The Eiffel Tower seemed to hold its breath in the assembly hall on the west side of the Lamb's Department Building, Sector Seven's movement, where countless camera flashes illuminated Gu Xichen's handsome face.

It had been half a month since the incident at Krunborg Palace, and during this time, every media outlet in the Federation had been saturated with reports of Gu Xichen's heroic deeds. The Lower House of the Federal Congress had passed the motion to appoint Gu Xichen as a replacement for a vacant seat with an overwhelming majority.

His long, thick, dark hair was tied back into a carefree ponytail, complementing his impeccably tailored black tailcoat, crisp white shirt, and flawless butterfly bow tie. Gu Xichen, beaming, perfectly embodied the essence of chivalrous grace. Standing nearly one meter ninety tall, his posture was as upright as a pine, yet his stature, softened by his smile, exerted no pressure; everyone present felt an easygoing affinity radiating from him.

His long sword-like eyebrows slanted sharply toward his temples, and a fleeting, mysterious flash of blue occasionally sparked in his deep black eyes. A straight nose bridge and lips tightly pressed into a thin line added a touch of resolute strength to his otherwise gentle features, while the slight, arrogant curl of his lips now and then bestowed upon Gu Xichen an aura of enigmatic charm.

Suspended on his left breast was a Federal Medal forged from an alloy of refined gold, yellow iron, and silver, shimmering brilliantly. The exquisitely designed insignia drew many gazes.

One: The "Federal Pioneer Medal." This was awarded to recognize Gu Xichen's achievement in discovering Paradise Star and had been presented by the Federal Senate just ten minutes ago.

One: The "Special Grade Purple Star Valor Medal." This commemorated Gu Xichen’s monumental feat of eliminating dozens of First-Class warships belonging to the Roman people, awarded by the Federal Military Department fifteen minutes prior.

One: The "Great Nebula Medal." This honored Gu Xichen for contributing the bamboo slips that brought immense value to the Federal Academy of Sciences, presented by the Academy twenty minutes ago.

The three medals were perfectly aligned across Gu Xichen's chest. Since the establishment of the Federation following the '93 Federal Self-Defense Counterattack War, Gu Xichen was the sole individual to have concurrently received all three of these prestigious honors.

On the great screen in the hall, footage of Gu Xichen’s exploits was being replayed endlessly. Many of these scenes were sourced from battle recorders contributed by the Hard Path Defense Company. From the moment Gu Xichen entered Alpha Star City, through his discovery of Paradise Star, to the final, decisive blow against the Roman forces—where he destroyed dozens of their First-Class warships using the most unbelievable and simple means—the sequence continuously showcased footage highlighting Gu Xichen's bravery, fearlessness, and towering image.

Although such imagery had been broadcast countless times across major Federal media outlets over the past month, the assembly erupted in continuous applause and cheers.

This was a press reception hosted specifically for Gu Xichen by the Federal Congress, attended by luminaries from every sector of the Federation and nearly a thousand journalists from the major media outlets.

As Gu Xichen stepped onto the spotlight-drenched main stage, accompanied by a breeze-like smile and a tidal wave of cheers, the atmosphere in the venue reached a new zenith. Scarlet rose petals drifted from the sky, countless streamers burst forth with loud pops, and the assembled military band passionately struck up the "Grand Federal March." The soaring, stirring music compelled many in attendance to instinctively leap up, waving their arms and applauding vigorously to welcome Gu Xichen.

The youngest Lower House Representative of the Federation, Gu Xichen, who had rendered monumental service to the nation, was now officially presented before them all.

Standing composedly on the stage under the spotlights, Gu Xichen elegantly brushed a stray lock of hair that had fallen across his forehead back behind his head. His face held the most reserved and elegant smile, yet internally, he was cursing under his breath: Damn it, hair stimulated to grow by growth hormones is definitely not as manageable as the original stock. Why won't it stay put? When will these idiots finish asking all those idiotic questions?

The Chairman of the Federal Congress, Jean Qiao'an, appeared on stage immediately following Gu Xichen, and his entrance nearly caused the ecstatic atmosphere to explode.

Jean Qiao'an walked to the host of the reception, smiling broadly, and accepted the microphone handed to him. With a slight wave of his hand, the room instantly quieted down.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe I need do very little introduction. Representative Gu Xichen, a hero who has made outstanding contributions to the Federation. I imagine his deeds require no repetition; no flowery words can adequately describe the immense contributions he has made to the Federation!" Jean Qiao'an said, stepping closer with a smile and raising Gu Xichen’s left hand high overhead, prompting another fresh wave of cheers.

"The great Earth Federation has traversed centuries of storms and hardships. Over these hundreds of years, through the efforts of all our citizens, we have solved the energy crisis, the environmental pollution crisis, the food crisis, the disease crisis—we have solved the various problems that plagued Earth's humanity for countless years."

"But we encountered a new problem!"

"The Federation's population officially surpassed the fifty billion mark at 15:32:38 on August 3rd, 2373, welcoming the Earth Federation's five-billionth citizen... The tiny Earth Home Star faces immense population pressure; our citizens live like sardines packed in a can." Jean Qiao'an's words drew a mixture of laughter and sighs from the audience.

The room sobered instantly. The population issue was a dark cloud hanging over everyone. After solving energy, environment, food, and disease, the natural lifespan of humans generally exceeded 150 years, and their enhanced physical constitution also significantly boosted their reproductive capacity. Despite various measures taken by the Federation, the population numbers continued to climb relentlessly. Not just Earth, but even the Moon was packed to capacity.

"As everyone knows, although the Earth Federation possesses eleven colony stars, due to the immaturity of interstellar travel technology, combined with the harsh natural environments and the presence of savage, powerful indigenous lifeforms on those colonies, they collectively house only three billion citizens."

A simultaneous murmur of regret swept through the attendees. The immaturity of interstellar travel technology essentially meant that transport vessels were not large enough to accommodate more immigrants, and their engines were not powerful enough for faster round trips between Earth and the colonies. The Earth Federation currently maintained eleven colonization fleets, each capable of transporting a maximum of three hundred thousand immigrants per voyage. The closest colony required two and a half months of hyperspace travel, while the farthest required five years and nine months, needing three wormhole jumps to reach.

Under these circumstances, mass migration was extremely difficult, let alone supplementing the colonists on those worlds with necessary supplies—medicine, energy, defensive ammunition, and so on. Seventy percent of the consumables needed on these resource-scarce colonies had to be supplied from Earth, which not only constrained the speed of colonial expansion but also slowed down the continuous process of environmental terraforming on those planets.

"However, all these difficulties have been solved effortlessly by Mr. Gu Xichen!"

Jean Qiao'an exclaimed excitedly. Gu Xichen immediately took two steps forward, bowing gracefully to everyone present, fully displaying his modest and courteous gentlemanly demeanor.

"Paradise Star! Perfect natural environment, abundant natural resources, a landmass four times that of Earth’s Home Star, and importantly, no harassment from fierce monsters or bizarre lifeforms. According to projections from the Federal Academy of Sciences, Paradise Star can easily accommodate over thirty-eight billion Federation immigrants!"

The audience erupted in frenzied applause and cheers.

"Furthermore, the ancient bamboo slips that Mr. Gu Xichen gifted to the Federal Academy of Sciences contain the formulas for over a dozen new alloys possessing unbelievably potent properties. We will be able to construct mightier starships and more powerful engines. In the future, we can build migration leviathans over five thousand meters long in space! Our future migration fleets will be able to deliver fifty million immigrants to Paradise Star in a single trip! And, Paradise Star is only a month's journey from Earth's Home Star, even with our slower migration vessels!"

"A new world! A planet rich in natural resources! A perfect world, tailor-made for humanity! A pristine world teeming with infinite opportunities!"

Jean Qiao'an waved his hand forcefully and shouted, "Rejoice, my compatriots! According to the Federal Academy of Sciences' forecasts, because of the upcoming comprehensive shipbuilding and immigration plans, and the planned development of Paradise Star, over the next fifty years, the Federation's unemployment rate... oh, forgive me, the term 'unemployment rate' will disappear from the Federation's lexicon!"

As he spoke, Jean Qiao'an’s face flushed crimson. Beaming, he embraced Gu Xichen tightly!

The applause was thunderous, the cheers deafening; the atmosphere plunged into delirium.

Just as Jean Qiao'an proclaimed, a single Paradise Star would bring untold new opportunities to the Earth Federation! Unemployment? To hell with it! Developing such a massive planet would make manpower the most critical commodity. Unemployment? Oh, screw that!

To put it in the crudest terms, once three hundred and eighty billion Federation citizens poured into Paradise Star to build new urban clusters, the demand for street cleaners alone would be an astronomical figure! Merely cleaning the septic tanks of public latrines would generate trillions of available work slots! Not to mention the personnel required for the manufacturing and processing industries. Building one five-thousand-meter migration ship would require an astronomical number of screws; the parts order for a single colossal migrant vessel could sustain dozens of corporations.

Moreover, the Earth Federation Army was currently engaged in full-scale war with the Roman people on Paradise Star. Where cannons roar, gold accumulates; every missile fired represented a dozen newly created jobs and meant a few more digits added to the Federation's gross metrics.