Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 650 - 646 Political Consultation

Chapter 650: Chapter 646 Political Consultation

Upon discovering that New Human Civilization might possess allies, over twenty Big Squids’ skins simultaneously turned a dark azure color. Even the Squid that had been so certain New Human Civilization was bluffing and blustering also fell silent.

Their mood was obviously terrible, so bad that the color seemed as if it could contaminate the entire pool.

However, spewing ink into the pool was an extremely rude act, just like spitting directly into someone’s cup in human civilization; no Squid had done so yet.

"Why would they reveal that card?"

"It must still be... they don’t want to start a war."

"Can we find out who their allies are?"

"That’s tough! This piece of space is too complex... There are many, many civilizations that are made up."

Of course, the Apollo Civilization could continue to escalate their military power, persist with their strategic intimidation plan, and they even had another War Star. However, this second War Star was not under the direct control of their political force. To request assistance would come at a great cost.

They could even ask for help from the Great Force behind them... Crushing New Human Civilization would only take a moment.

But if too many legions were to assemble in this part of space and engage in a premature decisive battle, it would only benefit other Great Forces...

So many civilizations were eagerly watching, hoping for the Great Force behind the Apollo Civilization to get involved.!

"The Sovereign Civilization won’t agree to it."

"But if we retreat directly, our political careers are over... We’ll be branded cowards."

In such civilizations, the distinction between classes was extremely rigorous, easy to fall from, but hard to climb. Plus, once you fell from that position, you could drag down a whole string of subordinates, some of whom might even lose their lives.

They were still not willing to accept a direct defeat.

One of the Big Squids suddenly had a burst of inspiration, "Actually, we might not necessarily end up with a bad reputation. We’ve just had a great victory... cough cough, at least the public has started to believe in this victory. As long as we gain more military achievements, even if we don’t snatch the War Star, we won’t be maligned."

"Even if we withdraw troops, we should still extort them fiercely before we leave! The fact that they’ve shown their hand means they’re unwilling to go to war directly. As long as we get enough spoils, we can maintain our status."

That’s true indeed!

As long as they didn’t return empty-handed and had sufficient military achievements, along with a plausible excuse, withdrawing troops wouldn’t be such a problem.

"Then... let’s send them a signal for political negotiation!"

...

These past few days, Zhang Yuan spent almost entirely in nightmares, lacking the mood to work during the day, and uneasily pacing his room, in a state of mental daze. Each time he woke up from his dreams, startled, he would only realize he was still alive after nervously patting his chest.

There was no reply from the other side, as if they had fallen into silence, with no knowledge of what was happening.

Sometimes, to sleep better, he would take some sedatives, forcing himself into slumber.

It was a necessity because the human nervous system had its limits; one must rest when it’s time to rest, or else the brain’s efficiency at work would drastically decline. If he became drowsy at a crucial moment, that would truly be problematic...

Meanwhile, the soldiers at the front lines were on high alert, closely monitoring the enemy spaceship’s reactions, to prevent the possibility of an all-out war at any moment.

For now, there was no special news.

Seeing his uneasy demeanor, Lin Xuanyuan sighed, "Another day has passed... The Planet-level Curvature Engine has made a bit more progress."

Zhang Yuan likewise sighed, "Yes, who knows how many more days of torment we’ll face. I just wish these four years could pass more quickly."

"...Do you think it can succeed?"

"I don’t know."

This time, Zhang Yuan truly didn’t know and found it hard to judge.

As for the condemnation statement following the ultimatum, it was a method conjured up by human higher-ups after racking their brains, deliberately exaggerating their own casualties to test the opponent’s reaction...

As of now, the enemy hadn’t immediately attacked—could this be good news? Were they possibly following the ladder that humans had purposely fabricated?

He looked up in the direction where the Titan Level Spaceship "Qicheng" had departed; Li Zhendong and a group of scientists had left many years ago.

In anticipation, the Qicheng should have reached its destination a year or two ago.

The agreed-upon rendezvous point was roughly 20 light years away from here, and he wondered how they were doing. They must be concerned about the front lines; surely, they couldn’t be content simply developing their own situation.

At that moment, Zhang Yuan received a short message from the Captain’s Room: "The other side has responded to the ultimatum, requesting political negotiations!"

Upon seeing this line of text, Zhang Yuan immediately felt relieved, swinging his arms emphatically, and even uncontrollably turned up the corners of his mouth in excitement!

Since they were asking for political negotiations, it meant the opponent’s reaction matched expectations!

In short, the likelihood of peaceful negotiations was greater.

"What’s happened?" Lin Xuanyuan asked anxiously.

"Ha ha! Good news! Some good news—I need to step out for a bit!" Zhang Yuan exclaimed as he picked her up and spun her around the room. Then he got dressed and dashed out in a hurry.

At this moment, the Captain’s Room was already crowded, and the lady Captain appeared to be in slightly better spirits than before. This Captain had used the latest life-extension technology, so the term had been appropriately extended. The Scientific Council was considering extending the term once again to adapt to the interstellar era represented by a Level 4 Civilization.

Seeing that all the officials had arrived, the Captain announced the short message sent by the Apollo Civilization to humanity.

"..."

Zhang Yuan frowned as he read through the string of text on the screen.

Almost as expected, the Apollo Civilization certainly wouldn’t withdraw its forces outright—no such luck existed in the world!

In its announcement, it strongly condemned the New Human Civilization for the false papers selling "Extra Color Perception" and demanded a certain amount of AmiBa Points in compensation. The Apollo Civilization insisted that the New Human Civilization comply with the previous interstellar court’s judgment, compensate for the losses, and then they would withdraw their troops.

Of course, this served only as a pretext for negotiation from both sides.

Even though it was the same old excuse, times had changed.

Humanity didn’t have the four thousand-plus AmiBa Points, nor could they afford such compensation.

Zhang Yuan said with a laugh, "Hey, they keep talking about fake papers every day, but not a single word is false! They want to have their cake and eat it too! If we’d known, we would never have sold this knowledge to that damned Apollo Civilization."

Diplomat Old Yang shook his head, "If not to this civilization, then to whom? We can’t be clairvoyant. Maybe the same thing could have happened had we sold it to another civilization. Sigh, starting negotiations is still a good choice."

The Captain said, "Then let’s have them show some sincerity first, moving their troops even further from our territory, and then we’ll negotiate on the border. As for the exact terms, we’ll discuss that when the time comes!"

"Since we’ve issued the ultimatum, we must maintain the upper hand now!"

"That’s the idea."