One day later.
The conference room was dim, its curtains tightly drawn.
Li Nannan had changed into her military dress uniform, while Cen Yemeng and Jiang Ye were also in sharp formal wear. The three stood side-by-side, waiting.
A holographic projection hovered in front, a video call connecting.
Suddenly, the screen flickered to life.
The video showed an office, a mahogany desk piled high with documents, and a brightly colored flag hanging on the wall behind it.
A woman sat at the desk, dressed in a gray suit, her hair neatly pinned up. The skin from her collarbone to her entire face was so fair and delicate it seemed it could be broken by a touch. Her vibrant lipstick and defined eyebrows made her more than just pretty; there was even a hint of seductive charm.
Xu Aoqing, living up to her name, possessed a proud figure, and her smile conveyed an air of haughtiness. This kind of superiority in her features was only found in those who had held high positions for a long time, something even Jiang Ye hadn't fully cultivated.
"Good morning, Commander Li," Xu Aoqing said, her voice magnetic. "The handsome and beautiful pair beside you, if I'm not mistaken, are Jiang Ye and Cen Yemeng?"
"Indeed, General Xu, good morning," Jiang Ye and Cen Yemeng said in unison.
"Please change your address. Don't you two know I'm about to step down from this position?" Xu Aoqing sighed with a faint smile.
"Until the Galactic Empire formally reassigns your commission, you are still the General," Jiang Ye replied. "Let's get straight to the point. I don't currently qualify to be stationed on the third planet. Cen Yemeng does, but she's busy with current planetary affairs."
"So Cen Yemeng will take the nominal position, and you will hold the real power?" Xu Aoqing asked. "Are you both my superiors?"
"That's right," Li Nannan interjected. "This video conference is to introduce you to each other and to hand over work."
"The immediate priority," Jiang Ye said, "is for me to know what you need on your end. Whether it's the needs of evacuating civilians or clearing the beast tides, please state your requirements for equipment, personnel, and supplies. We will expedite preparations on our side."
"Commander, as soon as you speak, you should already know a lot about Meteor Star, right?" Xu Aoqing’s smile was bitter. "To be frank with all commanders, I'm now a commander without troops. I've lost signal connection to almost all towns on Meteor Star. I don't know what this planet has become, only that there are beast tides everywhere. You probably have more data on Meteor Star than I do, don't you?"
Jiang Ye frowned.
He noticed a characteristic in Xu Aoqing's speech.
It was all questions!
If there were meeting minutes, every time she spoke, there would definitely be a question mark.
After another ten minutes of conversation, the video conference ended.
Jiang Ye and Cen Yemeng immediately plunged into work. Xu Aoqing was completely useless; she was trapped in a basement in Meteor Star's capital city, surviving on reserves. The situation on Meteor Star could only be resolved by external intervention.
With current technological levels, a mere beast tide should pose no threat. After all, any carbon-based life form fears heavy firepower. A single depleted uranium armor-piercing round could bring down an elephant. If firepower was insufficient, biological weapons could be deployed; a puff of toxic gas carried by the wind would leave the ground littered with corpses.
However, Meteor Star was different.
Meteor Star was the larder for the Crocodile People, the lunchbox for the Crocodile People's high command.
There could be no environmental pollution.
Carpet bombing was absolutely out of the question, nor was setting fire to the mountains. Biological weapons were even more akin to poisoning.
After careful consideration, Jiang Ye found his father-in-law's phone number and dialed it.
The call was answered on the first ring.
"Dad," Jiang Ye said. "Are you free now?"
Cen Yemeng, by the desk, looked up, blinking at her husband.
"Yes, what is it?" his father-in-law's voice sounded surprised. "Pregnant again?"
"No..." Jiang Ye felt a bit awkward. "I'm planning to help Mengmeng conquer another planet and need some arms. I'd like to order them from you."
"That's easy. Your old father-in-law has no other skills, but his arsenal is fully stocked," his father-in-law's voice was authoritative. "However, you young man, don't let your wife work too hard. Planet after planet, isn't Mengmeng tired?"
"I'm in charge of this planet; she's just taking a nominal position," Jiang Ye quickly explained. "The arms we need this time aren't the usual high-powered ones. We need environmentally friendly, non-polluting ones, organic is even better."
"Environmentally friendly and non-polluting?" His father-in-law was clearly confused. "I sell bombs, not vegetables."
Jiang Ye quickly explained the situation on Meteor Star.
This time, his father-in-law understood. "Wait a moment, I'll brief my subordinates at the company and call an emergency meeting. To deal with beast tides, there should be weapons that don't cause pollution. At worst, we can custom-make them."
"Alright, I'll await your news," Jiang Ye said.
"Don't hang up yet. Is Mengmeng there? Let her take the call," his father-in-law said.
Jiang Ye immediately handed the phone to Cen Yemeng, who had been eagerly eavesdropping.
"Dad," Cen Yemeng answered the phone.
Jiang Ye was handling documents nearby.
Cen Yemeng suddenly blushed. "What are you talking about! You don't need to worry about this! Goodbye!"
She ended the call and threw the phone back to Jiang Ye.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Ye asked, confused. "What did Dad say?"
"He told me to find some time to seduce you..." Cen Yemeng's face turned as red as a cherry. "And have another grandchild, a grandson or granddaughter, as soon as possible. Can you believe what he said?"
Jiang Ye also felt a little embarrassed. "Ah, I can understand. Old people want to hold grandchildren."
...
Three hours later.
Jiang Ye received a call from his father-in-law.
The meeting had concluded, and there were several non-polluting or extremely low-pollution weapons suitable for use on Meteor Star.
His father-in-law sent the product data to Jiang Ye's phone. Jiang Ye placed the phone on the corner of the desk, and the holographic projection immediately popped up.
The first weapon consisted of two parts.
The first part was an ice machine gun.
It looked remarkably similar to a Maxim heavy machine gun, but with a larger caliber, a longer barrel, and it fired not with bullets and gunpowder, but with a dual power source of "electromagnetism + air pressure."
The second part was a large freezer.
"Ice Bullet Quick-Freeze Cabinet"
Pouring water into the freezer, it could produce long chains of ice bullets in under ten seconds. The bullets were extremely durable, reaching a Mohs hardness of 7, surpassing iron. However, this was contingent on firing them immediately after production, before they melted in the sun.
Jiang Ye immediately felt this weapon was reliable. A heavy machine gun would surely be enough to deal with ordinary beasts. As long as the water source was clean, the melted ice bullets would cause no pollution.
The product manual stated that a combination of an ice bullet quick-freeze cabinet and an ice machine gun cost five hundred thousand.
Very expensive.
But Jiang Ye didn't call his father-in-law to haggle.
This amount of money was negligible, especially since it was his father-in-law. Let him earn some.
Besides, this thing looked technologically advanced, possibly costing hundreds of thousands to produce. He couldn't let his father-in-law lose money.
Jiang Ye continued to look at other weapons.
The second weapon was simple: an ice railway cannon.
Mounted on a train, this flat-trajectory cannon, paired with an ice bullet quick-freeze cabinet, could rapidly fire 100mm caliber shells to engage large targets. The shell trajectories were calculated by the cannon's onboard artificial intelligence, ensuring almost every shot hit its mark.
This cannon had even been used in combat, with combat videos attached.