Cataclysm: Undead Dragons and Zero Empire

The door to the reception room slowly closed, leaving behind the unspoken power struggles and compromises.

Karen had just finished a secret meeting with the Foundation's border commanders. Those fleets that were confronting other dominant civilizations on the border were a decisive force capable of overturning the rebellion, but it seemed that the sword hanging over their heads had no intention of falling.

The board of directors has long controlled the foundation's core resources, tilting the budget towards economic development. The longer this continues, the less the border region benefits, and corruption intensifies, with each level skimming off the top.

The generals were dissatisfied with the board of directors and maintained a subtle, detached attitude throughout the great rebellion that swept across the entire civilization. The board's orders came again and again, but they always used the excuse of the tense border war and the fact that the legions could not be moved lightly to evade them. Meanwhile, they secretly extended an olive branch to Karen, the traitor.

Karen, of course, went along with it, offering them something simple yet tempting enough.

If Karen were to seize power in the Foundation, she would abolish the Board of Directors' various constraints on the Frontier Legion, eliminate those meaningless rules and regulations, provide them with the Foundation's most advanced production capabilities, support the military in transforming the Foundation's trade advantages into military advantages, and endorse the ideology of external expansion.

However, Karen was never naive enough to think that a few promises would completely win over these generals who held considerable military power. He understood that these generals, who were at the center of the balance, were playing both sides.

While they secretly met with him to observe his attitude, they might also use their military power to demand more resources from the board of directors, forcing the board to make concessions, and then nominally remain loyal to the foundation, always standing on the side of the victor to seize benefits.

But so what? This is a game of power and strategy.

Karen never expected these border generals to completely defect; all he wanted was for them to "watch from the sidelines," remain neutral during the civil war, and not obey the board's orders—that would be tantamount to them standing behind him and offering their support.

Moreover, Karen's lineage has always been an advantage that has allowed this rebellion to continue. He is the grandson of the current rotating board member and a member of the board's legitimate family bloodline.

Genetic optimization technology can grant organisms long lifespans. The board members sitting in the Golden Hall are all practically immortal. Their power is like an ancient tree with intertwined roots, firmly established in the foundation's soil, occupying the very top of the power pyramid, and ruling this massive global corporation with rigid empiricism.

As long as these old folks don't die of old age, the younger generation of family members will never have a chance to rise in the ranks. They will forever live in the shadow of their ancestors, struggling to accumulate seniority while watching those positions that should belong to them being firmly occupied by old folks who should have been in their coffins long ago.

What the board of directors considered a heinous rebellion was nothing more than another power reshuffle within the board, in the eyes of these younger family members. And these younger members were well-known among the influential figures in the Border Legion.

Their wait seemed endless, and for this younger generation, the civil war was the only chance to break the deadlock.

Therefore, Karen could see that even the direct descendants of the board of directors who had planted their own people in the border army were secretly conveying goodwill to him. They might not genuinely want to be loyal to him, but they just hoped to use him to overthrow those old guys who were entrenched at the top of power and secure a future for themselves.

"Commander, we have a new battle report."

The ever-changing light of the star chart flickered in Karen's eyes, while Leah continued to serve as Karen's personal secretary, running errands for him and conveying his will.

"Good news has arrived from the front lines: the Third Legion has successfully captured the star system where the biological information database is located, confirming that the database has not been extensively damaged and is awaiting your orders."

Karen felt a slight tension creep in. He demanded a response from the Third Legion to confirm whether the biological information database had been damaged. This database was the foundation and cornerstone of the Foundation's biotechnology development, and the information accumulated within it was irreplaceable. In Karen's eyes, it was even more important than the City of a Thousand Stars.

"Confirmed, Commander," the legion commander said decisively. "We have sealed off the entire star system. They have not activated the self-destruct program, and all systems are functioning normally."

With her heart finally at ease, Karen issued the order: "Immediately take over the defense system of the biological information database, activate the highest level of security protocol, and from now on designate the entire star system as a military restricted area. No legion is allowed to approach."

"Seale the core area and stop reading and modifying genetic data, retrieving samples, and including research applications."

"Yes, Commander!"

This gene bank is a treasure, now in Karen's pocket, and this new owner has a much brighter future in mind.

Since the Foundation launched its first galactic life census project, this gene bank has been continuously expanding and improving. Countless expeditions have been working tirelessly, traversing every corner of the entire galaxy, recording the complete gene sequences of countless life forms, from the most basic unit organisms to highly intelligent races with complex social structures, leaving no one out.

The Foundation's growth from a small interstellar trading firm to a galactic overlord dominating an entire spiral arm was never solely due to its pervasive trade network and powerful interstellar fleet; genetic technology was the true foundation hidden beneath its trading facade.

Every direct descendant of the Board of Directors family has undergone top-tier genetic modification before birth, extending their lifespan and enhancing their physical functions. Thanks to genetic modification, the Foundation's soldiers possess physical qualities and environmental adaptability far exceeding those of ordinary races, enabling them to fight in the harshest interstellar environments and operate even more violent war machines.

If the consequences were not a concern, the simplest way to attack a fortified planet would be to drop a genetically infected torpedo, a biological plague sufficient to wipe out the entire population of the planet.

In Karen's view, the Foundation had long since reached the threshold of a technological leap after a long period of steady development, but it had been suppressed and monitored by the Humboldt Consortium, which did not allow the birth of a new overlord within the galaxy cluster that could complete an era leap and threaten their dominance.

Previously, he had been hoping to obtain a breakthrough in psionic technology from the undead dragons, allowing the Foundation to overtake others and achieve a leap in civilization level through psionic technology. However, things are unpredictable, and the situation has already changed drastically.

The destruction of the Humboldt Consortium made Karen realize the reality: the path of psionic energy was probably not one they could take. In the face of the undead dragons, the dominant civilizations of the entire star cluster were easily crushed like ants. Compared to that being, their understanding of psionic energy was like a child playing with a torch, trying to compete with the sun.

By shifting their perspective back to themselves, their understanding of genes, their exploration of the essence of life, and their analysis and integration of the genes of life across the entire galaxy have enabled them to master the technology of deeply reconstructing, editing, and tailoring life genes.

The foundation has reached the ceiling of its current technological level, but this is far from enough. Ultimately, it is just patching things up within the existing genetic framework, like constantly replacing parts on an old spaceship but never being able to build a brand new giant ship.

However, now that things have come to this point, they have seen the prototype of the key to breaking this framework, and they are only one step away from completing the leap from quantitative to qualitative change. They no longer need to worry about the suppression from the Humborian Covenant, and it is likely that other dominant civilizations in the galaxy think the same way.

Design a completely new evolutionary path belonging to the Foundation's main race, complete genetic reshaping, unleash racial potential, no longer rely on the slow process of natural evolution, no longer be limited by the innate constraints of flesh and blood, actively design the future of their own race, and fundamentally complete transformation and sublimation.

From now on, they will be the ones to define the success of the subject of evolution.