"But I have heard that the Dwarves are actually very reluctant to join other interstellar powers, preferring a life closer to nature.

I also do not want to force your people to work for me." Zhao Chen wore an expression of deep inner conflict.

Annie immediately said: "It is true that quite a few Dwarves do not wish to be bound by others, but most Dwarves have one particular trait!

That is, they absolutely love to drink! Especially the adult Dwarves!

You must know that in the current cosmic environment, food is extremely precious, let alone alcohol; that is a luxury far exceeding even fruit.

As long as you, Commander, can satisfy their drinking needs once or twice a month, it will definitely make them work for you wholeheartedly!"

After saying this, Annie looked as if she were very proud of her cleverness.

"Then, do you drink too, Annie?" Zhao Chen looked at Annie.

It was hard to imagine what such a little loli looked like when drinking.

Annie swallowed, then placed her hands on her pants pockets and turned them inside out.

"I have no money."

Then Annie looked toward the dining table, swallowed again, and said in a low voice: "Besides, that wine is too expensive! Just now... I was too embarrassed to ask you, Commander, to treat me.

After all, you have your own meal allowance, Commander; it wouldn't be right to treat a common artisan like me to a bottle of wine, right~"

While speaking, Annie looked aggrieved and let out a long sigh.

Lilith, standing to the side, tried hard to suppress her laughter. She could see Annie's drooping head, and her eyes kept glancing at Zhao Chen beside her.

Zhao Chen knew exactly what this little girl was thinking.

"What kind of wine do we currently provide?" Zhao Chen asked Lilith.

Lilith quickly replied: "Currently, we only provide beer, rice wine, grape wine, bayberry wine, and a few other fruit wines."

"Actually, the rice wine is quite good." Annie nodded solemnly.

"Use my meal allowance to get a bottle of rice wine." Zhao Chen placed the order directly.

Soon, a bottle of rice wine was delivered to Annie.

As Annie held the rice wine in her hands, Zhao Chen felt a sense of moral condemnation, as if he were committing a crime. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Weren't you unwilling to tell us which planet you came from before? How come you're now ready to arrange work for your people?" Zhao Chen teased as he looked at Annie.

Holding the rice wine like a precious treasure, # Nоvеlight # Annie said earnestly: "To be honest, at the beginning, I was indeed worried about what you were like, Commander.

After these few months of getting along, I can completely trust you, Commander. Your brilliance is even more radiant than the stars, your charisma exceeds that of the galaxy, and black holes are not worth mentioning in the face of your attraction..."

"Stop! Stop! No matter how much you say, there is only this one bottle of wine today." Zhao Chen cut off Annie's exaggerated flattery.

Annie stuck out her tongue, and this time she said seriously: "I was sincere about the first sentence just now. You are indeed a good person, and you treat us crew members very well.

The Half-Beastman, the succubus, and me, a Dwarf—you treat us all equally, and you have fulfilled everything you promised.

So I think letting my people follow you is the wise choice.

Besides, I also miss my family. I want them to be able to sleep in clean, warm beds, have enough to eat every day, and not have to face various dangers just to survive!

So... Commander, I can vouch for their ability and loyalty. Please, you must let them join your Xiaolong Fleet!"

After finishing, Annie actually put down the bottle of rice wine and gave Zhao Chen a military salute.

Logically, this should have been a serious scene, but watching a little Dwarf loli barely over a meter tall, with oil stains still on the corners of her mouth, saluting him, Zhao Chen really couldn't bring himself to be serious.

"Alright, alright, I know what you mean.

Tell me, where is your people's planet located, and what is the population? I can dispatch a fleet to pick them up." Zhao Chen brought up the key question.

Annie raised her hand and opened the star map. It was a massive star map, including the interstellar territories of the Galactic Alliance and parts of the Mechanical Race.

Besides these two major sectors, there were many gray areas.

"The planet I am from is in this location. I am not sure about the specific Star System or planet, but as long as we go to that place and find a detailed star map from the locals, I can determine exactly where it is." Annie pointed to a gray area on the cosmic star map.

Lilith looked at it carefully and quickly said to Zhao Chen: "This area is located within the Reef Starfield. The Reef Starfield is a region situated at the junction of the Mechanical Race and the Starlight Empire.

It is a very barren starfield, and at the same time, it is easy to attack but difficult to defend.

Therefore, neither the Mechanical Race nor the Starlight Empire wants to take over this region, so it has always been in a state of self-governance.

If we want to travel to this Reef Starfield using the T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser, and assuming we are not sure if there are Star Gates available in the local Star Systems,

it will take about half a month."

A half-month trip one way means a month for a round trip; this was not a short amount of time.

"How many people do you have?" Zhao Chen asked further.

Annie counted on her fingers: "On the planet where we live, there are probably about 200,000 Dwarves.

Additionally, there are several other tribes in our starfield. According to my father, there are about three to five million people in total."

Three to five million people...

Even if some of them were the elderly, weak, women, and children, there would still be at least two million able-bodied adults. If half of them were female, that was still a significant number.

These are all interstellar artisans!

Zhao Chen's eyes lit up, as if he had seen gold.

Must go!

Definitely must go!

Zhao Chen had completely forgotten Governor Chu's warning at this moment. As the saying goes, wealth is found in danger!

Moreover, this time Zhao Chen was leaving the Starlight Empire directly, so it was actually not that dangerous.

"However, there is one problem: with so many Dwarves... although it is not yet certain how many we can take... even if it is just a few tens of thousands, how to transport them is a big issue." Lilith raised a question at this moment.

Transporting the Dwarves would require some Starships.

After all, relying solely on the T3 Blizzard, even at full capacity, could only carry about a thousand people.

Facing the Dwarves' population base of hundreds of thousands, it was completely insufficient.

"This is a problem; I will consider it." Zhao Chen looked at Annie: "I need to prepare for a while. When the time comes, I will take you back to your home planet, and you will be responsible for convincing your people to join us.

During this time, Captain Jenny also said that her ability is not enough to coordinate the Interstellar Industrial Ships, so you will concurrently serve as the Executive Officer of the two Interstellar Industrial Ships, and help them complete the coordination and arrangement of the construction plans during this period."

Annie nodded heavily: "Okay! Annie also really wants to go home to see her family..."

Afterward, Annie blinked and looked at Zhao Chen: "Commander... does this count as an increase in workload and a promotion? Can my benefits and salary be raised?"

A raise?

"That question... I will consider it when I get back." Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes.