39: A diplomatic meeting? No, no, it's a free-fighting tournament!

According to the battle report provided by the night lamp,

almost all the mining ships were destroyed within the same time period.

Seriously? Dude?

Xi Hai was utterly perplexed.

Did this star system have a grudge against his mining ships?

He had only been settled for about two days, right?

Twice! His mining vehicles had been attacked twice!

You have to understand that the mining ships here don't have the 100% Emergency Evasion found in games!

(Emergency Evasion: In 'Infinite Lagrange')

(When a warship is destroyed, there is a chance it enters Emergency Evasion mode)

(It retreats to the base for repairs with low HP)

If a mining ship blows up, it's blown up! It's a tangible loss!

Even though he chose extremely remote locations for both building his base and mining,

why was he discovered so easily?

How could he be found so easily?

Could it be that his hiding spot wasn't as good as he thought?

Fine, fine.

When you're out here, you have to carve out your own no-man's-land.

Since there were so many potential threats nearby,

and he didn't want to move,

then he would just have to politely ask his good neighbors to move... Xi Hai checked the status of his base in Ursa Major V12.22:

Without the construction team limit of 2, and without base level restrictions on building types,

under a multi-pronged, simultaneous construction approach,

the warehouse, the port, two main ship production lines, various shipbuilding equipment, several factories... most of the early core facilities had been completed.

According to the construction plan, the lancer and kalilein had already begun construction,

and resources were nearly maxed out due to the continuous operation of numerous engineering ships.

He nodded.

The base's status was quite good now.

In that case, he could build ships without worry.

Once he returned from Order Seat V01.01, he would immediately go settle the score with those guys.

Just before closing the panel,

Xi Hai seemed to recall something else.

The base's current defenses seemed a bit weak?

This was a bit too risky.

What if the guys who attacked the mining ships found the base?

So, he immediately returned to the previous interface,

and initiated the base shield warm-up.

"Shield activating,"

"Countdown 01:29:59..."

Only after this was done did Xi Hai withdraw with peace of mind,

and refocus his attention on the celebration ceremony... The viewing of the ceremony had not yet concluded.

Among the signatories of the Order Alliance,

representatives from the most powerful regimes,

had already taken their places at the negotiating table, each with their own agenda.

The representative of the Claude Military-Political Consortium spoke first.

"General Koradilon,"

"This counterattack in the Tiankan Seat,"

"was brilliantly executed."

"As members of human civilization,"

"we sincerely congratulate your side on this great victory."

"At the same time, we are relieved that The Consortium previously overextended its finances to support the Military Alliance with a large number of warships and supplies,"

"It is their supreme glory to be able to expand humanity's territory."

"However, following this great triumph,"

"surely, our finances should be able to catch a breath now."

Looking at the smirking face diagonally across the table,

Lagrange Koradilon listened to the flattering speech,

but felt utterly disdainful inside.

This hypocritical fellow,

his true intention was merely to signal to everyone at the table:

The Military Alliance's strength has clearly grown to a certain extent,

shouldn't the support for it be cut back a bit?

If you don't balance them out soon, these muscle-heads will turn around and attack you!

Sure enough,

once someone initiated the topic,

the system immediately matched them with an excellent teammate:

The representative of the Haivier Federation immediately picked up where the Claude representative left off.

"It seems the Military Alliance has not failed the support of all humanity,"

"The supplies and fleets we saved up through frugality were not wasted."

"Now,"

"after this display of strength by the Military Alliance,"

"the deterrence system against the aliens has probably been greatly reinforced."

"It seems our nation's finances can also get a chance to breathe."

Lagrange looked at the two men playing good cop, bad cop,

sneered, and replied:

"It cannot be called a great victory."

"The aliens' probing attack on the Tiankan Seat this time,"

"is precisely evidence that the deterrence system established in the pre-era is gradually failing."

"The Military Alliance's desperate counterattack utilized a large number of pre-era creations."

"Our war potential has been massively weakened."

"Moreover, given enough time, the aliens will inevitably perceive our outward strength but inner weakness."

"Being content with the current situation is not a long-term strategy."

"The current reality is,"

"the ancient engines are decaying faster,"

"and the former glory is rapidly fading."

"One day, they will realize humanity's predicament,"

"and that will be the moment the next Great Cataclysm arrives."

Saying this, he paused, placing his index fingers together on the table,

glanced at the two representatives who had spoken, and continued:

"The most pressing task right now,"

"is to occupy as many intermediate buffer zones as possible before that day comes,"

"to prevent those aliens from breaking through the Military Alliance's defenses someday,"

"and charging directly into the actual control zones of certain regimes."

No sooner had Lagrange finished speaking,

than the representative of the Lakere Interstellar Empire, ignoring the feces-eating expressions of the two men opposite him,

immediately jumped into the conversation:

"The General speaks the truth,"

"Certain regimes, who claim to be advanced,"

"are in fact incredibly short-sighted."

"They only see their own short-term interests,"

"but ignore matters concerning the survival of civilization."

"Instead of claiming financial strain,"

"you should check how much your Governors, Commanders, and Prefects embezzle every year!"

Lagrange was naturally delighted to see someone else drawing fire.

Sure enough, the representative of the Cloud Consortium couldn't sit still for another second—

"You bunch of barbarians who are reversing the course of history,"

"have the audacity to criticize us?"

"You should know that,"

"when aiding the frontier defense, our Consortium contributed both labor and effort,"

"providing a large amount of manpower and resources."

"The entire regime tightened its belt,"

"and you want to deny all our efforts with just one word: 'embezzlement'?"

Facing the Cloud Consortium representative's challenge,

the Lakere representative calmly countered:

"Quantity, but no quality."

"The population you provided,"

"were mostly slaves known as Corporate Lifetime Contract Employees,"

"whose physical and moral qualities were both highly concerning."

"At least,"

"we, whom you call reversers of history,"

"still strictly abide by the 'Mandatory Eight-Hour Work Standard' decreed by His Majesty!"

The representative of the Lacray Empire used unrestrained language.

Anyway, he was here today for two things:

insult the people of the Claude Consortium,

and refute the affairs of the Claude Consortium.

"Clang!"

Suddenly,

a cup flew up and landed near the feet of the Lacray Empire representative,

He paused for a moment, then immediately retaliated by throwing a nearby stand.

Immediately after—the entire conference room devolved into chaos.

The 800th Anniversary Diplomatic Regular Meeting of Restart Day was temporarily adjourned.

Now approaching us is the Order Alliance Six Major Top Signatory Regimes Diplomatic Free Combat Tournament!

...As the 'rule' carrier departed,

on the secondary viewing platform,

the event entered its main theme—the Corporate Representative Exchange Meeting.

After consecutively refusing three people trying to sell loans,

Xi Hai finally had a moment to sit down.

Suddenly, the voice of the night lamp came again:

"Pathfinder, your base is under attack."

This time, it was the Pathfinder Base Xi Hai had built in Ursa Major V12.22!

?????????

Xi Hai: Holy crap!

Give an inch, take a mile!

Greedy and insatiable!

They destroyed the mining ships and now they're attacking the base!

This is no ordinary enemy!

I must hit them hard... "Base shield activated."

Damn it! At a time like this!

...(P.S.)

(Bug: What is this thing?)

(Why is it so tough?)

(Why can't I get in all of a sudden?)