Chapter 46: Chapter 46: Huanbai Tower Asteroid Belt, Tianyu Mining Company
The second dose of the Advanced Body Tempering Potion only lasted for one day, but the pain it brought to Song Chi was far greater than the previous dose, which lasted three days.
The reason, in fact, was that the effect of the potion was too strong and his physical constitution was insufficient to absorb it effectively.
The pain was intense, but for the astonishing effects on his cultivation, Song Chi could only grit his teeth and endure.
…
While Song Chi was fully engaged in his cultivation, outside the White Tower Floating Land in the silent stellar space, a fleet was traveling at full speed.
There weren’t many warships in this fleet—less than ten. They had set out from the White Tower Floating Land, heading straight for an asteroid belt not far away.
The asteroid belt was less than 300 million kilometers from the White Tower Floating Land. Under the fleet’s lightspeed cruise, it took barely over ten minutes to arrive at the outskirts of the asteroid belt.
As it was within the gravitational field of the White Tower Floating Land, this asteroid belt was simply named the Huanbai Tower Asteroid Belt.
The Huanbai Tower Asteroid Belt was a medium-sized asteroid belt with a diameter of less than 100,000 kilometers. After hundreds of years of continuous mining by some mining companies of the White Tower Floating Land, the resources in this belt had been almost completely depleted, with only scattered areas showing traces of civilian interstellar mining ships.
“But who would have known that such a nearly exhausted resource point would still hide an extremely rare Titanium Crystal Vein?”
At the periphery of the asteroid belt, inside the main control room of the warship on the left front side of the fleet, Shen Wenjie reflected with a slight sense of wonder.
Upon hearing this, Song Chao’s voice came through from another Guardian Class Spectral Spaceship that was in communication with the “Copper Halberd” beneath Shen Wenjie:
“Let’s hope so. The two miners from Tianyu Mining Company who spread the news had only witnessed rocks that looked like Titanium Crystal and hadn’t actually confirmed the mining.”
After this brief exchange, the two of them led the charge into the asteroid belt ahead, followed closely by seven Spectral Airships of various lengths.
Indeed, all nine ships of the entire fleet were, unmistakably, Torch Warships.
As they advanced, they encountered numerous ordinary interstellar mining ships wandering through the asteroid belt. Although this belt had been mined for hundreds of years, there were no other resource points around the White Tower Floating Land, so some civilian miners naturally still hoped to try their luck in this belt.
After all, even though the good old days when resources could be mined everywhere had passed hundreds of years ago, in recent years there had nonetheless been incidents of miners stumbling upon overlooked rare resources and thus making a fortune.
Upon seeing this passing fleet, the reactions of these interstellar mining ships were all the same; they all chose to steer clear well in advance, to avoid colliding with these big shots.
In the eyes of these ordinary people, each Torch Warship was an absolute big shot, way out of their league, and they couldn’t afford to offend them. Not to mention that the Torch Warships in this fleet were very different from the ones they had seen before, especially the two at the very front.
The dark armor covering the hundred-meter-long hull, the Ghost Light emanating from the Energy Shields that just one glance told one were impregnable—the massive main cannons at the bow, with a diameter of several meters, looked fierce, and even the shipborne secondary cannons scattered on the hull could easily tear apart any of the highest-configured interstellar mining ships.
The fleet proceeded without encountering any accidents.
…
“`
Tianyu Mining’s exclusive mining area, now one of the busiest in the Huanbai Tower asteroid belt, saw hundreds to thousands of interstellar mining ships come and go daily. Based on this, the Tianyu Mining Company had specifically formed a fleet tasked with patrolling the mining area to maintain order on a regular basis.
“Brother Lu, I’ve had some good luck today, mined five tons of electrum. How about we grab a drink at Widow Sun’s after work? I’m buying. I heard her mother-in-law went back to her hometown, so after a drink, you can have some wild fun.”
Upon hearing this, Lu Erhe, who sat in the patrol airship and felt utterly bored, lit up with interest but then feigned indifference as he replied,
“Got it, we’ll talk after work. Just remember not to skim off too much for yourself— if it gets out, I won’t have time to cover for you.”
Side by side in his mining ship, Old He grinned as he heard Lu Erhe’s response, knowing he could look forward to an additional profit.
After toning down his demeanor, Old He bowed with a smile and turned off the short-range communication. What Lu Erhe didn’t know was that after he’d turned off the communication, Old He’s face shifted from sycophancy to mocking sarcasm,
“Tsk tsk, Widow Sun has been handled by who knows how many men, and you, Lu Erhe, still treat her like a treasure,” he scoffed.
After his scoffing, Old He prepared to redirect his mining ship toward the company’s inspection point, but in the next second, he stiffened and his gaze shifted to the stellar space beside him.
“Is… is that a group of Torch Warships? What are so many Torch Warships doing here? They don’t look like the lowest level Spectral Shuttles; could they all be First Rank Torch Warships?”
It wasn’t just Old He who noticed this group of Torch Warships. Because of Song Chao and Shen Wenjie’s lack of concealment, shortly thereafter, nearly all of the miners in the area became aware of the Torch Warship fleet’s presence.
As a result, within less than two minutes, hundreds of interstellar mining ships dispersed from the mining area at an unprecedented speed, voluntarily clearing out the central space.
However, this unfamiliar fleet of Torch ships showed no signs of leaving just yet. Amid the miners’ confusion, a cold, mechanical voice emanated from the lead Torch Warship,
“Who is in charge of the mining area?”
After some hesitation, the miners pushed forward Lu Erhe, the captain of the patrol team. Just as Lu Erhe was frightened, the message from the Torch Warship simply requested a detailed star chart of the mining area.
That greatly relieved Lu Erhe. He had only become the captain of the patrol team through connections, with the sole intention of making extra money while in office. If he were really expected to defend the company’s mining area to the death, that would be far too challenging for him.
Almost instantly after the request, he transmitted the detailed star chart. Any further hesitation wouldn’t have been like Lu Erhe.
Aboard the Copper Halberd Spectral Warship, Shen Wenjie compared the star chart with the one they had obtained from the market a few days ago. After confirming it was correct, he exchanged a glance with Song Chao.
The two nodded at each other, and then the fleet set off again, heading toward the coordinates of the mining area they had obtained.
However, of the nine Torch Warships, only eight departed. One remained in place and emitted a ring of light that quickly enveloped much of the mining area.
On a small asteroid with a diameter of several tens of meters, Old He’s interstellar mining ship sat quietly. While others were still wondering, Old He was the first to recognize the subtle light screen.
“They’ve even deployed the temporary communication lockdown device. Looks like something good has turned up in this mining area again,” he remarked.
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