Xu Lanzhou always felt uncomfortable being scrutinized by Bai Zhongqi. She tried hard to dispel the unprofessional girlish thoughts in her head and be a dedicated Knight, loyal to the Chancellor.
However, Bai Zhongqi didn't seem to notice anything unusual about Xu Lanzhou. Since becoming Chancellor, he had found few among the Iridium Star people whom he could trust, and Xu Lanzhou was one of them. Moreover, Xu Lanzhou was also exceptionally attractive, and having her by his side was a pleasure to behold.
Despite having the Supre Command, Bai Zhongqi still preferred to leave military power in reliable hands.
At tis, Bai Zhongqi still felt embarrassed facing the beautiful young Fleet Commander. He would clear his throat slightly to ease the awkwardness and then said, "As per the plans of the United Empire, we will soon be heavily recruiting cadets from Country C into our fleet and forces. Before that, however, they must be trained and guided.
I have decided to open a Star Alliance Universe Army Military Academy and a Training Center in Ruyi City, to train the Earth cadets. Although we can employ B-level bionic humans with artificial intelligence as the main instructors, the training academy and center cannot operate without the presence of real Iridium Star people.
The direct experience of our fleet's officers and non-commissioned officers will be extrely valuable to the new cadets. I would like you to recomnd so experienced, mature, and trustworthy personnel from our fleet to serve as senior instructors at the military academy and training center."
Focusing on the serious work issues, Xu Lanzhou imdiately reverted to her usual professional deanor. She pondered for a mont and said, "Our officers and non-commissioned officers are all exceptional, and I believe that anyone could serve as a senior instructor at the military academy and training center. However, we currently have a shortage of personnel.
Your Majesty, you are planning to launch new fleets, and we must assign so officers and crew mbers to the new vessels, so the number of personnel available for the military academy and training center is quite limited. For the mont, I believe we can assign four officers to the military academy and two officers along with five non-commissioned officers to the training center."
Bai Zhongqi had anticipated this number. He nodded and said, "Let it be so. Go back and mobilize them, trying to get those officers and non-commissioned officers eager to train the next generation of crew mbers. We are pretty much at the foundational stage now, which is sowhat challenging.
Once the first batch from Country C has spent so ti in the fleet, they can be used to train a new batch of talent."
Neither Bai Zhongqi nor Xu Lanzhou considered the possibility that Country C would refuse to join the Star Alliance. Their concerns were different, however. Bai Zhongqi firmly believed that under such favorable conditions, Country C could not possibly disagree, considering it a pure matter of profit.
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anwhile, Xu Lanzhou thought from a military perspective, believing that if Country C did not agree, she could use military force to subdue the authorities and recruit those in Country C who wanted to join the United Empire.
Bai Zhongqi gave Xu Lanzhou a few more instructions, and just then, his pocket vibrated with his phone. He nodded to Xu Lanzhou, who tactfully excused herself.
Bai Zhongqi's phone was no longer the sa one he had before; he had since switched to an Iridium Star device. Despite being the Imperial Chancellor, he didn't choose any extravagant custom model but bought a fairly common one from an electronics store in Ruyi City. Technically, he didn't spend any money on it.
Even as the Imperial Chancellor, there was no royal family in Iridium Star, nor was Bai Zhongqi given a salary. Previously, the people of Iridium Star hadn't thought about this since they had never had a Chancellor. Now that Bai Zhongqi was around, he found that even though he could use all equipnt from Iridium Star, he was still penniless.
Fortunately, people on Iridium Star could still live well even without money, thanks to the comprehensive and sophisticated social security system. From clothing, food, housing, transportation, and other daily basic expenses, everything was covered by the governnt of Iridium Star. Additionally, citizens received a basic inco that allowed them to make developntal expenditures.
This basic inco was different from the minimal social security in so Earth countries—it was enough for Iridium Star citizens to get many useful consur goods. Essential goods like electronic devices ca with personal discounts, and more ordinary models could even be obtained for free. The phone Bai Zhongqi bought was, indeed, free.
In the past few days, he had even self-taught so programming with the help of artificial intelligence, which was not complicated. He had already transferred all the apps and information from his previous phone to this new smart device.
When Bai Zhongqi checked his phone, it was a WeChat ssage from his mother. He was imdiately flustered, unsure how to explain to his parents that he had suddenly beco an alien Chancellor. Fearing soone might harm his parents, he had already secretly arranged for bionic bodyguards to watch over his ho. Yet, he hadn't inford his family about his current status.
His mother's ssage read, "Son, how did you beco an alien?"
Bai Zhongqi couldn't help but a grimace. He simply thought to respond, and his arm's built-in neural brain converted his thoughts into signals, sending a ssage to his phone that displayed: "I don't know either... 😅"
He then sent, "I'm still an Earthling, just beca the boss of so aliens."
There was silence on the other end.
Bai Zhongqi was troubled and quickly replied, "No matter what job I do, I'm still your son and Dad's."
Still receiving no response, just when Bai Zhongqi didn't know what to do, a call ca through.
The caller was Bai's father. Bai Zhongqi answered, engaging in this family call from Earth to the universe.
"Son, what exactly is going on over there? Your mom and I haven't been following the news these past few days, and just today your mom's colleague couldn't help but ask her if that person who beca an alien was her son. Your mom was stunned, and when we checked the news, it indeed was you, and all the information matched up."
Bai Zhongqi couldn't explain clearly, so he said, "This is just a bizarre matter. Don't worry about ; I'm safe and sound. Ah, by the way, why don't you two co to the universe to have a look? I might as well bring you both over here. I've got a space city, living here is no different from living on the ground."
Bai Zhongqi's words evidently drove his mother crazy as she shouted, "Co back, co back! Make that rascal kid co ho. Hasn't he caused enough trouble, wanting to give his family a heart attack?"
Bai's father, a small business owner on the comrcial scene, obviously had more insight and resilience than Bai's mother. Bai Zhongqi heard his dad comforting his mom over the phone, muttering, "Enough, stop shouting. What's the use of shouting?"
After placating his mom a bit, Bai's father held up the phone and asked Bai Zhongqi, "Are you really okay?"
Bai Zhongqi laughed and said, "I'm now the boss to the extraterrestrials, holding a fleet that could destroy the Earth at any mont, and am even planning to cooperate with the Earth nations on universe developnt projects. What could be wrong with ?"
Bai's father's tone was still one of disbelief as he said, "What in the world is going on? How on earth did you end up becoming an emperor to the extraterrestrials? Could our family have extraterrestrial bloodline?"
Bai Zhongqi then realized his old man also had a bit of quirkiness, as he quickly said, "That's not the case. I guess, um, I guess I just got lucky."
He imdiately added to his father, "Dad, calm mom down, let her not worry too much. Now that I am in this position, can I still go back to our shabby third-tier city and apply for a civil service job?"
Old Dad smacked his lips and said, "That's impossible. If it's like you said, you better well play the role of your extraterrestrial emperor. When you were little, and I took you to the market, a blind man at the gate who told fortunes said you had the look of an emperor. Turns out he was right."
At this point, Bai Zhongqi was embarrassed. His mom was so frenzied she was crying, and Dad was talking nonsense, which of course, no family would be normal in this situation.
Bai Zhongqi couldn't help but ask, "Are you two really not coming to visit here? Although nobody would dare to bother you back ho, it would be even safer over here."
Before Bai's father could reply, Bai Zhongqi's mom, scratching around, snatched at the phone and shouted dissatisfied, "Tell him to co back!"
Dad pushed away mom's hands, saying disapprovingly, "Ouch, stop scratching people."
Mom, persistent as ever, said, "Tell him to co back."
Dad, still very much the man of the house, maintained control of the phone and said, "We'll discuss what you suggested later. Right now, people here still don't understand what extraterrestrials are all about, whether they have pointed heads or square brains. Your mom and I will just stay put on Earth waiting for things to get better. Then we'll co up and visit you.
Heh, don't even ntion going to the universe; your mom and I have spent our whole lives in this small city. We never even thought about moving to the provincial capital, let alone moving to the universe. If you have ti, you should co back for a visit, uh, just keep things low-key, knowing our family, people around here are annoying enough already."
Bai Zhongqi thought it over and said, "Okay then, just be careful at ho. If anyone cos to bother you, I'll find soone to look after our place. I've already had a few capable people take charge of your safety. If it's convenient, I could even assign a couple of them to help you out at ho. If it's really not working, we can switch houses to a quieter place."
The old man, having thought of sothing, coughed and said, "Ah, I heard in the news you got quite a bit of money from the Aricans. So, son, I an, there's this building in our city center that was supposed to be a luxury hotel but the construction was abandoned when the owner ran off due to a financial crunch, leaving the property with the district governnt.
Everyone's strapped for cash nowadays, no one is taking it over. Why don't you invest a bit, take over the building, and we keep going with the hotel? The shares will all be yours, I'll help you manage it,..."
Bai Zhongqi felt helpless about his parents; his mom was breaking down, asking him to co ho, and he thought his dad was relatively sane, yet there he was, eyeing the money he had extorted from the Aricans, putting the art of coaxing investnts on his own son.
Bai Zhongqi wanted to just go outside and find a planet, slap it down in front of his dad, and say, "Dad, if you feel like it, you could build countless luxury hotels on this planet. Build them today, tear them down tomorrow, and play all you want."
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