The Standoff

Although Rowan hadn't experienced this good cop/bad cop game firsthand, he'd seen and heard of it many times. Even if what they said was true, he'd have to wait until a real army was pressing in before taking any action. Otherwise, if the Swarm surrendered immediately after a threat, it would only lead to more exploitation.

Therefore, no matter how moving, touching, or empathetic the performance of the Five and those Telo diplomats was, the Swarm unmoved.

After Frodo, the person in charge of the Telo Civilization, almost stopped attending the discussions, the Swarm followed suit, with Malin also stopping her presence, leaving only Danton to handle the situation.

The Swarm's actions humiliated the Five and the Telo Civilization, who then clamored even more to teach the Swarm a lesson. However, after the Swarm mobilized tens of thousands of Ancient Class to Base A11 and surrounded the Telo Civilization's diplomatic fleet, they quieted down considerably.

Perhaps they realized that if they pushed the Swarm too far, the Swarm might be wiped out in the future, but before that, they might perish here first.

Thus, the meeting entered another period of harmonious wrangling.

Soon after, perhaps bored with the bickering, the Five suggested visiting the Five -Rat-folk civilization and the Riken Race. Although the suggestion seemed like a spur-of-the-moment idea, Rowan sensed something different about it.

I remember a certain "know-it-all" who used to do the following during negotiations: apply maximum pressure, first propose a condition that was completely unacceptable to the other party, then wear down the other party's patience, and finally reveal his true bottom line.

Applied to the present situation, it surprisingly fits perfectly. But what secrets does the Riken Race or the Rat-folk civilization hold that attract them?

Rowan pondered carefully and analyzed thoroughly, finally arriving at a conclusion.

The Riken Race is most likely a scapegoat, because Riken Race Epoch Clan's spaceship, thus putting the Epoch Clan's surveillance devices in place. Whatever secrets the Ricken tribe might have, the Epoch Clan probably already knew. Therefore, the real target of the Five should be the Rat-folk civilization.

But what does the Rat-folk civilization have? Rowan, who single-handedly built Rat-folk civilization, has watched it grow to its current state. In his eyes, the Rat-folk civilization naturally has no secrets.

However, outsiders were unaware of this relationship. Moreover, the Rat-folk civilization developed so rapidly that the Epoch Clan hadn't even buried their spaceships, let alone activated surveillance systems. Therefore, the Rat-folk civilization remained incredibly mysterious in the eyes of the Epoch Clan.

If we put ourselves in their shoes, the development speed of the Rat-folk civilization far surpassed that of the original Original Epoch Clan, breaking their records. This alone is enough to entice the inheritors of the Original Epoch Clan to explore its mysteries.

However, Rowan felt that the truth was far more complex than that, and there must be other reasons that attracted the Five.

Lacking information, Rowan had some guesses, though he hadn't fully figured things out yet. However, he still instructed Danton to explicitly refuse the Five's request.

The Epoch Clan is the target and hypothetical enemy of the Swarm. No matter what the enemy wants, if they disagree, that's all that matters.

Time flew by amidst the various squabbles. Perhaps the Five of the Epoch Clan felt humiliated, or perhaps they couldn't muster their power under the encirclement of the Ancient Class beings. In any case, they gradually stopped participating in the meetings and instead spent their days hiding in the Telo warship, doing who-knows-what.

As time went on, Rowan even wondered if they had entered hibernation, since such a time-consuming activity was indeed meaningless.

But if they can't reach an agreement and don't want to lower the standards, why keep wasting time here? Rowan was very puzzled by this.

Although Rowan is already an immortal being, and his actual lifespan may exceed the sum of the histories of all members of the Star Sea Alliance, the time he has been conscious is only a few hundred years.

Therefore, he was still quite naive, and his understanding of the concept of time could not compare with that of those long-established civilizations.

After a civilization experiences several major technological breakthroughs in its early stages, innovation becomes increasingly difficult as scientific theories become more refined. Technological stagnation is a problem faced by all established civilizations; it is common for them to have no significant progress for thousands or even tens of thousands of years. Even the once-powerful Original Epoch Clan was once held hostage and plunged into Dark Era.

Therefore, living in a nearly unchanging environment for a long time can easily lead to various problems. The time difference caused by interstellar travel exacerbates these problems.

One solution to the problem is the "Youth Project" originally used by the Original Epoch Clan, which abandons natural childbirth and adopts collective centralized upbringing to reduce kinship ties and fundamentally eliminate the causes of the problem. Many civilizations have already followed this approach.

However, some civilizations have developed another method: to push hibernation technology to its limits, eliminating cumbersome preparation steps and making it plug-and-play, allowing users to enter hibernation anytime, anywhere.

At the same time, they will vigorously develop industrial automation, and with the abundant resources in outer space, social welfare can easily support all their people. Everyone can live well without having to work, and apart from doing some things they like, they can spend most of their time in hibernation to extend their lifespan.

In this way, with everyone in hibernation, there won't be any situation where friends and family go on an intergalactic trip and, upon returning, can only find traces of the past in photographs.

However, the drawback of this method is that the development of the entire civilization is basically stagnant, and it can only rely on its past achievements and place its security on the rules of the Alliance.

Fortunately, although there was infighting and factions within the Alliance, everyone was quite tolerant of such stagnant civilizations. After all, before everything had settled down, rashly provoking these stagnant civilizations and stirring up their ambition would only increase competition and create more rivals for oneself.

Of course, emerging powers in the outer circle are not qualified to enjoy this kind of stagnation treatment. Those who are qualified are mostly the established civilizations in the middle or inner circles. After all, their territories are already fixed, and as long as they do not go out to expand and cause trouble, other powers are happy to see it happen.

Most civilizations must choose one of the two options mentioned above as their future development path, but some civilizations choose to have both.

For example, the Epoch Clan can continuously replenish its research personnel and drive social progress by relying on new talent. At the same time, some members can choose to enjoy life, and the Five clearly belongs to the latter.

With key decision-makers from all three parties rarely present, the meeting regarding the Swarm joining the Alliance resembled a farce. Only lower-level members argued amongst themselves each day, but no one had the authority to concede on the issues at hand.

The situation remained at a stalemate.