New Human Civilization, The Rejuvenation carrier-level Mother Ship, in a certain large conference room, staff members were bustling back and forth, exceptionally busy...
Many senior government officials gathered in this large conference room, discussing issues that included contact with various civilizations.
Faced with these malicious external forces, people couldn’t help but exercise extreme caution.
Because this kind of strategic multiparty game completely surpassed traditional one-on-one games, it caused even greater variables in the situation. Generally speaking, these variables were rather favorable for the New Human Civilization. With nothing left to lose and the situation hardly able to worsen, they might as well smash the pot to be rid of it, making things a complete mess.
"Don’t panic, everyone, this time our strategic deterrence has essentially achieved our goal!"
"The waters have been thoroughly muddied. The Apollo Civilization and the Walker Alliance now have many more concerns—whether they are willing to engage in an all-out war remains to be seen."
"On paper, who is stronger and who is weaker has become less important. The military is merely an extension of politics, and war is the product of irreconcilable interests. Without these variables, the New Human Civilization would inevitably be at a disadvantage in the future situations."
"But now, here come the variables."
"As of now, the parties have not reached irreconcilable differences and there is still a chance for de-escalation. Our ultimate goal is to de-escalate through deterrence."
"Introducing variables could actually lead to de-escalation?" Several young council members were dumbfounded, slightly unable to follow the reasoning.
A military expert stood on the stage and explained, "The other Great Forces are also paying close attention to the situation here, with subtle intentions to interfere. Several nearby forces have begun deploying observation spaceships, just waiting for things to escalate further. Think about it: it was initially just a dispute between us humans and the Apollo Civilization, but now it involves the Walkers and even more forces... If a real fight breaks out, wouldn’t it lead to an all-encompassing war?"
"Do the Walkers want an all-encompassing war? If they don’t, on the contrary, they might prefer to calm things down."
Having understood the reasoning, these young people’s eyes lit up and they exhaled deeply.
But this move was too risky.
In the fourth hour, the New Human Civilization’s astronomical center received a transmission. Some civilizations wanted to pay a high price to purchase the manufacturing technique of the Planet Busters!
The Scientific Council dismissed the request without a second thought.
What an interstellar joke—Planet Busters were fake, no real manufacturing technique existed. And even if it did, the new humans would certainly not sell it.
In the fifth hour, the Reichmia Civilization sent a message expressing their willingness to return the territory of the Dyson Sphere.
Humans ignored the message, suspecting it was a ploy by some backing force, using the "return" as an opportunity to achieve a certain goal, so they simply disregarded it.
In the sixth hour, the Arida Alliance proposed some strange conditions: if the New Human Civilization could pledge twenty percent of its population as hostages, they would send troops to assist in ambushing, especially when ambushing the Walker Alliance.
Needless to say, such insincere conditions were outright rejected.
These rascals obviously relished in chaos, using the new humans as cannon fodder!
Caught in the vortex, every step had to be cautious and vigilant, and people didn’t actually want to go to war. People didn’t place their hopes on other civilizations, which had their own concerns and were not trustworthy.
One of the military experts sighed and said, "This is probably a probe from the other forces... Anyway, let’s remain passive and wait for the response from the Apollo Civilization and the ’Walker Alliance’; now it’s their turn to play their cards."
"If they don’t play their cards, neither will we."
This wait lasted a day and a night.
People even ate and slept in this room, grabbing a quick bite then lying down on the table for a brief rest. In such critical moments, with a large number of soldiers on duty 24 hours, how could these high-ranking officials even think about comfort?
While awaiting news from the Walker Alliance, many young officers were completely on edge as if every sound startled them.
The older individuals had already departed with the Qicheng Titan Level, leaving mostly young people behind. But young people have a common problem: they can be impulsive and easily startled, even when there’s no need for panic...
Zhang Yuan was also with bloodshot eyes, having not closed them since the explosion of the "Planet Buster".
The contact between the Apollo Civilization and the Walkers was his conjecture. The vote at the time was very contentious, but the entire proposal was still implemented...
If the whole plan failed... well, let’s not talk about issues of responsibility for now.
What’s most crucial is that they had observed the "Apollo Civilization’s" Planet-level Fortress continuing to approach, not stopping due to the explosion of the "Planet Buster" and without sending any communication.
Now that they had provoked the much stronger "Walker Alliance," the next developments were unpredictable, and guessing the Walker Alliance’s next move was even more difficult.
"Don’t be nervous, Little Zhao."
Zhang Yuan patted the shoulder of the young man nearby, "You need to get some proper rest, being tense isn’t very meaningful. Lie down for a bit, I’ll call you if anything happens."
The poor guy hadn’t closed his eyes for two days and nights.
"It’s not so much being nervous as it is... wondering. If we get through this situation, what should we do?"
"Your musings are quite interesting!" Zhang Yuan became intrigued, hoping was certainly better than being tense all the time.
Comrade Little Zhao enthusiastically said, "Weaklings... indeed find it difficult to survive in the Universe!"
"So we must continue to develop, the simplest way being to increase our population... owning a movable planet means a vast amount of living space, a population of two billion is not too much to handle!"
"More people mean higher productivity, faster progress, and stronger military forces, but it also means a more complex management system. If we can’t manage so many people and internal chaos ensues, we must keep it within a reasonable range."