Chapter 1090 - Sting Operation
The Suosuo Fruits were distributed among the giant leadership, who then distributed them out to the population. At least several hundred thousand giant families had work now.
The first batch of pits was collected in no time. Han Wu mailed them back to the Divine Civilization and received an equal weight of food in exchange. Then the giant leadership distributed the food to every family that had participated.
With the first successful exchange complete, the foundation of trust had been established. Han Wu secured even more Suosuo Fruits through the Wealth Faction, and more hungry giant families joined the effort.
Given the scale of the Divine Civilization’s unit population, demand for Suosuo Fruit pits was constant and massive. On top of that, the trust established through the Suosuo Fruit operation opened the door for Han Wu and the Wealth Faction to find additional work contracts for the giants.
From every angle, it was a win-win arrangement. Having the giants process Suosuo Fruits was far cheaper than using machines, while the giants received the food they desperately needed.
The Wealth Faction’s ambitions extended beyond simple processing work. As cooperation deepened and trust grew, it planned to propose further partnerships, such as hiring giant soldiers for invasions of other civilizations. That would take time and patience, though.
Han Wu was confident that the Wealth Faction’s seasoned merchants could handle the giant species. He also believed the giants’ lives would steadily improve under the Wealth Faction’s guidance.
After a month of cooperation, the giants had tasted the benefits firsthand and threw themselves into the work with enthusiasm. They no longer bothered raiding the Great Dragons.
𝐟𝑟𝙚𝚎𝙬𝚎𝙗𝑛𝑜𝒗ℯ𝐥.𝔠𝕠𝔪
Han Wu knew that it was time for him to leave. From then on, the Wealth Faction would deal with the giants directly. To smoothen the transition, he left his Myriad Martial Caste Avatar behind to mediate between the two sides in the short term.
Han Wu returned to the Great Dragon territory. During the month he’d been away, the Lightning Great Dragon King Bakir’s training program had started to bear fruit. Out of the 10 million mixed-blood dragons, three had successfully used Primalize to evolve into Great Dragons. Those three served as living proof and inspiration. The remaining millions threw themselves into training with relentless intensity.
Han Wu watched with satisfaction. The program was already showing promising results, but it would take more time to fully convince the four Dragon Emperors and the Nine-Faced Dragon God. Once the results became significant enough, the Great Dragon race’ birth-rate problem could be solved from a completely different angle.
The situation with the giants had already been resolved. With steady work to keep them busy, the giants had neither the time nor the reason to attack the Great Dragons. That took care of the second problem.
Only the third remained, and Han Wu still had no leads. He sought out the Jade Dragon Emperor and requested information on the Great Dragons that had lost contact, including their power levels, the civilizations where they had been stationed, and any other relevant details.
He then divided his strength by placing each Divine Jurisdiction into an avatar. Each one took a team of powerful units and departed for the one of the civilizations where the Great Dragons had gone silent.
Some of those civilizations were extremely far away. The journeys would take time, and Han Wu had no choice but to wait patiently. Half a month later, the first avatar reached its destination and began investigating based on the Jade Dragon Emperor’s intel.
He soon uncovered a crucial clue. The Great Dragons had lost contact because the one stationed in that civilization was dead. At the site of its death, Han Wu discovered traces left by insects. At first, he doubted his own conclusion. Countless insect species existed across the many civilizations, but most were generally weak. His own locusts were a prime example.
The idea that insects had killed a Great Dragon was hard to accept. If he reported such a conclusion to the Great Dragons, the four Dragon Emperors and the Nine-Faced Dragon God would probably explode. They’d think he was making it up.
He held off on reporting anything until he had solid proof. As more avatars arrived at their respective civilizations, they kept finding insect traces at every site where a Great Dragon had died. The pattern left no room for doubt. The missing Great Dragons were connected to the insects.
Han Wu devised a sting operation. In a civilization where a Great Dragon had already been killed, he had Black Dragon King Alpheus openly announce his presence, then waited for the insects to take the bait.
Three months passed before the targets appeared. An insect army containing more than 1,000 Microcosm Insect Kings descended upon Alpheus in a savage swarm. The numbers were staggering.
Han Wu’s avatar remained hidden in the shadows and observed the battle. To his surprise, the swarm of Insect Kings, backed by an endless tide of lesser insects, was actually suppressing Alpheus.
𝒻𝖗𝒆ⅇ𝘸𝚎𝚋𝘯𝓸𝓿𝐞𝒍.𝔠𝔬𝓂
He quickly discovered why. Among the 1,000 Insect Kings was a single flying insect with a grotesque dragon’s head. Its combat strength was unremarkable, but it possessed a unique domain. Within it, the powers of all dragons were suppressed. The purer the dragon bloodline, the stronger the suppression.
Under its influence, Alpheus couldn’t even use his dragon breath. Forced to fight the swarm with nothing but his physical strength, Alpheus rapidly lost ground. Bites from the insects gradually covered his body in wounds. Tiny insects swarmed over the cuts and burrowed into his flesh, ravenous for dragon meat and dragon blood.
Han Wu had seen enough. Alpheus was his oldest Great Dragon partner, and he refused to let a bunch of bugs cripple him. He burst from hiding and summoned a portion of his elite units.
Steely appeared first. The moment he materialized, a Hurricane Barrier enveloped the battlefield. Razor-sharp wind blades tore through the insect horde and shredded them by the thousands.
Han Wu nodded in approval. Steely’s development of the Hurricane Jurisdiction had reached its peak. The only issue was that a Hurricane God King already existed within the Divine Civilization. Starting a divine war solely for a unit’s promotion didn’t sit right with him. Instead, Han Wu planned to give Steely more resources and let him try to awaken a Jurisdiction tied to his own genetic abilities. An Obsidrum Jurisdiction would be a major boost to his power.
Dark Locust appeared next. Since becoming the Dark God King, he had worked hard and poured massive resources into developing the Dark Jurisdiction. Its development rate had now reached 213%. In addition to Dark Clone, he had unlocked a second Dark Jurisdiction effect called Dark Corrosion. It used Dark Energy to erode a creature’s mind and fully convert it into a Dark Being under his command.
The timing couldn’t have been better. Under Han Wu’s direct orders, Dark Locust used Dark Corrosion to convert the dragon-headed flying insect into a Dark Being. It would provide the evidence Han Wu needed to prove that insects had killed the Great Dragons.