Building and battling, that was the norm for the now pan-Galactic Iridium Star United Empire.
Linyin was currently operating all her Insect Nests, almost entirely producing Star Whales, which were assembled into fleets of 1000 each and deployed to planets of various member civilizations. Linyin was doing her utmost, and she could basically satisfy the Star Whale defense forces for three to four planets each day, with even more planets eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Star Whales.
More civilizations, upon hearing about the Iridium Star United Empire, tried everything possible to join. However, for many civilizations, traveling to the First Galactic Star or other Iridium Star-affiliated civilization locations wasn't something that could be achieved overnight. The instantaneous Quantum Communication method required both parties to share the same quantum communication device with the same key, making it impossible for these civilizations to reach out to Iridium Star.
Bai Zhongqi hadn't given up on absorbing more civilizations into his pan-Galactic Iridium Star United Empire; he had started setting up communication relay stations within several Great Star Zones, using quantum communication to transmit to the relay stations and then converting it to electromagnetic waves to broadcast to nearby areas.
The First Galactic Star hosted not just military and administrative institutions but also media operated by journalists from different civilizations. To ensure smooth dissemination of information, the First Galactic Star established media in both Mandarin and Jian Tribe language, the latter understood by over ninety percent of civilizations in the Galaxy, ensuring information flow without barriers.
Bai Zhongqi even felt that the recently established "United Empire First Channel" TV station, in terms of style, was extremely similar to Old Earth's China's CCTV, primarily focusing on various mainstream news. And now, the United Empire First Channel could be received by the vast majority of affiliated civilizations and automatically translated into the local languages understood by the local populace. Many people from these civilizations were incredibly curious about their newly joined Iridium Star United Empire, and the content broadcasted by the First Channel greatly satisfied their curiosity.
But in the eyes of His Excellency Chancellor Bai Zhongqi, these news items were very out of touch with reality, always proclaiming some policy announced by the prime minister, some success achieved by the Unified Empire Army's training, or some speech made by a representative of a civilization. However, evidently, the United Empire First Channel and its associated United Empire First Times had already become a crucial source for various civilizations to obtain official information and perspectives from this vast nation.
These media institutions also belonged to the United Empire government, essentially having the nature of state-owned enterprises, characterized by being rather conservative and serious.
The Chancellor continued to remain low-profile as before, often mentioned but seldom seen.
Now, Bai Zhongqi was wholeheartedly focused on how to find the second Swarm's Empress and completely eradicate this catastrophe. And the key to achieving this rested on Linyin's shoulders.
"The Science Strategy Department and the Military Intelligence Department of the Joint Defense Ministry have taken over the Insect Egg Reconnaissance System from the Empire Scientific Research Institute, but the system itself isn't particularly remarkable. The key still lies in how we can gather a large amount of data. After all, this is not a problem of sampling one or two samples, but rather covering as many civilizations and planets in the Galaxy facing attacks as possible. Currently, the shipyards of the entire United Empire, aside from producing new warships for the Unified Empire Army, are manufacturing a large number of unmanned reconnaissance ships. We have over one hundred thousand reconnaissance ships searching throughout the Galaxy, but the data collected so far is still not significant," Linyin reported to Bai Zhongqi through a video call.
Bai Zhongqi sighed, saying, "At least through such large-scale searching, we can preemptively understand some insect egg attacks and save some civilizations."
Linyin by his side said, "I guess some civilizations don't even want us to save them."
Iridium Star's assistance to other civilizations in defending against the Swarm catastrophe naturally wasn't without conditions; this condition was to "coerce" these civilizations into joining the Iridium Star United Empire. Although Bai Zhongqi hoped for peace and stability in the Galaxy, he was not interested in saving those who didn't want to be saved. If they refused to join the United Empire, then Bai Zhongqi wouldn't take the Unified Empire Army into battle.
In this regard, not only Bai Zhongqi and the Iridium Star people held this attitude, but almost all affiliated civilizations also felt the same. Everyone was reluctant to let some contribute nothing yet receive benefits. Even if Bai Zhongqi really wanted to do charity, those civilizations would probably oppose it.
"We had already prevented multiple Swarm invasions and even gained a few new affiliated civilizations. As long as we maintain this momentum, although we cannot eradicate the Swarm in one fell swoop, at least we can prevent the Swarm from continuing to expand," Linyin pointed out.
At this time, Linyin raised a question, "Chancellor, I've always been curious. When the Swarm exterminates all life on a planet, leaving a desolate planet behind, where do the Insectoids who have consumed all the life go?"
Zero asked, "Could they have been eaten by their Empress and some Duke?"
Making such a guess was quite rational because Zero's Insect Nests often consumed enslaved beasts that had fallen behind and then recreated new enslaved beasts.
However, Bai Zhongqi shook his head, raising doubts, "The second Swarm's Insectoids are capable of evolving. If we just consume them , isn't it somewhat wasteful?"
Linyin nodded and said, "Exactly, I've considered that point too. I've reorganized some data, and after sorting it out, I discovered some planets attacked by insect eggs, despite not having many insect eggs, were destroyed particularly quickly. Disregarding the biomass of all lifeforms on those planets, the speed at which each planet was destroyed varied greatly, even exceeding our usual error estimates. This forces me to speculate a new possibility."
Bai Zhongqi furrowed his brows, asking, "What possibility?"
"That is, the mature Insectoids didn't die and might have participated in some planet attacks, which is why those planets were obliterated so quickly."
"How did they manage to do that? Does the second Swarm also have a fleet?" Zero was surprised.
"It's unclear, but obviously we shouldn't underestimate our celestial adversary; there's much about this Swarm that we don't know," Linyin said earnestly.
Linyin's concerns soon became reality when, that same night, Bai Zhongqi was awakened from his sleep by Zero.
"Chancellor, one of our affiliated civilization's Administrative Stars has been massively invaded by the Swarm, and now our Star Whale defense line has been breached!"