Star Source Stone

In another liquid nitrogen cryogenic chamber aboard the Dawn Starship, Hong Kun and Yu Le stood in silence.

Before them lay two bodies.

One was Yang Qian, along with another member of the Skyfire Club.

In this crisis, the Skyfire Club had suffered the heaviest losses.

Two had died, and Hong Kun had lost an arm.

Under the starship's medical technology, the severed arm could have been reattached.

But after Hong Kun's arm was cut off, it was devoured by the Giant Python and could not be recovered.

Yet what broke his heart now was not his own injury, but the good brother lying before him.

Lu Feng had heard that Yang Qian and Hong Kun grew up together, attending the same Martial High School and Martial University.

Later, when Hong Kun founded the club, Yang Qian unhesitatingly came to help manage it.

Their bond was stronger than that of blood brothers.

Yang Qian's sacrifice had undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to Hong Kun.

Now, all he could do was cryogenically bury his closest friend's body and bring it back to Tianlan Star for burial.

A day later, just as the Chasing Wind Squad finished their rotation and prepared to continue their survey mission, good news arrived—

Several squads from the Cangwu Star 796th Legion had discovered Star Source Ore about a thousand kilometers north of the Temporary Starry Sky Station.

The discovery lifted the spirits of the entire army.

All legions immediately halted surveys and threw themselves into mining the Star Source Stone.

Upon receiving the order, the Chasing Wind Squad also changed course, heading toward the ore vein north of the station.

Though the news was encouraging, no joy showed on the squad members' faces.

The tragedy of yesterday was still vivid in their minds, and Fang Qing remained unconscious in the Medical Pod.

Lu Feng silently followed at the back of the team.

The only thing he could do now was grow stronger as quickly as possible.

Only then could he protect those around him and demand blood repayment from the Zheng Family.

When the squad arrived at the northern ore vein, they saw a massive basin stretching hundreds of kilometers.

Tens of thousands of mecha warriors had already gathered, with more squads still arriving.

The Artificial Intelligence Luo Lin was assigning mining zones to each planetary legion over the all-channel broadcast.

Upon receiving their designated points, each team immediately began intense excavation operations with their mechas.

"Didn't they say Star Source Stone was discovered? Why haven't we found anything after digging for so long?"

Lu Feng followed the Chasing Wind Squad in a low-lying area, digging continuously.

The soil here was unusually hard, with frequent rock layers, but there was still no sign of Star Source Stone.

Just as doubt crept into his mind, an excited shout rang out from the team: "I found it! I found it!"

Yu Le of the Skyfire Club shouted excitedly as he maneuvered his mecha to dig faster.

The squad members immediately gathered around. In the excavated pit, several fingernail-sized Crimson Transparent Crystals were exposed.

"Is this Star Source Stone?"

It was Lu Feng's first time seeing Star Source Stone in person.

As a Three Realm Martial Artist, he immediately sensed the Vast Energy contained within the crystals, identical to the energy in the mark on his chest.

He couldn't help but wonder: Why were these crystals, buried deep beneath the Outer Planet's surface, all so uniform in size?

Shouldn't natural ores be extremely irregular in shape and size?

"Hurry up and clear out the Star Source Stone, then keep digging deeper!" Gao Zhan ordered immediately.

One team member quickly picked up the Star Source Stone from the pit, while the others maneuvered their mechas to expand the excavation area around Yu Le's pit.

"Quick, I found more!"

Before the others could spread out, Yu Le shouted again.

Dozens more Star Source Stones were exposed in the pit before him.

At the same time, cheers of discovery rang out from other legions' work zones nearby.

"Uncle Hong," Lu Feng sent a communication to Hong Kun as he continued digging.

"Why does Star Source Stone only exist on distant alien planets? Doesn't our Tianlan Star have any?"

Hong Kun replied quickly: "It did, but not anymore."

"Not anymore? What do you mean?"

"Before humans inhabited Tianlan Star, it was just like Planet Caro 9 now—covered in Exotic Beasts and Star Source Ore."

Lu Feng immediately understood: "So the Star Source Stones on Tianlan Star had already been fully mined before humans migrated there?"

"That's right. Tianlan Star was also one of the planets conquered by human military forces. Once the Exotic Beasts on Planet Caro 9 are cleared and the Star Source Stones are exhausted, this place will likely become another auxiliary star for humanity."

So that was it.

This was the complete process of a planet being conquered by humans.

Tens of Thousands of Years ago, Tianlan Star had been born just like this.

After two or three tens of thousands of years of development, it had only now formed its twenty-six major cities and a population of 1.5 billion.

"Would anyone be willing to move to such a distant planet to live?"

"They would. As long as the Alliance sets up an Energy Shield here, builds cities, and offers sufficiently generous conditions, there will always be people willing to relocate."

True enough—as long as the Alliance was willing to invest resources, people would definitely come.

Sometimes, Lu Feng even thought about taking his family away from Tianlan Star to live on a planet where no one knew them.

Far from his enemies, where he could cultivate the martial path in peace.

This thought had crossed his mind countless times since he killed Zheng Tong.

After a month of continuous excavation, the Star Source Stone Mine in the Northern Basin had been completely depleted.

The over twenty million Star Source Stones dug out in total were transported in batches and stored aboard the Eight Starships at the Temporary Starry Sky Station.

The Expeditionary Force's first mining mission on Planet Caro 9 was thus successfully completed.

Next, the Expeditionary Force would abandon the current station, move five thousand kilometers south, and establish a new starry sky station in preparation for the next survey.

Before that, all members of the Expeditionary Force received Star Source Stone rewards!

One hundred stones per person, with double the amount issued to fallen soldiers, to be delivered to their families by their Comrades.

This was the most anticipated moment for the entire Expeditionary Force!

On the planets inhabited by humans, Star Source Stones were a scarce resource with no market price—they could only be exchanged for Military Merit, each stone costing one hundred Military Merit points.

Hong Kun's Skyfire Club had toiled for over a decade and only accumulated ten thousand Military Merit points, enough to exchange for just one hundred Star Source Stones.

And now, everyone received one hundred stones directly, with more rewards to come when new mines were discovered in subsequent surveys.

But this reward had come too late, and the cost had been far too heavy.

For the following week, aside from rotating squad duty at the outposts, there were no other tasks.

The Senior Officials deliberately set aside these seven days for everyone to cultivate using the Star Source Stones.

Back in the 115th Legion's Living Quarters, Lu Feng looked at the 110 Crimson Crystals in his hand and couldn't help feeling puzzled.

"Luo Lin, did they give me ten extra?"

The Artificial Intelligence's voice echoed in the cabin: "The distribution is accurate. Every Soldier from the eight legions of Tianlan Star received one hundred and ten."

"And what about the Soldiers from other planets?"

"The Soldiers from the other three planets each received one hundred."

"Why do the people from Tianlan Star get ten more?"