Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 1694 - 959: The Old Matriarch

Looking at the old woman who came to visit, Gu Hang was still somewhat curious.

He hadn’t intended to meet with this new leader of the Dark Spirit Race.

Talks had no meaning.

Even though the diplomatic envoys on both sides continued to maintain contact and communication after Victor’s death, humanity had essentially lost the desire to negotiate with the other side, repeatedly emphasizing the demand for unconditional surrender.

For humans, doing so was straightforward—partly because the Dark Spirit Race’s credibility was questionable, though humanity wasn’t much better. But the biggest reason was that, from the perspective of the Alliance, with Victor’s death and the Dark Spirit Race’s successive defeats, they had lost all bargaining chips for negotiation.

Military defeat and political turmoil made the Alliance determined to push for the complete occupation of all of Comoros strategically.

Once totally victorious, everything would be mine, so why negotiate any terms?

After the last peace talks, the Terra Expeditionary Army, which was in a hurry to leave, had already departed. For the Dark Spirit Race, this meant sending away a strong force, gaining an opportunity for offensives, but conversely, it also benefited humans.

Originally, one key reason humans were willing to engage in peace talks was the concern that prolonged events in Comoros could lead to unacceptable changes on Holy Terra.

Although the Alliance had a plan—the expeditionary fleet with Veil Spirit Gate equipment had long set out to seek a route to Holy Terra.

However, that was at best a backup plan.

The sooner they could act on this basis, the better.

The last peace talk had already provided a good opportunity.

Even though Robert’s departure took away a large force and occupied the transport capability of the Veil Spirit Gate for a considerable time, seemingly weakening humanity’s power in Comoros, it simultaneously relieved the Alliance of concerns about Holy Terra.

No more worry about the affairs of Holy Terra, only focusing on Comoros.

The Alliance, able to give it their all, coupled with Gu Hang’s intervention and Victor’s death in battle, left Comoros with no room to retaliate.

Now, if they wanted to engage in peace talks again, there were simply no chips to negotiate with.

Until the old woman appeared.

According to the report Gu Hang received, she logically should have been purged by Victor before the peace talks.

The old woman has a very special status, considered a religious leader among the Spirit Race, also an entity that is superior to many family governors. In times of crisis for the Spirit Race, it is quite reasonable for her to step out and stabilize the situation.

After all, her prestige is well-established.

What puzzled Gu Hang was that she was actually not dead.

Originally, upon learning that the old woman had been purged by Victor, Gu Hang had felt quite regretful.

The Storm Heroic Spirit managed to infiltrate Comoros so smoothly and rise step by step, able to access some core secrets and information of the Dark Spirit Race within decades, thanks largely to the Witch Spirit Cult.

There was a vague presence of the old woman within it.

She had never directly established any contact with Gu Hang through the Storm Heroic Spirits. However, Gu Hang believed she seemed to be proactively allowing certain things.

This was just a feeling, and throughout the decades of the Storm Heroic Spirits’ activities in Comoros, Gu Hang regarded it as a form of mutual understanding between the two parties.

After the war in Comoros officially broke out, and the Storm Heroic Spirits played a crucial role, Gu Hang intended to find a way to establish contact with the old woman.

However, contacting her was no easy task, especially once all the Storm Heroic Spirits were exposed, there were no longer any infiltrators.

The Alliance’s regular operatives, often disguised as enslaved humans under the Dark Spirit Race, were significantly limited in their actions, capable only of obtaining low-level intelligence and accessing lower-tier members.

Attempting to reach the old woman through this path was a hassle.

However, there was another path.

The diplomatic route.

Since the beginning of the war, diplomatic activities between humans and the Dark Elves had not ceased. There were Dark Spirit Race ambassadors stationed with the Alliance, and similarly, Alliance diplomatic envoys came with many accompanying military officers and guards.

From this perspective, a significant proportion of these people were from the Alliance’s intelligence department. They would take advantage of various diplomatic activities to attempt contact with high-level figures within the Dark Spirit Race.

They also had tasks to contact the Witch Spirit Cult, especially aiming to reach the old woman. However, as a religious leader, the old woman generally did not appear at most events, making contact nearly impossible.

Although the intelligence department’s agents never abandoned the mission, the old woman suddenly vanished before they could succeed.

Despite the purge of this religious leader being kept confidential within the Dark Spirit Race, how could such things remain secret?

With the religious leader absent, many high-level members of the Witch Spirit Cult were replaced, and many of their original privileges were reduced… even without clear evidence, it wasn’t difficult to infer what had happened.

Gu Hang felt a bit emotional upon learning the news.

But he hadn’t expected her not to die, yet she now held power.

The first task she undertook after gaining power was internal consolidation.

This step proceeded relatively smoothly.

The Dark Spirit Race could recognize that they were facing the danger of extinction. Under such circumstances, if they did not unite, it would indeed be the end. The old woman possessed enough prestige to bind all factions together; no matter how ambitious individual forces were, they had to respect the bigger picture.

The most important point in uniting the Dark Spirit Race was that the old woman could provide a solution to stop the war.

This suggestion elated the Dark Spirit Race internally, but when the specific solution was heard, it sparked a huge uproar.

Unconditional surrender.

While the Dark Spirit Race could accept surrender,

everyone hoped to discuss terms clearly, even if it meant becoming dogs, they’d accept. After all, seeing the war was unwinnable, the nest had already been breached, and what they could use as bargaining chips was very little.

However, unconditional surrender was still too hard to bear.

On one hand, the Dark Spirit Race had, for thousands of years, relied mainly on exploiting slaves and external plundering as means of existence. Although they were not particularly targeting humans, humans, as the dominant race of the material universe, with most habitable planets and largest population, were regardless plundered most often. The number of humans captured and enslaved currently numbered in the tens of billions, occupying more than seventy percent of all slaves held by the Dark Spirit Race.

This scale, spread across the entire thousand-year history of the Human Empire, how many tears and blood have been shed under the rule of dark skins?

Racial animosity was clear as day.

Moreover, they were well aware of the Human Empire’s usual stance towards all non-human races—annihilation.

Unconditional surrender meant handing the butcher’s knife to humans, then raising their necks in submission, leaving it entirely to human whim whether heads would roll on any given thought.

Why do this?

If extinction of the entire race was inevitable, why not perish in resistance rather than surrender so ignominiously and face easy extermination?

Why become a leader of enough stature only to lead an entire race to this?

But the old woman was obviously resolute, no matter how the internal feedback was, she clearly conveyed her will to the Alliance ambassador and requested a meeting with Gu Hang.

Gu Hang consented.