Hundred Flowers Star System, Jiujiang System, Jumu Star.
This planet was the administrative hub of the entire Jiujiang System. The Insect Race had occupied this star system for tens of thousands of years and had long since fortified it into an impregnable stronghold.
Yet as far as the eye could see, Jumu Star's surface presented a strange desolation.
Vast stretches of scorched earth and abandoned mining pits covered what had once been lush vegetation. Only the steel-built base city at the very center still retained the cold, hard outlines of an industrial civilization.
Scattered lights flickered in the city, while low-ranking soldier insects of the Insect Race patrolled the streets aimlessly.
Deep within the base city, deafening music filled a massive domed building.
General Yibo reclined across an enormous seat polished from a single piece of energy crystal. Two barbed insect appendages rested on the armrests, and the two antennae atop his head bobbed and quivered to the beat.
Before him lay a spacious sunken dance floor, where dozens of voluptuous Insect Race females swayed their waists, their scales reflecting a riot of colors beneath the neon lights.
Delicacies and fine wines plundered from various star systems were piled around the dance floor, and a cloyingly sweet, decadent scent filled the air.
"Keep the music playing! Keep dancing!"
Yibo raised a wineglass filled with dark green liquid and called out to the females on the dance floor, his tone full of smug languor.
He took another sip, leaned back against his seat, and narrowed his eyes as he recalled the good life he had enjoyed over the past few months.
Not long ago, all the prominent figures of the Shenhe-Body Civilization had suddenly been drawn to a lousy little planet called Blue Star.
As a result, the Shenhe fleets that