Tawi Kingdom is trying to curry favor with Xu Zifan, even though Xu Zifan has stopped paying attention to them. Tawi Kingdom still won't allow them to live a good life.
People with power and influence sometimes don't need to do anything themselves; those they dislike will be dealt with by others.
The fall of the empire added a touch of mystery to Xu Zifan's past.
Some people say that it was because the Empire inflicted too much pain on Xu Zifan that he helped Tawei Kingdom destroy the Empire.
But does it really matter? That's just how things have turned out.
Terrifying, vengeful, powerful, mysterious, upright, and kind—these are all labels that the people have attached to Xu Zifan.
He was ruthless to his enemies, but he was also a Skywalker. He had wiped out many space pirates and saved countless lives. He also took in so many elderly, weak, women, and children, as long as they were good people.
He is kind-hearted, which everyone acknowledges. So even though there are more and more legends about him, and it's hard to tell what's true and what's false, more and more people still want to go to China.
Although personally interviewing each immigrant was time-consuming, no one in the world could handle such rigorous psychological testing except him. His country had only just been established, and he believed that spending this time was worthwhile, at least ensuring a very, very stable start for the nation.
As the Huaxia Kingdom gradually grew stronger, Xu Zifan negotiated amicably with other countries, exchanging planetary territories for technologies they lacked, thus expanding the nation's territory.
Several countries were unwilling to accept this and tried to join forces to fight against Xu Zifan. However, Xu Zifan blocked their trade, and whenever they went to war with a country, he would donate weapons to that country.
Several countries were in dire straits, and no one dared to offend Xu Zifan easily anymore. He became the most untouchable person in the entire intergalactic world, and his reputation soared.
Every time the Xu family saw news about Xu Zifan, they were filled with unbearable regret. He was their heir! If they hadn't driven Xu Zifan away, they would be the most powerful officials in China right now.
The Feng family also deeply regretted their past actions. If they had offered help when the Xu family abandoned Xu Zifan, Xu Zifan would now be the Feng family's son-in-law, and they would be the most respected family in China. In the future, Feng Ya Hui would even be able to give birth to the next king of China.
Feng Ya-hui and her daughter sell themselves for a living on a garbage planet. They often cry at night, greedily following every news item about Xu Zi-fan, but each time they read it, they feel like they're being slowly sliced apart, suffering unbearable pain.
Even more devastated than them was Xu Zhikai. After Xu Zifan established his own power base, he tried to comfort himself, thinking that no matter how powerful Xu Zifan was, his body was ruined. An F-level physique meant a short lifespan; after forty, he would experience physical pain and wouldn't have the energy for research. No matter how powerful Xu Zifan was, his glory was destined to be short-lived.
But even this last bit of self-comfort was fake. Xu Zifan's aptitude had been restored, and he had even been promoted to 3S level! That was a super genius that had never appeared in interstellar history, a miracle in the entire interstellar space, and he had actually ruined this miracle. His remaining life was destined to be filled with endless trouble.
Xu Zhikai regrets it!
Every second he felt like he was being tortured with regret. He remembered his previous life. In his previous life, Xu Zifan also knew of his existence, but he didn't care about this illegitimate son at all. Every time he looked at him, he looked at him as if he were an object, a toy that could make Xu's father happy.
Even toys exist under Xu Zifan's protection. As Xu Zifan rose to become the Empire's top general, Xu Zhikai's status also rose accordingly. He was at least a double A-rank, and with his father's help, he eventually became a junior officer and married the daughter of a small family.
After his rebirth, he seized the opportunity, thinking he could walk the glorious path of Xu Zifan and trample Xu Zifan, whom he had envied his whole life, under his feet. But reality slapped him hard in the face. Xu Zifan was a strongman wherever he went, while he, who had taken everything from Xu Zifan, lived a miserable life because in this life, there was no Xu Zifan willing to protect him.
If he had clung to Xu Zifan's coattails and pleased this older brother after his rebirth, wouldn't he be able to become a high-ranking official in China, second only to the emperor?
The gap between the imagined happiness and the reality of despair was too great, as was the difference between his past life and this life. The shame of realizing he was useless and could never be as good as Xu Zifan finally drove Xu Zhikai insane.
Xu Zhikai's A-level mental strength collapsed, and he went berserk, rampaging wildly. He was only calmed down after being given a sedative. Little did he know that even the sedatives in this most remote and worst prison were of inferior quality. Xu Zhikai, who had been pampered in the past, had an abnormal reaction to the inferior sedative.
After his mental strength dropped to F-level, his physical constitution also plummeted to F-level. He used to mock those with two F-levels as useless, but now he himself had become the "useless one" in his own words.
Unfortunately, he wasn't Xu Zifan; he really had no way to turn things around.
These people live a life worse than death, yet they lack the courage to commit suicide, and can only endure day after day, suffering endless torment.
Occasionally, they harbor malicious intentions, hoping for something to happen to Xu Zifan. Those who were rejected by China also feel resentful and curse Xu Zifan, wishing for the destruction of his country and his early demise.
But they were disappointed; Xu Zifan was not only unharmed, but also grew stronger.
Over the next twenty years, China devoted itself to advancing research. Xu Zifan thoroughly studied the knowledge of this world, integrated it with the knowledge from the various planes he had traveled through, and collaborated with other researchers. Many of their achievements surpassed those of other countries, making China a true technological superpower.
He also formulated many policies to attract talent from all walks of life.
More and more elites from all walks of life are immigrating to China. While other countries are embroiled in war with the Zerg, his country has become a haven from which the Zerg refuse to approach, a sanctuary in the interstellar space.
While other countries were slow to develop due to war, China was developing rapidly.
As the nation expanded and its population grew, Xu Zifan repeatedly broadened his territory. Other countries needed his weapons, and no matter how much he insisted, they would eventually compromise and sell him their planetary lands.
As China's territory gradually expanded, its status in the interstellar space also rose. By the time the Zerg were finally annihilated twenty years later, China had become the strongest nation in the interstellar space.
This was something Xu Zifan had considered when he first allowed outsiders to join China. He made them citizens of China, so naturally he had to be responsible for them. Initially, no one provoked China, solely because of the defensive array he had deployed on the outer planet and his top-tier mecha technology.
If things remain as they are, once he leaves, the Huaxia Kingdom will surely perish, and its people will suffer.
Therefore, he planned to develop the Huaxia Kingdom at a high speed. Initially, he personally interviewed and tested people without any ill intentions, allowing only those without such intentions to join. This minimized the difficulty of national governance, enabling the Huaxia Kingdom to develop quickly and steadily without arousing the suspicion of other countries.
In fact, he succeeded. China established itself in the interstellar space with lightning speed, making a name for itself.
Three years after the founding of the Huaxia Kingdom, the government system had been developed and improved. Xu Zifan then revised the immigration rules, which were somewhat harsh but not much different from those of other countries, and entrusted the government departments to handle immigration issues. He also recruited soldiers to form an army.
He can't stay here forever. The country needs to gradually move towards normal development, rather than relying on his personal methods to maintain it.
Over the course of twenty years, Xu Zifan focused on scientific and technological research and development, talent acquisition, and economic development, enabling China to steadily rise to the top of the interstellar world and become the strongest interstellar power.
In that year, the Zerg were wiped out, and Xu Zifan dismantled the ever-expanding defensive array, exposing China to the interstellar space for the first time. This truly freed China from his personal methods, allowing it to compete for supremacy with other nations through its own strength.
Fortunately, his consistent principles worked. The entire nation, from top to bottom, was well-prepared for this and had been working hard to train its army and develop all sectors of society. In every aspect, it was second to none and successfully weathered this period.
Xu Zifan's residence has been moved from the ground-level manor to the sky garden. He stood in the garden with his hands behind his back, overlooking the kingdom he had built, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.
A small azure dragon hovered beside him. Changsheng said excitedly, "Master, your people are so outstanding, you don't need to worry about them at all. Are we going to unify the interstellar space next?"
Xu Zifan smiled. "If we unify them, they'll split up again in less than a hundred years. It'll be useless, just a waste of resources and manpower, hindering interstellar development. The current situation is enough. As for how they develop afterward, let nature take its course."
Changsheng was very warlike, but hearing his words made it sound like he was planning to retire, so he slumped down and asked, "So we're just going to stay home and not go anywhere?"
"Who said that?" Xu Zifan raised his hand to pat its head and laughed, "We still have the next world, and the world after that, and we'll go to many places."
Changsheng immediately perked up, "That's great! I've wanted to go to other worlds for a long time. Shaohua told me so many stories about our master and even showed me videos. I wish I could follow our master from the very beginning, just like Shaohua!"
"It's not too late now, there's plenty of time later. But before we leave, I need to upgrade Shaohua. If you're bored, go out for a walk. Put all the things you like in our space, we'll take them with us." Xu Zifan turned and walked towards his private laboratory, which he had specially built to upgrade Shaohua and which had the most advanced technology in the entire interstellar space.
Changsheng let out an excited roar and dashed off in the blink of an eye. It had many favorite things, especially gold, silver, jewels, and energy stones. It wanted to take lots and lots of money with it so it wouldn't be poor in any world it went to.
Xu Zifan was very cautious about upgrading Shaohua. He prepared for twenty years and thoroughly studied the relevant knowledge of interstellar space before he started.
Originally, Shaohua was an auxiliary system, but it underwent some changes. It no longer issues missions, but instead acts as his steward, helping him detect things. However, it is still primarily an auxiliary system. It only gained offensive capabilities this time because it could control the mecha legion. But not every world allows control of offensive machines like mechas; in ancient times, this would be of little use.
Xu Zifan shut down the lab, opened the virtual screen to bring up the tedious data and upgrade plan, and began to input complex system code.
After Shaohua's upgrade, he took Shaohua and Changsheng away from this world to begin their next journey.
——————
Fifty years later, Xu Zifan's story has been included in textbooks for everyone to study. An elderly professor started a live-streamed lecture for his students, and a young student asked curiously, "Professor, there are many unofficial histories about King Zifan. Are those stories about him taking revenge on his family, robbing pirates, and establishing the Huaxia Kingdom all true? Can one person really be that powerful? Are there any exaggerations involved?"
The old professor pushed up his glasses, a look of reminiscence on his face, and laughed. "I don't know what kind of unofficial history you've been reading, but the things you just mentioned are all true. I was once... a junior of King Zifan. He was a genius in his youth and my idol. Unfortunately, when he got into trouble, I didn't have the chance to do anything for him, but I followed what he went through all along."
King Zifan... he is a mysterious, legendary, and unsurpassable figure. He is only more powerful than those historical accounts describe, and those accounts are entirely without exaggeration. And his revenge...
"These were all acts of desperation, a counterattack from a desperate situation. He is a very kind person."
When the student asked again, the old professor was unwilling to elaborate, preferring to teach the history recorded in the textbook. After class, he turned off his smart device and walked to the window, where he could see the huge statue standing in the center of Huaxia Square.
It was built by the new king to commemorate Xu Zifan when he left. The statue is incredibly lifelike, perfectly capturing even the most subtle expressions of Xu Zifan. A small green dragon coils beside Xu Zifan, its eyes sharp and majestic; perhaps only it can stay by his side forever.
In the high-tech world of interstellar space, even 4D projection is a simple technology, but the government held several meetings before finally deciding to use a statue to commemorate him. This was because Xu Zifan had repeatedly expressed his longing for Earth and hadn't hidden the fact that the Little Azure Dragon came from Earth. They believed that using the most common commemorative statues on Earth to honor Xu Zifan was the most appropriate choice.
Even a statue of Xu Zifan requires serious discussion, and the memories associated with him are treasured and not readily shared as gossip.
History from textbooks will be passed down from generation to generation, but Xu Zifan's true personal charm will not be understood by future generations, so let this generation cherish it.