A new target meant a brand-new interstellar universe.
But with the Owl Dragon Empire's present technology, they could explore only as far as the two universes of the Devourer Civilization and the Sacred Elf Empire.
To explore farther universes on their own might take a good deal more time.
But Zhao Chen already had a plan in mind.
The Owl Dragon Empire could not find new interstellar universes on its own, but the Sacred Elf Empire could not possibly lack the ability.
And getting the Sacred Elf Empire to provide this technology would not be easy either.
But right now Zhao Chen happened to hold a bargaining chip that could make the Sacred Elf Empire sit down and negotiate.
"Get in touch with the Flame Elf Queen; I'd like a video meeting with her," Zhao Chen said, looking at Lilith beside him.
Lilith understood without a word, and set about it.
Very soon a video window appeared before Zhao Chen, and a transparent shielding dome appeared around Zhao Chen too, to keep this video meeting secret.
"Your Majesty the Emperor, what have you called me for?" The Flame Elf Queen looked at Zhao Chen with interest; by now she was gradually getting the measure of this Emperor's character.
He was the sort who never called at the temple without a request; he would never contact her for no reason.
For him to contact her at a time like this, there had to be something important.
Zhao Chen said with a smile, "There is indeed something I'd like to discuss."
"Go on."
"I'd like the technology for exploring the universe, if your country is willing to provide it," Zhao Chen said outright, hiding nothing.
At their level, in a talk like this, there was no need to hide anything; in truth both knew very well in their hearts what the other wanted.
Sure enough,
when the Flame Elf Queen heard Zhao Chen's request, her eyes darted, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. "Your Majesty the Emperor's ambition is no small one. The war with the Devourer Civilization isn't over yet, and you've already set your eyes on other interstellar universes? You want to open up new territory."
Zhao Chen's expression did not change; he said calmly, "I do want to see other interstellar universes, but as for whether it ends in opening up new territory, it's too early to say now. The main thing is that we're fighting the Devourer Civilization and Order behind it. Your Excellency the Elf Queen has seen it too: it eats resources enormously. Our Owl Dragon Empire isn't like you, a great house with a great fortune and centuries, millennia even, of history behind it. If we keep fighting at this intensity, our Owl Dragon Empire simply can't sustain it. So the way to break the deadlock now is naturally to seek more resources. We've basically developed the gathering of resources in our Owl Dragon Empire's universe about as far as it goes; raising capacity further is already very hard. The only thing is to set our sights outside. As for whether it ends in opening up new territory, or in cooperating with the other side in every way, that depends on the actual situation."
The Flame Elf Queen looked at Zhao Chen with a light smile. "Your Majesty the Emperor really doesn't hide his aims one bit. Mind you, everyone knows we elves love peace; now you've let on that you mean to use force on other interstellar universes, and you still want us to provide the technology for it. That's putting me in rather a difficult……"
"Aren't you interested in the technology of the Supernova Ultimate Bomb?"
The moment Zhao Chen said it,
the Flame Elf Queen's brows shifted; the corners of her mouth turned up slightly, and she folded her hands over her stomach. "In truth, this isn't something that can't be discussed."
The corners of Zhao Chen's mouth turned up slightly now too; the two looked at each other and smiled.
"Go on, then: how do you want to discuss this? Or rather, what would it take for you to be willing to give us technology enough to explore new universes?" Zhao Chen paused, looked at the Flame Elf Queen and asked, "May I ask something here? On the map your Sacred Elf Empire knows of at present, how many interstellar universes are there around us?"
"That question puts you in my debt." The Flame Elf Queen looked at Zhao Chen somewhat teasingly.
Zhao Chen shrugged.
The Flame Elf Queen hid nothing either, and said plainly, "At present, the interstellar universes our Sacred Elf Empire can explore and see directly are, besides your Owl Dragon Empire's universe and the Devourer Civilization's universe, six more. And the universes we can't explore directly but know exist through contact with other universes number thirteen. On the interstellar map our Sacred Elf Empire has drawn so far, there are twenty-one interstellar universes in all."
Twenty-one interstellar universes; counting the Sacred Elf Empire's own, twenty-two.
He had never imagined there would be so many.
"Do all these interstellar universes have civilizations in them?" Zhao Chen asked at once.
He had not forgotten his search for the opening to break through to a T7 technological civilization:
a primordial universe.
The Flame Elf Queen thought back and said, "In truth every universe is very different. Besides ordinary universes like our two, there are some rather special ones. For instance, universes that are aging, whose resources are usually very scarce, like an old man, or a planet whose environment is slowly getting worse. Or universes that are very small, perhaps only a hundredth the size of our Sacred Elf Empire's, not even as large as a star region, but small as they are, they have everything a universe ought to have. Or else there are high-risk universes; high-risk universes, as the name says, are ones where sailing and surviving inside them carries great risk. That isn't to say there are lots of interstellar pirates in them and such, though those do exist. What truly makes them high-risk is the environment inside the universe. For instance, in the first high-risk universe I know of, over ninety percent of its universe is covered by one universe calamity or another. Not only the black holes, supernova explosions, universe storms and universe magnetic-storm fields you know of, but many calamities you know nothing about at all. Even a T7 technological civilization can't change these universe calamities. That means sailing in a universe like that is very hard, and with so much unstable space as well, building star gates is very hard too; even if a star gate is built, it may be open only a few hours out of the twenty-four. You'll know very well that in a universe with an environment like that, never mind developing, merely surviving is very hard. So they're usually full of poverty, chaos and disorder."
Listening to the Flame Elf Queen's description, it was as though a picture already rose before Zhao Chen's eyes:
in a multidimensional space, bubble after bubble, each standing for a universe, hanging there.
"Wait: haven't these universes been invaded by the Devourer Civilization?" Zhao Chen raised a doubt.
The Flame Elf Queen answered directly, "These universes are all on the Devourer Civilization's list for invasion. But the Devourer Civilization won't pass over what's near to seek what's far, so it usually chooses by distance. And as luck would have it, around the Devourer Civilization, apart from the Sacred Elf Empire, it's your Owl Dragon Empire's universe that lies closest to the damned Devourer Civilization."
"It seems we really are fellow sufferers." Zhao Chen laughed at himself.
The Flame Elf Queen shrugged and went on, "If you really want to open up new territory, even with the technological support we provide, it's in truth very hard. Never mind the Devourer Civilization we're facing right now; just drawing off interstellar fleets for an expedition to those interstellar universes carries no small risk. They won't willingly accept the rule of another universe either. And in these civilized universes, even if they haven't reached T6 technological civilization, they're mostly around T5 and T4 technological civilization. And they all keep an eye on changes outside. Once they find you attacking other interstellar universes of your own accord, you become something like the Devourer Civilization, and you'll become the target of all of them. It can't be ruled out that they'd besiege your interstellar fleets together. Because a great many dislike whatever breaks the balance. Long ago, our Sacred Elf Empire was that kind of power too. We called ourselves envoys of peace; if we found other interstellar civilizations attacking each other, we'd send our interstellar legion fleets to stop and suppress them."
As she spoke of these past things, Zhao Chen saw on the Flame Elf Queen's face a look both proud and self-mocking.
It could be seen that, toward the Sacred Elf Empire's once-glorious past and its present state,
the Flame Elf Queen's feelings in her heart were very mixed.
Suddenly at this point something occurred to Zhao Chen.
He fixed his eyes on the Flame Elf Queen opposite. "This puts me in mind of an agreement of ours from before. You promised me then that if, in the fighting against the Devourer Civilization's invading fleets, my Owl Dragon legion fleet groups destroyed more of the enemy than your Sacred Elf legion fleet groups, you'd have to tell me that secret about your Sacred Elf Empire."
The Flame Elf Queen paused, and soon remembered the matter too.
She scratched her head and said with a self-mocking laugh, "I didn't think you'd still remember that. And I didn't think your Owl Dragon legion fleet groups would actually do it, either. To be honest, if I told you this secret, for the Sacred Elf Empire it would be a crime on a par with treason."
Zhao Chen frowned; he had not thought this secret was so important.
Zhao Chen thought a moment, waved a hand and said, "If this secret involves so much, then forget the wager. Count it as paying off the debt you just mentioned."
Zhao Chen was not someone without feeling either.
Had it been an enemy, Zhao Chen might have cared nothing for it.
But after fighting shoulder to shoulder all this while, Zhao Chen had long since come to see the Flame Elf Queen as his comrade-in-arms.
How could he make his own comrade-in-arms do a thing like that?