What Made Ziwei So Powerful?

His transmission had been intercepted, and Han Bi trembled with rage.

No one wounded you more deeply than an ally. What the Solitary One had done was far worse than anything Miaozun or the Star Tyrant had done.

Bullying the weak was nothing unusual. The Shacha Civilization was an "Old Bully" itself.

But Shacha had treated "Old Bootlickers" like Bessel and Moya well. It had at least known to protect the civilizations under its command. Their interests went both ways.

Han Bi had never expected the Solitary One to be so domineering. Shacha had supplied him with so many resources and so much political support to win his favor. Yet when the other powers came to pressure Shacha, the Solitary One had not lifted a finger to help or even put in an appearance. He had kicked them while they were down.

If they had to hand over the Truth Society's technology under threat just to buy a little peace, why give it to him? Wouldn't handing it to any of the Five Overlords amount to the same thing? Han Bi had never even held high office before. How could he have known that Shacha's "friendly relations" with the Solitary One were so humiliating?

His ministers and the Advisory Group understood, but they could hardly tell Han Bi outright: He takes whatever he wants from us for nothing. We give it to him, or we suffer the consequences.

Even if they said it, they would put it delicately.

Leqi King, for instance, had once given Han Bi a similar warning: the Galactic Star Alliance had only six factions—the five overlords, and "everyone else."

Han Bi had missed the deeper meaning at the time. He had taken it to mean only that the Five Overlords stood above the rest, while still