Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, several decades had passed.


    “Good day, everyone! Wee to the live broadcast of our daily science segment. Today, we have the renowned astrophysicist, Professor Staffin, here to address some of the public’s pressing questions.”


    “Good day, Professor Staffin.”


    “Good day to you, host.”


    “Recently, we’ve received numerous letters from viewers intrigued by the shadow clusters around A7. Many specte that they might be artificial structures created by aliens. What are your thoughts on this matter?”


    “Haha, this is a ssic question. People have asked about this many times in the past. In truth, it’s a simple matter to exin. Those objects are natural formations that have existed there for ages. As you know, A7 is a gas giant with an immense volume and equally immense gravity. Its gravitational pull captures numerous passing meteors, trapping them in its orbit over time. This umtion forms what we call the meteor belt—what you’ve referred to as the shadow clusters.”


    Professor Staffin, an elderly male Ratfolk with white and brown fur—a sign of his partial Kerrigan royal lineage—wore a tailored suit and ck-framed sses. His speech,bined with his refined appearance, exuded an air of credibility that naturally engendered trust in his words.


    “Then why have we only recently discovered this meteor belt?” the host—a young female Ratfolk dressed in a floral dress—pressed further. Her tail, adorned with a decorative bow, peeked out from the folds of her skirt. Clearly unsatisfied with Staffin’s exnation, she continued probing.


    “Well, we’ve known about it for quite some time. However, it was previously only of interest to specialists in certain circles. The im that it was recently discovered arises from the broader public now having ess to advanced observational tools. Many consumer-grade telescopes today are capable of spotting the meteor belt,” Staffin exined, pausing briefly before adding:“So, the meteor belt wasn’t recently discovered; it’s just that the general public has only recently started paying attention to it.”


    The host nodded thoughtfully, though her refined features still betrayed a hint of skepticism. She pressed on: “So, do they have any impact on us?”


    Staffin discreetly smirked to himself, thinking: Such an ignorant pretty face will never understand the greatness of the Overlord, nor the true nature of the world.


    Although he’d been spouting nonsense with an air of authority, anyone with basic logic could follow his reasoning and avoid asking such questions. Still, to protect his cover for the Overlord, Staffin maintained his persona.


    After a moment of contemtion, he replied, “The meteor belt has always been there. The fact that we’ve observed it now doesn’t change anything. So,pared to when we hadn’t noticed it, what difference does it make?”


    He continued: “However, without A7, they might indeed pose a threat to us. Many of those meteors were initially on a trajectory toward our but were captured and held in orbit by A7’s gravity. In this way, A7 serves as our protector. Without it, the likelihood of meteor strikes on our world would increase severalfold.”


    As Staffin borated, the conversation veered further from its original course.


    Finally, as the program drew to a close, Staffin left his audience with an enigmatic remark: “Our Ratfolk have already reached the moon. From Genesis, one can asionally catch glimpses of our spacecraft through telescopes. And on the moon, with its unobstructed view unimpeded by an atmosphere, observations are even clearer. For those interested in such matters, I encourage you to pursue rted studies. Who knows? Someday you might join us and uncover the true nature of the world.”


    With that, the broadcast concluded. Neither the host nor the bewildered viewers realized that the “we” Staffin spoke of was not the “we” they understood.


    Only when they experienced it firsthand would theye toprehend the true meaning of “we.”


    Such incidents were but the tip of the iceberg in Ratfolk society. The Swarm had assimted the brightest minds from the Ratfolk, while the rest were relegated to a controlled existence, unwittingly reduced to mere breeding machines.


    Their offspring underwent the same selection process, generation after generation, in an endless, repeating cycle.


    The originally nned ultra-massive electromaicunch tform halted its growth upon reaching 500 kilometers in length, following Luo Wen’s orders.


    This wasn’t due to concern that ordinary Ratfolk might uncover anything unusual. If that were the case, it could easily be addressed by the countless Ratfolk experts fabricating usible exnations.


    The real reason for halting its growth was its increasing gravitational influence.


    At 500 kilometers, the tform was already longer than many of A7’s moons in diameter. If it grew to 5,000 kilometers, it would be second only to A7B5 among A7’s orbiting bodies.


    Such a massive structure would cause unpredictable gravitational tidal effects, posing potential risks not only to the megastructure itself but also to A7 and its many moons.


    After extensive research and discussions, Luo Wen decided to rebuild the electromaicunch tform elsewhere.


    Since the existing tform was already enormous and difficult to move, it was left in A7’s orbit.


    The new tform’s construction site was chosen away from A7. With advancements in Swarm technology, Luo Wen had found an even better location: the system’s sun.


    The star, whose mass ounted for over 99% of the Genesis Star System’s total mass, was far superior to A7 as a power source. Even the colossal A7, thousands of timesrger than Genesis, was dwarfed by the sun.


    Constantly emitting vast amounts of light energy, the sun far surpassed A7’s charging capabilities.


    The new electromaicunch tform was positioned in the synchronous orbit of A2, much closer to the sun, where it could absorb a plethora of energies. For the tform’s fungal carpet, the environment was ideal for growth.@@novelbin@@


    With support from Swarm bases on A2, A4, and the moons Red Moon and Yellow Moon, the primal fungal strains were continuously deployed to designated locations, where they absorbed energy and began to grow.


    After years of development, the new tform had already reached over 3,000 kilometers in length—far surpassing its predecessor.