Zhao Chen made one circuit of the academy, then returned to the T3 Blizzard. Not long after he was back on the bridge, his handheld terminal chimed with a special message.
Ding — 3,500,000,000.00 star coins have arrived in your Empire private account.
In that instant, Zhao Chen felt his spirits leap. As it happened, over this stretch he'd have to pay Chitong, batch by batch, for the raw-material purchases — and here his "dear" Governor Chu of Chu River had handed the pillow right over.
Ding — 3,000,000,000.00 star coins have arrived in your Empire private account.
That accursed lovely chime sounded again, like the very feeling of a heart skipping a beat. But strange — why send it in two payments? And what was this 3 billion star coins that came after?
Just then Zhao Chen received a text — from Governor Chu, requesting a holographic video call. Zhao Chen sent back a message telling him to wait a moment, then activated the "privacy mode" around the captain's chair, so the crew on the bridge couldn't see what he was doing. By now Governor Chu had sent over a room link. Zhao Chen sat in the captain's chair, activated the holographic-video function, and opened the room link.
The scene around Zhao Chen changed. He appeared in a cosmic setting, seated on a floating chair; across from him was Governor Chu, whom he hadn't seen in months.
"Where've you been off to these past weeks, boy?" Governor Chu opened by tossing Zhao Chen a question.
"Haven't I been in the North Wind Star Region this whole time, running experiments to do with the T4 warship? You have no idea — this research work is truly…" Zhao Chen put on the very look of a man worn out, hollowed to the core.
Governor Chu couldn't be bothered to hear Zhao Chen muttering on. He asked, "How's the progress?"
"Still rather thorny, but there's the first faint sign of something. Don't be impatient — we agreed on three years, and it's only been a few months," Zhao Chen said.
Governor Chu pressed the point no further. "That three-and-a-half-billion balance I transferred you — you've received it, I take it?"
"Received," Zhao Chen said with a nod, then asked, "And the 3 billion after it?" In truth he'd already a rough guess in his heart.
Governor Chu answered, "The first batch of T3 Flame Dragon-class Medium Interstellar Destroyers to roll off the line and enter service performed ideally in their trial combat. I mean to build another 60; by our earlier agreement, I'll pay you a further licensing fee. This 3 billion is an advance; in three months I'll pay you the 7 billion balance."
"So long as the T3 Flame Dragon satisfies you, that's what matters." Zhao Chen laughed. A ship of the System's making — a wonder if it hadn't satisfied him. That T3 Flame Dragon might not be the finest T3 destroyer in the System Mall, but against the several T3 destroyers on the market now, it was without question quite excellent!
"Rest easy — I, Chu Changhe, in doing business with a man, have never once cheated anyone. What I say I'll give you, I'll give you, not a coin short. But I don't like being cheated, either." Governor Chu said one last thing, then ended the call.
Those words were, without doubt, stick and carrot both — softness with iron inside it.
Zhao Chen leaned back in his captain's chair. A glance at his account funds: he now had a full 7.8 billion star coins! Deducting the raw-material purchase costs he'd be transferring to Chitong batch by batch — nearly 5 billion — and the one-and-a-half-billion commission to be paid on completing the deal, Zhao Chen would still have some 1.3 billion left. More than enough to meet the coming shipbuilding plans.
What came next was to wait out the academy's graduation ceremony, and the commissioning ceremonies of the several T3 warships.
Quarterly Mission: Possess three different models of T3-grade or higher starship (3/3).
Choose one auxiliary-type starship and reach a count of five (5/5) (T2 Iron Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship selected).
Mission complete — please claim your reward.
A few days later, Zhao Chen received the system notice — and almost in the same breath, a message from Lilith. The T3 Phantom Assassin-class Light Interstellar Stealth Bomber, the T3 Goddess Academy-class ship, the T3 Andromeda-class Interstellar Medical Ship, and the T2 Snow Mastiff-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship had all been completed and rolled off the line.
Three T3 warships entering service — two of them merely auxiliary types, true, but for the future building of Zhao Chen's fleet, an enormous help all the same!
Zhao Chen sent Zhao Wan'er a message, telling her to come back to the T3 Blizzard first. Then he opened the System page, ready to claim the quarterly mission's reward.
Quarterly mission reward claimed: T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ship — technical blueprint.
A T3 interstellar mining ship, of all things! This was one of the two great auxiliary warships, named in the same breath as the interstellar transport. An interstellar mining ship, as the name implied, was an auxiliary ship charged with the swift extraction of interstellar resources out in the cosmos. They had no combat power, but could mine resources rapidly — the single most important tool of many an interstellar mining conglomerate. And to this day, the powers possessing a T3 interstellar mining ship numbered but a few in all the Starlight Empire. Even the Hurricane Conglomerate had never broken through the technology to develop one.
"With a T3 mining ship, I can mine the resources of the Owl Dragon System and the Lion King System. Both places may be resource-poor systems — the resources few, yes — but a mosquito's leg, small as it is, is still meat," Zhao Chen muttered.
Zhao Chen began studying the detailed data on this T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ship carefully. Its hull carried no large combat weapons, but did have 10 defensive gun positions. Within the hull, besides, were small mining boats of every size and model, to meet resource-collection needs of every kind. And the T3 Prospector had one more feature: it merged the interstellar mining ship and the ore-processing plant into one. Inside the T3 Prospector, equipment for processing raw-material resources was fitted automatically. Which was to say, the resources mined could be processed on the spot; afterward, one need only bring an interstellar transport to load and haul it away. Efficiency vastly raised. In resource-extraction ability, too, it was faster than the several other T3 mining ships of the same tier. Combine these two traits, and the standing of the T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ship was plain to see. This was a fine thing for making one's fortune in future!
"Why've you suddenly called me back?" Zhao Wan'er appeared on the bridge, looking at Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen smiled mysteriously. "Didn't you say before that you wanted to command a T3 warship? Well, your big brother's going to take you now to see the T3 warship you'll captain in the future!"
Zhao Wan'er's expression froze on the instant.
A T3 warship? This soon?
She'd thought, before, that Zhao Chen was merely talking big.