The year 3037 drew nearer and nearer.
Upon viewing platform after viewing platform, and upon the planets themselves,
never minding whether it were day or night where they stood, all fell silent and raised their heads to the starry sky.
For all knew that the most important moment was at hand.
Shff, shff, shff.
Upon the planets, in square after square, upon the roof of building after building, wherever there were people at all, projection screens appeared.
The picture upon them was of a sea of stars,
with the Owl Dragon's home star behind.
Stillness.
Stillness.
Stillness.
At this moment the whole Owl Dragon Star System seemed to have gone quiet.
Even the Annie sisters, who had been squabbling until now, set the matter aside for the time.
Nana glared at her elder sister: "Dare to eat in my office again, and I shall build a thing that will keep you from eating anything for the rest of your life."
Then she straightened the clothes upon her, and looked out at the starry sky in all earnestness and formality,
awaiting the coming of a certain important moment.
Annie put out her tongue at her younger sister behind her back, but she made no more mischief.
She stood there in all seriousness, watching the starry sky beyond the floor-length window.
There was still a little time; a chicken leg should do no harm.
Annie whipped a chicken leg out of her pocket and took a bite of it faster than a thunderclap leaves time to cover the ears; and when she had finished she stole a careful glance at her sister.
In dread that this small maneuver of hers had been found out.
All of a sudden!
Annie's chewing stopped.
She saw, far off before the Owl Dragon's home star, an interstellar warship appear out of empty space.
The T6 Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship!
Thereafter, about the Dragon Emperor, many points of light appeared.
And T5 Owl Dragon interstellar warships appeared one after another in their order.
These Owl Dragon-line warships every guest present could name.
The T5 Chaos-Knight-class Heavy Assault Interstellar Destroyer.
The T5 Lightning-Wraith-class Heavy Assault Interstellar Cruiser.
The T5 King-of-the-Hill-class Heavy Interstellar Comprehensive Strategic Escort.
The T5 Frost-Tyrant-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Battlecruiser.
Of these warships there were the most, and they held a screening formation upon the outer ring.
And about the Dragon Emperor were the main-force warships.
The T5 Fire-Qilin-class Heavy Carrier Starship and the T5 Holy-Redeemer-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Heavy-Artillery Battleship.
Besides these, at the rear of the formation,
there were the T5 Spear-of-Sin-class Heavy Interstellar Heavy-Artillery Ship and the T5 Crimson-Reaper-class Heavy Interstellar Strategic Missile Ship as well.
Nor was that all.
T5 Netherworld-Wolf-King-class Medium Interstellar Stealth Bombers and T5 Phantasm-class Light Interstellar Stealth Scouts showed their hulls out of the concealment they had lain in.
It was seldom indeed that these two classes showed their faces before the outside world.
Though there had been some records of them upon the battlefield, what had got about were blurred and indistinct pictures only.
Up to now, among the stars, certain points of these two T5 classes' shape were still in dispute.
Until today, when the veil of mystery was drawn wholly off these two warships.
This force was the Owl Dragon Guard Fleet.
Uniformly T5 interstellar warships, every one.
And this was far from the end of it.
Ring upon ring of light appeared hard after, as of soldiers answering a summons.
They appeared upon both sides of the lane along which the Owl Dragon Guard Fleet was going.
Three thousand interstellar warships stood ranked here, uniform and even.
Upon their hulls was the Owl Dragon Legion's crest, and the numeral of the Owl Dragon First Legion besides.
This was General Charlotte's Owl Dragon First Legion!
Hard after came Chitong's Owl Dragon Second Legion, Shen Bing's Owl Dragon Third Legion… on to the Owl Dragon Twentieth Legion, the newest in service.
Every Owl Dragon legion's establishment at present is thirty thousand interstellar warships.
Considering that if all these warships were gathered here it would be crowded indeed.
The way taken in the end was that each Owl Dragon legion should send three thousand warships to take part, and that would serve.
And so there were these sixty thousand interstellar warships, standing for the twenty legion fleets of the Owl Dragon.
Though there were but sixty thousand warships,
the array of them, uniformly T5 and T4, left everyone envious past measure,
and with awe in their eyes besides.
"Do you see? Owl Dragon-line warships, every one alike. All of them T4 and T5! The Owl Dragon Legion would not stoop to a T3 warship now!"
So an Owl Dragon enthusiast went on about these warships, in a viewing gallery upon a moon at the outer edge of some rather remote planet.
Being remote, the most of them could see only the pictures relayed from the scene.
But for all that, they were greatly excited.
"Manager, why are you crying?" A waiter, seeing the restaurant manager weeping against the wall, asked in concern.
This restaurant manager was not yet thirty, but her face was all weariness.
Having no Owl Dragon registry, it was only through the connection of some former relative or friend that she could work in this interstellar restaurant; and only by her own unremitting effort had she become its manager.
Everyone admired her, and pitied her as well.
It seemed that the family she had once belonged to was of the Owl Dragon Star System, but had unhappily moved away from it, and through failed investments the family had fallen into decline.
Otherwise a young lady of fortune such as she could never have been here doing work that waits upon others.
"Jiang Xiaoli. Why are you idling here? How many times did I call you just now, and why didn't you answer? You were not like this before!" One of the hotel's managers came up and rebuked her.
"I am sorry. I… my mind wandered just now." She bowed her head, with a self-mocking look in the depths of her eyes.
Jiang Xiaoli?
She was not yet used to this name of hers.
But the name she had once borne she hated too much.
What was it, now?
Forgotten. She did not wish to call it to mind.
She looked at a portrait hanging beside the restaurant: a man's profile, and a very handsome one.
None knew how many nights of rest she had spent gazing at this portrait, lost in thought.
If… if only she had not made that wrong choice in those days.
Would she have come to such an end as this?
By now she would have been the envy of everyone.
"Look! There is someone upon the Dragon Emperor!"
Someone or other cried out at this moment.
In the picture the Dragon Emperor was enlarged; above her bow appeared six pillars, and a flight of steps, and upon the steps a golden dragon-patterned imperial throne.
And at this moment a man was already walking toward that throne.
It was none other than the Owl Dragon's lord, Zhao Chen!
Under the gaze of them all, Zhao Chen walked up before the throne.
By Lilith's design there was a transparent canopy about it.
So that to the eye one might take it that this was outside the starship, and that Zhao Chen walked as in the environment of space itself.
Zhao Chen came before the throne, and looked at it.
He knew very well.
That once he sat down, everything would be different.