Modern Cultivation : The Strongest Couple Bonded by Vampire System-Chapter 674: Prison Planet

"Each Progenitor has their own weaknesses and strengths, so it's possible," Alex said as he plated the meat.

He sat down and ate while looking at the three suns in the sky.

"The Progenitors still haven't made any move. Or maybe they have ways of moving without us realizing."

After they escaped here, Alex had set surveillance arrays across several nearby planets.

He wanted to know the moment anyone entered this region, and track what was happening around Karthos Reach.

But so far, nothing looked strange.

"The Primordials can easily trace what happened with Byakhee Eyes," Mingyue added while chewing.

"But the Progenitors shouldn't have access to that unless they cooperated."

Alex nodded. "We should treat both factions as compromised. If we can, we need better intel on Progenitors outside their circle."

Unfortunately, the ones who lost were either dead or hiding.

Finding them would be almost impossible.

That was why Alex hoped he could get clues through Alice.

"Any update from Alice yet?"

Alex shook his head. "No."

He flipped the last piece of meat, then spoke again.

"Our next goal is the Dragon Empire. We move there next."

Mingyue nodded. That had always been the plan.

After confirming Saryx wouldn't appear again soon, they would enter the Dragon Empire and start building influence while splitting it from the inside.

They chose the Dragon Empire because of pride.

Dragons cared about face, strength, and status.

That made their politics more predictable than the Human Empire.

All they needed was to prove their strength, then climb step by step.

After that, they would use their influence to push General Kael into a higher position in the Human Empire, then find a way to assassinate the Emperor.

That was the deal they offered Kael.

He had hesitated at first, but Alex and Mingyue promised he would not be directly involved in the assassination.

In the end, he agreed.

For him, it was a matter of leaking intel and building political support.

If he played it right, he could transfer into a safer post.

Planet governor, or even better, sector senator.

The structure of the Human Empire was strange.

On paper, the Emperor held absolute authority.

In reality, the Empire ran on layers of "elected" power that made it look like a democracy.

Each planet had a governor chosen by local vote.

Those governors then vote for the sector senate.

The sector senate controlled the region's budget, recruitment quotas, trade permits, and security priorities.

They could starve a fleet by delaying supply approvals.

They could bury investigations by refusing oversight funding.

Their power were more than General like him.

Still the Emperor still had the final word.

He could veto elections. He could remove governors.

He could override a senate decision.

But he rarely did. The reason is because the teritory is too vast.

Even with his cultivation level, if he micro manage everything it will took too much of his time.

And he cannot let the empire to be fully in peace.

In the human's emperor view, conflict is necessary.

Peaceful era make people lazy, absurd and start wasting time on unnecessary things.

So the Emperor let the governors fight each other instead. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

He let the senates argue.

He let them compete against each other.

Even turning blind eyes to corruption, as long it doesn't touch his bottom line.

This competition also make sure everyone stay one edge.

Once they failed, they will be removed form seat of power.

Because of that, even if the Emperor rarely vetoed elections publicly, the real filtering still happening.

With his merit and war record, Kael could took the position.

But without real backing this is far too risky for him.

He will never try for it, if not because Alex's promised support.

"Oh yeah, did you hear the news?

It seems the Blue Jewel Planet already became part of the Human Empire, and Minghao became the Governor," Alex said.

He had just gotten the news while contacting Vesa.

In truth, he knew Mingyue had already found out. The real question was whether she wanted to involve him or not.

"I know," Mingyue said, leaning her head on Alex's shoulder. "But let's not talk about it."

"He's my only family left."

Alex wanted to say her parents were still alive, but he knew better than to say that.

"That's not right," Alex said.

"You have me. You have Vesa. Even my mother will treat you like family."

Mingyue smiled and nodded.

She closed her eyes, then said, "Let's stay like this for a while."

"Sure."

For both of them, this was a precious moment.

They cherished it more than anything else.

Being a Progenitor's heir, being a king and a queen, those roles were forced onto them.

The situation made sure they could not refuse.

Yes, it came with huge benefits. It made them strong in a very short amount of time.

But it also came with responsibility, and now that responsibility was starting to show its teeth.

To beat the other Progenitors, to beat the Primordials, they needed power beyond what they had now.

***

Meanwhile, in the Human Empire.

On a prison planet, Alice walked down the ramp of a landing craft.

She was not in cuffs, but a special collar sealed her power.

The air was thin and dry, and the ground below was dark stone mixed with gray dust.

She looked around and saw more ships landing.

Each one released more captives from different races.

Two groups stood out the moment they stepped onto the ground.

The first was a tall, lean race with skin like dull silver metal. Their eyes were flat and pale.

Khaldrin.

Their was their fast learning ability.

Give them a weapon for one day, and the next day they learn to use it like a pro.

Fight them twice, and the second time they already learned all your patter.

But their cheatlike ability come with a huge cost, each of them have short stamina.

The second group was smaller, with dark blue skin and faint glowing lines running from their necks to their wrists like veins of light.

Veyr.

They were known for "Space bending."

A natural ability to distort space in small zones.

In the open universe they could fold distance. Blinking a few meter away.

When many of them gather they could even teleported the whole planet.

Around them were many others.

Beastkin with broken horns, insectoid slaves with clipped wings, and humans from border sectors.

Alice kept her face calm and stepped into the crowd without drawing attention.

A line of armored soldiers waited near the ramp.

At the front stood a man in a black officer coat, a gold badge on his chest.

He looked at them like he was counting livestock.

"Welcome, You are free to do what you want here."

Some captives lifted their heads.

Then the officer smiled.

"But remember this. The whole planet is under constant surveillance. Don't think you have privacy. Don't think you can hide."

He pointed upward.

A faint shimmer hung in the sky, almost invisible.

A planetary level formation.

"Whatever you do here is recorded," he said. "Some of you will be useful. Some of you will only be entertainment. Either way, you will be watched."

Murmurs spread through the group.

The officer continued.

"Supply will be dropped every six hours. The locations will be random. It's up to you to get them."

A few people cursed under their breath.

A beastkin snarled.

"Try to riot if you want," he said. "Try to kill each other. Try to make friends. It doesn't matter. You all belongs to the Empire."