The group could barely contain their laughter, their faces red from holding it in. Wen Zhonghua wished he could slap himself a few times, but deep down, he was still grateful to the strange old man for letting him study the Azure Ox's technology without asking for anything in return. At that thought, Wen Zhonghua immediately broke into a broad smile, squatted down, and carefully massaged the old man's legs. Seeing his attitude, the old man was unaccustomed to it instead. After a few squeezes, he told Wen Zhonghua to stop, then asked him to show him around the fleet.
Daozi had offered to let the fleet analyze the Azure Ox's technology. Not only did it dispel everyone's last trace of suspicion toward the strange old man, it also made them see him in a new light. They put all his earlier rudeness and unreasonable behavior behind them. Adding flowers to brocade counted for little; offering charcoal in the snow was what mattered. And what the old man had done was far more than offering charcoal in the snow-he was practically a second parent to them.
Although everyone urged him repeatedly to stay, Daozi was determined to leave the fleet and wander the universe, so they did not press him further. Wen Zhonghua completely abandoned his earlier provocative manner and treated the old man even better than his own father, bustling about to attend to him. He practically carried the old man on his back as he showed him around. But the old man had spent time in a high-level civilization in a Small Star Region, after all, and his standards were exceptionally high. After looking around at the novelties for a while, he lost interest. The Deep Blue's unique interior design appealed to him far less than good food.
It was already past two in the morning by fleet time, but the old man did not seem sleepy in the slightest. With no other choice, Wen Zhonghua roused more than a dozen top chefs specializing in various cuisines from their beds. They worked through the night to prepare several tables of lavish food for the old man, and fine wines treasured since the Earth era were also brought to his table without a trace of reluctance. These irreplaceable wines had been treasured for hundreds of years. Not even Hu Yu was entitled to enjoy them aboard the fleet, and they had been designated part of Earth's material cultural heritage. They were incomparably richer and mellower than the inferior liquor the old man had mixed from alcohol on alien worlds.
"Come, old sir, another toast! This is excellent wine. If you hadn't come, I'd never have had a chance to drink it in my life, much less smell its aroma." At the table, Wen Zhonghua and the old man exchanged toast after toast amid a lively atmosphere. Wen Zhonghua also took the trouble to recount the course of history from the Spring and Autumn period to the prosperity and rejuvenation of New China. The old man nodded repeatedly as he listened, and afterward asked Wen Zhonghua to copy some historical records for him to study at leisure as he traveled the stars.
"Little bastard, I'm starting to find you a little more pleasing to the eye now. But you're still a sly one, trying to loosen my tongue with good wine, aren't you? If there's something you want to ask, just say it. You're all my juniors, so of course I should look after you. Don't beat around the bush. I don't fall for that. Now, fill my cup again."
"Old sir, how would I dare try to loosen your tongue? I have the utmost admiration for you. To tell you the truth, I used to sleep with the Great Scripture of No Dao in my arms when I was a child. If I went a day without reading it, I'd feel uncomfortable all over. I can't even remember how many copies of the Great Scripture of No Dao I read to pieces, and my dad beat me plenty for it."
"Kid, I'm over three thousand years old. I may be a little tipsy, but your flattery is far too obvious. Still, I like hearing it. Keep going."
"You really do have a discerning eye, old sir. You saw through my flattery at once. To be honest, I didn't actually read that many copies to pieces. Just seven or eight." At that, even the staff nearby nearly sprayed out what they were drinking. They would concede defeat if Wen Zhonghua had ever read the Great Scripture of No Dao all the way through once.
"Of course. Live a hundred years and you become a wonder; live a thousand and you become a sage. I'm over three thousand years old, so whatever else I am, I'm a shrewd old man. How much salt have you eaten, kid? You think you can fool me? Here, pass me the fattest chicken leg."
"Old sir, do you know anything about the Insect Race?"
"A little. The small star sector civilization that kidnapped me was less than a thousand light-years from the front between the Milky Way's civilizations and the Insect Race, and its fleets fought the insect swarm year-round. I spent years following their leader, so I learned a little. By the way, what was the highest stage of insect in the Solar System?"
"Stage six. We fled the Solar System after the stage-six insects appeared. Fortunately, we'd prepared in advance, or we'd have ended up in their stomachs long ago. Later, I figure the Sun was blown up by the Patrols and the Destroyers before any stage-seven insects appeared."
"How pathetic. You ran away at stage six? The civilization that kidnapped me had fought stage-twenty-five insects. Now that was a disaster. Even great star region civilizations have to be cautious when dealing with stage-twenty-five insects. Galactic civilizations have a rough assessment of the Insect Race's strength: every five stages correspond to a civilization level. For example, stages one through five are equivalent to a planetary-level civilization, and stages six through ten to a Star-Level civilization. Of course, that's not very precise. There are vast differences between civilizations. Some can fight stage-ten swarms as soon as they reach the Star-Level. And then there are pathetic ones like you, who can't even deal with stage six after becoming a Star-Level civilization."
"Old sir, we..." Wen Zhonghua could find no defense.
"All right, the strength of insect swarms at each stage varies too. I don't look down on you entirely. You're my juniors, after all. Looking down on you would be looking down on myself. Hey, kid, want to know what a stage-twenty-five insect looks like?"
"Of course. Hurry up and tell us. You've drunk so much of our good wine, you can pay for it with a little more information."
"Do you know what's happening with the insect swarm over in the Milky Way? Well, I do. Back then, I followed a fleet led by the leader of that small star sector civilization as it broke through the swarm's defenses and ventured hundreds of light-years in to investigate. I saw the swarm being deployed with my own eyes. There were four-dimensional space bubbles, each several times larger than Earth, and the insects inside were packed so tightly they were deformed. When the bubbles burst, the swarm filled the entire space in an instant. That was when I saw that terrifying stage-twenty-five insect. It was tens of thousands of kilometers long. Not only did that behemoth possess boundless strength and exceptionally strong defenses, it could also travel at warp."
"Old sir, you haven't had too much to drink, have you? How can a living creature travel at warp?"
"Foolish. Couldn't the stage-six insects you saw travel between stars? Don't limit your understanding to that tiny place called Earth. Who says living creatures can't travel at warp? I'm telling you, insects around stage ten can generally travel at warp. Insects aren't ordinary living creatures; they're closer to some kind of biomechanical being. Their formidable physical structure lets them survive in the universe without any technological protection. Biological reactions inside them can release energy to propel them forward. As long as they have enough energy, they're far more advanced than any of our spaceships."
"That does seem to be the case. Back then, we thought the swarm had to rely on the buoyancy of air to fly, but they could still fly after entering space, and they were completely unafraid of the low temperatures and radiation in the universe. We were puzzled at the time. Later, we dissected some stage-five and stage-six insects and found an organ inside them that resembled a nuclear reactor. It could completely release the energy in many substances and propel the insects through space."
"That's right. That leader told me the Insect Race used energy more efficiently than any civilization. That stage-twenty-five insect could not only travel at high warp speeds, but any of its movable limbs could reach warp attack speed at any time. It would be like you kicking someone, with your foot moving at several or dozens of times the speed of light. As soon as the stage-twenty-five insect emerged from the dimensional bubble, it pounced on the surrounding warships, swatting them as if they were mosquitoes. None of the warships' attacks seemed to have any effect on it."
"That doesn't sound like much. How did you kill it afterward?"
"Kill it, my ass. We ran. There were dozens of units of insects there, enough to overwhelm the fleet at any moment. Besides, we were inside Insect Race territory. If we'd escaped any later, we'd have lost our lives. At the last moment, more than a hundred thousand warships spent all their energy forcibly reinforcing space, reducing the insects' warp speed and buying time for the leader and the other warships to retreat. That was when I took advantage of the chaos to escape."
"That's what you called fighting a stage-twenty-five insect?"
"Did I say that? Young man, don't worry about the details. Come on, pour me another cup."
"Old sir, have you heard of the Abyss?"
"The Abyss? No, no, no, never heard of it. No, no!!!" the old man hastily denied it.
Judging from the old man's reaction, he clearly knew something about the Abyss, but was deeply reluctant to speak of it. Since the old man was unwilling to talk, Wen Zhonghua did not press him.
The two drank from the early morning until noon, then from noon until evening. One group after another came to drink with them, but only Wen Zhonghua stayed by the old man's side the entire time. He had already taken alcohol decomposition pills several times, but still could not ward off the alcohol's effects on his brain. The old man, however, seemed perfectly fine. He had drunk most of the wine, yet apart from slurring his words a little, nothing was wrong with him. He had also eaten so much that he kept burping from being full, but he continued stuffing food into his mouth.
By now, it was the early hours of the morning. Everyone had gathered in silence, watching Mr. Daozi eat and drink by himself.
"All right, it's time for me to go." The old man finally put down his cup.
"Old sir." Wen Zhonghua was already somewhat reluctant to part with this eccentric sage, Daozi.
"All feasts must come to an end. Everyone, I take my leave." The old man cupped his fists to the group.
"Take care on your journey, sir." Everyone saw the old man off, bidding him farewell.
"Until fate brings us together again." Daozi climbed onto the back of the enormous biomechanical ox.
The airlock's outer door slowly opened.
"Juniors, before I leave, let me give you one more important piece of news. On my way here, I accidentally offended a Late Phase of the Star System Level civilization. They're pursuing me now, and I believe they'll reach this region of space before long. But I drank your wine, so consider yourselves lucky. Over ninety-nine percent of the four-dimensional space bubbles used to deploy the insect swarm have completely deteriorated and fallen into three-dimensional space, but one remains within a hundred light-years of here. Although it's damaged, you can still hide in it for a while. Stay alive, and I'll come find you again. Juniors, I'm off."
"Fuck, you old bastard, you old asshole!!!" Wen Zhonghua flew into a rage again. After all that, he had still been played in the end. The old man had conned them out of food and drink and wasted so much good wine. Who would have thought he went around stirring up trouble and had even brought his enemies to the fleet?
The Azure Ox gave off a white light and vanished into the depths of the starry sky in the blink of an eye.
"Academicians, did you gain anything from studying Mr. Daozi's Azure Ox?" Hu Yu asked.
"We gained a little, but Mr. Daozi learned on his own from scratch. Even if he studied for two thousand years, he couldn't possibly have mastered all the technology of a small star sector civilization. Besides, to escape as quickly as possible, Mr. Daozi would certainly have selected subjects related to running away. He wouldn't have studied them too deeply either, just enough to use them. We studied his biomechanical ox and found quite a few things we'd never explored before, but they won't have a major effect on our fleet in the short term. They can only be considered reserve technologies. Still, that's not bad. They're equivalent to about half the Sand Python Civilization's technological wealth."
"Old Hu, that old man said he offended a Late Phase of the Star System Level civilization, and they'll reach this region of space soon. What do we do? They'll definitely take it out on us."
"Alas, that old sir has added fuel to the fire," Academician Xiao sighed.
"General, we don't have the strength to fight a star system-level civilization yet."
"Mr. Daozi really does cause trouble. But I don't think they'd send a large-scale fleet to pursue one wretched old man, so we might still have a chance of fighting them. What's the Azure Ox's top speed?" Hu Yu asked.
"About fifty times the speed of light."
"Mr. Daozi said he escaped a thousand years ago. Factoring in the time he stopped along the way, he's traveled at most around forty thousand light-years, already beyond the galactic center. And the small star sector civilization that kidnapped him was only a thousand light-years from the front with the Insect Race. We can make a rough estimate of the front between the civilizations and the Insect Race. Looking down at our position from above the Milky Way, if the Solar System is at six o'clock, then a line connecting two o'clock and eight o'clock would roughly mark the front. We're currently traveling to the left, getting closer and closer to that line, while to our right is the relatively safe territory of the civilizations." Hu Yu pointed to a star map of the Milky Way as he laid out his analysis.
"General, we still can't tell where this civilization's territory is, how far it is from us, or how long it would take their large-scale fleet to get here."
"The Destroyers said that a star system-level civilization's sphere of influence can span from over a hundred to several hundred light-years, or even more. We caused such a commotion at Tau Ceti, and more than thirty years have passed without any other civilization coming to investigate. That means the surrounding few hundred light-years aren't part of that civilization's territory. I estimate that civilization is probably at least a thousand light-years from here. Otherwise, with their speed and control, they couldn't have let Mr. Daozi escape."
"Old Hu, that's not right, is it? How do you know the old man got far away?" Wen Zhonghua rubbed his forehead to clear his head. "His Azure Ox only travels at fifty times the speed of light, while star system-level civilizations generally travel at a hundred to a thousand times the speed of light. It wouldn't take them that long to catch him."
"Of course, if they'd pursued him from the start, Mr. Daozi couldn't have gotten far, and might not even have had a chance to escape. I suspect he didn't simply offend them. If that were all, they wouldn't pursue him so relentlessly, nor would they wait so long before thinking to chase him. Mr. Daozi probably took something important from them or stole some information. They didn't know at first, and only came after him once they found out. That's why he got so far away."
"That seems reasonable. So what exactly did he take, or what information did he steal?"