"They were supposed to have left long ago. How could they be here? Who let them come back?!"

The Kundas leader suddenly stood up, a mix of shock and anger on his face.

At that moment, all the high-ranking officials present couldn't remain seated, gripped by fear and unease as they realized the situation had completely spiraled out of control.

The migrant fleet was the Kundas' last hope and their greatest weakness. Their confidence to wage war on their own soil stemmed from sending away all their people. But now, seeing these people who shouldn't be here, every high-ranking official panicked.

*Zzzzzz…*

Just then, a virtual screen popped up automatically from the conference table. The screen flickered with static before finally displaying a figure in a high-ranking Imperial military officer's uniform.

All the Kundas' high-ranking officials were drawn to the sight, utterly astonished.

The figure stood with his hands clasped behind his back, radiating an imposing aura. His voice, though old, was strong and resonant as he slowly began to speak.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Talrokov, Marshal of the Red Empire's Exploration Force. I am the one you have been clashing with these past few months."

Seeing this, everyone present understood.

They originally thought the enemy had merely been eavesdropping on their intelligence. Now, it seemed it was more than just an intelligence leak. The enemy could initiate communication at will, most likely meaning they had control over their entire network.

This was the worst-case scenario, and for a moment, everyone's minds went blank.

Talrokov scanned the room, his gaze settling on the Kundas leader, his face impassive. "All your intelligence has been compromised by our forces. We severed your command's connection to the outside world long ago. The reports you've been receiving all this time were fabricated by us. In reality, your forces have been reduced to less than ten percent of their original strength, essentially annihilated.

"Don't harbor unrealistic hopes. We saw through your scorched earth plan long ago and completed the final interception a few days ago. You no longer have any armed forces to resist."

This ruthless speech directly shattered the belief of most of the Kundas' high-ranking officials present. One by one, they sat slumped in their chairs, dumbfounded.

"Y-you…" The Kundas leader began to tremble violently.

Talrokov didn't even blink as he said calmly, "Now, on behalf of the Red Empire, I am issuing you a final ultimatum. Our long-range psionic weapons have already been deployed and have locked onto your migrant fleet. I will give you five minutes to consider. Choose to resist… annihilation! Attempt to contact the migrant fleet… annihilation! Sever the quantum network link… annihilation! If there is no response after five minutes… annihilation! As long as you choose to surrender and dismantle all your weapons, we promise not to open fire. Your fate is now in your hands."

His tone was as calm as if he were buying groceries in the morning. To obliterate an entire race meant nothing to an Imperial high-ranking commander of his caliber.

But to the Kundas' high-ranking officials, every word was laced with bloody cruelty.

The Empire secretly recalled the Kundas' migrant fleet, another target being to dissolve the Kundas' core fleet's will to fight. When the survival of an entire race was placed on the other side of the scale as a bargaining chip, it could always break the enemy. This was the Empire's experience over many years.

Compared to the Exploration Era, the Three Great Civilizations of today no longer slaughtered civilians unable to resist. Otherwise, they wouldn't give them a chance to choose. The confidence to be lenient came from the crushing strength of their civilization.

After issuing the ultimatum, Talrokov's figure disappeared, and the screen displayed a five-minute countdown.

"It's over. It's all over!"

"We shouldn't have started this war! Look what we've done!!"

Watching the time tick away second by second, most of the high-ranking officials present collapsed in despair.

It wasn't that they hadn't considered the situation they were facing, but until the executioner's blade truly fell, everyone held onto some degree of hope.

The conference room was a scene of chaos. One by one, these high-ranking officials lost their composure, completely beside themselves. Watching this scene, the Kundas leader sat silently in his seat and slowly said, "There is no hope. Let's surrender."

"Now you know to surrender? Where was this earlier?!" High-ranking officials who normally respected the leader were now throwing caution to the wind, pointing at him and cursing, "If it weren't for your stupidity and radicalism, would we have fallen to this point?!"

"That's right! If we hadn't started the war in the first place and just fled as a whole, would we have ended up in such a desperate situation!"

"That's right, it's all because of your failed decisions! You are the eternal sinner of our race!"

Looking at these high-ranking officials who had once fawned over him to varying degrees now venting their anger on him, the Kundas leader gave a mocking laugh.

Those who run away are always the wisest.

Not only should they hand over their homeland, but they should also actively run far away, not causing any trouble for the invaders. How generous.

The entire race was forced to leave their homeland, and everyone was equally lost and frightened. If they fled without a fight, the race's dignity would be shattered and difficult to rebuild… If we could wound enough enemies or sacrifice enough soldiers, perhaps we could free the race from this decadent loser mentality, stir up a spirit of shared hatred, and usher in a new golden age. Unfortunately…

In the end, he said nothing.

…

The war ended with the Kundas surrendering. It didn't last long, only about three or four months from beginning to end.

Compared to his previous life, the Red Empire ended this war more than twice as fast.

The root of this change was Han Xiao's contribution—providing coordinates that saved the Empire the effort of finding the enemy's base and controlling the enemy's quantum network, crushing them on the intelligence front. These two important reasons greatly accelerated the war process.

The change in the storyline was extremely significant. In the records of his previous life, the Kundas caused the Empire no small amount of trouble. But now, with Han Xiao's help, the Kundas didn't cause the Empire any trouble at all, unable to stir up the slightest bit of waves. From beginning to end, they were pressed to the ground and rubbed raw by the Empire, with no power to resist.

The Empire took over the remaining Kundas fleet and transported everyone on their journey home.

And Han Xiao, the great technician, who was slacking off in his lair, also received the panel's notification simultaneously.

[【Shining World - Kundas War】 is complete!]

[Mission Rating: Perfect]

[You have received 4.5 billion experience, Random Reward x4, Red Empire Contribution +7500, Legend Point +1]

[Star Cluster Legend Point (Glimmering World): Kundas War Hero - You participated in the battle between the Imperial Exploration Force and the star cluster level native civilization, Kundas, and made outstanding contributions]

[【Civilization Destroyer】 Milestone has been activated]

[Milestone Activation Requirement: Participate in three large-scale interstellar war missions (galaxy-level and above) related to the survival of a civilization, and help your side successfully defeat the opponent. The mission rating must not be lower than "Excellent". Current progress: 1/3]

[Talrokov Favorability +30, Ulan Rier Favorability +5, Taini Amelos Favorability +10…]

[Dungeon Generated: 【Kundas War】]

"It's finally over. Their efficiency is quite high." Han Xiao's eyes moved slightly.

Although he didn't personally fight this time, he still got a perfect mission rating for his help in intelligence.

The rewards were good. Although the experience gain wasn't comparable to a Boss mission playing with Super A Grades, players basically couldn't do Super A Grade challenge missions. 4.5 billion experience was still a very generous reward even for players in the later versions. Han Xiao wasn't picky. Anyway, he mainly slacked off this time, and the rewards were basically free. He was happy no matter how much he got.

Four random rewards, these were good things. He would continue to save them and wait for an auspicious day to open the altar and do a ten-draw.

7,500 Imperial Contribution was quite generous. The Kundas were just a native civilization and not a big threat to the Empire. Han Xiao estimated that part of these contributions came from sharing the data of space-time cutting technology.

Although he had already learned all of his Ultimate Knowledges, Imperial Contribution was still very useful. He could exchange it for various rare resources from the Empire, or exchange it for military support. Moreover, if one day a Super A Grade was willing to work for the legion, he might have to spend contribution points to exchange for other system's Ultimate Knowledge.

Ultimate Knowledges were monopolized by advanced civilizations. Without a specific reason, Super A Grades were generally not allowed to exchange for Ultimate Knowledges of other systems, even if they had enough contribution points - taking Ultimate Knowledge to attract talents for their own forces was equivalent to stealing the business of advanced civilizations. They would not agree to it, so Super A Grade allies had a tacit understanding that they would basically not pass on Ultimate Knowledge to each other.

And only having Super A Grade cadres under his command would give him the authority to exchange for them. Of course, this kind of special case was very rare, after all, most Super A Grades were unwilling to be subordinate to others.

Han Xiao had a deep impression of the [Civilization Destroyer] milestone. In the explored universe, civilizations at the galaxy level and above were protected by the "Peace Treaty," and there were hardly any wars that wiped out races. Generally, only players of the chaotic and evil camp had the opportunity to activate this milestone.

The effect was very good. Wearing the [Civilization Destroyer] milestone gave all types of damage +6%, attack splash range +25%, and came with a deterrent aura.

However, the price to get this milestone was also very high. It required participating in or even actively provoking a life-and-death war between galaxy-level civilizations. The opportunity was very rare, and afterward, there was a high probability of encountering even greater levels of wanted orders.

Being in the orderly camp, there were even fewer opportunities to obtain this milestone, but the benefit was that he would not be wanted, and his evil deeds were given legitimacy.

Not having political assets was within Han Xiao's expectations. The weight of the Kundas was still a little lacking. Whether or not they were eliminated wasn't important enough to the Empire, but he did brush a wave of favorability with the Imperial high-ranking officials.

In addition to Old Ta and the President, a large number of future Imperial famous generals, including Taini, had increased their favorability to varying degrees, which could be considered a reward for fighting alongside them.

Finally, the generated dungeon [Kundas War], like Secret War and Germination, were all a series. Various battles within it could be extracted to form individual dungeon crystals.

Because the Kundas were a bunch of younger brothers, only large fleet battles were weighted as difficulty, so the challenge level wouldn't be high, but the rewards wouldn't be low. It was just right to give to the players as fertilizer.

After tallying up the gains, he then closed the panel and let out a breath.

Perfect Mechanical Sense, space-time cutting, mission rewards, this time the harvest was very rich. The Kundas were the only obstacle, and after solving them, the second phase of exploration could return to the right track and proceed smoothly… Han Xiao pondered in his heart.

Because of his intervention, the result of the Kundas had changed.

In his previous life, because the Empire spent a lot of time exploring the way, it gave the Kundas migrant fleet enough movement time. They ran too far and allowed the Kundas army to buffer, unlike now, where they were caught off guard.

Not understanding the map, the Empire was delayed by the strategic depth of the Kundas territory for a long time, giving the Kundas more time to study the Empire's tactics. This led to the fact that when the Empire infiltrated the Kundas command system, the Kundas were not kept in the dark all the time, but instead discovered the doubts and led the battle into a more troublesome game, resisting quite fiercely.

Therefore, the Red Empire did not choose to persuade them to surrender, but instead directly exterminated the Kundas.

Due to the exposure of the infiltration, coupled with several times the reaction time due to the long journey, some of the migrant fleets successfully ran away, unlike now, where they were almost wiped out by the Empire in one fell swoop.

But this was not a good thing. The follow-up that Han Xiao didn't know was that the new home chosen by the Kundas was still within the territory of the Glimmering World—after all, they didn't have the concept of a star field. With exploration and development, the Empire discovered the new home of the Kundas. At that time, the Empire had already attached importance to space-time cutting technology, so they raised their butcher knife to kill and silence them. The new home of the Kundas turned into dust in the universe and was secretly executed.

And now, fate had come to a new fork in the road.

Han Xiao rubbed his chin, entered the quantum network vision, and remotely projected himself to Beacon Star, intending to see how the Empire planned to deal with the Kundas this time.

…

In the Beacon Star commander's office, two figures stood and sat. Standing was Talrokov, and sitting was Ulan Rier's remote projection.

The war was over, and the Empire had captured a large number of Kundas mantis shrimps. Now, what needed to be worried about was the follow-up disposal problem. Whether to kill or raise them needed the President and a group of high-ranking officials to make up their minds.

Talrokov was reporting his work to Ulan Rier, and finally mentioned the issue of the prisoners.

"... The escort troops are expected to arrive at Beacon Star in seven days, President Your Excellency. How should we deal with these people?"

Ulan Rier folded her hands and propped up her clean white chin, and said in a deep voice: "The high-ranking officials have already discussed it. Some people agree to cut the weeds and eradicate them, while others think that they need to be held in captivity and educated. The final decision has not yet been finalized. Do you have any suggestions?"

Talrokov pinched the beard on his jaw, "The war went smoothly. Since the enemy chose to surrender, I don't think there is any need for unnecessary slaughter. We can choose a few planets within the Empire to let them settle down, strictly guard them, and temporarily not allow them to enter the interstellar society, and then carry out several generations of cultural transformation.

"If the result is good, it is not impossible to transform them into our vassal civilization. At that time, we will lift their restrictions from entering the interstellar society."

When fighting, he was decisive in killing and would not blink his eyes no matter how many enemies he killed. After winning, he was not bloodthirsty.

Ulan Rier pondered, "In this way, we need to differentiate their thinking and need their leader to help do some things."

"Yes, I'm just about to remotely interrogate their leader... By the way, our people gave the Kundas high-ranking officials a comprehensive examination and found that their mental state has some abnormalities. It seems that they were affected by the mental undercurrent, which amplified the nerve areas in their brains that control anger and impulse."

Hearing this, a cold light flashed in Ulan Rier's eyes.

"Heh, it's those super-star cluster civilizations doing good deeds again. Not only did they pack up and throw away the technology, but they also quietly released the mental undercurrent. Otherwise, the other party may not have been so radical... Who is the most affected by the mental undercurrent, is it their leader?"

"Well, you guessed wrong. The Kundas leader has the least external influence."

Ulan Rier was speechless and shook her head helplessly, "That's quite interesting, is it another difference in logic between different species..."

*Beep beep.*

At this moment, the fixed communicator on the table rang. Talrokov stepped forward and pressed it, and the secretary's voice came from inside.

"Commander-in-Chief, Black Star is online. Do you want to connect his remote projection?"

"Why is he here at this time?" Talrokov muttered, shook his head and said, "I am reporting to the President, let him wait online for a while..."

At this time, Ulan Rier waved his hand, "No need, let him in, he is not an outsider."

"Okay."

Since the President didn't mind, Talrokov didn't care either.

Soon, Han Xiao's remote projection also appeared in the room. The first thing he saw was Ulan Rier.

"President Your Excellency, you are here too."

"Black Star, I heard about your contribution to this war, you did a good job." Ulan Rier nodded with satisfaction.

"I just did a little bit of insignificant work."

Han Xiao said modestly, glanced at the two of them, "What are you talking about?"

"It's nothing, we are just discussing how to deal with the Kundas, and there is no result yet..."

Ulan Rier briefly repeated what she had just said, and casually asked, "Black Star, do you have any suggestions?"

"I have no opinion, I am also here to ask the Empire how to deal with it."

Han Xiao raised his eyebrows.

"No opinion is also an opinion."

Ulan Rier narrowed her eyes and said nothing.

She turned her head and signaled Talrokov to continue the report, indicating that she didn't mind Han Xiao listening.

After listening to the report, Ulan Rier encouraged the two of them a few words, and then went offline to do a billion things a day.

After seeing off the President, Talrokov turned his head to look at Han Xiao, and showed a smile.

"I'm going to interrogate the Kundas high-ranking officials, you came just in time, together?"

"Well, I'm very busy."

Han Xiao scratched his chin, and joked half-truthfully: "But since you invited me, then I will reluctantly go with you."

He was interested in leader-like characters in dire straits, and felt that he might be able to trigger special missions, like the DarkStar leader before.