The star here was very dim, but Zhao Chen saw a scene of breathtaking beauty.
Between one planet and another, there was actually a "ribbon."
But on a closer look, one would find it was no ribbon at all,
but humanoid beings, one after another, flying with beating wings.
"So that's the Flower-Fairy race," Lilith said, looking at these humanoid beings in some surprise.
"I read about it in the files before: because of a special gift of their race, the Flower-Fairy people can fly and live directly in the environment of space. But seeing it with my own eyes, it still feels quite magical," Zhao Chen said with feeling, watching the scene.
The files recorded that the Flower-Fairy people had the ability to fly in space, and their bodies used very little; even without eating they could live a long time.
And long ago, before they traveled across universes,
when the Flower-Fairy race lived on planets poor in resources, they often had to migrate, or trade goods with Flower-Fairy powers on other planets.
From this grew a trading culture of theirs: not relying on interstellar warships, but crossing between planets by themselves alone.
Even after they had interstellar warships, the habit carried on.
And now these Flower-Fairies flew through the universe no slower than an ordinary interstellar shuttle, at lower cost, able to go wherever they liked without any worry.
That was because the Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes had tried applying technology to their flight,
wearing flight devices, for instance, to make flying more efficient, and so on.
On one hand it saved resources; on the other it had become part of the Flower-Fairy people's culture.
Very soon several interstellar patrol ships blocked the way of Zhao Chen's interstellar warships.
"Hello, this is Flower-Fairy Base No. 9. May we ask your purpose in coming here?" An elegant female voice came from the other side.
Zhao Chen glanced at Lilith.
Lilith pressed the communication button and answered, "Hello, we're the Villain-Envoy Mercenary Legion Fleet. You posted a task before, asking for a mercenary legion fleet to escort one of your interstellar transport fleets to a high-risk universe region. We've come to take the task."
The Villain-Envoy Mercenary Legion Fleet was the identity Zhao Chen had arranged for them.
"That task? Let me look…… Villain-Envoy Mercenary Legion…… yes, there are files on you. But the files say that three years ago you went into semi-retirement and have hardly taken any tasks since. Why come out now?" The other side brought up some files on the Villain-Envoy Mercenary Legion, and raised the question.
Lilith had naturally found her excuse long ago; she said, "Three years ago some problems came up inside our outfit that needed sorting out. Now they're dealt with, and the resources we'd stored up before are about used up; for our mercenary legion fleet's development, we naturally need to take on some tasks again."
Hearing Lilith's explanation, the Flower-Fairy receptionist on the other side asked no more.
She said softly, "I understand. That task is still open for now. But deciding who finally takes it will take a little time. For now, have your mercenary legion fleet berth at Anchorage N51 and wait there for our notice. In the meantime we'll provide, free of charge, the resupply you need while you wait."
It had to be said that the Flower-Fairies' manner and their standards for treating mercenary legion fleets were excellent.
Before any cooperation or hire was even settled, they first took care of your living costs for the wait.
Even if the mercenary legion fleets that came for tasks did not get one to their liking, they would have little to complain about.
And such fine reception naturally raised the Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes' standing in these powers' eyes,
laying a good foundation for working together again in future!
That too was why the Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes, with no armed forces of their own, had survived among so many universes, and lived so well.
"Very well," Lilith answered.
Then, following the instructions, she brought the 3,000 interstellar warships to the anchorage.
These 3,000 interstellar warships passed in a great procession; their paint had been specially altered to make the interstellar warships look rather worn,
but the scale of these 3,000, and some interstellar warships of at least T5 grade,
were enough to show how strong and formidable this "mercenary legion fleet" was.
"Aren't we making too big a show?" Zhao Chen looked at Lilith, somewhat worried.
Lilith opened a list and said, "Among mercenary legion fleets, 3,000 interstellar warships really isn't a very large number. In the material we have, the largest mercenary legion fleets among the many universes have as many as a million interstellar warships. How many of those are just padding, of course, no one knows. And our Villain-Envoy Mercenary Legion Fleet takes the elite route; the number of interstellar warships we've made public is 3,000 interstellar warships: thirty T5-grade interstellar warships, a thousand T4 interstellar warships and two thousand T3 interstellar warships. And we've deliberately made the interstellar warships look old, with marks of many wars and patches everywhere. So to the outside world, we have some strength, true, but we only count as a modest elite mercenary legion fleet. Not enough to draw anyone's attention."
Zhao Chen nodded, satisfied, and looked in that file
at what had really become of this Villain-Envoy Mercenary Legion Fleet.
This Villain-Envoy Mercenary Legion Fleet had in fact been wiped out three years before; by sheer bad luck it had met an interstellar calamity, and every one aboard had died.
And few outside knew of that; the Bluewater Elf Queen happened to know.
That was why she had suggested Zhao Chen use this identity, with no need to fear exposure.
"So now we take this task to get in touch with the Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes' upper ranks?" Zhao Chen asked.
Of this operation he knew only the outline of the plan; the detailed steps were entirely in Lilith's hands.
Lilith said with a light smile, "In the material the Bluewater Elf Queen gave us, there are in truth two ways we could reach the Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes' upper ranks directly. But so we can work better with the Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes in future, I've decided to use my own way. The Bluewater Elf Queen's ways can serve as the fallback. In my way, first we have to make someone of real weight in the Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes realize how strong we are!"
Before working with the other side, first show your own strength.
That was indeed a good method.
After Zhao Chen and the rest had waited a day,
an invitation to a video meeting was sent to Zhao Chen.
"It seems everything's going smoothly." Zhao Chen looked at the video meeting invitation.
He looked at Lilith. "What do I say now? What do I do?"
Lilith took out a mask and handed it to Zhao Chen. "In a moment you don't need to say anything or do anything. Leave it all to me."
Zhao Chen understood without a word; he put on the black mask, and sat in the captain's chair without a sound.
Lilith, for her part, touched her face lightly, and then on her once-delicate skin a faint pattern appeared, like the marks of some religious devotee.
That was because of a trait of the Villain-Envoy Mercenary Legion Fleet: rumor had it that this mercenary legion fleet was held together inside by a faith.
The first requirement for joining this mercenary legion fleet was to believe in this faith.
Things like this were not rare among the many universes.
As for what the faith was, it could be anything at all: like the Sacred Elf Empire, faith in some god, or faith in some idea, such as a faith in slaughter, and so on.
The Flower-Fairies were only interstellar traders as a body, but they had always been very cautious, doing everything with the greatest care; otherwise they could never have come so far.
So Lilith had thought of everything in every respect.
Back to the matter at hand.
Having received the video meeting invitation, once everything was ready, Lilith entered the video meeting invitation's number, and a video window appeared before Zhao Chen and Lilith.
It was a video window divided into several small panes.
In the very middle was a Flower-Fairy sitting at something like a desk, wearing a crisp business suit, with a gentle smile on her face.
The Flower-Fairies were humanoid beings; where they differed from humans was that they were a single sex, and could reproduce asexually.
It was said they could put forth flower buds, and after some time the buds would turn into Flower-Fairies in childhood.
And the bud's petals became the wings on a Flower-Fairy's back.
Every Flower-Fairy's wings were different: some transparent, some brilliantly colored, some a single pair, some perhaps several pairs.
There was a small detail: it was said a Flower-Fairy's standing was closely tied to her wings; the higher her standing, the more beautiful her wings.
As for why, no one knew.
And this Flower-Fairy before them wore emerald-green clothes, with two pairs of emerald-green, half-transparent wings on her back.
This Flower-Fairy took up the middle of the video window, and around it were several small windows.
The people on the other side of these small windows were of every sort: some humanoid, some creatures with the heads of bulls or horses or the looks of insects.
From the hostility in their eyes, one could roughly guess who they were:
mercenary legion fleets, all of them.
Zhao Chen glanced over them: ten people in all had been invited to this video meeting.