This Hive Mind Was Too Steady

Lu Shang lounged comfortably in a wooden rocking chair, with a burning fireplace beside him and a carpet spread across the floor.

The cave he lived in had been renovated and was no longer as bare as it had once been. The worker bees had smoothed and leveled the rock walls and floor until they were no worse than tiled surfaces.

After installing a batch of lights and appliances purchased from aliens, the entire cave became brightly lit and filled with the air of civilization.

Whenever he felt bored, Lu Shang could lie on the sofa and watch the news on an alien civilization's holographic television.

As he lay in the rocking chair, Lu Shang's thoughts drifted back to when he had intimidated Bahadun'er's crystal entities some time ago.

Whenever he recalled their reaction at the time, Lu Shang felt like laughing. He had only wanted to give them a scare.

Although Bahadun'er's crystal entities were far too weak to pose any real threat to the current Babel Swarm, they could still be disgusting if they were determined to be. For instance, some of them could hide while the rest reproduced madly, then continuously harass the swarm with hit-and-run attacks.

The swarm was currently dealing with the Galactic Alliance and did not have the energy to divide its forces and hunt down every one of Bahadun'er's crystal entities.

That was why Lu Shang had specifically sought out Bahadun'er for a friendly chat—not because he had nothing better to do, but because he wanted to achieve his goal.

What last shred of goodwill? He, Lu Shang, was no saint. Where would he get any goodwill from?

It was merely the art of language.

The final result was fairly good. From Bahadun'er's reaction, Lu Shang already knew the answer.

The rocking chair swayed gently, and for a moment, Lu Shang felt as though he had returned to Earth. Then, a message from the swarm abruptly pulled him back to reality.

The message had been delivered to Lu Shang by the former Sovereign and current hive mind, Nanali.

Lu Shang's relaxed expression gradually turned complicated.

He rose sharply from the rocking chair and asked, "When did this happen?"

"Just now," Nanali replied.

The attacks on the Galactic Alliance's administrative planets had been ongoing. Lu Shang had simply delegated those repetitive operations to the other hive minds.

Although the Galactic Alliance fleets had fought desperately to block them, keeping the advance from gaining much speed, the swarm had still maintained its momentum.

Just moments ago, the planetary creatures had arrived in their designated star systems. Yet they found neither their target administrative planets nor the Galactic Alliance fleets that had been desperately attacking them.

There was not a single artificial construct in the entire star system.

"Don't panic. I anticipated this long ago," Lu Shang said.

"As expected of you."

Nanali relaxed after hearing that. It hated unforeseen changes the most. Since the plan had never mentioned that enemy administrative planets could flee at faster-than-light speeds, it had appeared somewhat flustered.

If Nanali could read minds, it would have discovered that Lu Shang had not anticipated this at all...

Lu Shang was not some prophet who could foresee everything. He was merely an ordinary person and could not have predicted the Galactic Alliance's technological explosion. It had only been a little over a year since the Black-Hole-Induced Strike had first been used on the battlefield.

In just over a year, the enemy had completed an industrial revolution and given every administrative planet the industrial capacity to rapidly construct planetary-scale curvature engines.

More importantly, Lu Shang had not chosen to deeply analyze the information transmitted by the intelligence network. Otherwise, he should have noticed it earlier than hive minds like Nanali.

But none of that mattered. As long as Lu Shang could think of a solution, it was fine.

"Nanali, do you remember the psionic intelligence network the swarm established through infection in the past?"

"The Galactic Alliance's administrative planets cannot maintain faster-than-light escape forever. They will have to stop eventually. The psionic intelligence network we laid down before can provide the swarm with the locations of those administrative planets. You and the other hive minds will each command a group of planetary creatures and lie in wait one light-year away from those administrative planets."

"Once you are all concealed, I will contact the Galactic Alliance. The moment I smash my cup, you will act immediately and attack the administrative planets I designate."

The Galactic Alliance conference was filled with the noisy discussions of representatives from its member powers.

"Thanks to the realization of nano-industrial technology, the Alliance was able to complete such an immense amount of work in such a short time."

"Fortress ships that could previously exist only on blueprints can now be built thanks to the development of nano-industrial technology."

"Once the scale of our fortress ship fleet increases, the Alliance military's dependence on war machine swarms will be significantly reduced."

"Those damned swarm creatures will no longer be able to use war machine swarms to tie down the Alliance military."

Yes, the road was rough, but the future was bright. As long as the Alliance did not stop, the road ahead would continue to stretch onward...

Representatives from every member power believed that sending administrative planets into faster-than-light travel would be a historic moment—the beginning of the Galactic Alliance turning the tide of the war.

Without logistics and concerns over civilians, the Alliance military would certainly no longer have to hold back against the swarm creatures.

The conference was lively, but the atmosphere instantly froze when a notification window appeared.

"Report! We have received a diplomatic communication request from the Babel Swarm!"

"Then connect it... Wait, what did you just say? A diplomatic communication request from whom?"

The conference chairman instinctively began to agree, but stopped halfway through as he realized who wanted diplomatic contact with the Galactic Alliance.

The representatives of the various member powers were all dumbfounded—the Babel Swarm could conduct diplomacy?!

Facing the chairman's question, the subordinate in the notification window answered in exhaustive detail, "The Babel Swarm captured one of our ships on the battlefield and used its communication equipment to send us a diplomatic communication request. Shall we transfer it to the conference?"

After some discussion, the Galactic Alliance conference unanimously decided to establish diplomatic communication with the Babel Swarm.

They wanted to see what the Babel Swarm was trying to do this time.

"Connect it," the chairman said.

Lu Shang's figure soon appeared in the center of the conference. After sweeping his gaze across the representatives, Lu Shang said, "A pleasure to meet you all. My name is Lu Shang, and I will fully represent the swarm in political negotiations with the Galactic Alliance."

"You are Lu Shang, the hive mind that commands that mutated swarm within Dias Empire territory?"

Lu Shang nodded. "That's right. It's me."

The Dias Empire sneered with open disgust. "A hive mind from one swarm can represent the entire Babel Swarm? Where is the swarm's Sovereign?"

Lu Shang smiled meaningfully. "The Sovereigns within the swarm are too redundant. There will be no more Sovereigns in the swarm from now on."

"And as the commander-in-chief who has led the swarm in battle to this day, if I am not qualified, then who is?"

The entire Galactic Alliance conference was shaken by those words.

They had studied the Babel Swarm for so many years, yet this was the first time they had seen a hive mind dare to show such disrespect toward the swarm's Sovereign.

Moreover, from his words, they vaguely gathered that the mutated Babel Swarm seemed to no longer have a Sovereign. The decision-maker who had continuously led the swarm creatures against the Alliance was the mutated swarm's hive mind standing before them.

The Alliance chairman asked, "Swarm creature Lu Shang, what do you wish to discuss with us?"

"Of course, matters related to surrender," Lu Shang said.

The Banner Coalition mocked, "Your Babel Swarm wishes to surrender?"

Lu Shang wagged a finger. "No, no, no. It is not the swarm that will surrender. Certain members of your Galactic Alliance will surrender."

As he spoke, Lu Shang turned his gaze toward the representatives and solemnly declared, "Dias Empire, Banner Coalition, Yinlun Sea Kingdom, Manfut Interstellar Corps, Tranaya Coalition—I, on behalf of the Babel Swarm, demand that you surrender unconditionally at once and fully accept infection by swarm spores. Otherwise, the swarm will carry out devastating strikes against every one of your administrative planets that has yet to surrender."

The representatives who had been named sprang to their feet, glaring furiously at Lu Shang.

"Swarm creature Lu Shang, you cannot threaten—"

Before the Dias Empire representative could finish, his words caught in his throat and he could not speak another word. The same happened to the other representatives.

They had received reports that all of their mother civilizations' faster-than-light administrative planets were under attack by planetary creatures.