On Earth.
The land was devastated.
Many city streets had been caught in the crossfire and destroyed during the war.
After a galactic war, the fate of nearly eight billion people on Earth had been completely overturned.
Although the Federation's war on Earth had been fought on a massive scale, its forces had mainly targeted armed forces capable of resistance.
And faced with the Federation's overwhelming military might, most of Earth's armed forces had chosen to surrender.
As a result, the war had caused fewer than a hundred million casualties—a negligible number.
While the Human Federation celebrated the recapture of Planet Earth, eight billion people hid in their homes, trembling with fear.
Many were deeply uneasy about their future.
Most people knew only that Earth had been occupied by an alien civilization called the "Human Federation."
Everyone had been placed under military administration and ordered to stay home, forbidden from going out for any reason, including work.
Those without homes were given accommodation by the Federation.
Food, water, and all entertainment facilities were supplied without conditions or limits. In addition, the Federation provided them with the best medical care available by Federation standards, as long as they did not cause trouble.
People in other regions were doing all right. Only Juxia City was under close Federation surveillance, because many Alien Species were lurking there.
In truth, most people's unease stemmed simply from not knowing what to expect from the Federation, rather than from fear of its military might.
That was because, before the Federation arrived, there had been extreme disparities in wealth between different regions of Planet Earth.
Before the Federation's invasion.
Of Earth's eight billion people, about 44% had long lived below the subsistence level. Most of the rest worked every day just to afford food, clothing, housing, and transportation, giving rise to all kinds of social problems, as well as the plundering of resources and even wars.
After the Federation occupied Planet Earth, all these assorted problems were solved at once.
The Federation hurriedly built resource warehouses on Earth and used Quantum Teleportation technology to bring a steady stream of supplies from other Federation planets.
Every person, regardless of their former status or wealth, received supplies according to the Federation's "Utopian Living" standard.
After the war, most people on Earth developed a dangerous illusion—
"Maybe this wasn't an interstellar invasion at all, but a massive interstellar poverty-relief effort, bought at the cost of a hundred million lives."
As they sat at home, many found this hard to believe, yet were convinced it was true.
After all, if this were really an invasion, why would the Human Federation supply them with provisions?
The Human Federation had definitely come to relieve their poverty!
When you thought about it, what did Earth have that would be worth invading for these alien lords who traveled in starships?
Many people enjoyed the supplies from the Federation with an easy conscience.
But there was a price behind all this.
As the saying went, "When well-fed and warm, people think of lust; when cold and hungry, they turn to theft." The Federation currently had around 300 trillion people, but not one of them was a useless parasite.
The abundant supplies were only meant to help Earth's population integrate into the Federation collective and contribute to it in the future.
Genetic tests and various other technical examinations had confirmed that the humans of this universe's Earth and the Pioneers aboard the Autumn Chrysanthemum belonged to the same race and species.
But they had yet to undergo the various ascensions required of Federal Citizens.
From then on, these people of Earth would have to undergo Psionic Metamorphosis, Gene Optimization, Cybernetic Modification, and several other ascensions before they could become true Federal Citizens.
Of course, before any of that, the Federation had to root out the Alien Species lurking on Earth.
A thousand years ago, a group of descendants from the Deno Civilization had come to Earth and implanted what they called Super Genes into some of its people.
Most of these Super Genes were hidden in Juxia City, numbering several thousand.
The Federation tracked them all down, either secretly eliminating them or sending them to research laboratories for study.
Earth had also been secretly visited by quite a few other alien civilizations in the past, and they had left behind many hidden dangers.
For example, there was an exiled Angel in one city, and a Giant Demon sealed inside a mountain.
But under the Federation's control, these dangers were all eliminated one by one.
Besides that, Earth Civilization's old moral value system was so many versions behind those of other worlds in the Federation that it seemed out of place.
Reeducating eight billion people was a troublesome undertaking, but not much of a problem for the Federation.
Using Thought Imprints to implant an "Artificial Moral Code" in these people would surely take care of this little nuisance perfectly.
Only after all this was done would Earth truly be restored to purity and become a holy land for the human race once more.
Afterward, Earth would undergo planetary reconstruction and be transformed into a Gaia Planet.
The Stellar Outpost in the Solar System would be upgraded into the Sky Pillar Fortress space station, creating a complete system-wide fortress defense network.
Then, with the Solar System as its center, the First Federal Fleet would expand rapidly into the surrounding star systems.
In the newly built space dockyards, one engineering ship after another, along with warships, was eagerly rolling off the production lines.
The Milky Way was simply too vast. The Federation's original 150 fleets were numerous, but nowhere near enough.
With around 400 billion Star Systems in the galaxy, the Federation had to churn out new ships without pause. After establishing each new colony, it would immediately build a new industrial system and continue producing even more ships in a snowballing cycle.
Only by repeating this process could it complete the Great Expedition and seize control of the entire Milky Way within a hundred years.
After issuing the orders related to these tasks, Chen Yu detached a fleet from the First Federal Fleet to guard the Solar System, then returned to United Star.
As Grand Marshal, he only needed to oversee the whole operation. There was no need for him to personally fight every battle.
But while the Federation did not go looking for trouble, some trouble kept coming to it anyway.
Gray Wind was the governor of United Star, appointed personally by Chen Yu. As an aggregate of nanorobots, she could easily handle all kinds of complex work.
Chen Yu usually left the affairs of United Star to Gray Wind, while he himself had more important matters to attend to.
That day, another group of Angels came calling.
"Hello, I'm Angel Leng."
"We represent the Angel Civilization and have come to convey goodwill and friendship to your civilization."
The group of Angels appeared beyond the outermost edge of the Federation's territory, in a border system. They sent a coded signal requesting permission to enter Federation territory and open communications with the Federation.
At least they knew how to behave.
Unlike the two Angels last time, who had appeared right outside United Star and challenged the Federation.
These Angels liked to use Wormhole Jump technology to roam the universe.
But whatever their motives, if they entered Federation territory without permission, they had to face the Federation's punishment.
This time, they had come with friendly intentions and had not yet had a chance to break any Federation laws...
After giving it some thought, Gray Wind, who oversaw the affairs of United Star, granted them passage and passed their reception off to officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
But when the group of Angels in silver armor and short skirts appeared on United Star,
the United Star official in charge of receiving them turned pale and immediately barked an order:
"Take these alien spies into custody!"
It all happened so suddenly.
The Angels had clearly not expected this turn of events.
Angel Leng tried to fight back at once, but against the powerful Federal Armed Forces, their resistance was futile.
There were seven Angel Warriors in all, including Angel Leng.
All the weapons they carried were forcibly taken from them, and they were thrown into restraint devices in utter humiliation.
Before you continue