Humanity Is Gone, but I Have Billions of Clones

The Uranus System, once thundering with cannon fire and glittering with a myriad of stars, had now fallen silent.

But the fierce battle, which had lasted for just over ten days, had still left indelible scars upon the Star System.

In the orbits around Uranus and its various moons, debris and shrapnel of all kinds hurtled along at extreme velocities.

Warships blown in two, moons with only a fraction of their mass remaining, Cannon Platforms riddled with holes—sights like these were everywhere.

Even Uranus itself bore the conspicuous marks of this war.

It was once a pale blue, but now, its azure hue was mottled with a touch of gray.

This was the result of countless projectiles and pieces of debris striking it at high speeds.

A single Electromagnetic Cannon Projectile, no matter how fast, would simply burn up like a micrometeorite in the thick atmosphere of Uranus, its fiery trail vanishing in an instant.

But what about a hundred million? Ten billion? A trillion?

And that wasn't counting the wreckage from innumerable pieces of equipment. One of Li Qingsong's own Earth-class Warships, its propulsion system destroyed, had spiraled uncontrollably into Uranus, taking hundreds of Clones with it to merge as one with the gas giant.

Under this continuous, unrelenting bombardment, Uranus had been transformed into what it was today.

This was a testament to the intensity and scale of the battle.

At this moment, faced with a battlefield of wreckage and the loss of over a hundred million of his Clones, Li Qingsong was nevertheless filled with elation.

'No matter what, I won!'

'I repelled the invading fleet and destroyed more than twenty thousand of their Warships!'

In a daze, Li Qingsong found himself recalling the past several centuries: the technological breakthroughs, one after another; the tireless, centuries-long pursuit of scientific advancement; and all the resources, brainpower, and sweat he had poured into it, regardless of the cost.

'This victory is what I deserve!'

After a long moment of exhilaration, Li Qingsong finally reigned in his emotions. He turned his attention to another problem.

'In any case, my side is on the defensive for now. So, what will the enemy's next move be? And how should I respond?'

Simultaneously controlling two hundred million minds with the assistance of the Wukong AI, Li Qingsong once again began to think, speculate, and make the corresponding adjustments and deployments.

「...」

Outside the Supreme Leader's office on the Blutuk Civilization's flagship.

A dull gray tinge had appeared on General Harir's silvery-white scales.

'A crushing defeat. An unprecedented, crushing defeat. Facing a civilization with far inferior technology, I still managed to lead us to such a disastrous failure.'

'Twenty thousand Warships destroyed, 500,000 elite soldiers lost on the battlefield, 500,000 families shattered...'

He dazedly recalled the scene when the fleet had hastily returned to the main base: the furious populace, wailing loudly and screaming insults at him.

'Now public opinion is at a boiling point. Who knows how many people wish they could pluck my scales out one by one, eat my flesh, and drink my blood.'

'This time, I'm afraid there's no escaping death.'

'Even if the Supreme Leader understands I had no choice, what can he do?'

'The public outcry is too great; someone has to be held accountable. And nothing short of my life will suffice...'

But at that moment, inside the Supreme Leader's office, the high command of the civilization was not discussing how to deal with Harir.

They were discussing another matter.

"The enemy has now demonstrated combat capabilities far exceeding our initial estimates. Based on this, is it still possible to proceed with the original plan?"

In response to this question, the Supreme Leader looked toward the official in charge of the civilization's material supply and reserves.

"Are our current material reserves sufficient for another interstellar voyage? Even just to the nearest Interstellar System."

The official's expression was grim.

"Originally, the resources scavenged from the Dwarf Star System, combined with our previous surplus, would have been barely enough."

"But now... it's not enough."

He let out a soft sigh.

War is the greatest consumer of resources.

"We can't extract enough resources from the dwarf planets?"

"The other materials are manageable, but deuterium, a crucial fuel, can only be mined in sufficient quantities from large gas planets."

With the gas giant occupied by the enemy, obtaining enough deuterium meant either defeating them or... having them hand it over willingly.

After a lengthy discussion, the high command finally reached a consensus.

Continuing to fight an enemy with such proven strength was unwise, and also unnecessary.

It wasn't that they truly believed they couldn't defeat the humans. It was simply that there was no need.

'Since you have already demonstrated sufficient strength, then we shall not be stingy in graciously granting you peace.'

"Very well."

The Supreme Leader sighed softly. "If that's the case, let's negotiate. As long as this Human Civilization agrees to send us the resources we need, we can let them off this once."

An official reminded him in a low voice, "We'll need to handle public opinion carefully."

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers had died, and countless families had been shattered. For the high command to be discussing peace talks with the enemy at a time like this was truly difficult to accept.

'How could they possibly vent their fury without flaying every last human, tearing them limb from limb, and killing them all!'

"I will make a public appearance to appease the people, and I will demand that the Human Civilization provide compensation for all our fallen soldiers."

The Supreme Leader said coolly, "During negotiations, we can let the humans know about our public opinion and use it as a bargaining chip."

"We must make the humans understand that peace talks are a concession we are making only to avoid more innocent casualties and to preserve peace."

"But our concession is not without a price. We must see that the humans demonstrate sufficient sincerity before we will bestow peace upon them."

A message arrived in the Solar System and was received by Li Qingsong.

The arrival of this message was somewhat unexpected for Li Qingsong.

'So they finally replied... I thought you guys didn't communicate with other civilizations.'

"To the esteemed Supreme Leader of the Human Civilization:

Like the Human Civilization, we are also a peace-loving civilization.

The Solar System is not our final destination; we came here merely to gather some supplies for our journey.

Regrettably, however, we have seen some unfortunate events unfold.

Your civilization, disregarding its prior promise to provide us with resources, brazenly attacked our resource-gathering fleet, causing us grievous casualties. Our people are now incensed and demand that we severely punish your treacherous actions.

But as stated before, we are a peace-loving civilization, and we are willing to act with the utmost sincerity to ensure that peace is not broken.

Based on this, we demand that your civilization compensate our innocent victims, dispatch high-ranking officials to apologize on-site, and severely punish the culprits within your ranks.

In addition, we require your civilization to provide us with the following materials as a show of good faith to secure peace.

The list is as follows:

..."