Princess Domina

Aboard the Golden Frog, the flagship of the Golden Frog trade fleet, Boss Jin met Zhang Fan, the Insect Race Overlord, for the first time.

He looked around but saw no sign of Duolaner. "May I ask, Overlord, did Lord Duolaner not accompany you?"

Zhang Fan glanced at Boss Jin and said coldly, "Do you only want to do business with Duolaner, Boss Jin?"

"You misunderstand, Overlord. It is my honor to speak with an Insect Race noble as esteemed as yourself. I simply had many dealings with Lord Duolaner in our previous transactions and wanted to ask after him. Nothing more."

Seeing that Zhang Fan did not seem particularly bothered, Boss Jin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. This Zhang Fan isn't an easy one to deal with.

"Little Jin, what's this competitive auction you mentioned?"

At Zhang Fan's question, Boss Jin immediately bowed and answered, "The competitive auction is hosted by the Trade Federation. It's a grand event combining competition, entertainment, and trade. Trading Ship fleets from every universe invite powerful friends to attend. In the Western Universe, we invited only your race."

Zhang Fan asked curiously, "Is our Insect Race the only powerful race in the Western Universe?"

Boss Jin immediately replied, "Not quite. In terms of military strength, the Insect Race is indeed second to none. But the Western Universe is vast. The Western Realm Great Emperor specifically instructed us to give the Insect Race a chance to see the breadth of the universe and the strength of its various races."

So the Western Realm Great Emperor was involved too. Zhang Fan now understood most of what was going on: they would use the competitions to gauge the Insect Race's strength, while this auction would also let him see the powerful races of the other universes.

"It seems you're quite influential, Little Jin. Not many people get to speak with the Western Realm Great Emperor."

Boss Jin smiled modestly. "You flatter me, Overlord. I only happened to sell the Western Realm Great Emperor a few little trinkets."

"Hmm... trinkets like Moros's Staff? Our Insect Race isn't even qualified to buy those!"

Boss Jin immediately slapped himself hard across the face. "Overlord, please keep your voice down. If anyone finds out, my license will be revoked."

"Isn't this your ship? Do other people have eyes and ears aboard it?"

Boss Jin whispered, "Which of the major Trading Ship fleets doesn't have a few spies from other trade groups aboard its ships? Everyone knows. We just don't talk about it."

"Do you need me to get rid of them?"

Boss Jin hurriedly waved his hands. "Thank you for the offer, Overlord, but those people still have their uses."

Zhang Fan nodded knowingly. "Business is a battlefield. There's much our Insect Race can learn from your cunning."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Of course. What else did you think it was?"

The host planet of the competitive auction... Oritaya.

Under Boss Jin's guidance, Zhang Fan took {War General} Noya and {Matriarch} Shusha aboard a VIP ship provided by the Chuyang People and landed in the trading city of Kalan.

Zhang Fan and his companions slowly disembarked from the VIP fleet, and the Chuyang People's trade director immediately approached with a group of officials dressed in lavish clothing.

A head shorter than Zhang Fan and resembling an octopus without tentacles, the Chuyang trade director welcomed them warmly. "I am Ossar, the Chuyang trade director. Welcome, Insect Race Overlord, and all our friends from the Insect Race. We are honored by your presence."

Zhang Fan looked around and smiled. "This certainly lives up to its reputation as the center of the Trade Federation. Even the flower stands are made of solid gold. Are those statues solid gold too?"

Ossar proudly showed them to Zhang Fan. "You have a keen eye, Overlord. These are all solid gold-the rarest and most stable metal in the universe, worth a fortune."

Led by Ossar, Zhang Fan and his companions passed through a glittering corridor and entered an enormous hall where all manner of alien races had gathered.

Zhang Fan could barely contain his excitement. The biological diversity here encompassed advanced life-forms from across the universe.

But he quickly calmed down. Any advanced life-form able to attend a banquet like this would at least possess a technological civilization on par with the Insect Race. There were likely quite a few races stronger than his own, too. Acting rashly was not Zhang Fan's style.

Boss Jin told Zhang Fan, "The trading group doesn't know the Insect Race's language, so we can't translate it. But all of you should speak Tacoval, so we've set all the universal translators to Tacoval..."

Zhang Fan accepted a universal translator but had no idea how to use it. Seeing his embarrassment, Boss Jin hurriedly said, "Just swallow it!"

Zhang Fan was curious about this edible translator. As soon as he swallowed it, he discovered that it was actually an organism-a silicon-based life-form whose genes stored vast amounts of linguistic information.

Now Zhang Fan no longer had to worry about language barriers. This was far more civilized than his original method of sucking blood before he could communicate.

"Overlord, the event traditionally opens with competitive matches. If you're interested, you can send someone to participate. The prizes are very generous."

Zhang Fan glanced at the eager Noya and smiled. "Go on. Be careful."

Accompanied by the frog-faced adjutant, Noya headed to the Tournament registration desk, while Boss Jin led Zhang Fan toward the VIP stands.

They were only halfway there when a woman's startled cry suddenly came from beneath Zhang Fan's feet. "Hey, big guy! Can't you watch where you're going?"

Zhang Fan looked down and found an ornately decorated little path beneath his clawed foot. Without a close look, he would have mistaken it for trim along the base of the wall. A squad of fully armed soldiers stood on the path, their weapons raised and aimed at him.

To Zhang Fan, those people looked less than half the size of ants. He smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't notice!"

Boss Jin hurried over. "Princess Domina, I'm terribly sorry. It's entirely my fault. I didn't tell the Insect Race Overlord. I'm to blame."

Zhang Fan focused his compound eyes on the front of the tiny squad. Only then did he make out a beautiful woman in a luxurious gown, with pointed ears, human features, and scales on her face. She was pointing at Boss Jin.

"Boss Jin, if this happens again, I'll wipe you out."

Zhang Fan asked curiously, "That's a big threat from such a little friend. Little Jin is a friend of our Insect Race. Let's see you wipe him out."

Seeing the ill intent in Zhang Fan's eyes, Boss Jin hurriedly said, "No, no, no, Overlord, it's all a misunderstanding. Please calm down too, Princess Domina. This is the Overlord of the Insect Race. The warships you purchased are the Insect Race's {Emperor}!"

Domina's tone softened considerably. "So you're the Overlord of the Insect Race. A pleasure to meet you! Let's put this incident behind us."

Seeing Princess Domina soften her stance, Zhang Fan released a {Parasitic Tick} and smiled. "Please accept this {Golden Parasitic Tick}, Princess Domina, as an apology for my rudeness."

Princess Domina, smaller than an ant, jumped onto the {Golden Parasitic Tick}'s back and laughed happily. "You really are generous, Overlord. How many more mounts like this do you have? We'll take them all."

Zhang Fan was quite surprised. These {Parasitic Tick}s were the Insect Race's lowest-ranking combat organisms-no, they did not even count as combat organisms. His {Matriarch}s could hatch several million {Parasitic Tick}s in a single day, yet this extravagantly wealthy princess had just declared that she wanted them all.

"Your Highness, our Insect Race is quite sincere about making friends. I can give you ten million mounts like this {Parasitic Tick}."

"The Insect Race Overlord certainly is generous when making friends!" A mocking voice came from behind Zhang Fan!