Cataclysm: Undead Dragons and Zero Empire

The search progress bar suddenly lit up with a completion indicator, like a lone lamp shining in the boundless darkness, instantly capturing Karen's attention.

Countless search results were arranged by the system from highest to lowest matching degree. The top result was almost perfectly aligned with the image of the life form in the Sea of ​​Souls carried by the Undead Dragon.

Karen didn't even need to check the detailed parameters; just by looking at the outline of the creature, he could tell that it was the target he was looking for.

The archive wasn't created too long ago; he remembered it was part of a galactic life census organized by the foundation.

At that time, the Boros Global Foundation's business empire was expanding rapidly, and its boundless thirst for unknown markets led the board of directors to pass a resolution that year.

A bounty is offered across the entire galaxy, employing research fleets to conduct a general survey of the Foundation's sphere of influence and all friendly star systems, recording the biological forms that have developed on each inhabited planet, and focusing on the social patterns of any civilization that has been identified.

The initial intention of this project was to provide reference data for sociological and biological research and avoid blind research behind closed doors. However, the foundation's subsequent market development, resource extraction, and colonization planning ultimately benefited from the results.

The vast majority of reports from the probes were as expected: most planets lacked the conditions for life to arise, and while some had evolved complex biospheres, intelligent life had yet to emerge from them.

Only a few planets can truly nurture brilliant civilizations, but with such a vast number of star systems, the data the Foundation obtains is still as boundless as the ocean, and the file Karen is currently reviewing is mixed in with it and is quite inconspicuous.

The log was recorded by the expedition captain, an experienced interstellar explorer, who, after traversing a sparse nebula, entered a star system with a single star and discovered a rocky planet whose surface was covered by liquid water for 70 percent of its area.

This planet has a stable natural satellite, a suitable atmosphere, active geological activity, and a complete cycle. Based on remote observation alone, the fleet concluded that the planet was fully capable of supporting life.

Their observations revealed that liquid water formed vast oceans and meandering rivers on the planet's surface, with lush vegetation covering the land and distinct ecosystems evolving from the equator to the poles.

The probe activated its stealth mode and entered the planet's atmosphere at low altitude to begin orbital observations.

Intelligent life had indeed emerged on this planet and developed its own civilization. Karen could sense from the lines of the observation log that the captain was overjoyed at the prospect of a rich reward.

At that time, this civilization was generally in the agricultural era, with city-states of different social forms distributed in different ecosystems. They focused their observation on one of the most prosperous targets at that time.

Surrounded by city walls, with houses standing side by side, farmers driving livestock to work in the fields, holding polished bronze artifacts and a few metal farm tools in their hands, towns connected by roads, and carts carrying goods traveling back and forth on the roads, even a unified writing system and weights and measures had emerged, forming a vast centralized dynasty.

The probe evaded all detection of this primitive civilization. They waited here for dozens of days for satellites to orbit the planet, recording the civilization's social structure, cultural customs, technological level, and even collecting soil, water, and plant samples.

In their log, they wrote that this civilization is developing rapidly, but it has not yet developed the technology involved in the interstellar age, so it has not yet crossed the warning line of wide-area silence.

According to the Foundation's census procedures, for a civilization that has not yet entered the interstellar age, or even the industrial age, the expedition fleet only needs to complete the recording and labeling before it can leave quietly without leaving any trace.

In the future, a fleet of merchants belonging to the foundation may come to explore the market, but this future is probably quite far away, so much so that this record has remained untouched in the database for so long.

However, the captain of this expedition did not follow the census procedures. He captured a live specimen and brought it back. Or rather, this kind of behavior is quite common among these expeditions that are busy with bounties. The Foundation condones this behavior and will give extra rewards for it.

Karen paused for a long time on this page of the log, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes. He knew all too well the way these interstellar expeditions operated. In the vast, unregulated sea of ​​stars, the so-called regulations were nothing but a piece of waste paper. As long as there was enough profit, they would do anything.

Subsequent entries in the log confirmed his conjecture: on an ordinary day on that planet, the research vessel approached a rural area of ​​that dynasty, their target being a farmer who was working in the fields until dusk before returning home.

The log recorded the entire capture process. The target was an adult male, dressed in a short brown robe made of coarse hemp, with a cloth belt around his waist, his hair tied up with a wooden hairpin, barefoot in wooden-soled shoes, and still holding a farm tool in his hand.

The target individual was brought onto the research vessel without realizing it. However, after the invisibility barrier was removed, the villagers still saw the huge, cold-glowing shadow streaking across the sky, the pillar of light shooting straight into the clouds, and the figure flying into the sky.

After the expedition departed, various myths and legends began to circulate in this agrarian civilization.

Some say that immortals once rode phoenixes from the heavens and ascended to the moon palace in broad daylight. Others say that heavenly light once shone in the sky, and celestial officials descended to earth and took away those destined to be with them.

These legends evolved through oral transmission and eventually became part of the cultural fabric of this civilization, forming their earliest, somewhat naive, imagination and awe of the starry sky.

As for the individual that was taken from its home planet, after the expedition team took it to collect the reward, it was sent to the biological specimen bank and became one of countless samples.

Karen borrowed a friend's access to request the sample storage records corresponding to this file from the foundation's central database.

A document that had been sealed away for quite some time was presented to Karen. The sample had undergone comprehensive biological testing after being brought back to the Foundation.

The research department recorded his genetic information and then treated him as just another inconspicuous sample on the assembly line, sealing him away in a stasis field, with no idea when he would be retrieved again.

Karen accessed the observation channel in the warehouse and saw that the stasis chamber contained life samples from all over the galaxy. They were frozen in the amber of time, silently telling the story of the myriad forms of life in this starry sea.

Karen found the target she was looking for. The adult male was still intact, with skin that was close to brown, indicating that he had sunbathed a lot while working, which had turned his originally yellow skin so dark.

His eyes were closed, his brows furrowed slightly, as if he were still frozen in the moment he was captured, like a silent sculpture in a static position.

Karen was quite certain that this was the image she had seen in the Sea of ​​Souls of the Undead Dragon, perfectly overlapping each other.

At this moment, all the guesses, inferences, and doubts have finally been answered.

Karen then secretly issued his orders to send ships that were not part of the Foundation's fleet and were loyal to him to that planet.