Chapter 143 Private Mine

Now that it was confirmed that the energy stones could be modified by Goodrian and placed in the starship, the question became: whose energy stone to take?

Among these people with mechas, who had extra energy stones, or who was willing to part with them?

Mingmei thought this would cause unnecessary friction, but she saw Lu Xiaoyao voluntarily raise her hand slowly and say, "I brought extra energy stones. I can take them out."

Including Mingmei, everyone was stunned by Lu Xiaoyao's sudden generosity. Even Hu Yue almost couldn't help but call her a silly girl.

Seeing this, Mingmei looked around and couldn't help but say to Lu Xiaoyao, "This is a time for everyone to overcome difficulties together. It's not a matter of who should or shouldn't. Since Xiaoyao, you contributed the energy stone, if we reach our destination smoothly, everyone will share the cost and pay you back at a discount."

At least, the sane people nodded at Mingmei's words, feeling that there was nothing wrong with them. Everyone was in this together; it wasn't as if someone else had something you didn't and they were obliged to share it with you.

Even if there were a few people in the crowd whose faces revealed reluctance, they didn't dare to object, seeing everyone else nodding in agreement. Since most people were willing to cooperate, Mingmei didn't say anything more.

"However, classmate Mingmei, what do you mean by 'if we still have smooth sailing'?"

Some people were only concerned with Mingmei's promise of dividing the money, but others heard the subtext in her words.

Even if their starship could take off, it seemed that something bad was waiting for them?

"Yeah, if they didn't plan to keep messing with us, there would be no need to leave a message asking us to go to Qilan Star, right? Logically, we should go directly to the Sixth Legion's territory. Otherwise, until we reach our destination, who knows what awaits us along the way?"

After speaking, Mingmei looked at Hu Yue again.

When Mingmei said this, everyone else also looked at Hu Yue. Apart from smiling awkwardly, she really had no other way.

Even she didn't know what was going on.

Her brother hadn't fully explained it to her beforehand, and after experiencing the operation where the whole world changed after she woke up, she even began to doubt her life.

However, according to what Mingmei said, and based on her understanding of her brother, it was very likely that there were more tests waiting for them!

With this in mind, while Goodrian spent nearly a day modifying the energy stone contributed by Lu Xiaoyao for use in the starship, the group divided up their work during the daytime downtime. Once the starship could be piloted, they assigned roles of who would command and who would operate the starship. The moment the energy stone was inserted into the energy slot, everyone began preparing for takeoff.

"Open the star chart and check the attributes of nearby planets."

Perhaps it was bad luck, but no one from the Central Military Academy's command department had signed up to come to the Sixth Legion this year. Therefore, Mingmei didn't know why she and Mu Chen had been chosen to stand in the command position.

Mingmei also saw through the superstitious nature in the hearts of everyone at the Central Military Academy—score hounds.

As long as your score is high, you can do anything!

Mingmei was aware of her own limited command skills, so she didn't object when Mu Chen spoke. She had previously communicated one thing with Mu Chen in private: do not fly directly to Qilan Star.

"There are several primitive mining stars nearby, and two agricultural stars, with star citizens and robots working on them long-term."

Mingmei zoomed in on the other planets in the same star system as their current planet.

"The two mining stars are private, and the agricultural stars are affiliated with Qilan Star."

After Mingmei confirmed the situation of these planets, she frowned. Mu Chen then asked Mingmei to find out who the owner of the private mining stars was. They wanted to leave this place and find another place to rest and reorganize, not directly expose everyone's location.

"Searching."

Mingmei looked at the search interface. The miraculous expression on Mingmei's face when the final two words popped up made Mu Chen couldn't help but take another look at the search interface.

So they both fell silent.

These mining stars belonged to none other than Mingmei's sister-in-law, Mei Pu.

Mingmei: This is outrageous!

How come she didn't know that her family members owned mines?

When Mei Pu received the message Mingmei sent home, she was watching a drama. After reading Mingmei's message, she immediately opened the permissions for Mingmei and the others.

Even the robot butler on the mining star warmly welcomed them with a delicious Hua Lan Star feast when Mingmei and her large group of a hundred or so people disembarked from the starship.

It was simply a case of "beyond the darkest woods, there is a clearing."

Who would have thought that there would be a private mining star near the Qilan Starfield, and that the owner would be so easy to talk to!

"Yueyue, do you know the owner of this mining star?"

After dinner, Li Yuan relaxed for the first time in a while. Although the mining star was full of robots, he felt a long-lost sense of relaxation and communicated with the robot steward without any awkwardness.

He never imagined that someone would dare to entrust the entire mining star to robots.

"I don't know."

Even now, Hu Yue was still a bit dazed. There were indeed many mining stars, large and small, in the Canglan Starfield, but due to geographical issues, most wealthy people were unwilling to invest in buying mining stars here. The losses from star pirates and insectoid attacks were too great!

Even though the Canglan Starfield had publicly declared that it had eliminated the star pirates in recent years, most of the mining stars here were still controlled by the Canglan Starfield itself. The mining was also the same: either the mining stars were mined by government organizations from nearby planets, or they were mined under the heavy guard of the Sixth Legion.

In the Canglan Starfield, it was rare for individuals to buy, mine, and guard their own mining stars. So rare that Hu Yue knew who owned almost every one that was mentioned.

Only these two private mining stars had owners who had never shown their faces. Each time, they sold some of the mined energy stones directly to the Sixth Legion, and the rest was taken away by the owners, who no one knew where they sold them.

This was her first time here, and she didn't expect the entire mining star to be run by robots.

"Judging by the attitude of the robot steward here, plus the food we ate today, it's possible that..."

The only people Li Yuan could think of were their two classmates from Hua Lan Star.

The others were also full of curiosity about this place.

A mining star full of robots of all sizes working here, without a single living person watching over them. Were they really not worried that something would go wrong with the robots here?

After dinner, Mingmei and Mu Chen talked with the robot steward for a while. Seeing that the other party, besides wearing a robot skin, had thoughts and speech that made Mingmei feel that he had broken away from the category of Ai robots.

Mingmei couldn't help but verify her guess with the other party.

"Thanks to the mainframe's love, I was given consciousness and emotions, allowing me to break away from the most primitive artificial intelligence. The reason why I didn't switch to a bionic body is just that I don't want to be different from everyone here."

The other party used his cold machine body to reach out and touch the head of a passing small robot. The small robot's progress was blocked by his hand. Its round head turned, and a bunch of question marks flashed on its electronic screen.

Small robot: I have a bunch of question marks.

Seeing this, Mingmei heard the other party laugh softly and gently loosen his hand. The small robot immediately rolled away on the small wheels under it.

After taking a few steps, the small robot turned its head, and the electronic screen scrolled, "What kind of robot is this?"

"Pfft, hahahaha." This time, Mingmei couldn't help but laugh. Were robots so fun?

The steward robot didn't say anything about this, but said, "I like being with everyone here."

The robots here had been upgraded by the mainframe to varying degrees. They had some small emotions and some small feelings. In addition to work, they also had things they liked to do.

They liked this place, liked working and living with everyone, liked—watching the excitement.

For example, right now,

"Why do I feel like I'm being watched?"

With the steward's permission, the group was given a route to tour. Many people's post-dinner activity was to take a walk and admire the scenery.

However, they felt as if they were being spied on by something.

This place was just robots and stones, right? Was it their imagination?