Mining

In the vast starry sky, far away from the Cultivation Realm, a small asteroid with a diameter of over a thousand meters is carefree and moving along its own orbit.

Due to the gravitational pull of the sun, this asteroid has traveled countless light-years over a very long period of time.

If nothing unexpected happens, it will remain in this state for the rest of its life.

Until destruction.

Unfortunately, accidents often happen without warning.

In the dark depths behind it, a light suddenly flashed.

A huge, black object, topped with a bright lamp, rapidly approached the vicinity of the asteroid.

This thing was completely black; if it weren't for the bright light at the front, it would have been like a ghost in the darkness, difficult to spot.

However, when it gets close to the asteroid...

Even against the backdrop of the asteroid, its shape is still barely discernible.

This is a colossal object that is hundreds of meters long.

It has an overall oval shape, with almost no sharp edges, and is completely covered by curved surfaces.

The elongated, oval-shaped object slowly came to a stop on the surface of the asteroid.

From a distance, it looks like a cockroach crawling on a marble.

And then, as this thing came to a stop on the planet's surface...

Its body, composed of curved surfaces, surprisingly had several openings.

Several claw-like appendages swiftly extended from the openings and firmly anchored its body to the planet's surface.

At this moment, from a distance, this thing looked exactly like a cockroach.

A giant cockroach, hundreds of meters long and entirely black!

However, upon closer inspection, one will notice that under the illumination of the headlight, the black color of this creature's body actually gleams faintly!

Even the giant legs fixed to the planet are like that.

It has a strong metallic feel!

"Beep! Planetary location complete, commencing data collection!"

Such signals were emitted from the giant cockroach.

In that dark depths of space, five more beams of light appeared in succession, exactly the same as the one above the giant cockroach's head.

When the five beams of light came closer, they turned out to be five giant cockroaches.

The five that appeared later followed suit, each climbing onto the surface of the asteroid.

For a moment, the asteroid seemed to have become a toy for these giant cockroaches!

"Shall we begin?"

"Nonsense! Get it done quickly, I'm going on vacation when I get back!"

"Taking a vacation? Didn't you just finish your vacation yesterday?"

"Haha, Old Huang meant going home!"

A series of sounds rang out from inside one of the cockroaches' bodies.

If you shift your perspective inside, you'll discover that the interiors of these giant cockroaches are surprisingly spacious and hidden.

At this moment, inside the abdominal cavity of that giant cockroach, in a space made entirely of metal, a dozen or so humans are busily working.

Look closer, this isn't the inside of a cockroach at all.

It's a high-tech control room.

This behemoth was not a cockroach, but an interstellar warship about 100 meters long.

Those so-called cockroach legs were nothing more than the mechanical arms of this warship.

The six warships attached to the asteroid's surface were seen skillfully collecting data from the asteroid under the operation of their crews.

As beams of red light shot out from the warship, they streaked across the surface of the asteroid.

The asteroid was soon broken into pieces of various sizes by these six warships.

It's like cutting a cake.

Then, these six warships, just like cockroaches, quickly devoured all the pieces, large and small.

An asteroid that had existed for countless years simply vanished into the universe.

What's even stranger is that even if all six spaceships were combined, their total volume would be less than one-tenth the size of the asteroid.

It's simply unbelievable that they were able to capture this asteroid completely, without missing a single detail.

As the capture operation concluded, the lights above the spaceships flickered a few times.

As if waving goodbye, they each headed in different directions and disappeared into the endless depths of space.

Inside one of the spaceships, however, things were incredibly lively.

"Old Huang, you probably won't be going back to the mining team after this leave, right?"

"Nonsense, Little Liu, with Old Huang's experience, he could have been transferred to the transportation team six months ago!"

"Then what...?"

"It's all for his son's sake. You know, the transport team has a comfortable life, but the income is too stable. The kickbacks can't compare to those of our mining team!"

"Old Huang's son? What's wrong? Is he having some kind of trouble?"

"I haven't been with this mining team long, "Little Liu asked curiously.

The others in the control room all smiled when they heard the question.

"Difficulties? Didn't you see Old Huang's face practically beaming with joy?"

"Um?"

Old Huang, who was sitting in the driver's seat, finally turned around.

This was the first time Little Liu had ever seen that smile on his face.

"It's all because of my brat, he got into Principal Liang's research team! You all know their program, it's a total money pit."

"Principal Liang?"

Upon hearing this, Little Liu's face was filled with shock.

Old Huang, seeing his expression, naturally found it quite enjoyable.

"That's right. I heard that kid recently went to the Eternal Night Forest with Principal Liang again, saying he was looking for a very peculiar Demon Beast."

"But... wasn't it said that tuition at Imperial University was completely free?"

"It's free, but that kid has high standards for himself. He not only participated in Principal Liang's project, but also encouraged some things on his own outside of class, so he needs my support!"

Little Liu nodded, indicating that he understood.

Despite Old Huang's seemingly sarcastic tone, everyone could hear the pride in his voice.

Indeed, any one of them would be overjoyed if their child could study under Principal Liang.

Time slipped by slowly as these people chatted idly.

As the final space jump was completed, a colossal object appeared before them.

Dyson Sphere!

The Dyson Sphere today is a significant improvement over its predecessor.

Countless spaceships are shuttling back and forth around the Dyson Sphere.

Old Huang and his crew's spaceship was like a drop in the ocean, utterly insignificant.

Don't be fooled by the fact that their vehicles are hundreds of meters long.

Yet, in this endless starry sky, they are the most common, and also the smallest, kind.

Even spaceships tens of thousands of meters tall were frequently appearing around the Dyson Sphere.

Compared to warships of this caliber, their spaceships were, as mentioned at the beginning, like cockroaches.

These cockroaches, whose numbers are unclear, are a crucial part of the Dyson Sphere Project.