Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
“Allen, where can I buy parts? My ship needs fixing,” asked Xia Fei.
Allen pointed to a huge spotlight outside the window. It was completely dark inside the asteroid, so it served as an artificial sun to differentiate between day and night.
“It’s about to go dark. We have a rule here at Red Rock Base; everybody must be home when it’s dark, and nobody must loiter around outside. If you wanna go shopping, you’ll have to wait for tomorrow at the earliest,” said Allen.
“Curfew?” Xia Fei asked curiously. “Isn’t this a free port? Why is there a curfew?”
Allen laughed. “Free? There’s no freedom in this place. Red Rock Base is known as a free port because anybody and everybody can do business here. Regardless if one is a wanted man, pirate, drug addict, et cetera, all are welcome.
“That doesn’t mean that there are no restrictions here, though. The Ning familial clan makes the rules around here, and whoever disobeys them will be punished. The Nings had a bit of a fight with this guy called Owl. Dozens of lives have been lost because of that, so they’ve been patrolling every night and are especially strict when it comes to new faces.”
Xia Fei nodded. “Even though only a handful of lives have been lost, I still think the atmosphere feels normal. People are continuing to work and eat as usual with nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Don’t be silly,” said Allen, patting Xia Fei’s shoulder. “Kindness doesn’t exist in people living in Red Rock Base. It doesn’t matter if a few people die; the only ones nervous are the Nings because those who died were their bodyguards and mercenaries.”
Xia Fei chatted with Allen for a while longer, learning that there were about thirty thousand people living in Red Rock Base—ten thousand of those were long term residents, while the rest were traveling merchants, prostitutes, wanted men, and the like.
There was not a single planet that was suitable for humans in all of the Wild Star Region, only artificial habitats like Red Rock Base.
Red Rock Base was of average size in the Wild Star Region. The larger bases could house over one hundred thousand people, full of gangs and guilds with complicated relationships.
Humans and insectoids never had trade agreements, so the Wild Star Region that connected the two strongest forces in the universe became the stage for merchants, allowing humans to sell food, textile, coffee, alcohol, et cetera to insectoids while also allowing the insectoids to sell large quantities of minerals to the humans.
Insectoids controlled most of the Heart of Spirit and crystal ore production. In the insectoid world, a bottle of decent alcohol could be traded for almost a gram of Heart of Spirit, and a gram of mineral could be traded for tens of thousands of star coins, increasing their profits hundreds of times.
The majority of insectoids did not consume coffee or alcohol; these lower intellect savage beings were no different from simple animals, but there were some high-class insectoids that took pleasure in imitating how humans lived—acquiring a dependence on alcohol as well as living a life of hedonistic decadence.
Although all this illegal trading was incredibly profitable, it had its risks. Just as its name suggested, Wild Star Region was desolate, savage, and unpredictable.
Sudden interruption to the communication signal, the disappearance of ships, and being robbed by pirates were viewed as incredibly commonplace by the locals. In fact, it was impossible to know how many ships were destroyed in the star region in a year because of how many there were.
Businessmen naturally went after profits. Each year, many human and insectoid merchants risked their lives to do business here. There had been stories of people getting rich overnight, but what they did not hear was that those were just the rare few who survived. Just as with anything else in life, nobody ever heard about the mountain of unmentioned failures.
A few minutes later, the giant spotlight finally turned off, and Allen invited Xia Fei and Sarah into the living room for a meal.
Allen brought out a few old ceramic plates, which were hidden deep inside a cupboard and covered in dust. It was evident that these were Allen’s prized possessions that he rarely ever took them out to use.
“We’re eating this again? Didn’t we just make a decent profit from Xia Fei? When are we going to have real vegetables and eggs? My breath smells like Azure Weed.” Sarah grabbed a handful of pudding and shoving it into her mouth as she complained.
Allen stuck his hand out to swat Sarah’s arm, but she reacted in time, dodging his slap.
“Behave yourself. We have a guest here; couldn’t you be more polite?” complained Allen.
“Guest.” Sarah swallowed her pudding, waving her hand in front of Allen. “You said this afternoon to make a small fortune off Xia Fei; when did he become a guest?”
Allen was a bit embarrassed, saying with a pout, “Business is business. Since we are doing business, he’s a guest. I forgot to ask; why was I missing ten White Dews?”
Sarah shrugged. “That’s my payment; of course, I’m going to take my cut first.”
Allen shook his head. “You brat.”
Xia Fei smiled, taking out a few chocolate bars, some canned beef, a bag of plums, and a bottle of wine from his spatial ring.
Sarah had Xia Fei hide his spatial ring, but he felt really inconvenienced by it, so he settled with having his ring facing inward; this way, it would look like a normal ring on any onlookers, only to be surprised that it was a spatial ring once they saw his palm.
“Chocolate!” exclaimed Sarah before opening one of them and stuffing her face full of it like a child.
“Slow down; don’t choke. I still have more here,” said Xia Fei, smiling.
A girl like Sarah was easy to satisfy; a few chocolate bars were enough to bring her mood through the roof. A city girl would probably knit her eyebrows and say, “Sorry, I’m on a diet; An apple a day is all I’m eating.”
There was no way one could satisfy them without a car, a house, and plenty of cash, and even if one did satisfy them, thinking that all these were what they deserved and would never be thankful for it.
Sarah licked her lips after eating another piece of chocolate, stuffing the rest into her pocket for later.
Allen poured some wine into two cups, smelling one of them before downing it.
“Mmm, nice wine,” the man rapaciously commented of its aftertaste.
……
At dawn, Xia Fei was walking along the streets of Red Rock Base with Sarah by his side.
They went to the dock to check for the damage on his Lunar Eclipse first. Xia Fei knew what was wrong on the inside, but he had to confirm the damage sustained by the armor and the components on the outside.
The previously dazzling Lunar Eclipse now looked like a horrendous wreck; it had turned from a soaring, young eagle to a drenched chicken in the rain.
After dragging the ship into a hidden warehouse, Sarah wiped off her sweat using her sleeve. “It must’ve been a vicious battle. It’s a miracle that your ship survived.”
Xia Fei nodded. It was always a crazy idea to go toe to toe against a destroyer with a frigate. Naturally, the consequences of such an action were dire.
“I need to help someone deliver a slave in the morning; I should probably be home before lunch,” said Sarah.
“Slave?” Xia Fei was curious.
Sarah replied indifferently, “Those bugs really like young human boys and girls. In an insectoid-controlled region, a slave can fetch ten grams of Heart of Spirit. It’s really quite profitable.”
Xia Fei did not say anything. He could imagine the ‘importers’ scouring the Alliance for young boys and girls to sell them in cages like animals.
Slaves still existed in a few savage planets in the Alliance. Although the humans who lived in space managed to gain powerful allies, the gaps between them were still substantial.
Humans had always been a race of chaotic contrasts, with countless religions, cultures, and practices. They might all share the same appearance on the outside, but they would all be completely different on the inside.
Sarah had been living in the Wild Star Region since she was young, so everything that happened here seemed normal. She did not have a concept of good or evil, just whoever was stronger sat at the top. This was the only law in the Wild Star Region.
“I’ll lock the door; this way, nobody will interrupt you. I’ll come and get you by noon,” said Sarah as she left.
Xia Fei produced a can of peach, tossing it in her direction. “Eat it on the way.”
“Fruit!” Sarah held onto the can with glee, turning around at Xia Fei with a sweet smile before scurrying outside.
The Chinese had always emphasized on courtesy and reciprocity. Xia Fei had discovered that giving gifts was a tried and tested move that had great results even in the universal society.
Money, women, and violence were the three greatest weapons in the universe. If someone had control over these, they could get anything they wanted and do anything they pleased. This would work anywhere there were humans.
Xia Fei held the checklist of damages as reported by the self-assessment system in his hand, giving the Lunar Eclipse a once over, inside and out.
The self-assessment system was incredibly advanced and errors were incredibly rare. However, Xia Fei would only be satisfied after checking it himself. It was a warship cruising in space after all, not some paddle boat for lovers on a lake.
Flying out in the dangerous cosmos where crises could rear their heads anytime, Xia Fei wanted to make sure he understood every nook and cranny of his ship; not a single screw could be out of place when traveling the galaxy.
When noon came along, Xia Fei had a sixteen-page-long maintenance checklist. The first four pages were parts that needed to be swapped out immediately, and the rest could be left until he got back.
Xia Fei then sat on the ground and went through a few cigarettes. When he extinguished the fifth, Sarah opened the door to the warehouse.
“Well? Can your ship be fixed?” asked Sarah with a chip on her shoulder; it appeared that her job had been quite successful.
Sarah had a strand of yellow on the edge of her mouth, and Xia Fei knew immediately that it was liquid from the canned peach. She looked like a wild kitten that had not eaten in ages, and three-fifth a box of canned peaches could satisfy her for a long time.
Xia Fei helped to wiped off the peach juices using his sleeve before passing her the sixteen-page checklist.
“My goodness! This many?” Sarah exclaimed.
Xia Fei shook his head. “Not all of it is necessary. As long as I gather the things on the first four pages, it should be enough to get me home.”
Sarah furrowed her brows. “The Wild Star Region cannot compare to where you’re from. I think it’ll be difficult to gather all the parts on the first four pages. If you absolutely need it, you can try your hand at salvaging those parts from ancient battlefields.”