Doubt

Rowan has a very strong sense of curiosity, which caused him a lot of trouble in the past. Since the Epoch Clan installed quantum communication, reading gossip about various races has become another pastime for Rowan.

Therefore, Rowan also noticed the voices of the Riken Race.

However, Rowan didn't care. To be honest, without his approval, the Koya Alliance's plan simply couldn't be implemented.

After so many years of development, thanks to the Riken Race's universal vaccination program, at least 200 million Riken Race people are now in Intellect. They occupy 80% of the Reken military, political and business circles, secretly controlling everything in the Riken Race.

That's not all. At least half of the Riken Race has already completed physical modifications, Rowan can forcibly extract their spirits from their bodies at any time. It can be said that the life and death of the Riken Race are only in Rowan's hands.

With this ability, if the Life-Extending Serum could be widely available throughout the Alliance, Rowan could even take control of the entire the Alliance without bloodshed. However, according to calculations, at the current pace, it would take at least ten thousand years to achieve universal availability. This is assuming everything goes smoothly and there is no resistance from any civilization.

In such a long period of time, the Swarm could even rival the entire Star Sea Alliance through sheer strength. Even if the mastermind behind the scenes is oblivious to time, they wouldn't give the Swarm this much time.

Rowan already knew about the Koya Alliance when they first approached the Riken Race. He initially thought it was just a simple attempt to trip them up, so he went along with it to see what kind of trouble they were up to.

But as the Koya Alliance continued to reveal their plans, Rowan sensed something was amiss. Perhaps this was the next move of the mastermind he had been waiting for?

As he learned more and more, Rowan became increasingly certain of his guesses. He had figured out his opponent's tactics and vaguely guessed what the mastermind behind the scenes was aiming for.

While the Koya Alliance may know the truth, it is more likely that they are also pawns, and their so-called plan is probably being deliberately pushed forward by the mastermind behind the scenes.

Since there was no deep-seated hatred between the two sides, and the conflict between civilizations is not simply a brawl between individuals, anything is possible under the influence of impulse. The brain of a civilization is composed of the wisdom of countless individuals, and even if a few individuals act impulsively, the other calm individuals can restrain them.

Not to mention the Koya Alliance, which is composed of more than twenty civilizations. The conflict between the Swarm and the Duoqi Civilization is nothing to them. They are too busy laughing at the spectacle to get involved in this dispute themselves.

Alliance agreement? Rowan chuckled. He'd seen those agreements through the Riken Race; they weren't even a proper alliance, barely qualifying as banding together for mutual support. If the Swarm had attacked first, they might have united to resist. But now, the Swarm Duoqi Civilization had stirred things up themselves and messed it up.

Not only did they become a laughing stock, but they also lost tens of thousands of crew members. But if you were to say that the Duoqi Civilization did this to stand up for those prisoners of war, they themselves would probably laugh out loud.

Rowan knew all too well what became of those prisoners of war after they were taken back.

They had been imprisoned by the Swarm for over sixty years, and upon their return, they were not treated as heroes. Fearing resentment, the Duoqi government concentrated them on a small Colony Star, ostensibly for garrison duty, but in reality, in a state of semi-detention.

Therefore, the tens of thousands of Intellect did not obtain any useful information, which can be considered Rowan's relatively unsuccessful investment. Fortunately, after a hundred years, some of those Intellect also "died" through some means, and after returning to the Swarm Network, they became somewhat useful.

The Duoqi Civilization's intervention was solely for the sake of saving face. However, the loss of face was already a fait accompli, and unless the Duoqi Civilization fought its way back, it was certain that it would never regain that face.

In the end, they inexplicably united and became unusually determined to destroy the Swarm. If you were to say that there wasn't a mastermind behind it all, Rowan would never believe it.

Within the Star Sea Alliance, in the middle and even inner circles, there are some unique civilizations. Because their territories have completely bordered other members, and they are too lazy to travel such great distances to the outer circles to find unclaimed star systems for development, they have lost the pioneering spirit of their ancestors and have completely given up.

Besides indulging in spiritual entertainment, they usually have various other quirks. For example, some civilizations are particularly fond of sympathizing with the weak. They often use related pretexts to help those they deem in need, thereby achieving spiritual satisfaction.

These beings typically possess relatively substantial resources, far surpassing those of many civilizations in the outer sphere. Moreover, due to their long history, they have spent considerable time within the Star Sea Alliance, resulting in extensive social circles and a wealth of connections.

And because they often don't cause too much trouble, the surrounding forces don't want to wake them up and create rivals for themselves. Having a neighbor who is easygoing and doesn't care much is something many civilized people dream of.

Therefore, in an environment where no one wanted to offend them, their behavior gradually became more eccentric and domineering.

The Koya Alliance had their sights set on these guys. With deliberate manipulation, the plight of the Riken Race made it to the top of the Star Sea Alliance's internal news trending topics. Sure enough, this unprecedented information caught the attention of those idle bastards.

In the past, civilizations and organizations had at most helped endangered subhuman species or animals; they had never encountered such a large-scale task—helping an entire civilization in need. This alone was enough to bring those races seeking spiritual fulfillment to climax.

As for the other side, the Zerg, who bully the weak, what is their strength? They don't care about relevant information at all, so they think, what are they, a rural native from the outer circle?

As a result, the atmosphere became strange, with established powers constantly stepping in, waving the banner of the Holy Mother and demanding that the Epoch Clan redefine the rules, protect weaker civilizations, and provide them with a healthy environment to grow.

If Rowan was only 80% certain of his guess before, he was now 100% certain. Since the Swarm was an outer-circle native, what was the Koya Alliance, which also belonged to the outer-circle forces,? They simply didn't have the ability to launch a propaganda war of this scale.

It seems the mastermind behind this is quite powerful, not only having their own people within the Epoch Clan, but also wielding considerable influence among various other clans. But what exactly are they trying to do? With such strength, why are they acting so clansmanship? Their scheme can only be aimed at the Epoch Clan.

But what exactly is the role of the Swarm in all of this?

In fact, Rowan had roughly guessed the phased goals of the other party's current series of actions, but when it came to connecting these with their ultimate goal, something just didn't seem right.