"You may be old, but finish up the rest quickly. There's no need for this crude handling," the guard said, putting away the electric whip, stun baton, and similar implements in his hand. "If our people see you acting so brutally again, the consequences won't be as mild as they were for this one." Tyroth pointed to the guard with the severed hand, speaking to the fawning guard.

"Yes, yes." The fawning guard nodded repeatedly and retreated.

Tyroth called over a Zealot and gave a few instructions. Soon, mixed squads of Zealots and High Templars emerged from the lined-up Protoss warriors behind him. Tyroth ordered them to maintain order at the site to prevent any further acts of wanton destruction.

The handover continued. Several technicians from the Slave Trade Alliance approached and explained the necessary precautions to Tyroth. The remote controls that governed the lives of the Singer people were also handed over to the Protoss.

The Protoss warriors began to fully take charge of the captured Singer people. Less than half of the million people had been released so far, but the wilderness was already a sea of figures, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Taking custody of a total of over a hundred million Singer people was a cumbersome task for any race in the Orion Arm; there was a great deal of complex processing involved. Fortunately, the Protoss technology was sufficiently advanced, and their preparations thorough enough, to simplify many of these matters.

The Singer people who had first disembarked from the transport ships were already beginning to move toward the city. At the exit of the landing zone, a thousand doorframes, each a meter high, stood in a single line. A shimmering curtain of light spanned each frame. Under the guidance of the Protoss warriors, every Singer person stepped orderly across the light curtain and then boarded the Protoss transports waiting behind them, flying towards the city.

The moment they crossed the curtain, their physical condition was recorded, conveniently encompassing both security checks and medical examinations.

When these groups of captured Singer people walked into the Protoss city, the expressions on their faces were profoundly stunned, as if they had glimpsed a place that existed only in dreams.

Some had been captured by the K’tarr during minor skirmishes in the past few years; others were taken during the recent full-scale war in the Flin Kingdom. They had spent anywhere from a few months to several years in K’tarr concentration camps and were almost completely cut off from news of the outside world.

The K’tarr certainly wouldn't have been kind enough to tell them that the Orion Arm now housed a Protoss civilization with three Level Four entities, or that Kalagunes was dead. All they knew was that they had been sold into slavery by the K’tarr, and their new captors were a race called Protoss, a name they had never heard before. They understood nothing about the Protoss, and a large portion of them even assumed the Protoss were some kind of lower-tier civilization, as they had never encountered that name among the higher races.

However, the moment they laid eyes on the Protoss city, they knew they were terribly, profoundly wrong.

What a perfect city it was—magnificent in scale, yet possessing a delicate elegance; overwhelmingly luxurious, yet imbued with an artistic atmosphere. The advanced equipment visible everywhere in the city seemed superior to that of their homeworld, the Singer Planet, by more than a mere degree.

After taking it all in, an idea subtly formed in their minds: this Protoss race appeared to be somewhat stronger than the Singer people themselves.

Perhaps this would be a place they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

As the handover neared its end, Kaas ascended into the sky and looked down. Seeing the groups of Singer people being ushered into the city and then assigned to various palaces, the Protoss warriors managing them first informed the captives that they had been granted their freedom, and then began explaining the various rules for life on Aiur.

The Singer people, already apprehensive upon arriving on Aiur, first disbelieved the news of their freedom, and then the majority wept tears of overwhelming joy, their faces streaming. Naturally, they agreed without hesitation to all the regulations mentioned by the Protoss.

"Arbiter, the reception work for the captives in the hundred cities is essentially complete. Our personnel are currently assisting them in removing the bio-bugs," Boktana reported to Kaas after receiving word that the last batch of Singer captives had been settled.

Kaas replied, "I am aware. They suffered greatly in the camps. Let them rest well for a while. I anticipate that Yafei will contact us soon; their stay on Aiur will not be prolonged."

Meanwhile, in several deserts on Aiur, hundreds of millions of Burk people were boarding the Slave Trade Alliance transports under the supervision of Protoss warriors. After several days of camp-style living, they had generally lost a significant amount of weight, but compared to the slender Singer people, they were still several sizes heavier.

The ten thousand transports that brought one hundred million Singer people to Aiur were only enough to carry fifty million Burk people back. Furthermore, the interior conditions would become extremely cramped.

According to the prior agreement with Rio, all Burk people would be transported in three batches to the Slave Trade Alliance. This first batch was the smallest, and from the second batch onward, the Alliance's transport vessels would no longer be permitted to land on Aiur, or even enter the star system. Transfers would occur in a neighboring system instead.

There was a star system located three point six light-years from the planet Aiur. A planet there had relatively favorable conditions; although habitable, it could be converted into a primary supply depot. At that point, the Protoss would transfer the Burk people there for the Slave Trade Alliance to receive.

In the expansion plan formulated by the Supreme Council, the Protoss of the Protoss race would present themselves to the various races of the Orion Arm with an imposing demeanor. Their advanced technology, glorious civilization, and formidable fleets were sufficient to support the Protoss in maintaining an aggressive posture of expansion.

Moreover, the mainstream concern among the races of the Orion Arm was currently the expedition into the Perseus Arm, making it an excellent time for Protoss expansion. In the short term, there was no need to worry about interference from other races.

At this moment, Yang Ying once again arrived at the capital planet of the Flin Kingdom, thousands of light-years from Aiur. He emerged from the wormhole, entered the atmosphere, and made his way to the Cyclone Column within the main camp of the Singer Kingdom's expeditionary force.

Yafei detected Yang Ying's arrival immediately. She appeared on the balcony, her voice filled with pleasant surprise, "Lord Yang Ying, you have arrived at a most opportune time. I have a favor to ask."

She was dressed in a light gauze that billowed with the gentle breeze, making her look ethereal, as if harmonizing with the natural world. Ever since her arch-nemesis Kalagunes fell, her graceful bearing, which resembled a skipping musical note, seemed to have deepened even further. Yang Ying landed on the balcony and stood before her, saying, "Is this about the recent transaction by the Slave Trade Alliance?"

"Lord Yang Ying has also heard about this matter?" Yafei nodded. "Indeed, it is precisely for this reason that I hoped Lord Yang Ying and Lord Blade could accompany me to Aiur to negotiate with the Protoss and bring my people back."

Yang Ying smiled. "I came for the exact same reason."

Yafei’s eyes brightened. She gestured him inside. "That is wonderful. Please, come in; let's discuss this further inside."

The two returned to the same golden hall as before and sat down, one playing the host and the other the guest.

Yafei began, "The K’tarr fleet within the Flin Kingdom's territory has now been cleared, and our army is preparing to advance on the K’tarr Empire. However, we suddenly received this news. We immediately sent envoys to the Slave Trade Alliance to try and ransom them back, but we encountered a difficulty: the K’tarr officer escorting them, Rio, holds the lives of every one of them in his hands. With a mere flick of his finger, he could kill them all.

Rio was deeply influenced by Kalagunes. He harbors intense hatred for the Singer people, and with him present, our people found it hard to intervene. Fortunately, they have now all been sold to the Protoss, which gives us the possibility of resolving this through diplomatic means.

I don't know if Lord Yang Ying has heard, but although the Protoss race was obscure in the past, they are an extremely formidable power. Not long ago, they crushed more than half of the Burk fleet in a battle. It is rumored that even the Loa Killing God the Burk hired was severely wounded by the three Level Four entities of the Protoss. Emperor Sarian has remained silent, clearly showing immense caution toward the Protoss.

My race has no prior dealings with the Protoss and we are uncertain how accommodating they might be, which is why I wished to invite you and Lord Blade to accompany me, so that they do not underestimate us Singer people."

Yang Ying listened to her conclusion and smiled. "Arbiter Yafei, I am aware of everything you mentioned. In fact, it's not necessary to go through such trouble."

Seeing Yang Ying's relaxed demeanor, Yafei couldn't help but ask, "How so?"

Yang Ying chuckled, "Actually, I am very well acquainted with the three Level Four entities of the Protoss. Their acquisition of all the Singer captives this time was also at my request to Arbiter Kaas."

"What!" Yafei sprang to her feet in shock. "Lord Yang Ying, you cannot be joking?"

"How could one joke about such a matter?" Yang Ying intended to use this opportunity to reveal a little about the relationship between the Tran mercenary group and the Protoss, establishing that relationship as a private friendship between the high echelons of both sides. This way, in future dealings, they could naturally leverage each other's status, unleashing the powerful deterrence of five Level Four entities.

And when large-scale war broke out, the combined fleet of the Human and Protoss races would have a perfectly valid reason to form. Such a mixed fleet could achieve an effect where one plus one is greater than two.

If the Tran Human race and the Protoss were considered separately, they would amount to a power ranking outside the top ten in the Orion Arm—the Protoss defeating the Burk was a military victory, but it didn't prove their overall strength surpassed the Burk. The Burk controlled the entire Burkrek Star Field and commanded far greater resources than the Protoss. The Protoss's current objective was to seize the Burkrek Star Field, which would allow them to truly replace the Burk's standing, or perhaps surpass it. When the Human and Protoss races united, they could easily become a force within the top ten.