Negotiations Begin

List being able to see through Old Chairman Lin's deeper plans did not make him particularly outstanding.

But the old chairman was not sure whether the other party had said it deliberately.

If it had been deliberate, it meant the other party was not someone easy to fool. At the very least, he was extraordinarily adept at political maneuvering.

Reining in some of his probing thoughts, he acted as though nothing had happened. "Your Excellency the Count is right. I will increase investment in this area and strive to win over more forces for the Empire."

The conversation soon ended. List rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.

His workload was simply too heavy. Every day, there were too many things he had to consider.

After resting for a while, he decided that once he had seen off the Federation government's inspection delegation, he would ask the Empire to send more personnel.

Sometimes, trust itself was a burden.

As for why the Blue Star Federation had not detected anything unusual at all, that was due to the Great Xia Empire's special technology.

Perhaps the overall technological levels of the two civilizations were entirely different, but in certain specialized fields, their extraordinary technologies were also worlds apart.

The gap might even have been greater. A difference in technological level might only have been like one hundred versus one thousand.

But in terms of extraordinary technology, it was a gap from zero to one hundred.

Not having it meant you would never even consider that possibility when you encountered it.

So getting tricked was perfectly normal.

Time flew by, and a week later...

A small number of Blue Star Federation investigators were invited aboard the Dominator-class Battleship.

Some more sensitive people had already sensed that something was off.

This was absolutely