"We had no intention of provoking you."
The Ether who had remained silent while He Chou issued a string of warnings finally spoke.
"We merely needed to prevent a civil war. Normal means could not eliminate an individual member of the species who harbored dissenting intentions."
Hearing this, He Chou could more or less grasp the meaning behind those words from everything that had happened so far.
He thought about it, then decided not to.
"I don't care. We don't care." He Chou stared into the Ether's eyes, his tone calm. "Whether you want to get rid of a traitor with dissenting intentions or do something else, those are your own insignificant affairs."
The Ether wanted to make one final attempt. He hoped that humanity could at least choose the correct side between the Tau species' Ether caste and The Visionary.
But He Chou gave the Ether no chance to continue. "Whatever you may have been thinking before, it is time to make a choice. As I said, you have forty Vicar Star hours to make a decision that will affect the fate of your entire species."
"There is no need to choose." Xin Ning spoke immediately afterward. "We will cease all dangerous actions and give you the Black Ore you care about. Let everything end here. Is that acceptable?"
When Xin Ning said this, the Ether present all looked at him with utter shock and disbelief.
This Ether had already begun considering how to report the current situation to the homeworld. He never could have imagined that a Water Clan ambassador would dare step forward and make a choice capable of deciding the fate of their entire species on his behalf.
Whether psychologically or physiologically, the Ether found this profoundly abnormal.
"I am sorry, sir. After thinking it through,