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Tang Xiao had just walked over when he heard the old man muttering, "Ah, that young lady on the plane was quite pretty. Why didn't she come down with us?"

"Huh?" Tang Xiao dug at his ear, feeling as though he had misheard.

"Oh, you must be the Administrator. Hello, hello, hello." The old man noticed Tang Xiao approaching, smiled and nodded at him, then even took the initiative to shake his hand.

"Ah, hello, Professor Chi. We have done our best to meet your requirements. We awakened you now in the hope that we can draw upon your knowledge and wisdom to help us," Tang Xiao said.

To his surprise, the old man shook his head. His gaze passed Tang Xiao and fell on the colony behind him. Though thriving, it was still clearly in its infancy. "Oh dear, why did you wake me up so early? I signed up to come here because I wanted to retire somewhere else."

"Huh?"

"I've been busy my whole life and wanted to slow down. But when you're used to staying busy, how can you possibly relax? Even when I sit in the garden smoking, my hands unconsciously twist the tobacco into the shape of a propeller. So I thought that if I retired on another planet, maybe my head wouldn't be crammed with so much stuff. Maybe then I could sleep in." Chi Jianjun spoke weakly.

"Well..."

"So, a mansion or whatever doesn't really matter. I was thinking that once you could build mansions, your material conditions would be sufficient. Once you had a mature technical team, it wouldn't matter whether I was here or not. Once you had set up a large experimental base, your research should have produced results. Wouldn't that be the perfect time to wake me up so I could sleep in?"

"So... doesn't that mean you don't want to be bothered by small problems, and you can't handle big ones either?"

"Ah, becoming an Administrator at such a young age—your understanding really is something else. So, where's the mansion for my retirement?"

"Didn't you just say a mansion didn't matter?"

"I still need somewhere to live, don't I?"

Tang Xiao instantly slumped. Where was the devil professor he had been promised? Where was the national-treasure-level aerospace master he had been promised? Why had this come instead—a lecherous old man who wanted to sleep in all day and ogled young women?

"Graham, take Professor Chi to his residence. It's getting late, and the old gentleman must be tired from the journey. Let him rest for the night first," Tang Xiao said, quickly regaining his composure as he gave Graham the order.

After seeing Professor Chi Jianjun off, Tang Xiao scratched his head, feeling as though it had grown a size larger.

"Administrator, is that old man really reliable? He doesn't look all that impressive," an administrative official whispered behind Tang Xiao.

"Who said that? Old Chi is a Master Class expert! Do you know what a master is? How can someone like that be judged by common sense? Go back and finish your work! Dismissed, dismissed." Tang Xiao waved them away.

Then Tang Xiao returned to his own residence and went to sleep, intending to speak with Professor Chi again the next morning.

Meanwhile, on Tatooine in the Outer Rim of the galaxy.

The YT-1000 freighter Lancer slowly descended and docked at a berth. Inside the ship, Cun Te shut down the engines and performed the final checks while glancing at Yuri Orlov, who sat in the rear with a face as green as iron. He said disdainfully, "We're here, big businessman."

Yuri Orlov finally could not hold it in any longer. He leaped out of the ship and vomited with a loud retch. Unfortunately, he threw up all over the engineering robot that had just rushed over to service the ship.

The vomit covered the robot's sensors, and it immediately staggered about like a blind man. Then, with a clang, it crashed into another robot carrying engine oil. The oil pump instantly sprayed a huge amount of oil everywhere, throwing the scene into chaos.

"Oh! I... FUCK! What kind of place is this?!" Yuri was drenched in engine oil and began cursing furiously.

Cun Te walked over, tossed a towel onto Yuri's face, and said, "Welcome to Tatooine, big businessman."

Yuri wiped his face with the towel and said miserably, "I'm just an ordinary businessman, Mr. Cun Te. We're simply taking what we each need."

"I'll put the cost of cleaning up this disgusting mess on your tab, Cun Te!" The speaker was Truda, a Nikto who ran this docking berth. Cun Te had gotten familiar with him during his last visit. "By the way, where are Kunto and the others? Didn't they come?"

"They're still inside." Cun Te grinned, picked up a steel pipe from the ground, and violently struck an oil drum beside him several times. "Come on, Kunto! Let's go have a few drinks."

Only after hearing the call did Kunto and Feraci run out of the cabin. Feraci's clothes were still somewhat disheveled.

Seeing them, Cun Te laughed knowingly and clapped Kunto on the shoulder. "Hey, brother! Was there really any need to be in such a hurry? The Lancer's cabin isn't soundproof!"

Kunto said awkwardly, "No... no, we were just..."

"Tell me, I spent a lot of effort convincing the Administrator to let the two of you come along. You're not going to cause me trouble, are you?" Cun Te said with a smile, putting an arm around Kunto's shoulders. As he patted Kunto's shoulder, his fingers moved slightly, sticking a button-sized listening device beneath Kunto's collar.

"Let's go! Drinking! It's been so long since I had a drink on Tatooine! Hahaha!" Feraci had already calmly straightened her clothes and walked out as though nothing had happened.

On the other side, Yuri had somehow struck up a conversation with old Truda. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes, took a drag himself, then lit one for Truda. Watching Truda cough continuously after smoking for the first time, Yuri burst into laughter. Then he casually put an arm around Truda's shoulders and said, "Hey, old man, has anything big happened around here lately?"

"Everywhere on Tatooine, it's either fights or murder! But what is this stuff you gave me to smoke? It feels... uh..." Truda sniffed. The nicotine had left him somewhat intoxicated, and his tongue was beginning to tie itself in knots. After stammering for a long while, he finally said, "Speaking of Mos Eisley, a group of Bosa have been causing trouble lately. Their leader is called Broderick Shale. A few days ago, they smashed up that starship repair yard run by the Quarren."

"Ha, that's really too bad. Where are they?" Yuri smiled and handed him another cigarette.

"Mos Eisley... northwest district... haha... hahahaha! This feels amazing!!" Truda accepted the cigarette and clumsily lit it himself. To the music playing nearby, he actually began dancing, his words already becoming incoherent.

"So these are aliens? They react that strongly to cigarettes?" The speaker was Vitaly Orlov, Yuri's younger brother. He had curly brown hair and beautiful blue eyes. Looking slightly world-weary, he was an exceptionally handsome young man.

"Yes, aliens. Haven't I told you before? Don't make such a fuss. There are tens of thousands of alien species in this Milky Way Galaxy!" Yuri said, patting his brother's shoulder.

"No... no, you have to understand, these are aliens! I've only ever seen them in movies before! Are you sure they aren't actors in costumes?" Vitaly became excited.

"Listen, Vitaly. If you keep acting like this, you may cause trouble. Some aliens aren't easy to deal with," Cun Te warned from the side.

"And what would happen if we sold cigarettes to them?" Vitaly was quick-witted and immediately thought of another possibility.

"Maybe we could, but Dawn Star's environment isn't suitable for growing tobacco. It would have to be cultivated in a completely enclosed environment, so the yield probably wouldn't be high. Besides, I have no interest in something so harmful to health." As Yuri spoke, he lit another cigarette for himself.

"Compared to cigarettes, guns actually kill people." Vitaly shook his head. "If we could open up a market for cigarettes..."

"Hehe..." Yuri took a drag, then exhaled a column of smoke into the sky. "An AK-47 won't give anyone lung cancer. Believe me, Vitaly, if what the Administrator said is true, and a war is about to erupt that sweeps across countless planets throughout the entire galaxy, then cigarettes really won't amount to much."