Barren Star – Chapter 55
by Little PandaPitiful.
May.
After the “Interstellar Court” incident, the usually quiet “Mystery No. 1” Star Micro account posted a new message.
Mystery No. 1: The Mountain and Sea Star Base has decided to receive its first batch of investigation teams. Here is the list: Civilization Investigation Team, Sprout Investigation Team, Xiazhen Investigation Team, Extreme Investigation Team, Beast Star Investigation Team…
โHuh? Mountain and Sea Star is allowing tourists now? When will it be my turn?
โWake up, those are investigation teams.
โListen up people above, the others are investigation teams, but I can guarantee the “Extreme Investigation Team” isn’t one. It’s clearly set up by those spoiled rich kids from the “Extreme Club.” Why do they get to go? Can I just pay to get in?
…
Though Ning Buyi hadn’t known about the “Extreme Investigation Team” before, upon seeing their messy documentation, she knew it was just a temporarily assembled group of amateurs whose purpose certainly wasn’t research. At first, she thought they might be an intelligence organization, but after searching for information related to “Extreme,” she immediately understood – they were just a bunch of walking money bags. She originally didn’t want to approve them, but then thought since the Xiazhen Investigation Team belonging to the Supervisory Department was allowed in, letting these troublemakers in wouldn’t matter much, and might even help irritate that d*mned male lead.
Just as Ning Buyi had predicted, when Xia Tu received the news, he flew into a rage.
He had heard about the investigation teams’ approval from the Supervisory Department, hoping at least one of his many investigation teams would be approved, but unexpectedly all were rejected! Those research bases where his investigation teams came from were comparable in both scale and achievements to the teams under the Supervisory Department. They even received “Extreme” but rejected his investigation teams – it was clearly deliberate.
Why would the Mountain and Sea Star Base do this? Could it be because of the previous perfume company incident? But hadn’t True Wood already gone bankrupt? He hadn’t done anything against the Mountain and Sea Star Base. Could it be they had already allied with the Supervisory Department? Was the previous Ning family incident just a smokescreen? The more Xia Tu thought about it, the more likely it seemed, and his hatred and disgust toward the Supervisory Department reached new heights.
If Mountain and Sea Star had truly allied with the Supervisory Department, dealing with them would become incredibly difficult. Moreover, the Supervisory Department had been getting closer to Xia Tai recently, giving him an unprecedented sense of crisis. Even with His Majesty the Emperor’s support, his position as Crown Prince would be precarious, after all, Da Xia was never ruled by their word alone.
“Si Xun, do you know anything about the relationship between the Supervisory Department and Mountain and Sea Star?” Xia Tu stared at his personal guard with cold eyes.
Si Xun shook his head. Without official business, he rarely returned to the Si family. After all, choosing the Crown Prince meant he had cut ties with everything related to the Si family and the Supervisory Department.
“Really?” Xia Tu asked expressionlessly.
Si Xun’s heart sank; from Xia Tu’s tone, he understood the other party had begun to suspect him. “Since following Your Highness, I’ve had no connection to the Si family’s authority,” Si Xun explained.
Xia Tu sneered, “Are you blaming me?”
Si Xun: “…”
“Come here, do something for me.” Speaking thus, Xia Tu beckoned to Si Xun, gesturing him to lean in and listen.
Eastern Tourist Area of Aurora City, Mountain and Sea Star.
With sufficient building materials, everyone quickly set up a temporary park area, with the “Experience Zone” and “Sightseeing Zone” occupying most of the space. The former was wasteland, waiting for industrious Da Xia people to cultivate, while the latter was a planting area containing all the fruits and vegetables available on the Starlight Platform.
The remaining small area was divided into a “Rest Area” and “Laboratory.” The former had multiple windows for selling Mountain and Sea Star specialties, while the latter was equipped with experimental equipment for the investigation teams to use – though not for free, of course.
“There’s still this empty space here, feels like something’s missing.” Ning Buyi walked around the plot of less than one mu [about 667 square meters], frowning in thought.
“An arcade with gaming machines!” Feng Ermao, who was following behind Ning Buyi, immediately shouted her suggestion upon hearing the mumble. She had seen the gaming area in Aurora City, but unfortunately, it was a restricted area she didn’t have access to. She could only look on enviously. If only she could convince the lord to move the gaming area here.
“Always thinking about games.” Jin Feifei flicked Feng Ermao’s forehead with her finger, snorting, “They’re investigation teams, they certainly didn’t come here to play games.”
“Perhaps we could dig a pond to raise some fish,” Xiong Xun suggested. The base had a small breeding area where chicks and ducklings purchased from the Starlight Platform were raised. After some time of feeding, the pollution in their genes gradually disappeared, and even the common quality poultry could match Da Xia’s premium ingredients. As for the high-quality, individually raised ones – they were legendary delicacies! The meat was excellent, but Xiong Xun still wanted to eat fish.
“Who would come all the way to Mountain and Sea Star just to fish?” Feng Ermao retorted.
Common fish fry in Da Xia wouldn’t arouse anyone’s curiosity, but what about the rare “Wenmanyu” [ๆ้ณ้ญ | wรฉn yรกo yรบ | a fish with wings]? The Mountain and Sea Atlas had already opened up purchase rights for this “strange beast.” Though classified as a strange beast like Baize and the Nine-Tailed Fox, the Wenmanyu was different – it had no special abilities and currently could only serve as an ornamental fish.
Ning Buyi thought for a moment, then said: “Let’s dig it.”
Xiong Xun’s face lit up with joy at these words, while Feng Ermao looked utterly dejected, her eyes filling with tears as she gazed at Ning Buyi: “My gaming hall! Lord, you promised me an arcade before!”
Ning Buyi blinked: “Isn’t it in Aurora City?”
Feng Ermao: “…” But she couldn’t even get in!
Ning Buyi turned to Feng Ermao and said seriously: “Next time, definitely next time.” Unlocking areas in Aurora City consumed massive amounts of dark pollution, and this process didn’t benefit the growth of the golden seeds at all, so naturally it was pushed to the back of the queue. However, workers indeed needed “work-life balance,” so perhaps after the next batch of plants absorbed large amounts of dark pollution, they could try opening up entertainment facilities.
June 12th.
The investigation team from Beast Star arrived first, though the leader wasn’t Feng Yi or Ling Shu, but Jin Wei from the Jin Ming Phoenix Butterfly Clan – Jin Feifei’s mother.
“You unlucky troublemaker, why haven’t you sent any news back home? If it weren’t for the free market opening up, your mother wouldn’t even know you were living the good life here. You unfilial daughter.” The moment Jin Wei saw Jin Feifei, she began her “education of love.”
“She did it on purpose, said she was afraid you’d come and keep pushing her to get married.” Feng Ermao secretly rejoiced, seizing the opportunity to tattle to Jin Wei, completely ignoring Jin Feifei’s “death glare.”
However, Jin Wei was still mindful of outsiders, so she just gave a light cough and ruffled Jin Feifei’s head. She glanced at the curious youngsters in the “investigation team” – actual investigation was impossible. “After this is over, these youngsters will stay at Mountain and Sea Star. They can do anything, and if they can’t, just beat them into shape.” Jin Wei turned to Ning Buyi and said.
Ning Buyi silently marveled at the Beast Race’s straightforward education methods, and smiled gently at Jin Wei: “Thank you for your trouble.”
Jin Wei waved her hand: “No trouble at all, no trouble.” After a pause, she explained, “Princess Feng Yi was supposed to come, but something came up with the Beast Alliance Council, and she couldn’t get away.”
Ning Buyi acknowledged this with a sound, not particularly concerned about who led the team. She only asked: “How is little Feng Jiu?”
Jin Wei was stunned for a moment before responding: “She passed the ritual and can now transform into human form. She’s learning to be human.” Princess Feng Yi was obedient and sensible as a child, and even the unreliable Phoenix King of the Feng Jiu Clan showed proper bearing from a young age, but little Feng Jiu somehow turned out different – as if she was raised by dragons. The terrible StarNet had corrupted her young mind, and she would launch indiscriminate verbal attacks as soon as she opened her mouth.
Ning Buyi was relieved to hear this answer and immediately put little Feng Jiu out of her mind.
Interstellar Route.
A silver spacecraft was moving rapidly along its trajectory, shuttling through the dark starspace, leaving behind space stations, satellites, and unknown planets as it actively headed toward Mountain and Sea Star’s embrace.
The ship’s AI was checking dark pollution levels, with red lights flashing intensely like a warning signal.
“This is the first time in my life I’ve heard such a harsh broadcast,” Susan remarked curiously. She was a member of the Extreme Investigation Team. Although Mountain and Sea Star Base had approved their application for fifteen people, they could only gather six people, and two of them suddenly backed out. Now only four people sat in this massive spacecraft: Susan, Alan, Xu Jing, and Lu Zhijin.
“Shows how little you’ve experienced,” Alan said with a grin. “Go visit more barren stars, and you’ll find the world out there is really terrible. I suspect those two backed out because they were afraid of the dark pollution.”
“Warning! Warning!” The AI shrieked again.
Alan remained relaxed, shrugging his shoulders: “Quiet down, partner, it’s just dark pollution, isn’t it?”
The moment his words fell, they felt the spacecraft violently shake, as if hit by a missile.
“F*ck!” Xu Jing jumped up, unable to hold back his curse. Though they were a group of wealthy young masters, all with some background, they rarely encountered attacks during ordinary interstellar travel. However, due to cosmic dark pollution, they seldom ventured beyond civilized stars. This time, they only made the trip to increase their “bragging rights.”
The spacecraft was fairly sturdy, only shaking violently after being hit by a missile, without showing any cracks.
“Can we lock onto them?” Lu Zhijin calmly asked the AI’s virtual avatar that materialized before them.
The AI responded: “The ambushers have an anti-detection system.”
Lu Zhijin thought for a moment, her eyes flickering: “Then activate the defense system and charge full speed toward Mountain and Sea Star!” The attackers’ identity was unknown, and with only four of them, engaging in space combat was unrealistic. She just wondered whether this was a warning or an attempt to eliminate them completely?
Her confusion was quickly answered.
Appearing on the screen was a space pirate ship flying a strange flag, seemingly unconcerned about being visible to Lu Zhijin and her companions.
“Space pirates! Raise our cannons and crush them!” The young man who had been startled earlier became cocky again seeing the spacecraft undamaged, getting caught up in a surge of heroic spirit.
Lu Zhijin kicked him, saying coldly: “F*ck off! Get to work and hurry into Mountain and Sea Star’s territory!” What good was high defense? Even official authorities were powerless against these space pirate organizations – how could they possibly challenge them?
Ning Buyi sensed it as soon as the spacecraft entered Mountain and Sea Star’s territory.
After the last upgrade of the Mountain and Sea Atlas, her “Dominate” skill had advanced further, also enhancing her sensory abilities.
“Beidou, bring up the star map.” Ning Buyi trusted her instincts and spoke without hesitation. A star map appeared before her, indeed showing the trail of pursuing spacecraft. The front vessel had navigation permission, showing as a green dot on the map, while the one behind appeared as a red dot. Ning Buyi didn’t care about their background and directly ordered Beidou to activate the “Sky Fortress” – after acquiring money, the base’s shield had been upgraded repeatedly, far surpassing ordinary military engineering to construct a floating military fortress.
Each activation of this military fortress consumed enormous amounts of star coins, but for Mountain and Sea Star’s future, Ning Buyi was willing to bear this cost.
“Their pursuit speed has increased, seemingly trying to take advantage and break into Mountain and Sea Star. Beidou, lock onto target and attack.”
The “uninvited guests” were quite arrogant, and Ning Buyi was certain they were space pirates. These notorious fellows were the cancer of space, but admittedly, they had escaped official pursuit countless times, proving their capability. In this process, both strength and luck were important. However, unfortunately, the goddess of fortune wouldn’t protect them this time.
The aerial battle didn’t disturb many people, only the inherently powerful Dragon Clan noticed anything. However, they all acted on orders, and without Ning Buyi’s command, they took no extra action.
Sky Military Fortress.
Ning Buyi had entered piloting “Yaoguang”, with the Nine-Tailed Fox and Baize squeezed into the co-pilot seats. The former’s “Charm” ability could break up teams, while the latter could enhance Dominate’s power, tipping the scales of victory in their favor.
The “uninvited guests” didn’t force their way in after encountering the attack, seemingly only probing Mountain and Sea Star’s defensive capabilities this time. Perhaps due to their “glory-seeking” instinct, they weren’t ready to retreat from Mountain and Sea Star yet. Ning Buyi’s eyes flickered, and the dense firepower suddenly dispersed, giving the enemy a chance to break through.
This was “bait” – now to see if they would take it.
Inside the pirate spacecraft.
The captain was a middle-aged man with a black eye patch and scruffy beard. His right eye had been damaged in a battle, and he’d already had a new one surgically installed. However, to maintain the fierce appearance of a “space pirate,” he had stubbornly worn the black eye patch for many years.
“A sky fortress – this barren star’s military construction level isn’t low,” said a short-statured man.
“But the coverage area isn’t wide, since construction just started. I heard this planet has a base where they grow vegetables that can repel dark pollution. Don’t you want to try?” The captain’s heart burned with excitement. If their pirate group got corrupted by dark pollution, death would be their only outcome. With their identity, it was impossible to purchase anything from the Starlight Platform, and while the black market was an option, everything there was extremely expensive. Even if there were such luxuries, they weren’t meant for people like them.
The short man showed interest – having traveled through space for so long, he could only suppress the dark pollution in his body with drugs, but that was treating the symptoms, not the cause.
“Landing success probability: seventy percent,” the ship’s AI announced the calculated value.
The one-eyed man was delighted at these words, his mind made up. If his companion disagreed – a killing intent flashed in his eye, though it quickly disappeared when his gaze fell on the short man.
In the base, Ning Buyi saw them “take the bait,” and a hint of pleasure flickered in her eyes.
As the pirate ship approached, she had already guessed their identity from the intercepted signals – the Demon Phantom Pirates.
When she had encountered these fellows at Giant Sickle Star before, she discovered their greatest reliance was “mental pollution.” However, this type of mental attack had almost no effect on her, and both its level and power were inferior to the Nine-Tailed Fox’s “Charm.”
“Their target is the floating fortress – how bold,” Ning Buyi clicked her tongue in amazement.
She suspected they had equipment to detect life signs, and perhaps only dared to act because they detected just her single “life” in the fortress.
“The ship’s hull is forged with cutting-edge technology; ordinary attacks can’t reach the engine,” Beidou’s voice rang out.
Ning Buyi wasn’t surprised by this answer, after all, a “turtle shell” was always incredibly hard. Theoretically, their defense was flawless, but what if they lacked just a bit of luck? Ning Buyi decided to use this ship to test her upgraded cheat ability – Dominate.
Inside the Demon Phantom pirate ship.
The one-eyed man felt a faint breeze brush past his neck, making him shudder and sneeze. He stood up and kicked his chair, but before he could speak, he heard a “clang” sound, as if something had hit the floor. “What’s that?” he mumbled. The short man beside him glanced at the floor and casually waved his hand: “Just a screw.” The one-eyed man clicked his tongue and ignored it – after all, if the bombardment outside couldn’t penetrate the ship’s tough hull, this little screw wasn’t worth worrying about.
But just as the one-eyed man relaxed, a death-knell-like alarm sounded throughout the ship.
The noise assaulted his eardrums and grated on his nerves. As he looked up, he saw a metal plate falling down – if he hadn’t dodged quickly, it might have split his skull.
“What the f*ck is going on?” The one-eyed man instantly became agitated.
“Wasn’t it… just maintained recently?” The short man also looked suspicious. He called out “Hey” to the AI, then said, “Activate emergency repair protocol.”
However, apart from the continuous noise, the AI gave no response.
The bombardment outside suddenly intensified, forcing the ship to change course, leaving the one-eyed man in the cabin disoriented. He had no skill in repairing ships, but if they left this sturdy shell, they’d have to face the fierce attacks directly. After cursing, he pulled the manual control lever, trying to replace the seemingly stupid AI, but used too much force and broke the lever clean off. These successive mishaps made the one-eyed man’s face darken – he was beginning to regret his decision to enter Mountain and Sea Star.
Meanwhile.
The “Extreme Investigation Team” successfully landed.
However, all four “investigators” immediately found a place to vomit violently upon disembarking, as they had never encountered such an intense experience in their short lives.
“Um, it’s all desert – is that city where we’re heading?” After recovering, Susan asked the android greeting them. In their view, a massive city rose from the wasteland, looking somewhat strange. But considering Mountain and Sea Star was still classified as a barren planet, the appearance of such an unusual city wasn’t too surprising – after all, they had to “adapt to local conditions.”
Android: “Your destination is the Eastern Tourist Area of Aurora City.”
“There’s even a tourist area? What’s it like? Is it all plants?” Alan asked enthusiastically, gesturing with both hands. Without waiting for the android’s response, he turned to Lu Zhijin, “Zhijin, didn’t you say you had ‘connections in high places’? Where are they?”
Lu Zhijin: “…” She forced a smile, “I’m adding them as a friend now.”
She actually hadn’t wanted to come – it was all Lu Zhiwei’s coercion and enticement. As for this “acquaintance,” the contact information also came from Lu Zhiwei. However, she suspected this person might actually be Lu Zhiwei’s mortal enemy, otherwise why keep their address so secret? Even the contact method was just a pitiful Star Micro friend request?
Alan rubbed his cheeks, pretending he hadn’t asked, and said to the android: “Please lead the way.” He had resigned himself to walking, after all, on an underdeveloped planet, the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment. However, as they approached Aurora City, both Alan and the others had their rock-bottom expectations completely reversed – ignoring the desert, this city matched their fantasies of an advanced civilization star. Then, with hearts full of joy, they followed the android past the seemingly high-end and prosperous Aurora City, only to enter the tourist area several grades lower in quality.
A group of people stood outside the park.
Feng Ermao had obtained the position of “manager” from Ning Buyi and practically wanted to sleep in the park. Despite surveillance cameras everywhere, she still kept her round eyes peeled for anyone she could exercise “justice” upon, but unfortunately, all visitors to the park were “compatriots” from Beast Star, so she couldn’t go picking fights.
“Feng Er, let me tell you, someone just added me on Star Micro, saying they’ve arrived at Mountain and Sea Star. I suspect they’re a member of this investigation team,” Tushan Sansan transformed into a red-tailed fox, standing on Feng Ermao’s shoulder, whispering.
“Criminals, huh?” Feng Ermao’s eyes gleamed with unusual brightness as she patted her chest, promising, “I’ll handle it! Though I never expected you to have stalker fans?”
Tushan Sansan quickly jumped into Jin Feifei’s arms, her fox eyes fixed intently on Feng Ermao.
“Feng Heng, it’s truly surprising you’re still alive. This should be recorded as one of the eternal mysteries of the Feng Jiu Clan.”
Jin Feifei sighed: “Well, fools have their luck, and pests live for a thousand years.”
Feng Er: “…”
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