Lie Zhao's blood seeped into the cracks between the bricks of New Star Valley's plaza, hardening into a mark of revenge branded into the hearts of the Dream Weaver Clan.
The Bonecrack Clan's military overseer, Sui Ya, was very pleased with the effect this "sacrifice" had produced. The Dream Weaver Clan members in its eyes had visibly become more "docile." Their public anger and defiance had vanished, replaced by an obedience as numb and lifeless as deathly stillness.
Soon, new shackles descended in full.
The Code promulgated by Sui Ya was carved into the black stone stele in the center of the plaza:
One: All war-grade weapons must be surrendered.
Two: The Bonecrack Clan holds absolute dominion over all Dream Weaver Clan resources, technology, and population.
Three: The Dream Weaver Clan must obey all conscription orders without condition and complete assigned labor and production tasks.
Four: All forms of assembly are forbidden, and the system of collective punishment is in effect...
In the days that followed, the clang of the Thunder Armor Legion patrolling New Star Valley's steel jungle was no more. In its place came the footsteps and lash-cracks of the Bonecrack Clan's lizardman guards.
The energy rail network continued to operate, but its cars no longer carried free citizens. They were filled with young and able-bodied members of the Dream Weaver Clan, conscripted by the trainload.
They were transported in silence to various mines and frontline fortifications controlled by the Bonecrack Clan, and even to distant supervisory posts among other enslaved races. The constant "bleeding" was a deliberate dispersal strategy by the Bonecrack Clan, meant to prevent the Dream Weaver Clan from forming organized resistance.
Countless families were torn apart, their futures uncertain.
Yet, just as Tu Hu had predicted, the Bonecrack Clan gradually began to depend on