novelaction Chapter 645 Collapse
Chapter 645 Collapse
The soldiers came in carrying trays and placed a cup of tea in front of each person.
Fast took a sip, then subtly pushed it away, turning to Siforth and saying, "General, now that everyone is here, let's begin."
At one end of the long table, soldiers had already set up equipment. The entire conversation would be recorded and permanently archived.
Sifus adjusted his hat brim and announced, "The first friendly meeting between the Imperial Capital Planet and the Goodel Planet officially begins. Now, let me introduce the participants of this meeting:"
Sifus pointed at Fast: "Crown Prince of the Imperial Capital Planet, first in line to the throne, Fast Odu."
"The current chief of Planet Goodell, Gurei Batul Ainiwar Nahaji."
Such a formal opening made Xu Weiwei a little nervous, and she dared not relax her posture at all.
Unexpectedly, after saying those two sentences, Seifert flipped through the next few pages and abruptly changed his tone, saying, "Let's skip the unnecessary steps in the middle; time is limited. Let's get straight to the point?"
Xu Weiwei: ...If it's my father, it's not surprising at all.
The chief first looked at Sifus for help, then rubbed his thigh and said something surprising: "Um, have you eaten?"
Unlucky Ryan had just taken a sip of water when he heard this and immediately choked, coughing uncontrollably and spilling the water all over himself.
Xu Weiwei and Kane didn't want him to embarrass himself, and they were also afraid of delaying their business, so they hurriedly covered his mouth. The command room became extremely lively for a moment.
Fast's lips twitched; for a moment, he couldn't tell which thing was more speechless.
Sifus coughed, put his fist to his lips, and looked at the chief, reminding him, "You can look at the manuscript, but where is yours?"
The chief suddenly realized: "Oh, that thing, I was carrying it with me before going to bed last night, I think I left it by my bedside."
"..."
Five minutes later, the water stains on the ground were cleaned up, Ryan stopped coughing, and the soldiers brought the chief his manuscript. Everything returned to normal.
The chief cleared his throat, and his voice boomed like thunder, startling everyone. The volume was deafening even outside, let alone in the cramped command room.
After reading the entire article, Fast felt his head buzzing, and even thought about sticking a cotton swab into his ear to check for bleeding.
"Your Highness—Your Highness?"
"Huh? Oh, you're done talking, right?" Fast's mind went blank.
What did he just say?
No wonder Fast didn't remember anything. The Gooders are loud, and the chief had to manage so many people without microphones or other amplification tools, so he mainly relied on shouting.
Fast couldn't understand Guderian; the translator lagged behind human speech, and its volume was completely drowned out, turning into soothing white noise under the thunderous din.
What exactly did he go through...?
Fast stiffly turned his neck to look at Siforth.
Sifus stood up, stretched out his long arm, and took the manuscript from the chief's arms: "Excuse me, may I borrow it for a moment?"
"The chief said he was very happy to meet you, but it was a pity that it was at such a special time and he couldn't properly entertain you or show you the hospitality of a host. He felt very ashamed..."
Sifus skimmed the text, highlighting key points as he read.
"We hope that Planet Goodell can establish friendly relations with the Empire, deepen exchanges, and cooperate extensively in the political, economic, and other fields. We also hope that the Empire can provide assistance to help the Goodell people stabilize the situation..."
Fast listened quietly, and after Siforth finished speaking, he asked, "General, I have a question."
"Why don't you just give me a copy of the Interstellar Common Language draft?"
Sifus paused for a few seconds, then said, “My soldiers aren’t specifically trained in diplomacy; they’re not familiar with that area.”
"If you have any questions, feel free to interrupt or ask me."
Fast crossed his arms and rested his chin on his hand, thinking for a moment before saying, "From what the general just relayed, it seems that Planet Goodell wants to establish an equal cooperative relationship with the Empire, is that right?"
The chief and Sifus exchanged a glance and tacitly agreed.
"Excuse my bluntness, but the current state of Planet Goodell is probably not conducive to negotiating cooperation with the Empire."
The atmosphere in the command room suddenly turned sour.
"The Imperial System holds a transcendent position in the universe, containing over three million stars, including 443 administrative planets for citizens to inhabit, over fourteen thousand mining planets, and more than one hundred interstellar jump stations..."
"And what does Goodell have?"
"Cooperation should be based on an exchange of benefits, shouldn't it?" Fast said slowly.
"As of this year, 183 planets have established friendly relations with the Empire. But none of them are like your planet. More than three hundred people—about the size of an Empire village."
Xu Weiwei's eyes remained calm, but she was somewhat surprised by Fast's performance.
He was speaking from the perspective of his own planet, so there's nothing wrong with that. While his words are realistic, they aren't that harsh.
The key point is that his understanding of his own galaxy exceeded her expectations.
Perhaps because she had a bad impression of him in other aspects in the past, she projected the whole onto the part, resulting in a very low evaluation of Fast as a whole person.
But now it seems that he is not a completely useless bum.
The conversation at the table continued.
The chief, somewhat embarrassed by these words, blushed beneath his beard. Eager to prove Goodell's worth, he exclaimed excitedly, "We have a plant here that doesn't exist anywhere else—Ula grass! It…"
Fast raised his hand to interrupt: "I already know the uses of Ula grass. It's definitely a good thing. But someone has already shown me the fastest way to get it these past two days—"
"Of course the Empire would not do that. We deeply despise the robbery-like behavior of those perpetrators."
“However, given the current situation on Planet Goodell, we might have just established a partnership this morning, and the next second, one of our partners might no longer exist. Do you understand what I mean?” Fast sighed.
The chief's gaze was lowered as he stared at the table, his ancient brown face etched with lines.
“The Guderians still exist because we are here. Isn’t it too idealistic to talk about equal cooperation with this parasitic form?” Fast squinted, like a smiling fox.
If he didn't need to maintain his image, he probably would have already started swearing.
What kind of creatures are they? A race so insignificant that a single breath could wipe them out of this universe, yet they dare to talk about cooperation with the Empire? They truly don't know their own worth.
Sifus added, "If Goodell were an independent regime, the Empire couldn't provide long-term, large-scale military assistance. That would be interference in internal affairs. Besides, the geographical conditions wouldn't allow it."
"So what? What do you want?" the chief asked, staring at Sifus.
"You want the Guderians to obey, is that it?! You want to enslave us too!!!"
The chief suddenly slammed his hand on the table, stood up unsteadily, and looked extremely excited.
Xu Weiwei was startled, not expecting the chief to suddenly have a fit. After realizing what was happening, she quickly told him, "Sit down! You can't stand!"
Kane and Ryan went to help him, but were pushed away; the chief was clearly emotionally charged.
"You've belittled Planet Goodell to the point of worthlessness! Aren't you just trying to drive down the price?! Go ahead and rob us all! Kill us all! I'll be watching from above!"
"The vengeful spirits of the Guderians will curse the bandits who come here to plunder! They will curse them to be childless and to die a horrible death!"