Annie put a bracelet to one side.
Then she brought out something like a ring.
"Liler, this one's for you. Didn't you say you like playing those games where you command aircraft? This ring can command a T3-grade carrier starship remotely, and that carrier starship is loaded with three thousand T3-grade interstellar drones. So long as there's no signal jamming, you can command this carrier starship in battle even from several star regions away. And it has a real-time video link too, so you can see what's outside this carrier starship. That way you can play with these interstellar drone swarms and nobody will find out. Isn't that great?"
Annie went on to take a small pack out of the backpack; she set the small pack on the ground and put her hands on her hips, all out of breath.
One could tell this small pack was very heavy indeed,
with no load-lightening technology in it at all.
"Little Bai, this one's for you. Didn't you say before you wanted to build an interstellar warship yourself, but some of the core raw materials were nowhere near enough? The raw materials in here are just what you need. Don't look down on it for being only the size of this pack. Mind you, this material is very special; as long as you follow the procedure and add some reagent to it, these raw materials will swell. Take a piece as big as a little finger, for instance: as long as you follow the procedure, you can get raw material as high as a little hill. And this raw material is excellent in every respect; it can stand in for most raw materials, and is more than enough to build an interstellar warship."
Annie went on and on about all this.
But at some point a huge shadow slowly covered her.
Annie suddenly froze; her nose twitched, and she sniffed.
She seemed somewhat unwilling to believe it, and sniffed again, hard.
At that moment time seemed to freeze right there.
The standoff lasted ten-odd seconds or so.
Annie began putting the things from before back into her pack one by one.
"Oops, I'll take these things away. These aren't presents for you. Wait here a moment, all of you. I'll go back and get yours." Annie squeezed out as much of a smile as she could, her hands packing things away very fast.
Just as she was about to pull the zipper shut,
a hand pressed down on her hand; she could feel breath beside her, but she did not dare turn her head to look.
"Well, well. If it isn't our Chief Engineer Annie. So you have time to come and play here, do you? Just now I heard you'd brought my children some presents. What was it? A mecha bracelet? A remote-control ring for a carrier starship? And raw materials to build an interstellar warship? So generous? Then oughtn't I, as their father, to thank you properly?" Zhao Chen's last words all but came out through gritted teeth.
By now beads of sweat had appeared on Annie's forehead.
If there had been a crack in the ground just then, she would surely have crawled into it.
Now she bitterly regretted it: why did she have to come today of all days,
and run into this fellow right here of all places?
"Huh? I… I don't know? I might have come to the wrong place. Yes, I've just come to the wrong place." Annie did not dare in the least look at the person beside her.
It was as if a devil stood beside her now; if she turned her head even once and met this devil's eyes, she would die without a grave to lie in.
But the next second a pair of hands took hold of her chin and forcibly turned her head around bit by bit.
And Annie's jaw strained quietly against it, utterly unwilling to turn.
But how could Annie's strength possibly match Zhao Chen's?
Annie's head was forced around.
Zhao Chen looked at Annie, who had been turned to face him; why say "face" and not "meet his eyes"?
Because Annie had already shut her eyes.
As if to say: I can't see you, so you can't see me either.
"Open your eyes this minute, or I'll call your little sister Nana over." Zhao Chen brought out Annie's sister Nana straight away.[1]
Zhao Chen had found by now that, without anyone's noticing, Nana had become Annie's nemesis.
For when Zhao Chen punished Annie, it was mostly just talk.
But if she ran into her little sister Nana, then whenever her sister saw big sister Annie slacking off anywhere, or doing anything wrong, little sister Nana really would lay hands on her.
Zhao Chen had heard of something before: at work once, when things were not very busy, and Annie could finish her work within the allotted time anyway,
Annie began slacking off in all sorts of fancy ways; she actually sat in her chair doing her office work with her feet, while her hands held snacks.
Nana happened to see this.
At that moment, screams rang out from Annie's office.
Nana's temperament at work was nothing like Annie's.
Annie only sought to finish her work tasks within the allotted time.
But to Nana, being able to work for the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire and the Owl Dragon Emperor was the highest honor, and naturally one should give oneself to it heart and soul.
How could one slack off and idle?
So Nana very much disliked her big sister Annie's attitude to work.
And it was not only Nana who thought so; Annie's and Nana's parents thought so too.
So Nana, as if she held the imperial sword of authority, would carry out "armed intervention" every time she caught Annie at such behavior.
And she set Annie some unwritten rules besides.
For instance, a work task set by superiors had to be finished thirty percent ahead of the time required, or else one was unfit for the post.
And the thirty percent of time left over also had to be spent working with all one's heart and strength.
This meant that Annie now avoided her little sister Nana, for fear of running into this little sister of hers, the god of slaughter, again.
And when Zhao Chen learned this detail,
he had Nana simply appointed, as a concurrent post, Minister of Discipline in the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's industrial department.
Zhao Chen had created this post especially for Nana; one could also say especially for Annie.
The Industry Ministry's Minister of Discipline had charge of work discipline from the chief engineers at the top down to the craftsmen at the bottom.
It made Nana's managing of Annie all the more right and proper.
And it made Annie's "fear of little sister" all the worse.
So now, when Zhao Chen played Nana as his trump card, it worked very well.
Annie opened her eyes at once.
Now she met Zhao Chen's eyes.
At once Annie put on a surprised smile and said, "Oh my! Your Majesty the Emperor, what are you doing here? What a coincidence. Long time no see, I hope you've been well!"
"I was going to find you and have a good talk, and here you've delivered yourself to my door." Zhao Chen let go of Annie's chin and put his hand on Annie's shoulder,
with all the warmth of a superior meeting a subordinate.
"Huh? Is it about work?" Annie brought out her acting skills now, blinking her big, limpid eyes at Zhao Chen, trying to change the subject.
"Of course not." Zhao Chen kept smiling, and his eyes went to the pack Annie had taken the presents out of just now.
"Just now… those things just now, I brought the wrong ones. I brought the wrong ones," Annie explained in haste.
But Zhao Chen simply opened the pack, took out all three presents from before, and put them in the three children's hands one by one.
Then he said, "A present once given: how could there be any taking it back?"
Zhao Chen looked at the three children, very happy with their presents.
He said with a smile, "You've all got your presents; now I'm going to talk with your Big Sister Annie about work. Go and play over there for a bit, all right?"
"All right." The three children nodded sweetly.
"Um… the children don't know their presents well; it'd be better if I helped them unwrap them." Annie said this and made to follow.
But her feet had not gone a few steps before they left the ground.
Zhao Chen's hand had simply seized her by the collar and hoisted her up.
Annie looked up at Zhao Chen like a little chick.
"Come, let's have a good talk." So saying, Zhao Chen carried Annie off to a reception room nearby,
threw Annie in, followed her in himself, and shut the door hard.
Inside.
Annie huddled timidly on the sofa in the corner, like a child who had done wrong waiting for her parents' scolding.
"What would you like to drink?" Zhao Chen pointed at the drinks beside them and asked.
"I'd like Lokrili tea from Planet Lokri, thirty percent sugar, and if possible a little more—" As Annie was saying this, she noticed Zhao Chen's unfriendly look.
She said at once, meekly, "Plain water… plain boiled water will do for me."
Zhao Chen set a glass of plain boiled water before Annie.
"Let's talk." Zhao Chen sat down across from Annie.
Annie took a deep breath and, as if she were ready to fight to the death, said, "Your Majesty, I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have given the three children such dangerous weapons to play with. I'll never dare again!"
Zhao Chen fixed his eyes on Annie and said, "You put safety programs on all those 'toys.' And before that you set safety-monitoring robots around them too, didn't you?"
Annie was taken aback; she had never imagined Zhao Chen would ask about these things first.
Annie nodded dumbly.
"When did you find out Little Bai had a gift for making things?" Zhao Chen asked.
He had already known from the reports his subordinates sent up about the children that his three children were very clever.
But he had not known they had a gift like this.
Annie answered meekly, "It was the first few times I came to play with the children. As it happened, I had a job I hadn't finished then, so I worked on it in front of the children. I let the children play on their own while I fiddled with models. I was concentrating on work, so I didn't notice Little Bai was right beside me. Not until Little Bai pointed at my sketch and asked some questions did I find out this girl could actually understand my sketches. I asked, and only then learned that in her spare time she sometimes read books. And among them were things on engineering, and she'd come to understand them without anyone noticing. Later I brought out some finished works and had Little Bai look at them, even copy them. At first she still made mistakes, and took a long time to make things. But very soon she got more and more skilled. Her first work was a laser gun! Using the simplest tools, she finished it within three days. Later she kept refining that work, and after that, making a laser gun like that took her under three hours. That was when I was sure Little Bai had a gift for this, so I began letting her get near such things on purpose. From the laser gun at first, to a hover car, then drones, and other tech gadgets. Little Bai is really clever; she gets this kind of thing at a touch, and sometimes she can even help me finish some work."
Zhao Chen caught some details in Annie's words.
He narrowed his eyes at Annie. "You mean you even had Little Bai do work for you?"
Annie was dumbfounded; she had not expected her tongue to be so quick as to let the matter slip out just like that.
All at once she did not dare say a word.
"Hiring three-year-old child labor to do your work for you. I wonder what would happen if Nana knew about this," Zhao Chen said mockingly, and made as if to open the comms on his handheld terminal and contact Nana.
Annie at once looked at Zhao Chen imploringly and said, "Your Majesty… Your Majesty… I know I was wrong! I promise it was just that once! Just that once!"
"Just once?" Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes at Annie.
Annie held up two fingers.
Zhao Chen opened the comms window, and Nana's comms card appeared on it.
"Three times, I promise! Just three times. Really just three times! I don't come here that often," Annie said at once.
This time Zhao Chen did not press the question further.
"How strong do you think Little Bai's gift for technology and engineering is?" Zhao Chen asked, coming straight to the point.
Annie at once gave a thumbs-up and said, "Little Bai has the highest gift of anyone I've ever seen, bar none. I was fifteen when I first built an interstellar warship by hand. But I don't doubt that if Little Bai has enough materials and time, she can certainly build an interstellar warship by hand before she's three!"[2]
A child of five building an interstellar warship by hand:
if the news got out, probably hardly anyone would dare believe it.
But now such a thing was set right before Zhao Chen, and Zhao Chen had no choice but to believe it.
And the person in question was his own daughter.
"Then why did you give Huer a mecha bracelet?" Zhao Chen went on asking.
"Um… that's because Little Hu is a boy, and boys like that sort of thing, don't they?" Annie said, but the look in her eyes was plainly guilty.
Zhao Chen said nothing, only opened the comms window again.
Seeing Zhao Chen do this, Annie said at once, "I'll tell! I'll tell. Actually Little Hu has a gift for piloting mecha. Before, Little Bai built a small T1-grade mecha by hand, and while we were still thinking how to test this mecha, Zhao Hu actually climbed into it by himself, and in a very short time mastered this mecha's basic controls. After that, Little Bai and I had Zhao Hu learn a whole set of mecha combat techniques. In just three days, Zhao Hu, piloting the T1 combat mecha his big sister had built, beat a T1-grade unmanned combat robot! Ever since, Zhao Hu has been very interested in mecha. He kept clamoring for a real mecha, so… so… that's why I brought him this T3-grade combat mecha this time."
When he had heard this account through, Zhao Chen thought of Zhao Hu, whom he had tossed high in his arms yesterday, actually piloting a T1 combat mecha and beating a T1-grade unmanned combat robot.
The result looked quite ordinary, not very dazzling.
But put such a thing on a child of three-odd, and it was another matter entirely.
A child of three-odd, for ordinary folk, ought to be crying and fussing, some even still wetting the bed.
And Zhao Hu could already pilot a mecha.
Zhao Chen himself could not believe it.
This is actually my child?
"Then are you going to tell me next that Liler has a gift for commanding carrier starships in battle?" Zhao Chen asked, looking at Annie.
Annie nodded.
Zhao Chen put his hand to his head, at a loss for words, but he still asked, puzzled, "Making tech gadgets by hand, and piloting combat mecha: those I can understand. But a carrier starship, something that big: how could Liler possibly get near one? Don't tell me…"
Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes at Annie.
Annie, with the air of a prisoner owning up for leniency, said, "That time, Liler saw I'd brought Little Bai and Little Hu new toys, and she wanted one too. If I didn't give her one, the child put on such a hard-done-by face. I can't bear to see a child like that. So I asked Liler what she wanted, and Liler pointed at the sketch of a carrier starship I was designing then and said she wanted the biggest interstellar warship. Naturally I couldn't really get her a real carrier starship. But Liler looked at me with those big, limpid eyes, about to drop little pearls at any moment. I really had no way out. So I… I… I got hold of one of the simulator cockpits from the Military Academy's carrier-starship department for Liler."
Zhao Chen was utterly astonished, and looked at Annie[3] in disbelief. "What did you say? You got Liler a carrier-starship simulator cockpit?"
"Y… yes. But there's no danger in it at all; it's just like a video game. Actually Liler wasn't very satisfied at the time. But I told her: if you want to have the biggest interstellar warship, don't you first need to get the right certificate? So I had Liler pass every simulated exam question in the simulator cockpit first, and then I'd get her a carrier starship. What happened after that… you can probably guess. I really never thought that something I'd said off the top of my head… Liler would actually do it. She took a month to pass assessments at the Military Academy that would normally take at least three months. So… I had to find a way to get her a carrier starship. But I knew too that I couldn't really give her a carrier starship. Then I thought of this kind of remote-controlled carrier starship, which counts, in a way, as keeping my promise to Liler."
When Annie had said all this, she plainly breathed a sigh of relief,
like a criminal who had confessed her crimes.
And Zhao Chen sat there for a long time without speaking.
For he too needed a little time to digest all this.
He had never imagined at all that his three children all had such excellent gifts.
Making all kinds of tech products by hand, piloting combat mecha, commanding carrier starships:
any one of these, on anyone else, was in fact quite ordinary.
But any one of these now, on children of about three,
sounded like something out of the Arabian Nights.
"I know these things are really too early for the three children to get near now. I'll explain it to the three children and take all these dangerous things back," Annie said quietly.
Zhao Chen looked at Annie. "Did I say I wouldn't let the children play with these things?"
Hearing Zhao Chen's words, Annie looked at Zhao Chen, not having expected this.
"I know that in these things you gave the three children, you left back doors for safety, and can make sure the three children are safe." Zhao Chen looked at Annie.
Annie nodded hard.
She was not that foolish; she naturally knew that giving children these things to play with meant thinking about safety.
So she had set up safety back doors in these things early on, including the rocket launcher Little Bai later assembled herself.
In fact a little safety program had been set up in Little Bai's handheld terminal.
If the program detected that what Zhao Baier was doing now would threaten her own or anyone else's safety, this back-door program would start, put Zhao Baier's safety first, and not let her fire that rocket launcher.
That was also why Zhao Chen was not in fact so angry.
For Annie had thought this through quite fully.
"Hee hee hee, I knew our Majesty the Emperor wasn't a small-minded man. These three are the future heirs of our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, your children. They're bound to be something out of the ordinary. Building interstellar warships by hand, piloting combat mecha, commanding carrier starships: those are small things," Annie said, launching straight into flattering Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen glanced at Annie, naturally seeing through Annie's little game.
He said, "You can go on letting these three children get near such things, but their safety comes first; that must be guaranteed. And after this, you're to report anything to do with it to me at once."
"Huh? … Then wouldn't I be a nanny…" Annie was taken aback, and said, "I have my own work over there too…"
"When you came strolling over here before, why didn't you think of that?" Zhao Chen tossed Annie a roll of the eyes with no courtesy at all.
"Your own job, naturally, you have to make sure you finish. You're responsible for this too; of course, you can pick someone trustworthy to work here, dedicated to this." Zhao Chen set out the arrangements for Annie's work to come.