Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 263 - Chapter 263 Chapter 263 Strange Negotiations

Chapter 263: Chapter 263: Strange Negotiations Chapter 263: Chapter 263: Strange Negotiations I must say, the girls from the Earth Era were quite intellectual, many of them had a slight air of literary elegance due to the overall cultural atmosphere.

The comments on the forums were also quite heated this time; there weren’t any trolls but rather, the environment had become much more harmonious. Various naive readers, after watching the movie, could even write reviews spanning thousands of words.

Zhang Yuan too watched this movie with his wife, but the topics they discussed were much more profound.

These included but were not limited to “The Duality of People and Culture,” “The Conflict between Industrialization and Traditional Culture,” and so forth, each topic worthy of a doctoral thesis.

Lin Xuanyuan secretly rolled her eyes at these discussions, but seeing Zhang Yuan enjoying the discussion so much, she had no choice but to tough it out and pretend to be very serious as she listened for a while.

“Yes, right, you’re making sense!”

“Yes… I also agree with that viewpoint…”

Otherwise, the disdain from a scholar to a non-scholar was not to be underestimated!

Finally, when she couldn’t bear it anymore, she said with a flushed face, “I want hot pot. Should we make a reservation? There’s a new restaurant opened today.”

“Hot pot?”

Zhang Yuan immediately stopped his long speech, took her hand, “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go, while there are still seats!”

…

After that break, it was back to the busy work…

The new civilization generally adopted a work six, rest one day system, meaning work six days and rest one. Many critical job positions essentially followed a 996 blessing, nearly working 12 hours a day.

But there was no helping it, as the whole civilization was still in its early development stages and seriously had too much to be done–overtime was essential!

However, as long as the overtime pay was sufficient, most people actually had few complaints to voice, many couldn’t even afford to complain because once they fell behind schedule, a series of subsequent projects would all fall behind… This sense of responsibility even drove many to willingly work overtime without pay!

Soon after learning of this, the government rapidly prohibited the practice of “unpaid overtime” in companies, especially in state-owned enterprises.

“Unpaid overtime must be prohibited, strictly prohibited! We are not capitalists, what need do we have to exploit the people!” Captain Zhao seized a few leaders promoting “unpaid overtime” and severely criticized them.

Just like the principle of “Zigong redeeming people.” When Zigong redeemed people from other states for the Lu State, the government offered to reimburse him for the ransom, but Zigong refused, wanting to maintain his integrity and honor.

Upon hearing this, Confucius sharply criticized Zigong.

Because if Zigong set such an example, others would feel ashamed to claim reimbursements from the government, and thus, no one would do the same good deeds anymore.

Likewise, if some people were continuously working unpaid overtime, proudly refusing compensation, then by comparison, others simply would not want to do overtime at all, not everyone is morally noble and capable of selfless dedication, and even if there is initial enthusiasm, it is temporary.

As a consequence, the overall progress of the civilization might even fall behind…

But paid overtime did not present major moral or economic issues.

So, under various big data and AI calculations, “unpaid overtime” was virtually impossible–the compensation due to individuals would still be fully awarded based on performance without any cutbacks!

…

Meanwhile, while continuing the extensive industrial development, Zhang Yuan and others began yet another round of remote dialogs with the Gleize Civilization.

Both parties had nearly understood one another’s culture and history and were willing to further communicate and cooperate–now the problem was to expand this willingness.

After all, this planet had the Universal Factory with 13 facilities, meaning 13 supercities, and they had communicated with only one city so far; maintaining friendly communications with other cities was only appropriate.

Yet, the negotiations that followed felt somewhat unsettling…

It could even be said to be extremely strange!

In the remote video conversations, the leaders of these cities each looked sickly, listless as if they were indifferent to what was happening outside.

If it weren’t for the leader of Gor City facilitating the introductions, these folks would even feel that there was nothing worthwhile to negotiate. Why not just each develop on their own?

“Ah, human civilization, welcome. Gor City wants to sell its Universal Factory, which is not within our scope of discussion. Not going to war is already a pretty good outcome…”

“…Regarding the ownership of the Universal Factory, it was already divided 40,000 years ago. Everyone adopted a principle of non-interference. However, we do have some intentions concerning cultural exchanges… If they wish to leave this planet, we might even accept the remaining people.”

“From the Solar System’s human civilization, hello… The Gliese Civilization itself is a very friendly and peace-loving civilization…”

“If the people of Gor City want to trade it, we won’t object…”

“Human civilization? Cultural exchange? Forget it, not interested…”

The temperaments of various city leaders also varied widely.

Some were quite hospitable, polite, looking somewhat normal, similar to the leader of Gor City; some were very paranoid, repeating a question dozens of times, and if humans didn’t want to respond, they would start making unreasonable demands…

Some were extremely arrogant, thinking that humans were still only a Level 1 Civilization, and questioning what significance did it hold traveling 20 light years to come here? They even demanded some benefits from humans, otherwise, it seemed they might launch an attack.

Some couldn’t even manage punctuality, standing humans up several times. It seemed as though paying humans any mind at all was doing them a great favor.

“…Even though all Glizerians tried to appear polite, it always felt weirdly off, terribly abnormal… Every meeting had some scenes that made people laugh,” Captain Zhao commented privately with a frown.

Just now, a Glizerian had been speaking intensively on the video when suddenly, for some unknown reason, he disappeared from the screen for a while, leaving everyone at a loss for words…

“He must have gone to take drugs…” Zhang Yuan couldn’t help but turn his head and snicker secretly, finding the situation bizarre. Even Old Zhao, usually quite serious and proper, couldn’t suppress the urge to scoff privately.

Due to such frequent occurrences, many diplomats prone to laughter were even forbidden from attending similar meetings to avoid inexplicably angering the other side.

“These guys, they wouldn’t irrationally attack us, would they?!” Captain Zhao chuckled awkwardly.

“Old Zhao, you shouldn’t be laughing, you should be worried!” Zhang Yuan feigned seriousness but soon couldn’t help laughing again, “But seriously, if any city leader goes crazy, I wouldn’t mind giving them a taste of their own medicine.”

Fortunately, these drug-taking fellows, if not ill, still possessed basic logic. Most who were sober didn’t want to cause more trouble; it was extremely difficult and pointless to aim missiles at their own Moon.

The few who took verbal advantage, humans simply ignored them, treating their words as if they were just passing gas.

After all, there were 13 cities; abandoning one was not a problem.

And humans currently had no motivation to attack them, truly none… Letting the other side talk a bit wouldn’t cost them a piece of flesh.

Taking over the planet? There was absolutely no need for that.

Human productivity at present, aiming to improve the ecological environment of an entire planet, was nothing short of a pipe dream. Unless humans completely abandoned their physical bodies, they could not adapt to those diverse and messy microorganisms.

Visiting the planet was not a problem, but it required wearing space suits; it was impossible to reside there long-term.

In the absence of fundamental conflicts, who wouldn’t want peace?