Zhao Chen looked at the Medusa Queen before him.
"I've heard that Your Majesty the Queen wishes to purchase interstellar warships?" Zhao Chen inquired.
The Medusa Queen nodded, and looked at Zhao Chen. "You said before, Your Excellency, that all those interstellar warships in your hand could be sold. And right now, as it happens, my interstellar fleet lacks a certain number of interstellar warships."
"Then I wonder — which classes of interstellar warship does Your Majesty the Queen wish to purchase?" Zhao Chen inquired.
The Medusa Queen said straight out, "Three T3 Blizzards, 10 T2 Snow Mastiffs, and 100 T2 Black Rhinos!"
By the look of how decisive the Medusa Queen was, it seemed she'd already settled, before ever she came, on the interstellar warships she wanted. And, moreover, the total value of this order exceeded 2 billion. For the barren land that was the Reef Star Region, this was, more than likely, the entire family fortune of the Snake-folk.
"But I have one condition! And that is — they absolutely must be delivered before the end of June! The price and all is easily discussed; I can go 30% higher than the price you quoted before!" the Medusa Queen said, with a touch of urgency.
"The order and the requirements are none of them a problem. But I have one question. I wonder whether Your Majesty the Queen might resolve a doubt or two for me. Being so anxious and pressed to procure this batch of interstellar warships — could it be that you've run into some difficulty?" Zhao Chen inquired.
The Medusa Queen heaved a sigh, and said in earnest, "The news of the Mechanical Race's withdrawal — you've heard of it, I take it."
Zhao Chen nodded.
"Originally, our Reef Star Region lay in the border belt between the two control zones of the Mechanical Race and the Galactic Alliance. Because our Reef Star Region has no strategic value to speak of, nor any great store of resources, all this long while war has raged ceaselessly round about the Reef Star Region — and yet we, on the contrary, could pass our days in peace and quiet, and even scoop up a little grease and gravy from the midst of it, work of the sort of going to scavenge among the ruins of some interstellar battlefields. And it was thus, too, that the various forces of our Reef Star Region were kept fed and alive. But now, with the Mechanical Race withdrawn, this position of our Reef Star Region's appears exceedingly jarring, jutting out where it ought not. Though it has no value — yet who would be willing to have, within a territory under their own control, so contested and troublesome a stretch of ground as this? And, as things stand now, the position we occupy is more than likely, in the future, to fall under the control of the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth, or of the Starlight Empire. On account of this state of affairs, the whole Reef Star Region is, at this moment, in a state where each and every man fears for his own safety," the Medusa Queen said helplessly.
The Mechanical Race's withdrawal had not only affected the configuration of the Galactic Alliance — it had, indeed, thrown even the Reef Star Region, "settled and at peace" for a thousand years, once more into chaos.
"So you're preparing to expand your military?" Zhao Chen said.
The Medusa Queen nodded. "In this moment of turmoil and disorder, only by growing one's own strength greater is there any possibility of surviving on."
"But… what of the future? You have, surely, to find some road out," Zhao Chen asked.
The Medusa Queen answered, "At present, the several magnates within the Reef Star Region have talked it over in private. Our notions divide, in the main, into three factions. Two of them, of course, are for choosing to submit and pledge allegiance to one side — either the Starlight Empire or the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth. Though, of course, there is a precondition to this. Because, among those who've drifted and ended up in the Reef Star Region, no small number have crimes upon them within the Galactic Alliance. The precondition for submitting is, naturally, that the Starlight Empire, or the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth, unconditionally pardon all their former crimes — and, moreover, satisfy certain conditions of theirs besides."
Zhao Chen nodded; this was, beyond doubt, the way out most suited to the Reef Star Region at present.
"And there's a third faction that wants, with a stance of neutrality, to directly join the Galactic Alliance!" As the Medusa Queen said this, her eyes were exceedingly lively and quick.
"Are you of this faction?" Zhao Chen asked.
The Medusa Queen nodded. "Yes. Whether one joins the Starlight Empire or joins the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth, that is, beyond doubt, to dwell beneath another's fence — with even the risk of being called to a reckoning, at that. Only by continuing to keep the Reef Star Region's independence can our safety be guaranteed. But to be as we were before is already impossible. Only by joining the Galactic Alliance under a brand-new identity! For, after all, the Galactic Alliance has not merely the three imperial powers, but also several hundred small-and-medium interstellar forces; one more Reef Star Region wouldn't be one too many, now, would it!"
"This, too, is not without being a possibility — but it is, as well, the hardest of the three choices," Zhao Chen said.
The Medusa Queen said helplessly, "Yes. Very few are the people who choose my faction. The three factions' notions are, at present, contending fiercely; none can persuade the others. I even suspect that, in the not-too-distant future, the Reef Star Region is more than likely to erupt into a civil war! I've already caught the scent of gunsmoke; and so, to preserve our Snake-folk's interests and survival, we must grow our strength greater!"
Zhao Chen looked at the Medusa Queen with a smile. "Your order I've taken. Only, if the aim is to deliver before the end of June, then brand-new interstellar warships are somewhat hard to manage. But I have some that can be assured of their quality — though they aren't brand-new interstellar warships."
100 interstellar warships — Zhao Chen didn't dare guarantee delivering them before the end of June. But then, the quarterly mission required that he sell 100, and that they, moreover, absolutely be manufactured by his own Owl Dragon Fleet. Yet Zhao Chen had discovered a loophole in it. The System required that they be built by Zhao Chen — but it hadn't said when they had to have been built, now had it? The System required the selling of 100 interstellar warships — but it hadn't said one couldn't sell old and worn ones, now had it! And this let Zhao Chen seize hold of his "opening."
"Old, worn interstellar warships are no problem — so long as they can be delivered before the end of June!" the Medusa Queen said firmly.
"Then good. Mid-June — the Lion King System's star gate. You bring the people to take receipt of the ships, and the payment; cash handed over with the one hand, goods with the other. And the price needn't be much higher either — for, after all, they aren't new ships, so we'll go by the price I quoted you before. I did a reckoning just now: 2,320 million star coins in all — I'll knock off the odd remainder for you. 2.3 billion star coins! As for the manner of payment — of course, if it can be raw materials, then raw materials; and if that really won't do, then the star coins within the Galactic Alliance's system will serve as well," Zhao Chen said.
The Medusa Queen was taken aback. "And that's it — we're done?"
Zhao Chen shrugged. "What else would there be?"
"This is the first time I've negotiated a transaction this fast; in the past, when I negotiated deals with others, it would often take three or five rounds of parleying, costing several days' time," the Medusa Queen said with a light laugh.
"I'm a man who likes things clean and brisk. If it'll do, it'll do; if it won't, it won't," Zhao Chen said.
"Good — let's reckon it, then, by what Your Excellency has said." The Medusa Queen quickly signed with Zhao Chen the sales contract that had been drafted up. Nor did Zhao Chen even ask the Medusa Queen for a deposit — the goods and the cash could simply be cleared, both at once, when the time came. This made the Medusa Queen's good feeling toward Zhao Chen climb once again. What the Medusa Queen didn't know was that Zhao Chen was, moreover, inwardly thanking her for solving his "quarterly mission" for him.
"The transaction's negotiated. I'd like to ask Your Excellency what thoughts you hold on the Reef Star Region's future — for, after all, the Lion King System is, now, within your grasp." the Medusa Queen inquired of Zhao Chen. Though Zhao Chen possessed but a single Lion King System, and in the Reef Star Region had, in the strife of a year ago, been but like a comet — appearing suddenly in the Reef Star Region, and then just as suddenly falling silent — yet the Medusa Queen's intuition told her that this man was, beyond all doubt, nowhere near so simple.
"Me, hmm… the neutral faction; I'll reserve my opinion for the time being. I'm a man who doesn't much care for making decisions — when the time comes, I'll take one step and see, and then take the next." Zhao Chen wore a whole air of it-makes-no-difference-to-me.
"I hope Your Excellency can stand upon the same battle-line as us — for, after all, we were once partners fighting shoulder to shoulder." This remark of the Medusa Queen's was, in truth, her casting an olive branch out toward Zhao Chen.
"Let me think it over some more." Zhao Chen gave no answer outright. The pool of water that was the Reef Star Region was very murky just now; he'd have to wait a while longer yet. The clever man is, more often than not, the last to enter the game.