Chapter 359: Setting Off Soon

“How soon is very soon? Don’t think I don’t know about your cunning mind. Taking the data and running, are you worried that the military will steal your research?” Williams smiled.

Xia Fei hastily waved his hands. “Certainly not. It’s just because I have to return to the company to hand over a few things, so I’m getting an early start. Once the designs are done, I will immediately put them into production so that the three fleets entering the insectoid territory will have a Black Bat radar before they set out.”

Williams nodded. “I believe in that. I’ve prepared your fleet already. If you need anything else, please speak.”

Xia Fei replied, “General Williams, please prepare trade goods for me.”

Williams froze for a moment, and then he smiled. “While it’s true that you’ve been ordered by the military to engage in trade with the insectoids. But couldn’t you prepare the goods necessary yourself?”

Xia Fei said, “Quantum Holdings’ primary product is the energy-shield booster, and this product definitely can’t be sold to the insectoids. Even if I wanted to, you would never agree.”

Williams replied, “Of course. If you dare to try and sell it, I will have you arrested for treason.”

Xia Fei followed up. “In other words, my small company doesn’t have any goods that can be brought to the insectoid territory for this trip. I need the general’s help in purchasing a batch of goods from the prosperous capital ring to serve as this mission’s bait.”

Williams slapped his forehead. He realized that Xia Fei was giving him the run-around, and after running a circle, the topic had returned to the same question.

“Forget it. Since this is a mission from the military, let the military prepare the goods. What items do you plan to ship?”

Xia Fei replied, “Luxury goods, food, household goods, and interesting little toys or devices.”

Williams was taken aback. “None of these items you mention have any value. If you take them to the insectoid territory, you probably won’t be able to trade them for anything.”

Xia Fei chuckled. “They don’t need any value, they just need to be targeted. The luxury goods are for the insectoid nobles. When the time comes, I’m bound to give a few gifts. In the Wild Star Region, I learned that the insectoid nobles are even more decadent than humans, and they love luxury goods and flashy items. After all, humans far surpass them in this aspect. Moreover, the long seclusions they do means that many insectoids have no place to spend their money. By doing this, I’m adapting to their tastes.”

“Then, who is the food for?” Williams asked.

Xia Fei answered, “The food I’m talking about aren’t agricultural products like wheat or rice, but refined food that has been highly processed. The insectoids have many kinds of snacks, and they also enjoy human foods. I’ve already planned everything out. On this trip to the insectoid territory, we must do our utmost to get those still hesitant highly intelligent insectoids to be in favor of humans. Thus, I need little gadgets and toys to fit their fancies.

“Within the insectoids’ territory, the truly intelligent members of their species become their tribal leaders. The warriors below them are like machines, without any thoughts of their own. The lower-class insectoids shouldn’t be the targets of our efforts. We just need to gain the favor of a tribal leader.

“Since weapons are on the export ban list and can’t be traded, I plan to use luxury goods and little gadgets that they’ve never seen before as baits.”

Williams slowly nodded. “Not bad. This isn’t a simple trade mission. Adapting to their tastes is extremely important. Don’t worry. I will prepare everything you asked for.”

Xia Fei nodded. “I’ll leave it to you. Also, wasn’t it said that there will be three trading fleets this time? Three fleets are going out, but who are the other two besides me?”

Williams replied, “Planet Conglomerate’s Li Guan and his son, and then Du Fuwei of the renowned electronics company Megatree Technologies.”

Xia Fei was startled by this revelation, frowning as he asked, “From what I know, Planet Conglomerate is the number one leader of the financial world, isn’t it? Why are they taking part in this mission?”

Williams replied, “While the Li family is primarily in the financial field, they also have businesses in other domains. They can be considered a comprehensive conglomerate. The military originally had no plans of bringing the Li family in, but the insectoids made a specific request. They want to set up their own financial system, so they need an experienced financial corporation to help them set up their own stock and futures exchanges.”

Xia Fei was speechless. He found it impossible to imagine a bunch of bugs sitting in front of computers and staring at constantly shifting numbers on screens as they bought and sold stocks. Setting up their own financial system? It could only be said that the insectoids truly had a big appetite.

Xia Fei did not consider it a good thing that he would be traveling with Li Mo. If things went poorly, Li Mo might try to trip him up or frame him, but he could not do anything about it. The military decisions were not something he could do anything about. The best he could do was be on his guard.

“Since the Alliance is sending out its top ten corporations, the insectoids should be sending some of their influential figures in exchange, right?”

Williams nodded.”The great chief of the insectoids, the current master of the Golden Tent, Uti, will have his daughter, Princess Roci, personally lead a trade mission formed entirely of nobles to the capital ring and discuss a joint development of the mining industry.”

“The princess of the Golden Tent?” Xia Fei said to himself. “It seems the insectoids have placed a big wager. If hostilities break out, this princess and the nobles following her will become hostages of the Alliance.”

Williams replied, “It’s the same for us. While this is called a trade mission, it’s actually a bargaining chip.”

“The most lamentable thing is that we have the heavy responsibility of putting down the Golden Tent.” Xia Fei mocked himself.

Williams sinisterly chuckled. “That’s not the most lamentable thing at all. What’s most lamentable is that you’re the one who proposed the idea of collapsing the Golden Tent.”

...

Several minutes after the screen had been turned off, the list of ships and crew members that Williams had organized was sent to Xia Fei’s mailbox.

There were ten ships in the fleet being sent to insectoid territory for this trip. Besides the capital ship, no ship type larger than the cruiser was allowed.

In other words, in this fleet, only the capital ship was allowed to be a battleship. The remaining ships could be cruisers at most. Of course, the defenseless transport ships were not included in this.

The primary reason for this was to prevent the fleet from attacking the other party from the rear. After all, both the insectoids and the Alliance knew that this so-called trade exchange was really just an exchange of spies.

Xia Fei’s capital ship was naturally the Impaler rather than getting a large battleship for himself. One reason was that the Impaler already possessed impressive fighting strength and was not at all inferior to a regular battleship. Another reason was that intentionally lowering his strength would make the insectoids disregard his existence and focus on the other two fleets.

“Three Gaia Industries Vexor-class cruisers, three Amarr Maller-class cruisers, and my Impaler make for seven cruiser ships. This configuration seems a little weak. We could have a maximum of ten ships, but you only have seven,” Phantom said.

Xia Fei replied, “It’s eight. Don’t forget that I also have the Vampire.”

“Why not use the maximum ten?”

“I’ve already explained the reasoning to you. Since three fleets are going out, I certainly don’t want to be the one that stands out the most. Flaunting one’s strength in enemy territory is not a wise decision. Just think about it. What would be the difference between a fleet of ten ships and eight ships running into an insectoid army?”

Phantom replied with comprehension, “There would be no difference. Both would be completely wiped out.”

Xia Fei continued. “Don’t think that I’m someone who makes decisions based on emotion. I’ve seriously considered every step. We’re heading into enemy territory. Even a complete fleet won’t be able to survive an enemy encirclement. Thus, no matter how well-equipped we are, a direct clash with the enemy will only mean death.

“Do you know why I requested three Vexors and three Mallers?”

“Why?”

“Because these two ships can release large numbers of unmanned drones to disrupt the enemies. In addition, they have thick armor and can take a huge beating. If the situation turns dicey, I’ll have these six ships stay in front and disrupt the enemies.”

“And you?”

“I’ll activate my cloaking device and get out of there, of course,” Xia Fei said without the slightest shame.

Phantom was speechless. He knew that Xia Fei was a meticulous planner, but he had never imagined that Xia Fei would have already considered the worst-case scenario, but his methods were a little too selfish.

Still, after some thought, Phantom understood. Xia Fei only cared about his own people and had never cared about those who had no relation to him. This was his personality, and in this dangerous universe, a fearless mindset was just a legend. Survival was the absolute principle.

...

In his room, Xia Fei worked with Harris all the way back on Earth through a twenty-four-hour video-call. Even without the military’s prompting, Xia Fei would still attempt to complete the final designs of the Black Bat radar as quickly as possible. After all, he was the one heading into the insectoid territory. In the middle of the unknown sea of stars, losing communication was one of the most frightening things.

“This is the design for a signal polarity reversal system. I’m sending it to you. Make some initial modifications to the Black Bat radar’s polarity reversal designs, and then have me look everything over,” Xia Fei ordered.

Upon receiving the designs, Harris was flabbergasted. These designs were far more advanced than he had imagined. They did not seem to be used by any commonly available models.

“If I can ask a question, this design doesn’t seem like one used by any publicly available device. Where did you get it?” Harris curiously asked.

“The military,” Xia Fei said without raising his head.

Harris firmly nodded. Such exquisite designs were probably only possessed by those top-secret departments. He felt that Xia Fei was much stronger now than when he had first gotten to know him. He even had the military’s top-secret designs. In his mind, he raised his opinion of his master.

“Right. Don’t forget to make a copy for future reference,” Xia Fei added.

Harris pursed lips and said no more.

Having all of the military’s data was not everything. Xia Fei still needed to comprehend and digest them all and choose the right designs to modify and then apply to the Black Bat radar.

Fortunately, Harris had a good engineering foundation, which helped Xia Fei save a lot of time. The two of them divided the work between themselves—Harris handled the initial designs while Xia Fei only needed to correct the deficiencies.

Uncle Porter soon joined in. He created a data model in the computer which tested how much disruption the radar system could handle, a simple pressure test for the radar.

Four days and four nights later...

“What are the results of the model simulations?” Xia Fei sternly asked.

“Success. The signal wasn’t affected by the shockwave from a nuclear explosion,” Uncle Porter replied, rubbing his red eyes.

“And the result of the black hole theoretical test?”

“A 99.37% chance of escaping!” Harris excitedly said. “Xia Fei, we’ve finally succeeded! The signal from a Black Bat radar can even escape the pull of a blackhole! This can definitely be considered one of the greatest inventions in the history of the Pan-human Alliance!”