Chapter 29
It took a lot of time to clean up the remaining bees. Even with the help of the galactic explorers hired by Craybow, it still took several days.
On this day, Craybow had finally repaired and cleaned up the trading station, and welcomed the official meeting with the Administrator.
A small and unremarkable research s.p.a.ceship was docked at the s.p.a.ceport. Normally, no one would pay attention to the arrival of such a ship.
But today, the countless survivors rescued from the bee colony were looking at it seriously.
The hatch of the s.p.a.ceship slowly opened, and a few humanoid species that looked very strange to them walked out.
Those with sharp eyes could tell at a glance that they were actually robots on the inside. Although it was unknown why they had a layer of bionic skin on the surface, this seemed to prove that the Administrator was actually an intelligent and mechanical civilization.
The person in charge of the trading station, Blenning, was the first to greet them. He said with a polite smile,
“It’s our honor to have the Administrator here! Please come to the VIP room. Craybow thanks you for your rescue and has prepared a gift for you there!”
Although he wanted to lick their boots, he couldn’t be too humble in front of so many people as he represented Craybow.
The synthetic humanoid didn’t say anything, but he followed Blenning to the VIP room.
This kind of indifferent att.i.tude would have infuriated Blenning under normal circ.u.mstances, but now he was leading the way as if it was a normal thing.
Some people in the crowd started whispering,
“Speaking of which, was the Administrator that cold? He didn’t even say a word…”
“Shh… They’re intelligent machines, so their way of thinking is different from ours. Don’t take it for granted that they have normal emotions…”
“And don’t you know? According to rumors, the Administrator is likely to be a lost civilization. Why would such an existence care about the feelings of others?”
“What? A lost civilization? You mean to say… the Observer?”
“It’s exactly what you think! Didn’t you notice? Their t.i.tan Battleships are much larger than the average civilization’s! I’ve seen a similar t.i.tan Battleship in the Turbulence Empire, but it was not even half as big as the Administrator’s!
“And… According to my friends in Craybow, the Administrator’s fleet suddenly appeared here! They didn’t detect any hypers.p.a.ce signal!”
“There’s such a thing?” This made the onlookers even more surprised.
Hypers.p.a.ce navigation was the most common way of traveling at faster-than-light speed in interstellar s.p.a.ce. All civilizations were recognized as interstellar civilizations based on whether they had a hypers.p.a.ce engine.
This engine could allow the s.p.a.cecraft to enter the highway in the galaxy, thus achieving convenient faster-than-light travel.
Unlike the dangerous subs.p.a.ce, hypers.p.a.ce was very stable. Even if one fell from it, they would only return to the normal universe.
Moreover, hypers.p.a.ce was a common existence in the galaxy, which was why almost all interstellar civilizations initially relied on hypers.p.a.ce for interstellar travel.
“Not hypers.p.a.ce? What else could it be? A wormhole? Stargate?
But now, when they heard that the Administrator’s fleet might not have arrived here through hypers.p.a.ce, their eyes widened without exception.
“Not hypers.p.a.ce? What else could it be? A wormhole? Stargate? But I don’t see any of these things around here.”
“Is it possible that they came through a sub-s.p.a.ce? Although this technology only exists in the theories of us scientists, it is very likely that the Administrator has already mastered this technology!”
…
For a time, these interstellar adventurers, who were usually not interested in technology, actually started discussing it like scientists.
New things always attracted people’s enthusiasm for discussion. When they finished their discussion and looked at the welcoming pa.s.sage, they found that the Craybow people and the Administrator were gone.
“Oh no, I forgot to record it. How am I supposed to brag to my old friends without a video?”
“Who has the footage of the Administrator? I’ll pay 10 energy coins for one!”
“Look at how stingy you are. I’ll bid 25!”
“I’ll bid 50! And the coordinates of a new galaxy!”
The crowd returned to its former noisiness, and these wanderers who had always been drifting in the galaxy finally had a rare relaxed atmosphere.
In the VIP room of Craybow, the synthetic humanoid and Blenning were once again sitting opposite each other.
“Speaking of which, the last time we met seemed to have been ten years ago. I haven’t changed much, but you’re still blowing me away.”
The VIP room did not change into the meeting hall, which meant that they had not entered the formal negotiation stage.
Li Wenyuan, who was deep in thought, glanced at the synthetic humanoid when he heard what Blenning said. He didn’t let the synthetic humanoid react.
He had heard the people in the crowd talking about him when he was in the aisle.
“Lost civilization? If I remember correctly, the archaeologists at home also guessed the same thing. It sounds like a terrifying existence… If I continue to disguise myself according to their thoughts, it should be of help to me?”
At that time, he already had the idea of using the tiger’s might as an excuse. After all, there was no difference between a fake strength and true strength before he was exposed.
Not to mention that he wasn’t completely penniless now. He had a certain ability to show his strength in the face of doubt.
Thus, after thinking for a while, he chose to speak less and pretend to the end.
This kind of behavior would allow others to guess his intentions and reduce the possibility of him being exposed. At the same time, it was very in line with his artificial intelligence (AI) image. There was no better choice than this.
Blenning saw that the synthetic humanoid didn’t want to talk to him, so he smiled awkwardly and turned the VIP room into a conference room.
“I’ve forgotten that the artificial intelligence (AI) civilization doesn’t like this. I’m happy to establish contact with you again, my respected Administrator.
“Me and my a.s.sistant, Mao Xiong, will represent Craybow in this negotiation.”
At this point, Li Wenyuan noticed that there was a second person in the corner. He was as tall as a bear, and who else could it be but the bear who had extorted him?
Mao Xiong walked up, his expression full of apprehension. It was obvious that he had also recalled what he had done in the past.
Now, Mao Xiong regretted that he didn’t tell them the truth from the beginning. Back then, he was afraid of punishment, so he didn’t say that he extorted the Administrator. Instead, he treated them in a very friendly manner and sent them away.
This made Blenning look at him in a new light. He gave him a large increase in his salary and many conveniences, making him almost forget what he had done before.
However, now that he saw the Administrator again, he recalled what he had done. At this moment, he even thought of where he would be buried.
Of course, Li Wenyuan had also noticed this acquaintance, but ten years later, he didn’t feel much about the things that this small figure had done.
In fact, he did not lose anything. Besides, such a small fact did not fit his label of a lost civilization, so he simply kept his indifferent look.
“First, I would like to thank you for your help. Without you, this trading station would have been destroyed long ago, and the tens of thousands of adventurers from various races would have died.
“This will undoubtedly cause a huge blow to Craybow’s reputation, but you solved this problem perfectly.
“So, in addition to the original rescue compensation, Craybow has decided to give the following gifts free of charge to maintain our friendship.
“First, we’ll give you 20 billion energy coins as a gift. They can be used as a universal currency for interstellar transactions. Of course, you can also directly convert them into energy for use when you need them.
“The second is the 75% trade discount of Craybow. All trade enclave transactions under Craybow will enjoy this discount, which will last until the destruction of Craybow.
“The third is the ownership of a mining galaxy…”
…
Blenning listed a lot of gifts in one breath, but the synthetic humanoid in front of him didn’t respond.
“As expected, it still can’t attract the interest of the Administrator?” He thought to himself, but he also felt that it was only natural.
Why would the lost civilization need these things? Any piece of living metal that they sold was basically worth the value of this batch of gifts.
“In that case, I can only use the last method… Speaking of which, those misers are actually willing to spend so much in order to win over the Administrator?”
With that thought in mind, he said his last sentence,
“Finally, the 10% shares of Craybow! You don’t have to take part in the management, but you will always have a part of the dividends of each industry!”
This was the biggest sacrifice that the megacorp could make. For these capitalists who stood at the top, every bit of shares was enough to cause a b.l.o.o.d.y storm within the company.
Taking out so much this time, it was obvious that Craybow wanted to form a relationship with the Administrator.
Blenning looked at the synthetic humanoid with antic.i.p.ation, as if he had already heard the approval.
The synthetic humanoid slowly shook his head and voiced his thoughts.
“I need a star map.”
Star map?
The moment he heard this word, Blenning was stunned. He didn’t understand why he needed this.
But immediately after, his eyes widened violently, and a terrifying but reasonable guess welled up in his mind.
His expression returned to normal, but his back was already wet with cold sweat.
He was so fl.u.s.tered that he didn’t even notice that his voice was trembling.
“I’ll need to contact my superior, so please wait a moment…”