Chapter 368: Zero Two Universe and the Anomaly

Boom!!

Within a few seconds, the localized cataclysm of the earth swallowed the entire building, the scorching heat of thousands of degrees instantly incinerated the steel and concrete, and also turned the Federation "worms" to ash.

Rus, whose Spiritual Energy body is extremely dense, could clearly sense the despair and fear of those "worms," but the OriginalBody felt no mercy at all; in fact… Rus didn't rush into the Federation building, didn't brutally tear and crush the "worms," nor gruesomely extract their spines as execution, and that alone was already merciful enough.

And the scene of the Federation building's "disappearance" was quickly spread online through the Red Queen's manipulation.

Civilians and citizens watching TV or computers at home, travelers and pedestrians standing in stations and the Star Port Hall, as well as soldiers and officers in barracks and warships, saw "earth fissure" and "lava spout" on various holographic screens.

This…

Has even the heavens grown weary? To actually cooperate with Rus to punish the utterly corrupt Federation high command?

Add to that Rus's nearly five‑meter "height," and the faint golden radiance and exquisite armor and weapons emanating from his entire body and surrounding area, all resembling a deity descending to save all beings.

Although Rus fits the image of a deity in every respect for people's faith and worship, his father does not want to equate humans with gods…

Mainly because of some "downgrading."

After all, humans and gods should be equal beings.

As for the "earth fissure" and "lava" that bewildered the crowd into thinking it was divine punishment, they were actually caused by the war spear in Rus's right hand.

If some attentive "viewers" replay the live stream, they can see, at the instant Rus swings the spear, the spearhead and shaft emit a fleeting, dazzling teal‑blue glow.

In fact, that spear was originally a trident, the weapon of the fallen Sea King Poseidon, which Sui Bian "purified" and bestowed upon Rus, then the artisan god Hephestus reforged it in his furnace, turning it into today's "Wolf King's Spear."

Moreover, the Wolf King's Spear merely changes its appearance to Rus's liking; fundamentally it remains a trident.

The ability to split the earth and unleash lava that devoured the Federation building stems from Poseidon's title as Sea King; before his fall he also indirectly governed portions of the earth, so the Wolf King's Spear, whose origin is a trident, can naturally affect the land to some degree.

At this moment, the overwhelming majority of civilians and citizens watching the live stream, seeing the Federation's emblematic building vanish and the high officials—hands stained with compatriots' blood—being swallowed by lava, erupted in cheers and excitement, but…

The rank‑and‑file Federation soldiers and officers, however, didn't know what to do, and the dispersed commanders either harbored ulterior motives, preparing to hoard troops, or feared being purged by Rus.

Of course, there were hot‑tempered, blunt commanders who, upon learning that the worm‑like Federation high command was almost annihilated, even clapped and cheered.

In short, Rus's spear completely reshaped humanity's landscape in the Star River Squad galaxy, and the Red Queen, beyond merely handling the live broadcast and fully infiltrating and commandeering the Federation's military network, has already issued false orders, directly seized control of each fleet's ship steering, and revoked Mobile Infantry's authorization over Mechanical exoskeletons and powered armor, thereby assisting Rus in a covert power grab.

One could say that when the Totem Glory arrived in the Solar System and the Red Queen breached the military network, the Federation was already definitively defeated.

There's no choice; the Federation is a human regime, and the Red Queen is the most advanced artificial intelligence.

After all, against humans, artificial intelligence is a "specialized match," the best weapon.

As for Rus's earlier statements—"I've already solved the insect plague for you!" and "I destroyed the Alachi Insect Race's homeworld and all its leaders!"—they were all literal truths.

The Expeditionary Force is not as leisurely as the Federation; over the past forty‑eight hours it has been busy addressing the insect plague.

When the Expeditionary Force exited the Space Gate, assisting and capturing the Hard Bone Regiment, Rus also dispatched numerous Space Wild Wolves units deep into the L‑03 underground network to conduct a full‑scale insect‑clearing operation.

If the Federation sent Mobile Infantry into the insect nests, it would be tantamount to sending them to their deaths; but sending a thousand Space Wild Wolves into the nests would be, for the insects, nothing short of "the end of the world."

Thus, within half an hour after the insect‑clearing began, the wolves captured a plump, meat‑headed, maggot‑like insect leader, then hauled it out of the nest and handed it to Sha La Kai Rui Gan for Spiritual Energy interrogation.

In the Star River Squad universe, "telepathy" exists, which is why, when Sha La Kai Rui Gan overwhelmed the Hard Bone Regiment, Lieutenant Lazac considered her "psychic power" to be unimaginably strong.

The Federation fields units with telepathy—or the ability to use psychic power—to try to control the insects, while the Alachi Insect Race likewise employs psychic power to interrogate human captives.

However, the insect leader faced Sha La Kai Rui Gan, who ranks just below the human master and the ten OriginalBodies in the hierarchy of Spiritual Energy.

Within less than two minutes, Sha La Kai Rui Gan "interrogated" the insect leader and extracted all of the Alachi Insect Race's secrets, including the precise coordinates of its homeworld, the locations of other leaders and the insect queen, and a planet‑sized "Insect God."

These data matched the documents Sui Bian covertly supplied, especially the "Insect God," causing Rus to once again marvel at his father's "omnipotence" and "omniscience."

Thus…

Within forty‑eight hours before Rus reached Earth, the Alachi Insect Race was forced to accept humanity's "gifts"—such as nova‑class nuclear bombs, plasma projectiles, and stellar bombs—so that even the planet housing the "Insect God" was obliterated by a stellar bomb, leaving no residue.

Even though countless insects still survive across the galaxy, the Alachi, whose leadership has been entirely wiped out, will pose no threat to humanity or the New Human government for years, even decades, to come.

And the Expeditionary Force has been out of the Space Gate for less than four days, yet the war is essentially over.

———————

…

Main Universe.

May 4, 2114 (twenty days after the Expedition officially began).

"OriginalBody Rus, with my assistance, has fully taken over the Federation's troop movements and command in the Zero Two Universe; Agent X018 (NuoWa) and twelve Ghost agents have also covertly "eliminated" the commanders and officials who harbored strong antagonism toward us, as well as some organizational leaders. Chairman, rest assured, everything has been fabricated by me into perfect natural deaths, and the White Queen has suppressed all public opinion."

In the top‑floor office of Umbrella's new headquarters building, the Red Queen tirelessly reports the Zero Two Universe matters to Sui Bian.

Zero One Universe—the universe where the Red and White Queens undergo a full upgrade—remains undisclosed, while the universe containing the Federation and the Alachi Insect Race is designated Zero Two.

"Hmm." Sui Bian, seated behind the desk, nodded lightly, indicating he understood.

"Chairman." At this moment, the White Queen, taking over her "sister's" words, continued: "After my comprehensive survey, the human population of Zero Two Universe is about forty‑five trillion (45 × 10¹²), which is fifty‑six times that of our Main Universe.

However, public support for UEG replacing the Federation government far exceeds my expectations, currently about 56%, and dissent remains within controllable limits."

"Forty‑five trillion?"

Upon hearing the exact figure, Sui Bian widened his eyes slightly, clearly not expecting Zero Two Universe to have so many people; it truly is…

Great!

The more people, the better; Sui Bian welcomes all arrivals, and for those who are disobedient or like to cause trouble, he doesn't mind employing NuoWa and Ghost agents to handle them covertly.

Although this isn't much different from what the Federation does, Sui Bian isn't doing it to preserve rule—he doesn't need to preserve it; what he needs is for humanity to have a harmonious, stable life, development and an innovative environment.

After a few seconds of silence, Sui Bian spoke: "Select a sufficient number of colonel‑rank officers from Umbrella's various legions to gradually replace the former Federation's army and fleet commanders. Red Queen, this is yours to handle; be sure to attend to the emotions of former Federation commanders and junior officers and sergeants. During this period I'll have Rus and the Space Wild Wolves cooperate with you as much as possible."

"Understood." The Red Queen also nodded.

"White Queen," Sui Bian turned to his right side, saying: "You will select young junior officers from the former Federation army, transfer them to Minos Island on Earth, and have them undergo Umbrella‑style education and training, so that Han Ke can properly "look after" these children."

Also, be sure to expedite the promotion of "Human Truth," quickly export Main Universe cultural products to Zero Two Universe, and as for calming the turmoil during the unification of currency… I think you needn't be reminded further.

Oh, right, don't forget to enact the latest tax policies, strengthen Zero Two Universe's identification with Umbrella, UEG and UNSC, relax trade policies appropriately, and promote exchange between the Main Universe and Zero Two Universe.

Finally, select sixty‑thousand reservists from the Main Universe, send those youths to Zero Two Universe to assist in promoting "Human Truth," and also be responsible for maintaining security and deterring troublemakers.

As for the warships…

We'll select enough vessels from the Resolute class, the Azure Hawk class, and the Paris class, assign them to the reservist youths; although they're all frigates, that should suffice, and moreover we have also captured countless former Federation warships.

"All right, Chairman, but I have a question." Bai Hou spoke up voluntarily, though her prosthetic face showed some hesitation, as if finding it hard to speak.

"Huh?" Seeing Bai Hou's expression, Sui Bian merely waved his left hand slightly, indicating: "Just say what the problem is."

"All right." Bai Hou paused, then continued with the question: "The territory of the 02 Universe is the entire galaxy, and its population is forty-five trillion, far exceeding the sum of all star regions, so Chairman, I want to know which… which…"

"Which OriginalBody can become the governor of the 02 Universe?" Sui Bian, in a flat tone, helped Bai Hou voice the complete question.

"Yes." Bai Hou did not deny it, and her voice also trembled slightly, as if… fearful?

After all, this kind of question has too many taboos; clearly it's a father-son matter, and as her secretary she has no right to interfere, but Bai Hou, in order to more efficiently stabilize the 02 Universe, must know which OriginalBody will serve as governor, so she can shape public opinion in advance.

However, looking at Sui Bian's expression and emotional fluctuations, it was obvious he wasn't paying attention to the previous question; seeing him fall silent for a few seconds, he shrugged and said: "We won't set a permanent governor; instead, the OriginalBodies will take turns as temporary governor of the 02 Universe in order of age, each serving fifty years. Since Robert is the eldest among all OriginalBodies, let him serve as the temporary governor first."

Of course, the greatest merit in this expedition belongs to Rus and his Space Wild Wolves, as well as the UNSC of the Oslo Star Region; therefore, Bai Hou, you must reward them according to the highest standard—remember, it is the highest standard.

When Sui Bian said "highest standard," his tone carried a bit more emphasis.

"All right, Chairman." Having cleared up her doubts, Bai Hou said without any hesitation: "Rest assured, I and Hong Hou will handle everything."

"Hmm."

———————

…

"Mmm…uh~!!"

A young farmer wearing overalls and a huge sun hat, regardless of whether he was dirty, plopped down on the edge of the dirt road, then stretched out a big yawn, looking at his companion approaching and sighing: "I'm so tired, this life gets more boring by the day—Dad insists we experience traditional farming, ah… so exhausted and sleepy! Don't you feel that? Michael."

Named Michael, another youth dressed as a farmer walked to the roadside, took off his sun hat, looked up at the scorching sun, didn't pick up the conversation, but asked back: "It's almost time to eat; want to head home together, Nero?"

"Hmm… I am indeed a bit hungry; let's go home!"

Nero was successfully distracted, so after just a few seconds of sitting he stood up again, patted his buttocks, and followed Michael toward the parked civilian Warthog a short distance away, a red-brown, open-top model.

The two got in the car; Michael, in the driver's seat, started it with one button and drove his brother away from the field.

"Ah…!" Before half a minute passed, Nero let out another deliberate sigh and nagged his brother Michael: "Michael, don't you find it boring? To stay on this sparsely populated planet for a hundred years? I want to enlist…"

"Enough." Michael raised his right hand to rub his ears that were about to grow calluses, speaking sternly: "Since Mom left, it's just the two of us and our little sister keeping Dad company; you should understand things—you can join the military anytime, but right now the most important thing is to help Dad emerge from his gloom."

"Uh… yes." Seeing his usually mild-tempered older brother get angry, Nero naturally didn't dare say more, so he leaned back against the chair and turned his head to admire the golden wheat field on his right.

But…

Nero faintly saw on the horizon a vortex emitting purple and pink light suddenly appear, and this vortex was rapidly expanding.

Seeing this, Nero hurriedly called out: "Michael! Michael! Look quick!"

?

Hearing that, Michael eased the speed and looked in the direction Nero pointed.

"Sss!!!"

That sight made Michael slam the brakes straight away, kicking up a cloud of dust from the rear, ultimately bringing their Warthog to a stop at the roadside.

As for the reason behind Michael's sudden abnormal behavior, it was because that vortex had already swallowed half of the horizon.

(End of chapter)