Chapter 29 "The Lost Empire"
"...Well, I need to contact my boss, please wait a moment..."
Bryanin left the meeting room in a hurry after saying this, leaving the bear and the synthetic staring wide-eyed.
Li Wenyuan, on the other hand, didn't understand why Braining's reaction was so big.
"... Could it be that this behavior does not meet the standards of a lost civilization?"
His first thought was like this, but after thinking about it, he felt something was wrong.
"No, he acted more like he was frightened... What serious consequences would there be if he asked for the star map?"
"Or...is this some kind of signal of a 'lost civilization'?"
He was still guessing, but he didn't expect that Breining was already sweating profusely at this time, and the prosthetic organs in his body were frantically synthesizing sedatives.
But it may be because he has developed antibodies due to too much use before, and the sedatives did not have much effect on him at this time.
After bypassing a circle of passages, Breining came to a closed room and dialed the communication with his boss:
"...Hello? Aren't you negotiating with the 'Guardian'? Why did you call so soon? Have you finished negotiating? Or did you **** them off..."
Seeing that the tone of his boss was becoming more and more dangerous, Breining hurriedly replied:
"No, no, boss, listen to me, everything is normal in the negotiation, but something unexpected happened..."
"This unexpected situation is very important, and I must inform you. If possible, I hope you can also invite some members of the board of directors..."
The boss at the other end of the communication equipment frowned when he heard this request, and said very displeasedly:
"What makes you so panicked that you can even say 'invite those people'? Tell me what happened first. If it's just a trivial matter, you can also exchange the rest of your biological organs."
The cold tone made Braining tremble, but he quickly regained his energy and informed his superiors.
"The 'Guardian' did not accept our gift, he only made one request so far, he needs a star map."
"Star map? This kind of free gift—" The boss's impatient voice stopped abruptly, and it was obvious that he was also aware of the possible consequences behind this small request.
Suddenly there was a messy sound from the communicator, which sounded like the sound of getting up and getting dressed in a hurry.
"—I see, this matter is indeed very important, we must treat it with caution, I will go to the board of directors right away. You go back to appease the 'Guardian', and then I will transfer the company's decision to your chip."
"You did a good job this time. After this matter is dealt with, you can almost return to the headquarters."
In the past, he would have been very happy to return to the headquarters, but now, he has nothing else to think about except panic.
"Come on, Braining, you have to calm down, just like you have climbed from the bottom step by step to the present, no matter what can affect your emotions."
He tried to comfort himself, but he still couldn't calm down.
Because he always felt that a major event sweeping the galaxy was about to happen.
The screen shifts to Cribb's headquarters.
This is a giant space station floating above the planet, and only the high-ranking people of the enterprise can live here.
The planet below is the "lower world" of the workers, and the only people who live there are the company workers who have signed a lifelong contract with the company and cannot get rid of it until they die.
Brenning's boss hurried to the most luxurious building of the giant space station, and summoned everyone through the board's exclusive contact information.
"Listen, there's news from Enclave Thirteen. I know many of you are just waking up, but it's time to pull yourself together."
"According to the news, the 'Guardian' civilization needs a star map."
The sleepy-eyed people in the boardroom didn't react much at first, but soon they gradually realized the meaning behind this behavior.
The most important function of asking for a star map is to allow your spaceship to find the nearest sailing route.
In the interstellar world, it is commonplace to exchange star maps with each other. Unless it is an old enemy civilization that has blood feuds and never communicates with each other, no civilization will refuse to exchange star maps.
But for "Lost Civilization", this is a different situation.
"...Has it been fully confirmed that the 'Guardian' belongs to the category of 'lost civilization'? Is it possible that an ordinary civilization that has inherited the lost heritage is bluffing?"
Someone tried to raise objections, but even his own voice seemed a bit lacking in confidence.
"According to the records of those curators who only know how to collect and study knowledge, the last known "lost civilization" was about 20,000 years ago."
"The fleet they dispatched that time was also of this size. There was a Titan flagship, dozens of battlecruisers, and hundreds of frigates."
"That time they dispatched to destroy a 'star devourer', the result was very simple and neat, and many cosmic creatures who were powerless to the third-level civilization and even the fourth-level civilization were easily wiped out."
"And the most important thing is that no one has discovered how the fleet of the 'lost civilization' appeared. They seem to be completely different from our technology, and they can travel faster than the speed of light without the help of hyperspace."
"When solving the crisis of the bee colony, all the evidence we found showed that this 'Guardian' is the same existence as those 'Lost Civilizations'. It is not a lucky person who inherited the inheritance."
A series of evidence left all the directors in the conference hall speechless.
After a while, only one person continued:
"Then judging from the behavior of the 'Guardian' asking for the star map, his 'lost civilization' is preparing to announce his existence to the stars again."
"No, no, no, at this time we can no longer call him a 'lost civilization'. After establishing contact with the interstellar society again, he will restore his former territory."
"Whether he adopted the monarchy or not, we need to call him at this time: 'The Lost Empire'."
"Let's hurry up and please the 'Guardian'. This is the 'lost civilization' closest to us. By the way, try to find out what attitudes the other 'lost civilizations' have towards the 'Guardian'."
"...Has the giant stepped into a children's amusement park? The interstellar situation will undergo a huge change again..."
"This is a good thing, the more chaos there is, the more opportunities there are. As long as we seize the opportunity to enter the market, sooner or later we will be able to pull down those companies that are riding on our heads..."
…
All the directors discussed in a hurry, but in the end they all made the same choice without exception:
Give a star map, and do your best to make friends with the 'Guardian' civilization.
Blaining, who was still trying to tell a joke with a synthetic man, finally received a message from the headquarters.
With a dry mouth, he couldn't wait to open the communication content, and then got the result he expected.
He felt much more relaxed, and said to the synthetic man very humbly:
"The headquarters has agreed to your request and has promoted your status to a 'permanent trading partner'. If you have any other needs, please let us know, and we will do our best to satisfy you."
This submissive gesture made Li Wenyuan in the virtual world a little taken aback, but he also didn't make the synthetic man respond.
Judging from the current effect, he should have succeeded in disguising the "lost civilization".
"...Did you guess my intention? Although I am indeed planning to expand outwards, the deterrent force of the 'lost civilization' is really strong, and I have to hurry up to develop in the future, so as not to be exposed..."
"Then, the first goal of this negotiation has been achieved, and now we need to start trying to complete the second goal."
His gaze flickered slightly, which also made the synthetic man move.
A projected light beam shone in the meeting room, and the text layout seemed to be the embryonic form of a technology.
"...I have completed the research of most of the level 5 technologies. In this case, how many levels of civilization do I have in this galaxy?"
Li Wenyuan, who was thinking about it, didn't notice that Bu Ning, who knew a thing or two about technology, had gradually widened his eyes.
(end of this chapter)