Chen Ming took off his protective suit and hung it beside the charging port in the captain’s cabin. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ɴovᴇl(ꜰ)ir(e).nᴇt
Breathing in the oxygen provided by the ship’s life support system, the pressures brought by the environment slowly dissipated from his mind.
He had been busy back and forth in the Space Station for nearly two hours, and several times he almost lost his life there.
But fortunately, it was all worth it.
A maintenance kit the size of a briefcase lay at his feet, along with the fusion fuel stored in the storage room that could support the ship’s operation.
And the small cart filled with packaged survival food that he casually left in the central corridor of the ship.
Besides fatigue, Chen Ming felt no discomfort, meaning these packaged survival foods were entirely consumable.
The things he had painstakingly acquired were the foundation and confidence for Chen Ming to survive.
The only thing he couldn’t get from the Space Station just now was the materials used for repairing ship equipment.
But the warehouse area storing various materials was on the same level as the mining area, and Chen Ming never intended to go to such a dangerous place from the start.
If he had gone, he would likely have become food for the Insect Race by now.
Chen Ming shook his head, casting out the terrible thoughts, and stopped thinking about what might have happened if he had done something differently.
Planning to use the little time his body needed to rest after two hours of continuous work.
To focus his mind on planning his next steps.
Having just piloted the ship away from the Mining Space Station, he could only say he had initially survived the most dangerous period since arriving in this world.
But more problems and troubles awaited Chen Ming ahead.
The fuel reserves on the ship were limited, and the food he got from the Space Station was also limited.
This meant Chen Ming couldn’t drift in space indefinitely.
So, one way or another, Chen Ming had to return to the Human World.
Currently in the Edge Star Realm, there were essentially no human colonies nearby.
Thus, Chen Ming had to step back and head to the nearest Star System with a public Military Outpost.
Once there, he could contact the stationed military and request help, using the Star Gate technology that could perform interstellar jumps to return to the Human World.
As for why Chen Ming was so confident the military would help him.
It was because, in Chen Ming’s memory, although a Military Outpost was called a Military Outpost, it wasn’t solely staffed by military personnel.
In the infrastructure-lacking Edge Star Systems, these Military Outposts were akin to large central Space Stations within bustling Star Systems.
They provided various conveniences needed for Star System navigation to all humans, offering logistical support to those exploring the cosmic frontier.
After all, Chen Ming was a human, a legitimate Maintenance Master with company employee status, and it was perfectly reasonable to request help when encountering danger.
Once there, Chen Ming’s basic survival was sure to be guaranteed.
So right now, the biggest problem for Chen Ming is.
The time needed to reach the nearest Star System with a Military Outpost from the abandoned Mining Space Station on the orbital of a small peripheral planet in this Edge Star Realm.
Chen Ming opened the Star Map near the Mining Space Station on his personal terminal and marked the Star System where the Space Station was located and the nearest Star System with a public Military Outpost on the screen.
The distance between the two points wasn’t long on a cosmic scale, but for Chen Ming, it wasn’t short at all.
In Chen Ming’s memory, he initially arrived at the Space Station on a company ship and it didn’t take much time.
But the company ship had a Superspace Navigation System, while the ship he found clearly indicated "Superspace Navigation System (Missing)" on it.
Without the Superspace Navigation System on Iron Ore No., flying this distance in normal space would take a considerable amount of time.
Sufficient preparation for a long-term space journey must be made before Chen Ming could set off for that location.
Chen Ming then left the captain’s cabin, pushing the small cart parked in the corridor into the storage chamber.
For now, he left the corpses of the insects and insect eggs in the cold storage alone and instead checked the food piled on the small cart.
He found that the packaged survival food could only sustain him for at most three months.
Three months’ worth of food, three months’ survival time.
Chen Ming didn’t want the ship to run out of food midway, causing him to starve.
So he couldn’t just mindlessly head towards the Military Outpost.
Chen Ming returned to the captain’s cabin, pondering solutions for the food problem while sitting in the chair.
He already had a rough idea, utilizing the ship’s internal planting chamber.
But ideas weren’t the key; the key was the execution process and its feasibility.
However, as Chen Ming slightly lowered his head, he suddenly noticed the communication devices on the control panel of the ship’s bridge.
Chen Ming suddenly realized something.
If he wanted to return to the Human World, it seemed unnecessary to fly the ship back himself.
By connecting the ship’s communication devices to the Space Station’s communication anchor point, he could contact the nearest Military Outpost.
They might directly dispatch a rescue ship to bring him back.
Chen Ming stroked his chin, contemplating if this idea was feasible.
But as his gaze focused on the abandoned Mining Space Station not far away.
In an instant, he realized something wasn’t right.
After merging with the memories of Maintenance Master Chen Ming, he was very aware of the mindset of those at the top of the company.
Even if the company was generous enough to pay him during his hibernation, it couldn’t change their greedy nature.
He was an insignificant figure, easily dismissed with a salary that was negligible to them.
But how could the company easily abandon a Mining Space Station, which, despite being in the Edge Star Realm, frequently acquired rare minerals that couldn’t be bought even with money?
They had bought the mining rights on the planet, and such rights typically lasted for over a century.
It had only been thirty or forty years since the Space Station was built; could the company truly have had no reaction?
If they did, they should have already found and taken him out of the Hibernation Pod as a company employee.
What were they doing?
Moreover, although the insect outbreak initially occurred at night on the Space Station, some people should have been able to escape.
Where were those who escaped?
Could it be that the news of the Space Station being occupied by the Insect Race hadn’t spread at all?
Why has no one come here all these years?
Not even to collect the corpses.
Chen Ming felt his heart full of doubts, seemingly aware of the abnormality surrounding the Space Station’s abandonment.
No matter what hidden agenda lay behind it, the fact that a Space Station generating significant profits for the company had been left unattended since 30 years ago.
Was definitely not something a small Maintenance Master like himself could meddle with.
Before figuring out what underlying issues existed between the Space Station and the company, Chen Ming absolutely shouldn’t use the Space Station’s signal tower to contact that very nearby Military Outpost.
He had to find a way to return to the Human World on his own.
The universe is so vast that once he left, no matter what conspiracy lay behind the Space Station’s abandonment, no one could find him.