Barren Star – Chapter 3

Then you’d better become a corpse.

Ning Buyi had no intention of looking after the “prisoner.”

She sat beside the vegetable plot, gazing worriedly at the ten-square-meter cabbage field.

            

After absorbing the dark pollution from Hua Zhuoyu, small changes occurred in Mountain Sea Atlas—those dark pollution quantities now had units. What were previously indefinable “points” were now cubic meters. Indeed, the previous vegetable seeds were a beginner’s gift package. With her current 0.5 cubic meters of dark pollution, she couldn’t purchase any new seeds or plants.

Could she survive on the extremely low absorption efficiency of cabbage? This was clearly unrealistic. If dark pollution could be absorbed from human bodies, did that mean she needed to leave the base to hunt contaminated beasts in the outer regions? But how could she fight against interstellar beasts? With unwavering determination alone?

Another troubling matter was that the base lacked resources—without paying fees for two months, the power would be cut off. How could she earn money? Should she contact the head of the Ning family and ask for hefty child support? Speaking of which, they must know by now that the Barren Star had been bound to her? With no news until now, they probably intended to let her fend for herself, just like this planet.

            

Ning Buyi cut off a cabbage head and weighed it in her hand, half-jokingly sighing: “What a fine neck, who shall chop it!” (a reference to a classical Chinese saying, expressing both admiration and a hint of futility). If only the almighty golden finger could have bound her to a civilized star instead! Throwing her onto a barren planet, forcing her to hang her head on her waistband (an idiom meaning to live dangerously). This second chance at life wasn’t easy to get, and it’s even harder to preserve. Her parents from her previous life must have narrowed her path by giving her such an unlucky name—she should have been called “Juyi” (meaning living easily) instead.

While Ning Buyi was eating raw cabbage in her melancholy state, the robot detected that Hua Zhuoyu was “hungry” and fed her a nutrition shot. Interstellar humans had developed various flavored nutrition shots in pursuit of taste, but in the base on the Barren Star, there was obviously only the most basic kind.

Hua Zhuoyu didn’t particularly like this flavor, but she still swallowed the strange-tasting nutrition shot with furrowed brows.

            

In her past twenty-some years, she had faced numerous crises, but none as humiliating as now. Though her limbs were perfectly functional, she was tied to a bed, being served by a robot. Her smile towards the robot lacked its previous gentleness, instead turning cold, like a newly sharpened knife.

“Beidou,” Hua Zhuoyu spoke deliberately, maintaining her composure despite being a prisoner. Her gaze was like a boundless deep sea, as if everything was under her control.

“Respected guest, Beidou is willing to help ease your concerns,” the robot bowed to Hua Zhuoyu.

            

Hua Zhuoyu smiled mockingly: “Drop your affected tone, I know you can understand.” “Beidou” was the most satisfying creation of Carlson, the “God’s Hand” father of interstellar artificial intelligence. It possessed human appearance and emotions, touching upon the realm of “forbidden.” Before his death, Carlson decided to destroy “Beidou,” but it escaped and appeared on this barren planet.

As soon as Hua Zhuoyu finished speaking, Beidou’s right hand switched to semi-combat mode, transforming into a gun pressed against her forehead. Hua Zhuoyu showed no sign of fear, even letting out a light laugh. Meeting Beidou’s emotionless eyes, she said: “Release me. Black Lock.”

“Black Lock” was a special set of nanomachines that could control the central nervous system, typically used by the Da Xia military to control prisoners. Hua Zhuoyu was offering to trade “Black Lock” for her freedom. This Barren Star was full of mysteries. Before the crash, she clearly sensed that her dark pollution levels had exceeded the limit, yet when she woke up again, the dark pollution was maintained at a controllable level. It was impossible for advanced treatment pods to exist on the Barren Star, and among those she knew with such capabilities, none were nearby.

            

How did Ning Buyi remove the troublesome “dark pollution” from her body?

After weighing the pros and cons, Beidou decided to follow Hua Zhuoyu’s suggestion, as it also didn’t want to look after a “prisoner.” After injecting Hua Zhuoyu with the “Black Lock,” it untied her restraints. This led to Ning Buyi, completely unprepared, seeing Hua Zhuoyu appear before her.

“Cough cough—”

            

At that moment, Ning Buyi didn’t have time to worry about whether Hua Zhuoyu would repay kindness with enmity, but rather feared becoming the first interstellar human to choke to death.

“Sorry for startling you, I mean no harm,” Hua Zhuoyu winked at Ning Buyi. She controlled her gaze, keeping it fixed on Ning Buyi’s face rather than looking at the “vegetables” that shocked her immensely. She had imagined strange things appearing in the base, but no matter how she stretched her imagination, fresh vegetables were beyond her expectations.

Such luxuries only appeared in research bases, and even the royal family could hardly enjoy them daily.

            

Their “luxury items” were technological creations, substitutes, as real plants were on the brink of extinction throughout the entire Greedy Wolf Star System.

After recovering her composure, Ning Buyi immediately looked at Beidou with reproach: “Why did you let her out?”

Beidou’s mechanical voice responded: “The guest’s danger level has decreased, and Black Lock has been injected.”

            

Black Lock? Ning Buyi searched her memory for information about it. She quickly learned that it was a device produced specifically for prisoners, a symbol of slavery. In the original plot, when the Queen of the Insect Race was captured by the Imperial Prince, she was injected with “Black Lock” and lived a humiliating life under his control until she became one of his concubines, leading to a “happily ever after” ending.

Having Black Lock was better than keeping someone tied to a bed constantly. Ning Buyi collected herself and stared at the robot: “Don’t act on your own next time.” She didn’t particularly like the existence of “Black Lock” which humiliated people, but given Hua Zhuoyu’s unknown level of danger, the presence of “Black Lock” was necessary.

Beidou: “Understood, master.”

            

Satisfied with Beidou’s assurance, Ning Buyi nodded.

She raised her eyes to look at Hua Zhuoyu.

She had cleaned up before coming out.

            

Having removed her blood-stained clothes, she wore only a knee-length shirt that covered her tender white thighs.

That shirt was hers!

Ning Buyi: “…” She forced herself to move her gaze away from those long legs and gave Hua Zhuoyu a fake smile, “Ms. Zhuo, don’t you think your current appearance is rather inappropriate?”

            

Hua Zhuoyu looked down at herself, adjusted her shirt sleeve, and said: “Sorry.” After a pause, she added, “But there’s no one else in the base, and I don’t have any other clothes to change into.”

A vein pulsed on Ning Buyi’s forehead.

Wasn’t she someone worth being wary of?

            

After thinking for a moment, she asked: “What about in the spaceship?” The spaceship had crashed in the base’s western sector, and with no robot present and her own combat ability being low, she hadn’t dared leave the base’s protected area to check.

“Perhaps,” Hua Zhuoyu gave an ambiguous answer.

After much internal debate, Ning Buyi turned to Beidou: “B23, go take a look.” B23 was the intelligent robot’s code number, though before a second person appeared, Ning Buyi hadn’t needed to address her specifically.

            

“My name is Beidou.” The robot’s voice sounded as she bowed to Ning Buyi, “Yes, master.”

Even just facing Hua Zhuoyu like this, Ning Buyi still felt nervous.

She turned in place once, then watched Hua Zhuoyu vigilantly: “Since you landed on my planet, you’re my spoils of war.”

            

Hua Zhuoyu responded promptly: “Alright.” But before Ning Buyi could breathe a sigh of relief, she stared at her and added, “However, Miss Ning wouldn’t need my personal undergarments, would you?”

What did that mean? Did she think she was some huge pervert who kept women’s clothing? How could she think that? Ning Buyi’s face reddened with anger, and she loudly protested: “I would never!”

“I know Miss Ning wouldn’t,” Hua Zhuoyu agreed, nodding quite approvingly.

            

Ning Buyi felt increasingly uncomfortable, but facing those gentle peach blossom eyes brimming like autumn waters, she found herself tongue-tied. Patting her cheeks, she deliberately changed the subject: “As you can see, there’s no one else in this base except you and me. To be honest, the energy supply will only last two months, and the nutrition shots will last even less time.”

Hua Zhuoyu tilted her head: “And then?”

What did she mean ‘and then’? She glared at Hua Zhuoyu: “Anyway, find a way to leave here yourself, the sooner the better. When you leave, I’ll have B… Beidou remove the Black Lock from you.”

            

Hua Zhuoyu countered: “What about you?”

Ning Buyi’s face darkened – what else could she do besides stay here and pioneer this wasteland?

Seeing Ning Buyi’s expression, Hua Zhuoyu knew she’d stepped on a landmine. She apologized quickly: “I’m sorry.”

            

Ning Buyi’s eyebrows twitched anxiously as she waved her hand: “It has nothing to do with you.”

Hua Zhuoyu: “I’ll probably have to stay here.”

Ning Buyi: “…” So she was apologizing for planning to freeload here.

            

Hua Zhuoyu: “My chip is destroyed, so I temporarily can’t contact people outside, and moreover—”

“And moreover what?”

“And moreover, I have no one to contact,” Hua Zhuoyu looked ashamed, “I will find a way to resolve the resource and nutrition shot situation.”

            

Ning Buyi didn’t believe her: “Aren’t you destitute? How will you resolve it?”

Hua Zhuoyu looked at Ning Buyi sincerely: “When the time comes, I’ll have to trouble Miss Ning to use your account. I can go out to hunt beasts – their claws, fangs, scales, and even blood can be sold for some money.”

Ning Buyi’s focus was different from Hua Zhuoyu’s, and she asked repeatedly: “Trading? I understand about energy transmission, but can the Barren Star actually conduct material trades with the outside? Will ships come here to unload cargo? If that’s the case, couldn’t you just leave on one of the cargo ships?”

            

Hua Zhuoyu fell silent, and only after a long while did she speak: “Would you feel at ease letting me leave? Do you understand what a stir these fresh vegetables would cause?”

Ning Buyi’s eyelids twitched violently. She hadn’t thought of that before, but after Hua Zhuoyu pointed it out, she broke into a cold sweat.

She stared intently at Hua Zhuoyu, her face cold: “Then you’d better become a corpse.”

            

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