Controlling the City

Thirty minutes later, in the central plaza of Talon's City.

The flat ground was covered with countless demons. Although many had been eliminated by the Swarm, the remaining demons still numbered over 100,000.

Among them, many were demon younglings.

Generally, the weak who could survive in such a city were those under the protection of the strong.

In the demonic social hierarchy, if an individual reached a certain age and became weak, their only choice was to wander outside the city; otherwise, they would inevitably be killed by their own descendants or other demons.

The weak had no value in survival.

There was almost no such thing as family affection among demons. The weak could only survive by attaching themselves to the strong and providing labor.

Or, like the succubus, they relied on their charm to make a living.

When these demons were brought to the scene, the air was filled with cursing and shouting.

A few powerful demons were undoubtedly the most vocal and defiant.

The weaker ones, by contrast, were much more submissive.

However, as thousands of hydralisks surrounded the area, the plaza gradually fell silent.

A large group of Zerg arrived, carrying corpses in their maws and tossing them to the side.

An elf bug stood atop the pile and said calmly, "There were 100,000 who did not come; they have all been killed."

The demons: "..."

So, half of them were killed just like that?

No, if you added those killed during the initial entry into the city, three-quarters of the population was gone.

Moreover, those eliminated were essentially all the strong ones.

Usually, only the strong would resist fiercely. The weak knew their resistance was futile, so they had hidden in their homes.

Seeing such methods, these demons realized that the future controllers of this city would indeed be these monsters.

Would the demons become second-class citizens?

Well, thinking carefully, it didn't really matter. Most of those present had already been second-class citizens anyway.

At that moment, Xia Jin’s projection ascended the high platform.

"From this day forth, I shall be the actual controller of this city. My word is absolute and not to be questioned. Every command must be obeyed, and no refusal will be tolerated."

A demon raised its head. "What if the task is simply impossible to complete? You can't expect us to fulfill impossible tasks, right?"

Bang!

A thunderous blast rang out as the demon's head was pierced by a hydralisk.

The elf bug glanced at it and spoke. "The Queen said her words are not to be questioned—that includes asking questions. Just do as you're told. She will not listen to any voice of opposition, not even a hint of it."

The demons: "..."

This kind of tyranny successfully suppressed the group.

In fact, the Abyss operated exactly like this: a place where the law of the jungle reigned supreme without reason.

The more dominant one appeared, the more easily these creatures could be subdued. Furthermore, this dominance had to be maintained indefinitely. In the Abyss, loyalty was a foreign concept, so there were no natural-born traitors in the traditional sense; betrayal was a standard occurrence among demons, and failing to betray someone was what would be considered bizarre and illogical.

"Soon, my army of ten million will cross the portal to launch an invasion of the entire Abyss."

When Xia Jin said this, many demons' eyes widened in shock.

What? An army of ten million?

Looking at the appearance of the Zerg, it seemed... they really weren't demonic creatures.

So... they actually came from the surface world?

"Finally, all demons with a rank of Tier 8 or higher must participate in the war. I have weapons and equipment from the Main Material World that will give you the chance to kill Tier 10 creatures."

Considering she had an uncountable amount of equipment, it was quite practical to outfit the demons.

The firearms seized from the Dawn Empire reached into the tens of millions.

Using a demon army to help deal with other Abyss legions seemed like a good idea.

After all, this was an unknown world. Although ten million Zerg were many, Xia Jin felt it likely wouldn't be enough.

Regardless, the practice of using the local military as tools perfectly aligned with the Zerg virtue of frugality.

If there was danger, they would be the ones pushed to the front.

Given that demons were unlikely to know anything about tactics, the subsequent battles would be very easy for the Zerg.

The only trouble was that demons were unlikely to surrender on a large scale like humans, which meant the intensity of the fighting would be much higher.

...

Another day passed, and more of the Swarm's main force crossed the portal to arrive.

The Zerg stationed in the city and surrounding areas also began to prepare for movement.

Two million rocket bugs were positioned in the plaza.

"Better use these up as soon as possible."

Xia Jin had determined that their firepower was inferior to the current long-range combat bugs; they relied entirely on overwhelming numbers to crush the enemy.

"I might as well wait two more days and start once all the rocket bugs have been brought over."

With that thought, Xia Jin continued as she had in the past, sending out Zerg scouting squads to further explore the surrounding regions.