The Fierce Dragon Kingdom's army was like a fire brigade, going one by one to the battlefields everywhere to encircle and wipe out the Hive Motherships.
Hive Mothership after Hive Mothership was utterly destroyed.
On the fourth day of the hive-race invasion,
the sun sloped west over the Fierce Dragon Kingdom.
"Report. Every Hive Mothership that appeared this time has been cleared out!" a subordinate reported excitedly to Marshal Chu Xuan.
Marshal Chu Xuan raised her hands and applauded.
Cheers rang through the whole command.
A few minutes later,
Marshal Chu Xuan raised her hand, signaling everyone to quiet down.
"Everyone has worked hard all this while. I know everyone is very tired now. Many of you haven't rested properly in this time. Though all the Hive Motherships have been cleared out, there are still many hive-race scattered all over Dragon Star. We're going into the next phase of the battle plan. Within half a month, clear out every hive-race in the cities, and the hive-race gathered in large numbers outside the cities. Within a month, fully restore life in the cities of every country on Dragon Star! So I hope everyone will hold on a little longer. Before we greet the final victory, let's make a little more effort!"
"Yes!"
The seventh day of the hive-race invasion.
The Nancy Empire's capital gradually began to reopen.
A shelter's great door slowly rose.
The citizens, who had long been ready, saw blue sky and white clouds at last after a week.
And… a pungent smell.
"Ugh… what is that smell? It's disgusting!"
"Holy cow, are those hive-race corpses over there?"
"Good heavens, they really are scary-looking. Are they really dead? You're sure they won't suddenly jump up and bite me? Maybe I'll stay in the shelter a while longer." Some, seeing the hive-race corpses, did not dare step out of the shelter.
"Please rest assured, everyone. These hive-race corpses in the city have all been confirmed harmless. It's only that there aren't enough cleanup personnel now, so the cleanup isn't all done yet. Please go back to your own homes first; if your home was destroyed in the fighting, please contact your local community manager. Of course, if you're still afraid, you can stay in the shelter a while longer."
"Notice, notice. We're now urgently recruiting a batch of post-war workers, mainly responsible for clearing and carrying away hive-race corpses after the fighting, and cleaning the streets. Daily pay is three times normal. Anyone interested, please sign up at your local community office."
The old, the women and the children, seeing the post-war scene outside, chose to stay a while longer in the underground shelters.
Some men in the prime of life, after thinking it over again and again, chose to go and sign up for the post-disaster cleanup work.
"Honey!" A wife caught her husband's hand, somewhat worried.
"It's fine. Didn't they say it's very safe outside now? And this kind of cleanup work is easy; a day's pay is triple. Just right for saving a little money." The husband stroked his wife's cheek and looked at the child in swaddling clothes. "Raising a child, we need a lot of money."
The wife let go of his hand, but still urged him, "You must be careful. The child and I will be waiting for you."
"Mm!"
More and more people went out to sign up.
Some who wanted to get home quickly and see it chose to go home first and take a look.
Most people's homes were basically fine; at most the glass was broken and there was some filth on the windows.
A little cleaning would do, and the state bore the cost of repairs for the damage done.
As for some who were unlucky, watching their own housing compound turned to ruins, they could only search helplessly in the ruins for things still usable.
But their resettlement afterward would also be the state's responsibility.
On this point,
the whole Dragon Star Alliance had reached a common view.
It had been announced to all the people long before the hive-race disaster came; that was why everyone obeyed arrangements, without much panic or worry.
For they knew much of the information, and the resettlement and arrangements afterward were all well in place.
Naturally, then, there was nothing much for anyone to worry about.
And the Fierce Dragon Kingdom achieved zero civilian casualties in this disaster.
But in countries like the Nancy Empire, there were still some civilian casualties.
Over half of these civilians had been marching on the day the disaster came; the rest were basically people who had ignored the alarm, thinking it was only a drill.
When they found the hive-race had really come and made to go into the underground shelters,
it was already too late.
Most of them died just like that.
For the civilians who died in the disaster, all those whose bodies were found were collected, their identities recorded, and then announced.
Those with no whole body left could only be listed as missing.
But at a time like this, everyone could guess what had become of the missing.
In the time that remained,
order was gradually restored in the major cities of every country.
"Hello, everyone; this is the Aalborg Alliance[1] television channel. After fifteen days in the underground shelters, our television channel has at last come back on the air. This is also the first time our Aalborg Alliance has opened its shelters since the hive-race disaster. Next, we'll report on the damage to every city in this hive-race disaster."
…
Once the streets had been washed clean,
everyone's life gradually began to recover too.
Those who should go to work went to work, those who should work worked, those who should study studied.
Were it not for the marks of hive-race fighting still left on some walls, no one could have believed that not long ago this place had just been through a battle against a hive-race invasion.
As for the wilds, many still did not dare set foot there.
For in some remote places in the wilds a few hive-race units might still be hidden; if ordinary people ran into these hive-race units, they would truly have one chance in ten of living.
And for the soldiers and armies of every country, the most important task now was to find the hive-race creatures still hidden on their own countries' soil.
For this, bounties were specially offered too.
If anyone found some hive-race life and told the local government, they could get a reward.
This led some bold people who wanted to get rich to start going into the wilds to search for traces of the hive-race.
Though some of these people lost their lives through a careless moment,
under this bounty system, the cleanup sped up greatly.
After the first month since the hive-race disaster came,
the Dragon Star Alliance formally announced that the global combat-readiness level was lifted.
All shipping and trade resumed.
But on the maps, some areas in the wilds were still specially marked as not yet confirmed safe, so that everyone would take care.
And at this time,
the Fierce Dragon Kingdom also announced to the world that this day would be Dragon Star's Victory Day for all,
proclaiming everyone's victory against the invaders.
And it also published the list of the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's dead in this campaign, and the lists of every country's dead.
By the current count,
the Fierce Dragon Kingdom had lost over ten thousand people in this campaign.
And the other countries together had lost over five hundred thousand in all!
That's right.
In a mere month,
across the whole globe, five hundred thousand had died because of this war.
Every country began building heroes' memorials, to commemorate all those who had died in this war to protect this planet.
At the same time,
the Fierce Dragon Kingdom launched its newest construction plan:
building the first T1 starship!
The deadline was half a year.
On the one hand, the Fierce Dragon Kingdom meant to win back the time lost over the past three years.
On the other, on those three combat moons overhead there were still hive-race, and perhaps survivors as well.
"Can it be built within half a year?" Zhao Chen looked at Chief Engineer Annie beside him, then at the huge dock before him.
This was a special dock; it had not been built on the coast, but in a basin.
For what it was to build was not a warship to range across the sea, but a starship to fly into the sea of stars.
"The technology concerned we actually prepared long ago, over the past three years. Even this dock was built long ago. Now we have no outside threat. We can put all our time and energy into building this one interstellar warship. The whole country's industrial production lines are working for this one interstellar warship. Half a year is enough," Chief Engineer Annie said confidently, then looked at Zhao Chen beside her. "Besides, don't you still have to go and bring back the people up there?"
Chief Engineer Annie pointed at the three moons overhead.
Zhao Chen nodded: "Yes. I promised them before they went out. I'll surely go and get them!"
Those three combat moons:
their task had been to be the first barrier when the hive-race came, to intercept those Hive Motherships, intercepting and destroying as many as possible out in the universe.
But considering that the three combat moons' fighting strength was limited,
once the weapons of every kind they had stored were used up, fighting on would be meaningless and would only add to the casualties.
So Zhao Chen had set them a rule for withdrawal.
When over 90% of all heavy-weapon munitions had been spent, all combat personnel could leave the battlefield and go into the underground shelters.
Beneath those moons they had specially dug underground shelters,
each able to keep a thousand people alive for a year.
Why a year?
Because in the time before, rocket capacity had been limited, so materials and weapons had been shipped first.
Things like food and daily necessities could only be squeezed down as far as possible.
The final calculation came out at giving them a year's food.
So!
Whatever happened, the Fierce Dragon Kingdom had to build a starship within a year, go to the three moon fortresses, and rescue the people!
This was Zhao Chen's promise.
He had to keep it.
But the other countries did not know the plan the Fierce Dragon Kingdom was carrying out.
In this half year, the other countries were still recuperating.
The past three years of war preparation, and the month of fighting the hive-race on top of it: too many places needed them to spend time recovering.
Not like the Fierce Dragon Kingdom, which could restore the relevant production and research in a very short time.
Eight years later.[2]
Fierce Dragon Starship Dock No. 1.
A warship three hundred meters long lay here, in its lines in fact seven-tenths like a warship at sea,
yet different in many places too.
"Engine system, fifty-seventh installation test, begin," Chief Engineer Annie gave the order at the command desk.
All the engines aboard this starship started up, giving off a blue light.
Chief Engineer Annie watched the values shown on the screen.
"All engines running normally, power normal," a subordinate reported.
"Run the one-meter test," Chief Engineer Annie said. "Bridge, take this starship up to hover at one meter. Hover time ten minutes."
"Yes!"
On the bridge inside this starship, the crew began to bring this starship slowly upward.
Though the supporting mechanical arms around it were still connected, they gave no supporting force at all; they were only there to make sure the starship would not be damaged if the test went wrong.
Very soon this starship was hovering at a height of one meter, wholly clear of the support frame below.
"Height one meter; begin the ten-minute hover test. Watch the data from every module system. Tell me the moment there's any problem!" Chief Engineer Annie said gravely.
"Yes!"
Building starships was something Annie had long known as well as anything could be known.
Besides, this was only a T1-grade interstellar warship.
But the problem was the tools they were using now; they could not be sure the starship they built would have no problems at all, so it needed very careful study.
The ten minutes soon came to an end.
When the final countdown ended,
everyone broke into warm cheers!
"Wonderful! The test succeeded!" Chief Engineer Annie pumped her fist excitedly.
Zhao Chen appeared behind her and applauded: "Well done."
"Of course; just look who I am. The Fierce Dragon Kingdom's finest chief engineer, Miss Annie, at your service!" Annie raised her head, looking very proud.
"Then how much longer until it can formally enter service?" Zhao Chen asked.
Annie called up the schedule ahead: "There are still a few tests to do. This time we only hovered ten minutes. Next we'll do hovers of an hour, a day and a week. Only that way can we make sure this starship won't have any problems. In about half a month, if nothing goes wrong, this starship can formally enter service."
Half a month.
"Mm." Zhao Chen nodded.
In that half month,
every kind of test went very well.
The most successful of all was when this starship not only took off but hovered five hundred meters up over the waters around the Fierce Dragon Kingdom.
It hovered a whole day, and none of its functions showed any problem.
Only then could this starship be counted as fully completed.
Zhao Chen looked at this interstellar warship before him.
He stroked the armor of its hull.
He found he had, of all things, a special feeling for this T1 interstellar warship.
"My lord, what's this starship's name?" a researcher said, tears welling in his eyes.
He was a native researcher, who had learned as he worked all the way, and now that he had seen this starship's completion with his own eyes, he was moved beyond words.
In fact this class of starship had had its name long ago:
the T1 Wolf-Louse-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer!
These were starship plans Zhao Chen had got from the system at the very beginning; only, the Zhao Chen of that time had thought nothing of this starship and sold it to others as goods.
He had never imagined there would come a time when he built one himself.