NEC Chapter 105: The Three Laws of Vast Sea Territory and Plasma Confinement

This night in Vast Sea Territory was like the waves of Emerald Bay, rising and falling with such turbulence that the ripples would continue to spread for a long time afterward, never settling into calm.

Under the watchful gaze of the lord, the middle and high-ranking officials of the territory collectively prostrated themselves on the ground, silent as cicadas in winter. Even Glen Downs, the great mage who didn't participate in political affairs and had nothing to do with this matter, quietly retreated himself beyond the range of the lamplight.

No one dared to face the lord's fury at this moment.

Although up to this point, they still felt that the lord was making a mountain out of a molehill.

However, Chen Mo no longer intended to educate them about law and moral concepts.

He only wanted everyone to know what it meant to be a lord!

The patrol soldier was executed in front of everyone, and the lord ordered him to be hung on the wooden pole of the LED light, hung within the range where the light could just reach.

The night wind swept across the empty square, swaying the lifeless corpse, dragging out a very long shadow on the ground that swayed back and forth.

Silver Armor Warrior Lynn, for his lax supervision of subordinates, was stripped of his armor and pressed to the ground. Old Liu administered ten solid lashes with his own hands.

His back was a bloody mess, yet he had to endure the pain and thank the lord for his mercy.

Administrator Herlan had three months' salary deducted, which for most people present was an astronomical figure beyond reach.

Of course, Chen Mo wasn't denying these middle and high-ranking territorial officials a chance.

"I know some of you probably feel indignant inside, thinking this is no big deal, that a slave woman might not even be worth as much as the sword at your waist or the boots on your feet."

"I'm giving you a chance."

"Right here tonight, those who want to leave, speak up, including you, Herlan! You, Lynn! And my magic instructor, Downs... eh, where is he?"

Master Downs awkwardly stepped half a step out from the shadows, forcing a smile uglier than crying onto his face, raising one hand to indicate he was there.

"Mm, right, and also Liu Zaiyue, Kaga, Ma Baoguo, all of you in the patrol teams, city guards, reconnaissance battalion, special guard units... every citizen of Vast Sea Territory! You can speak up right now!"

"As long as you say one sentence: Lord, I think your rules are too harsh, too absurd, I cannot accept them, I will immediately let you go, provide you with food and water, and whether you want to go south or north, I absolutely will not obstruct you!"

Complete silence, only the subtle sound of night wind carrying sand and gravel.

"But!" The lord surveyed the entire scene, his voice decisive as nails striking iron, "After tonight, if anyone else violates my rules, don't blame me!"

"Even your head, Herlan, will have to come off!"

"Do you understand clearly?"

Simple Bull beat his chest, Little Ma stomped his feet, taking the lead in making their commitment.

Then the middle and high-ranking officials of the territory expressed their positions one after another, resolutely obeying the lord's commands, accepting the lord's leadership, willing to go through fire and water for the territory without any retreat!

The sound of all the citizens kowtowing created tide-like echoes on the sandy ground of the square.

From the perspective of results, this incident could be called insignificant in itself, just one patrol soldier died.

To put it bluntly, at construction sites there were regularly people who died from overwork, from slipping and falling, from silicosis, and which time wasn't more dramatic than this?

But in terms of impact, this sand Hollow Square incident could be said to be one of the most far-reaching events in Vast Sea Territory.

The next day, Herlan, once again relegated to acting administrator, solemnly consulted the lord. Based on the draft provided by the lord, after several rounds of revision, following the requirements of being concise, clear, and easily understood, he promulgated the first territorial law since the establishment of Vast Sea Territory.

Later, this was also called the Three Laws of Vast Sea or the Three Foundational Covenants.

First law: Obey all commands of the lord!

Second law: Those who kill shall die, those who injure shall compensate. Those who violate women and children, according to the severity of the crime, shall have eyes gouged out, hands severed, be castrated or beheaded!

Third law: Theft, robbery, and destruction of property require double compensation. Those unable to compensate shall perform hard labor!

It looked nothing new, almost every country and every territory had similar regulations, just some lighter, some heavier, some crude, some refined.

But in essence, this was a completely revolutionary law.

Because in this promulgated document, except for the lord having absolute control and authority over the territory, all other people were not above the law.

Including nobles, officials, elders, chiefs, professionals, and even priests and clerics who might enter the territory in the future, all had to follow the provisions of the Three Laws and be treated equally with commoners and slaves within the territory.

No matter how many twists and turns the execution of the Three Laws of Vast Sea experienced afterward, how many problems occurred, how many dark secrets were implicated, even the most sharp-tongued bards had to admit that at least at the legal level, the word "fairness" was truly achieved.

Implemented simultaneously with the Three Laws of Vast Sea was the liberation of slaves and women.

Regarding whether slaves should be freed, there was intense debate within the territory.

Except for the steadfast "whatever the lord says is right faction," most other people expressed concern, because easily granting slaves the status of free citizens might cause serious psychological disparity among free citizens.

The lord gave slaves such great favor, so what about us who are not slaves but have always worked hard for the lord and risked our lives?

Based on this, the lord creatively proposed the concepts of citizens and provisional citizens.

All slaves and prisoners of war were classified as provisional citizens, with obvious gaps in various treatments compared to citizens within the territory. However, as long as provisional citizens could complete their designated contributions, they could achieve advancement in status qualifications.

For a slave, it meant that the money the lord invested in him had to first be earned back through work, effort, risking life, and other means. After making up for the lord's purchase costs, food investment, material supply and other inputs, he would have the same qualification as foreign workers to become a preparatory citizen.

Within the preparatory citizen tier, they could continue to contribute to the territory, and after reaching certain standards, they could advance further to become official citizens.

Of course, during this period, the lord also established red lines for the various managers in the territory.

Regardless of how things were elsewhere, Vast Sea Territory would not permit the establishment of casinos, nor the appearance of official or private brothels.

"Also, whoever has difficulties, encounters troubles, or is short of money, can come talk to me, but don't go stealing money meant for territorial construction."

"The last clause of the Three Laws, if what's stolen is territorial public property, I will impose double punishment on top of double punishment, understand?"

No matter what, after experiencing this upheaval, the progress of various projects in the territory accelerated significantly once again.

From citizens to slaves, while feeling abundant material supply, they also received respect from the heart, which made the "builders" in the territory burst forth with unprecedented enthusiasm.

If anyone dared to be lazy, they would be spat upon by everyone else in the same work section.

The "saline-alkali land cultivation" that had previously been considered fanciful by everyone up and down was thus resolutely implemented.

In just one week, the demonstration area of the agricultural zone completed the land reclamation of rice fields and the excavation of irrigation channels. As specially formulated nitro-humic acid compound fertilizer was meticulously turned into the soil, the first batch of seawater rice seeds from East Xia were planted in lightweight film greenhouses.

Many things in the territory, like these buried seeds, were quietly brewing, waiting to sprout.

Meanwhile, countless billions of light-years away in East Xia, the atmosphere of routine meetings was becoming increasingly relaxed. The growth of [Wanderer] in the Starry Continent made the several big shots very pleased, and recent meetings had much more laughter.

An atmosphere of joy and harmony pervaded from top to bottom.

Then, on this day, relevant departments received notice to convene a [Class B Special Meeting].

The Class B Special Meeting of the Cihang Project Department was a briefing and discussion meeting temporarily convened when materials transported back to Blue Star by [Wanderer] produced major results.

The briefing was to report current research achievements, while the discussion was to discuss whether to request that [Wanderer] increase the search intensity for corresponding materials, whether the research would bring additional trouble and danger to [Wanderer], and analyze whether to provide new supplements and support for Wanderer.

The meeting location was at the base headquarters called the Ninth Textile Factory.

This was nominally a military shoe and clothing processing factory, but actually a heavy military base with huge underground levels. The summoning beacon of [Wanderer], after Chen Mo himself repeatedly confirmed the safety of its mobility, was transported here and placed in the core position of the underground level.

In the base's continuous reserve warehouses, a small quantity of shoes and clothing was just camouflage. What was actually stored were all kinds of materials that [Cihang] command had collected from all over Blue Star, everything they could think of that Wanderer could use, might possibly use, or couldn't use but they had to prepare anyway.

The ability to send over more than a thousand types of seasonings within ten-plus minutes last time was the result of this saturated reserve approach.

Executive Cangming, who had arrived dusty from his journey, was the last to enter the meeting room and take his seat, with visible fatigue on his face.

Previously when the beacon was at Weiyang Palace, the old man could get there by turning a corner from his office, but now he had to travel for two hours. After all, at his age, it was indeed quite taxing.

Due to strict confidentiality agreements, online meetings were not allowed, so everyone had to work hard and meet offline.

"Let's get to the point quickly, what's the situation?"

Academician He from the High Energy Physics Research Institute directly displayed a photograph.

"In the previous phase, with approval from the central authority, East Xia's military conducted small-group level spiritual energy cultivation attempts and achieved some phased results."

"Among them, our High Energy Physics Research Institute's mechanics group developed intense interest in the control-type magic called 'Mage Hand,' so we applied to the military and requested relevant personnel to cooperate with us in some exploratory experiments."

"During the experimental process, we discovered the miraculous characteristics of this spiritual energy control. It has no physical form whatsoever, cannot be observed, doesn't cause air disturbance, and only the practitioner himself can sense its existence."

"We approximately consider this very similar to magnetic force or gravitational force, existing through some mechanism we currently cannot understand."

"Based on this characteristic, we had a bold idea, which was to see whether this mage hand control could replace superconducting magnets in Tokamak and similar devices to constrain plasma turbulence."

"For this purpose, we conducted a small-scale simulation experiment."

At this point, some people were still somewhat confused, but those who understood relevant knowledge had already vaguely guessed something and began to show slight agitation.

Academician He took a deep breath and slightly raised his voice, "The experimental conclusion proves it's completely feasible!"

"The effect of this spiritual energy constraint is like substantial strong magnetic force, capable of firmly fixing plasma turbulence within channels formed by spiritual energy."

"Moreover, it's very stable, with basically no energy dissipation!"

At this moment, the old academician's face seemed to flash with brilliant red light.

"Although the success of simulation experiments cannot completely equal the effects in actual fusion processes, we believe this has the potential to greatly advance our research in related fields!"

"It has strategic-level major significance for breakthroughs in the controllable nuclear fusion field in the next steps!"

[NEXT CHAPTER]