Zhao Chen sat back down on his throne and looked over the busy bridge.
Because the Dragon Emperor had gone into dock for upgrade and refit,
the bridge of the Rakshasa-Hades had, for the most part, taken over the Dragon Emperor's role of battlefield command.
Snatching a moment, Zhao Chen glanced at his System interface.
On the T6 shop screen, the three T6 technology slots that had refreshed in April now showed empty.
As early as the start of April, when those three T6 technologies refreshed, Zhao Chen had redeemed them at once.
And added them to the production plan.
They were expected to see the light of day in the second half of the year at the earliest.
Those three T6 technologies.
For the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire as it was now, they could be called vital.
And now it was already the beginning of June; in another month, when July came, he could redeem three more T6-grade technologies.
By then, the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire would truly have entered the age of T6 technology.
With these T6 technologies, Zhao Chen would have ample confidence to stand against Order.
Only, there was one strange thing.
Zhao Chen frowned at the mission screen.
Since the start of this year, no annual mission or quarterly mission had appeared again.
It was as though… they had vanished.
It had been nearly half a year.
By rights, in any year past, he would by now have finished the first quarterly mission, be at work on the second, and at the same time be striving toward the annual mission.
Yet now there was not so much as a shadow of these missions.
All of a sudden!
A pain shot through Zhao Chen's head, and he clutched it without thinking.
All went black before his eyes.
After that, he felt as though something more had come into his mind.
They were fragments.
Interstellar warships, interstellar wars, scenes of the stars falling, and a starship scrapyard gathered from the wrecks of countless interstellar warships.
Even the whole universe, it seemed, was burning.
Weeping, screaming, cries of hatred, cries of bitter unwillingness rose and fell, one after another.
A lurch.
Zhao Chen's eyes snapped open; before him was still the brightly lit bridge.
Still shaken, he looked around him.
Just now it was as though he had dreamed a very long dream.
He swallowed, and breathed deeply to steady himself.
In truth, this was not the first time such a thing had happened this year.
The first time had been around January, when he had seen only some interstellar warships of kinds never heard of.
Zhao Chen had taken it for nothing more than what one thinks of by day, one dreams of by night, the result of spending so much of his time among interstellar warships.
But after that, with every dream, what he could see grew more and more, and more and more detailed.
At first it had been like photographs, one after another, with no connection between them.
Now it had become separate fragments of scenes, and he could even hear voices speaking.
And before this, those voices had spoken a language Zhao Chen could not understand at all.
Zhao Chen had even, on waking, at once summoned a group of the Empire's linguists, told them the language he had written down, and asked which interstellar race it belonged to.
None had an answer.
And now, of all things, he could understand the language in these dreams.
Such a thing, happening once or twice, might still be chance.
But happening again and again for half a year,
that was no coincidence.
It was as though… someone were telling him something.
Taken together with the System's present abnormality,
it led Zhao Chen to guess that there might be some connection between the two!
But by himself, Zhao Chen likely could not work it out.
He could only wait for the next dream to come; perhaps by seeing more, the truth might come to light.
Owl Dragon Star System · interstellar industrial zone.
A huge mechanical-frame structure towered in this stretch of the starry expanse.
This was none other than the completed T6 Steel Star City!
And under the three Chief Engineers' arrangements, three such industrial construction structures had been completed and delivered at once.
The construction plan Zhao Chen had entrusted to them was finished on schedule.
And the moment these three T6 Steel Star Cities were delivered, they began their production tasks.
Within these three T6 Steel Star Cities, built upon planets, interstellar warships could be seen under construction in dock after dock, packed so thick it was frightening, like a honeycomb.
T6 Steel Star City No. 1 · main control room.
Annie sat listless in her chair, like a puppet that had lost its soul, doing her work without any feeling.
"Chief Engineer! The construction plan for the year 3037's first batch of T6 mass-production interstellar warships is complete, and the final trial runs are done; they meet the delivery standard. Please sign!" A technician came up to Chief Engineer Annie in excitement and presented an electronic report.
Annie looked at the electronic report with empty eyes.
Compared with the excited look of this new technician before her, all but moved to tears.
Her heart did not stir at all.
She glanced over the electronic report.
On it were written the hull numbers of T6 interstellar warships, one after another.
In all, ten T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ships, thirty T6 Lord-of-Thunder-class Heavy Interstellar Destroyers,[1] and ten T6 Wrath-of-Heaven-Goddess-class Interstellar Heavy-Artillery Ships.
Fifty T6 interstellar warships in total.
To the outside world, this would surely be a most astonishing body of starship power.
Once it joined the Owl Dragon Empire's fleets, it would surely raise their strength by a whole grade.
But Chief Engineer Annie only signed, expressionless, without a flicker of feeling, approving them into the delivery process.
"Your Excellency… you don't seem very happy?" The new technician put away the signed electronic report and looked at Chief Engineer Annie in puzzlement.
The corners of Chief Engineer Annie's mouth twitched.
Happy?
"I'm very happy right now." Chief Engineer Annie raised two fingers and propped up the corners of her mouth into a smile.
The new technician was utterly baffled.
"Chief Engineer Annie has been a little overtired lately."
Just then Chief Engineer Nana came in. "Go on about your work."
"Yes." The new technician gave Chief Engineer Nana an adoring look, then walked out of the main control room.
"You are a Chief Engineer, after all. In front of your subordinates, keep up at least a little appearance." Chief Engineer Nana put away the kindly smile on her face and looked at this 'good-for-nothing' elder sister of hers.
Chief Engineer Annie rolled her eyes.
"How could I possibly be happy? The original annual construction plan was already more than enough. And that fellow has gone and piled more tasks on us. Is a body to be given no peace at all!" Chief Engineer Annie said in grief and indignation.
The next moment, Chief Engineer Nana rapped her on the head.
"No disrespect to His Majesty the Emperor!" Chief Engineer Nana glared at her elder sister.
Bootlicker!
Chief Engineer Annie mouthed the word.
"The construction tasks have increased, it's true. But this is for His Majesty the Emperor, for the Empire, and for the officers and soldiers at the front. We ought to hold to the spirit of giving ourselves! Go all out!" Chief Engineer Nana's eyes were blazing.
The corners of Chief Engineer Annie's mouth turned down.