18: Unidentified fleet that appeared suddenly

(Regarding the form of address in this chapter, some readers have raised questions)

(Address as Chairman)

(On the one hand, if you want to develop power in the open, an enterprise is the most suitable form)

(There's no need to quibble over a form of address)

(This form of address will be corrected in Chapter 50-something)

(Build high walls, store abundant grain)

(Face isn't important, we want the substance)

After all, being in the early stages of entrepreneurship, Xi Hai was indeed short on manpower.

Warships without their own bases didn't have clone crew members.

That AI truly lived up to titles like "junior" and "basic".

It was even more AI-like than human-machine interfaces.

Taking in White Shark was a spur-of-the-moment decision for him.

His resolute gaze, as if he were about to join the party, was indeed very moving.

But Little Night Lamp suddenly appeared and directly commented—

A loyal idealist, though life is currently wearing down his edges.

This was Little Night Lamp's comprehensive evaluation of him.

It combined micro-expression analysis from their first meeting until now.

As well as searching for all accessible online information—

In front of Little Night Lamp, which could even overturn a mainframe, all networked information could be said to be transparent.

Therefore, its assessment of White Shark's credibility was 78%.

This was the main reason Xi Hai accepted him.

However,

Looking at the data Little Night Lamp had pulled up, Xi Hai silently grumbled,

Where did this guy's computing power come from?

It's so powerful despite having no physical carrier.

Forget it, don't think about that for now.

Xi Hai looked at White Shark, who was standing still beside him.

He seemed to still be surprised that he was accepted so easily?

Just as the two were staring at each other, neither having figured out how to speak,

A report came from Speer's communicator on his waist, breaking the silence—

"Radar detected an unknown fleet approaching the alert zone!"

————

"We're almost there finally."

After bypassing a dust belt, Salman looked at the large screen of the central console. According to the route, the Z25 Sentry Post should be only about 0.02 AU (about 7-8 times the Earth-Moon distance) away from him.

There weren't many obstacles left on the journey, so he was basically relaxed.

Samir, standing nearby, glanced at him. Yes, they were almost there.

So he turned and picked up the ship's microphone, switched to the logistics team's communication channel, and began to issue orders:

"Prepare to receive cargo,"

"Teams 1 and 2 will handle Warehouse Area 1, Teams 3 and 4..."

"Wait!"

Suddenly, Salman, who was staring at the radar, let out a loud shout,

"No!"

"Near the Z25 Sentry Post, there are 20 more signal reflection points!"

"According to the reflection model,"

"They are warships!"

"Most of them are 200-300 meters in size! Classified as destroyers!"

Hearing this news, Samir was stunned.

His movements also stopped.

After thinking for a moment, he added, "Re-secure equipment, stop preparation work."

Then, he turned to Salman and asked:

"What's going on?"

"An ambush?"

"Or has the rendezvous point been hit?"

Salman frowned deeply and nodded, saying:

"I feel it might have been hit."

"After all, around here, the only ones who can muster so many destroyer-class warships should be the Galaxy Defense Force."

Samir raised an eyebrow.

"That doesn't quite make sense,"

"Why would those regular army guys run over to bust smugglers when they have nothing better to do?"

"It's thankless work,"

"What if they run into a route secretly protected by some big shot? Wouldn't they be in big trouble?"

Salman's frown deepened.

He wanted to turn around and leave immediately.

After all, he felt that everything here was strange.

But what about the two torpedoes prepared by the Second Emissary?

Damn it, why are those guys who usually begrudge even starting their warships because it wastes engine life, so proactive today?

Damn it,

Now they can only turn around and retreat first.

As for tomorrow's operation... at worst, self-destruct a Frigate!

Wait!

Those warships moved!

Their target... was clearly them!

Damn it! What kind of luck is this today!

"Attention all!"

"Prepare for battle!"

Salman shouted into the microphone on the fleet channel, simultaneously slamming his hand on a button on the central console—

Immediately, a piercing alarm blared throughout the ship.

————

"Pursuing."

Upon discovering the unfamiliar fleet, Xi Hai immediately ordered the fleet waiting outside to intercept.

The 10 rubies and 10 FG300s left outside the sentry post quickly changed formation and headed towards the unfamiliar fleet.

Warships docked in the harbor also started their engines sequentially, ready for action.

As for Xi Hai, he had White Shark lead the way to the sentry post's control tower.

Along the way, seeing Xi Hai acting as if facing a formidable enemy, White Shark carefully explained:

"Sir, they came from an underground channel."

"This unknown fleet might be a smuggler's fleet."

"Before this, someone stored... some goods here with us."

"The fleet opposite might be the buyer they mentioned before."

Xi Hai listened and nodded.

"Is that so?"

He had just thought it was the local Galaxy Defense Force.

To be safe, it's better to confirm it.

And to avoid overthinking it.

Then, he turned his head and looked at White Shark, saying,

"Also,"

"No need to call me 'Sir'."

Xi Hai pondered for a moment.

If he wanted to develop openly,

Then it would be best for him not to appear as a political power or an unknown army... to avoid a lot of trouble.

Got it. How about the form of a Galactic Mega-Corporation?

For free trade, a little military protection is very reasonable, right?

Running around everywhere, explaining it as market expansion, is very reasonable, right?

Once he possesses overwhelming military power,

Does what it's called still matter?

"From now on,"

"You can address me as 'Chairman'."

"Yes, Chairman."

White Shark immediately changed his address.

Speaking of which, isn't that a title used in corporations?

Never mind, since he's already joined them,

He'll have plenty of time to learn more later.

White Shark secretly noted that Xi Hai's organization seemed to be corporate in nature.

So how could he participate in their archaeological work in the future?

White Shark, who had joined the organization in a fit of passion, began to seriously ponder.

Xi Hai, however, was silently anxious because of this unknown fleet.

He had just briefly understood the configuration here and realized that most of the Frigates he had just crushed were actually modified civilian starships.

And this time, from the radar,

The opposing side had over sixty starships, large and small.

Some of them were even quite large, reaching destroyer class.

In contrast, he currently only had Frigates on hand.

His fear of insufficient firepower began to inexplicably flare up... (At this moment, in the machine room the two had just left)

The Little Night Lamp on the mainframe seemed to have been forgotten there.

It was quietly plugged in, continuously attacking the deeper defenses of the mainframe..."Discovering earlier deep-level data..."

"Injecting plugin..."