The much more advanced-looking spaceship hovered around Li Xingkong, but it didn't seem to intend to directly confront Li Xingkong.
"Who are you?"
Looking at the unfamiliar spaceship and hearing the guy's first words, Li Xingkong roughly guessed that the spaceship probably belonged to the so-called suzerain state of the Snail People.
"What? You've done something this big, and you still don't know who we are?"
A voice that sounded like a half-laugh came from inside the spaceship, making Li Xingkong feel quite uncomfortable.
"We are the uncrowned kings of the surrounding star systems, the rulers of thousands of star systems, the eternal monarchs, the Crawfish People. Our civilization is about to enter the ranks of third-rate civilizations. As the king of this star system, you will have the honor of remembering our names."
Li Xingkong listened to its long, rambling rant and rambled on, and was somewhat speechless.
This is the first time I've ever seen such a narcissistic guy. The way he chose this title is utterly shameless.
"Alright, alright, so you're some Crawfish People, huh? The matter is settled. What do you want now that you've come to me? Trying to avenge your underlings?"
"No, no."
The people in the spaceship, upon hearing Li Xingkong's words, retorted.
"First of all, we need to clarify one point: we are not in a superior-subordinate relationship with them. The so-called suzerain state is nothing more than a handout. Countless civilizations want to curry favor with us, so naturally, the capable rise and the weak fall. How can we talk about seeking revenge?"
"Secondly, the reason we found you is simple: since you were able to eliminate the Snail People, it means you are far superior to them. Therefore, the Empire hopes that you can take over their command and take over this sector."
Li Xingkong truly hadn't expected this guy to have this idea.
In its view, the vassal civilizations under its control are like breeding poisonous insects; those that carve out a bloody path from among many civilizations are the well-trained tools.
As for the original civilization, the consequences of being knocked down to the mortal realm by a new civilization are self-evident.
"Oh, what are the conditions?"
Li Xingkong found it amusing. If he hadn't secured a place in the Convention, he might have actually considered the Crawfish People's proposal.
"Okay, okay, it's good that we can talk."
"Our conditions are simple. We will vouch for you and recommend your civilization to join the Convention, but the price is that you must unconditionally open all your databases and technical data to us, provide 10,000 direct descendants of your civilization each year to support our genetic research, and in addition, we will have priority mining rights for all minerals within the sector, and we will take 30% of all trade surplus generated within the sector."
Hearing these conditions only made Li Xingkong feel more and more embarrassed.
This isn't about recruiting underlings, it's about recruiting slaves!
And what did this guy contribute? Basically nothing. The so-called recommendation to join the Convention was just a formality.
On the contrary, all these rules and regulations combined really show that they are not treated as human beings.
Moreover, even with these conditions, the Snail People of the past could grit their teeth and agree...
They truly have an iron will.
Li Xingkong smiled apologetically, then took out his Convention emblem and waved it.
"Thank you for your trouble, but we don't need that condition. We've already joined the Convention."
The people in the spaceship were clearly surprised when they saw the Convention symbol. Although it was just a formality for them, it was definitely not something that could be obtained easily in the entire universe.
"As fellow signatories to the Convention, your attack on the Snail People violates the Convention's provisions, putting us in a very difficult position."
There was a moment of silence inside the spaceship, then the tone shifted from recruitment to coercion.
" The Convention are scattered all over the South China Sea, so naturally no one will care about a remote place like ours. If this matter is reported to higher authorities, it will ultimately fall into our hands. The conditions remain the same: if we agree, we'll all be happy."
Li Xingkong had his reasons for showing off this thing; after all, Xuanyizi and the others still needed Divine Land, so it wouldn't be a problem for him to borrow its power a little.
Who could blame them? The Sihali Kingdom was a long-established third-rate civilization. For the Crawfish People, a near-third-rate civilization, the mere mention of its name was enough to give them a run for their money.
"Since that's how you put it, then I won't play along anymore. I can't possibly agree to your conditions. As for the consequences of disagreeing, you might as well investigate who gave me the Convention Marker."
Li Xingkong removed the markings and directly rejected the Crawfish People's conditions.
He spread his Divine Sense and probed the spaceship. Even through the spaceship, he couldn't see what the Crawfish People looked like. On the contrary, his physical features were clearly seen by the other side. In this respect, Li Xingkong was at a disadvantage.
Li Xingkong's Divine Sense enveloped the entire spaceship, and he also saw the scene inside the spaceship through his Divine Sense.
There were only three crew members on the spaceship, and they all looked extremely similar, clearly belonging to the same civilization.
The Crawfish People looks somewhat like a small, upright lobster, with a cluster of red shells on his head that rises high into the sky like flames, and two large, black eyes set on either side. His entire body is covered in carapace that extends from his head downwards.
Its body is slender, and its two pincer-like forelimbs look very ferocious. Below it, there is a pair of slightly shorter limbs that are operating the instruments in the spaceship. Further down, the two pairs of lower limbs have evolved to be more robust and powerful, supporting the entire body.
Finally, there was a tail covered in carapace, dragging slightly on the ground, helping the hind legs to stand up.
The moment Li Xingkong saw this thing, he roughly understood why the Snail People could become their vassal state.
Affinity isn't necessarily based on ability; it could also be due to similarities in their innate species and habits, which led to such an opportunity.
This is similar to the situation during the Tang Dynasty, where Silla and the Women Man Kingdom were preserved. It wasn't necessarily because they were powerful, but perhaps simply because they were abundant in Silla maids and Bodhisattva women.
After Li Xingkong finished speaking, the three lobster-like aliens did not reply immediately. Instead, they started tapping on their instruments and began communicating with someone they didn't know.
After communicating for a while, the Snail People looked at each other, and Li Xingkong could see a hint of helplessness in their expressions.
"Since you have no intention of submitting to us, we will not force you. However, the ownership of the star systems in this vicinity has already been determined by Convention. Even if you join the Convention, you cannot occupy them without cause. So please leave as soon as possible."
Li Xingkong didn't know what they had found out, but judging from their words, it seemed like they wanted him to leave quickly so they wouldn't pursue the matter any further. But upon closer reflection, it was probably because they hadn't found anything, which was why they were wary of the person behind Li Xingkong's words, and that's why they chose to let Li Xingkong leave first.
They will only consider their next move once they have obtained concrete intelligence.
After all, these are civilizations that operate in StarCraft. When their backgrounds are completely unknown, they naturally won't engage in mindless bullying.
In StarCraft, nothing we know is truly frightening; both the strong and the weak have their own ways of dealing with things.
Only the unknown is the most unstable.