"Chairman, we simply cannot communicate with them. For your safety, I strongly suggest we immediately return to the sightseeing vessel and evacuate Gemini. If anything untoward happens to you, our Tourism Bureau cannot bear the responsibility," An Ming urged Li Qi.

Li Qi chuckled, "Director An, rushing to leave like this—do you have some ulterior motive you're trying to hide?"

An Ming's expression flickered strangely before normalizing in the blink of an eye. He said, "Chairman, when you say that, it implies distrust in us. Our An family has always been loyal to the Great Dragon Nation; the Earth Federation itself developed from the foundation of the Great Dragon Nation. Do you still harbor doubts about us? We are genuinely concerned only for your safety."

Li Qi smiled noncommittally. At that moment, the alarm blared again; the opposing fleet had accelerated its advance, on the verge of encircling Gemini. If they seized control of the wormhole entrance by then, escape might become impossible.

Xiao Chuchu and Fang Yanmeng spoke up in unison, pleading, "Let's go, Chairman. Staying here won't necessarily help us. It would be better to return to Earth and prepare our response. I trust these aliens aren't only interested in Gemini."

The other five distinguished guests from various nations also urged retreat, their faces pale. What they expected to be a pleasant tour had turned into this perilous situation. Li Qi nodded, and the group began to evacuate. An Jie and An Ming, the two brothers, visibly relaxed. They stepped forward to assist in directing the accompanying bodyguards as they moved in groups. The plan was for everyone to first board small shuttles back into space, and then transfer to the Tourism Bureau's large sightseeing vessel bound for Earth.

As they cleared the atmosphere, An Jie, who had been attentively 'attending' to Li Qi throughout, asked, "Chairman, I never imagined there would be so much intelligent life in the universe, and their technology is by no means inferior to ours. Humans have long considered ourselves the universe's only advanced species—our perspective was truly narrow. Do you think Gemini's defense systems can repel that fleet?"

Li Qi shook her head; that was an absolute impossibility. An Jie continued, "Chairman, then do you have a countermeasure? Why hasn't our Earth Federation developed interstellar weaponry? There are rumors that we possess massive interstellar battleships at the Moon Base; is that true?"

Li Qi nodded, confirming the rumor. An Jie beamed with pleasure. "That's wonderful! Chairman, could you perhaps tell us about the firepower and armament of our battleships? Oh, I mean, I just need to bolster my own courage. After all, the opposing fleet is enormous; pretending not to be scared would be a lie."

Li Qi replied, "I regret I cannot comment on that. That matter has always been overseen by Generals Shen Jian, Liu Hu, and Zhang Dahai. I only manage administration."

An Jie asked anxiously, "Then when can they mobilize the battleships? The enemy is about to attack!"

Li Qi said, "The alert signal has already been synchronized and sent to the Earth Federation. I imagine they started taking action long ago. I don't understand warfare; those three will arrange everything perfectly. We shouldn't worry about it."

An Jie followed up immediately, "Chairman, have you considered what happens if we fail?"

Li Qi offered a faint smile. "I haven't thought that far ahead. Since you are so concerned, why don't you offer me a suggestion?"

An Jie said casually, "We could choose to cooperate with them... Oh, I mean, intelligent life forms don't necessarily have to fight to the death. Sometimes, necessary cooperation between both sides is more conducive to cosmic development."

As he spoke, the small shuttle docked with the sightseeing vessel. Upon disembarking, a group of An family confidantes directed everyone to disperse into various cabins. Notably, the accompanying bodyguards were intentionally isolated and monitored. I secretly observed An Jie and An Ming's expressions; they were entirely smiling, devoid of any remaining worry or fear.

An Jie and An Ming used security as a pretext to 'lock' the other five dignitaries in their respective lounges. Meanwhile, the number of bodyguards behind Li Qi and the other four women rapidly dwindled from over twenty to just five. The remaining duties were taken over by personnel appointed by An Jie. He even instructed Fang Yanmeng, Xiao Chuchu, and Xu Jing to return to their rooms and refrain from moving around, though Fang Yanmeng shot him a fierce glare that sent the message back.

The sightseeing vessel featured luxurious lounges where everyone sat awaiting the vessel's departure for the wormhole transit. On the large screen television in the lounge, they could view the beautiful space outside Gemini, where the indistinct fleet was densely packed in the distance, currently beyond naked-eye visibility but drawing steadily closer.

The sightseeing vessel successfully powered up and swiftly departed lunar orbit. However, less than half an hour into the journey, before reaching the wormhole, it halted. An Jie and An Ming had remained in the lounge, chatting incessantly with Li Qi, mainly trying to glean classified military intelligence from the Earth Federation. When the vessel stopped moving, a flash of surprise flickered across the eyes of both men—it seemed there was a reason for the stoppage.

"What's going on? Why has the ship stopped moving?" An Jie asked his attendant behind him.

Someone immediately used the communicator to contact the cockpit, and the cause was quickly determined: a malfunction in the flight system; maintenance crews were searching for the fault. An Ming feigned wiping sweat from his brow. "How could this happen? A failure at this exact moment! What are we going to do?"

An Jie tried to reassure everyone, "Don't be afraid. The ship was inspected before takeoff, so it shouldn't be a major issue. Everyone, please remain calm. I'll notify the maintenance crew to dispatch more personnel for inspection."

After a flurry of activity, a message came from the cockpit: the flight system had suffered a large-scale short circuit, making repair impossible in the short term. An Jie pretended to panic, berating the maintenance staff, before turning to Li Qi, "Chairman, this is all my fault. I was insufficiently prepared. Now... now what should we do?"

Li Qi remained utterly unmoved. "Notify the Federation to send a shuttle to retrieve us."

An Jie countered, "But the signal ship has already gone to the other end of the wormhole on a mission; it won't be back anytime soon. We might not even be able to contact the Earth Federation."

Fang Yanmeng suggested, "Then let's take the small shuttles back to Earth."

An Jie objected, "That won't work. The small shuttles lack the necessary device for wormhole traversal; it would kill everyone."

Xu Jing asked An Jie coldly, "Then what do you suggest we do?"

An Jie replied, "Wait. We can only wait for the repair results, hoping we can fix the ship before that unknown fleet arrives."

I secretly nodded at the five women. Li Qi stated, "Then we wait. It’s unavoidable. Perhaps fate intends for us to perish here."

An Jie countered, "That won't happen, Chairman. At worst, we can surrender to them. I doubt those aliens would be completely unreasonable."

Fang Yanmeng retorted, "We don't even know their language to reason with them, and surrender isn't a trivial matter! They might not pay us any mind at all."

An Jie insisted with conviction, "They will. They are a civilized species. As for their language, I am already arranging personnel to attempt translation; perhaps we'll have results soon."

Liu Xue, who had remained silent, suddenly laughed. "Director An, you've considered everything so thoroughly, even bringing translators."

An Jie looked awkward. "For everyone's safety, I have to consider all possibilities." Sensing he had made his intentions too obvious, An Jie stopped speaking.

The five women resumed their own conversation, ignoring An Jie completely. He paced the room several times and then left, but his younger brother, An Ming, walked in, deliberately sitting near Liu Xue and engaging in strained conversation. Not long passed before the signal from Gemini was received; upon learning that our vessel was disabled and hovering in space, they were terrified, as the unknown fleet had accelerated again and would complete its encirclement of Gemini in two hours.

At that moment, An Jie burst back into the lounge, shouting, "We've translated their message! And we've established contact!"

Li Qi calmly stated, "Patch the signal through. Let's meet these aliens."

The large screen in the lounge first showed static, gradually resolving into an unstable image. After several corrections by the technicians, the image finally cleared: it was a wolf-like intelligent being. Without necessary reference points, its size was impossible to estimate. I was certain they had a direct connection with the An family. If An Ming knew I had witnessed his wolf transformation, he likely wouldn't have been so brazen as to display this werewolf on the screen.

The translator rendered the werewolf's speech directly into Mandarin, and our Mandarin was converted before transmission. I realized the An family had been working on this translation effort for a long time; otherwise, mastering the opposing language in just a few hours would have been impossible—even I couldn't achieve that. However, since An Jie hadn't revealed it, I chose not to expose him.

The entity spoke, "Terrans, we are the Werewolves from the great Sea Wolf Galaxy. We possess a superior interstellar fleet. Gemini is now surrounded by us. Withdraw all your personnel and agree to all our demands, or we will annihilate you all!"

Li Qi asked flatly, "Are you here to invade? Earth and Gemini are friendly systems; we will not stand by while you desecrate it. The ones who should withdraw are you, or we will annihilate you all!"

"Hahahaha," the opponent laughed, a sound terrifying to hear, especially watching a wolf roar directly in front of you—the scene was highly unusual. "Who are you to speak to Spar, the leader of my great Sea Wolf Clan, like that? I have one hundred thousand super-battleships. You plan to annihilate us? Dream on. Whether you live long enough to see Earth again is still in question."

Li Qi replied, "I am the current Chairman of the Earth Federation. Heh, it seems my refusal will result in a miserable end for me."

The opponent stopped laughing, paying extra attention to Li Qi. "Oh, you are the Federation Chairman? You are quite ugly, but I promise not to make your death overly painful. Put your mind at ease."