Half a day earlier.
Zhao Chen had done a round of sifting among the several T4-grade interstellar industrial ships in the T4 system mall, and in the end had settled on one of the T4 interstellar industrial ships.
Expend 1,700,000 system points and 90 task points to exchange for the item "T4 Gemini-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship"?
"Confirm."
Congratulations on obtaining the "T4 Gemini-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship" technical blueprint.
Before — System points: 1,730,000
Before — task points: 410
Spent — System points: 1,700,000
Spent — task points: 90
After — System points: 30,000
After — task points: 320
To exchange for this interstellar industrial ship, Zhao Chen had waited from the start of the year until now — for at the time he'd settled on this T4 interstellar industrial ship, he'd discovered he was still 100-odd thousand system points short, and could only rely on the points passively accruing each day, saving them up little by little.
At last, by now, he'd saved enough.
And so Zhao Chen had exchanged it out.
Quarterly Mission
Content: Exchange for one T4-grade interstellar warship technical blueprint. (Complete)
Mission complete; the reward may be claimed.
At the same moment Zhao Chen exchanged for the T4 interstellar industrial ship, the reminder of the quarterly mission's completion popped up as well.
Claim.
Zhao Chen's thought stirred.
Claim quarterly mission reward: obtain 200,000 system points and 50 task points.
Before — System points: 30,000
Before — task points: 320
Gained — System points: 200,000
Gained — task points: 50
After — System points: 230,000
After — task points: 370
Back to the present moment.
This, then, was the origin of the T4 Gemini before them.
And at this moment, Nana, on the far side of Zhao Chen's video window, went outright wide-eyed, a look of disbelief upon her.
"A T4… a T4-grade interstellar industrial ship!" Nana gulped.
For one must bear in mind — at present the Galactic Alliance openly possessed not a single T4-grade interstellar industrial ship; there were only T4-grade starship docks!
The latter were enormous in bulk, generally built in the near-orbit of some planet within a star system, and could not be moved.
The former, by contrast, could move of their own accord whenever needed!
Could even follow an interstellar fleet out on campaign — and, with production capacity unchanged, the relevant production lines and equipment were smaller in bulk!
This meant that the research-and-development difficulty of an interstellar industrial ship far exceeded that of a same-grade starship dock!
"My goodness!" Annie, on the contrary, wasn't much astonished by this; rather, she covered her face in a kind of despair.
A new interstellar industrial ship, of all things!
Annie's heart: Just let it all be destroyed!
Annie had long since grown used to this monster of a Commander before her, who every so often would pull out an even mightier interstellar-warship blueprint.
The thing she dreaded most was the Commander pulling out a more advanced interstellar industrial ship — for that meant her workload was to be increased yet again.
"I've already had the detailed technical blueprint of this T4 Gemini brought to you. What I need is for you to produce this T4-grade interstellar industrial ship as soon as possible, without affecting the current production plans. I've done the reckoning: were this T4 Gemini built by a single T3 Furnace, it would need 100 months; with several ships assisting, the time can be shortened. And once there's a first T4 Gemini, having it produce the T4 Geminis that follow would take only two months apiece. The build-cost is 5 billion star coins. As for the T4 Gemini's capacity, take the current T3 Blizzard for an example: a T3 Furnace can produce five T3 Blizzards in a single month, whereas a T4 Gemini can produce upward of 200 T3 Blizzards in a single month."
"That capacity is far too terrifying! By this reckoning, then building T3 Blizzards for a single month alone would consume close to 3 billion star coins in raw materials!" Nana covered her mouth in astonishment.
Zhao Chen nodded; this interstellar industrial ship's capacity was very strong — but at the same time, it was a gold-devouring behemoth.
"You find a way to get the first one produced before the end of the second quarter. As for how many to produce in the end, that's undetermined for the time being," Zhao Chen said, his look turning serious.
The raw-material consumption this interstellar industrial ship required was far too great; and so, before the Owl Dragon Legion's income was stable, he dared not build too many either.
"All right — that's all there is to convey. Put in your best efforts; if there's any problem, tell me. I'll have every last person help you unconditionally." No sooner had Zhao Chen said this than the comm ended.
Seeing the comm window close—
The all-meek-and-mild Annie at once flew into a thunderous rage, and pointed at the spot where the video window had been a moment before.
"Any problem? It's problems everywhere you look, all right! You enjoy playing the hands-off shopkeeper — do you know how hard we toil? If you've got the nerve, don't you go — I'll—"
The video window suddenly appeared once more.
Zhao Chen's image popped out.
"Does the Lord Commander have some further instruction?" Annie wore a face of smiling, respectful deference.
Off to the side, Nana couldn't help but rub at her own eyes — had that just now been a hallucination of hers?
"I hear you want to refit that T2 Bronze Eden, is that right? Call it a spur to your work in the days ahead — the refit cost of that T2 Bronze Eden will be borne by the Owl Dragon Legion's public accounts." Having said this, Zhao Chen looked at Annie with narrowed eyes.
"Just now I seemed to hear you wanting to say something to me?"
"It's nothing, nothing at all. It's only that I care about the Lord Commander's health — day upon day, all of it spent striving for the Owl Dragon Legion; you must be sure to mind your rest," Annie said, blinking her eyes, all thoughtful solicitude.
"Then you all carry on with your work."
The comm window closed.
The smile on Annie's face lingered a long while unfading; she waited a dozen-odd seconds.
Only when the video window did not appear again did the smile on her face come back to itself.
"He…" Annie wanted to grumble a line, but, her heart still not quite over its fright, she cast a glance in that direction.
"Forget it; for the sake of his footing the bill for my Annie, I'll let you off the grumbling today," Annie muttered in a voice faint as a mosquito's.
"Sis, I feel the Lord Commander's quite good, really. Why is it you're always grumbling about the Commander?" Nana asked at her side.
Annie looked at her own sister, aghast; she took her sister's head straight in her hands and examined it carefully.
"Nana — you haven't gone and had some corporate-drone chip[1] injected into you, have you!"
Only once she'd made certain her sister hadn't been "swapped out" or "remodeled" did Annie set her heart at ease.
"Sis, I'm being serious. The Lord Commander has given us such a fine life, and protects our safety. He's given us, besides, the chance to work for him; and we have now such good welfare and treatment, and he even pays us wages on top of it. For us to work hard for the Lord Commander — isn't that just as it should be?" Nana said, all guileless.
Annie was taken aback; she wanted to retort, but found that her sister seemed to be talking… a bit of sense?
She hurriedly gave her own face a pat or two, so as not to let herself be won over by her sister's words.
"First let me have a look at that future production plan you drew up just now." Annie changed the subject; a moment ago, so as to enjoy her lunch, she'd shoved this work off onto Nana.
Nana showed her sister Annie the next-phase starship production plan she'd handed directly to the Commander a moment before.
Annie looked it over a few times — and the whole of her drew in a gasp of cold air; stiff and staring, she toppled straight over backward.
"Sis… Sis!" Nana looked at her sister in alarm.
Annie, struggling, gripped her sister's hand.
"From now on, a production plan of this sort — you're to let me look it over, without fail, before you hand it to the Lord Commander. If… if it's all done your way, your sister here… might not live to see retirement…"