270 Emergency Brake

Li Aoz fell silent.

Even in the Sixth Narrative homeland, the probability of encountering Void Overlord is lower than the probability of seeing a men's restroom in Frostplate University.

How did he run into it? "But he discovered it early enough and activated evasion measures in time, designating the star system where the Void Overlord was located as a no-fly zone and leaving a group of people to establish an outpost."

Although Li Aoz was a little annoyed, he still had his own way of dealing with this kind of thing:

"I'll report this to the Interstellar Alliance later; they might be interested in the Void Overlord."

This is one of the benefits of being a member of the Interstellar Alliance.

Li Aoz paid fifty years' worth of membership fees in one go. Plus, she was beautiful and had a sweet tongue, so she was very popular with the Interstellar Alliance. Once this matter was reported, the three Narrative-level Civilization might also take notice of it.

The advantage of high "charisma" is a favorable diplomatic environment.

"There are still some problems."

Before Li Aoz could catch his breath, the chief engineer Edison continued his report, "When they passed through the Phantom Sun System, they observed a group of crystalline life forms on some planets. Although they did not form a civilization, their numbers and strength were enormous. Should we establish an observation station to conduct research?"

"Crystallized creatures? They are very valuable Phantasmal Beast species. Studying them should be of great help to our magic industry and biotechnology. Of course, we should send researchers to observe them."

Li Aoz's eyes lit up; this was good news.

"Okay, then, this is our preliminary budget..."

When Edison sent over the budget request, Li Aoz's smile immediately froze.

"This is no small sum..."

Li Aoz became conflicted.

To support the expedition, he has spent a lot of money, and now he has fewer men's restrooms than Frostplate University.

However, this discovery was still very important. Li Aoz gritted his teeth, made a stroke of his pen, and signed the approval.

"Thank you, Your His Excellency the President. There are still some projects to review."

Edison, with a stern face, reported clearly:

"An unidentified swarm of mechanical bees has appeared on L-589 Route. They have been observed indiscriminately attacking carbon-based life forms. Should we intervene...?"

"A certain planet launched an exploration satellite into outer space and played music. Surprisingly, their music possessed a magical power comparable to magic..."

"Ten days ago, the X Fleet marked a Dome Star. They Starcaller nanomaterials and translucent membranes to completely seal off their homeworld to prevent detection by extraterrestrials. We speculate that this may have been an observation point of some advanced civilization. Should we initiate contact...?"

The growing backlog of problems and incidents was giving Li Aoz a headache.

The headache was secondary; the main problem was that he was running out of money.

"... These news items can be released."

After a moment's thought, Li Aoz said, "Give our people more confidence and let them know that our space travel is truly making progress."

"So, what about the research budget..."

"Money is not a problem."

During the meeting, Li Aoz stood up, letting the officials discuss the matter amongst themselves, then turned and left, returning to his office.

He raised his hand and took down the crimson sword hanging on the wall. Because he needed to settle down and stabilize, Li Aoz hadn't made a move much in the past five years.

He never actually used the sword that Li Deweidensi gave him.

Li Aoz gripped the scabbard, his gaze deep and thoughtful.

As Zeta-rank (6), he wanted to farm and develop peacefully for a while longer, and the best option was to survive until the Kappa-rank.

However, it now appears that the funding gap is still too large, and the returns from the expedition will not be recovered for at least a year. The fact that the government is already running a deficit after only one year in office will severely damage public confidence and loyalty.

We need to get him to handle it personally.

Just as Li Aoz about to contact Valkyrie Fortress to find some work to do, his communicator suddenly rang. He opened it and saw that it was Nikita calling. He immediately answered, "Hey, President, didn't you have trouble finding a suitable assistant before? We've found you a suitable one."

"How is the situation?"

Li Aoz up. He had been too busy lately, and having an assistant would be perfect for keeping things in order.

"Graduated from the Crystal Tower University, with excellent academic performance and strength reaching Zeta-rank (6), has internship experience in advanced workshops, and has just retired from the front lines. Her appearance is also top-notch, making her a perfect secretary assistant."

Nikita said eagerly, "These kinds of people are hard to find these days. She knows magic, is highly educated, has a good appearance, and has even been on the battlefield. The key is that her ancestral home is on White Candle Star, so she is more inclined to be with us emotionally."

"Sure, but I need to conduct an interview first."

Li Aoz nodded.

"No problem, she's waiting on the first floor of the government building right now. I've had a preliminary chat with her, and she seems like a nice person."

"Then bring her to my office."

Li Aoz put away his weapon, sat down, and prepared to carefully evaluate the newcomer he was interviewing.

For him, loyalty is not a concern. His expertise in "Feat: Arbitrary" combined with his powerful personal charisma ensures that the people he hires will not harbor any thoughts of betrayal.

As for the possibility of someone poaching her if her assistant becomes too outstanding, Li Aoz doesn't care. If someone tries to poach her, it just means she chose the right person.

He handled his official duties while waiting for the other party to arrive.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and Nikita's voice came through.

"Please come in." Li Aoz put down his pen and looked up at the person who had pushed open the door.

"Ceasefire."

The Kiju Star Region, a star system codenamed 'Red Eye'.

When the X Fleet entered the area, it was suddenly detected by a mysterious signal. Before they could conduct counter-reconnaissance, a large number of strangely shaped fighters launched an air attack on them from the back of the planet.

Fleet Commander-in-Chief Darian Rio Ning detected the attack in time and organized anti-aircraft fire coverage.

Although the flagship model was old, it still had sufficient firepower and easily destroyed these fighters.

However, just as he sent the Descendant forces to retrieve and salvage the wreckage of the aircraft, those butterfly-like planes vanished right before their eyes.

"This is really weird."

First mate and helmsman, Shi En Yang, muttered:

"Our psychic evidence confirms that we did have hit feedback and that it did cause destruction, but watching the footage, it seems as if our recovery team members vanished the moment they touched the wreckage. This is really strange."

"Perhaps it's due to the special material, but in any case, it at least proves that there is life in this galaxy, and we've come to the right place."

Commander-in-Chief Darian nodded:

"Since we can't be sure what it is, let's proceed cautiously. Let's rest near the main star of this star system, set up the energy gathering array, convert some resources, and then explore slowly."

"Yes, sir."

For the next period, X Fleet carried out its mission smoothly, collecting resources by capturing asteroids and constructing a small observation station in orbit near the sun. The mages used solar energy to convert water, organic matter, and fat, and combined this with the collected resources and the warships' own greenhouses to generate sufficient resources for survival.

At this moment, the ship's officers and soldiers immediately missed the days of the Crystal Tower. As Magic Civilization, they never cooked for themselves back then. Whatever food they wanted, they could simply teleport or transform it with magic.

However, their food standards have now regressed by almost two centuries. To facilitate storage, large quantities of synthetic foods are thoroughly crushed and mixed, turning into a bunch of monotonous toothpaste. Thanks to the abundance of self-produced sugar, there is plenty of all kinds of carbonated drinks.

Vegetables are strictly rationed, and only citrus fruits and apples are available. Bananas were originally also available, but because the Ministry of Agriculture brought the wrong variety, they are now being stored as a staple food.

However, in order to prevent fires, alcohol must be strictly controlled, which makes life difficult for many officers and soldiers who are used to living on land.

Space travel can be tedious and boring. At first, you might be awestruck by the vast starry sky, but you gradually get used to it. However, due to military secrecy agreements, entertainment options are quite limited, and you can only browse news on the internal network.

Even if they choose to hibernate, they will be woken up after a period of time for rehabilitation training to maintain their combat readiness.

To put it simply, among all the military branches of various countries, the Cosmic Military is the one that is best at spending the most money and making everyone dissatisfied.

The superiors and officials in the Ministry of Defense were worried about all sorts of problems, fearing that their entire crew would perish, so they kept increasing their safety regulations, making various projects tedious.

There's nothing they can do, nothing they can do; life in the Cosmic Military is extremely boring, and keeping their subordinates in check is a real headache for the fleet commander.

However, for the X Fleet, this situation is not a concern at all.

Because their crew consisted mainly of the arrivals.