Hye had co to the Hot Zones for a simple, brutal purpose: looting. He was a scavenger king at heart. Yet, through a mix of ruthless strategy and sheer montum, he had ended up harvesting far more than he had ever dared to hope for.
That was what made Hye and his companions look so remarkable in her eyes. Even when faced with a sudden, monuntal opportunity—one that would have left the most ancient races and established powers of the universe in a state of dazed confusion for decades—they acted with astounding synchronisation. Their movents weren't just fast; they were harmonious.
It looked as if they had been trained for a lifeti for this exact mont. A question burned in the back of Olana's mind, one she hesitated to voice.
If Hye's top leaders, the very pillars of his kingdom, were all occupied with the frantic influx of refugees and conquered subjects, then who was left to mind the store? Who was handling the critical issues back at the kingdom's core?
She wondered who was overseeing the construction of new planets, the fortification of existing borders, the urban planning of sprawling cities, and the establishnt of law and order across his vast, dark reaches.
What she didn't realise was that Hye's foresight bordered on the prophetic. For years, he had been a tireless ntor, training almost everyone he deed capable and fit into specialised roles.
Those who had survived the initial apocalypse with him were the luckiest of the lot; they had been forged in the harshest environnts imaginable, their skills tempered by the threat of extinction.
Yet, Hye was never one to rest on his laurels or close the door to new blood. Even after entering the wider universe, he remained a relentless headhunter for talent.
Having legends like Lady Nymph, the Major, and the Pirate King at his side wasn't just luck—it was a testant to his philosophy of ritocracy. Even Olana herself, standing there as an ally, was a direct result of that unwavering belief in recruiting the best, regardless of their origin.
Olana had initially harboured a secret, perhaps even cynical, thought: she assud that once Hye started targeting entire worlds and physically moving them to his territory, his relentless advance would grind to a halt. The sheer weight of the bureaucracy and the friction of moving billions should have slowed him to a crawl.
Instead, she watched in disbelief as his speed actually increased. He moved like a whirlwind, crushing his enemies with one hand while the other signed ironclad contracts with world leaders. The population transfers were executed with a smoothness that defied the laws of warti physics.
This breakneck pace continued for twenty days straight. Throughout this period, the enemy forces were relentless. They sward like hornets, attacking Hye whenever he appeared to crash a "Hot Zone party."
Yet, without fail and devoid of any real suspense, they were utterly crushed. Hye gained world after world, fast and efficient, barely breaking a sweat in the process.
By now, his tactics had beco legendary—or perhaps infamous—across the universe. Olana began to wonder if the leaders of the opposing forces had loose screws in their heads.
They should have known by now how terrifying Hye's tactics and warriors had beco. At this stage, death was the only certainty for those who dared to obstruct his path.
For a brief mont, Olana allowed herself to wonder if even a major galactic force or a top-tier race could withstand his deadly, relentless onslaught. Without her knowing it, the universe was already preparing an answer. Hye was on a collision course with a challenge that would test the very foundations of his kingdom.
"Another Hot Zone has fallen," Olana remarked, unable to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the sheer absurdity of the report. "That's fifteen so far, Hye. Are you absolutely certain your people can handle this influx? We aren't just talking about migrants; we're talking about entire civilisations."
Hye didn't respond imdiately. Truth be told, even he had begun to harbour the sa flicker of doubt. He kept pushing forward, driving his forces to the absolute limit, but the results were outpacing even his wildest, most ambitious imaginations.
The initial reports streaming in from his friends were staggering. The sheer volu of sentient beings and diverse races he had acquired was astronomical. He had seized over seventy different worlds from various Hot Zones. On average, each world boasted a population of at least one hundred billion.
There were even a few notable exceptions—colossal worlds that housed upwards of ten trillion souls. These "ga-worlds" were proving to be a significant headache for his administration, requiring more than just logistics; they required a complete reimagining of what his kingdom was ant to be.
In the early stages of his campaign, Hye had operated under a singular, logical assumption: the primary bottleneck of his expansion would be planetary real estate. He had believed that as long as he had the physical space to put people, the rest would fall into place. Reality, however, was proving to be a much harsher mistress.
Under ideal conditions, a standard world—one housing a hundred billion souls—would require at least twenty fully grown artificial planets to accommodate its population with any semblance of dignity and efficiency. But Hye's territory was anything but ideal.
Most of his artificial planets were still in the volatile middle stages of growth when the first waves of refugees began to arrive.
This stunted developnt skewed the logistics entirely; instead of twenty planets, the lack of infrastructure ant he needed forty or even fifty just to prevent imdiate societal collapse.
For the "ga-worlds" he had recently conquered—those behemoths containing ten trillion people—the math beca a nightmare. He needed more than two hundred planets for a single civilisation, and he needed them yesterday.
Yet, as the days bled into weeks, Hye realised with a sinking heart that the planets themselves were never the true issue.
He could generate mass; he could orbit rocks. The true, suffocating challenge lay in the invisible scaffolding of civilisation: building the cities, establishing a governing regi, and maintaining order.
User Comments
0 comments from readers