In the middle of the hall, several beams of light shone down, making that spot very bright.
A table was already set there.
It was not a very large table; fewer than ten people could sit round it.
In the seat of honor a man already sat upright; he held a teacup in his hand, blew gently on the steam, and slowly took a sip.
On the man's right was a very beautiful, alluring woman; the moment Huaya Lanlan had taken in her looks,
she recognized the woman's race:
a rare race, the succubus.
Besides them, on the other side of the round table, sat Huaya Lanlan's sister, Huaya Nini.
Seeing her sister arrive, Huaya Nini stood up at once and said happily, "Sister, you're here! Let me introduce you. This is my sister, Huaya Lanlan, the chief executive of the Bailan Interstellar Trade Group; you could also call her its head."
Huaya Lanlan bowed slightly, with perfect courtesy.
Huaya Nini then made the introductions: "This is the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's Chief Secretary-Officer, Miss Lilith. And this is His Majesty the present Owl Dragon Emperor of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire."
Lilith nodded slightly, her expression unchanged.
Zhao Chen set down his teacup and pointed to the seat across from him. "Please."
Huaya Lanlan did not stand on ceremony either, and sat down.
"Huaya Lanlan, I've long heard your name. I hear the Bailan Interstellar Trade Group was reckoned to have gone bankrupt as long as twenty years ago. But after you took over the Bailan Interstellar Trade Group, you pulled it back from the edge of the cliff by sheer force of will, and kept it alive for twenty years," Zhao Chen said with a faint smile.
"Your Majesty flatters me; that was only my luck. It can't compare with Your Majesty's great dragon-soaring enterprise. In under ten years you founded a unified interstellar empire in a universe, and raised the civilization level of that whole interstellar universe from the T4 grade it had been to T6 within ten years. Facing the invasion of Order and the incursion of the Devourer Civilization, you feared no strong foe, drew your sword and fought to the death, and became the first interstellar civilization to suffer a Devourer Civilization invasion and yet defeat the invaders and drive back the Devourer Civilization's invasion fleets! It's my honor to meet Your Majesty the Owl Dragon Emperor."
Sure enough, as an interstellar trader, she had one fine speech after another at the tip of her tongue.
Zhao Chen's expression did not change, and he went on, "Since we're meeting here today, I expect Miss Huaya Nini has already told Miss Lanlan why we've come. Then let's not waste time on idle talk. In the eyes of you interstellar traders, time is money. Can you tell me your answer now: are you willing to ally with our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire?"
Zhao Chen went straight to the point and laid the matter out at once.
Huaya Lanlan had not expected this Owl Dragon Emperor to be so direct, so straight to the point.
She paused, recovered quickly, and said with a smile, "Your Majesty's frankness truly takes me by surprise. I like plain, direct talk like this too. Since Your Majesty has spoken so directly, there's no need for me to say much more either. This alliance… I can't give an answer right now. It isn't that we're unwilling; a matter this weighty needs us to discuss and think it over. After all, it concerns the future of the Bailan Interstellar Trade Group!"
Zhao Chen said nothing; he picked up his teacup and drank.
In that moment the mood seemed to go wrong.
Lilith spoke now: "That you need to think it over is only human. We can give you time to think."
With that,
Lilith pointed to a "thread" not far off to one side, drifting in the air; the "thread" was burning, and wisps of smoke could be seen rising from it in the light.
"That's a specialty of one of our Owl Dragon Empire's star regions: Dragon-Tiger Incense. Those who breathe it feel refreshed and clearheaded. One stick of it burns down in about thirty minutes."
Lilith's gaze turned gradually cold. "I'd think that for the chief executive of the Bailan Interstellar Trade Group, half an hour should be enough for Miss Lanlan to make a decision."
Huaya Lanlan started inwardly; she had not expected them to press her so hard.
"Half an hour… this… we Flower-Fairies have always been careful in our dealings; isn't half an hour rather too short?" Huaya Lanlan said, steeling herself.
"Half an hour isn't long, but it's enough to decide a thing. After all, our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire has a great many matters before it now. His Majesty the Emperor has taken the time to come all this way, which shows well enough how much weight he gives this matter. But he can't waste too much time here either. So you have only this half hour. No… only twenty-nine minutes are left now." In that moment Lilith showed a faint smile.
But to Huaya Lanlan, the smile had a cold glint in it.
Before this she had looked down on this succubus somewhat, for by report many interstellar civilizations' universes had succubi in fact, or creatures like them.
But most were creatures that bewitched mainly by beauty and desire.
And with so bewitching a succubus at the Owl Dragon Emperor's side, everyone would think without thinking that she was likely only a "plaything" the Owl Dragon Emperor kept.
But the pressing edge of these few sentences now made it plain that this Lilith was not merely a succubus.
Her standing as Chief Secretary-Officer of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire was not watered down in the least.
Huaya Lanlan drew a deep breath.
She looked at Lilith and the Owl Dragon Emperor and said seriously, "You had my sister pass a message on to me before: that so long as I'm willing to ally with you, you can back and support our Bailan Interstellar Trade Group with everything you have, make our Bailan Interstellar Trade Group the strongest interstellar trade group in the Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes in a short time, and let us command the resources of the whole Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes! How am I to know whether you can help us do that? Mind you, the strongest interstellar trade group in the Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes today commands under 30% of the Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes' market resources."
Lilith said with a calm smile, "As far as I know, your Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes don't touch the arms trade in name. But in fact all you don't touch is finished interstellar warships, isn't that right? Some important interstellar warship parts you still buy and sell. Like that lot of goods you shipped to Gold-Mountain Shire this time. Because in some cases interstellar civilizations and powers can't easily trade with each other directly. But with you there as middlemen, you can do the work of buying, selling and shipping. Even two hostile sides can buy the goods they want from each other through you. It's by this that your Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes grew strong."
Huaya Lanlan nodded.
"And of all the market trade you carry on, military industry still makes up 33% of the market share, civilian industry 23%, grain another 11%, and the remaining 33% is raw materials, consumer goods and other kinds of interstellar trade. I'm not wrong, am I?" Lilith said slowly.
Huaya Lanlan was startled inwardly; these figures were very exact, and they counted as something of a secret even within the Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes.
She had not thought this Owl Dragon Empire secretary-officer would know them like the back of her hand.
"You're not wrong."
Lilith went on, "And reckoned another way, 40% of your earnings in fact come from interstellar shipping. To be honest, your Flower-Fairy Federal Tribes are middlemen and interstellar shippers both."
Huaya Lanlan nodded in silence.
"I'd think Miss Lanlan came here already knowing a great deal about our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire. Our industrial strength, among the many interstellar civilizations' universes, if not the first, is surely in the top three," Lilith said with a smile.
Huaya Lanlan nodded.
"Finished interstellar warships you won't sell. But what about interstellar warship parts that bear the mark Made by Owl Dragon? Even the weapon modules, starship engines and core power sources of some Owl Dragon-line interstellar warship class." Lilith was truly like a succubus, working her temptation on Huaya Lanlan bit by bit.
Beside them, Huaya Nini's eyes were shining.
She knew very well what such goods were worth!
These goods would need no promotion at all; only put them out, and there would surely be buyers.
Because!
Owl Dragon-line military products
had a war record anyone could check!
That alone was the greatest advertisement.
"Besides, I said just now that, to be honest, you're really interstellar shippers, carrying the seller's products to the buyer: earning a middleman's fee, then a price spread, then a shipping fee. Those three sums are more or less all there is in your basket. But as far as I know, the interstellar transports you use now are all very backward; the great majority in service are still T3-grade interstellar transports, with only a few T4 interstellar transports. T5-grade interstellar transports are fewer still. Sometimes, to meet shipping needs, you even have no choice but to send T1- and T2-grade interstellar transports out on tasks, so that there are losses on the way even when no interstellar pirates attack. But what if we could supply you with T5-grade interstellar transports? Even their production lines, and the production technology!"
As Huaya Lanlan listened to Lilith's words, a little devil seemed to rise in her mind, tempting her bit by bit in its bewitching voice.
And now there were two little devils.
One little devil was telling of the virtues of those Owl Dragon-line products.
The other little devil held up a T5-grade interstellar transport in its hands, talking her through it at leisure.
"Of course, if our cooperation goes well in future, T6-grade interstellar transports aren't out of the question either." Lilith dealt Huaya Lanlan's heart another heavy blow!