About to Set Sail
Chapter 359: About to Set Sail
"How soon is soon? Don't think that I don't know what you're up to. You're just afraid that the military will steal your research results, aren't you? "Williams chuckled.
Xia Fei hurriedly waved his hand. "I have no such intentions. I just need to return to the company to report some matters, which is why I'm leaving early. Once the design is complete, I'll immediately start production so that the three fleets entering insectoid territory can obtain the Black Bat radar before they set off."
Williams nodded. "I believe that. I've already prepared the fleets for you. If there's anything else you need, just let me know."
Xia Fei said, "General Williams, I'll have to trouble you to help me prepare a batch of goods."
Williams was taken aback, but he smiled. "It's true that you're going to the insectoid territory on orders from the military, but I don't think we can prepare the goods, right?"
Xia Fei replied, "Quantum Holdings' main product is the energy-shield booster. I can't sell this to the insectoids, and even if I wanted to, you wouldn't agree to it."
Williams replied, "Do you even need to ask? If you dare sell it, I'll arrest you for colluding with the enemy."
Xia Fei said, "That's why my small company doesn't have any goods to ship to the insectoid territory. I'll need you to help me purchase some goods from the prosperous capital ring to act as bait for this mission."
Williams slapped his forehead. He realized that Xia Fei was going around in circles with him, tossing the topic back at him.
"Fine. Since it's a mission from the military, I'll let them prepare the goods for you. What do you plan on shipping?"
Xia Fei replied, "Luxury goods, food, daily necessities, and some interesting trinkets."
Williams was taken aback. "These things you're talking about don't have much value. Even if I bring them to the insectoid territory, I probably won't be able to exchange them for anything."
Xia Fei chuckled. "There's no need for it to be valuable. It'll be fine as long as it's targeted. The luxury goods are prepared for the insectoid nobles, so I'll have to send some gifts when the time comes. I learned in the Wild Star Region that the insectoid nobles are far more decadent than humans, and they love flashy but impractical luxury goods. After all, humans are far superior to them in this aspect, and the long-term isolation has left many wealthy insectoids with nowhere to spend their money. I'm just trying to cater to their tastes."
"Then who is the food for?" Williams asked.
Xia Fei replied, "The food I'm talking about isn't any ordinary grain or agricultural product but rather delicacies that have undergone deep processing. The insectoids are mostly omnivorous, and they like human food very much. I've already made a plan. This time, when I go to the insectoid territory, I'm going to do my best to win over those highly intelligent insectoids who are still hesitating to join the Pan-human Alliance. That's why I don't need those industrial products; I only need some gadgets that they like."
"Within the insectoid race, the ones with true intelligence are the tribal leaders. The warriors below them are like machines, without any thoughts or opinions of their own. Low-level insectoids are not targets for us to rope in. We only need to rope in a tribal leader."
"Since weapons are on the embargo list and cannot be transported, I plan to use luxury goods and gadgets that they have never seen before as bait."
Williams nodded slowly. "That's right. This isn't just a simple business trip. It's very important to cater to their interests. Don't worry, I'll prepare everything you need."
Xia Fei nodded. "I'll be counting on you. Didn't you say that we'll split into three groups? There will be a total of three trade fleets heading toward the insectoid territory, but aside from mine, who are the other two groups?"
Williams answered, "They're Li Guan and his son from Star Conglomerate, as well as Du Fuwei from the famous electronics company Giant Tree Technologies."
Xia Fei was startled, frowning. "From what I know, isn't Star Conglomerate the number one financial giant in the Alliance? Why are they participating in this operation? "
Williams answered, "The Li family's main business is finance, but they also dabble in other industries, so they can be considered a comprehensive group. The military originally had no intention of recruiting the Li family, but this was the insectoid envoy's condition. They want to establish their own financial system, so they need an experienced financial company to help them establish a stock and futures exchange."
Xia Fei was speechless. He could not imagine a large group of insectoids sitting in front of a computer, staring at the constantly jumping screens, buying and selling stocks, and establishing their own financial system? All he could say was that the insectoids had quite a big appetite this time.
Traveling together with Li Mo was not a good thing for Xia Fei. There was a chance that the man might try to trip him up in the dark and set him up, but Xia Fei was helpless about this. The military's decision was not something he could interfere with, so he could not be too careful.
"Since the Alliance has sent one of the top ten corporations, the insectoids should also be sending some heavyweight figures in exchange, right?"
Williams nodded. "The insectoid Great Chieftain, the current master of the Golden Tent, Uti, will have his daughter, Princess Ruisi, personally lead a merchant group made up of nobles to the capital ring to discuss the joint development of the mining industry."
"The princess of the Golden Tent?" Xia Fei muttered to himself. "The insectoids have really put in a lot of capital. Once they shed all pretense of cordiality, the princess and her nobles will be held hostage in the Alliance."
Williams replied, "It's the same for us. You're going to do business on the surface, but you're actually going to be a bargaining chip."
"What's even sadder is that I'll have to shoulder the heavy responsibility of sweeping the Golden Tent," Xia Fei self-deprecatingly said.
Williams sinisterly chuckled. "That's not the saddest part. The saddest part is that sweeping the Golden Tent was your idea."
…
Several minutes after turning off the screen, Williams sent a list of the fleet's members to Xia Fei's mailbox.
The fleet heading to the insectoid territory this time was clearly limited to ten ships, and besides the capital ship, no warships above the cruiser class were allowed.
In other words, only the capital ship of a fleet could be a battleship class, while the other ships accompanying it could only be cruiser class. Of course, the cargo ships, which had no offensive capabilities, were not within the scope of control.
The main reason for this was to prevent the fleet from launching a counterattack from the enemy's rear. After all, both the insectoids and the Alliance knew that this so-called trade was nothing more than an equivalent exchange of spies.
Xia Fei's capital ship was naturally the Impaler. He did not equip himself with a large battleship. Firstly, the Impaler had decent combat power and was not inferior to a battleship. Secondly, lowering his own strength would make the insectoids ignore Xia Fei's existence even more and focus their attention on the other two fleets.
"Three Gaian Vexor-class cruisers, three Amarrian Tyran-class cruisers, and in addition to your Impaler, that's a total of seven cruisers with firepower. Isn't this arrangement a little weak? You can clearly command ten ships at most, but you only have seven, "Phantom said.
Xia Fei replied, "It's eight. Don't forget that I still have Vampire."
"Why don't you use the maximum quota of ten ships?"
"I've already explained the reason. Since there are three fleets going together, I don't want to be the most eye-catching one. Showing off in enemy territory isn't a smart move. Think about it. What's the difference between ten cruisers going up against the insectoid army and eight cruisers going up against the enemy's warships?"
Phantom was enlightened. "There won't be any difference. It'll all be a fate of total annihilation."
Xia Fei replied, "Don't think that I'm being impulsive. I've already seriously considered every step. We're going into enemy territory, and even an entire fleet won't be able to survive an enemy encirclement. Thus, no matter how meticulously we prepare, we're doomed if we clash with the enemy head-on.
"Do you know why I requested to bring three Vexor-Class and three Tyrants?"
"Why?"
"Because one of these two warships can release a large number of drones to disrupt the enemy, while the other has thick armor and is extremely resistant to attacks. If the situation turns bad, I'll have these six warships take the vanguard and disrupt the enemy as much as possible."
"What about you?"
"Of course, I'll use the cloaking device to escape," Xia Fei boasted shamelessly.
Phantom was speechless. He already knew that Xia Fei was a meticulous person, but he had never imagined that Xia Fei had already considered the worst-case scenario before he even set off. It was just that his approach was somewhat selfish.
Phantom felt relieved after giving it some thought. Xia Fei had always cared about the people he cared about and never cared about those who had nothing to do with him. This was also his personality. In this universe where danger lurked everywhere, fearlessness was just a legend. Survival was the hard truth.
…
Inside the room, Xia Fei was on a twenty-four-hour video call with Harris, who was far away on Earth. Even if the military did not rush him, Xia Fei would have completed the final design of the Black Bat radar as soon as possible. After all, he was the one going into insectoid territory. It would be too terrifying to lose contact with the Alliance while he was in the middle of nowhere.
"This is the blueprint for the signal polar-reversal system. I'll send it to you. First, make some preliminary modifications to the Black Bat radar's polar-reversal design, and then hand it over to me for review," Xia Fei ordered.
Harris could not help but be shocked when he took the blueprint. This design was far more advanced than he had expected, and it did not seem to be a commonly seen model for civilian use.
"Pardon me for asking, but this doesn't seem to be a piece of civilian equipment. Where did you get it?" Harris was puzzled.
"The military," Xia Fei answered without even looking up.
Harris nodded. Such an intricate design should have been in the possession of a confidential department. He felt that Xia Fei's current strength was much higher than when he had first met him. He could even get his hands on the military's confidential design, so he could not help but have a higher opinion of his master.
"Right. Don't forget to make a copy for future reference," Xia Fei casually said.
Harris pursed his lips and did not say anything.
The information provided by the military was not everything. Xia Fei still needed to digest and absorb it, choosing a suitable design to improve, and then applying it to the redesign of the Black Bat radar.
Fortunately, Harris had a decent engineering background, which helped Xia Fei save a lot of time. The two of them had different tasks. Harris was in charge of the preliminary design, while Xia Fei only needed to make minor changes to the design.
Soon enough, Porter joined in. He constructed a digital model in the computer, which was specifically used to deduce how much the radar system could withstand in an unexpected situation. It was a simple stress test.
Four days and four nights later …
"What's the result of the model deduction?" Xia Fei asked.
"Success. It wasn't affected by the shockwave from the nuclear explosion." Porter rubbed his red eyes.
"The result of the black hole theory experiment?"
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