Chapter 135: The Zero Institute, Biological Battleships

Yan Xia was stunned by the beauty of Xiaguang Dicheng after arriving there.

Looking up, he could see the city's enormous semi-circular dome, beyond which was the pitch-black deep sea filled with countless luminous creatures, forming a moving starry sky.

Vibrant lights from the sky shone down on the low-rise buildings of Xiaguang Dicheng.

The tallest buildings here were only about 100 meters high. The city was not laid out on a flat plane at the bottom of the sea but was instead shaped like a huge bowl, densely packed with countless structures on the inside.

At the center of this "bowl" was a massive central pillar, 3.4 kilometers in diameter. Countless passages extended from this pillar, making Xiaguang Dicheng resemble a circular flower bud with its pistil growing out of the bud and spreading towards the surroundings.

"It's like a bunch of grass stuck in the middle of a dumpling," a tourist remarked as they descended in the spaceship.

Yan Xia's lips twitched; it was indeed a fitting description.

The streets of Xiaguang Dicheng were brightly lit with street lamps, making the city a sleepless one. As a city, Xiaguang Dicheng's development was not limited to the wonders of the ocean itself but also included a thriving entertainment industry.

Gambling and pornography were among the many offerings.

Everything here was legal and regulated, with no tolerance for any gray areas. All citizens who came here were guaranteed safety by the Federation, and there hadn't been any incidents in nearly 1800 years.

The Federation needed a place like this to allow citizens to vent their desires. In reality, few ordinary citizens visited this city; most of its visitors were explorers.

As soon as Yan Xia disembarked from the spaceship, Ella arranged for a vehicle to pick them up.

The car was silver-white, with white light bands on its surface, giving it a sci-fi look reminiscent of armor. It hovered about 30 centimeters above the ground, providing a stable ride without any shaking. However, its appearance drew the attention of the citizens around them.

Yan Xia noticed that many people were looking their way.

"Is this car very expensive?" he asked Ella.

Ella blinked and denied it, "It's not that expensive, just around 30,000 energy coins."

Thirty thousand energy coins is not expensive?

The purchasing power of 30,000 energy coins was equivalent to several billion soft sister coins in the 21st century. The typical price range for a hovering car was usually between 10 and 100 energy coins.

"Is this car made of gold? That's why it's so expensive?"

"No, even a ton of gold is only worth around 10,000 energy coins."

Ella seemed to have anticipated Yan Xia's confusion.

"The exterior of this car is made of high-strength creation metal, showcasing the pinnacle of the Federation's current metal manufacturing capabilities. We've brought the distance between atoms to a minimum, arranging them in an extremely tight pattern while maintaining stability."

"The higher the metal's strength, the more energy is consumed in the manufacturing process, leading to a higher price. Without mass production to distribute the costs, the price of a single vehicle becomes prohibitively high."

"For instance, this car's exterior is strong enough to withstand a nuclear explosion with a yield of 2 million tons of TNT. If you add in other defense mechanisms, that number increases by a factor of 100."

Indeed, the car's price was justified by its capabilities.

However, in the current Federation, these capabilities were almost useless, as achieving a yield of 200 million tons of TNT was relatively easy. This car could only defend against attacks from ordinary citizens using inferior weapons.

Yan Xia thought that only a fool would pay such a high price for a car of this caliber.

The car drove through the bustling streets of Xiaguang Dicheng and stopped at an inconspicuous mall. Ella led Yan Xia into an elevator, and as the doors closed, the buttons inside changed. The original buttons for floors 1 to 11 transformed into buttons for floors -1 to -11.

Ella pressed a series of buttons, and the elevator started moving.

"Safety first. To prevent mechanical failures, the negative floor buttons are hidden. Without the password, the elevator cannot be activated."

The elevator descended rapidly, and Yan Xia felt a noticeable downward force, initially exceeding 2g acceleration.

After fifteen minutes, the elevator slowed down, and they had reached a depth of 3,100 kilometers.

Stepping out of the elevator, Yan Xia looked around. The place was not quiet; instead, it was bustling with life.

They were not robots but living beings, researchers.

"This is the Zero Institute, built specifically for you, Yan Xia."

"All the advanced biological devices in the Federation can be found here, and the Institute also gathers many of the Federation's top-ranked biologists."

These top-ranked biologists were determined by a ranking system established by Ella.

In this system, all scholars in the Federation who have made contributions in a particular field are automatically ranked.

There are various ranking lists for different fields such as biology, mathematics, philosophy, physics, chemistry, dynamics, architecture, and even telekinesis. Each list has 1 million rankings, and even the lowest-ranked scholars receive annual funding from the Federation.

Scholars ranked 500,000 to 1 million receive 500 energy coins annually, equivalent to the purchasing power of several tens of millions.

Those ranked 10,000 to 499,999 receive 2,000 energy coins annually.

Scholars ranked 5,000 to 99,999 receive 5,000 energy coins annually.

Those ranked 1,000 to 49,999 receive 15,000 energy coins annually.

The top 1,000 to 9,999 scholars are considered the elite among the Federation's top scholars and receive 70,000 energy coins annually.

The top 100 to 999 scholars receive 300,000 energy coins annually.

The top 100 scholars, regardless of their ranking within the top 100, receive a uniform reward of 1 million energy coins.

This ranking system motivates scholars in the Federation to strive for excellence, as being ranked brings immense wealth.

While 500 energy coins may seem like a small amount, the average annual income of citizens in the Federation is around 8.14 energy coins. Being ranked means earning in a year what an ordinary citizen would earn in 60 years.

Upon hearing about these rewards, Yan Xia thought of the car he had just ridden in, and he could only imagine its exorbitant cost.

The competition for rankings was fierce, and it was not an exaggeration to say that it was a bloodbath.

Currently, the number of scholars registered in the Federation's Scholar Association has surpassed 843.7 billion, and even those who make it onto the ranking lists are one in a million.

Yan Xia also learned that the total population of the Federation had reached 58.8 trillion, with most of these citizens belonging to several highly fertile races, including 15.2 trillion from the Leleran race.

Compared to these races that could have multiple offspring at a time, human reproductive capacity was vastly inferior.

Yan Xia's own achievements in biology were not enough to make it onto these ranking lists, which was not surprising, as he had not studied biology for over ten thousand years, and his knowledge was severely outdated.

However, Yan Xia's foundation in biology allowed him to quickly grasp the current biological knowledge, and he believed he could make it onto the ranking lists within a few years.

Ella led Yan Xia through the facility.

As they passed by a door, a huge space suddenly appeared on the side, separated from the interior by high-strength organic glass.

Yan Xia was awe-struck by what he saw.

It was a battleship that was growing.

"The cost of metal is too high, so Yan Xia, the primary mission of the Zero Institute is to research biological battleships, which will usher in an era of affordable battleships."

Biological battleships only require food to grow, and organic resources are easier to obtain than inorganic resources. A biological battleship of the same volume costs at least ten times less than a metal battleship.

With the arrival of the affordable battleship era, the Federation's fleet size will increase dramatically.

A fleet of tens of thousands, or even millions of battleships, could even challenge the Olive Branch Civilization.

Yan Xia was captivated by this prospect.