Han Jiaxue quickly zeroed in on several feasible trades, primarily involving product exchanges. Many lower civilizations, below level 10 in the interstellar hierarchy, tried their luck on commercial planets like Bupinga Star. They often sold a large quantity of low-technology, low-added-value products, or even directly traded some resources, to get a small amount of Pulun. Then, they would attempt to exchange for high-technology products from higher-level civilizations.
These high-technology products could potentially make the lower civilizations more powerful; if they were lucky enough to reverse-engineer them or gain inspiration, their civilizational level could even increase.
Naturally, such occurrences were not very common; thus, commercial planets like Bupinga Star remained a feasting ground where high-level civilizations exploited lower civilizations.
Fortunately, the Iridium Star Earth civilization was an exploiter here, not the exploited.
With the help of the temporary assistant He Qiu, Han Jiaxue quickly finalized three deals, reaching a total transaction amount of ten thousand Pulun. Bai Zhongqi even speculated that Iridium Star's Atomic Substance Construction Technology was probably the most efficient among all clients on Bupinga Star.
After the trades were concluded, He Qiu received his commission and was all smiles. The Bupinga native now found the "Eagle Shield" people incredibly endearing; though the transaction amounts were not huge and the technological levels were not high, dealing mostly with lower civilizations, both the speed and frequency of transactions were quite impressive.
He Qiu had mostly dealt with lower civilizations before; encountering a customer from the Eagle Shield Civilization was absolutely good luck.
He Qiu even began to help his clients with their planning now: "The civilizational inclination of the guests seems to be towards artificial intelligence and automation, a mechanical civilization aspect. Clearly, Eagle Shield Civilization's technology in artificial intelligence and robotics is on par with some mid to high-level civilizations. Items like large-scale intelligent engineering machinery and engineering spacecraft have always sold very well on Bupinga Star. Artificial intelligence programs are also a high-volume product, though such products generally depend on reputation since many civilizations add backdoors to the AI programs to later invade the buyer's civilization…"
Han Jiaxue did not respond; she was unaware that her boyfriend was also adding backdoors in the sold artificial intelligence and robots, even though it was not intentional—the Supreme Command itself was effectively an inescapable backdoor program. Of course, Bai Zhongqi was merely interested in observing other civilizations and had no active intentions of invasion and plunder.
He Qiu chattered on about his branding strategy, which was essentially about shaping Eagle Shield Civilization as a high-end brand in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics, so that other civilizations would proactively seek to purchase related products afterward.
Bai Zhongqi understood that the smartphones, computers, smart systems, artificial intelligence, and diverse robotic products produced by Iridium Star would definitely sell very well on Bupinga Star. After all, they represented technological levels beyond what a level 20 civilization could even imagine.
Products from high-level civilizations were rarely sold on a large scale in the market. It was not because they lacked production capabilities, but because such products could easily prompt technological advancement in backward civilizations. Although interstellar civilizations in the Galaxy had not yet reached a point of immediate mutual suspicion, like barbarians in a dark forest, an important unwritten rule was not to easily help other civilizations improve their technology, as rapidly growing civilizations might become competitors.
Bai Zhongqi was not planning to do business on Bupinga Star for long, and thus naturally had little interest in He Qiu's various suggestions.
He Qiu felt somewhat disappointed, but he couldn't make decisions for his employer. Even he could see that the Eagle Shield Civilization was no ordinary lower civilization, but a civilization with significant strength and technology, certainly worthy of efforts from the Trade Services Federation to court them.
"Guest, the Eagle Shield Civilization has conducted multiple transactions on Bupinga Star, accumulated a good credit level, and also gained attention from the Federation. The Federation hopes to engage in deeper cooperation with Eagle Shield Civilization and establish a good relationship," He Qiu said, looking very serious and earnest, even more so than when he was dealing in business.
Bai Zhongqi, curious, asked, "What kind of cooperation?"
He Qiu turned around; the automatic door of the meeting room, which opened by sliding up and down into the floor—a design quite different from those on Earth—opened.
A Bupinga native entered, dressed in a silver-gray uniform.
"Allow me to introduce, this is Captain Xiao Tangjian, who has served the Federation for ten years and is a very experienced captain," He Qiu introduced to Bai Zhongqi.
The man named Captain Xiao Tangjian did not appear comfortable; although Bai Zhongqi had learned that expressions on Bupinga natives were different from those in the Primate Clan Humans, after a few days of interaction, he could generally read a Bupinga native's expressions.
"Honored guest, hello." Xiao Tangjian bowed deeply, a gesture not typical of Bupinga customs but one that Bai Zhongqi had taught He Qiu as an Eagle Shield Civilization's formality.
Bai Zhongqi was somewhat confused, but He Qiu then explained, "In Bupinga, we have a tradition: if a client is recognized by us, we provide certain manpower to serve them loyally. Captain Xiao Tangjian and his 1266 men have already been assigned by the Federation to the Eagle Shield Civilization. You may command them freely, even order them to carry out suicidal attacks. I can assure you, Captain Xiao Tangjian and his subordinates are very experienced and useful crew members, capable of fighting as well as other tasks. They will serve you for fifty years; after which, you can send them back to Bupinga."
Suddenly, it clicked for Bai Zhongqi. Certainly, Bupinga did have such a custom—but rather than call it a custom, it was more like the commercial planet's sagacity.
The people of Bupinga were exiles of a higher civilization, and although they had established this commercial planet, they were also relatively vulnerable. Bupinga did have its own fleet, yet their fleet rarely engaged in actual combat. Bupinga had a substantial population; this small planet and other planets under Bupinga's control had a total population in the hundreds of millions. Naturally, not all Bupinga natives became brokers like He Qiu; they had various other professional divisions.
By sending personnel to other friendly civilizations to maneuver warships and engage in combat, Bupinga gained combat experiences. This method also helped Bupinga maintain good relations with these civilizations, many of which would choose to help Bupinga in critical moments. Not to mention, after serving other civilizations, these Bupinga natives might possess more information and secrets about other civilizations, which was very valuable to Bupinga.
For this reason, many civilizations did not repatriate these "hired crew members" from Bupinga; numerous individuals served for life and ended up settling in other civilizations—naturally, many also died in battle.