Several days of fighting came to an end.
Control of the skies over this hive-race planet had passed entirely to the Fierce Dragon fleet.
What remained were the hive-race creatures still to be cleared on the ground.
This was the last and also the most troublesome stage in dealing with a hive-race nest.
If it was not cleared completely, then should any hive pits or eggs be left behind,
once livable cities, industrial zones or mining zones were built here in the future,
they would all come under threat from the hive-race.
By then, finding and clearing out those bugs again would be harder still.
So the Fierce Dragon civilization's requirement for this kind of thing was that at this stage, right at the start, the combat forces had to clear away every hive-race unit on the planet, eggs included.
Only once the planet was confirmed to have been fully purified could it be handed over to the forces that would develop and build on it afterward.
"This is the report on this battle." A subordinate set a battle report before Zhao Chen and Chu Xuan.
This battle report was naturally the report on the mission carried out over this period by the Fierce Dragon fleet that Nannan led.
Had it gone through the normal channels, a battle report of this level would never have reached Zhao Chen and Chu Xuan.
It would usually have been dealt with in the secretariat.
After all, there had been no great losses, and it had not been a very large battle.
If information of this kind all needed Zhao Chen to deal with it,
then what need would there be for those staff departments at all?
"This battle's rating is S-grade. The target was a T3-grade hive-race planet. The original combat objectives were exceeded. Within three days, clear away every combat unit and flying unit in this planet's space, and establish ground bases controlling at least two-thirds of the land area: all of this was completed. The land area actually controlled exceeded three-quarters, and over ninety percent of the level-3 energy signatures were cleared as a priority. The follow-up clearing task is handed to the rotating interstellar fleet; the next interstellar fleet will be able to complete it more easily. In this combat mission not a single interstellar warship was destroyed. A certain number of interstellar fighters, interstellar drones and combat mechas were destroyed. As for casualties: three people were killed in the fighting, several of them starfighter pilots and mecha pilots, already entered on the rolls. All the other wounded were evacuated safely."
Chu Xuan read through this battle report; though she said no words of praise, the pride in her eyes could not be hidden.
"What, no comments?" Zhao Chen looked at Chu Xuan and teased her.
"Not too bad." Though Chu Xuan usually rather spoiled Nannan, in matters of war her assessments had always been very plain.
But Chu Xuan's subordinates knew very well that to get those three words, "not too bad," from Marshal Chu Xuan's mouth
was already quite tremendous.
For the assessment most people got was:
Absolutely terrible.
Someone commanding a battle with their backside for a brain would do better than you.
Is your head full of dung?
You may have won this one, but the difference between you and the commander on the other side is that they're dung-flavored chocolate and you're chocolate-flavored dung.
In short, a good assessment was rarely to be had.
So the weight of those three words was easy to imagine.
"You're good at everything else. But on this you're truly stubborn as a mule. That look in your eyes, the one that says 'look, this is my daughter,' can't be hidden at all, you know," Zhao Chen teased with a laugh.
Chu Xuan rolled her eyes.
But she thought to herself: was it really so obvious?
"All right. Nannan's fleet has pulled back now. As her father, I ought to say a word or two of concern." Zhao Chen placed a video call.
Beep, beep, several times.
Only then did the other side answer.
"Hello." The voice on the other side sounded somewhat tired.
"Nannan, my little treasure. Daddy misses you to death. Don't you love Daddy anymore? You used to answer my call on the first ring. Just now it rang a full five times! I know, it must be that our feelings for each other have faded. My love was misplaced after all, wasn't it." Zhao Chen put on a heartbroken look.
Nannan's face wore an expression that said she did not know the person on the other end.
"Dad, okay. Stop acting like this. You're the Fierce Dragon Emperor, at least, all right? Do you know how undignified this makes you look?" Nannan covered her face.
Every time she saw her dad,
she sighed that her dad really was better off living in the legends.
Look at the praise and acclaim for her father in those commentary videos, at what the fangirls who dreamed of romance with him imagined her dad to be.
Then look at her father as he was in real life.
They were two completely different creatures, all right?
"And besides, I have a proper name now. My name is Zhao Chuchu. Stop calling me Nannan all day long," Zhao Chuchu said, somewhat displeased, her cheeks a little red.
"Aw, but you're only ten now. Nannan is such a cute name. Back then I was going to give you the proper name Zhao Nannan," Zhao Chen said with some regret.
At the thought that when her proper name was registered, this father of hers had actually wanted to call her Zhao Nannan,
a few black lines appeared on Zhao Chuchu's forehead.
At the thought of all the news reports in the future reporting on her,
writing things like: Zhao Nannan's performance today…
Let us congratulate Zhao Nannan…
Our hero Zhao Nannan…
she felt so embarrassed her toes could dig out a three-bedroom apartment.
Good thing she had stopped her father in time back then,
and in the end had given herself her name,
taking her father's and her mother's surnames:
Zhao Chuchu.
"Nannan. I hear your fighting is over now. How was it, was there any danger? Your flagship didn't charge at the very front, did it…" Zhao Chen fired off worried words like a machine gun.
Zhao Chuchu clutched her forehead helplessly and said, "Don't worry. Nothing happened. Everything went very smoothly. Dad, aren't you the Fierce Dragon Emperor? Aren't you supposed to have lots of things to deal with? You've got nine great systems to run. Why do you care so much about this little battle of three hundred interstellar warships of mine? A battle at this level doesn't even count as a major engagement!"
"Isn't it just that I'm worried about my precious daughter?" Zhao Chen said with a pout.
"Okay, okay. If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up. I've still got a lot to deal with here," Zhao Chuchu said impatiently.
"Wait. Your mom's here too; won't you say a few words to your mom?" Zhao Chen showed Chu Xuan at his side.
The moment mother and daughter saw each other, the atmosphere grew somewhat awkward.
Whether it was because Zhao Chuchu was older now, who knew,
but when she and Chu Xuan were together, the atmosphere between them was completely different from when she was little.
It felt like a subordinate facing a superior.
"Mom…" Zhao Chuchu looked at Chu Xuan, somewhat nervous,
with none at all of the ease she felt facing her father.
"This battle… was very well fought," Marshal Chu Xuan said, having held it in a long while, and in the end that was all that came out.
"Mm." Zhao Chuchu nodded.
"If you're busy, go see to your own business. When you get leave, remember to come home." With that, Marshal Chu Xuan looked away.
"Mm." Zhao Chuchu nodded.
How were these two, mother and daughter, so alike in temperament?
"Okay, okay. You two didn't use to be like this. How did it get like this in just a few years? Let's talk more when you're back on leave. Nannan, come home when you have time; don't stay holed up in the fleet all the time, okay?" Zhao Chen said.
"Mm." Having said that, before hanging up the call, Zhao Chuchu's lips moved slightly.
"Dad, Mom. Love you."
With that, the call ended.
Zhao Chen was stunned for a moment; he looked at Chu Xuan beside him: "Did our daughter just say she loves us?"
"I think she did." Chu Xuan's expression changed subtly too.
The corners of Zhao Chen's mouth curved up slightly.
"I remember our calls have a recording function."
Zhao Chen called up the last clip of the video call just now
and played it over and over.
"Dad, Mom, love you."
"Dad, Mom, love you."
"Dad, Mom, love you."
Zhao Chen played this line dozens of times, until even Chu Xuan beside him rolled her eyes.
"Heh heh heh. I'll keep a copy on file." Zhao Chen clipped out this video and put it in his archive of the highest secrecy level.
It was labeled: SSS-grade classified file.
Chu Xuan, watching from the side, could not help rolling her eyes again.
An SSS-grade classified file was the very highest secrecy level the Fierce Dragon civilization had.
And it held only this one snippet of voice.
If outsiders knew, who knew what faces they would make?
Who knew how many years later,
Zhao Chuchu and her brothers and sisters, by a stroke of chance, got the access rights to open their father's SSS file.
And when they opened this video,
they heard these words.
At the time Zhao Chuchu's cheeks flushed crimson, and she was so angry she nearly went to settle accounts with the old fellow, already retired to who knew which star domain:
the fellow had actually clipped what she said back then!
Of course, right now Zhao Chuchu did not yet know any of this.
Zhao Chen and Chu Xuan had made this trip away from home,
but naturally could not stay at Zhao Chuchu's side all the time.
They looked at Zhao Chuchu's schedule ahead.
The next battle would be in three months,
so there was no need to worry too much for this period.
Zhao Chen and Chu Xuan at once returned to the Fierce Dragon civilization too.
There were still a great many things at home waiting for them to deal with.
"Your Majesty. The Far Shore of Deep Space has asked several times when our next attack will be, and who the target will be," Secretary Officer Barbara reported this matter to Zhao Chen.
Half a year had passed since the Fierce Dragon civilization's first raid on the Savage Beast Alliance.
In this half year and more,
the Savage Beast Alliance had used every means to investigate and turned up nothing at all.
Gradually it had relaxed its vigilance on this front,
and kept its attention on its own development.
Of the three-year deadline the Savage Beast Alliance had set for itself, even adding the delay caused by that raid,
only a little over two years remained.
"It truly is about time. But there's no need to tell the Far Shore of Deep Space's side the specific time and arrangements," Zhao Chen said with a wave of his hand.
Then he looked at Marshal Chu Xuan beside him: "The battle plan you've prepared can be set in motion."
"Mm. This time we'll do something big." This time Marshal Chu Xuan brought out five completely different battle plans at once.
Two of them targeted the Savage Beast Alliance, two the Golden Pupil Mutual-Aid Society, and the last had to do with the Crimson Flame Federation.
And this time it was not a matter of picking one of these five battle plans,
but of carrying out all five,
and completing them within a certain time.
"Five battle plans, all to be completed within five months. I mean to assign them to five different Fierce Dragon corps fleets," Marshal Chu Xuan said earnestly.
The Fierce Dragon civilization's present interstellar warships now numbered over a hundred thousand.
One Fierce Dragon corps fleet was thirty thousand interstellar warships.
Five Fierce Dragon corps fleets were already established.
It counted as a combat test of all the Fierce Dragon civilization's corps fleets,
preparing for a great decisive battle in the future,
and counted as a great training exercise too.
"Mm. All of this is in your hands. We at the rear will back you fully." Zhao Chen signed all five battle plans.
Marshal Chu Xuan at once began preparing to put them into effect.
Zhao Chen, for his part, still had his own business to attend to:
the research and building of T5 interstellar warships.
He came to Chief Engineer Annie's office.
"You're actually not slacking off?" Zhao Chen looked at Annie, actually working hard, somewhat surprised.
Annie raised her head, two dark circles under her eyes, and gave Zhao Chen a cross look.
"Do I look like someone who'd slack off?"
"You do." Zhao Chen nodded hard.
Before Annie could start cursing, Zhao Chen added, "But I have to say, in these ten-odd years of this Trial of the Gods, you've been like a completely different person from how you were outside. If I didn't know you so well, I'd really suspect your body had been taken over by somebody."
Zhao Chen looked Annie up and down.
Annie shot Zhao Chen a look.
"I just want to go back sooner. The sooner T5-grade interstellar warships are built, the sooner this Trial of the Gods can end, and the sooner we can leave this godforsaken place. I've already started missing all the good things of our Fierce Dragon Interstellar Empire. The food produced by T6 Eden… my god. I've nearly forgotten what those ingredients taste like."
Annie's eyes were like a ravenous wolf's; it could be seen she truly missed that food very much.
"Go on, then. How's our construction plan for the T5 interstellar warship project going?" Zhao Chen asked.
"Which one are you asking about? The replica project or the mass-production project?" Annie stretched, took a cup of milk tea out of her safe and began drinking it.
"Let's start with the replica project," Zhao Chen said.
Annie raised her hand and opened several windows.
In these windows could be seen some interstellar warships of unusual shape.
But anyone of the Fierce Dragon civilization who saw them would recognize them at a glance:
these were all super-flagships the Fierce Dragon civilization had built before.