Soon the two arrived at the ruins of the Dark Dusk Base.

Su Mo looked at the crowded and bustling area before him, and was surprised. He couldn't help but ask Lin Ming,

"Is this really the Dark Dusk Base?"

"Yes?"

Lin Ming responded with a puzzled look.

"I remember this place was abandoned by the City of Star Ring, wasn't it? Why is it so lively?"

"That was before. Now that there's a mining area, it's naturally become prosperous again because there's profit to be made. It's a paradise for adventurers now. There's a saying that you can pick up a piece of ore here and live a life of luxury."

Lin Ming briefly explained to Su Mo.

"That's a bit of an exaggeration, but I guess a lot of people have made a fortune here."

Su Mo said with some emotion.

"More or less. Let's go, I'll take you in. The Federation has occupied a section inside and converted it into an office area."

"Okay."

......

Soon after, Su Mo and Lin Ming returned to the office area.

Lin Ming instructed his subordinates to prepare some food and a few bottles of beer.

He opened a bottle of beer and handed it directly to Su Mo, saying, "Have some low-alcohol beer to relieve the pressure. We won't drink anything stronger. After all, this place isn't very safe, and it's best to stay alert."

"Yeah, that's good. By the way, do you often clash with the Mechanical Hive Empire?"

Su Mo took the beer and chatted casually.

"Not often. Although we're rookies, we're not stupid. We know what the Mechanical Hive Empire is like. We'll definitely back down when we can, but not every time. How can we back down on these high-grade mining areas? Although there are resources all over the Gushen Star, there aren't many areas that can be mined because mining in low-grade areas sometimes doesn't even cover the costs. And high-grade mining areas are either within the scope of natural disasters or are occupied by high-level monsters, so every mining spot is very important."

Lin Ming said with some emotion.

Hearing this, Su Mo also sighed and said to Lin Ming, "Actually, I did my best in today's matter. I really wanted to kill that guy, but I can't just act on impulse, or there will be endless troubles. To be realistic, the Mechanical Hive Empire is indeed stronger than us. They have the capital to be arrogant, which is very real. After all, they've been with the City of Star Ring for so many years for a reason."

"You don't need to say anything, I know all of this. Su Mo, do you have something to do here? Do you need my help?"

Lin Ming sighed and changed the subject.

"No, it's just a small matter. I can handle it myself."

Su Mo waved his hand and replied.

"Alright then."

Lin Ming originally wanted to tell Su Mo to be careful, but then he thought of his pet and swallowed the words back.

Su Mo raised his bottle and clinked it against Lin Ming's. After a few sips of beer, he continued to chat with Lin Ming.

"Brother Lin Ming, have you been in contact with your family recently? How are your parents?"

"Yes, I contacted them not long ago. My parents are doing well, nothing's wrong, but..."

Lin Ming hesitated.

"But what?"

"Well, the internal situation in the Federation has been a bit unstable recently, with large-scale protests. The council is struggling with this, and I've heard there have been several clashes. My father is running around every day for this matter."

"What exactly is going on?"

Su Mo was also puzzled.

"What else could it be? It's mainly about class and wealth inequality. Let me put it this way, our civilization is actually developing very fast now, almost too fast. Even we sometimes feel like we can't keep up with the times, let alone the lower classes. The situation for the lower classes is actually very bad. Labor is cheap, and they're struggling to survive."

Lin Ming explained to Su Mo.

Hearing this, Su Mo frowned. He suddenly remembered the post he saw on the forum before and said to Lin Ming,

"What about the council? Has the Speaker of the Council not come up with a solution?"

"The council is arguing endlessly about this. Speaker of the Council, Arlais, proposed a plan called the Warm Winter Plan, which would allow the Federation to allocate a huge amount of Star Coins to subsidize the lower classes and create various jobs for them. Unfortunately, this plan has been rejected by the council three times."

Lin Ming said in a deep voice, taking a big gulp of beer.

"Why? The Federation's finances should be pretty good, right?"

Su Mo was also slightly stunned.

"The finances are good, but there are many places to spend money. Many councilors in the Federation Council are unwilling to implement this Warm Winter Plan. They have two reasons. One is that large-scale subsidies will create laziness and the atmosphere will not be good."

"Isn't that nonsense? This is only the first subsidy."

"You're right, that reason is easy to refute, but the next reason is very troublesome. A large number of councilors believe that the Federation is currently in a state of rapid development. If we divert funds to improve the lower classes now, then the Federation will be left behind in the great trend of take-off. At that time, we will miss the golden period of development and be weaker than other countries. This is not only related to future status, but even to the life and death of the entire Federation. They also pointed out that this kind of class stratification is not unique to the Federation, all countries have it. Even the Empire Army is more serious, they haven't done that, so why should we do it? Wouldn't that be tying our own hands?"

Lin Ming explained to Su Mo in detail.

After listening, Su Mo's head was also a little sore. The second reason was really hard to refute.

"Ah..."

"Forget it, let's not talk about those things, let's eat..."

Lin Ming also felt a headache the more he thought about it.

......

Several hours later, Su Mo finished eating and said goodbye to Lin Ming, leaving the Dark Dusk Base.

He returned to the area where the Light of Sin was parked.

From a distance, he saw Domak lying next to the mecha, guarding it well.

Seeing this scene, Su Mo suddenly felt that this guy was quite easy to order around.

Then Su Mo walked over.

When Domak saw Su Mo coming, he quickly got up and babbled at Su Mo.

Su Mo nodded to it, then climbed into the mecha.

"Let's go!"

......

More than ten days later, in a large, uneven area.

Su Mo stopped the Light of Sin.

In the distance, the sky was covered with dark clouds, and the clouds inside were swirling like a vortex, with lightning and thunder, as if the end of the world was coming.

Domak kept chattering towards the distance, seemingly a little uneasy.

"Sigh! Xiao Shi, did we go the wrong way? According to the map drawn by Tillam, there should be continuous giant mountains here. Now, not to mention mountains, we haven't even seen a shadow of a mountain. And to make matters worse, there's a giant storm coming."

Su Mo sighed slightly.