A Mine!

Spaceport Berth 419.

The alloy floor gleamed with a cold white light. In the distance, enormous loading arms were moving cargo containers into a freighter, but Tang Ping and Luo Xiaoyu's eyes were fixed entirely on the "Black Dragon Mountain X4396" before them.

It was a standard C4-class Universe Warship, its entire body covered in dark "Star Pattern Dark Steel." Silver-blue energy patterns were embedded along the edges of every armor plate, resembling a flowing river of stars beneath the spaceport lights.

The streamlined hull stretched three kilometers, from the diamond-shaped ram at the bow to the triple-engine bay at the stern. It had no unnecessary protrusions, and twelve sets of folding Particle Cannon Nests were concealed along either side. When the cannon muzzles were closed, they blended seamlessly with the armor, betraying themselves only through the faint traces of energy flowing within.

Beautiful—too beautiful! The pinnacle of technology was aesthetics!

Tang Ping inadvertently moved within three meters of the hull, and the Detector on his wrist immediately sounded an alarm. Its display showed that the ship's exterior was also covered by an Energy Shield, almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

This warship, fit for use only by Universe Level powerhouses, was worth four billion Black Dragon Coins—comparable to an ordinary habitable planet.

That was the kind of treatment a first-rate Luo Family talent received.

The next moment, the Identity Scanner on the side of the hull lit up with a pale green screen. "Beep. Retinal scan passed. Genetic sequence matched. Permission assessment: highest authority."

"Open the door." Luo Xiaoyu raised her chin, her tone flat.

With a swish, the armor plates in the middle of the ship unfolded to either side like a lotus, revealing a Boarding Passage about ten meters wide. A pale blue Tractor Beam shot out. Tiny, stardust-like particles swirled along its edges. When it touched them, they felt no weight at all; instead, it was as if they were being gently carried by a warm energy, slowly moving into the ship.

Tang Ping glanced down at his sleeve. Where the beam had passed, it had even smoothed the wrinkles in his spacesuit.

The moment they stepped into the corridor, deafening shouts greeted them. "We greet our master!"

The alloy floor on either side of the corridor automatically rose into half-meter-high nonslip platforms. Hundreds of figures knelt neatly upon them, with the Alien Race woman at the front standing out in particular.

Her body had the contours of a human's, but her features bore unmistakable signs of an extraterrestrial origin. Her long silver-purple hair fell to her waist like liquid metal, and faint sparks of light occasionally flickered at the ends of her strands.

A diamond-shaped, blue-green crystal was embedded in her forehead. Three energy lines as fine as strands of hair connected it to the corner of her right eye, glowing softly with each breath. Her pupils were rare vertical slits, and her irises were a gradient of indigo. At that moment, her gaze was lowered slightly, concealing the emotions in her eyes.

Her armor was dark gold, with eagle-wing-shaped pauldrons and intricate star-map patterns carved along their edges. The energy core at her chest was a dark red crystal, pulsing slowly with her heartbeat.

The armor covered her forearms and shins. Faint silver scales were visible on the exposed skin, the defining feature of her Star Scale Race.

It was said that members of the Star Scale Race could harden their scales in battle into a defensive layer comparable to a warship's armor. For Universe Level Star Scale Race powerhouses, their scales could even withstand the shock waves of a star's explosion.

"At ease." Luo Xiaoyu raised a hand.

"You should know the rules of the Luo Family. Planetary Rank servants serve for a thousand years, Star Rank servants for ten thousand, and Universe Level servants for a hundred thousand. There's no salary during that time, but each month you can receive a portion of Universe Origin Energy Liquid. If you complete a special mission, you can also earn rare resources such as Star Core Fragments."

Her gaze swept over the slaves below, finally settling on the Star Scale Race woman. "As long as you don't make a fatal mistake, your Slave Chips will be deactivated when your terms are up. If you make a great contribution, even a Universe Level slave can regain their freedom early."

"Yes!" The Star Scale Race woman answered first.

"Yes!" The Star Rank and Planetary Rank slaves behind her joined in, a glimmer finally returning to their once-dim eyes.

Hope was the most precious thing in this world.

After a while, an announcement sounded through the ship. "Takeoff request approved. Flight path cleared. Engines warmed up."

Tang Ping walked to the porthole and watched the spaceport's mooring arms slowly release the ship. Blue flames burst from the thrusters at its base, and it glided slowly into a flight path a hundred meters wide, as if being drawn onward by the stars.

Once the ship had completely escaped the spaceport's gravitational pull, the triple engines at the stern suddenly blazed with dazzling blue-white light. A low hum reverberated through the hull, but the ship's soundproofing system dampened it until it was almost inaudible.

"Entering acceleration lane. Faster-than-light jump commencing in thirty seconds." The ship's AI spoke as the stars outside the porthole blurred into streaks of light.

The instant their speed surpassed light, the surrounding space suddenly warped, and the dark purple Dark Universe appeared before them. There were no stars there, only clouds of dark energy slowly flowing like ink-colored silk unfurled across the cosmos.

"According to our star chart calculations, we'll need to leave the Dark Universe several times along the way to resupply for our destination system. We'll reach the BX10081 Star System in one year and three months. Our energy consumption will be kept to seventeen percent, making this the most energy-efficient route."

Luo Xiaoyu came to stand beside Tang Ping, gazing out at the Dark Universe. "You can spend this time getting familiar with the ship's Training Pods. The Star Scale Race woman is called Ling Shuang. She's a Universe Level three powerhouse.

"If you want to improve your strength, you could ask her for guidance."

Luo Xiaoyu lightly tapped her Personal Terminal, and a pale blue Holographic Projection unfolded before Tang Ping.

Two strings of data hovered clearly in the projection: one was a funds transfer agreement labeled "1 billion Silver Blue Coins," while the other was an encrypted icon labeled "BX10081 Star System Resource Files."

Her tone was brisk, without any unnecessary pleasantries. "As agreed, you'll manage all our money from now on. I'll transfer these one billion Silver Blue Coins to your account first. The files have all the information about the star system. I'm going to the Cultivation Room."

She paused, her gaze passing over the funds in the projection, then added, "I have enough resources for cultivation for now. The monthly cultivation stipend the family gives me as a Planetary Rank warrior, the year-end talent bonus, and the Body Tempering Spirit Liquid included in my benefits will be enough to get me to Star Rank.

"So feel free to invest this money however you like. But for the sake of our future, if the annual return is below five percent, we might as well invest directly in the Luo Family's internal fund."

Tang Ping nodded at her words, already agreeing with her.

He knew the Luo Family's financial strength all too well. If Luo Feng was a rare genius in cultivation, then his younger brother Luo Hua was a true powerhouse in the world of investment.

The Luo Family Financial Department, led by Luo Hua, was virtually unstoppable in the interstellar capital markets of the Ganwu Universe Kingdom. Even veteran financial groups under the Virtual Universe Company had to give them some leeway.

The returns from the Luo Family's internal investment funds were far greater than those available elsewhere. In the short term, they might fluctuate slightly with the prices of interstellar resources, but as long as an investment was held for more than ten years, the return was guaranteed to remain at a minimum of fifty percent. Some projects tied to rare mineral deposits could even double the investment.

It was practically a "guaranteed-profit legend" in the interstellar investment world.

"Beep. Black Dragon Mountain Empire Bank notification: 1 billion Silver Blue Coins have been credited to your personal account. Current balance: 2,020,000,000.00 Silver Blue Coins."

So many zeroes!

As soon as the crisp deposit notification sounded, Luo Xiaoyu seemed to have a huge weight lifted from her shoulders. Her tense posture relaxed slightly.

She put away her Personal Terminal, turned, and headed for the Cultivation Room at the end of the corridor, walking so briskly that she nearly stirred up a gust of wind. "I'm going to cultivate. Don't disturb me unless it's important."

Tang Ping watched her go and shook his head helplessly.

The girl's devotion to cultivation bordered on obsession, as if anything other than improving her strength was a waste of life.

But then again, reaching the ninth level of Planetary Rank at eighteen placed her among the top hundred of the younger generation of humans across the Milky Way Galaxy. Her accomplishments certainly justified her "all-out" efforts.

Putting those thoughts aside, Tang Ping touched the star system resource file icon in the Holographic Projection. The encrypted document unlocked instantly, and a flood of data poured into his Personal Terminal.

Sitting in an alloy chair in the ship's lounge, he scrolled through the screen, carefully reviewing the details of the BX10081 Star System. Before long, he had figured out its "situation."

The bad news: the star system had no habitable planets. The surfaces of its five planets were either covered in molten terrain exceeding five hundred degrees Celsius or frozen wastelands at minus two hundred degrees. Violent gales and thunderstorms raged almost constantly.

Even the hardiest drought-resistant interstellar moss couldn't survive there, ruling out any possibility of establishing a long-term base. This had greatly diminished the star system's overall value.

The good news: all five planets in the star system were "mineral-rich planets," and they contained the core material used to make Tier 3 Telekinetic Weapons: Star Pattern Steel Mother Ore.

This ore was exceptionally hard and could withstand the fluctuations of a telekinetic's mental strength. It was a scarce resource in high demand on the interstellar market. Even a low-grade Tier 3 telekinetic dagger could sell for over one billion Black Dragon Coins.

However, the atmospheres of three planets contained highly corrosive Unknown Particles. Mining mechs operating in such conditions would have their hulls eaten through within three months. The other two planets suffered frequent geomagnetic storms that could disrupt mining equipment's power systems and even cause the mechs to go out of control.

The document also included a record of the star system's history: BX10081 Star System had previously been managed by the Black Dragon Mountain Mining Subsidiary, which belonged to the Ganwu Universe branch of the Virtual Universe Company.

Because mining there was so difficult, the subsidiary sent only a small number of robots each year to mine the surface. The revenue allocated to the Luo Family was pitifully small: about one million Black Dragon Coins every ten years, equivalent to exactly one billion Silver Blue Coins.

Now, however, the Luo Family had completed its full acquisition of the star system's mining equipment, and the subsidiary's staff were in the process of handing it over. All that remained was for Luo Xiaoyu and Tang Ping to arrive and formally take over.

As agreed, they could recruit their own mining crews and optimize their mining plans. The eventual profits would be split equally between the two of them and the Luo Family.

Tang Ping couldn't help but marvel as he read this far. The Luo Family had truly spared no expense in cultivating its geniuses.

After all, the two of them were still only Planetary Rank warriors, yet they had been given the right to half the profits from a mineral-rich star system. Such a generous allocation of resources was extremely rare even among the noble families of Black Dragon Mountain.