Huang Zhenqiu stumbled, as if he'd just heard something wonderful, then slapped his thigh and burst into loud laughter.
He laughed so hard he could barely catch his breath. He could only weakly bury his head beside Wang Dong's ear and give him a thumbs-up.
Then, with a hint of excitement but in a sufficiently steady voice, he whispered back, "I guarantee you the maximum merit reward, plus additional resources of equal value!"
Wang Dong tilted his head back and let his smile spread naturally across his face.
"Brother Huang, I didn't know you were one of us, too!
"Wonderful!
"Tonight, we drink until we drop!"
After that,
the two exchanged no more secrets.
Not until they were both dead drunk.
That night, Huang Zhenqiu stayed aboard the Sky Peng Horizontal.
In the dead of night,
the two main guests of the banquet, who should have been sound asleep from drink,
were both inexplicably wide awake!
The next day,
Huang Zhenqiu, looking thoroughly hungover, departed the Sky Peng Horizontal under Wang Dong's cheerful send-off.
Over the next few days,
the Sky Peng Horizontal, like most of the Star Destroyer captains at the Forward Base,
went into "banquet" mode.
Almost every day, they made the rounds at "banquets" hosted by different Star Destroyers.
After several days,
setting everything else aside,
they'd sampled countless rare ingredients from all sorts of star systems!
It was fair to say they'd broadened their horizons considerably.
In private, Wang Dong felt
that connections and the like didn't really matter.
Improving his food-appreciation skills, though? That was the real deal!
Of course, he was joking.
The "banquets" had never really been about enjoying the food.
Thanks to the "image" the Sky Peng Horizontal had established earlier,
the vast majority of the Star Destroyer captains
were quite friendly