This opening, so far past expectation, left everyone upon the Angel Race's side wholly unready for it.
"Though your side need not be uneasy; we bear the Angel Race no ill will. And we may, in a manner of speaking, be called comrades-in-arms besides. We have fought the Demon Race before now, and destroyed tens of thousands of Demon Race interstellar warships. I think that, for the Angel Race as matters now stand. Between a vassal race that needs your protection, and an ally who can offer you help and holds a certain strength of his own. I believe what the Angel Race needs more is the latter." Zhao Chen said it with a smile.
"You have destroyed tens of thousands of Demon Race interstellar warships?" This woman Angel commander said it in doubt. "Impossible. By our understanding of the technology of this star district of yours. Were the Demon Race to invade you, you could not possibly be any match for the Demon Race. Still less tens of thousands of Demon Race interstellar warships."
It could be seen that this woman Angel commander held the Demon Race she spoke of in considerable dread.
"To hear of a thing is not so good as to see it. I wonder whether our two sides might hold a formal meeting. Afterward, you may decide whether you wish to work with us. There is no Disciple family left here in any case. Rather than make the journey for nothing, better to spend one hour upon a meeting by which your side stands to lose nothing at all," Zhao Chen proposed.
The woman Angel commander knit her brows slightly. "How am I to know whether this meeting of yours is not a trap?"
Zhao Chen shrugged, and said it as lightly as drifting cloud and thin wind, "Then let it be this way. Your fleet stays where it is. I shall come across with one interstellar warship alone, to meet with you. What is there left in that to trouble you? Or is it that the Angel Race, who dare to make war upon the Demon Race, dare not so much as face a meeting like this? If that is how it stands, then I have nothing more to say."
Having said it, Zhao Chen shook his head with a sigh, seeming somewhat disappointed.
This was very plainly the trick of goading by contempt.
But upon a proud Angel Race, it worked exceedingly well.
"Very well. I give you one hour to persuade me. One hour from now, my fleet turns for home." The woman Angel commander gave a cold snort, folded her arms, and sat in the captain's chair.
"There is in truth no need of an hour. When you see me, you will make your decision." Zhao Chen smiled a mysterious smile, and then cut the communication.
Which left the woman Angel commander opposite, and the staff officers and adjutants beside her, staring at one another.
"Heh. Where does this human come by such nerve?" one male Angel snorted in contempt.
"Just so! By our earlier survey, the technology grade of this star district is no more than T4 or thereabouts. Had there not always been the Machine Race blocking the middle, these parts would by any estimate have been under our Angel Race's control long ago," another woman Angel said with confidence.
"My lady, will you truly meet with this fellow? And what if it is some trap? By what they said, after all, it would seem they have already had contact with the Demon Race," the adjutant Angel beside her asked in worry.
Everyone looked toward the commander of this Angel fleet, seated in the captain's chair.
The woman Angel commander said coldly, "What is there to worry about? We have 3,000 interstellar warships behind us. If this fellow truly means to play some game with us, then he is seeking his own death."
And the waiting passed very quickly besides.
But a sudden radar warning gave every Angel officer a fright.
"Report! Our fleet radar has detected a high-intensity energy unit! Suspected to be a T5-grade interstellar warship!" the radar officer cried.
"What! A T5-grade interstellar warship — can it be a Demon Race interstellar warship!" the Angel adjutant exclaimed.
"It must be that human just now! They have worked with the Demon Race after all." The Angel staff officer said it in alarm. "Withdraw! We must withdraw at once!"
"Silence!" the woman Angel commander barked sharply. "If this truly is an enemy's trap, then it is assuredly too late for us to withdraw now. Pass my order — the fleet is to make ready for battle. And at the same time send out interstellar scout craft, to reconnoiter this suspected T5-grade interstellar warship!"
"Understood!"
Under this woman Angel commander's dispositions, the Angel fleet very soon had itself ready for battle.
The interstellar scout craft went as well, to reconnoiter that suspected T5-grade interstellar warship that had entered radar range.
But the picture they sent back left them greatly astonished.
"This… this is not a Demon Race interstellar warship at all." The male Angel staff officer pointed in bewilderment at the unidentified interstellar warship in the picture, sailing toward their own quarter.
For them, in a thousand years of interstellar war with the Demon Race, their understanding of Demon Race interstellar warships was beyond question the clearest of anyone's.
These Angel Race officers could recite every last model of Demon Race interstellar warship as one counts one's family treasures.
And this interstellar warship before them was assuredly not any model of Demon Race interstellar warship in service — indeed, in its very style it was nothing whatever like the Demon Race's.
"Look at that hull blazon: it is not the Demon Race's, but a golden dragon device." The Angel adjutant pointed at the flank of the hull they had captured, and that golden dragon device upon it.
"Truly not a Demon Race interstellar warship?" someone beside them said in astonishment.
And at this point someone raised it: "This… this could not be that human's interstellar warship just now, could it?"
All round the captain's chair fell silent at once.
And this silence held for a dozen-odd seconds.
Little as they might wish to own it, this did seem to be the answer nearest the truth.
"Open the long-range radar. Scan and see whether there is only this one interstellar warship about," the woman Angel commander asked coldly.
"Yes." The Angel adjutant very soon had the answer. "Report. Within the radar's scanning range, not a single interstellar warship besides this one has been found."
"This fellow's nerve is something indeed. He truly does dare to come and meet us single-handed." The male Angel staff officer said it in a mutter.
"My lady Commander, what do we do now?" the Angel adjutant inquired.
A suspected T5-grade interstellar warship was sailing toward their own fleet; some arrangement had to be made.
"The fleet stands by where it is; the flagship sails forward. Make ready to hold the meeting with the other party," the woman Angel commander said, low and grave.
"Eh? Are we truly to meet with them?" The male Angel staff officer said it in astonishment. "This… the order we received before was to work with the Disciple family here. This… to meet of a sudden with somebody else — would that not be… rather unsuitable?"
"There is nothing unsuitable about it. At the least, I am now very much interested in this man and in the power he belongs to."
The woman Angel commander rose to her feet, her eyes fixed upon that vast interstellar warship in the video picture. "He has already shown himself qualified to treat with us. Then naturally we too must produce the courtesy that is due."