Enough Money Earned

Over the next week, Zhou Yi spent every day working like mad, digging for stones with barely any rest.

He got up early to start work in the morning, and by the time he returned to school after clocking out at night, he was so exhausted he could do nothing but lie in bed.

Eight hours might not have sounded like a particularly long workday.

But mining drained physical strength on an entirely different level from other jobs. Even veteran miners never worked three days straight, let alone an entire week.

The air in the mine was terrible, making it hard to breathe, and they still had to perform intense labor. The difficulty was practically doubled.

The soil was hard, Crystal Stones were difficult to find, and after spending a day inside, a person would come out dizzy and light-limbed, like a pig that had spun in place thirty-eight times.

Even Xiao Fu, who had initially been unhappy about Zhou Yi taking on a job, had begun to feel sorry for him.

If you keep this up, you'll work yourself to death. Why bother? Haven't we already saved enough money to buy a mecha?

Xiao Fu's tone was unusually gentle, without its usual sarcasm.

"It's fine. Money isn't that easy to earn. If I miss this opportunity, who knows when the next one will come?"

Zhou Yi lay sprawled on the bed, exhausted as a dog. He did not even have the strength to raise a hand and massage his shoulders, yet he actually had a smile on his face.

You really don't think you're tired?

Most people couldn't endure this kind of hardship.

"I am tired. I'm tired to death."

It would have been a lie to say he was not tired. But ever since coming to Huadun, although Zhou Yi had not shown it and seemed like he had not done anything serious—

Every day, he dreamed about mechas. Only after obtaining a mecha could everything else move forward.

Compared with being poor, what was a little exhaustion?

After only a few words with Xiao Fu, Zhou Yi was so tired that he fell unconscious. When he opened his eyes again, it was already the next day, and he had to get up and start work all over again.

During the time Zhou Yi had been skipping class, his counselor had contacted him.

Zhou Yi simply said that he was not feeling well and requested a week off. The counselor did not say anything more.

Lu Xiaoxiao and Hu Manduo, on the other hand, had sent Zhou Yi quite a few messages when they noticed he had not attended class. Zhou Yi simply replied that he was recuperating in the dormitory and did not need visitors, then did not respond again.

He had no energy left to deal with this sort of social relationship.

That week was probably the slowest week Zhou Yi had ever lived through.

At last, after enduring until Sunday and receiving his pay—

It was Gal's last day there. He specifically asked Zhou Yi to stay behind to say goodbye, and also gave him a gift: a small box.

Zhou Yi accepted it without refusing.

He knew Gal was not giving him a gift because he considered him a friend. He probably wanted to maintain contact with that nonexistent uncle of his.

"If anything comes up in the future, you can contact me. If it's something I can help with, I'll do my best."

"Alright, thank you."

Of course, Zhou Yi did not take Gal's polite words seriously. Still, he had already decided that once he got back, he would add a note to Gal's contact information: Potential Major Client.

After dragging his exhausted body back to the dormitory, Zhou Yi lay in bed for more than two hours before he had the strength to sit up again.

He could not sleep yet. He needed to tally up the gains from the past week.

Zhou Yi examined the Crystal Stones in his Space Ring. Over the past few days, he had managed to save more than twenty Crystal Ores every day, placing them together with the Crystal Marrow in a small storage compartment each time.

Other than the ones he had just brought back today, all of them had already reached Primary Crystal Stone quality.

Including the ones from before, he now had a full 202 Crystal Stones, 178 of which were Primary Crystal Stones.

If a Primary Crystal Stone could sell for at least ten thousand Crystal Coins, then he possessed...

Zhou Yi was startled by the number.

He had been so immersed in working this week that he had not calculated how much he had already saved.

Adding the money he had made selling shovels, he still had more than 780,000 Star Coins in his account.

Crystal Stones, Star Coins, and the Nutrient Solution he had gotten from Gal...

He was already a wealthy man with over two million, with no worries about food or clothing!

Happiness had come far too suddenly.

It was not just the gains in Crystal Stones and Crystal Coins. Over the past week, Zhou Yi had silently taken out Crystal Marrow to cultivate the Star Gathering Art while mining every day, pushing multitasking to the absolute limit.

Not only had his physical strength and endurance broken through, but his star power had visibly increased as well. A fourth complete star had already appeared at the back of his neck.

"Hard work never lets a laborer down."

Zhou Yi was extremely satisfied with everything he had gained over the past week.

You really can endure hardship.

During this time, Xiao Fu had developed a new understanding of Zhou Yi and gradually began to admire this human.

Whether he could endure hardship or not, it was all in the past now. Zhou Yi could not be bothered to think about it.

What he wanted most now was to exchange the Crystal Stones in his hands for Crystal Coins, then buy the mecha he had set his sights on.

Zhou Yi had checked—crystals could be recycled at the Alliance Mall.

But not online. He had to go to an offline Alliance trading house.

Because crystals had to be inspected in person—the amount of impurities inside, whether the purity was high enough. Even a slight difference could mean a huge gap in quality.

And Alliance trading houses only existed on A-class Star Blocks. The nearest one required a four-hour spaceship ride.

Spaceships were already fast, yet it would still take four hours. That was truly a very long distance.

"If only I had a mech. Then I could go wherever I wanted." Zhou Yi wanted a mech more urgently than ever.

After all, B-class mechs and above could travel through space. They were the fastest single-pilot aircraft.

"A58 Star Block."

Since he had to go offline to sell things anyway, he might as well buy his mech while he was there.

Zhou Yi checked which trading house had his dream mech for sale, planning to set off tomorrow and take care of everything at once.

As for tomorrow being Monday, meaning he had school, Zhou Yi selectively ignored that.

Sure enough, once a bad habit formed, it was hard to break.

Having gotten used to skipping class, Zhou Yi was practically forgetting that he was still a student.

After confirming the location, Zhou Yi took a shower, changed clothes, drank a nutrient solution, then climbed back under the covers and closed his eyes.

After getting up early for so many days, he could finally have a good, comfortable sleep.

Maybe he really was too tired. Two seconds after Zhou Yi closed his eyes, he fell asleep completely.

By the time Zhou Yi woke again, it was nearly noon the next day.

It seemed he had his own internal clock. Whenever he had something to do, he would naturally wake up on time. But if he had nothing planned, he could sleep for ages without needing an alarm.

He stretched comfortably. His arms and legs were still sore, but at the thought of finally getting to touch a real, movable mech today, Zhou Yi felt wonderful all over.

He got dressed, washed up, and ate breakfast in one smooth motion. Then Zhou Yi slung his little bag over his shoulder and left the school gates.

Following the route he had checked the night before, Zhou Yi soon boarded a spaceship bound for A58 Star Block.

He picked a window seat again. The moment Zhou Yi sat down, he was practically asleep.

The journey would take six hours, and he decided to use all of them to catch up on the sleep he had missed.