Although Shepard had a lot of ideas when she came here, when she saw the dragon in front of her, she still had a sense of surreality...
"Ah... mortals."
Looking at the three stunned people in front of him, Fang Zheng, who had transformed back into the form of a time dragon, chuckled inwardly. He raised his huge dragon head and stared at Shepard, Liana, and Tally. Feeling the sight of the giant dragon in front of them, even Shepard and the others could not help but feel their legs weaken and almost fell to the ground.
Although they had faced enemies like the Overlord in outer space - in terms of size alone, the Overlord was many times larger than the Time Dragon.
However...does the Overlord have the power of a dragon?
Although this world is a very high-tech world, it is at least technological!
As for something as magical as Longwei...
"What brings you to my territory?"
"Hello……"
Shepard was a military man after all, and with his firm will he was the first to recover from Fang Zheng's dragon power. However, Liana and Tali were obviously not so lucky. The moment they saw the Time Dragon, they were knocked unconscious by its dragon power. If Fang Zheng had not restrained his dragon power, these two people might have gone crazy due to being caught off guard.
"I am Ghost Shepard of the Citadel Council. We are here under the order of the Citadel Council to investigate the previous conflict."
"Ah...those lowly reptiles..."
Hearing this, Fang Zheng sneered.
"They dare to invade my territory and attack my people, so they have to pay the price. What's the problem with that?"
"Well……"
Faced with Fang Zheng's arrogant answer, Shepard didn't know what to say for a moment. She coughed lightly and then reluctantly brought the topic back to the topic.
"But according to the Citadel..."
"What is the Citadel?"
"The Citadel is a federation of civilizations across the galaxy."
Shepard felt that the conversation was getting out of her control, but she still answered. After all, not everyone could remain calm when seeing a giant dragon hundreds of meters long talking to them face to face. And to be honest, Shepard was regretting taking on this mission. She was a commander and a battle-hardened warrior, but not a diplomat or an ambassador.
Shepard had always avoided political and diplomatic twists and turns, but now that she had confirmed that this was a completely new race, things would be very troublesome. If she said something wrong, would it cause any problems? If a conflict or even a war broke out, and she was blamed for it, Shepard would be speechless.
If you think about it carefully, those bastards in the Citadel might be deliberately making fun of you.
"alliance?"
Fang Zheng stuck his head out and approached Shepard. Being stared at by those golden eyes, even Shepard felt a little uncomfortable and nodded quickly.
"Yes, regarding this conflict... it is true that the Turians attacked first, but at that time..."
At this point, Shepard was suddenly stuck, because she just realized that this matter... was inappropriate no matter how you looked at it!
You have to know that from the beginning, whether it was the Turians, the Citadel, or even Anderson and Shepard themselves, they all believed that this mysterious force that appeared in the Wandering Galaxy was likely human. And if it was human, then this was an internal human affair, and it only needed to be coordinated.
But now, Shepard has confirmed that this civilization has nothing to do with humans - this is nonsense, how can humans have such a thing as a dragon! !
Then things will be troublesome.
As mentioned before, there is an old grudge between the Turians and humans. The two sides have only been at peace for a few decades, and most of them don't have a good impression of each other. This is why the Turians were very angry when they saw Fang Zheng. In the eyes of the Turians, the other party is human, so their presence here is a knowing and willful violation of the treaty and a treacherous act.
That's why the Turians attacked.
But if we look at the current situation, the other side has nothing to do with humans and is a completely new civilization, then the Turian attack is an unreasonable act of hostility - at least that's how it looks to the other side!
So what can I say?
I'm not a Turian, so there's no need for me to clean up their mess!
"Mortal, I already understand your intentions."
Fang Zheng now took the initiative. He stared at Shepard and continued speaking.
"However, our Tiandao Palace is not a place where people can be bullied at will. All races here are my people. Any attack on my people is a declaration of war against me and the entire Tiandao Palace! We do not want war, but we are not afraid of war. If that group of low-level savage reptiles still dare to invade my territory and hurt my people, then I will let those low-level reptiles experience true destruction and death firsthand!"
Having said this, Fang Zheng also snorted, suddenly spread his wings, and raised his head. The terrifying dragon might burst out instantly, covering Shepard and others.
“……!”
Feeling the terrifying pressure coming towards him, Shepard could not help but grit his teeth and take a step back, and Tali behind her was even more miserable. If she hadn't grabbed Shepard's arm, she would have collapsed to the ground.
It was not until the three of them were about to be unable to bear it that Fang Zheng withdrew his pressure and curled up again.
"You have come all this way and worked hard. We will prepare food and rooms for you, and help you repair your damaged warships. Now, you can leave."
“…”
This time, Shepard said nothing, just nodded, then turned and left with the other two.
"call……"
After the three people left, Fang Zheng regained his human form and yawned.
"It's really troublesome..."
"Is this really okay, Onii-sama?"
Tilia, who was eavesdropping from behind, walked up to Fang Zheng with a smile and took his arm.
"Are you sure we don't need to have any further contact with the Citadel?"
"For now, there is no need for that."
Facing Tilia's question, Fang Zheng shook his head. In fact, he had carefully considered this issue when Shepard and others entered here. However, in the end, Fang Zheng decided to keep his distance from the Citadel, and he would not join the Citadel. What kind of force the Citadel is, Fang Zheng knew it very well without Shepard telling him. To put it bluntly, the Citadel is actually equivalent to a galactic version of the United Nations.
There are currently four permanent members of the Security Council. If Fang Zheng joins, it may become the fifth.
However... joining the Citadel Council would not be of any benefit to Fang Zheng. At least for now, he did not want the forces of this universe to be too deeply involved with his own Tiandao Palace.
But he was not without a solution. At least... the appearance of Shepard and others gave Fang Zheng an idea.
Unlike Fang Zheng's relaxed expression, Shepard, who returned to the Normandy, was frowning.
She thought things were too simple!
Shepard is not stupid, and she doesn't like the twists and turns of politics, but that doesn't mean she doesn't understand the meaning. The dragon said before, "All races here are my people"... Shepard certainly understands what this means, that is, this time, what she and others are facing is not a single alien race, but an alliance composed of several races like the Citadel!
This was also the reason why the dragon spoke with sarcasm when she introduced the Citadel. At that time, she hoped to use the alliance of the Citadel to suppress the dragon, but she didn't expect that things would be more troublesome than she imagined!
Compared to the Citadel, this alliance is even closer. The Citadel Council is like the United Nations. There is no distinction between superiors and inferiors, and there is no question of who is in charge. But this alliance obviously has an absolute, supreme ruler. This means that this is not a problem between the Citadel Council and an alien race, but a conflict between two camps.
This is beyond my ability to handle!
"Joker, is the communication system still usable?"
"Of course, Commander, but this is inside the enemy's warship..."
In response to Shepard's question, the Joker showed an embarrassed expression. It was obvious that he was a little worried about the security of communication here.
But Shepard has no time to care about this now.
"Contact Anderson immediately!"