'Ruan Mei' stared at this version of herself that seemed ready to devour her whole.
She had this nagging feeling she was about to be locked in a basement.
The good news? These two hadn't laid a finger on her or started any twisted experiments.
The bad news? They had no intention of letting her go, either.
It felt like being a frog slowly boiled in warm water.
And she was the frog.
Just then, a Herta puppet walked over.
It addressed Lady Herta: "My Lady, the Interastral Peace Corporation just released an urgent news bulletin."
"What does the Corporation's news have to do with me?"
Herta looked at the puppet, puzzled.
By the puppet's logic, this kind of urgent news shouldn't normally involve her.
So, Herta pulled up the news broadcast.
And then.
The very first image that filled the screen was a luminous giant, floating in the cosmos, its body radiating a dazzling light, firing a ray that utterly annihilated an entire Zerg-infested planet in one shot.
[Interastral Peace Corporation Urgent Broadcast: The Corporation has now confirmed a large-scale phenomenon of lifeform evolution occurring across the universe. The evolved individuals exhibit an extremely high degree of similarity. No organization or individual has yet claimed responsibility for this event…]
The broadcast cycled through numerous different scenes.
Some of these giants were fighting the Corporation's forces, others were clashing with local fleets.
Some battled the Swarm, others fought the Antimatter Legion…
Though their forms varied, they displayed remarkably similar combat methods and characteristics.
Even without concrete evidence, it was obvious these giants, scattered across vastly different parts of the cosmos, must share some unknown connection.
In such a short time, the Interastral Peace Corporation had not only noticed this anomalous phenomenon but had already produced a dedicated emergency broadcast.
It was enough to show just how absurdly extensive the Corporation's control over the universe really was.
Sometimes it struck 'Ruan Mei' as strange.
The Interastral Peace Corporation set the universe's rules, issued the universal currency, had regulatory bodies to handle interstellar disputes, and its own military arm.
It possessed resources so vast even geniuses found them abundant.
In any ordinary civilization, an organization like this would be called a government.
But it insisted it was just a company, diligently doing business to mine materials for the Amber Lord.
It's just ridiculous, you know?
And even more abstractly, after 'Ruan Mei' had actually learned about all the chaotic lunatics and civilizations populating this world,
She'd started to find the Interastral Peace Corporation downright… relatable.
'Ruan Mei' listened carefully to the entire news report.
It specifically highlighted the Tarak Federation as a major hotspot.
While other civilizations were reporting giants in single-digit numbers—one or two, maybe a dozen at most—the Tarak Federation was different.
Initial estimates from just the first day indicated over one hundred thousand giants had already emerged within its borders.
And even as the news report was airing, new giants were still continuously appearing.
The IPC department responsible for tallying them was losing its mind.
'Bro, you've got to be kidding me.'
After some initial contact, Corporation personnel had gained a basic understanding of these giants' traits and their formidable individual combat capabilities.
A few of these beings, or even ten or twenty thousand, would be manageable, as long as they didn't congregate.
But if they formed up on a massive scale—millions, even tens of millions of giants gathered together, establishing a civilization exclusive to giants—well, that would give the Corporation some serious sleepless nights.
Initially, the Corporation had thought that despite the high similarity, these giants originated from different, far-flung civilizations.
Gathering them all wouldn't be easy.
But then!!
You go and pop out over a hundred thousand in one night…your Tarak Federation, you're really something else.
Although these giants hadn't yet demonstrated any Harmony-like abilities, still!!
With the Galaxy Rangers setting a precedent, if these giants weren't a natural occurrence, but the deliberate design of some individual or organization, then the creator definitely wouldn't forgo the power of Harmony.
Putting themselves in that position, if the Corporation could create such beings, they'd certainly include Harmony.
So the Corporation had to consider this possibility, especially since recently, rumors suggested that a whole bunch of Galaxy Rangers had indeed started walking the Path of Harmony.
They'd even proactively contacted The Family, claiming they wanted to 'exchange knowledge and learn.'
The Corporation felt like cursing.
'You, the adopted kid who's always picking fights, what the hell do you want to learn?'
So they had to be prepared.
If hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of giants gathered together, recreating the Harmony stunt the Galaxy Rangers pulled last time, by Taravan Keane's estimate, even dragging him out personally probably wouldn't be enough to stop them.
The Corporation's board even feared that, by that point, the combined power would likely match, or even surpass, the might of all those clever little trinkets hoarded in the Corporation's collections.
And so.
To avert this future of sleepless nights, Diamond, head of the Strategic Investment Department, took personal charge.
He urgently mobilized the Interastral Peace Corporation's defense fleet, scrambling together a total force of over a million interstellar warships, and headed straight for the Tarak Federation.
His goal: to forcefully impose the universe's peace and justice upon this stagnant backwater of the Tarak Federation, and prevent these 'gifted individuals' from spawning any more giants.
Having gleaned the situation with great amusement, Ruan Mei was genuinely tickled.
But it also showed just how seriously people in this universe would view the large-scale emergence of these giants.
"It seems the Tarak Federation is truly in a league of its own…"
'Ruan Mei' hadn't expected the Interastral Peace Corporation to single out the Tarak Federation by name. And also, everywhere else was spawning giants in single digits, but the Tarak Federation coughed up a six-figure number of giants in one go!
The sheer absurdity of it was a bit beyond her imagination.
"Heh, the Tarak Federation is a major power, you know. It holds territory across eight Star Domains. Do you have any idea how vast that is?"
Herta let out a derisive snort, looking at 'Ruan Mei'.
She knew Bai Ming was still clueless about common cosmic knowledge, so she didn't mind offering a quick primer.
"How vast?"
"A Star Domain is divided into numerous Sectors. Those Sectors are, in turn, subdivided into many individual Star Systems."
"While different factions have varying standards for these divisions, even the smallest Star Domain encompasses a galaxy spanning at least tens of thousands of light-years."
"With eight whole Star Domains, only a six-figure number of giants being born is practically paltry. There should be at least eight million for it to be considered normal."
Listening to Herta's explanation, 'Ruan Mei's' lip twitched.
In her previous world, the Milky Way alone contained hundreds of billions of stars. Under a civilization's management, one could only imagine how many habitable planets could be terraformed.
But given the conditions required for a giant's birth, if eight million giants really emerged overnight, what kind of hellish place would that have to be?
Even the current number felt terrifying to her.
No wonder the Interastral Peace Corporation was rushing over in such a panic.
If left to their own devices, the Land of Light could just announce its founding outright.
--+--