with... refreshing and unconventional insights and brave, meticulous thoughts.

But as a City Lord still, Mo Ran didn’t think much about it at first. Once Yu Sheng gave a little inspiration, she quickly caught up in rhythm. Realizing that the "Expert" in front of her was quite supportive of the matter, her courage suddenly swelled, and a bunch of feasible plans started brewing in her mind — the first feasible plan was to circle off the ruins of those Refining Towers on the outskirts, then find a couple novelists...

As she was brainstorming, Yu Sheng’s voice suddenly came over again: "Besides, I came here for another matter related to the future development of Shuji — unlike the projects we were discussing earlier, you might be more familiar with this one."

Mo Ran: "You mean..."

"Just wait a moment, I’ll send it directly to you."

As Yu Sheng finished speaking, suddenly a small door appeared in front of Mo Ran — as the small door opened, a "little crystal block" with a texture somewhere between crystal and metal fell out.

Mo Ran looked at the block with some confusion, bent down to pick it up, and examined it closely: "...What is this?"

"Dug out from near the mantle, it should be a ’semi-finished product’ left by the Inference Star Bodies during the construction of Ascension Bodies — there are many impurities, and I haven’t found a way to further refine it. Unlike the ’concept products’ we discussed earlier, this thing... actually seems to have some significance."