His transmission had been intercepted. Han Bi trembled with anger.
Allies could hurt you the most. The Solitary One's behavior was far worse than Miaozun's or Star Tyrant's.
Bullying the weak was nothing unusual. Shacha was an "old bully" itself.
But Shacha treated "old bootlickers" like Bessel and Moya quite well. At least it knew to shelter the civilizations under its banner; their interests were exchanged reciprocally.
Han Bi had never expected the Solitary One to be so domineering. In the past, Shacha had supplied so many resources and so much political support to please the Solitary One. Yet now, faced with pressure from every faction, the Solitary One had not offered help or even backed Shacha up. Instead, the Solitary One had kicked them while they were down.
If they had to surrender the Truth Society's technology under threat just to gain a little peace, why give it to the Solitary One? 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 knew the truth, but they could hardly tell Han Bi bluntly: we get exploited for nothing. Whatever the Solitary One wants, we give it. Refuse, and disaster follows.
Even if they said anything, they would put it tactfully.
For instance, the Leqi King had once given Han Bi a similar warning: the Galactic Star Alliance actually had only six kinds of factions—the five great overlords and "everyone else."
At the time, Han Bi had failed to grasp the deeper meaning. He had thought it merely expressed the Five Overlords' exalted standing, and still accepted the mainstream classification of "Five Superpowers and Top