That night, Chu Xuan booked a private room at a restaurant; Zhao Chen arrived as agreed.
"In truth I very much don't want to talk with you here about family matters." Chu Xuan sighed. "But there's nothing to be done — I'm surnamed Chu. Still, as a friend, whatever decision you make, I'll fight on my grandfather's side for the best outcome for you. I don't want us to become enemies."
Zhao Chen could feel it — Chu Xuan's words were sincere.
Through this while's contact, he could see that Chu Xuan was a woman who revered starships and held a high soldier's faith.
But at the same time she bore the responsibility of her own family.
"I don't wish to stand opposed to the Chu family either, so I…" Just as Zhao Chen was about to go on, Chu Xuan's handheld terminal flashed with red light.
That marked a message of the greatest importance.
Chu Xuan made her apologies to Zhao Chen, then checked the handheld terminal's message — and at one look her face changed utterly.
"Has something happened?" Zhao Chen caught the look in Chu Xuan's eyes.
Chu Xuan looked at Zhao Chen, her expression complicated. "Zhao Chen — if I remember right, you have a younger sister named Zhao Wan'er, don't you?"
Zhao Chen knit his brows. "Yes. Has something happened to her?"
"Come with me; we'll talk on the way."
Chu Xuan stood up and hurried out of the restaurant, leading Zhao Chen aboard a flying-car.
"The dean's office!" Chu Xuan keyed in the destination.
"What on earth has happened?" Zhao Chen asked heavily.
Through this while, he'd thoroughly fused into this identity of "Zhao Chen"; he could no longer tell clearly whether he was a transmigrator — but none of that mattered.
He knew only that Zhao Wan'er was his younger sister.
The Owl Dragon System was his own fief, the Zhao family his own family.
That was enough.
"Before I tell you this, I hope you can keep calm." Chu Xuan looked at Zhao Chen with worry.
Zhao Chen nodded.
Chu Xuan drew a deep breath and said gravely, "I've just gotten the latest word: about five hours ago, in the Water-Lily Star System of the Azure Star Region in the Western Star Region, a Grade-3 cosmic bug-nest and four Grade-2 cosmic bug-nests appeared! The whole star system is now sunk in chaos! And as ill luck would have it, the joint interstellar task the Northstar Academy and the Heaven's Glory Academy organized this time was in exactly this star system! And an hour ago, the two academies' fleet lost contact entirely…"
It struck Zhao Chen like a bolt from a clear sky.
He said at once, "Then send a relief force, quick! I remember the Water-Lily Star System has a star-gate!"
Chu Xuan shook her head. "As ill luck would have it, the first Grade-3 cosmic bug-nest to appear surfaced right around the Water-Lily Star System's star-gate. Near enough at the very first instant, the Water-Lily Star System's star-gate was lost and destroyed. Which means the imperial military's follow-up relief can't use the star-gate to reach the Water-Lily Star System swiftly. They can only enter the Water-Lily Star System from a neighboring system, across interstellar edge-space!"
The star-gate destroyed!
Zhao Chen's expression stiffened; this news was like oil poured on the fire.
With the star-gate destroyed, the round-trip rescue time would take days.
And those days were time enough for the interstellar bug-race to do a great many things.
But Zhao Chen knew: now was not the moment to panic.
Zhao Chen fell silent a moment, then raised a hand and called up a star-map of the Azure Star Region; studying this information as he went, he asked, "Then what of the Water-Lily Star System's garrison?"
"By the latest word, the garrison stationed in the Water-Lily Star System is only 300 lord's ships and 100 imperial-military ships. And bear in mind the imperial military divides into three ranks. The first rank is the small body of imperial military at the Imperial Capital Planet guarding the royal house's safety, equipped with a great many T3 and T4 ships — the elite of the elite of the imperial military. The second rank is the imperial military on the war-front, with T4 and T3 ships for the main body of the fleet, equipped with a small number of T2 ships. And the third rank is the imperial-military garrisons of the various fiefs, with T2 ships for the main body; often a corps-grade fleet of 300 ships has under 10 T3 ships. So… the Water-Lily Star System's imperial-military garrison's combat power…" Chu Xuan left the rest unsaid, and Zhao Chen already grasped her meaning.
He clenched his fists, holding down the anxiety within.
Soon the flying-car reached the building where the dean's office was.
"Let's go see the dean first; those trapped this time are the elite students of the Northstar Academy and the Heaven's Glory Academy — the two academies surely won't sit by and do nothing. Perhaps some means of rescue can be thought of." Chu Xuan consoled Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen said nothing, only followed Chu Xuan into the dean's office.
At this moment the once fairly spacious dean's office looked crowded and cramped.
The various vice-deans and the important instructors and professors were all present; in the center was a star-map of the Azure Star Region, along with a series of intelligence relayed back.
"Zhao Chen, how is it you're here…" Vice-Dean Hong caught sight of Zhao Chen and wore a look of surprise.
He knew that among the students in peril this time was Zhao Chen's sister — but by rights, a meeting of this kind, Zhao Chen, outstanding student though he was, had no standing to attend.
But when he saw Chu Xuan at Zhao Chen's side, he said no more.
Zhao Chen had no standing, but Chu Xuan did.
And of late there was a rumor at the academy besides that Chu Xuan was Zhao Chen's girlfriend; true or false, no one knew, but some rumors aren't wind from an empty cave.
What was more, the Chu family's stance toward Zhao Chen truly was quite ambiguous.
"Dean Qin, this friend of mine has a sister who's likewise in this academy fleet on the interstellar task. We'd like to know the present state of the Water-Lily Star System." Chu Xuan passed straight through the other vice-deans and instructors and came before an aged dean.
This was the first time Zhao Chen had, in person, seen the dean of the Northstar Starship Military Academy — an old man already past a hundred years.
Don't underestimate this frail-looking old man; the research and manufacture of the T4 Boreas-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship, it was said, had had him as chief designer.
Among all the starship designers of the Starlight Empire, he could beyond doubt rank in the top five — a figure of national-treasure standing.
Dean Qin saw that the one who'd come was Chu Xuan; being familiar with the Chu family too, he laid out the present situation.
The interstellar bug-race invasion was five-odd hours past; at present some contact could still be gotten with the not-yet-fallen zones of the Water-Lily Star System, but with the star-gate destroyed, the fastest imperial-military support would need at least three days to arrive!
And that was merely the time to cross interstellar edge-space.
Three days — no one dared vouch what the Water-Lily Star System would become.
"The Water-Lily Star System has near 1 billion people; let but a tenth of them fall as food to the interstellar bug-race, and in very short order the bugs can breed out a great many more interstellar bug-race! So the imperial military, when the time comes, will most likely not attack rashly; it will need to mobilize forces several times over the interstellar bug-race from the surroundings before it launches the cleanup," Dean Qin said heavily.
"Then in that span, the students trapped — you simply won't rescue them?" Zhao Chen stepped forward and challenged them.
"How rescue them? Bear in mind that's a Grade-3 cosmic bug-nest and four Grade-2 cosmic bug-nests! Which means in the Water-Lily Star System now there are at least five-plus T3 hive mother-ships, near 100 T2 hive mother-ships, and over 1,000 T1 hive mother-ships!" an instructor said, helpless.
"But those are all fine seedlings of our academy! If they're… all… lost… that would be a great loss to our Northstar Starship Military Academy!" a woman instructor said, heartsick.
"Who could have foreseen that in a star system like this, four cosmic bug-nests would suddenly spring up, one of them a Grade-3 cosmic bug-nest at that." Vice-Dean Hong heaved a long sigh.
Chu Xuan bit lightly at her lip; she looked at Zhao Chen, her expression complicated, at a loss now how to console him.
For by the look of this state of things, the trapped teachers and students of the two academies were, near enough, already fraught with peril.