119: Everyone plays like this, right? I'll join in!

"Activating Warp Drive Module."

A kalilein loaded with 5000ML of void energy—five times the amount night lamp had initially estimated was required—entered warp flight, heading toward the interior of Ursa Major V12.22.

A flash of white light, a distortion of space, and the black hull vanished into mid-air.

night lamp had set the warp landing point and the detonation time for it. At the moment of landing, he would transform into a firefly, allowing the void energy fluctuation erupted by the void fission bomb to forcefully fill that cleavage void—

Simple, crude, and efficient.

Eliminating the Swarm after recording the evidence was the solution Xi Hai and Kelaifu had initially discussed.

Furthermore, because the function of the star marker as a relay had been temporarily disabled by the Imperial Navy fleet, all communications sent by The Consortium fleet were completely intercepted, and not a single message got out.

Therefore, the blame for the total annihilation of The Consortium fleet was firmly pinned on those bugs.

As for those Consortium officers, the Empire did not care how Xi Hai handled them. Kelaifu's only request was that it be handled cleanly and that nothing be tied back to the Empire—

Standing on the Bridge of the Immortal, Kelaifu, having finished his negotiation with Xi Hai, watched with undivided attention the entire process of the kalilein preparing for and entering warp. After it disappeared, he played the few seconds of playback over and over again—

From reaching the designated position to calibrating the warp positioning, and then entering the warp state, it took only a mere 3.999 seconds.

Most of this time was spent calculating the landing point.

An incredibly tempting technology that could greatly enhance the Empire's military strength and even its influence—and it could also be provided to the Military Alliance under the name of "Special Supply," thereby offsetting a large batch of supplies that needed to be delivered to the Military Alliance every year.

After all, if the Empire didn't say anything, the Military Alliance wouldn't know how many resources this thing called a "Warp Engine" would consume.

Kelaifu firmly believed that as long as the diplomat's magical lips opened and closed, the people of the Military Alliance would absolutely eat the shit the Empire threw out, disguised as chocolate—and do so willingly.

At this moment, the communicator rang, and Xi Hai's voice came through: "Mr. Kelaifu, the void energy bomb has been deployed, and the candidates for claiming sovereignty have also been arranged."

"Then, once we confirm that the cleavage void here has been closed, we can leave, right?"

Kelaifu exchanged a glance with the first officer behind him, who made an "all set" gesture—the tampered communication had already been sent.

Now, after the people Xi Hai arranged made their sovereignty claim on Ursa Major V12.22, the Empire would immediately announce that they were protected by the Alliance Covenant and then dispatch a "humanitarian relief fleet" to assist in clearing out the bugs here and help build "national defense self-defense facilities."

As for retaliation from The Consortium?

It was currently the annual Military Alliance money-begging convention... oh no, it was during the Order Grand Ceremony. If The Consortium dared to conduct military operations against a nominal member of the alliance?

The "rule" parked at Order Seat V01.01 was not just a 50,000-meter large-scale model.

"That's about it."

"However, you might need to wait for us to fix the engine—at least to the point where it can move."

Xi Hai: ... The sterilization conceptual god vesta a021 truly lives up to its reputation.

... ...

At this moment, in the capital star system of the Cloud Consortium, Ursa Major V01.01,

at the L5 setting stable point within the system, floated a giant Space City from the third era; it was the political center of the entire Consortium.

Nominally, it belonged to all citizens of The Consortium—but in fact, apart from First-Class Citizens having seen it and Second-Class Citizens knowing of it, the other third, fourth, fifth, and sixth-class citizens had likely never even heard of what this thing was.

At this time, all Consortium officials of the rank of Minister and above had gathered in the Hall of Eternal Victory—their sun-like Grand Marshal had been waiting here for a long time.

When the last person to arrive, the Minister of Finance, entered the conference room three minutes early, Grand Marshal Dietrich Cloud tapped the table, signaling that the meeting was about to begin.

The Political Commissar to the side immediately closed the small notebook in his hand, which recorded "Great Grand Marshal patiently waits for the Ministers" and "Great Grand Marshal works day and night for the prosperity of The Consortium," bowed, and walked out.

"Bang!" The metal doors slowly closed, the holographic projectors in front of everyone lit up, and two documents appeared.

"Gentlemen, do you know what this is?"

Dietrich ignored the documents. He stood up, steadying himself on the table, and scanned everyone present. After opening those two documents, everyone's expression instantly turned dark—

"That's right!"

"A group of bandits has occupied Ursa Major V12.22, which rightfully belongs to The Consortium!"

Yes, those two documents were exactly the statements issued by the Empire and Xi Hai to all members of the Order Alliance through the star marker network after they had negotiated.

In the first one, the content could be summarized as "Ursa Major experienced a Void Creatures disaster. After the Imperial Navy and The Consortium Cosmic Army fought a bitter battle, the great disaster that threatened the survival of humanity was finally stifled in the cradle";

The content of the second document was that a force named "Norma Transport Corporation Exploration Department," citing the "Unoccupied Star System Occupation Principle" in the "Contract for Restoring Order and Restarting Civilization," had made a sovereignty claim over Ursa Major V12.22,

and the Empire, that shit-stirrer, had immediately recognized the legitimacy of this regime and signed a "Joint Offensive and Defensive Alliance Treaty" with it.

"Those bandits! Damned Empire!"

"I can almost be certain that this 'Norma Transport' is just a puppet pushed out by the Empire!"

"And even our fleet! I seriously suspect that it was all the work of the damned Imperial Navy!"

The Minister of Defense, who finished reading the document first, slammed the table and shouted, his face red, and after the others finished reading, they also expressed their relevant stances one after another.

Dietrich's face was so gloomy it could almost drip water. He looked at the officials who were slamming the table and said through gritted teeth:

"Now, the Empire's shameless act is a foregone conclusion."

"A heroic and fearless Consortium Lieutenant General has even sacrificed himself!"

"I ask you, how are we going to solve the problem of Ursa Major V12.22 now?"

The Minister of Defense spoke first: "Your Excellency Grand Marshal! That false emperor who uses autocracy and religion to control his subjects simply does not take us seriously at all!"

"Let's start a war! Use a pre-era Colossus to burn Ursa Major V12.22 to the ground, and then launch a full-scale war against the Empire!"

"That rotten Empire is just a crumbling, dilapidated house! As long as we are under your leadership, heroic Consortium soldiers will kick it once, and the Empire will collapse instantly!"

Before the last drop of spittle sprayed by the Minister of Defense could land, the Minister of Finance stood up directly and cursed angrily: "Do you think The Consortium's economic situation can still support a war?"

"We finally managed to reduce the supplies we provide to the Military Alliance every year by half, and you want to spend it on a war with no end in sight?"

"Furthermore—"

"We can't collect taxes," the Chief of Taxation to the side said, seeing the gaze of the Minister of Finance, and had to take up the topic. "First-Class Citizens are tax-exempt, Second-Class are halved, and the bulk of tax contributions—third and fourth-class citizens—almost every one of them can't escape your damned conscription office!"

"Our current tax revenue can barely support our military!"

The projected figure of the Minister of Foreign Affairs also joined the fray—his physical body was still attending the meeting at Order Seat V01.01—and he roared in a voice with electronic distortion:

"If we fight at this point, the Military Alliance will definitely intervene!"

"They have a spare military force at Order Seat right now!"

"If..."

"Bang, bang, bang!!!!!!" Suddenly, a huge sound came; it was Dietrich, and he slammed the table several times.

He looked at this bunch of guys in front of him with angry eyes and said:

"I don't need you to prove your loyalty with this kind of flamboyant arguing."

"I want a solution that can solve the problem right now."

"The Imperial territory we previously incited to rebel—wasn't it blown up entirely by them?"

"Now, can we activate a Colossus and use the Empire's method to blow up all of Ursa Major V12.22?"

After thinking, the first to speak was the Minister of Foreign Affairs— "Your Excellency Grand Marshal, this... I'm afraid that won't work."

"The Empire back then attacked after labeling the Cosmic Army in the rebellious region as rebels, using the pretext of clearing out rebels."

"And at that time, they were separating from the original regime to become independent; the procedures for sovereignty claims were too complex."

"Ursa Major 12.22 now already belongs to a legitimate regime within the Order Alliance."

"If we take action now... I'm afraid we would be handing a casus belli to both the Military Alliance and the Empire."

Dietrich felt his eyes were very dry; he didn't know what he wanted to say. So that... was there really no way?

Suddenly, a glimmer of sinister intent flashed in the eyes of the Minister of Defense, who had just recovered. He suddenly signaled to speak:

"Actually, it's not that there's no way."

"We have agents, too!"

"Isn't it just using a void fission bomb to blow everyone away?"

"We can do that too!"

Hearing this method, Dietrich thought about it, nodded slightly, and said: "Elaborate."

"..."