Chapter 298: Mysterious Force
Mai Si couldn’t figure out Human Civilization’s intentions and turned to Mai Dao below, asking, “What about the Imperial Family? Any recent actions?”
“Reporting to Uncle, since Luo Er took over the Intelligence Department, he has devoted most of his energy to the Sirius Civilization, with large numbers of intelligence personnel now collecting unfavorable information about us at all costs within the Sirius Civilization.”
Before he finished speaking, Mai Si in front of him smiled and waved his hand, saying, “That’s futile. What about Your Majesty?”
Hearing this, Mai Dao shook his head and softly replied, “There have been no actions within the Imperial Palace.”
After that, the room fell silent. Mai Si on the main seat did not continue questioning but frowned and sank into thought.
The young Emperor Your Majesty could not possibly abandon military actions halfway. This was evident from the recent series of troop transfers issued to the Ministry of War.
Hans Ming was continuously inserting talents cultivated within the Imperial Family for many years into various garrisons of the Military Headquarters.
Regarding these personnel appointments, the Ministry of War did not directly refuse but strictly enforced the various rules and reviews for troop enlistment.
Mai Si knew that if someone wanted, dragging this process out for three to five years would not be difficult.
Now it depended on how the Hans Ming side would respond.
But up to now, nearly a year had passed since the Military Parade, and the situation within Hans had become extremely severe during this time.
Currently, in the Empire, aside from sporadic output from minerals on a few individual planets, most minerals had completely depleted.
Without the various cooperation agreements previously signed with Human Civilization, the Hans Civilization might already have entered the Referendum procedure he had envisioned.
But not now.
Hans rubbed his somewhat fatigued eyes and couldn’t help regretting the series of cooperation agreements signed with Human Civilization earlier when it was feasible for him.
If he had known Hans Ming would suddenly make trouble, he absolutely would not have allowed the establishment of diplomatic relations with Human Civilization.
In the current Hans Civilization, a considerable number of mineral workers were continuously heading to the Solar System where Human Civilization was located for ‘working’ activities.
In this situation, although the internal employment situation remained severe, persisting for four or five years was not a problem.
Unless waiting until the remaining few minerals were completely depleted, at which point nearly ten billion mineral workers would be unemployed, and the Empire would be unable to provide unemployment benefits. It was imaginable that under those circumstances, the Empire would inevitably fall into chaos.
And he could then rightfully bypass the Imperial Family and submit a Referendum request to the Galactic Alliance Office.
But now, although the development seemed to be merely delayed by four or five years, in a daze, he somehow felt the situation beginning to become confusing.
That Hans Ming who was sullenly awaiting his next move.
And that Human Civilization which clearly knew the Hans Civilization was about to declare war on it but still showed no actions.
As well as all the other second level civilizations in the entire Alpha Centauri star domain that had suddenly quieted down.
Even including the Sirius Civilization that was waiting and actively seeking to join.
All these factors combined, unbeknownst to him, actually made this Prime Minister who had governed the Empire’s domestic affairs for 300 years break out in a sweat.
“Uncle, there’s something rather strange. Do you want to hear it?”
“Tell me.”
Mai Si smiled and sighed, treating it merely as a condiment amid the brainstorming.
Hearing this, Mai Dao in front of him hesitated for a moment, then took out a box, opened it, and directly handed it to Mai Si, saying, “Uncle, do you recognize this?”
“Mai Er’s family crest!”
The elderly Mai Si, upon seeing the metal crest in the box that only direct family descendants possessed, had a sharp glint burst from his originally cloudy eyes.
At this moment, Mai Si’s aged, wrinkle-filled face changed color instantly, followed by fine beads of sweat seeping from his forehead.
“Uncle, when I received this crest, it had an electromagnetic recording of Mai Dao on it, but now that electromagnetic wave recording has naturally dissipated.”
Mai Dao slowly explained. The electromagnetic wave recording he mentioned was a common method in intelligence work to record original information.
This kind of recording could be preserved indefinitely in specific equipment, but once removed from the storage facilities, the electromagnetic wave would dissipate in a very short time.
This time was for recording and also a means to avoid leaving evidence.
“What did it say?” Mai Si asked in a deep voice.
“If this electromagnetic wave record is genuine, then Mai Er is still alive.”
Mai Dao spoke with a grave expression, then saw the urgency on the elderly man’s face in front of him and couldn’t help sighing inwardly.
Mai Er’s identity was Mai Si’s only son. No wonder this cold and ruthless old man was so moved.
“This content was personally dictated by Mai Er. According to him, he is currently in the hands of a mysterious force, which is the force behind the sniping of our Expeditionary Force.
The purpose of the other side sending this message is to cooperate with us.”
“Cooperation?” Mai Si’s eyes lit up slightly.
Now, although he appeared to be the most powerful figure in the Hans Empire, the plans he had originally built in his mind had changed due to the emergence of Human Civilization.
And precisely because of this, Hans Ming had the determination to fight to the death.
He was not afraid of Hans Ming openly fighting him; he was worried that once civil war broke out and the Hans Civilization fell apart internally, it would cause massive civilian deaths.
And a fragmented Hans Civilization with a sharply reduced population obviously could not ‘sell’ for a price that satisfied him.
His current solution was to smoothly drag it out for a few years until several mines were completely depleted, then use the Referendum to smoothly join the Sirius Civilization in a state with basically no population reduction.
But now it seemed that because of Hans Ming’s sudden troublemaking, everything did not look so smooth.
At this moment, another unfamiliar mysterious force appeared, one that from the various details of the previous interception battle could be sensed to have considerable strength.
This forced him to be cautious.
Mai Er nodded. As Mai Si’s true confidant, he knew the seriousness of the matter and said gravely upon hearing this:
“According to Mai Er’s introduction, the other side is a force with extremely high military quality, possessing the strength to completely swallow our Hans Civilization.
Moreover, in that message, to prove this, Mai Er implied throughout that the other side likely possesses a Super Flagship, which I personally acknowledge.
As you know, in interstellar space, the sudden appearance of 5000 battleships can only be due to the strategic delivery capability of a Super Flagship.
At the same time, Mai Er also mentioned that after completing their predetermined strategic objectives, the other side will continue to let you serve as the Prime Minister of Hans Civilization.”
“They want to swallow Hans Civilization?”
“Yes. For this, they can fulfill your wishes after success and, on that basis, continue to let you serve as Prime Minister to manage Hans Civilization.”
After Mai Dao finished speaking, Mai Si was so shocked by his last sentence that he stood up directly.
Mai Dao nodded and stopped. He could vaguely guess the general thoughts in the heart of this uncle who had single-handedly developed the Mai Family to its current status.
That was life extension.
But obviously, this demand could currently only be satisfied by the Sirius Civilization.
After all, one could not expect a suddenly appearing mysterious force to spend 100 billion on this.
After hearing this, Mai Si heavily sat back in the chair behind him. His mind instantly became chaotic.
Until now, his idea of ‘selling’ Hans Civilization to the Sirius Civilization in exchange for life-extension drugs had not been told to anyone.
Perhaps some might guess it, but that was just speculation.
In any case, on the surface, it was all for continuing the survival of the ordinary people in Hans Civilization.
Among these, the most important point, and the one that now made him uneasy, was that the Sirius Civilization side had not given him a clear reply.
100 billion was not a lot for the Sirius Civilization, but certainly not negligible.
What concept is 100 billion Star Coins?
The selling price of an empty Titan-class Battleship on the Starfield Market is one trillion Star Coins.
And the Sirius Civilization currently has 10 Titan-class Battleships.
These are the accumulations from years of development.
In other words, the Sirius Civilization absolutely has the money, but the question is whether they are willing to spend 100 billion to exchange for the smooth transition of these 2 billion people.
Although Mai Si had confidence in this, without a clear reply, he still felt uneasy.
“But the other side has a condition.”
“Speak!”
Hearing Mai Dao’s voice, Mai Si roared lowly with a somewhat frantic expression.
Facing this mysterious force, Mai Si’s mind was completely unsettled at this moment.
“This condition is only during the 50-100 year period. The other side’s economy is not affluent. This sum requires some preparation time, and during that time, you must rely on a Hibernation Pod to get through.”
As soon as Mai Dao’s words fell, the room fell into silence again, with only Mai Si’s heavy breathing sounds occasionally coming from his hoarse throat.
What exactly is the origin of this mysterious force?
Why does the other side need the Hans Civilization, which has nothing of value except population?
It must be known that the Alpha Centauri star domain is at the extreme end of a one-way passage.
This is the extreme end of the Orion Arm. There are only two ways to leave here.
One is to follow the Star Gate all the way forward, passing through the Star Gate at Sirius Prime Star to the broader world ahead, where there are countless unexplored and undeveloped star systems.
The other path is less realistic: heading in other directions into interstellar space for an interstellar voyage spanning tens of thousands of light years to reach another arm.
Besides these, the civilizations here have no other way out.
And now, ahead lies a Level 3 Civilization famous for being a Warring Civilization, whose strength is an absolute crush on all the civilizations here.
If not for the Galactic Alliance Law stipulating that advanced civilizations must pay ten times the declaration of war fee compared to same-level civilizations when declaring war on low-level civilizations.
That is, if the declaration of war fee for a second level civilization is 100 billion, then a third level civilization declaring war on it must pay ten times that amount.
One trillion, which is already the price of a Titan-class Battleship hull. Obviously, the Sirius Civilization is unwilling to bear this massive expenditure.
They prefer to use resource depletion to slowly force these rear second level civilizations onto the path of actively joining over time.
For this, they absolutely will not allow large populations to pass through the Star Gate at Sirius Prime Star to the central area of the Orion Arm.
And now, this unknown force has taken a liking to the Hans Civilization.
So what is their purpose?
After taking over the Hans Civilization, how will they handle it?
Population?
In this star domain, population has already become a surplus existence.
Because there are no resource planets for them to mine, in a sense, these populations are already negative assets.
Selling directly to the Starfield Market is also a decent choice.
But obviously, the price would not be too high.
If not so, he, Mai Si, would have taken this path long ago.
So what exactly is the purpose of this mysterious force?
Mai Er in the room looked at the elderly man in front of him, whose face was contorted with inexplicable doubt, and his inner thoughts were actually similar to his.
“Uncle, how do we reply to the other side?”
His words broke the silence.
Hearing this, Mai Si lifted his somewhat bloodshot eyes, stared at his nephew in front of him, and fell silent again.
At this moment, he was caught in a dilemma.
On one side was the Sirius Civilization, which had no clear reply but absolutely had the ability to fulfill it.
And privately, he had contacted some officials of the Sirius Civilization.
In terms of this alone, he understood the Sirius Civilization better.
On the other side, the mysterious force directly proposed his long-cherished demand.
But first, this offer could not be fulfilled immediately and required him to hibernate for a certain time.
And the most crucial point was that at this moment, he knew nothing about this mysterious force.
Moreover, in his speculation, this mysterious force had no reason to occupy a second level civilization that, in his view, was worthless except for population.
Bet on both sides?
Hans shook his head.
He had self-awareness. He had not even gotten a real reply from one Sirius Civilization, let alone adding a mysterious force whose strength vaguely matched it.
If he dared to do so, the outcome would inevitably be being crushed to pieces before two forces with Level 3 Civilization strength.
He had a clear cognition of this.
After all, currently, the only things in his hands worth the other side’s attention were the direct lineage forces he had single-handedly cultivated and placed in the Ministry of War over 300 years of managing the Empire’s domestic affairs, as well as the Ministry of Revenue which was extremely closely linked to the Ministry of War.
As long as he controlled these two departments, he could turn the clouds and rain in this Empire.
Now, the situation within the Empire was confusing. Based on his recent understanding of Hans Ming, this young Emperor would absolutely not continue to remain silent.
He must be preparing some means to change the situation.
And on the other side, that Human Civilization which had always shown no reaction also made him feel deeply uneasy.
These issues hung over his head, plunging this elderly man into immense dilemma.
