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The Fierce Dragon Third System.
A month after the bug-tide's onslaught had stopped,
fortresses and strongholds had actually begun to go up along this system's border as well.
The Fierce Dragon civilization made no deliberate effort to hide this.
After all, such work was going on not only in the Third System but in other systems too.
Building on so large a scale could not possibly be kept hidden.
Someone asked about it.
The Fierce Dragon civilization's officials openly acknowledged the situation outright at a press conference.
It was because they had found that before long the bug-tide would strike again, and that its reach would extend to other Fierce Dragon civilization systems as they stood now.
So arrangements and deployments had to be made in advance.
At the same time, the people of these systems need not worry; the Fierce Dragon civilization would make every preparation to meet these bug-tides.
They need only carry on with their work and lives as they were.
Once this news was announced,
it did, for a short while, cause a great stir in those systems.
But things soon calmed down again.
Not a single person even chose to flee their system over it.
It was entirely unlike the first bug-tide crisis, when refugees had appeared in those few systems.
This was, of course, all because of the morale and prestige the Fierce Dragon civilization had built up in the first bug-tide crisis.
Everyone trusted the Fierce Dragon civilization, and this trust was real.
It let everyone believe that as long as the Fierce Dragon civilization's fleets were here, they had nothing at all to worry about.
This was also why several of the Fierce Dragon civilization's senior leaders had argued before that holding these systems would, as things now stood, actually be an enormous help to the Fierce Dragon civilization.
Morale and reputation, things that did not seem very important,
could in fact matter a great deal at certain times.
At this moment,
a starship on patrol had arrived here.
Aboard it was the Fierce Dragon Emperor, Zhao Chen.
He looked at the interstellar fortresses and stronghold structures under construction before him,
and then at the planet not far behind, still developing in peace.
"So close. The people on that planet didn't choose to evacuate?" Zhao Chen asked, somewhat curious.
Secretary Officer Barbara, beside him, answered, "We did arrange some evacuation plans, to keep the locals' losses as small as possible. But in the end fewer than ten thousand people chose to evacuate. Everyone is very optimistic. Life and work go on as usual. Being so close to these defense lines has even brought good business opportunities to every trade on their planet. For instance, when the construction workers and technicians here take their rest days and leave, they go to the nearby planets. That naturally drives the local consumer trades. And the interstellar fleets garrisoned here, when they're on leave, also go to these nearby planets for fun. After all, they only have so much time. Going anywhere far isn't practical, so these local planets suit them best. With things this way, the locals have more work, and even wages have risen quite a bit. That makes the locals all the more inclined to stay," Secretary Officer Barbara explained.
Zhao Chen said with a faint smile, "I never thought that arranging things this way would actually make the locals' lives better. A lucky accident, you could say." But then he said gravely, "Still, when the bug-tide comes in the future, have you prepared evacuation plans for them?!"
So close to the defense line, if the line ever collapsed,
one could imagine what would become of these planets.