Silence.
The atmosphere among the three was very strange.
Before, they had at most thought the Fierce Dragon civilization was a vicious wolf.
But now the facts were telling them that the Fierce Dragon civilization was no vicious wolf,
but a giant dragon.
This was beyond their imagining.
It also threw their original expectations into serious trouble.
"Then what do we do now?" one civilization leader asked.
"We have to think of something. Otherwise, once the Fierce Dragon civilization has truly grown to a terrifying degree, then by the time the Savage Beast Alliance and the Golden Pupil Mutual-Aid Society are wiped out, we'll be even less of a match for the Fierce Dragon civilization," another civilization leader said in a deep voice.
The Korgi civilization's President thought a moment and said, "Then the only way is, at a certain point in time, to launch an attack on the Fierce Dragon civilization and catch them completely off guard. And this point in time matters a great deal. If we strike too early, then the Savage Beast Alliance and the Golden Pupil Mutual-Aid Society are still there, and we still can't get a seat at the table. If we strike too late, then the Fierce Dragon civilization will already have swallowed these Trial civilizations, and on our own we may be no match for the Fierce Dragon civilization either."
When?
This became a hard problem laid before the three powers' leaders.
"At present our three powers have nearly two hundred thousand interstellar warships in all, including nearly two thousand T4 interstellar warships. But that order of magnitude is still nowhere near enough. Never mind comparing with the Fierce Dragon civilization: compared with the Savage Beast Alliance and the Golden Pupil Mutual-Aid Society alone, we're no match. So this point in time has to meet several conditions. First! Our military strength has to exceed, to some degree, the Savage Beast Alliance's and the Golden Pupil Mutual-Aid Society's. Second! We have to know the Fierce Dragon civilization well enough. How many systems they have, where their system coordinates are, just how many fleets they have, how many shipworks: we must know all of it clearly!"
The other two civilization leaders nodded in agreement.
The Korgi civilization's President thought a moment, narrowed his eyes and said, "As for what you're worried about, the Fierce Dragon civilization growing to the point where we can't wipe them out: then, once the first condition above has been met, we can publicly announce the Fierce Dragon civilization's existence outright, along with all our intelligence on them. That way, what we'll get is the five great Trial blocs attacking the Fierce Dragon civilization together. And when a free-for-all like that breaks out, that's our chance to win amid the chaos!"
Hearing this plan,
the other two civilization leaders both expressed agreement.
Though such a plan could not guarantee they would become the victor of the Trial of the Gods, at least it gave them a much better chance of winning than doing nothing.
Just as the three exchanged a look and could not help smiling,
suddenly the looks in all three pairs of eyes changed.
"You… received it too?" The Korgi civilization's President looked at the other two civilization leaders in astonishment.
"Mm, received it."
"Never imagined such a big change would happen. It seems the plan we've prepared has to change too."
"Let's each go back and discuss it." The Korgi civilization's President's expression was grave.
This meeting broke off abruptly.
And almost at the same moment, every other Trial civilization seemed to have pressed a pause button; even battles still in progress were stopped by every possible means, and those that could not be stopped were lowered in intensity.
For every Trial civilization's leader had received a message.
The Fierce Dragon civilization, the Dragon Palace Starport, the supreme conference room.
Zhao Chen looked gravely at all the senior staff before him.
"A newly received rule. A year from now, the whole star domain the Trial of the Gods is in will change. A setting called the safe zone will appear. The regions outside the safe zone will come under frenzied attack by calamity races of every kind! As for how big this safe zone is, no one knows. And every year after that, the whole safe zone will shrink, until the Trial of the Gods ends!" Zhao Chen said solemnly.
"This… a battle royale?" Annie, who loved playing games, said in astonishment.
Everyone looked at Annie without thinking.
"Haven't you all played this kind of game? It's on an island, with resources and weapons, and then a hundred fighters are dropped in; they can collect weapons to raise their fighting strength. After a fixed time, a poison circle appears on the map, with a countdown too. The safe area shrinks bit by bit; what's outside the safe area is called the poison circle, and in the poison circle your body is gradually poisoned until you die. And every so often the safe area shrinks, until it's an area of under one square meter. The last one alive is the winner of the game. I'm really good at that game!" Annie said, raising her head.
"You mean the game where you're always saying you turn into a loot box the moment you land?" someone beside her chimed in, without mercy.
"Ahem… that's now and then, now and then…" Annie's cheeks reddened, but she still would not give in.
"If it's like this, then we have to change our earlier plans. If, after the first safe zone appears, our systems aren't inside the safe zone, what do we do? Abandon our existing systems?" Zhao Chen said in a deep voice.
Those present fell silent at once.
Annie said without thinking, "Evacuate, of course. In the game, being outside the safe zone is very dangerous."
"But the problem is, this isn't a game. Hundreds of billions, trillions of people live in those systems. They're their homes!" someone said, unable to bear it.
Annie fell silent at once.
She too realized how cruel this was.
"Speaking realistically, evacuating and abandoning the systems outside the safe area is the best choice." Secretary Officer Barbara looked at Zhao Chen, her expression complicated.
But this matter had to be the Fierce Dragon Emperor's choice.
Zhao Chen was silent for several breaths.
Abandon them?
Or hold on, knowing full well it was not rational?
Zhao Chen clenched his fists; just as he was about to speak,
Chu Xuan spoke up at once: "We can prepare two combat contingency plans. The first is an evacuation plan: the people and valuable means of production, we find ways to refit them, take away everything that can be taken, and move them to safe systems. The second plan is to hold these systems to the death and fight the enemy to the end! Though that's very risky, if we really can hold off those enemies' attacks, we'll have more star-system territory, and more capital. But both plans will also have to be based on the actual situation."
Chu Xuan's two plans left Zhao Chen a way out.
Zhao Chen took a deep breath and looked at Chu Xuan and Barbara in turn: "Chu Xuan, you're responsible for drawing up the battle plan. Barbara, you're responsible for drawing up the evacuation plan. One for every system. Work out how long it will take every person in each system, and every industrial installation that can be evacuated, to complete the evacuation procedure!"
"Yes!" Chu Xuan and Barbara said in unison.
"It looks as if this Trial of the Gods has truly come to its final stage." Zhao Chen sensed that the maddest time of this Trial of the Gods was about to arrive.
And over the following year,
nearly every Trial civilization gave up expanding outward and began, at any cost, to reorganize their armies and prepare for war, building interstellar warships on a grand scale,
preparing at the same time for the great upheaval about to come.
The year was nearly over.
Zhao Chen looked at a file Secretary Officer Barbara had handed him.
It was the situation of every power over the course of this year.
Because of the great catastrophe about to come, the Fierce Dragon civilization had kept fairly quiet this year too, and had not attacked those Trial civilizations again.
"The Savage Beast Alliance is still three Trial civilizations; the number of systems it holds has grown by thirty-three. Its active-service interstellar warships are now said to number two hundred fifty thousand, forty thousand more than two and a half years ago, but its growth hasn't been as fast as they originally planned. Of these, fifteen thousand are T4 interstellar warships, and the remaining two hundred thirty-five thousand are T3 interstellar warships! You should know that their original plan was to hold three hundred thousand interstellar warships within these three years, including twenty thousand T4 interstellar warships. Our earlier attacks and harassment truly had no small effect."
Secretary Officer Barbara pointed at the Savage Beast Alliance's information.
"If we hadn't stopped harassing them this year, they'd never have had this year of quiet development," Zhao Chen said helplessly.
It could be said that the change in the rules of the Trial of the Gods had thrown many of their original plans into disarray.
"The Golden Pupil Mutual-Aid Society is still five Trial civilizations, with forty systems at present. It now has over seven hundred thousand interstellar warships, including three thousand T4 interstellar warships, four hundred thousand T3 interstellar warships, and two or three hundred thousand T2 interstellar warships. Originally none of them meant to produce T2-grade interstellar warships. But because of the sudden change in the rules of the Trial of the Gods, they've begun buying T2-grade interstellar warships from the civilian sector on a grand scale, all to increase the size of their fleets as much as possible before the final upheaval."
"The Triumvirate Star Union is also still three Trial civilizations, holding twenty-seven systems. Its total is two hundred fifty thousand interstellar warships, including two thousand five hundred T4 interstellar warships, two hundred thousand T3 interstellar warships, and fifty thousand T2 interstellar warships. The Crimson Flame Federation has four Trial civilizations and twenty-seven systems. Its total is two hundred thirty thousand interstellar warships, including two thousand T4 interstellar warships,[1] a hundred sixty thousand T3 interstellar warships, and seventy thousand T2 interstellar warships. The Far Shore of Deep Space, not counting us, is still three Trial civilizations and twenty-three systems. Its present total is two hundred fifty thousand interstellar warships,[2] including two thousand T4 interstellar warships, a hundred fifty thousand T3 interstellar warships, and fifty thousand T2 interstellar warships."
Secretary Officer Barbara set out the present fighting strength of these Trial civilizations one by one.
Then she called up the Fierce Dragon civilization's own situation.
"The total number of interstellar warships we hold now has reached two hundred fifty thousand, taking in ten thousand T4 interstellar warships and two hundred forty thousand T3 interstellar warships. We've organized these interstellar warships into eight legion fleets, each legion fleet thirty thousand interstellar warships. The remaining twenty thousand interstellar warships have been organized as the Household Legion fleet,[3] on one hand to serve as a reserve fleet, and on the other to protect your safety as well."
Secretary Officer Barbara finished setting out the Fierce Dragon civilization's fighting strength.
"Two hundred fifty thousand interstellar warships." Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes and thought for a while. "With our present fleet strength, among these Trial civilizations, taking on the Savage Beast Alliance one-on-one is no problem at all. But the trouble is the other Trial civilizations, the Golden Pupil Mutual-Aid Society included. Even the Far Shore of Deep Space's relations with us have grown delicate this past year. Didn't you say before that their starships are trying every means to find out the coordinates of our systems? At present three systems' coordinates are suspected to have been exposed already. The Trial of the Gods will have only one victor. We showed too great a fighting strength before. They've begun to be wary of our existence. Most likely at some point in time they'll turn on us. We have to be ready. In the future we may very well be the enemy of every Trial civilization!" Zhao Chen foresaw the worst case.
Marshal Chu Xuan said beside him, "That's right. Originally this situation was one we could fully foresee. I'd even made the relevant combat preparations. But because of the change in the rules of the Trial of the Gods, the future has become highly unpredictable. Right now no one can foresee what will happen on the battlefields of the future."
Zhao Chen sighed: "All we can do now is wait. This change in the rules has shattered the old order of the game outright."
In the final stretch of time,
every Trial civilization sank into a strange stillness.
Everyone was waiting, waiting.
At last!
In the minds of every Trial civilization's leader, a star chart suddenly appeared.
Zhao Chen opened his eyes and, without a word, opened the interstellar map and drew on it the star chart that had surfaced in his mind.
He drew a circle.
Of the nearly two hundred systems originally in this star domain, half now lay outside this circle.
"So this is the extent of the safe zone?" Secretary Officer Barbara looked at the circle His Majesty Zhao Chen had drawn.
The first thing everyone looked at was the nine systems the Fierce Dragon civilization controlled.
In fact it should be said ten, since that chaos system from before had basically been cleared.
But because they had learned of the change in the Trial of the Gods,
in that system the Fierce Dragon civilization had built no fixed installations, using only interstellar mining ships and interstellar industrial ships throughout,
developing the resources there while able to evacuate at any time.
So even if this system were abandoned, Zhao Chen would not feel the least pang.
"Damn, we have three systems outside the safe zone!" Secretary Officer Barbara said, frowning.
Three systems: a third.
They were the Fierce Dragon Sixth System, the Fierce Dragon Seventh System and the Fierce Dragon Ninth System.
And by comparison, the Fierce Dragon civilization could actually be counted lucky.
The unluckiest of all ought to be the Crimson Flame Federation, for of the twenty-seven systems the Crimson Flame Federation held, only seven were within the safe zone.
Of all the Trial civilizations, it was the one with the most systems outside the safe zone!
Zhao Chen looked at this new map and said in a deep voice, "Chaos is about to begin."