After the Dragon Star Alliance's first joint congress ended,
Dragon Star entered a period of high-speed development never seen before.
Under the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's lead,
every country on Dragon Star entered a period of high-speed development never seen before.
This was also the first Dragon Star Five-Year Development Plan the Fierce Dragon Kingdom had drawn up.
The first year.
What was pushed first was the spread of electrification, electronic computing, automation, and the upgrading of basic materials.
In this,
the Fierce Dragon Kingdom was chiefly responsible for the technological breakthroughs.
High-voltage transmission, substations, the power grids of every continent: these were the skeleton of the information age.
After that came the petrochemical industry, yielding synthetic rubber, plastics and high-performance fuels; with these, electronics and transport could be supported.
Metallurgy too, after this brief pause, rose quickly again.
The appearance of alloy steel, aluminum alloys and titanium alloys laid the groundwork for precision machinery and electronic components,
and let these mechanical products be made smaller, lighter and more advanced.
Because the Fierce Dragon Kingdom already had a foundation in this part, it handed the technology down in the first half-year; the rest depended on how long each place took to put it into effect.
Fortunately, the Fierce Dragon Kingdom had specially advised that the physical industries for this technology should not be built at large scale.
It was enough to master it, to understand it, and to train a reserve of talent in it.
For these things would soon be outdated as well.
At first, the scientists of every continent were somewhat unwilling to believe it.
For this technology was already very advanced; even if it were to be outdated, it would take at least ten-odd years.
But reality gave them a hard slap in the face.
Ten-odd years?
Sorry: here in the Fierce Dragon Kingdom it did not take even ten-odd months.
The rapid iteration of vacuum tubes, transistors and integrated circuits took only a few months to build the engine foundation of the information age.
Then came the establishment of the related computer systems.
Very soon the first computer was built in the Fierce Dragon Kingdom; not long after, mass-produced computers appeared as well.
And close on its heels, the technology and infrastructure needed for communication networks spread quickly too.
The telephone network, coaxial cable, fiber-optic communication, satellite communication: all burst forth on every front.
In the first year, global communication was achieved; no more waiting.
It was a matter of one long-distance call.
The only drawback, perhaps, was that phone bills were a bit expensive.
Because of the appearance of computers, the industry of software and algorithms appeared before the world:
operating systems, programming languages, databases, compilers,
and the settling of basic network protocols.
And this road, which would originally have taken over a hundred years to travel, took only two years under the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's control.
An unbelievable time, isn't it?
Even later generations who worked it out reckoned it should have taken at least thirty years.
No one knew just how the Fierce Dragon Kingdom had done it.
Because of this rapid development, every country building factories first had to ask the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's advice.
For they truly worried that these factories, once built, would be outdated within a few months.
And in this the Fierce Dragon Kingdom gave free advice too, so that these factories' construction could meet future needs:
for instance, when new technology appeared, they could iterate quickly with no need for major demolition and rebuilding,
and avoidable detours could be cut as far as possible.
A private villa in the outskirts in the Kingdom of Aalborg.
Chu Xuan was looking at the little child in the baby carriage, her face full of happiness.
At this moment the doorbell sounded.
Chu Xuan looked puzzled.
This was her private villa, and it had not been bought in her name; there was not even any record of it in the Fierce Dragon Kingdom.
The few people working here were all absolutely loyal retainers she had trained these past few years, ready to die for her.
At this point a housekeeper came in quickly.
"Madam, there's a guest of yours outside. She says she's your friend. Her name is Medusa."
The housekeeper kept her head lowered and did not look into Madam's eyes.
She had been saved by Madam during the war.
At Madam's instruction, she had bought this villa here.
The villa's nominal owner was she.
To the outside world, she was a businesswoman of some note too.
But no one knew she was only this woman's housekeeper.
As for the mistress's identity, she had guessed something of it too, but she knew her duty very well; she had never tried on her own to find out or to ask.
She only did what she ought to do.
Three months after the war ended, Madam had come to this villa heavily pregnant.
She stayed here two months and gave birth to the present young miss.
After that, they were responsible for looking after the young miss here.
And Madam would come every so often.
They did not know who the young miss's father was, nor did they try to guess.
In this villa, guessing at Madam's identity, or guessing at anything connected with it, was not done.
They only needed to do what they ought to do here.
"Medusa?" Chu Xuan was startled; she had never imagined Medusa would appear at the villa's gate.
"Madam, shall I go and deal with her?" There was a trace of cold in the housekeeper's eyes.
She naturally knew who the woman outside the gate calling herself Medusa was.
But at a single order from Madam, she would carry it out, even at the cost of her own life.
Chu Xuan glanced at this housekeeper.
"No need. You stay here and look after the young miss."
As she spoke, Chu Xuan made to walk toward the villa's gate; after a few steps she stopped and looked at the housekeeper: "Remember: from now on, you're not to touch anyone at all from the Fierce Dragon Kingdom."
"Yes."
With that, Chu Xuan went down the steps and got into a small cart.
For the villa grounds were so large that on foot it would take dozens of minutes.
Before long,
Chu Xuan reached the main gate.
The gate opened.
She saw Medusa in a sports car, wearing sunglasses; she was not in Fierce Dragon uniform,
just ordinary casual clothes, and seeing Chu Xuan appear, she waved at her.
"How did you find this place?" Chu Xuan asked.
"Coincidence, I suppose. I was just curious why you vanish for a while every time you're on leave. So I came by to take a look, and here we are," Medusa said with a cheerful grin.
Chu Xuan frowned slightly.
Medusa said at once, "Don't worry, I came alone. And no one knows I'm here. As far as the world knows, I'm at a villa of my own five hundred kilometers away, asleep. Say. Where's my goddaughter?"
"What goddaughter?" Chu Xuan's face did not change at all.
Medusa said with a cheerful grin, "Have you forgotten the gift of us Snake-folk? I found out the very day you got pregnant. Don't think you were fooling anyone. Come to that, I really never imagined it. When on earth did you sleep with His Majesty? What's the trick? Share it with me, won't you?"
"How do you know it's His Majesty's?" Chu Xuan stared at Medusa.
Medusa shrugged and said with a light laugh, "With our Marshal Chu Xuan's way of thinking? Who in this world besides His Fierce Dragon Majesty could catch your eye? Sigh. When it comes down to it, it's all His Fierce Dragon Majesty's fault. Ever since we met a man like that, other men have had no value in our eyes at all. Even finding someone is hard. And yet His Fierce Dragon Majesty isn't the lecherous sort; several times I've dressed very sexy and he wasn't even tempted. Could it be he doesn't like my type? There are plenty of furries[1] these days, you know."
Chu Xuan truly did not want to hear this one keep rattling on.
She stepped aside.
"Come in."
"Heh heh heh. Quick, get in; take me to see my goddaughter." Medusa pointed at the passenger seat of her convertible sports car.
Chu Xuan wasted no words either and got into Medusa's passenger seat.
Only once she was in did she notice a problem: "You have no feet; how do you work the brake and the gas?"
"I have no feet, but I have a tail, don't I? Hold on tight!" Medusa put her foot… no, her tail down on the gas.
The convertible sports car shot through the villa's gate.
A few minutes later,
inside the villa,
Medusa looked at the little girl in the baby carriage.
Her excited eyes seemed to have turned into little pink stars.
"So cute!"
"Quick, call me Godmother."
Medusa's voice was so sugary it nearly smoked.
In the army, no one had ever heard Marshal Medusa use this voice.
In the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's army, Marshal Medusa had another nickname too:
the Iceberg Snake Beauty.
Why iceberg?
Because beside Marshal Medusa, even in summer, one could feel a chill without the air conditioning on.
And no change of tone could ever be heard in her voice.
"Come on, tell me, just how did you get to sleep with His Majesty?" Medusa hugged a bag of melon seeds and looked at Chu Xuan expectantly.
Chu Xuan had no choice; she knew that if she did not tell her today, she would never quiet down.
She told her the whole story.
Having heard it all,
the smile on Medusa's face faded and turned into a grave look: "Then what do you plan to do from here? This little girl can't stay hidden here forever. It's all right during the Trial. But after the Trial ends? And when she grows up, how will you explain it to her? What if she asks who her father is?"
Hearing Medusa's question,
Chu Xuan hesitated a moment and lowered her head to look at the little darling already asleep in her arms.
"I'll think of something later."
Seeing Chu Xuan look like this, Medusa sighed; she knew Chu Xuan was simply going to take it one step at a time.
——————
On the other side,
Zhao Chen, at this moment in the Fierce Dragon Kingdom, had no idea at all that he had, without anyone knowing, gained a daughter.
At this moment he was looking gravely at the page before him.
It was the Trial page.
【Notice from the Trial of the Gods.
To speed up the development of every civilization, and for the survival of the fittest,
we will prepare a calamity for each surviving civilization.
The calamity the Fierce Dragon civilization is to face is:
the hive-race descends.
In three years, a swarm of the hive-race will descend on the planet where the Fierce Dragon civilization is located.
May the Fierce Dragon civilization strive to survive this calamity.】
Seeing this mission notice,
Zhao Chen's expression was extraordinarily grave.
A hive-race calamity?
He had never imagined at all that the Trial of the Gods would have a stage like this.
He swept his eyes over another page.
【91/100】
Over these few years, of the hundred Trial civilizations taking part, only nine had been eliminated.
One of them had been eliminated by the Fierce Dragon Kingdom.
【Trial notice.
Because you have previously destroyed a Trial civilization, you will be given a reward.
You will receive the coordinates of the Trial civilization nearest to you.】
Another notification tone came.
Zhao Chen was again somewhat surprised.
This Trial program had been very quiet these past few years.
Now, all at once, it was a whole string of messages.
Zhao Chen closed his eyes; with a thought, he seemed to sense something in a certain direction overhead.
"In that direction… the distance… It's actually in the same star system?"
Zhao Chen had not expected it at all.
He had never imagined that in one star system there would be three Trial civilizations at once; that was a bit "crowded."
Still, it was rather remarkable that his space telescopes had never found this civilization.
Only after Zhao Chen had looked carefully did he find
that the planet of this Trial civilization lay exactly on the other side of this system's star,
directly opposite Dragon Star's position.
Their distances from the star and their orbital speeds were exactly the same.
So from Dragon Star's vantage it could never be possible to see that planet at the other end of the star.
This was also why the space telescopes had never found it.
After all, it was hidden behind the star.
This set Zhao Chen's feelings, settled these two years, rising once more into a sense of crisis.
The hive-race calamity would begin in three years.
And in three years the Fierce Dragon Kingdom would probably only just have entered the interstellar age.
Add to that another Trial civilization within this star system,
and it was as good as two swords standing before Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen pressed a button on his desk.
Secretary Officer Barbara soon walked into Zhao Chen's office.
"Your Majesty, what is it?"
"Contact the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's leadership. All of them back within forty-eight hours. There's something extremely important," Zhao Chen said with a solemn expression.
Seeing such a grave expression on His Fierce Dragon Majesty's face,
Secretary Officer Barbara dared not delay in the least and at once set about it.
The Fierce Dragon Kingdom's general staff, working from the list, contacted all of the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's leaders at once,
in whatever corner of the world they were.
Forty-eight hours later,
in a top-secret conference room in the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's capital,
ten-odd people gathered here.
These were all of the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's leaders,
spanning the military, the government and the researchers.
Everyone looked at His Fierce Dragon Majesty; they all knew very well that if His Fierce Dragon Majesty had suddenly summoned them, there had to be a very important reason.
Zhao Chen swept his eyes over these faces.
He spoke in a deep voice: "Just forty-eight hours ago, I received the latest message from the Trial of the Gods. In three years, a hive-race calamity will come."