Chapter 719: The Universal Mining System (10)

"Bangde! Bangde!"

"Did you hear from Andewa that your daughter is also on the leave list?"

"She's really capable! To think she could pay off the quota for the Task! My brother-in-law, who was among the first batch sent to the Mining Star, hasn't returned even after more than three years!"

"Bangde, could you help me ask your Xie Yang? Can she get in touch with my brother-in-law on the Mining Star? If there's no news of him soon, my wife is going to cry her eyes out."

Xie Bangde had finally finished his work and was just preparing to clock out with a rusted, discarded mechanical arm he had just scavenged when he was stopped by a colleague.

He was in a rush to get home to see his daughter, so he said, "I can help you ask Xie Yang, but I can't guarantee she'll be able to reach your brother-in-law."

"That goes without saying! It's best if she can reach him, but if not, we can only blame Qiao Jie for his bad luck."

Over these years, the three words "bad luck" were the ones Xie Bangde least wanted to hear.

They would make him think of what his son went through in his childhood.

What a cute little fellow he was back then, only to end up like this because he was unluckily caught in the crossfire between Star Pirates and the Federation military.

Many people advised him to look on the bright side, trying to enlighten him by saying it was all fate.

To hell with fate!

It was clearly the Federation government's negligence in managing the Garbage Star, and clearly the Federation military not taking the Star Citizens of the Garbage Star seriously.

Just try having this happen on the Imperial Star!

Not to mention that the Federation military would never dare to provoke Star Pirates in such a situation for fear of inciting public outrage, even if the Star Pirates were desperate enough to take hostages, they wouldn't be able to escape the Imperial Star's all-encompassing security system.

Taking a step back, if it were an Imperial Star citizen who had been held hostage by Star Pirates and, after wandering outside for years, returned to the Imperial Star as a severe social phobic, would the government not pay to cure them?

It can only be said that the Star Citizens of the Garbage Star are of low status and have no voice.

To be innocently caught in a crossfire and then fall ill because of it, only to have to accept it as bad luck.

It wasn't that Xie Bangde had no resentment in his heart.

When his resentment was at its heaviest, he had even sent multiple letters of complaint to the Imperial Star.

But the emails sent seemed to have vanished; not a single one received a response, not even a short "received."

As time passed, the anger in his heart was gradually smoothed over by the years, but he still could not bear to hear others say things like "it's all fate" or "you have to accept your fate."

Xie Bangde's good mood had been ruined by those three words.

He carried the mechanical arm he had just scavenged and returned home with a gloomy expression.

As mentioned before, the Xie Family are natives of the Garbage Star, and with the blood of the Zhonghua people flowing in their veins, "hoarding land and buying houses" is a sense of belonging hidden in the bones of the Xie ancestors.

Through the efforts of several generations, the Xie Family truly owns a not-so-small homestead on the Garbage Star.

It must be said that land on the Garbage Star is actually quite cheap; a waste planet that lacks everything, unless there is an unavoidable reason, who would be willing to come here to acquire property?

But since they had settled on the Garbage Star, having land is better than having none, even if this soil is severely compacted.

Although Xie Yang has the memories of the original body, she was still shocked to see this home, which was comparable in scale to a medieval castle.

Of course, it is quite different from a castle—castle complexes are concentrated and stand towering; whereas on the Garbage Star, due to the abundance of land and scarcity of people, there are not many buildings over four or five stories, basically all are three or four stories: the first, second, and third floors are tool rooms and storage rooms, and the fourth floor is used for living quarters.

The Xie Family is the same, having built several four-story building complexes on their land, connected by a circular aerial corridor.

Except for the load-bearing walls, the first and second floors have no other walls; at first glance, they look like a raised, large-scale garage, serving as Xie Ba's tool room.

Because some of the waste products dragged back are extremely large in volume, part of the third floor is also opened up to the first and second floors, with the remaining part used for storage.

The family of four's daily life is basically all on the fourth floor; one can go directly to the fourth floor from the elevator in the aerial corridor without passing through the floors below.

Xie Yang was currently in the viewing hall in front of her room; calling it a room, it was actually a large suite of three or four hundred square meters, consisting of a bedroom, bathroom, dressing room, and audio-visual entertainment room, each one ridiculously large and dazzlingly bright.

According to Xie Ma, the room's floor was polished by her cheap brother, who suffers from severe social phobia, and it was indeed bright enough to serve as a mirror.

She brushed her hand over the furniture and decorations in the room one by one; they looked like they had both the texture of solid wood and the luster of metal, yet she could not identify the material.

【It is imitation wood crystal.】 The Main System provided her with the knowledge, 【A type of technology board unique to the Interstellar Plane, and also the cheapest among all man-made boards. It is much cheaper than solid wood or metal.】

"But the texture and luster are quite good. If made into furniture, it's both good-looking and cheap. Wouldn't it cause a rush to buy in the Modern Plane?"

【This is the manifestation of technological progress. Technological products are the most common things on the Interstellar Plane; on the contrary, solid wood is listed as a protected species on many planets.】

Xie Yang could not help but look toward the empty garden below.

Because the soil is compacted, one cannot see tall plants or flowers in the Xie Family's courtyard; the only few clusters of greenery are moss and sparse ferns, and even these are the result of Xie Ma's careful cultivation in recent years.

To quote Xie Ma's catchphrase: "These will be the life security for your father and me after we retire."

Xie Yang: "..."

She had an urge to sprinkle diluted Spirit Spring Water onto this land.

However, unlike the Interstellar Plane she had stayed in before—the monitoring technology of this plane is more advanced.

Although the Garbage Star is at the bottom of the list, it was once a beautiful Habitable Star, once eyed by Star Pirates who were eager to occupy it, and now it is regaining its vitality and is no longer barren, so the Federation cannot possibly abandon it.

On the contrary, because it is far from the new center, the Imperial Star, the Federation military has installed more invisible surveillance here than there are Star Citizens living here.

Xie Yang's plan to improve the soil and sow seeds on a large scale is not feasible here.

The invisible Flying Vehicle that could travel wantonly in the Ancient Plane could not escape the radar detection under high technology.

"Knock, knock."

A rhythmic knocking sound interrupted Xie Yang's deep thoughts.

"... Brother?"

Opening the door, she found it was her cheap brother—Xie Bo.

Xie Bo, who is five years older than the original body, has a delicate face that is hard to distinguish between male and female, but because of his severe social phobia, he has long kept bangs that can cover most of his face, which also hid his star-like eyes, bright as the morning light, and his elegant, straight nose.

Xie Bo did not speak, but reached out and handed Xie Yang a small metal object that had been polished very smoothly.

The Xie Family doesn't have much else, but they have plenty of waste and scrap metal. Except for the large furniture made of imitation wood crystal, all other miscellaneous small objects are almost entirely made of metal.

"For me?" Xie Yang took it, and after examining it, she twisted a small switch on it; instantly, "ding-a-ling" music flooded the entire room.

"A music box?" Xie Yang smiled, "I like it very much, thank you, Brother. I also have a gift for you."

Xie Yang produced a miniature orange bonsai as if by magic: "Brother, this is something I opened from a Blind Box I dug up. I'm giving it to you, wishing you a good mood every day!"

Green leaves and orange fruits, paired with a lemon-yellow small pottery pot; the rich colors made the eyes Xie Bo kept hidden beneath his bangs brighten.

Xie Yang watched him with a smile, discovering that her cheap older brother was actually quite easy to coax.