The Vassal Race Was Far Too Arrogant

At the Galactic Alliance conference, the representatives of the member states had not been in very good spirits lately.

The Babel Swarm's constant emergence of new anomalies had left them utterly exhausted.

"For love and dreams..."

"I thought our opponent was merely undergoing powerful military mutations. I never expected..."

"The Alliance has truly encountered a huge problem this time. If we let this continue, more and more people will defect to the Babel Swarm, and in the end, it may even lead to destruction."

The virtual world possessed something reality could never match. In reality, one would inevitably encounter unpleasant things, but that would not happen in the virtual world.

And if more than ninety percent of a civilization's population became immersed in the virtual world, then that civilization would have no hope left.

Even more terrifyingly, this had been created by the Babel Swarm. Considering their previous strategy of deliberately infecting administrative planets with harmless spores, the answer had finally become clear.

It was to win the trust of the vast lower classes of the Galactic Alliance and pave the way for their upcoming "love and dreams."

Once the lower classes got a taste of the benefits offered by the Babel Swarm, the Galactic Alliance's population would inevitably flood toward the Babel Swarm in an avalanche.

"Block the channels through which this information spreads. We must block them immediately! We can't wait!" cried a member representative who resembled a slime.

"Calm down. Not much time has passed since this was discovered. We have plenty of time to prevent this information from leaking," another representative advised.

The slime-like representative said anxiously, "But we can't stop the Babel Swarm from continuing to infect administrative planets. Contact with those planets will inevitably lead to information leaks. They will definitely tell the lower classes the truth."

"Then what do we do? After the Babel Swarm infects a planet, are we supposed to have the fleet burn it?" said a member representative resembling a starfish with two eyes.

The starfish-like alien's proposal immediately drew unanimous dissatisfaction from the other representatives.

"We absolutely cannot do that. It would be equivalent to pushing every infected planet to the swarm creatures' side. They might even join the fight against the Alliance."

"Then tell me, what should we do?"

At last, one representative proposed, "I believe every administrative planet needs to be equipped with a warp engine. As long as administrative planets have mobility, the enemy will no longer be able to find them, making infection impossible. We can use distance and concealment to build an information barrier, while also spreading awareness of the Babel Swarm's horrors and the harm their 'love and dreams' pose to civilization itself."

"We will now proceed to the voting stage."

After the conference chair finalized the proposal, the vote began.

"I agree."

"Agreed."

Due to the imminent crisis, the meeting ended far more quickly than usual.

Meanwhile, on the space battlefield, the Babel Swarm's expansion continued. After Lu Shang finalized the new strategy and tactics, planetary organisms only rarely fought the Galactic Alliance fleet head-on, such as when occupying a star system containing an administrative planet.

At all other times, they would jump away immediately upon encountering the enemy, giving the Galactic Alliance fleet no chance to delay their advance.

The Galactic Alliance fleet, on the other hand, had only just managed to widely adopt unmanned warships, yet found it extremely difficult to get an opportunity to clash with the planetary organisms. It was undoubtedly frustrating.

Later, the Galactic Alliance's unmanned fleets learned their lesson. Knowing that the planetary organisms would certainly head toward locations containing administrative planets, they deployed large numbers of fleets throughout various star systems.

Overall, the fighting remained intense. However, Lu Shang no longer needed to worry about most battles; he left them to the other swarm Overminds.

Well, it definitely wasn't because Lu Shang wanted to slack off. This was called giving the other Overminds an opportunity to hone their abilities.

If Lu Shang handled everything himself, what would the swarm need other Overminds for?

Therefore, all this work was a gift Lu Shang had deliberately bestowed upon the Overminds.

Just as Lu Shang was wondering what he should do after the war ended, a mechanical electronic voice suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Please respond if received... Please respond if received... This is Bahadun'er..."

Bahadun'er?

Lu Shang froze. The name sounded familiar, but he could not recall it at once.

He carefully searched through his memories. Finally, deep within the swarm's memories, Lu Shang found a few scattered records.

Bahadun'er, a crystalline lifeform species and vassal race of the Void God. Like the Babel Swarm, it had once ravaged the galaxy under the Void God's leadership...

It seemed that aside from the Babel Swarm, other vassal races still remained in the galaxy...

Thinking this, Lu Shang replied through the swarm network, "Responding. This is the Babel Swarm."

"Searching... Confirmed. The communication target belongs to the same faction..." Bahadun'er continued in a voice like an ancient radio.

"Task issued... Investigate the location of the Void God's seal... Complete..."

Hearing the other party issue a task, Lu Shang was briefly taken aback before returning to normal.

"Wait. There's something I don't understand. I'd like to ask about it." Lu Shang stopped Bahadun'er, which was preparing to sever the psychic connection.

Bahadun'er said, "Query confirmed... Please ask."

Lu Shang asked, "Why does the task you've issued have no reward? There's no reward for completing it?"

Bahadun'er answered matter-of-factly, "Searching... Reward... None..."

Lu Shang's expression went blank for a moment. This fellow not only wanted to use him as free labor, but also thought it was perfectly natural?

Was this guy treating me like meat on a chopping block?

What did that mean?

He thought he had me in the bag?

Lu Shang asked amiably, "Bahadun'er, are you saying you want me to work for you without receiving any reward, searching the galaxy for a Void God sealed in some place no one knows?"

"Query confirmed... Yes," Bahadun'er replied.

Very good!

What a splendid "yes"!

It had been quite a while since anyone dared to be this arrogant!

What a refreshing experience!

"Then you can get lost right now. I have no reason to help something with no value whatsoever," Lu Shang replied as he casually dug at his ear.

Bahadun'er threatened, "According to Protocol 0132, vassal races must unconditionally follow the Lord of the Void. Violation of this clause shall be regarded as betrayal and punished by immediate execution."

"Execution?" Lu Shang's originally amiable smile grew even more pleasant.

"How terrifying. I'll wait for you to carry out the execution. Don't make me wait too long, understand?"

"I'm afraid I won't be able to resist coming over and beating you to death myself. You'd better come."