Chapter 411: Heart Longing for the Starry Sky

Xiao Jiu eventually became the coolie of the annoying old Zhang; the work wasn't difficult, just dragging a few nice treasure chests back to the shelter.

As a humanoid nuclear-powered beast of burden, Xiao Jiu was stubborn as a donkey; she easily dragged those huge treasure chests back.

"Don't move my feet from now on!"

Xiao Jiu fiercely warned Zhang Jie, that spot was her weakness, a very sensitive place! No one could just touch it!

"Fine, fine, fine."

Zhang Jie put on a look of coaxing a child; after over a year of getting along, he had figured out Xiao Jiu's personality.

In short, she was just a stubborn, world-weary little girl.

However, the logic embedded in her crystal core was that of an adult, but her experience wasn't enough to support her becoming a mature person, so this situation arose.

"With Xiao Jiu's company, you, who lost the shelter and the material synthesizer, quickly adapted, relying on your own wisdom and the knowledge left by the human female, you could be considered half-rich on this wasteland."

"Most wasteland dwellers can only pick up decent scrap iron or strange junk to sell, while those who know a bit more will refine that scrap iron into decent metal for sale."

"On the wasteland, these resources are inexhaustible, which sounds nice, but even working twenty-four hours a day without break, these people find it hard to accumulate their own savings."

"Having drifted in Wasteland City for over a year, you have basically fully understood the operating laws of this world—it's harsh, but also real."

"Generally speaking, building a garbage recycling station locally on a planet and processing waste is the most economical method, but this assumes a planet without cheaper non-interstellar civilizations."

"For a civilization that can freely travel through the Star Sea, fuel and energy have long become the least valuable things; matter is the true foundation, and a civilization without matter can never go far in the Star Sea."

"The birth of the Garbage Star is precisely the result of interstellar navigation technology becoming too mature; in technical terms, it is the inevitable phenomenon caused by the ever-decreasing cost of material demand and energy as civilization advances."

"The Garbage Star is not truly a place isolated from everything; it still connects with the main star, and Garbage City transports extremely cheap, processed material to the main star."

"And the main star utilizes already extremely cheap organic matter and ordinary industrial goods, exchanging them at an exaggerated price difference for material on the Garbage Star—this is the fundamental logic behind the Garbage Star's existence."

"Here everything is like a giant biochemical reactor: throw in waste, throw in organic matter, and you can obtain refined steel and compounds; all the wasteland dwellers here are catalysts of this large reaction."

"Once this is understood, everything happening in the wasteland world begins to have a trace, but this does not affect your normal life with Xiao Jiu."

"But you also have a new goal: to raise your standard of living as much as possible; before the human female returns, you must live well."

"Besides, you have Xiao Jiu, who could also be called a Ship Girl; humanoid life is just a formal term, and ship life, humanoid warship, ship girl—these can all refer to her."

"But Xiao Jiu probably doesn't care about those; as a Ship Girl who likes to loaf around, all she likely wants is to make her bed softer and to eat more delicious food."

"While dealing with those wasteland dwellers, you also became increasingly mature; now you finally realize how foolish your earlier casual release of those wasteland dwellers was, though you have already paid the price and learned the lesson of eradicating the root."

"As a scavenger, your ability to turn waste into treasure keeps growing; in Wasteland City, the things you make are rare and fun, which also makes your life better and better."

"You are the object of envy for countless wasteland dwellers, with a body radiation cannot invade, admirable craftsmanship, and the means to stably settle outside the city; here, you are already a winner in life."

"You had a whole set of soft blankets and a large pillow custom-made for Xiao Jiu, and you also bought two game consoles on the side; I believe this loafing little Ship Girl, upon seeing them, will happily accept them with a proud, tsundere grin."

"Without realizing it, you've already been raising Xiao Jiu like a little dog—cough... no, like a daughter."

"Xiao Jiu always gives you the feeling of being raised by a human female in the past; in daily situations, she is loafing and useless, mainly just providing companionship, but you don't dislike such Xiao Jiu."

"Perhaps when the human female adopted you back then, she also wanted someone to keep her company; after all, you were far more burdensome than Xiao Jiu back then—Xiao Jiu only needed a small bed to sleep, while you were practically a four-legged gold-eating beast."

"All things considered, raising you is far more troublesome than raising Xiao Jiu...."

"Life's problems have been settled; now you live even better than when the human female was around, and your life ought to have been peacefully spent through your youth on this wasteland."

"But, longing for the starry sky is ultimately something hard to let go of; I believe every living being, when raising their head, feels an involuntary yearning, and you are no exception."

"After countless attempts, you actually managed to repair the small telescope left by the human female; it can see the deep starry sky through the feces-yellow atmosphere."

"Just that one glance, and you became completely infatuated with her...."

Xiao Jiu recently discovered something strange.

Under normal circumstances, after nightfall Zhang Jie would lie on the small bed next to her, flipping through the notes left by the human female, until he fell asleep peacefully.

But lately Zhang Jie is different; he always goes up to the shelter's roof, holding a small observatory device that doesn't belong here, looking at the feces-yellow sky that shows nothing.

Xiao Jiu felt it strange; she wanted to care for Zhang Jie, but she always felt a bit embarrassed.

However, her concern for Zhang Jie overcame her shyness; she hugged her small pillow, barefoot, and came to his side.

"Hey! Human, what are you looking at?"

Zhang Jie moved the observatory device from his eye sockets, glanced interestingly at the shy Xiao Jiu, and did not expose her tsundere pretense.

"Looking at the starry sky."

"Xiao Jiu, have you truly seen the starry sky?"

"Eh? The starry sky."

She thought seriously for a moment, as if she had thought of something frightening; her small body shuddered, and she finally gave an answer that Zhang Jie did not find satisfactory.

"The starry sky is scary...."