Chapter 130: Strength in Display

Have them come aboard the Houyi.

Lin Yu had thought this through.

Since the goal was to intimidate and meet them face-to-face, it made sense to let the other side feel the Federation’s power right away.

And honestly, was there anywhere better for that than the Houyi?

After all, this was a Warstar-class interstellar mothership. In the common parlance of other civilizations, that meant a super warship.

Not to mention, this thing was fully equipped with energy weapons—a super warship on par with a Level 3 civilization.

So letting them step inside the Houyi was a given.

He even considered giving them a little demonstration of the Houyi’s firepower.

Now that’s the best way to make an impression.

——

Forty-seven days later.

Lin Yu pulled all nine Zhulong-class warships from his three sub-fleets, regrouping them with the Houyi. In total, he now had a strike group of twenty warships—one Houyi and nineteen Zhulong-class.

Over a hundred other ships followed close behind.

As they approached, Lin Yu gave the order: the Houyi and every Zhulong-class warship were to deploy their main and secondary guns, then charge them up.

That move startled Tuoba so much he nearly jumped out of his seat.

What the heck—were they about to open fire?

He immediately ordered someone to send a message and ask for an explanation.

As for Lin Yu…

He simply replied, this was standard Human Federation protocol.

“Look, I’m showing you all our weapons, out in the open. Isn’t that the highest courtesy?”

Mu Qingxue, standing by, couldn’t help bursting into laughter.

But really, there was nothing wrong with what Lin Yu said. Lots of civilizations had similar rituals in their histories, some even kept them up to this day. Totally normal.

With that answer, Tuoba finally relaxed.

But the relief was mixed with shock at just how strong humanity was.

All of the charged-up cannons on display—they were all energy weapons!

He and his people could definitely tell that much.

Especially the sheer number and caliber of energy weapons on the Houyi. That alone was enough to scare the wits out of him.

And that’s exactly the effect Lin Yu wanted.

Safe to say, the opening act of intimidation was a total success.

Half an hour later.

Tuoba and a small entourage left their ship in a shuttle, guided by the Houyi and landing on the sealed portside deck.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Lin Yu arranged for three waves of salvo fire to sweep right past Tuoba’s shuttle.

The blasts skimmed along both sides of the transport.

And the reason? Same as before—standard human protocol!

With that, Tuoba was truly at a loss for words. All he could do was confirm, yet again, that every cannon on these human warships was an energy weapon.

A bona fide Level 3 civilization!

So once he set foot on the Houyi, he dropped any pretense and became very polite.

“Esteemed host, I am Tuoba, Admiral of the Xitoris Kingdom’s Second Expeditionary Fleet, part of the Desolate Starfield Alliance. I sincerely thank you for granting us this meeting!”

Inside the conference room.

Tuoba made his case with genuine sincerity.

Lin Yu couldn’t help but sigh—it was true, all negotiations were grounded in power.

If only they knew the Federation had just reached Level 2 civilization standards and boasted barely a thousand warships…

He was sure their attitude would change drastically.

Still, all that aside, outwardly…

Lin Yu made sure to carry himself with pride.

After all, when a Level 3 civilization deals with a Level 2, if you don’t act the part, people will start getting suspicious.

With his right hand tapping out a calm rhythm on the table, Lin Yu didn’t answer right away. He just stared at Tuoba.

Several long seconds ticked by before he finally stopped.

“So, how do you plan to resolve this unauthorized entry into human territory?”

Lin Yu’s tone was pure authority.

He drawled coolly.

“Uh, this is just a big misunderstanding! If we’d known it was your territory, not in a thousand years would I have barged in…”

“But you did intrude!”

“I know, we originally thought this area wasn’t claimed by anyone, so…”

“But you did intrude!”

……

……

Tuoba wanted to explain more at first.

But no matter what he said, Lin Yu would just reply with that same cold line: “But you did intrude…”

How was he supposed to negotiate like this?!

“Yes, it was unintentional, but we did cross over!”

“You’re right. When you mess up, own it. If you get punched, stand tall.”

Lin Yu’s tone stayed as frosty as ever.

“Agreed. Please tell me, esteemed host—how should we settle this?”

At this point, Tuoba had figured it out.

If he didn’t make some sacrifices, there was no way Lin Yu would let this slide.

“Alright. Didn’t you want to set up trade deals? Technical exchanges, too?”

“Let’s put everything here, with my people managing the process. What do you say?”

Lin Yu brought up a three-dimensional star chart, zoomed in on a particular star system, then asked.

Even if the names didn’t match, Tuoba recognized the spot from the chart.

Wasn’t that the star system he’d only just conquered?

It didn’t have any habitable planets yet, but there was one world that could be terriformed—and it contained a resource-rich asteroid belt.

In short, a pretty juicy resource zone.

And Tuoba wasn’t blind to Lin Yu’s real meaning behind the words.

“Your people will manage it?”

“Manage my foot!”

Let’s be real. He wanted Tuoba to just hand the whole place over.

Still, he hadn’t even reported the conquest to his own king yet, so technically the kingdom hadn’t filed any official claims with the Desolate Starfield Alliance.

In other words, even if he gave up the territory, he wouldn’t get blamed for “selling out” the kingdom.

And as long as everyone kept quiet…

The king would probably never find out he ever held that place in the first place.

Plus, if he brokered a deal connecting his kingdom to a Level 3 civilization for trade and technical exchange?

He’d stand to benefit quite a bit.

Tuoba gritted his teeth and made up his mind.

“Alright, your people can oversee the system. We’ll use it as a hub for all future trade between us.”

“Excellent. Now for the next matter…”

That was when Tuoba’s expression darkened.

Wait, I’m surrendering a whole star system and they want more?!

“One more thing. The Federation is researching advanced communications technology right now. Package up your comms tech and hand it over to us.”

“We might not use Level 2 tech directly, but what we need are more ideas. From our earlier exchanges, your approach to communications is a bit different from ours.”

“That’s not a problem.”

Tuoba agreed without a second thought.

After all, it wasn’t exactly sensitive technology. In fact, most communications tech was shared between civilizations throughout the Alliance—even Level 1 civilizations could get their hands on it without trouble.

Because—

If you can’t even communicate, how can you maintain an alliance that spans a starfield?

And how would Level 2 civilizations issue commands to their subordinates?

Simply put, communications were fundamental.

In fact, the Alliance’s communication tech was intentionally shared to guarantee everyone could connect.

So Lin Yu asking for a package didn’t put any pressure on Tuoba at all.

He agreed right away.