Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

In the Purple Light Star System, there is a planet called Purple Star, the second largest habitable star in the Celestial River Star Realm.

The headquarters of Ping’an Trading Group is here, and the Ping’an Headquarters viewed from the Central Star is actually just a facade.

On this day, cheers erupted in the normally quiet Ping’an Mansion.

Kading and others, who had been missing for over two years, astonishingly returned piloting a starship.

Initially, four merchant ships formed a convoy for transport, but after being attacked by Star Thieves, only one merchant ship managed to make its way back.

The returning merchant ship was battered, having jettisoned all its cargo, but fortunately, the seven crew members on board were unscathed.

The news they brought back led everyone to abandon hope for the other three ships. After reporting to the authorities, they just awaited further notice from the Star Thieves.

However, as everyone suspected, the attack likely was not the work of Star Thieves.

More than two years passed swiftly, and the headquarters received no definite information.

There were plenty of rumors though, and a few bold individuals attempted to swindle money with false information.

Nevertheless, no matter how down and out the Ping’an Trading Group was, it wasn’t easily manipulated by just anyone.

After sternly dealing with a few individuals, no one dared to deceive them again, but likewise, no further information came.

The people at headquarters had already accepted that all three starships were destroyed and their crew perished.

The reason they didn’t cancel these people’s identities is because the Imperial permit allows those who go missing in space to retain their identity until they die.

Now they surprisingly received communications from Kading, with visual proof, and everyone’s joy was imaginable.

Most remarkably, they even brought back an armed merchant ship of the Star Thieves.

"Strictly control the information," the leader of the trading group decided, "Send a team to meet them and see what they need."

Although Kading didn’t say much, it was clear that, having returned, there were inconvenient reasons for remaining in space.

A small starship rose into the air, heading straight into outer space.

Kading’s merchant ship remained 1.2 million kilometers from Purple Pool Star.

This was the firing range limit of an ordinary armed merchant ship, thus staying here without being specifically targeted by the Planet Government.

By the time the small starship arrived, Qinghu and Xiao Moshan had already relocated, joining everyone together.

The action team comprised six people, among whom was an A-level named Hail, inquiring about the situation.

Kading answered directly, "On the surface, it’s because we’re carrying the Star Thieves’ starship, so we should report in advance."

"But the real reason can only be shared with Hail alone."

After some secret discussions, Hail emerged with bright eyes, "Let’s go back first."

The small starship returned carrying fourteen people.

Besides Duoduo, the seven unfamiliar faces all wore an air of hostility.

As the starship requested landing, the patrol personnel indicated a need to board for inspection.

This request was flatly refused by Hail, "Enough already, we’ve brought important information about the Star Thieves."

Indeed, the Ping’an Trading Group wasn’t what it used to be, but as a local enterprise, it had enough reason to still maintain some privileges.

Upon landing, the starship was directly picked up by an armored vehicle from the trading group, under the pretense of "protecting important evidence."

One must admit, Kading hit the nail on the head, the Ping’an Trading Group still had the air of a dominant local power on Purple Pool Star.

After entering the headquarters’ garage, soon after, a dozen buses set out in different directions.

One of the buses headed to the trading group leader’s private estate.

Besides the eight who got off the starship, the leader Jilt himself was on the bus, accompanied by Hail and two attendants.

From Qu Jianlei’s side, the one responsible for communication was Flower Scorpion — not due to arrogance, but because the leader of the trading group was merely A-level.

Jilt naturally dared not make an issue, maintaining a smile while speaking.

Even if he didn’t necessarily believe there were four Supremes, judging by their actions, they could at least guarantee two Supremes.

He didn’t dare even ask which were the Supremes, as they didn’t wish to reveal their identities.

Flower Scorpion’s current demand was to quickly arrange a set of fake identities.

As to why they couldn’t use their old identities, she didn’t explain, and the other side dared not ask more, merely assuring it would be done promptly.

Furthermore, they requested a billion in rescue funds, which caught Ping’an off-guard in procuring such a sum instantly.

The key issue was that they needed nameless Silver Notes in a considerable amount, and the Celestial River Star Realm, being relatively mature, was strict in tax evasion checks.

Jilt promised to raise the funds within ten days — including fifty million in Guardian Fees.

Speeding it up wasn’t impossible, but he worried it would attract attention from those with ulterior motives, causing unnecessary trouble.

Jilt spoke transparently, leaving Flower Scorpion with no reason to refuse.

Her reaction also indirectly indicated they truly didn’t want to expose their identities.

But Jilt truly didn’t mind, having run such a big enterprise for decades, he thoroughly understood that crystal clear water has no fish.

Judging a person’s character, one shouldn’t rely on others’ words, but observe how they act.

Through Duoduo’s description, he knew these were people with principles, with the worst being just highly guarded.

As for the other party’s true identity, whether it’s related to the Sail Consortium, Jilt couldn’t be bothered to find out.

Other relevant cooperation matters were discussed beforehand, and the next step was just to refine the details.

But these were not important, both parties had status, and a verbal commitment was sufficient.

Finally, Flower Scorpion suddenly asked, "Who is Duoduo’s great-grandfather, why hasn’t he come?"

Several Auspicious Supremes from our side came, yet their only Supreme didn’t show up, which was indeed a bit impolite.

Jilt was stunned upon hearing this, then looked at Duoduo with a face full of helplessness.

Duoduo glanced at Hail, then looked at the two attendants, and replied calmly, "We’ll discuss this matter later."

After traveling for over three hours, they arrived at a remote estate, about one square kilometer in area.

This estate was unusually secure, mostly run by intelligent systems, with a large number of robots.

Independent power and network ensured protection against external data attacks.

The construction cost of the estate alone reached an astounding 400 million.

Here, Qu Jianlei and the others would temporarily reside, and after handling this affair, there would be a new place to live.

Jilt opened all permissions to Flower Scorpion and stated that when leaving tomorrow morning, he would withdraw all personnel.

Just introducing the various applications within the estate took him half a day.

During this time, he received constant outside communication requests, which he simply ignored.

The dinner banquet was very lavish, and Qu Jianlei and the others did not hold back, eating heartily.

After living a year of wild life, it was truly tough.

But Duoduo’s reaction wasn’t much better than theirs, though she was merely a C-level.

Once satiated, Jilt and others tactfully left, allowing Duoduo to express her apology.

"My great-grandfather is Auspicious Supreme, but I haven’t heard any news about him for seven or eight years."

"Auspicious..." Granny Jia murmured softly and after thinking for a moment, she remarked.

"I have a slight impression of this person, seems to be Earth Attribute, he should be about ten years older than me."

Ten years older than you? Duoduo silently noted this information, this granny was indeed a Supreme.

"Alright, no need to dwell on this," the Paranoid remarked nonchalantly, "as long as he doesn’t show up soon, it doesn’t matter."

In other words, if Auspicious shows up soon, it would be disrespectful to everyone, and this matter would require a resolution.

Duoduo remarked sombrely, "Actually, I have a suspicion, he might already be gone."

The others were not surprised by this statement; for Ping’an Trading Group, the life and death of a single remaining Supreme were exceedingly important.

It was Flower Scorpion who asked with interest, "How many people know the concrete news?"

"Not sure," Duoduo shook her head gloomily, "my status isn’t important enough."

"Alright, let’s take a rest," Qu Jianlei stood up, "tomorrow we’ll go out for a stroll, I can hardly stand it."

He loathed shopping, but after a year, he greatly missed the urban atmosphere of modern society.

In the following days, guided by Duoduo, the seven of them went around shopping.

Even Granny Jia made a big purchase, but her reason was "in a good mood."

Qu Jianlei also gained some new insights from Duoduo... Ping’an Trading Group could actually acquire large computing units!

This wasn’t produced by Ping’an, but they could indeed acquire the goods and even request to remove back doors.

It was Qu Jianlei’s first confirmation that computing units can also have back doors.

He purchased three computing units before, none of which had back doors; who would have thought larger units would!

Certainly, this wasn’t strange; Imperial doesn’t regulate ordinary computational power but values ultra-strong computational power.

Nevertheless, Duoduo wasn’t very clear on the specifics, she stated she could inquire about it.

While they leisurely wandered around, Purple Star Government was exploded with news.

An armed merchant ship posing as Star Thief had been dragged back to the planet, along with dozens of pieces of human tissue.

These were collected by Kading and others, intended to unearth the mastermind.

These dozens of human tissue samples belonged to twelve individuals, with nine identified through genetic sequencing comparison.

Three were from Purple Star, two from Central Star Nanhe, and four from Hill Guard Star.

The latter two planets aside, investigation was imperative for the three from Purple Star, right?

Two of the three worked for a security company called "Dukas," with the other also having ties to the company.

Ping’an Trading Group vehemently urged the Government to thoroughly investigate this company.

Yet this was formidable, Dukas Company’s headquarters was on Nanhe Star, with three Auspicious Supremes.

Supplying security, they had many associates, including business relationships with at least seven or eight Supremes.

Locally on Purple Star, they also had a Supreme stationed, whether by coincidence or intentionally.