Such a World Is Too Dreamlike

If there were an opportunity to go to a world without exploitation, oppression, or classes, would you be willing to go?

If there were such a world, where you could become a "god" whose wishes came true, never have to worry about poverty again, never have to fret over food, clothing, housing, or transportation, never have to fear illness, never have to be someone trampled beneath others' feet—you could do anything you wanted. Would you be willing to abandon everything and go?

If you had such a choice, where you could obtain the happy life you truly wanted without having to endlessly struggle every day with no end in sight or face fierce competition, how would you choose?

In the past, if anyone had asked such questions, the Banna People of Bratan would only have thought there was something wrong with that person's head.

But now, such a thing had truly been placed before them, asking them to choose.

All because the Babel Swarm had proposed "love and dreams."

Through biotechnology, brains could be linked together, while chemical substances such as hormones and neurotransmitters could regulate and influence the five senses. Swarm organisms could construct one or more illusory worlds, and within that illusory reality, the Swarm could satisfy everything a person desired. After all, hallucinations required very few resources to create.

Of course, that satisfaction was false. But if a person remained immersed in that false reality from birth until death, then from that individual's perspective, it was not necessarily any less real.

At the interstellar airport on Bratan, a group of Banna People had gathered at the entrance. Opposing them stood a group of fully armed soldiers carrying live weapons.

Heavy individual combat armor, massive firearms with barrels as wide as half a human face—every piece of equipment radiated danger, enough to make one's hair stand on end.

Yet the Banna People gathered here were not afraid. The Banna Person at the very front tried to force his way past the soldiers' blockade, only to have his arm seized. No matter how he struggled, he could not break free.

"Let go of me! Let me through! I want to become a respondent of the Babel Swarm!" The Banna Person furiously pounded the metal arm gripping his own.

But his actions were meaningless. Aside from letting everyone know how angry he was, they accomplished nothing.

The soldier inside the combat armor painstakingly tried to persuade him. "Wake up! If you go, you'll only become food for those Swarm organisms!"

"So what? Where am I not being eaten? It's all the same!"

With that, the Banna Person struggled even more furiously. "Let me through!"

The soldiers in combat armor were now caught in a dilemma. Their orders were not to harm these people and to avoid bloody conflict as much as possible.

But given the current situation, it seemed impossible to avoid bloodshed even if they wanted to.

If possible, the soldiers would rather go to the battlefield than continue carrying out this blocking mission. This assignment disgusted them too much.

Amid the noisy clamor of the Banna People, a faint whistling sound cut through the air.

As time passed, the sound grew increasingly distinct, drawing everyone's attention.

All eyes turned toward it. A small spacecraft approached from afar. After it landed on the tarmac, a Banna Person stepped out.

Anyone with eyes could recognize him at once. He was the general often seen in the news, the man in charge of the planetary defense system.

Once they knew his identity, the unruly crowd consciously made way for him.

The general stood opposite the soldiers, then ordered, "That's enough. Let them through."

"Yes, General!"

Daring not to delay in the slightest, the soldiers saluted the general in unison before clearing away the barricades at the interstellar airport entrance.

The Banna People who had waited at the entrance for so long surged toward the various spacecraft in the airport like wild horses breaking free of their reins.

Watching the mad scene, the secretary accompanying the general looked as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

"General..."

The secretary hesitated, but ultimately did not ask.

"If you have a question, just ask," the general said.

"Is it really alright to let them through like this?" the secretary asked.

The Babel Swarm had suddenly changed its tune and begun preaching "love and dreams." This did not make the secretary lower his guard. On the contrary, it made him sense an especially strong stench of conspiracy.

No matter what, he could not believe the Babel Swarm was doing this out of goodwill.

Bloodthirsty, brutal Swarm organisms talking to others about love and dreams?

What kind of interstellar joke was that?

"This is the governor's decision," the general answered calmly, watching as large spacecraft departed one after another from the interstellar airport.

Once these ships left the atmosphere, they would head toward the planetary organisms left behind by the Swarm in this star system.

Following the general's gaze, the secretary looked at the ships taking off as well. He could not help sighing. "I don't understand why the governor would give such an order."

"The reason isn't as complicated as you imagine," the general explained. "No matter who was governor, faced with the current situation, there really was no choice."

Above them, the Babel Swarm was pressing down on them. Although the Swarm organisms had promised never to attack infected planets, who could guarantee they absolutely would not attack?

Below them, the troublesome lower-class rabble was causing unrest. After hearing the Babel Swarm boast about such a wonderful illusory world, then thinking of the suffering in their real lives, they would naturally risk their lives to defect to the enemy.

Caught between pressure from above and below like this, would another governor really be able to do better?

The secretary cautiously asked, "Can you see what the Babel Swarm's purpose is in doing this?"

The general immediately laughed. "How could I possibly see through it? I'm not a Swarm organism. Maybe they really are doing all this for love and dreams."

Lu Shang asked within the Swarm network, "How many people have we taken in so far?"

"4,311. Not many," replied the planetary organism in charge of the matter.

Lu Shang was not dissatisfied as the planetary organism had expected. In good spirits, he said, "No rush. I expected that not many people would be willing to accept shelter at the beginning."

"The seeds have already been planted. Time will make it impossible for them to keep suppressing their own impulses," Lu Shang said.

The planetary organism only half understood and could not help asking, "And then?"

Lu Shang looked puzzled. "And then? There is no 'and then.' Once the plan reaches that point, the war between the Swarm and the Galactic Alliance will be over."

"???" The planetary organism froze for a moment, completely unable to understand the logic behind this.

"I don't understand."

"I said before that we should make as many friends as possible and as few enemies as possible," Lu Shang said.

"Those aliens willing to be taken in will naturally become friends standing on our side."

"When ninety-nine percent of a civilization are our friends, does the attitude of the remaining one percent still matter?"

What Lu Shang was doing was immersing the people of every civilization in the Galactic Alliance in a beautiful falsehood.

As long as he achieved that, the Galactic Alliance would no longer pose a threat to the Swarm.

After all, history was created by the people. The progress of a vast interstellar civilization naturally could not be separated from every individual's contribution to civilization as a collective.

So what if Lu Shang used technological means to hold the Galactic Alliance's "people" in the palm of his hand?