236: Chapter 237 This guy's got guts, eating a gigolo!

"Re... Report!"

From the loudspeakers at the West Suburb Base came Zhao Gang's voice, sounding on the verge of a breakdown, "The reporters outside... and that bunch of influencers trying to leech off our traffic, they've practically turned the base into a hornet's nest!"

"They're saying that since the little prince of Centaurus has married into our family, shouldn't we hold an 'Interstellar Marriage' press conference?"

"Some are even asking, who manages the gold on this planet? How are taxes paid?"

Jiang Chen rubbed his temples, watching the resource planet outside the window being mined by alien engineer units as if they were digging up potatoes, and felt a headache coming on.

"Tell them to shut up."

Jiang Chen casually grabbed a bottle of soda, his tone calm, "Just say this is a 'friendly exchange' between the Dragon Kingdom and the Centaurus galaxy. Whoever dares to disturb us again, just have Pikachu give them a full-body SPA with electricity."

Although he said that, he knew in his heart that this matter couldn't be hidden.

The Centaurus fleet had already stationed itself in Mars orbit, and every telescope on Earth was watching.

The Dragon Kingdom had now become a bona fide interstellar landlord.

"Boss, this is a real galaxy!"

Zhao Gang looked at the satellite map, at the string of resource planets brought under their jurisdiction, his eyes full of fanaticism, "In the past, we used to argue for days over a few islands, but now, we're directly staking claims in space."

"What is this? This is a dimensionality reduction strike!"

"This is really saving face for us Dragon Kingdom people!"

Jiang Chen smiled noncommittally.

Saving face? Indeed.

But compared to saving face, he was more concerned about the energy conversion efficiency.

"As long as we can continuously transport the Helium-3 from over there back here, the energy prices on Earth can be wiped out completely."

He turned his head and looked at Academician Chen Shuyin, "Old Chen, has our orbital transport ship been retrofitted? Can it handle this kind of cross-galaxy cargo capacity?"

Academician Chen Shuyin pushed up her glasses, a rare flush of excitement appearing on her face, "As long as the luan bird acts as an escort ship, plus the labor provided by this group of alien coolies, our logistics chain can already reach Centaurus."

"However, Jiang Chen."

She paused, her tone somewhat complex:

"Isn't this rate of expansion a bit too fast?"

"Earth's population is already crazily starting to migrate to Mars. Now, as long as you can afford a house in the Dragon Kingdom, you can apply for a ticket to Mars. This is practically... draining Earth's population."

Jiang Chen walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the endless stream of interstellar shuttles outside.

Those aircraft trailed long, ghostly blue exhaust flames, piercing the night sky like meteors, continuously carrying humanity into the universe.

"Is it crowded?"

Jiang Chen retorted with a question, "Earth is indeed too crowded."

"Ecological collapse, resource depletion, severe involution. Instead of staying on Earth fighting for a bite to eat, it's better to send everyone out."

"Go see the sea of stars, go mine resources that have never been touched. This isn't draining, this is called—humanity's second Age of Discovery."

Jiang Chen turned around and looked at Academician Chen Shuyin:

"What, afraid I won't take you?"

Academician Chen Shuyin blushed, and before she could speak, a harsh electronic vibration sound interrupted their conversation again.

Jiang Chen took out the special cross-dimensional communication terminal.

On the screen, Jiang Wanqiu's avatar was flashing wildly, that crimson light appearing exceptionally glaring in the dim laboratory.

"It's over."

Jiang Chen's heart skipped a beat, and the smug smile on his face instantly froze.

"How many times is this?"

He held the phone, feeling as if it weighed a thousand pounds, "This girl, how many times a day does she need to check up on me?"

He took a deep breath and pressed the answer button.

"Wanqiu, what's wrong?"

Jiang Chen tried hard to make his voice sound like nothing was wrong, but to the murderous Empress on the other side, it sounded exactly like a death struggle at a crime scene.

The projection slowly expanded.

This time, behind Jiang Wanqiu was no longer Dawn City.

It was her in front of the star gate ruins, commanding squads of elite Wasteland troops, who were fully armed and stuffing heavy bombs into the cross-dimensional transmission array.

She was wearing that form-fitting battle armor, holding a greatsword capable of tearing through space, and looked at Jiang Chen with eyes that seemed to be looking at a dead man.

"Father God."

Her voice was cold, without a trace of warmth:

"I just finished watching your global broadcast."

"I want to ask..."

"That woman who just now, in front of the camera, made you so distracted and absent-minded."

"The one... who was watching the stars on the moon with you just now, your 'fiancée'?"

Jiang Chen felt a cold wind blow across his back.

How does this even have a "playback" function?

How could the broadcast signal cross dimensions and be seen by her?

"Wanqiu, calm down, that was scientific research."

Jiang Chen laughed dryly, trying to make a final defense for his "innocence," "I am responsible for the future of two civilizations! It's really for science!"

"Science?"

Jiang Wanqiu sneered.

She slashed a mech that tried to rush over and snatch the energy box; her blade didn't even pause, "I don't care about your science or your future."

"Since you can't bear to let her leave..."

"Then let her taste the... hospitality of the Wasteland."

Jiang Wanqiu looked at the camera, revealing a yandere smile that made Jiang Chen's soul tremble:

"I have already locked onto that transmission coordinate."

"Father God, you won't take me with you."

"Then I can only... come find you myself."

"Wash your neck clean and prepare to welcome your... Empress."

The communication cut off.

Jiang Chen stared at the black screen, his whole body completely slumped in his boss chair.

This life. It's really impossible to go on like this.

"What's wrong?" Academician Chen Shuyin leaned in and asked with some concern, "Is the war over there not going well again?"

"It's going well."

Jiang Chen stared at the starry sky outside the window, forcing a smile that was uglier than crying, "It's going so well... that it's almost killing its way to my front door."

"Old Chen, let's hurry up and reinforce the villa."

"From now on, I'm afraid we'll have our hands full."