A Colossus rushes in at the start

Chapter 30 Magical Reality Exceeds Human Nature

It's not that the Star River Alliance's decision-makers are stubborn; many of them survived the rampage of the swarms during the old Overlord era and gradually grew stronger.

Their understanding of the bee colony is fixed on terror and bloodlust; they are the group of people who find it hardest to believe that the Babel Tower bee colony can coexist with the Star Alliance.

These decision-makers firmly believe that these planets infected by the swarm, even if no substantial harm has been observed so far, are already out of control and have fallen.

Indeed, this is the case, because many of these infected planets do not want to be dragged into interstellar wars again. Who can stand the constant explosions of planets and stars?

Therefore, after the administrative stars were infected, they all assumed that the Star Alliance could not protect them, and most people maintained a neutral attitude.

Anyway, the Babel bee swarm is no longer bloodthirsty. Whether it's the bee swarm or the Star Alliance, it seems to make no difference to these planets.

"The fleet cannot be moved; the war machine group is currently the primary target for protection," the Allied representative replied.

"Are we just going to stand by and watch?" the representatives of the various forces, led by the Dias Empire, asked rhetorically.

The Allied representative replied, "Paying a few administrative stars in exchange for enough strategic time is a worthwhile trade."

"Moreover, those infected will not die, are not contagious, and may even be healthier than before."

The representatives expressed their dissatisfaction, saying, "The Babel bee swarm is not trustworthy."

The Alliance representative remained calm and composed, replying, "It's the same. The weaknesses of the War Machine Swarm won't last forever. Once the Alliance is fully prepared and has completely defeated the Babel Swarm, we will then begin to invest resources in treating these infected individuals."

"This is a necessary sacrifice, and compared to before, the cost is already very small."

The representatives of the Star River Alliance remained silent. Indeed, compared to the sacrifices of the past, the current situation of spore infection with no deaths and even increasingly healthy individuals was like a gentle spring breeze.

……

"We are willing to accept the spore infection from the Babel bee colony and cooperate as the Diaz Empire's occupied territories have done, hoping you will spare our lives."

The Banner Consortium sent radio messages to the Behemoth horde in orbit around the planet.

Subsequently, the horde of giant beasts replied with a message in the same language.

"Being pragmatic is a wise choice. As long as you remain neutral and obedient like the occupied territories of the Diaz Empire, the swarm will not harm you."

After replying, the Behemoth horde dispersed, writhing in space and releasing countless invisible swarms of bee spores onto the planet.

The Banner people on the planet did not resist leaving their homes, taking deep breaths, and actively allowing the bee spores to enter their bodies to complete the infection.

"Why don't they resist? Why do they willingly accept infection? This doesn't make sense; something must be wrong."

Neither the rulers nor the masterminds could understand this behavior of actively accepting infection.

In the past, when bee swarms attempted to infect planets, the aliens on those planets always resisted fiercely, with many even risking their lives to launch suicide attacks on the bee swarms that landed on the surface.

Compared to these aliens who are now actively accepting infection, there is really no better word to describe them than "magical".

"In my hometown, there is a story that is told like this," Lu Shang said.

"When ancient commanders surrounded the enemy in battle, even if the enemy consisted mostly of the old, weak, and disabled, they would deliberately leave one side uncontained. Do you know why?"

Lu Shang's question aroused doubts among the rulers and the main brains. They pondered for a while but couldn't figure it out.

So the ruler asked, "Why?"

Lu Shang replied, "Because if we are surrounded, it means there is no hope of survival. Even the weakest enemy soldiers are still soldiers. They have weapons in their hands and can inflict damage on the enemy. They will unite under the shadow of death and, even if they face death, they must inflict damage on the enemy before they die."

"But if there is one direction that is not surrounded, there is still hope of survival. Soldiers will continue to flee in the direction that is not surrounded. Ancient commanders only need to lead their soldiers to follow behind and kill the enemy soldiers who fall behind one by one."

"The enemy soldiers won't resist; they'll only run away desperately, without even a thought of turning back to help their comrades."

Incredibly, this situation has never existed in the history of the Tower of Babel bee colony.

"Incomprehensible," said one of the main AI's systems.

"What's so hard to understand? It's just about survival," Lu Shang said matter-of-factly.

As he spoke, Lu Shang said meaningfully into the swarm network, "You don't think the Star River Alliance hasn't used this tactic on the swarm, do you? Don't you find it strange that so many of the old Overlord's mainframes remain in the swarm now?"

The swarm network was silent.

Then, the Overlord hesitantly asked Lu Shang, "You mean... all the mainframes chosen by these former Overlords were traitors who betrayed the Hive?"

This caused an uproar among the masterminds chosen by the old overlord, who hysterically defended themselves within the swarm network.

"No, we didn't betray you, absolutely not! Not at all!"

"Everything we do is for the continuation of the bee colony!"

"Survival and continuation are the primary needs of the bee colony; this is the colony's choice!"

Betrayal is unacceptable; betrayal is not tolerated in the Tower of Babel hive.

Cook, the mastermind who failed to report the battle situation to the Overmind at the crucial moment, falsely claiming that the attack had failed and that the swarm's strength needed to be regrouped, and who was actually preparing to lead the swarm under his jurisdiction to escape, has now been erased by the Overmind.

If it were a crisis of annihilation, the actions of the mastermind Cook would certainly be correct. But now that the crisis is over and the situation is stabilizing, the Overlord will naturally settle scores later.

"Don't be so nervous. I don't intend to kill you all or accuse you of being traitors," Lu Shang laughed, then added, "because there's no need for that."

The chosen intelligences of the old ruler were speechless—did this mean that criticism was permissible when necessary?!

Lu Shang continued, "What I'm trying to say is just an objective phenomenon, just like how hydrogen and oxygen burn to produce water, and life is the same. They are all very objective and material things."

"The reason why the bee colony lost in the past was simply because the enemy was better at exploiting these phenomena than the bee colony; to put it simply, they were a little smarter."

"Right now, what the bee colony needs is to learn how to better utilize patterns," Lu Shang said seriously.

"The Overlord has brought the Swarm a level 12 psionic brain. Now we need to integrate this level 12 psionic brain into the war system before the Star Alliance recovers."

(End of this chapter)