Chapter 15: 4TH. Birth

15. 4TH. Birth

"Ewok jerky?" Tang Xiao frowned.

These people were going out to capture Ewoks, kill them, and turn them into jerky. He knew this kind of food was popular in some places, but what he found completely unacceptable was that the Ewoks were already a sentient species. Although primitive, they could think and possessed their own civilization.

One thing Tang Xiao knew was that even though the Ewoks were currently just Stone Age primitives, their brains and bodies had evolved sufficiently.

They were a very intelligent species with a high capacity for accepting foreign objects. Furthermore, don't let their small stature fool you; they were quite strong and incredibly agile. In Tang Xiao's view, Ewoks were perfect scouts, jungle fighters, and mechanical engineers.

Therefore, under Tang Xiao's instructions, the residents of the Fourth Civilization colony were showing kindness to the Ewoks. They would give them food and help them build simple wooden huts. The work of deciphering the Ewok language was also underway, though their language was still relatively primitive, making the progress of the analysis rather slow.

Because of this relationship, Tang Xiao absolutely could not tolerate anyone coming to hunt Ewoks for jerky.

However, such things were relatively common in the *Star Wars* universe; many sentient species were, in fact, on the menus of others. Perhaps this was the barrier between different races. It was like how people on Earth eat beef; if one day cows developed intelligence, could you guarantee that people wouldn't eat them?

Everyone is human, so as long as we don't eat our own kind, it's fine. I am a human, it is a cow; regardless of whether it has intelligence, can't I eat it? Most people probably think this way.

"And this is cargo requested by Jabba the Hutt. You know I don't dare provoke him." Seeing Tang Xiao hesitate, Quinto quickly added.

"Jabba..." Tang Xiao's expression shifted slightly, and he fell into deep thought. If this matter involved Jabba, the problem was somewhat serious.

Jabba was one of the greatest crime lords of the Hutts and a member of the Desilijic kajidic [Note 1]. He entrenched himself on the planet Tatooine, operating his massive criminal empire. Provoking such a person was certainly not a good idea.

Tang Xiao stared at Quinto for a long time. Quinto was a local of the *Star Wars* universe who had finally come to his doorstep. Moreover, as a smuggler who hung around everywhere, he needed someone like this to be his guide and lead them to further contact with this universe.

Thinking of this, he nodded and said, "You can deliver this batch of cargo to Tatooine, but there is one condition—from today on, you are an employee of our Fourth Group, including your ship; it is now the property of the Fourth Group. We will have someone accompany you to Tatooine when the time comes."

Fourth Group? What was that? Oh, just something he blurted out.

"No! The *Cheap Hunter* is my lifeblood! You can't take it away!" Quinto shouted.

"You bastard!!" Mars-Felasi roared, rushing forward to strike Tang Xiao. Who would have thought that Tang Xiao would raise his hand and push through the air, and an invisible force would send her flying away!

Felasi hit the ground with a thud, dazed and confused. As she climbed back up, her gaze toward Tang Xiao was filled with fear. "You are... a Jedi?!"

Tang Xiao was noncommittal. He held up two fingers and said, "I'll give you two choices. First, be killed by me and thrown into space like trash. Second, work for me. If your work satisfies me, you will get a better ship."

"Do I have a choice?" Quinto went over to help Felasi up, saying with a bitter smile.

"The results of working for me have actually already been partially shown to you. Think about the comfortable life you've had these past few days; this is something you would never get anywhere else in the galaxy. Alright, I'll leave it to you to convince your other companions." Tang Xiao stood up, preparing to leave.

"And what about our pay?" Quinto mustered the courage to ask.

Pay my foot! I'm penniless myself! Tang Xiao cursed inwardly, but he wore a mysterious, cold smile and opened his arms to survey the room. "Do you think there is any condition that our Fourth Group cannot satisfy?"

Quinto and Felasi glanced at the spacious, bright office and obediently lowered their heads.

"Prepare yourselves. I will go to Tatooine with you, and Felasi will need to rest here for a while." Tang Xiao dropped this statement. He subconsciously looked at the ship's porthole, as if that eye were in that direction, then stopped speaking and turned to leave.

Upon hearing this, Quinto immediately understood that Felasi had become a hostage. He looked up, wanting to say something, but was pulled back by Felasi, who stopped him with a look.

...

Two more days passed. With Tang Xiao's approval, the Fourth Civilization officially became the formal name for their group, and Tang Xiao truly established a company to facilitate their operations, naming it the Fourth Group.

The colony currently under construction was named 'Dawn City' by Tang Xiao; this would be the future capital of the Fourth Civilization.

Afterward, he issued a regulation: all residents forming families must adopt a child and act as their guardians. These children were the 5 billion frozen embryos stored on the mothership. Their genes had been adjusted, so they would grow into adults in about five years—essentially artificial humans more advanced than clones.

Having families adopt them was mainly to let them feel the warmth and care of a family, so that they wouldn't grow up to be cold, robotic tools. However, to keep up with their growth rate, these individuals would receive knowledge infusion every night while in a sleep state.

This policy could naturally utilize these frozen embryos and allow them to integrate into society once they grew up. Plus, since all supplies were currently under a rationing system, there was no issue of whether they could afford to raise them.

In addition to this, Tang Xiao also formulated a secret plan. He had the engineering department build a secret base in a remote area of the planet Dawn, provided the conditions were right. This base would implement purely militarized management, where frozen embryos would be cultivated in batches, and during their growth process, they would be infused only with the techniques of war and killing.

The first batch of 100 warriors began to grow there, and as the base continued to expand, the number of warriors would grow larger and larger.

This was a trump card Tang Xiao prepared for the war that was about to break out in the future. This unit had no name, only a designation—the Fourth Legion.

Everyone's uniform bore a logo: 4TH.

These 100 warriors were a seed, because the current development of the Fourth Civilization could not support more warriors, nor could it provide more or larger training facilities. But Tang Xiao believed that one day, 4TH. would become a powerful force that would make the galaxy tremble!

[Note 1]: A *Kajidic* is a form of organization for the Hutts, guiding the thought patterns, daily lives, and various business and criminal plans of its members. The Hutts have many *Kajidics*, each with its own principles, leaders, and organization. The Desilijic clan to which Jabba belongs is one of the largest *Kajidics* of the Hutts.

For the sake of convenience in understanding, *Kajidic* will be uniformly referred to as 'clan' in the following text.

(End of chapter)