I Can Program My Body?-Chapter 583: Paying Rent

"How can we stay hidden?" Hearing Nash’s question, everyone fell silent.

Staying out of the conflict was easy enough. But preventing others from forcing their hand was another matter entirely.

Even if they had no intention of joining the fray, they couldn’t just roll over if someone attacked them.

To truly avoid conflict and stay secluded, they had to make sure no one could find them in the first place.

"Do you have a plan?"

Since Nash had raised the problem, he should have had a solution ready.

"I plan to build a great concealment barrier array wrapping around every part of our territory."

"A great concealment barrier array? That’s far too costly!"

It wasn’t that they hadn’t considered the idea. It was simply too expensive. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Even pooling all the materials across the Xenus Alliance, they might still fall short of what was needed to build it.

"Don’t worry about the materials. I can provide them. I only need your help setting it up." Nash said with confidence.

The materials Lilliana had handed him at the last moment were perfectly timed.

With materials worth over 100 quadrillion chrono, building a great concealment array shouldn’t be a problem.

"You already have the materials?" Everyone sucked in a sharp breath.

Just imagining the sheer volume of resources required, they couldn’t help but stare at Nash in disbelief.

None of them had expected someone from a mid-level domain to carry this kind of wealth.

Just what had he been doing while the rest of them were scrambling to prepare?

"Even so, what do you want in return? We can’t just freeload." Torr said seriously.

The endless energy the sun star void gave off was already more than enough on its own. For Nash to set up a project of this scale on top of that was something else entirely.

No matter how close they were, they knew they had to offer something.

"Since you’re asking, I’ll charge you rent." Nash smiled.

Getting their help was already plenty. Getting rent, too, wasn’t bad.

"How much? Don’t bleed us dry. We’re practically paupers compared to you." Tathia said with a light laugh.

"Haha. Just materials, resources, or anything worth one trillion chrono per cosmic team."

Hearing the price, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Although not cheap, it’s not unreasonable either.

With the abundance of resources in the wild void territory, paying a trillion chrono worth each year was well within reach.

"That works." Everyone smiled.

This wasn’t just about payment. It was about solidifying their relationship.

By paying for their place in Nash’s territory, they wouldn’t be considered subordinates. They’d be tenants and partners in the same alliance, with a clear distinction in their positions.

"Haha. I’m looking forward to having you here."

With 94 cosmic teams each paying a trillion chrono worth of resources, Nash stood to collect nearly a hundred trillion every year.

In ten years, it would be a quadrillion!

And it wasn’t even the ceiling. As more members of the Xenus Alliance gathered, earning a quadrillion Chronos worth of resources every single year wasn’t out of the question.

Once things stabilized, pulling in dozens, even hundreds, more teams was entirely feasible.

With the deal settled, everyone turned their attention back to the portal as planetary system after planetary system made its way through.

Although their scientists hadn’t finished calculating the optimal placement for each one, getting everyone across was the priority.

Not only because keeping the portal open burned massive energy each moment, but also because the barrier protecting them was about to expire.

Before worrying about precision, they need to survive first.

"How are you planning to hold the line once the barrier drops, Nash?" Torr asked.

"We’ll just have to defend with everything we have." Nash shook his head.

For the coming swarm of dark beasts, he had no special plan prepared.

With their migration still underway, their large-scale defensive weapons were in disarray.

Without proper calibration, they could only operate at about 50% capacity.

The decoy weapons he’d used to deter cosmic teams eyeing the sun star void were in even worse shape. Nash estimated those weren’t even at ten percent.

The only things that could hold their own against the dark beasts were their Tier 8 battleships.

"Hah. Guess we’ll just have to dig in." Everyone sighed.

Stuck in the same situation, there was no other choice.

"Let’s just hope the swarm isn’t too overwhelming."

This was the wild void territory’s first great trial.

With the barrier nearing its end, it was like a ripened fruit ready to burst.

The moment it did, a wave of rich energy would flood out, drawing dark beasts from every direction.

Thinking of this, their cheerful mood from earlier quietly faded, replaced by a creeping tension.

No longer in the spirit to watch the portal, everyone shifted to dividing up their defensive positions.

Those with more firepower, manpower, and weapons took larger sections. Those with less took smaller ones.

If the gap were too wide, others would provide resources to fill the difference.

They talked through every scenario, contingencies, overlapping fields of fire, fallback plans, not noticing that time began to slip by.

Somewhere along the way, the scientists finished their rough calculations, slotting each planet and star into position around the Star Alliance territory.

To avoid friction and keep management clean, each cosmic team’s territory was spaced just far enough apart.

As the planetary systems settled into the gravity of the sun star void one by one, Nash and the others finally took notice of the commotion.

But instead of smiles, everyone sighed.

"It seems time wasn’t on our side."

Only a few days remained before the barrier gave out, and planetary systems were still flowing steadily through the portal.

At this rate, they wouldn’t have their full strength in position before the barrier collapsed.

"We’re in for a rough fight." Nash muttered, feeling a pang of guilt for the delay.

If they had secured the sun star void sooner or brought everyone over earlier, it would have been far less desperate.

Unfortunately, there was no changing it now.

"Don’t worry too much. We’ve been through worse. This isn’t the first time we’ve faced a scenario like this!"

"Right! What’s a few dark beasts?"