Magic? My Iron Torrent will sweep it all away!

Inside the Kona Satellite Base command center.

"Report! A letter has been received from the Watchers of the Kona Civilization!"

Zheng Jinren, who was reviewing documents, looked up upon hearing this and said in a deep voice:

Translate it.

"yes!"

The translation results quickly appeared on the main screen.

【Greetings to the esteemed civilization of Earth—Great Xia.】

I am a guardian of the Kona civilization.

[I have noticed that your civilization has gained absolute control of the Kona satellite and eliminated all demonic forces posing a strategic threat.]

Please inform us whether your civilization is prepared to complete the satellite handover to conclude the third phase of the mission and continue fulfilling the subsequent tasks agreed upon by both parties.

If your civilization has no plans to continue the mission at the moment, please let us know.

The Kona civilization will terminate any missions yet to be launched and will independently reclaim the remaining colonized planets to prevent our military actions from being misinterpreted by your civilization as a violation of the cooperation agreement.

The text ends here, and the entire command center falls silent.

Zheng Jinren narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the last line of text.

The Watcher's words remained polite, but everyone present could see what he truly meant.

The Kona civilization was no longer willing to wait.

"Retrieve the mission agreement between the two parties," Zheng Jinren said.

A list of five stages of tasks quickly appears on the right side of the main screen.

The first phase involves establishing a sustainable outpost on the Kona satellite.

The second phase involves destroying all known space wormhole anchors on the satellite.

Both tasks have already been completed, and the corresponding scientific and technological materials have been received.

The third phase involves eliminating the main demon forces on the Kona satellite and assisting the Kona civilization in regaining control of the satellite. The reward for this mission is a technology of choice for the Great Xia.

The fourth phase involves assisting the Kona civilization in stabilizing its home planet's defenses and buying time for it to rebuild its orbital defense system. This phase also corresponds to a selectable technology.

The fifth phase involves a joint counterattack by both sides against the demon-occupied territories. For each colony planet recovered, including its satellites and orbital facilities, the Kona civilization will pay three technological data items chosen by the Great Xia.

The operations staff officer looked at the agreement and spoke first:

"The Watchers are urging us to settle the third phase and confirm whether we will continue to participate in the subsequent counterattack."

"Its last sentence is more important," another staff officer chimed in.

"The so-called avoidance of misunderstandings means telling us in advance that if Great Xia is not prepared to take action, it will terminate the mission that has not yet been started and then take back the colony itself."

"At that time, those colonies will no longer be mission objectives, and we will have no reason to demand payment from them."

One colony, three selectable technologies.

The Kona civilization had six!

This is by no means a small benefit that the Great Xia Dynasty can easily give up.

The Kona civilization had accumulated a vast array of technologies, many of which could directly fill the technological gaps in the Great Xia Dynasty.

If Great Xia can recapture several colony planets in succession, it will have the opportunity to make another leap forward in the fields of materials, energy, computers and interstellar travel.

However, the sudden urging from the Kona civilization was within everyone's expectations.

During this year and a half, while the Great Xia was recovering and developing, the Kona civilization was not idle either.

Previously, the Kona civilization had exchanged several batches of key materials for manufacturing antimatter confinement containers with the Great Xia.

With these materials, along with the antimatter bomb technology traded from the Great Xia Dynasty, the Kona civilization has now produced at least a batch of antimatter bombs that can be used in actual combat.

In addition, the orbital dock near the home planet Kona was also repaired and restarted a few months ago.

The deep-space probes deployed by Daxia on the outer side of the satellite observed a large enemy fleet.

The enemy's industry, fleet, and ground defenses have clearly recovered to the point where they can launch a counterattack.

"It seems the Watchers are prepared." Zheng Jinren tapped the table lightly with his finger.

"If we don't get involved, it certainly has the ability to do it itself."

One of the staff officers frowned and said:

"But what about the fourth stage?"

"When the fourth phase was formulated, the homeworld of Kona was in a state of imminent danger of falling. Now, the battlefield conditions have changed," Zheng Jinren said.

"If it can independently stabilize the home planet's defenses, the mission will naturally lose its basis for execution."

"We can't demand payment for the fourth phase without doing anything, but we must strive for cooperation in the fifth phase!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

This is the most reasonable way to handle it.

The Kona civilization no longer needs the Great Xia's help to defend its home planet, so the Great Xia has no choice but to abandon the fourth phase of the mission.

"As for the third stage..."

Zheng Jinren looked up at the holographic map of the Kona satellite.

Large-scale demonic activity is no longer visible on the surface of the satellite. The vast areas that were once covered by the black and red demonic tide are now just battle ruins and pollution zones.

"Those spatial wormholes no longer produce any more demons, so there's no point in keeping them. We can destroy them all to complete the mission and let the Kona civilization come and take over."

"It's time for us to receive the rewards for the third phase of the mission."

Instead of immediately closing the space wormhole, the Great Xia deployed fire positions on its perimeter, treating it as a fixed resource collection point.

The demons that emerge from the wormhole are killed by automated weapons as soon as they appear, and then sent to the refining factory.

However, starting before the Lantern Festival, large-scale appearances of demons ceased on the other side of the wormhole.

The demons have clearly realized that continuing to send troops through these spatial wormholes is just a waste of time and resources.

Since it can no longer be harvested, there is no point in keeping it, and its teleportation ability also carries a great risk.

When the Great Xia landed on the Kona satellite, the space wormhole they used suddenly collapsed due to the loss of maintenance by the demon race, resulting in heavy equipment losses.

If these wormholes are kept for deploying troops, no one knows when they might become unstable.

Now that Great Xia has more stable portal magic, there is no need to continue risking using the passages left by the demons.

Zheng Jinren stood up and glanced at everyone present.

"Order the garrison troops to clear out the remaining demons at the wormhole entrance, drop a nuclear missile at the other end of the wormhole, and close the wormhole."

"After closing the wormhole, we will return control of the satellite to the Kona civilization."

"yes!"

Several staff officers stood up at the same time to accept the order.

Zheng Jinren looked at the text sent by the Watcher again.

"Also, report the situation to the Tian Shu General Command Center, relay my previous opinions, and see how the higher-ups will proceed with the implementation."

"clear!"

The report was sent back to Earth via a quantum communication network, and the Tian Shu Command Center gave a formal response 37 minutes later.

The Great Xia leadership agreed to complete the handover of the Kona satellite and requested that the Kona civilization pay for one of their chosen technologies corresponding to the third phase of the mission.

However, the handover does not mean withdrawal; Kona Air Base and the surrounding defense zone will continue to remain independent.

No unit of Kona may enter the Great Xia territory or even touch any Great Xia facilities or creations without permission.

Data and information exchange between the two parties must pass through a physically isolated one-way gateway.

The Watchers are powerful artificial intelligences that possess advanced technology and independent will.

The two sides are currently in a cooperative relationship, but that does not mean that Great Xia can open its base without any precautions.