"I'm in a good mood today, so I'll explain it to you primitives. In the Milky Way, there are hundreds of millions of races that qualify as civilizations, but the vast majority are planetary civilizations or even lower. A planetary civilization can operate around its home planet, while a Stellar-Level Civilization can move freely within its home planetary system and make use of all the matter and energy in it. You're at that stage now, but only the early phase. You're using less than one ten-thousandth of the matter and energy in your home star. Above Stellar-Level Civilizations are Star System-Level Civilizations. A typical Star System-Level Civilization can control several planetary systems, with a territory ranging from dozens to hundreds of light-years across. Above them are Small Star Sector Civilizations. That's beyond your understanding. At that stage, the size of a civilization's territory no longer matters; technology is the deciding factor. Take me, for example. With this one ship alone, I could easily wipe out a Stellar-Level Civilization."
"Your home civilization truly is a great advanced civilization, Lord Patrols. A low-level civilization like ours is less than an ant before you. May I ask what brings you to our Solar System? We would be glad to serve you." To obtain more useful information, the leader humbled himself as much as possible and asked the most important question. Only with an answer could he determine whether the fleet would be safe.
"Those damned bugs, of course. I was supposed to be on vacation, but instead I was sent to patrol this desolate place. Not long ago, a spatial alarm detected what might have been a dimensional passage for a bug swarm, so I came to investigate. Damn it, by your reckoning, I've been flying for over three months just to reach this godforsaken place. But judging by your situation, I can confirm the report."
"Lord Patrols, what should we do next?" the leader asked cautiously.
"What should you do? Just destroy your so-called Solar System," the Patrols said casually.
"Hm? Damn it, stupid humans!" The Patrols' expression suddenly changed, and he cursed in a fury.
This is bad, the leader cried inwardly. His face turned pale in an instant. Everyone present was shrewd enough to realize at once that something had changed, but they were powerless to respond.
The alien ship ten thousand kilometers away suddenly fired twelve beams of intense white light, one at each of twelve Polaris ships. The beams struck their targets. In an instant, the twelve ships became twelve enormous balls of fire, then vanished into the void.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. Before anyone could react, twelve Polaris ships had been lost, meaning more than sixty million people had perished in space. Humanity had been dealing with the bugs for over twenty years, and though the population losses had been enormous, they had never reached sixty million, much less in the space of two or three seconds. Though the Patrols had claimed to have little interest in information about the fleet, he had secretly been probing every corner of it by some means all along.
The Patrols' sudden action stunned everyone. More than that, the brilliant light of the exploding Polaris ships illuminated the night sky like twelve suns. People aboard the other ships also felt the force of the disaster. Though they did not yet know exactly what had happened, no one thought it could be good.
The debris left by the exploding Polaris ships scattered through the stars in every direction, mingled with countless severed limbs and red globules of frozen blood.
"You!!!" Ministry of National Defense Minister Luo Zhigao slammed the table and stood up, his explosive temper flaring again. He wanted nothing more than to give the Patrols' hologram a thorough beating.
"Hmph. What about me? You dared to carry mother bugs on an interstellar voyage. This is just a small lesson. If I weren't in a good mood, there would be no need for you ants to exist after today."
The Patrols felt no psychological burden whatsoever over destroying twelve Polaris ships. To him, low-level civilizations like these were ones he could have wiped out on a whim in the past. If the situation throughout the Milky Way had not been tense, and if the even more powerful Great Star Region Civilizations had not been keeping him in check, humanity would have been nothing more than a plaything on which to vent his frustration with patrol duty.
"Zhigao! Calm down." The leader forced down his anger and grief as he warned Luo Zhigao.
"Great Lord Patrols, may I ask what we did wrong? The fleet is carrying a few bugs, but they are all under our strict control. Besides, these bugs are only first-generation bugs. Surely they pose no threat to you." The leader remained calm.
Having vented his anger, and with the leader treating him so respectfully, the Patrols seemed to calm down again. He spoke slowly. "You low-level civilizations are utterly stupid. Wherever these things appear, disaster follows. As punishment, I'll eliminate half your population. But you may choose which half to give up. Don't thank me; I'm rarely this generous. You have two minutes to make your choice, or I'll choose at random."
"What? You're going to eliminate half our population too? You've gone too far! Even if it costs me my life, I'll make you pay for this!" Luo Zhigao was completely enraged and shouted at the Patrols.
"Leader!"
"Leader!"
"Leader!"
Everyone was furious, and they all rose to their feet.
"Calm down, calm down, calm down!" the leader shouted. With control of the fleet and the J-85 and J-90 fighter groups stripped from them, they had no effective means of resistance. Even if they did, the Patrols' technology would surely allow him to sweep aside the entire fleet. Not only would resistance accomplish nothing, it would further enrage the Patrols. There could be only one consequence: the complete extinction of the Chinese Nation.
After composing himself, the leader said to the Patrols, "Lord Patrols, please spare our people. They are innocent. If someone must be held responsible, you may take my life."
"You are a capable leader of your civilization. I must say, it is rare for a low-level civilization like yours to produce such an exceptional leader. However, my order cannot be changed. Half your population must be eliminated as punishment."
"Lord Patrols, I cannot make that choice. Though I am the leader of our civilization, I have no right to decide whether our people live or die."
"In that case, I'll be a good man and choose for you." As the Patrols spoke, his ship fired four beams of light. Four Polaris ships exploded with a roar, the shock waves shaking the starry expanse and the hearts of the people watching.
Faced with a being they could not resist, with more than eighty million people dying one after another in less than ten minutes, and with his subordinates, who likewise wanted to cry but had no tears, the leader's eyes filled with tears for the first time.
"Well? Are you still going to let me choose for you?" the Patrols said smugly.
The leader said nothing, merely staring at the Patrols, his eyes full of anger and helplessness. The Patrols probably could not understand that look, however. After all, he was not human.
The Patrols seemed to greatly enjoy bullying a weaker race and holding others' lives in his hands. Four beams of light shot toward the distant Polaris ships. People silently closed their eyes and waited for fate to decide.
Suddenly, four other beams flashed through the void, each intercepting a beam from the Patrols' ship. When the newly appeared beams met those from the Patrols' ship, their brightness abruptly increased severalfold. The combined beams, now brighter, struck the Polaris ships, but the expected explosions did not occur. The four ships that had been hit continued steadily forward, unchanged, as though the four beams had been ordinary light.
As everyone wondered what had happened, a ship resembling the J-90 appeared beside the Patrols' vessel. Blue light flowed across its hull, and it was approximately three hundred meters long. It maintained the same speed as the Patrols' ship, traveling alongside it.
"Lord Destroyers," the Patrols said respectfully.
"Patrols, you dared to disregard the orders of the Great Star Region Civilization and attack and destroy a lower civilization at will—and a Stellar-Level Civilization at that. If I report this, hmph." The being aboard the blue ship, whom the Patrols had called the Destroyers, spoke in displeasure.
"Lord Destroyers, I was only teaching them a lesson. They dared to carry mother bugs on an interstellar voyage."
"They are only a civilization that has just entered the early stellar stage and know nothing of the situation in the galaxy. Even if they carried mother bugs, you only needed to eliminate the mother bugs. Why did you massacre so many of their people?"
"Lord Destroyers, it's only a low-level civilization. What's the harm in teaching them a lesson? It's good for them. It lets them learn about the cruelty of the universe early."
"Enough. There's nothing more for you to do here. Go to Star LHZDE123 immediately, find out exactly what happened, and then notify me."
"Yes, Lord Destroyers."
The Patrols resented having their game interrupted, but the other's position was one rank higher. Even though their own home civilization was somewhat stronger than the Destroyers' home civilization, they did not dare act recklessly. No one dared disobey the rules set by the Great Star Region Civilization. Though they had never even seen a being from a Great Star Region Civilization, they had heard that even the leader of their own civilization had to bow their noble head before one.
When the two alien visitors finished speaking, the Patrols turned their ship around again and headed toward the Solar System. Of course, the leader and the others could not know what the two had said. They only knew that the blue ship seemed to have saved four Polaris ships. It appeared that the blue ship's owner might be well disposed toward them. Yet events in the universe could not be judged by earthly common sense, and everyone was now keenly aware of that.
Everyone waited silently, not daring to make the slightest move for fear that, having seen one fierce wolf leave, they might attract a vicious tiger. The holographic light flickered, and an image of a new being appeared before them. Compared with the Patrols' repulsive appearance, this one seemed a little more in keeping with human aesthetics. Its form was much like a human's, except that it had an extra pair of hands, no nose, and somewhat exaggerated facial features: very large eyes and a very small mouth. One could imagine that its home planet was probably far from its star and received little light, or else that its ancestors were like Earth animals that slept by day and came out at night.
"Who is the leader of your civilization?" the being finally asked.
"Hello, I am the leader of human civilization," the leader said, bowing again.
"Hello. I am the Destroyers of this sector."
"Lord Destroyers, welcome."
"There's no need to call me 'lord.' I'm only a minor destroyer, not worthy of that title." The Destroyers actually gave a self-mocking smile.
"Your civilization is far more advanced than ours. It is only right that we address you as 'lord.'"
"As you wish. I'm sorry about the Patrols' behavior just now. It cost you many lives. But even as their superior, I cannot punish them. They broke no rules; their methods were simply a little excessive."
"Lord Destroyers, we wouldn't dare, but I ask that you stop killing our people. They are innocent. All of this is my responsibility."
"Oh, don't worry. I don't share the Patrols' taste for killing. Our civilization is a peaceful one. I'm only carrying out the orders of a Great Star Region Civilization: to clear the Insect Race out of your home planetary system and tell you the basics about the Milky Way. After that, you may leave."
"The basics about the Milky Way?"
"Yes. It goes back more than two million years. At the time, your ancestors were still eating raw meat and drinking blood, their intelligence undeveloped, while disaster had already begun in the Milky Way." The Destroyers paused in thought, then began their account.