Owl Dragon System · Military Restricted Zone No.021.
To enter this military special-zone required Tier-1 clearance from the Owl Dragon Legion.
It was one of the few zones at the Owl Dragon Legion's very highest secrecy grade at present.
Even the Owl Dragon crew who entered here had no idea just what this place was for.
They were only charged with hauling in the needed materials and carrying out what needed carrying out; as for what they hauled, they had no right to know at all.
"Report, Commander-in-Chief — the command has been fully handed down; crew on post are not to leave their posts, off-duty crew are all to return to their quarters, and none may act without leave during this stretch. At the same time, the shielding apparatus is activated, blocking most of the comm-network equipment," Lilith reported at Zhao Chen's side.
Zhao Chen nodded.
He knew this was a process that had to be carried out to enter this zone.
By his earlier command, even his own flagship had to carry out this process, let alone the ordinary interstellar transports coming and going.
Before those interstellar transports drove into this zone, a team would board the ship in advance; over the course of the ship's voyage, contact with the outside was forbidden, and only the special equipment in that team's hands could reach the outside.
And, at the handover of goods.
All the crew aboard that ship were in a "confined" state, the cargo-holds and other zones wholly sealed; personnel from the destination would handle these operations.
Even the ship's captain could only sit obediently on the bridge, awaiting the command to set course home, then bear the unknown cargo home again.
"Just what is this place? So mysterious?" Chu Xuan asked curiously beside them.
Zhao Chen looked at Chu Xuan, and said with a smile: "Want to know? By rights you're not permitted to leave the ship with me presently. But if you want to see it, I can take you along — only, what you see, you can't leak to anyone outside, not even your grandfather."
Hearing this, Chu Xuan, without a word, shook her head outright, then sat obediently in her secretary-officer's seat, one black-stockinged leg crossed over the other: "Then I won't go. I'll just wait here for you to come back; rather than know some secret that'd put me in a hard spot, I'd sooner know nothing at all."
Chu Xuan's attitude took Zhao Chen a little by surprise.
"You're not even curious?" Zhao Chen asked.
Chu Xuan shrugged: "So what if I'm curious? Curiosity's results come at a price, and I'm not willing to bear that price. And I know everyone has their own secrets — not you alone; my grandfather has his secrets too. Even though our two sides are now close-knit comrades-in-arms, you couldn't possibly be truly open and bare with each other. For instance, we only just learned that the Northern Goose Group is an industry under your hand."
Zhao Chen found suddenly that Chu Xuan really had matured a great deal; she was no longer the bold girl of before, with nothing in her heart but galloping across the stars.
"One day, you'll all know this secret too. It's only a question of time." Zhao Chen looked at Chu Xuan tenderly, then left the bridge with Lilith.
Lilith would accompany Zhao Chen to their destination.
Lilith and Zhao Chen boarded a shuttle-craft; she looked at Zhao Chen curiously: "Commander-in-Chief, if Miss Chu Xuan truly wanted to go there with you. Would you really be at ease?"
Zhao Chen said with a smile: "If she wants to see it, I'll take her. This counts as my trust in her — and as a test I set for her and the Chu family. As our industries grow ever larger, and we stand ever higher, we must determine who are the partners we truly trust. At times we must even, at the smallest cost, sift out the false partners. Though that thing is very important to us, and would cause a great sensation if it spread— —by the present situation, the Owl Dragon Legion already has the strength to lay its cards on the table before other powers. Suppose Chu Xuan, having seen it, truly chose to tell Chu Changhe, and Chu Changhe then came to a rift with us. Looked at from another angle, that too wouldn't be a bad thing."
Lilith understood the Commander-in-Chief's meaning: Chu Xuan had avoided a crisis, and the Chu family had luckily dodged a crisis too.
Had the Chu family chosen wrong, they'd have lost the standing and glory they might come to have in the future.
This man's future would change a great deal!
Soon, the shuttle-craft drew near a small asteroid cluster, within which were hidden some military facilities, and many interstellar warships.
And among them, the most conspicuous was the one Zhao Chen himself had seen only a few times.
The T4 Reviver-class Clone-Human Starship!
To be precise, this should be the second time Zhao Chen had come in person to see this interstellar warship.
"We've remade this batch of zones — built temporary habitable areas on some of the asteroids, and arranged some remodeled interstellar medical ships here besides. They can create a very fine living environment for the crew," Lilith said.
Ssss.
Just then, a video window appeared before Zhao Chen.
Across it was a woman in a white military-uniform, the pair of white ears atop her head most conspicuous — because of these white ears, even her military cap was specially made.
"CSZ Special-Zone head A-Yun greets my lord Commander-in-Chief; a great honor that the Commander-in-Chief comes to inspect the work!" the rabbit-eared girl was plainly a touch nervous, her body held very straight.
Zhao Chen nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
Lilith said: "The Commander-in-Chief doesn't mind these formalities; be quick and arrange the Commander-in-Chief's itinerary."
"Yes, everything is ready…" the rabbit-eared girl A-Yun said at once, and set out the arranged process in full detail.
She looked exceedingly nervous.
The comm ended.
"Am I so frightening?" Zhao Chen pointed at himself and asked Lilith.
Lilith said with a smile: "That's because the rabbit-folk are timid by nature, so the rabbit-folk aren't suited to fighting or to very high-tension work. The fittest for them is medic work, and other auxiliary-type work. At present they serve chiefly aboard the interstellar medical ships, the Silver Eden-class Starships, and here at the CSZ Special-Zone. Especially in emotional comforting — they have a capacity for soothing the feelings second only to us succubi."
Having said it, Lilith added: "A-Yun is the elder of a pair of twins; she has a twin sister you've met too. She's now a head of the Eden Grain-Trade Group, along with Li Yaqi and the others. Set against her sister's temperament, her younger sister A-Na is rather bolder; especially after dealing much with Li Yaqi and the others lately, she can already take charge of no few heavy trade tasks."
Zhao Chen nodded.
Of these matters he had some impression, though not a very detailed one.
Because most of the time he was a hands-off boss; even personnel appointments he'd handed to Lilith.
After all, so large an estate — he couldn't possibly ask after everything; he need only be sure these people were loyal to him, and on the front of work ability, Lilith would keep the gate for him.
Next, Zhao Chen once more boarded the T4 Reviver-class Clone-Human Starship.