"Floods are nothing to fear! We can build some flood barriers, or even plant aquatic crops," Feng Zhi Shuang said. "You can rest assured about that, I've got it all arranged. But there's one risk I need to inform you about beforehand."
"What is it?" Jiang Ye asked.
"These one hundred thousand people might be quite chaotic."
"What do you mean?" Jiang Ye had a bad premonition.
"I'll send you their information shortly, and you'll understand. I have a meeting here, so I'll hang up now. If you have any questions, call me back in an hour."
Jiang Ye sat down and waited quietly.
His phone quickly received a message, a file of 12GB.
He clicked to download, and it finished in less than a second. The internet speed these days was astonishingly fast.
A total of 101,000 personal files popped up, named after the individuals.
Jiang Ye randomly opened a few to read.
[Name: Hiro Masa Ryosuke]
[Age: 41]
[Education Level: Bachelor's Degree in Engineering]
[Notes: Ten years ago, this man bludgeoned his landlady to death with a frozen leg of lamb because she refused his advances. When the police searched his apartment, they couldn't find the murder weapon. He cooked the frozen leg of lamb for the police, which didn't arouse their suspicion. Later, he confessed his crime while drunk at a bar and was arrested. Sentenced to life imprisonment. After serving 8 years, he voluntarily joined the "Criminal Continent" program and is currently serving time in the capital prison of Hal Star, awaiting deployment.]
Several photos were attached, showing a fat-headed, bald man, reminiscent of a Japanese colonel from WWII dramas.
This person had a criminal record. Could he be accepted? Jiang Ye instinctively wanted to click "reject" but couldn't find the option. He then remembered this wasn't an immigration application.
He closed it and opened another.
[Name: Sheridan Richard]
[Age: 22]
[Education Level: Dropped out of elementary school, intermediate chef qualification, later served four years in special forces]
[Notes: This individual is a professional assassin with 21 confirmed kills, totaling 46 victims. He has a tendency for excessive killing and is a natural-born criminal. While assassinating an electrical engineer, he infiltrated the target's home, shot and killed the target, but did not leave. Instead, he waited in the living room watching television and even subscribed to a pay-per-view service. When the engineer's wife returned home with their two daughters from school, he killed them all before calmly departing. He was arrested last November and sentenced to death with a reprieve. During his reprieve, he showed good behavior, expressed remorse, and provided significant assistance in uncovering other crimes, leading to his sentence being commuted to life imprisonment. He voluntarily joined the "Criminal Continent" program and is currently serving time in the Yangxin Prison of Hal Star, awaiting deployment.]
The photo showed a thin, small white man, skin and bones, with huge dark circles under his eyes, looking almost malnourished. He seemed like someone who could be knocked down with a single punch and wouldn't get up for a long time. This kind of person could be a professional killer?
Jiang Ye frowned.
He scrolled down through over a thousand resumes and opened a third one.
[Name: Yang Ping]
[Age: 28]
[Education Level: Doctorate in Finance]
[Notes: This individual was involved in tax evasion, illegal organ trafficking, operating underground banks, money laundering, and embezzlement of planetary economic support funds, among other crimes. The amounts involved were exceptionally large, totaling 240 billion. Sentenced to death with a reprieve. During his reprieve, he exhibited good behavior and made significant contributions, leading to his sentence being commuted to life imprisonment. He voluntarily joined the "Criminal Continent" program and is currently serving time in the Hal Star Space Prison, awaiting deployment.]
The photo showed a woman with uneven eyes, her expressionless face exuding an air of noble arrogance. Jiang Ye could understand it; it was hard not to be arrogant when one had amassed 240 billion at such a young age. The photo was taken before her arrest, at a large conference. He wondered if she could still maintain that arrogance after being apprehended.
Jiang Ye fell into thought.
Why was this person also a criminal?
With such a massive amount of money involved, she was richer than himself, the planet's commander, before she was caught!
Jiang Ye's ominous premonition grew stronger. He quickly clicked on the information of different individuals to read.
Various crimes appeared in a revolving pattern, more comprehensive than any legal code. After reading dozens of them, he couldn't find a single decent person. They were all heinous criminals of every description, a collection of gods and bastards.
There was a low-level employee who stole nuclear fuel for spaceships, a junior officer who sold military weapons to terrorists, a human trafficker who stole a congressman's wife and tried to sell her to an alien planet, a student who replaced famous ancient paintings in a museum with his own graffiti, a child who released poison gas during the New Year's performance at the grand theater, a plumber who declared himself emperor and founded a nation, only to be wiped out by a small town's police force...
And these people had one thing in common: the vast majority of them were from Hal Star! They were all imprisoned on Hal Star!
Jiang Ye stared blankly for a while, then took out his phone and opened the "Star Net" group chat.
He found the High Priest of Hal Star in the member list. He intended to send a private message, but a prompt popped up: "Private messaging between group members is prohibited in this group." There was no other way, so he had to speak in the group.
Jiang Ye, Planet Commander: "@High Priest of Hal Star, what's the meaning of this, sister? You're sending me criminals? Can't you send some good people? Why send a bunch of people who deserve to be shot?"
High Priest of Hal Star: "Ah? What? Little brother, what are you talking about?"
Jiang Ye sent some screenshots of the information on his phone to the group.
High Priest of Hal Star: "Oh! The Criminal Continent program! I haven't dealt with this stuff in a long time, my subordinates handle it. Is there a problem?"
Jiang Ye, Planet Commander: "I wanted a batch of alien immigrants because my territory has grown large, but the population is too small. The immigration list you gave me is entirely a prison roster. Can't you send some good people?"
High Priest of Hal Star: "Hey, you don't understand. Let me explain the term 'Criminal Continent' to you. Similar programs exist throughout the galaxy. Any planet with an overpopulation problem will have a large number of criminals. From the moment these criminals are apprehended, they lose their freedom as humans and become intelligent livestock, sent to do all sorts of dirty and arduous work without pay. It's similar to ancient exile."
High Priest of Hal Star: "The usual method is to gather all these criminals on a single continent, completely separated from areas where good people live. This continent doesn't need much management; they can do as they please. If they survive, they survive. If not, too bad. Usually, they will engage in some production, and we planet rulers only need to collect the goods periodically. Furthermore, these criminals' accounts are not protected by the Galactic Empire; they are entirely under your control. If you need money, you can directly tax their accounts. Taxes on breathing, sleeping, anything. You can set the amounts to tens or hundreds of thousands, whatever you like."
High Priest of Hal Star: "See? These bad guys are much more useful than good people because they are slaves and livestock. And you don't have to feel any moral guilt, because it's all voluntary. Everyone voluntarily joined the Criminal Continent program. They committed crimes but don't want to stay in prison, or don't want to be executed. Of course, their lives are spared, but their freedom is not."
Jiang Ye was dumbfounded. His worldview had been severely impacted. Such a thing actually exists?