Chapter 717: Universal Mining System (8)

Therefore, to immigrate to the Imperial Star, the prerequisite is to possess sufficient Contribution Value.

Xie Yang pondered whether she could increase her Contribution Value if she returned with the remaining ore.

If that didn't work, she would have to start with work—finding a way to secure a stable job for herself or her family.

Before that, she had to help the original owner cure her brother's illness.

Her Star Coin balance had risen from the pitiful two hundred she had upon arrival to twenty thousand, but it was still far from enough to buy medicine for her cheap brother, so she would sell a few pieces of ore.

In any case, she would be mining here for a long time to come; ore was the one thing she had in abundance.

Even if the three-year term expired and the Recycling Sub-system could not be recovered, if she were willing to come here to mine, the Sub-system would surely welcome her, right?

Right! This small planet is currently ownerless, isn't it? If she bought it, and once the Sub-system unbound from it, she developed the karst cave salt lake into a scenic spot where the specialty was Octopus Balls, wouldn't that also be a contribution to the Federal Star System?

The more Xie Yang pondered, the more she felt this was a good idea.

Consequently, after being sent off the Mining Star by the Sub-system and connecting her Light Brain to the Star Net, she immediately searched for this planet and found the selling price was ridiculously low—one could own it for ten thousand Star Coins.

It was just that it was currently in a restricted-sale phase, the cause being that many Star Citizens had jointly protested, claiming this planet was too ominous; despite having no usable resources, after being claimed by a system from an outside galaxy, it had suddenly become a Mining Star and even forced people to mine. If this wasn't ominous, what was? They successively demanded the Federation bomb it or expel it from the star system.

But after the first batch of Star Citizens who returned from mining brought back real ore and made a small fortune, it caused many people to waver.

Thus, some Star Citizens strongly suggested destroying this small planet, while others felt it could be kept for a while longer. The Federation simply restricted the sale of the planet, and when it would be unblocked depended on when the system got bored and abandoned it.

Seeing that she couldn't buy it for the time being, Xie Yang had to put it aside for now.

"W7744 Garbage Star lowest-tier Star Citizen Xie Yang?"

"Present."

"Congratulations on your safe return! Please collect your Starship ticket."

"Thank you."

Xie Yang put away her Light Brain, reached out to take the black metal card spat out by the service Robot, boarded the Starship, and found her seat according to the serial number on the card.

The Federal government did this part quite well: for all the lucky ones who were drawn to mine, the Federation provided unified transport for both the outbound and return trips.

Otherwise, Star Citizens from Garbage Stars wouldn't even think about coming to earn this extra money. Because even if they were drawn, they couldn't afford the long-distance Starship that cost thousands of Star Coins. As for cheap spaceships, they would likely run out of fuel before even reaching the Mining Star.

"Why is this a standard seat? Are there no booth seats or private rooms?"

"There are, sir, but you need to pay the price difference."

"How much is the difference?"

"Booth seats require an additional 1000 Star Coins, and private rooms are divided into small, medium, large, deluxe, and luxury, requiring an additional 3000 Star Coins or more."

"..."

The person who boarded after Xie Yang was a middle-aged man. He scanned the standard seats in the black card area with a critical gaze, expressed his disdain for sitting here, and said he wanted a quiet private room, so he summoned a service Robot.

However, after hearing the Robot's introduction, he froze, then muttered: "That's too expensive! Forget it, forget it, I'll just sit here."

After sitting down, he didn't stay idle; one moment he opened his bulging luggage bag to check the remaining ore, and the next he opened his Light Brain to contact different people, seemingly wanting to offload this ore as soon as possible.

"Xika, Brother is out! Where out? The Mining Star, of course!... Hehe, no need to tell me that, how about it? Interested? Brother will sell you a piece for cheap?"

"Sister Linda, interested in some beautiful ore? Besides ore, I also have some very delicious snacks; look, aren't they cute? In fact, they are not only cute but also delicious. I'll mail you some to taste when I get back. The price is a bit high, but there's a reason for the high price!"

"Kulari, I'm back! Of course! I wouldn't have been able to come out if I hadn't met the quota! Right! I brought you a little gift, no, no, it's natural food! Don't you love food made from natural ingredients from Habitable Stars the most? Mine is even tastier than the specialties sold on Habitable Stars! I guarantee you'll be thinking about the next time after just one bite..."

As Xie Yang listened, she discovered that this person was not only selling ore but also the Octopus Balls he had bought from her.

Good grief!

She sold the Octopus Balls for 5 Star Coins each, and the other party was selling them to acquaintances for 20 Star Coins each.

"Brother, you're still the smart one! I didn't think to bring them out to resell; I ate them all."

The burly man in the seat next to the middle-aged man scratched his head:

"I snapped up over a hundred of them in total; at your selling price, I could have earned two thousand Star Coins!"

Others also expressed their regret:

"I ate them all too!"

"I have a few left, I was planning to bring them to my family to taste. 20 Star Coins each, I'm even a bit tempted."

The middle-aged man said with a hint of smugness: "You can't blame yourselves, after all, my line of work is free trade. But even if you had my business acumen, you might not be able to resell them at a high price. I have connections, which doesn't mean you do. However, I can buy them from you at 10 Star Coins each, and I'll cover the shipping costs, so we can both make a profit."

Some were tempted, but they didn't have many left in their hands, and they wanted to bring those few back for their families to taste.

Others felt that if he could sell them for 20 Star Coins, they might be able to as well, so why trade with him here, and thus didn't respond.

The middle-aged man collected a round, but only received a few scattered ones.

Xie Yang stroked her chin and thought for a moment, then logged into the Star Net and checked the process for opening an online shop. She discovered that as long as one was an adult with no criminal record, one could apply to register a Xingwang-xiaodian. However, the goods sold had to be inspected by a Star Net security officer. Presumably, this was to prevent the sale of contraband.

Xie Yang immediately registered a Xingwang-xiaodian, naming it "Lost Delicacies," and the first batch to be listed was the cave specialty Octopus Balls.

She considered the pricing for a long time and finally set it at 10 Star Coins each.

This price would make everyone think they were brought from the Mining Star—5 Star Coins cost, 10 Star Coins selling price, plus packaging and shipping deductions, it wasn't expensive.

Even if some still wanted to be middlemen, she had left them enough profit margin.

Five hours later, the Starship arrived at the Xinghang Zhongzhuan Zhan, where everyone had to transfer to spaceships heading to different planets.

The spaceship schedule for the Garbage Star direction was the sparsest, with only two flights a day, one in the morning and one in the evening.

Xie Yang waited in the station lounge, and during the wait, she decorated the virtual shop she had just registered.

She discovered that one could experience Robot customer service for free for three days when opening a shop on the Star Net for the first time.

If one needed to continue hiring Robot customer service after the period expired, one had to sign up for a membership at 299 Star Coins per month.

Xie Yang twitched the corner of her mouth; even in the Interstellar Era, these tactics were still the same.

But there was no reason not to take advantage of freebies.

Xie Yang decisively clicked to experience it.

The items currently listed were only Octopus Balls, priced at 10 Star Coins/piece, with an inventory of 50.

Just as she finished decorating, she heard a "Ding-dong," someone had come to her shop to make a purchase, and the Robot customer service came online to assist.

A moment later—

"Master, the goods you listed are sold out; please restock in time."

Xie Yang: "..."