Chapter 13
Xia Anran was driven to a quaint, three-story building. Several similar SUVs were parked outside the main gate, which was guarded by dedicated personnel. The building was surrounded by a lush, quiet forest, with virtually no pedestrians in sight. It was hard to believe such a tranquil place existed within the bustling capital city.
As they got out of the car and entered the main gate, the top leader’s secretary came out to greet them. He led them to a small living room on the first floor to wait, explaining that the top leader was in a last-minute conference call and they would have to wait for a short while.
After bringing in the crates, Yu Xue, Wu Sicheng, and the special forces soldiers who had escorted them went back outside, leaving only Xia Anran, Minister Qiao, and Marshal Yue to wait in the room.
Marshal Yue, having just returned to the country, was incredibly curious about this “big event” involving Xia Anran. He pulled her into a conversation about the livestream, while Minister Qiao, having just witnessed it firsthand, gestured enthusiastically as he described the day’s grand spectacle.
“Marshal, you should have seen it! The moment she opened the app, whoosh, a flood of bullet comments! I couldn’t even count the viewers; it shot straight up to the billions! They were so passionate, you wouldn’t believe it. Just filming a flower or a butterfly was enough to shock them. It might sound a bit crude, but it was just like our Granny Liu visiting the Grand View Garden, hahaha.”
“And at the end, when we filmed the capital city, it was finally confirmed that these people are descendants of our Hua nation. I knew it! Only our Hua nation people, no matter the disaster, no matter how far they drift or how hard it gets, will never go extinct!”
Marshal Yue took a sip of tea and clapped his hands, laughing. “Well said! I think so too. The World Wars couldn’t defeat us, and a planetary explosion won’t either!”
Minister Qiao and Marshal Yue were clearly good friends, as their private conversation was very casual. By the end, Minister Qiao was just short of acting out a scene of the interstellar descendants wailing, snot and tears streaming down their faces, crying out to the heavens that they wanted to come home.
Xia Anran: “…”
It wasn’t quite that dramatic.
She was finally beginning to understand why Minister Qiao was the head of the Propaganda Department. His talent for artistic embellishment and performance was truly masterful.
“Haha, is that so? It seems we missed a lot of exciting scenes today.”
The living room door was pushed open, and the top leader walked in with several of the other leaders Xia Anran had met the previous night. The three of them stood up to greet them. The top leader waved his hand, signaling for everyone to sit. They all took their seats on the sofas. The atmosphere of today’s meeting was clearly different from last night’s solemn gravity; it was much more relaxed.
The moment the top leader sat down, he noticed the teapot was more than half empty. He pointed at Marshal Yue and said to the second-in-command beside him, “Chengyue, you see? I knew this old coot would drink all the tea I gave you.”
Marshal Yue scratched his head and smiled sheepishly, but quickly retorted with righteous indignation, “Chief, now that’s not fair of you. You knew I had a taste for this, yet you still brought out such fine tea. Isn’t that like throwing a meat bun at a dog? It’s a one-way trip!”
The top leader roared with laughter. “Incredible! You drink my tea and then blame me for it.”
The second-in-command also chuckled. “I don’t have any left at my place. Let’s have Old Yue figure out a way to get some for you.”
“Let’s not. I’m afraid by the time that meat bun gets to me, only the wrapper will be left.”
The humorous and witty exchange drew a round of laughter. Xia Anran never imagined that these leaders, who she had only ever seen on television looking perpetually stern and proper as they governed the country, were just like the old uncles she knew in private—joking, bantering, and completely without airs.
After the jokes, the top leader looked at Xia Anran and asked, “Little Xia, is this the thing you mentioned that can transfer items to the interstellar civilization?”
Marshal Yue had already taken out a few of the system-provided black delivery boxes and had been studying them. Now they sat on the table, and the newly arrived leaders were also staring at them with curiosity.
“Yes, Chief,” Xia Anran said, picking one up to demonstrate. The black box had a lid like an LCD screen, which was currently displaying the recipient’s information.
“Yao Jiayin, United Star System, Second Planet, Yanhua City, Fifth Residential District, No. 11455,” the top leader said softly, leaning in to read the text. It looked just like their own online shopping delivery addresses, nothing particularly special.
Xia Anran picked up a peach from the side and placed it inside. The small, shallow-looking box swallowed the massive honey peach with surprising ease. Everyone leaned in to look inside and saw only a pitch-black void, like a bottomless black hole, impossible to see into.
Xia Anran closed the lid. A green light immediately lit up, and the familiar prompt appeared, asking her to confirm if the packaging was complete. She tapped “Yes,” and after two beeps, the box vanished into thin air.
“And that’s it. It should be on its way to the interstellar era now,” Xia Anran explained after the demonstration.
Everyone present marveled at the sight. This scene was truly challenging their materialist worldviews.
The top leader pondered for a moment and decided that Xia Anran should hold off on sending the remaining boxes for now. They would be taken to the Academy of Sciences for study before being sent out.
And so, the unlucky Yao Jiayin in the distant interstellar future became the only person to receive her lottery prize. The moment the honey peach arrived, she and the box were both taken away by the police for questioning.
Xia Anran didn’t know any of this yet. She simply nodded in agreement and repacked the remaining boxes, preparing to take them to Professor Gong later.
“Then let’s first discuss the newly opened private messaging function,” the top leader said. “Little Xia, you can explain the details.”
Xia Anran agreed and read out the official description from the system.
“Allows for one-way private messaging with one follower. Duration: five minutes. Limit: once per month.”
It was very simple, but also very direct.
The top leader mulled it over. This was currently their only means of two-way communication with the interstellar humans. It had to be considered carefully. From the information they had gleaned from the comments, they knew the interstellar era was divided into three major powers: the United Star System, the Interstellar Empire, and the Beastman race.
The Beastman race was the first to be eliminated from consideration. Their choices were between the United Star System and the Interstellar Empire, both of whom were at least the same species as them—human. And between those two, the people of the United Star System were their own descendants, so everyone was naturally more inclined towards them. Besides, the Beastmen didn’t seem to appear in the livestream at all.
However, this was a matter concerning their diplomatic relations with the interstellar civilization. The first power they contacted would inevitably become their closest partner, almost binding them together, which would make their relationship with the other power very delicate. Logically, they should unconditionally choose the United Star System. After all, they were both people of Earth, from the same roots. But with so little intelligence, they still couldn’t be sure of the other side’s attitude towards them. They had to deliberate further.
“I think the first party we should consider is someone from the United Star System,” Xia Anran suddenly spoke up.
The top leader nodded. That was normal. They were their descendants, after all.
Xia Anran suddenly remembered she hadn’t had a chance to report that today’s stream had confirmed the United Star System people were descendants of the Hua nation, and she quickly relayed the information.
“Yes, Chief. They recognized our ancient Imperial Palace and Capital Square. It must have appeared in their history,” Minister Qiao added.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, the top leader’s brow furrowed. He twisted his fingers and remained silent for a long moment.
Xia Anran asked tentatively, “Is something wrong?”
The top leader spoke slowly. “If they recognize the ancient Imperial Palace and the Capital Square, how could they not know the name ‘Hua nation’?”
Xia Anran: !!
That’s right! They even knew the names of the buildings, so how could they have lost the name of their own country?
“We’ll discuss this later. I personally am still inclined to trust that the United Star System people are our descendants,” the top leader said, ultimately choosing to trust his years of intuition.
“Then we’ll choose someone from the United Star System to send a private message to?” Xia Anran asked.
“We still need to think carefully about the candidate. Little Xia, first list all the influential people from the United Star System who have appeared in the stream, and we’ll all take a look,” the top leader said with a smile.
Xia Anran agreed and immediately rolled up her sleeves to get to work.
…
While the Hua nation was bustling with preparations for their first contact with the United Star System, the Beastman race, already stationed near the United Star System’s Fourth Planet, was awaiting the command to attack.
“General, an order just came from His Majesty. We are to hold our position and await further instructions.”
In the Beastman main camp, a soldier with a furry head, greatly resembling a monkey but with sharp horns, reported the latest command from their home planet.
“Understood.” Xuan Mo, the commander of the Beastman forces this time, was frowning as he looked at the intelligence report from his scouts.
Lately, the Interstellar Empire and the United Star System had been acting as if possessed, suddenly becoming obsessed with watching a livestream. It was said to be from the United Star System’s mother planet from ten thousand years ago, and that its specialty products could alleviate psychic instability.
Xuan Mo, holding the report, looked at it from every angle, up and down, left and right, and felt that it was filled with four big words: Utter and complete nonsense.
This was too ridiculous! Could it be a trick by the United Star System to confuse them?
The networks of the United Star System, the Interstellar Empire, and the Beastman race had always been separate. So, the Beastmen only learned about this livestream after their army had already set out. They, the Beastmen, did not have psychic power. They had their own unique power called “Horn Power,” an ability that every Beastman automatically awakened upon reaching adulthood. Therefore, Xuan Mo had little interest in this so-called specialty product. But if it could really alleviate psychic instability, then it would be most attractive to the Interstellar Empire. After all, the people of the United Star System were just ordinary humans and had no psychic power at all.
That was truly terrible news.
To the Beastmen, the Interstellar Empire was far more detestable than the United Star System. Not only did they have the strength to confront them head-on, but they also had a penchant for selling and imprisoning the cubs of their Beastman race. It was utterly shameless!
The United Star System had always maintained the image of a neutral good-Samaritan in the interstellar community, quietly living their lives in their own territory. Although they had shown some signs of rising in recent years, they were still much more likable than the Interstellar Empire, which was always causing trouble all over the galaxy.
So, when he first received the order to attack the United Star System, Xuan Mo had nearly submitted a report requesting to go beat up those bastards from the Interstellar Empire first!
The reporting soldier saw his general’s face growing darker and couldn’t help but shrink back.
Xuan Mo was currently the foremost general of the Beastman nation. Though not old, he had won countless victories. He was of the Winged Race, the tribe among the Beastmen whose appearance most closely resembled humans. Normally, he looked almost no different from a human, except for his ink-black pupils and exceptionally pale skin. Only when he used his abilities would wings appear on his back.
“Report—! An Interstellar Empire warship is approaching our forces!” another soldier suddenly strode in and announced loudly.
Smack!
Xuan Mo slammed his hand on the table with a resounding crash and began to grind his teeth.
He had said it from the beginning. It was those bastards from the Interstellar Empire who deserved a beating the most!