Zhao Chen saw that Zhao Wan'er and the others were chatting away most happily, and so he didn't disturb them.
Chu Xuan, too, had to go greet a few of her own good friends, and asked Zhao Chen whether he'd care to come along. Zhao Chen declined. In truth he didn't much care for this sort of banquet occasion; were it not that his own Big Sis might attend in the little princess's train, he wouldn't have shown his face here at all. He swept his eyes over the venue — the little princess wasn't here. Which stood to reason; a personage of that rank generally made her entrance only at the very last moment. So Zhao Chen went and found himself a spot to sit, and leisurely ate a bit of fruit.
A lovely figure sat down beside Zhao Chen and put out her hand. "Hello — I'm Li Wei's elder sister, Li Yaqi; my brother has mentioned you to me."
Looking at Li Yaqi before him, dressed in a black evening gown, he shook her hand with a smile. "Li Wei has mentioned you to me as well."
"Thank you for looking after my brother at the academy earlier," Li Yaqi said.
"We're brothers — it's only as it should be." Zhao Chen drew his hand back, and found there was a small something in his palm.
"This is a bone-conduction communicator. So long as you press it and think of the words you wish to say, I'll be able to hear them on my end." A voice seemed to sound right by Zhao Chen's ear.
Zhao Chen, his face not changing color, pressed the button. "How is it I haven't seen you doing any large-scale promotion of the T2 Tibetan Mastiff-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer?" These past few days he'd looked over the interstellar-warship display stands outside; he'd seen the T2 Tibetan Mastiff's stand, but the people inquiring at it were very few. Set against the heat around the same-class T2 Hyena-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer, it was quite simply a difference of heaven and earth.
"Because I've had a great deal of the ship's performance data blurred over, and haven't made it public for the time being. If I announced the Tibetan Mastiff's performance data now, then the Hurricane Conglomerate would be sure to make ready for it. I plan to announce all the Tibetan Mastiff's various performance figures on the very day of the procurement fair — giving everyone a surprise, and at the same time catching the Hurricane Conglomerate flat-footed." Li Yaqi calmly sipped her drink.
Zhao Chen's mind brightened; the arrangement was indeed very fitting. Facing so great and well-established a house as the Hurricane Conglomerate, one mustn't give the other side too much time to react. At the most crucial moment, one had to deal them a fatal blow!
"Then I'll await your good news." Zhao Chen raised his glass to Li Yaqi.
Li Yaqi gave a faint smile, and afterward left to go see other possible future business partners. Zhao Chen carried on eating by himself.
"So you're that Owl Dragon System lord, Zhao Chen?" a light, ethereal voice sounded beside Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen turned his head to look at the one who'd spoken — it was a girl wearing a veil, dark glasses, and a hat besides, and an old man wearing a mask. Though this getup was somewhat odd, the people present would, at most, spare it a second glance. After all, present here were not only humans but other races too, and there was always a share of strange dress and outlandish garb.
"And you are?" Zhao Chen sized up this girl and old man.
"Let me ask you — can you really crush a bug to death with one hand? And blow a T2 bug's head apart with a single fist?" Though he couldn't see the girl's eyes, he could hear the curiosity in her tone.
"No difficulty at all," Zhao Chen answered.
The girl went on, "Then I heard that when you were rescuing the students and teachers of the two academies in the Water Lotus System, you fought the hive-race hand-to-hand — and went at them biting with your mouth, even? Drank bug blood? Ate bug flesh?"
"Do you think a normal person would do a thing like that?" Zhao Chen said with a light laugh.
"That's true too — I've seen images of those bugs, so revolting… and their blood is green, no less!" The girl wore a look of distaste, then pressed on at once: "That T2 Black Rhino-class Interstellar Heavy Assault Frigate of yours can take on a T2 battlecruiser single-handed — on account of what?"
"It leans toward a high-armor hull design, using high-strength hull-armor materials, combined with a certain application of hull structural mechanics," Zhao Chen said.
"Then I heard you assembled a warship called 'Blizzard Zero' all by yourself, whose cruising speed can shoot straight up to 100 star-knots? How did you manage that?"
"By optimizing the engine system and the energy system to raise the power-conversion rate; and at the same time at the cost of sacrificing a bit of the ship engine's lifespan. But 10 years' use out of it is no problem."
This girl was like a walking 10,000 Whys, peppering Zhao Chen with one question after another. And Zhao Chen answered whatever he could — he was, after all, a top-tier starship engineer; all that knowledge was packed away in his head.
"I have here a knotty problem of starship technology; might I trouble you, young friend, to take a look at it for me?" the old man beside her suddenly spoke up and asked. And before Zhao Chen could refuse, the old man raised a hand and put up a stretch of an electronic file — upon it the technical data of a module aboard a ship, in an unfinished state, having run into a bit of a problem.
"This is T3 warship technology, isn't it?" Zhao Chen said with a single glance.
"That's right," the old man said with a nod.
Zhao Chen pointed at several of the figures. "Modify these three a touch — enlarge the first threefold, change the second's material to super-helium gas, and reduce the third by 0.0013%."
Hearing Zhao Chen give such precise figures, the old man was quite surprised. He wrote down everything Zhao Chen had said, then made a few operations — seeming to send it off to someone.
"Grandpa!"
All at once, another voice sounded.
Chu Xuan, surprised, walked over, looking at the masked old man.
"Ahem, ahem, ahem… this beautiful young lady, you've taken me for someone else; how could I possibly be your grandfather?" The masked old man set his posture straight and hastily explained.
Chu Xuan narrowed her eyes at him. "You think that because you're wearing a mask I won't recognize you? Then at the very least, when you go out, don't go spraying on that 30-year-old name-brand perfume of yours. I can smell that scent off you from several meters away."
"This young lady, so your grandfather likes this brand of perfume too? Why, that only shows your grandfather is a man of very fine taste indeed," the masked old man said in a tone of praise.
Seeing that the man still wouldn't own up, Chu Xuan silently raised a hand, called up an electronic screen, and tapped a few times upon it.
"Darling granddaughter is calling, adorable granddaughter is calling, Grandpa's little treasure is calling…" From the handheld terminal on the old man's wrist there sounded a childish little voice. Though it was somewhat changed from her voice now, Zhao Chen could still recognize it as, apparently, Chu Xuan's voice.
And Chu Xuan's face — that was a study in "complicated."
"I've told you again and again to change this ringtone, and you still haven't! And you've even set it on speaker! Back when I was little I never should have, for the sake of a little bribe, listened to you and recorded this for you." Chu Xuan glared viciously at him.
"Ahem, ahem, ahem." The old man knew he couldn't keep the act up any longer, and could only remove the mask from his face, revealing his true features.
These features Zhao Chen had seen at the most conspicuous portrait spot in the Northstar Academy — and there'd been a statue, besides! The Governor of the North Wind Star Region, Imperial Duke Zhu Kai.