The torn apart natural disaster Swarm is so difficult to deal with, and Swarm with Overmind is even more of a threat to the galaxy.
Wendak has only one choice, activate Shroud weapon and crush the consciousness of Overmind again.
However, everything has a price, and the price of activating Shroud weapon is even heavier. To drive its powerful power requires the consumption of mortal souls.
Last time, the death penalty was used, which caused a great response from the society, accusing the current government of disregarding human rights, and the support rate of Wendak's ruling party dropped a lot.
In the council, Sapphire Civilization also used this matter to attack Zero Civilization. Standing on the moral high ground, Sapphire Civilization gained a lot of political benefits.
The first activation of Shroud weapon consumed the souls of millions of people. At that time, Swarm ravaged a star field with an area of only about a hundred light years. Now, in order to ensure that no blind spots are reached and attack the star field within a thousand light years, tens of millions of people are needed.
Shroud weapon is a double-edged sword, any benefit obtained from Shroud must be paid for.
In order for the party to continue to be in power, Wendak can no longer activate Shroud weapon with its own population.
Giving up Shroud weapon was also unacceptable, so the Archon thought of a way to get the best of both worlds.
There are many civilizations in Stellaris Council that do not care about their own population, and there are a large number of slaves and oppressed people.
And these civilizations are also very interested in Shroud weapon. You can let them use Shroud weapon in the name of scientific research.
Let these civilizations pay the population price of starting Shroud weapon in exchange for their civilization's short-term research on Shroud weapon.
It took the Zeluo people thousands of years to understand the secret of Shroud weapon. They paid a lot of money and had a lot of luck. Even if other civilizations study it for a few years and learn a little bit at most, they will never understand the core.
The Silicon Alliance is a good choice. They cannot access Shroud, and it is more difficult to study Shroud weapon.
Thinking of this, Wintak, who works vigorously and resolutely, immediately contacted the Silicon Alliance's ambassador in Paradise Garden.
After a brief communication, the ambassador agreed to a meeting and exchange between the top leaders of the two civilizations.
After half an hour of preparation, quantum communication technology allowed two people separated by tens of thousands of light years to talk without delay.
"Your Excellency, Grand Consul, has something important happened?"
A robot appeared on the screen in front of Wendak. There was no special decoration on his body, only a flashing red one-eye on his head and a clearly visible circuit board inside.
This is the silicon-based alliance rotating civilization, the leader intelligence of the Gestalt civilization. There are many models of them, and they will be replaced if they are worn out. They have only one name, Leader One.
"Our Zelo civilization wants to make a deal with the Silicon Alliance, a deal related to the security of the galaxy."
If facing other civilizations, Wendak would greet each other, get closer to each other, and slowly propose proposals.
But when communicating with Gestalt civilization, the more concise and concise the better.
After talking about the opening, Wintake transmitted his thoughts and transaction contents, including the message Swarm Overmind.
The mechanized leader No. 1 understood the content of the information very quickly. After his red one eye flashed a dozen times, he understood everything.
"According to Gestalt calculations, Overmind is the biggest threat and must be eliminated. The transaction can be carried out, but the content needs to be modified." The electronic voice of Leader No. 1 was emotionless.
"For the peace and stability of the galaxy, the Zero civilization is willing to make more efforts." Wendak replied calmly.
"The price of population can be paid by the death cults in the alliance. Their form of civilization does not care much about the death of individuals. Their reproduction relies on assimilating other life forms."
"The content of the trade is that the Zero Civilization took the lead in communicating with the civilizations within the Council to purchase slaves, with a quantity of 12 million. The Silicon Alliance has the right to research Shroud weapon for one year."
The corner of Wendak's mouth twitched slightly. The robots of the Gestalt civilization may seem dull, but they are not stupid at all. They can also lie and ask for exorbitant prices.
"At the current market price, the price of slaves is the highest in eight hundred years. The Death Cult increases its number by assimilating other life forms. Do they want to earn a population of two million without paying any price?"
Knocking on the table in front of him, Wendak showed some anger.
"Is the Silicon Alliance so short-sighted if it doesn't want to pay the price and only sees benefits? Please remember that permanent members not only have rights but also obligations."
The red light on Leader One's head flashed faster.
"Shroud, collecting souls is not calculated based on the number of people, but based on the quality of the soul. The first time Shroud weapon was launched, the Zero people made a huge sacrifice, and the entire alliance expressed admiration for the Zero people's sacrifice."
"The people of the Death Order have souls, and they can touch some Psionics, but their Psionics potential is less than one-fifth of the per capita Psionics of the Zero people. Calculated at this ratio, the price is too heavy."
Wendak frowned. He didn't expect the Silicon Alliance to know so much. The soul is in Shroud and can be weighed. This was a hole he dug for the Silicon Alliance.
I didn't expect to be found out. I don't know where the Silicon Alliance got the information from, whether it was researched by itself or stolen by spies.
"Okay, Leader No. 1, I agree with your statement. It's just that your price is too high. We are in a war and money is being spent everywhere." Wintak admitted directly without any pretense or coercion.
Nodding, Leader No. 1 on the screen plugged the data cable on his head. Half a minute later, he proposed new conditions.
"The demand for slaves can be halved, but we need a lot of alloys and rare minerals. Grand Archon, we are building the Silicon Alliance's own Titan-class battleships, and there is still a gap in resources."
"Well... that gap is not easy to fix. We can provide some alloys, but you need to solve most of them yourself."
After seeing the contents of the resource list sent by Leader No. 1, the quantity was relatively reasonable, and Wendak was already ready to agree.
"Titan-class battleships cannot effectively solve war problems." Wendak said as he picked up the documents on the side. "This is a very popular military concept Antilians recently. High-quality high-tech weapons can only be effective for a short time. A large number of usable weapons is the key to victory in war."
"Our enemy, the natural disaster Swarm, is practicing this. The speed at which we destroy them is far less than the speed at which they reproduce."
When Wendak finished speaking, Leader One's electronic eyes only blinked, "Antilians is right, but they have two Titan-class battleships and are still building a third one."