Done talking about the battlefields,
Zhao Chen went straight on to ask, "How is the settling of those who surrendered going? By now over 1 million interstellar warships have surrendered to us; there must be well over a billion people on them."
Lilith nodded; she brought up a set of figures and said, "So far, the latest count of the surrendered we've taken in is 1.9 billion people, of every interstellar race. Besides that we've taken in over 1 million interstellar warships of various grades; we've placed these interstellar warships in the rear. There are T5-grade interstellar warships among them, true, but putting them straight into our combat fleets would very likely upset our own combat system instead. As for settling the people who surrendered, we made arrangements long ago. It's divided mainly into several stages. The first stage is sorting. First we ask the surrendered what they themselves want to do. For now we offer three choices. The first choice: go to the settlements of their own kind in the Sacred Elf Empire. The Sacred Elf Empire has agreed to this too, and is willing to take these people in. The second choice: join our Owl Dragon Empire outright, and be settled by our Owl Dragon Empire in every respect. The third choice is for those who can't make up their minds for now; we give them a week of temporary settlement. After a week, they decide again whether to stay in our Owl Dragon Empire or go to the Sacred Elf Empire. Settling those who take the first choice naturally needs no worry from us. And the second stage is in truth the follow-up for the second choice. We've set aside thirty star systems and nearly a hundred planets to settle these people. And over 1,500 interstellar companies are willing to take these people on for work afterward. So one link in the second stage is gathering data on those willing to join our Owl Dragon Empire: their race, their personal abilities, their work skills and so on. From this data we can give these people suitable arrangements for their lives afterward. For those with special skills, we can make special arrangements too, for instance some senior technical staff. And to those who choose to join our Owl Dragon Empire, we'll give three months of free basic living support: free housing and the basic necessities of life. After three months they'll have to support themselves. Generally, under our arrangements, meeting their basic needs is no problem at all."
Here Lilith paused, narrowed her eyes, and went on, "On this front, in these three months we'll also keep these people under watch. We'll rate their danger level; for those rated higher, we'll tighten the watch and lengthen it."
Lilith's arrangements were wholly understandable, too.
After all, with so many people coming over from the Devourer Civilization at once, there were bound to be some unstable elements mixed in, which naturally called for strict management and control.
Zhao Chen nodded, satisfied. "There must be no slackness in these arrangements. Above all our administrators: they mustn't discriminate against them or bully them because they surrendered. If we treat them well, not only will they work for us, we can use it for publicity too, and perhaps get more of the enemy to join us. And people who can work on interstellar warships are the backbone of any society, wherever it is. Getting so many technical people at once is a further strengthening of our Owl Dragon Empire, too."
As the Owl Dragon Empire expanded and grew, technical people had always been in very short supply.
Even though the Owl Dragon Empire was training such people at any cost now, the training still took time, and the difficulty could not be solved in a short while.
And drawing such technical people in from outside was, if anything, a way to raise their numbers in a short time.
That too was why the countries that won wars could often recover in a short time, and even grow fast and strong before they had fully recovered.
That was one of the great advantages a victor had.
"Has the Sacred Elf Empire made any moves?" Zhao Chen asked another question.
Lilith said seriously, "On the Sacred Elf Empire's side, after this great victory of ours, there are a good many voices of celebration among their people, and more warlike voices than before too. But at the same time some are curious about the Supernova Ultimate Bomb weapon we brought out this time. This weapon's existence has inevitably made their upper ranks wary of us, too. It's said such voices have appeared in their High Council. Even among the Elf Sovereigns there are such voices. At the same time, the spies the Sacred Elf Empire has placed in our Owl Dragon Empire have grown more and more numerous. Nearly thirty times as many as before."
Zhao Chen smiled slightly. "After all, we've brought out a great weapon like that; how could they not be tempted? This was something we'd expected long ago. There's no need to worry about it. As for those spies, if they want to look, let them look; so long as they turn up nothing, leave them alone. As for what the Sacred Elf Empire is thinking, let them think it over themselves."
"But…… there's another story going around. They say an Elf King means to trade the Sacred Elf Empire's top technology for our Supernova Ultimate Bomb technology." When Lilith had finished, she looked at Zhao Chen, and said nothing more.
This was something only Zhao Chen could decide.
Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes; he did not refuse it outright.
For with him, apart from his loved ones, his family and his friends, almost everything else could be traded.
It depended on what price you offered.
At the least, the Sacred Elf Empire was qualified to make an offer.
That actually made Zhao Chen look forward to it somewhat.
"Let the bullet fly a while longer. If they really want to talk with us about it, we can make contact. But we needn't be too eager; let's see their attitude first. After all, the good thing is in our hands," Zhao Chen said calmly.
If the Sacred Elf Empire wanted to learn any of the Supernova Ultimate Bomb's technology, Zhao Chen would never let go of it unless they brought out their own trump cards.
As for just how many good things the Sacred Elf Empire had hidden away,
Zhao Chen truly was looking forward to it somewhat.
"We have to develop as fast as we can, by every means. It isn't only the Devourer Civilization standing in our way," Zhao Chen said in a deep voice, his eyes narrowed.