Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 969

Chapter 960, Old Woman

Gu Hang looked at the old woman who had come to visit him, still a touch curious.

He hadn’t originally planned to meet the new leader of the Dark Eldar.

Peace talks were pointless.

Even though the diplomatic ambassadors from both sides had maintained contact and exchanges after Victor’s death, the humans had essentially ceased to negotiate, instead repeatedly demanding unconditional surrender.

For the humans, this was simple—the Dark Eldar’s credibility was a factor, after all, the humans weren’t much better off. However, the biggest factor was that, from the Alliance’s perspective, the Dark Eldar had lost all bargaining chips after Victor’s death and their continuous defeat.

Military defeats and political turmoil had driven the Alliance to resolutely pursue its strategy of complete occupation of Comoros.

Once victory was complete, everything would be mine. What was there to negotiate?

After the last peace talks, the Terran Expeditionary Force, the most eager to leave, had already departed. While this certainly saw the Dark Eldar lose a powerful force and gain an opportunity for an offensive, it also benefited humanity.

A key factor in humanity’s original acceptance of the peace talks was the fear that prolonged events on Comoros would lead to unacceptable changes on Holy Terra.

While the Alliance had a plan, and the advance fleet, equipped with Veil Gate equipment, had already departed to find a route to Holy Terra,

that was at most a backup plan .

The sooner we could get there, the better.

The previous peace talks had provided a prime opportunity.

Even though Robert’s departure, taking with it a large number of troops and tying up the Veil Gate’s transport capacity for a considerable period, seemingly weakened humanity’s power on Comoros, it actually relieved the Alliance of its worries.

No longer concerned with Holy Terra, their focus was solely on Comoros.

The Alliance, freed to give its all, coupled with Gu Hang’s actions and Victor’s death, left Comoros completely defenseless.

Now, they had no bargaining chips left to negotiate further. That

was until the old woman appeared.

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

The old woman held a unique position. Among the Eldar, she was considered a religious leader, a figure superior to many family archons. In the Eldar’s time of crisis, it made sense for her to step in and clean up the mess.

After all, her prestige was there. Gu Hang

was surprised that she hadn’t died.

Initially, upon learning that the old woman had been purged by Victor, he felt quite sorry.

The Storm Spirits had been able to successfully infiltrate Comoros and rise to prominence, gaining access to some of the Dark Eldar’s most crucial secrets and information in just a few decades, all thanks to the Witch Spirit Cult.

The old woman’s presence was vaguely evident within them.

She had never established any direct contact with Gu Hang through the Storm Spirits. However, Gu Hang believed she seemed to be actively condoning something.

This was just a feeling. During the decades of Storm Elves’ activities in Comoros, Gu Hang regarded this as a tacit understanding between the two parties.

After the official outbreak of the Comoros War, after the Storm Elves played a key role, Gu Hang originally planned to find a way to contact the old woman.

However, contacting her was not an easy task, especially after all the Storm Elves were exposed, and there was a lack of lurkers.

Regular agents of the Alliance could only operate within the Dark Eldar by disguising themselves as human slaves enslaved by the Dark Eldar.

Slaves were not free, and the agents’ movements were quite limited. The intelligence they could obtain and the level of people they could contact were also very low.

Trying to reach the Crone through this channel is daunting.

However, there’s another avenue:

the diplomatic one.

Since the war began, diplomatic activity between humans and the Dark Elves has never ceased. Dark Eldar ambassadors are stationed on the Alliance side, as are Alliance diplomats, accompanied by numerous retinues of military attachés and guards.

A significant proportion of these individuals originate from the Alliance’s intelligence services. They exploit various diplomatic activities to attempt to contact high-ranking Dark Eldar figures.

They also approach the Witch Elves Cult, particularly the Crone. However, as a religious leader, the Crone is largely absent, making contact virtually impossible.

While intelligence agents persevered, the Crone vanished before they could achieve their goal.

While the purge of this religious leader was kept secret within the Dark Eldar community, how could such a matter remain secret?

The religious leader disappeared, many high-ranking members of the Witch Elves Cult were replaced, and many of their former privileges were curtailed… While there’s no clear evidence, it’s easy to guess what’s going on.

Gu Hang felt a wave of emotion upon hearing the news.

He hadn’t expected her to survive and now hold power.

Her first priority after assuming power was internal unity,

a step that went relatively smoothly.

The Dark Eldar had come to realize that they faced imminent extinction. In this situation, if they didn’t unite, they would be doomed. The old woman possessed sufficient prestige to unite all factions. Despite their ambitions, each faction had to prioritize the greater good. The

most crucial factor in uniting the Dark Eldar was her ability to offer a solution to end the war.

This announcement excited the Dark Eldar, but the details of the solution soon sparked another uproar.

Unconditional surrender.

The Dark Eldar could accept it.

Let’s discuss and clarify the terms. Even if it meant being forced to become slaves, they would accept it. After all, the battle was clearly unwinnable, and their home base had been breached. They had few bargaining chips left.

However, unconditional surrender was too much to bear.

For millennia, the Dark Eldar had relied primarily on slavery and plunder for survival. While they didn’t specifically target humanity, humanity dominated the real universe, occupying the most habitable planets and possessing the largest population. Even without specific targeting, humans were still the most plundered. The number of people captured and enslaved currently numbered in the tens of billions, representing over 70% of the Dark Eldar’s total slave population. If

this number were extrapolated to the entire history of the Human Empire, how much blood and tears had been shed at the hands of the Dark Eldar?

Racial hatred was evident.

Furthermore, they were well aware of the Human Empire’s traditional approach to all non-human races: extermination.

Unconditional surrender would be like handing humanity a butcher’s knife and then holding its neck high. Wouldn’t it be a matter of whim for them to decide whether or not to chop it off?

Why would they do this?

If the entire race was destined for extinction, why not perish in the struggle, rather than surrendering in such a humiliating way, allowing for easy slaughter?

Letting you, a prestigious leader, take the stage, that’s how you’re going to lead the entire race, right?

But the old woman was clearly determined. Regardless of the internal feedback, she clearly conveyed her intentions to the Alliance’s ambassador and requested a meeting with Gu Hang.

Gu Hang agreed.

(End of this chapter)