Humins

While the Riken Race was busy at work, more than a dozen ships in the Epoch Clan fleet broke away from the main force and quietly flew towards the Swarm's territory.

"Where are those Epoch Clan guys going?" The fifty or so warships of the Koya Alliance had simply retreated to a corner. The movement of more than ten behemoths over four thousand meters long right next to them was something they wouldn't miss unless they were blind.

Furthermore, the Epoch Clan didn't move their spaceships secretly, so it's normal that they were discovered. Representatives from about a dozen civilizations of the Koya Alliance gathered together for an emergency discussion.

"Where else can we go? Just look at the direction we're heading."

"What are they doing? Will it affect our operation?" one representative said with some concern. After all, what they are doing now is trying to undermine the Epoch Clan. If they are discovered, we don't know if the Koya Alliance will be in trouble, but these people are likely to be in big trouble.

"I don't know, but among the people from the Epoch Clan who came this time, there are several members of my clan. Out of consideration for our clan, I got some inside information." One of the representatives kept the details a secret.

The unspoken rule of the Epoch Clan's Garrison Point is that troops are stationed in overlapping areas. To avoid contact with their own tribe, the garrison personnel are usually stationed at a distance of more than 500 light-years from their own tribe.

However, there are always exceptions. Due to various special reasons, there are always some people who ignore this unspoken rule. But these people account for a very small percentage, probably less than half a percent.

To be able to encounter a few members of their own tribe among the visitors was quite fortunate. However, the others ignored the representative's cryptic remarks; those sent were no children, and everyone was in the same Grasshopper anyway, so they could say whatever they wanted.

As expected, seeing that no one was cooperating, the representative could only continue, "It is said that the Epoch Clan has sent an elder this time."

"Phew~" The highest authority of the Epoch Clan is the Council of Elders. In theory, all elders have the same authority. Upon hearing that an Epoch Clan elder had arrived, apart from the representative of the Duoqi Race whose face was somewhat grim, the rest of the group breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's not surprising. It seems it's time to formally sign the agreement. According to regulations, it's only natural that they go to the Zerg side first."

Indeed, the personnel who came before were not of a high enough rank, and the agreements they signed were only letters of intent. Formal agreements can only be signed by personnel at the level of elders of the Epoch Clan or by the highest officials or rulers of the new civilization.

Moreover, according to the order of invitation, the Epoch Clan must sign an agreement with the Swarm before they can go back and sign one with the Riken Race. Those few Epoch Clan warships that left must have taken their elders to the Swarm to sign the agreement.

"Regardless, we need to finish this as quickly as possible to reduce the possibility of exposure."

"That's right. They didn't ask for much, so we settled the bill directly, took the documents, and left. Staying here all the time, even though Epoch Clan won't target us, is never a guarantee against something." The representatives chimed in.

"No, our excuse for coming here was ostensibly to deal with the prisoners of war from the Duoqi Civilization. If we suddenly withdraw before the matter is resolved, wouldn't that be even stranger?" A representative calmly poured cold water on everyone's enthusiasm.

"XXX!" the crowd muttered angrily, then fell silent.

Leaving aside the Koya Alliance's internal struggles, the departing Epoch Clan spaceship did indeed arrive to sign a contract with the Swarm, just as they had suspected.

After briefly stopping at the outskirts of the Izumo star swarm base and reporting the situation, the spaceship formation departed and headed towards the Proxima Centauri system.

The Epoch Clan's spaceship was indeed very fast; it took them less than a year to reach the outer reaches of Proxima Centauri.

It's important to understand that the Swarm and the Riken Race took decades to cover this distance. The two races didn't actually fight much; most of their time was spent traveling this distance.

Rowan was somewhat surprised by the sudden arrival of the Epoch Clan Elder, but fortunately, he had already known about this procedure beforehand, so he had everything prepared and didn't seem flustered.

After the Epoch Clan spaceship arrived at the asteroid belt outside the Proxima Star System, it was greeted by the Zerg and Ancient Class fleets that were already waiting there. Under their guidance, the two fleets joined together and headed to Proxima Centauri.

Because this meeting was of a high level, everything was very formal. Although it was the first time the Swarm had done something like this, they had everything they needed and there were no mishaps.

A massive underground palace has already been excavated on Proxima Centauri. In fact, underground complexes are quite common in interstellar civilizations, since building colonies underground on planets with harsh environments can save a lot of engineering work. However, it is not very common to build the main body of a palace underground on a healthy planet.

Rowan didn't know what was going on either. He clearly thought he was very sunny and cheerful, but for some reason the Swarm's style had started to become more underground.

The palace lacked elaborate decorations and technological features; everything appeared rather primitive, consistent with the reports from the Telo Civilization.

Elder Humins of the Epoch Clan walked through the underground passage, surveying the surrounding scenery while comparing it with the information in his mind. The walls were covered with eerie succulent plants emitting various fluorescent glows, and the protective suit on the seemingly sealed rock walls emitted a cavity warning, indicating that there were many hidden passages all around.

Humins had no doubt that if they made any rash moves, they would be overwhelmed by countless Biological Weapons. Once surrounded in an underground structure, escape was extremely difficult, for both attackers and defenders. Since the enemy was confident enough to build underground, they must have great confidence in some aspect of their capabilities.

Judging from the Swarm's past battle record, this is indeed the case. This race is very adept at underground concealment and combat. Should he propose to the Council of Elders strengthen these capabilities to avoid being put on the defensive in future conflicts?

Humins pondered. His appearance was very peculiar. He was short and stocky, but had an extremely long neck and a flat head, which made his overall height more than two meters. He looked like a shellless turtle prime minister with an elongated neck.

Dozens of escorts and guards followed behind him as they prepared to pay homage to the legendary queen of the Zerg. Actually, the legend was somewhat exaggerated, as Humins had only recently learned that the Zerg actually had a queen. He'd never even heard of such a thing; where did this legend come from?

The Zerg's secrecy is truly first-rate. Very few intelligent Zerg have shown themselves before, and they rarely mention their power structure in conversations. If it weren't for this agreement, with its highly sophisticated and formal rules requiring the personal signature of a ruler or governing body representing the civilization, who knows how long the Queen would have remained hidden.

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