Barren Star – Chapter 34

Why do you have such high expectations of me?

Baize settled down at the Barren Star Base.

It was a life form refreshed by the system, moving from Moon-gazing Lake to the unfamiliar base. It showed no signs of discomfort, instead acting as if returning to a happy homeland. People like Chang Su and Shen Li already loved fluffy cute creatures, and Ning Buyi wasn’t worried about them causing any trouble. However, regarding the Feng Jiu and Dragon Clans—

            

Based on the little Feng Jiu’s conduct, she didn’t quite believe the circulating rumors and deeply doubted the Beast Star’s education methods.

However, after observing for a while, she quickly felt relieved. Perhaps due to Beast Star’s bone-deep reverence for the “Beast God,” they didn’t cause trouble for Baize, instead treating it like an ancestral deity. Baize quickly surpassed the little Feng Jiu to become the base’s “Mountain King” [informal term meaning boss or leader]. Fortunately, Baize had a good temperament and spent most of its time sleeping.

In the living room.

            

Ning Buyi finally found time to look at the “proposal” Xiong Xun sent her. This fellow’s personality was like his suddenly increased “loyalty level,” wrapped in burning enthusiasm, with every line praising the base’s plants and lamenting the undervaluing of treasures. Ning Buyi scrolled through several pages of the document and found Xiong Xun’s suggestions included “combination mystery boxes,” “high-end and low-end products,” “luxury packaging”… all summing up to the two words “price increase.”

Previously, Ning Buyi hadn’t had time to manage the Starlight Platform’s shop interface, thinking it was enough just to sell things successfully, with no leisure to care about other matters. However, after seeing Xiong Xun’s basket of suggestions, she also felt the shop’s interface needed some decoration. As the purchasing authority for illustrated plant guides opened up, the quantity and variety of listed products would increase, and having everything crowded together wouldn’t look good—at minimum, they needed to be properly categorized.

Ning Buyi remarked with feeling, “The Beast Clan still has talented people.”

            

Hua Zhuoyu was curled up on the sofa watching interstellar news; recently, there had been unrest on Giant Sickle Star, with the Da Xia military stationed at the frontline. Hearing Ning Buyi’s voice, she was briefly distracted and raised her eyebrows at her. Ning Buyi forwarded Xiong Xun’s proposal to Hua Zhuoyu, smiling as she said, “I think his ideas are good.” Any idea that could make money was a good idea.

Hua Zhuoyu skimmed through quickly, and said with a smile: “Although the Bear Clan may be rough and unrefined, to avoid falling to the point of selling bear paws [traditional Chinese delicacy, implying desperate circumstances], they sometimes do use their brains.”

Ning Buyi looked at Hua Zhuoyu, her first impression was that Hua Zhuoyu was making a subtle dig at the Feng Jiu Clan, though she had no proof. Since the suggestion came from Xiong Xun, it could be left in his charge afterward—he had the highest loyalty level in the base besides the four brainwashed honeybees. Having made the decision, Ning Buyi stopped thinking about this matter, her gaze falling on the projected image—in that chaotic place, the thunderous sound of shells occasionally rang out.

            

Ning Buyi frowned in confusion and asked: “Why did fighting break out on Giant Sickle Star?”

“Who knows?” Hua Zhuoyu shrugged, “Ever since Chris became queen, she’s always liked doing meaningless things.”

Ning Buyi: “That’s a development star, isn’t it?”

            

Hua Zhuoyu recalled something, her brows furrowing, a shadow falling over her eyes. “For now, yes,” she answered.

Ning Buyi: “For now? Is Giant Sickle Star’s rating dropping?”

“Yes.” Hua Zhuoyu nodded, “Those planets near the Insect Clan, their ratings are all dropping, with dark pollution concentration exceeding average levels.”

            

Ning Buyi’s eyelid twitched as she blurted out: “Because of the war?”

“I don’t know.” Hua Zhuoyu shook her head, gazing intently at Ning Buyi, blinking as she asked, “Why would you think that?”

Ning Buyi couldn’t explain clearly, she lowered her eyes, and after a while finally said: “Intuition.” She sat up straight, hands pressed on her legs, pursed her lips, and repeated seriously, “Yes, intuition.”

            

“Now that war has broken out there, will you go?” Ning Buyi asked before Hua Zhuoyu could speak.

Hua Zhuoyu gave a light laugh: “What would I go there for? That’s a military matter. If the situation becomes uncontrollable, members of the imperial family will go to the war zone.” The successive rulers of Da Xia had an obligation to go to the battlefield; standing with the warriors was their innate mission.

Ning Buyi made an “oh” sound. She couldn’t clearly remember the war situation on Giant Sickle Star, but if Xia Tu personally went to the battlefield, they shouldn’t be defeated, and at that time a key plot point would appear—capturing the Insect Clan queen and injecting her with black lock. After thinking for a while, Ning Buyi began to worry about Barren Star’s fate. After all, the novel mentioned it briefly, defining it as a territory of three-way conflict. If it really became a battlefield, even if Barren Star wasn’t condemned by the Star Court, her outcome didn’t seem very promising. The military’s high-tech weapons could level the Barren Star base to the ground.

            

Ning Buyi didn’t understand: “Why does the Insect Clan insist on war?”

Hua Zhuoyu’s tone was very calm, like a dispassionate observer: “Maybe that race is naturally chaotic and destructive. However, when the former queen was in power, everything was well controlled. Perhaps because she herself was the source of chaos, she could control chaos.”

“Can the former queen return to power?” Ning Buyi asked, naturally hoping the entire Greedy Wolf Star System could coexist peacefully. Cruel wars could destroy civilized creations, bringing blood and tears that couldn’t be erased even after a thousand years.

            

Hua Zhuoyu: “I don’t know.” Meeting Ning Buyi’s somewhat disappointed gaze, she snorted, “I only bear the responsibility of judgment, I’m not an omniscient god. Even the Supreme’s spokesperson isn’t supreme. Isn’t it normal not to know?”

“Why do you have such high expectations of me? Am I such a great figure in your mind?” Hua Zhuoyu asked again.

Ning Buyi: “…” She was completely defeated by Hua Zhuoyu’s brazenness—who would ask such things?! “Mmhmm, yes yes yes.” Ning Buyi nodded, her perfunctory attitude obvious.

            

Mid-eighth month of the Da Xia calendar.

It had been over two months since Ning Buyi landed on Barren Star, and the base’s area had expanded more than twofold, equivalent to a medium-sized city district. The variety of plants in the cultivation area gradually increased, rice entered a new planting cycle, and the base became self-sufficient in food, finally able to completely abandon nutritional supplements. However, for Ning Buyi, the most important thing was still the significant improvement in the Mountain Sea Atlas’s dark pollution absorption capacity. After planting medium-absorption-capacity plants, even without absorbing dark pollution from wild beasts, the atlas could accumulate a certain reserve, and within a week could unlock new plants—of course, referring to ordinary species with average absorption ability.

In the flower field area.

            

Besides lavender, Ning Buyi also bought Chinese milkvetch, sunflowers, roses, and other plants from the atlas—these were honey source or auxiliary honey source plants, since “honey” revenue occupied a significant portion of the base’s income. However, this meant that even though the four honeybees were formidable, they couldn’t keep up with all the work. Ning Buyi initially thought about the war between Giant Sickle Star and the Insect Clan, wondering if they could get some Insect Clan prisoners, but worried about potential problems. After much consideration, she could only set her sights on Beast Star.

In the interstellar era, real butterflies no longer existed, but Beast Star still had butterfly-form creatures. Originally, butterflies only gathered food for themselves, but butterfly-form creatures weren’t just butterfly genes—they had other complex components and could become “honey-gathering butterflies.”

In the small house.

            

Feng Yi and Ning Buyi sat facing each other.

Although Hua Zhuoyu wasn’t here, Feng Yi still felt tense looking at Ning Buyi, as if facing a great enemy.

For someone who owed money, trying to act tough was just wishful thinking.

            

Ning Buyi cleared her throat: “Crown Princess, I’d like to ask you something.”

Feng Yi collected herself and replied politely: “Please speak.”

Ning Buyi went straight to the point: “On Beast Star, are there any butterfly-form creatures friendly to the Da Xia civilization? Preferably hardworking ones.”

            

As the Crown Princess who would inherit the Phoenix King’s position in the Ten Thousand Beasts Alliance Council, Feng Yi naturally knew all the large and small races on Beast Star inside out. Without hesitation, she said: “Beast Star has seventy-two types of butterfly-form life, but few are friendly to Da Xia civilization.” Some people from Da Xia liked to make butterflies into specimens and hang them on walls, and even though officials severely cracked down on this behavior, many people still risked it for huge sums of money, making butterfly-form families deeply despise Da Xia people.

“Few doesn’t mean none.”

“Yes. The Golden Ming Phoenix-tailed Butterfly is relatively friendly to Da Xia civilization, but only to the civilization itself. Their race is very fierce, with countless space pirates having died at their hands.”

            

“That’s fine. I have no interest in butterfly specimens,” Ning Buyi thought for a moment, “Can we invite them to help at the base?”

“With an official document from the Ten Thousand Beasts Alliance Council, they would come, but they might not be willing in their hearts,” Feng Yi said seriously, “You could ask Feng Sheng and Xiong Xun about this matter. If they’re willing to convince their little brothers to come, and then bring their families along, there would be nothing to worry about.”

Ning Buyi looked confused: “Feng Sheng?” If she remembered correctly, there was no one by that name among the Feng Jiu.

            

Feng Yi paused, then answered: “Feng Ermao.”

The small houses in the base were in rows, close to the cafeteria and administrative hall. Ning Buyi walked out of Feng Yi’s house, and after a few steps found the house with “Feng Ermao” hanging on it.

Ning Buyi knocked on the door.

            

A “come in” sound came from inside.

Ning Buyi pushed open the door and immediately saw a decadent young woman sprawled on the sofa. She was as distinctive as her nickname “Ermao,” fundamentally different from other Feng Jiu who constantly maintained their dignity.

“Has the Lord come to bring me my helmet and controllers?” Feng Ermao looked at Ning Buyi expectantly. She hadn’t brought any of her gaming console, helmet, or armor equipment.

            

Ning Buyi: “…” In the atlas’s introduction to “Feng Ermao,” there were four red characters stating “gaming addiction.” Ning Buyi covered her mouth and coughed lightly, beginning to paint a grand picture, “There will be a gaming hall in the future.”

Feng Ermao’s eyes were full of longing: “When in the future? How long will it take?”

‘It’ll take forever,’ Ning Buyi thought to herself. She met Feng Ermao’s gaze and put on her most sincere expression: “The base construction needs to proceed step by step. We’re short-handed now, so we can’t build it yet.”

            

“No problem, I can call people!” Feng Ermao perked up immediately at these words—she might not have much else, but she had plenty of fox and dog friends [meaning: casual acquaintances] to sell by the pound.

“But the base has limited positions,” Ning Buyi showed a troubled expression, “If we only opened residency rights to the Golden Ming Phoenix-tailed Butterflies…”

Feng Ermao didn’t care about rights or permissions; she scrambled up in one motion, her beautiful eyes glistening with excited tears as she shouted: “Golden Ming Phoenix-tailed Butterflies! I know them! I’ll contact Jin Feifei right away!”

            

Ning Buyi left the row of small houses, feeling satisfied.

She had originally thought about telling Monasha and the others this good news, but then thought better of it, worried that if the Golden Ming Phoenix-tailed Butterfly Clan ultimately disagreed, it would lead to false hopes. She dismissed this thought, but didn’t stop her steps toward the lavender field. One good thing about crops in the interstellar world was that they didn’t need to consider seasons anymore—under the irrigation of special cultivation agents, as one batch withered, another would bloom.

When Ning Buyi reached the edge of the field, she immediately glimpsed Hua Zhuoyu sitting outside the house.

            

From those affectionate eyes, one could see her obsession with plants.

“In a good mood?” Hua Zhuoyu turned to look at Ning Buyi, always able to sense her emotions instantly.

“Indeed, quite good.” Ning Buyi nodded sincerely, almost ready to whistle and sing.

            

Hua Zhuoyu shifted her position, patting the bench twice lightly, gesturing for Ning Buyi to come to her side. Ning Buyi didn’t refuse; she walked over to Hua Zhuoyu with leisurely steps, smoothed her clothes behind her, and sat down with her legs together. She caught a whiff of faint fragrance, unsure whether it came from the boundless flower sea or from the unmistakable presence beside her.

“The Golden Ming Phoenix-tailed Butterflies might come,” Ning Buyi volunteered.

“Their original form is beautiful.” Hua Zhuoyu gazed at Ning Buyi.

            

If she hadn’t said “their,” Ning Buyi would have thought the word “beautiful” was describing herself—all because of Hua Zhuoyu’s deceptively expressive eyes.

Hua Zhuoyu curved her lips into a smile: “They’re naturally blessed, favored by the creator like the Feng Jiu Clan—there’s no ugly, misshapen gourds among them.”

“Really?” Ning Buyi’s eyes widened; any normal person would enjoy looking at beautiful people, as it could improve one’s mood.

            

“But I think caring too much about physical beauty is superficial,” Hua Zhuoyu suddenly changed her tone.

Ning Buyi connected the context and finally detected some underlying meaning. “Are you calling me superficial?” Ning Buyi asked.

Hua Zhuoyu: “I’m not. I just—” She thought for a moment, revealing a light smile, “just think you should look at me more often.”

            

When Ning Buyi heard these words, she was already gazing at Hua Zhuoyu’s flawless face.

She withdrew her gaze as if shocked by electricity, turning it toward the sea of flowers ahead. A gentle wind caressed her cheeks, gradually dispersing the warmth in her heart as she casually pretended: “If you stare at one person too long, you’ll get aesthetic fatigue.”

Hua Zhuoyu laughed lightly: “A person can have countless appearances, if you want to see them.”

            

Ning Buyi’s heart pounded chaotically; unconsciously, she had moved closer to Hua Zhuoyu, as if about to nestle into her embrace. Ning Buyi pulled back her wandering thoughts, took a deep breath, and asked: “Have you run out of places to display your charm?”

“Why would you think that?” Hua Zhuoyu cast a peculiar sideways glance at Ning Buyi, “I say these things to you because I like you a little bit.”

The word “like” hit like a great wave, nearly washing away Ning Buyi’s composure. A flush appearing on her face, Ning Buyi lowered her head, not wanting Hua Zhuoyu to see her expression. After chewing over these words several times, she finally said: “A little bit?”

            

“Yes, just a little bit for now.” Hua Zhuoyu’s voice rose like a lazy evening breeze. At present, compared to Ning Buyi, she preferred the verdant life itself more.

“Why?” Ning Buyi asked.

“Do you think it’s a lot or a little?”

            

This topic was difficult to answer, and Ning Buyi had no intention of answering.

Her demeanor was relaxed. She secretly thought that many years later, when Hua Zhuoyu disappeared from her life, she would probably still remember the happiness of hearing Hua Zhuoyu say “like.”

On an August night, the vast and profound firmament was dotted with starlight, like a brilliant Milky Way.

            

Feng Ermao sat cross-legged on the sofa, busily contacting her friend Jin Feifei from her contact list. She had met Jin Feifei while playing “Storm Empire” [a retro game], where Jin Feifei was a top player and a golden thigh [meaning: someone who helps weaker players].

“I heard your mom threw you out to mine minerals, I didn’t believe it before, but now it seems true,” Jin Feifei’s image appeared in mid-air, her critical gaze sweeping across the narrow room before landing on Feng Ermao.

Feng Ermao firmly denied the mining matter, snorting coldly: “I’m here to enjoy life.”

            

Jin Feifei: “Then… want to play games together? I see that romance scammer is online.”

Feng Ermao became furious at hearing “romance scammer,” wanting to immediately go online and beat them up. In her naive youth, she had tried online dating and was scammed until she had only two coppers left. The scammer was truly vicious—scamming her feelings was one thing, but how could they scam her hard-earned money?

“Don’t have your gaming equipment? Where are you? I’ll buy you a new one.” Jin Feifei waved her hand, showing off her wealth.

            

Feng Ermao righteously declared: “Don’t try to corrupt me with gaming consoles, I’m someone with a proper job now.”

Jin Feifei: “Oh, you’ll probably get fired in a couple of days.”

Feng Ermao: “…Don’t talk nonsense!”

            

Jin Feifei asked again: “Then tell me what you’re doing now? Haven’t been scammed by some heartless capitalist, have you? Look at this doghouse—it’s smaller than my bathtub.”

Although Jin Feifei’s words were crude, she wasn’t wrong—this room wasn’t as nice as a luxury bathtub. She actually wanted to sleep in the flower sea like little Feng Jiu, but unfortunately, she wasn’t a fledgling anymore and couldn’t win the Lord’s favor. She considered for a moment before speaking: “I’m engaged in a great undertaking; in the future, I will be remembered by history as a pioneer.”

Jin Feifei had no patience for Feng Ermao’s grandiose speech and rolled her eyes uncouthly: “Speak plainly.”

            

Feng Ermao was stumped, immediately deflating: “Pioneering wilderness.”

Jin Feifei: “Really? Your mother is that heartless?”

Feng Ermao thought for a moment: “It’s not too bad, our Crown Princess is also working here.” Afraid that Jin Feifei would have too poor an impression of the base and be unwilling to come contribute, Feng Ermao changed the topic. She bent down and rummaged around for a while, pulling out a glass bottle full of dried lavender from the tea table, showing it off to Jin Feifei proudly, “Look, what’s this?”

            

Jin Feifei’s eyelid twitched: “Dried flowers? Which company’s imitation?” She wasn’t moved—her home was full of artificial flowers, even the walls were painted to look like a flower sea. Unfortunately, they didn’t have their ancestors’ luck and could no longer use flowers as beds, instead being confined to cold metal spaces.

Feng Ermao gave Jin Feifei a sideways glance: “How ignorant, these are real flowers.”

Jin Feifei asked in surprise: “Really? You’re not tricking me, are you?”

            

Feng Ermao glared at her unhappily: “Have I ever tricked you?”

Jin Feifei put on a thoughtful expression, and after a moment, nodded seriously: “Yes, many times. When we first met, you used a male avatar to trick me.”

Feng Ermao’s gaze flickered, saying innocently: “Was that so?”

            

Jin Feifei nodded; she had thought Feng Ermao was a cute milk dog [meaning: young and innocent male], but the outcome wasn’t much different from a “pretty boy”, since Feng Ermao was quite fair-skinned too.

Feng Ermao: “Xiong Xun is also here.”

Jin Feifei’s expression showed interest, her tone becoming more urgent: “Is your boss really that generous? Real flowers can’t even be found on the black market.”

            

Feng Ermao: “The boss is a great Lord.” Thinking of the future gaming hall construction, Feng Ermao felt a burning excitement in her heart. She looked at Jin Feifei and encouraged, “I heard your mom keeps pressuring you to get married? It’s no big deal—once you leave Beast Star, you’ll be far from authority, and your mom won’t be able to control you. Don’t you want to enter the adult world?”

Jin Feifei thoroughly despised Feng Ermao: “As if you’ve entered it.” Though that wasn’t entirely accurate—she was old enough. “Let me think about it,” Jin Feifei sighed. “Leaving home” was easy to say, but she hadn’t left Beast Star even for schooling in all her years.

Feng Ermao’s eyes shifted, knowing from Jin Feifei’s words that she was interested. She reached under the tea table and pulled out a white porcelain vase with a bunch of lavender, decorated with a red ribbon tied in a beautiful butterfly knot.

            

If seeing the dried flowers had made Jin Feifei’s heart skip a beat, now seeing the fresh, vibrant flower stems, she couldn’t take her eyes off them, desperately wanting to touch them. “Quick, quick, sensory sharing!” Jin Feifei urged impatiently. Seeing Feng Ermao only grunt twice without moving, she softened her tone and threw a flirtatious look: “Feng Er, Feng Sheng, little Shengsheng—”

Feng Ermao felt a chill at these words but activated the sensory sharing as Jin Feifei asked.

Jin Feifei stopped talking and directly transformed into a beautiful Golden Ming Phoenix-tailed Butterfly, clinging tightly to the bunch of lavender. The golden flowing patterns on her wings trembled up and down, emitting dazzling fragments of light, while the two thin black antennae on her head swayed left and right with excitement.

            

Although Feng Ermao also liked fresh flowers, she only appreciated them, unlike Jin Feifei’s complete intoxication.

“Enough?” Feng Ermao poked the seemingly fragile butterfly wings. But in reality, during battle mode, these beautiful wings could create wind blades that could cut in half even the supposedly hardest metals in interstellar space.

Jin Feifei: “Tonight I want to sleep on the flower stems.”

            

Feng Ermao: “…That would be very inconvenient for me.”

Jin Feifei: “It doesn’t matter, even if you stripped naked and danced in front of me, I wouldn’t take my eyes off these beautiful flowers.” The vibrant life force in the flower stems was something the artificial flowers at home could never possess. Just one minute of nestling against these lovely, charming flowers could clear away all the negative emotions from losing ten games in a row.

By the stars, Feng Ermao—known for scamming, causing trouble, being terrible at games yet addicted to them—had finally done something worthwhile.

            

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