Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

For Qu Jianlei and the three others, this was the first time to use teleportation between the starship and the planetary surface, and it held great significance.

From now on, they could enter and leave planets without the restrictions of the Star Port, moving freely.

For Celestial Sound, it was also significant, as she witnessed her teammates appear on the planet out of thin air with her own eyes.

Of course, imperfections were inevitable, as both Flower Scorpion and Mu Yu looked pale, swaying unsteadily.

Due to the relatively long distance and significant space disturbance, the ride was not very comfortable.

Flower Scorpion held it in for a while, but finally opened her mouth and, with a "wow," vomited some sour water.

Yet her expression was excited, "Ugh, this feeling... ugh, needs improvement, but still, ugh, very exciting!"

"Yeah, it’s great," Celestial Sound nodded with deep feeling, "the riding experience being poor doesn’t matter, survival is most important."

Back then, she was trapped on Paradise Star, with no way out, and she never wants to experience that kind of desperation again.

Mu Yu’s physique was much better, the paleness purely due to the terrible feeling that reminded her of an unbearable past scene.

The Paranoid steadied himself and regained composure, first nodding, then shaking his head.

"Not bad, at least it succeeded, but the starship can’t move... this still needs improvement."

"Take it slow," Qu Jianlei casually replied, "a precision teleportation of over two million kilometers is not bad, do we need to hit moving targets too?"

The Paranoid replied in a deep voice, "Whether the starship is moving is all relative, now it’s fixed on Purple Star, so it’s not considered moving."

Qu Jianlei knew what he wanted to say, that the trajectories of celestial bodies in space differ greatly.

The Omen Ship hasn’t moved relative to Purple Star, but it certainly has relative to Paradise Star.

To achieve cross-star systems ultra-long distance teleportation, the problem of moving targets must be solved, even ordinary college students can think of this.

But it’s easy to make suggestions; solving the problem can’t be done just by talking...

Thinking about the series of issues to be resolved, he rubbed his forehead and sighed, "Alas, the road ahead is long and arduous."

However, Celestial Sound spoke with a serious expression, "Boss, we’ve already solved whether we can do it, the rest can be taken slow."

"Hmm," Qu Jianlei nodded, "By the way, were the spatial fluctuations large?"

"Not too large," Celestial Sound shook her head, pointing to the instrument at her side, "It didn’t reach the intermediate alert line."

"Tsk," Qu Jianlei clicked his tongue with frustration, "still triggered the advanced alert... there’s much room for improvement."

That’s what he said, but he felt somewhat satisfied internally, as previous tests in the Tianpeng Star System had yielded similar effects.

This meant that the teleportation data had little to do with the relationship between different star realms and celestial bodies.

In this regard, there was finally no need for further refinement, which was somewhat good news.

Celestial Sound was quite methodical with her work, not only choosing the bottom of a cliff but also selecting rainy weather.

This helped avoid satellites in the sky, reducing the chance of spatial fluctuations being detected.

After Qu Jianlei packed up the array plate on the ground, he led the group of four away quickly.

They left just in time, as twenty minutes later, a drone appeared at the bottom of the cliff, hovered for a while, and then left.

Qu Jianlei perceived this scene, unable to stop the twitch at the corner of his mouth, "It’s really... quite tight."

This was just bad luck; presumably, some equipment had patrolled here and detected spatial fluctuations.

However, the patrol personnel evidently weren’t very diligent, casually dispatching a drone to go through the motions, with some delay even.

Nevertheless, Qu Jianlei also took mental note to set teleportation array plates in places with fewer monitoring devices in the future.

After the five reunited, they spent half a day reaching Shanshui Small Building.

Duoduo saw the suddenly appeared Qu Jianlei and his team, full of surprise, "When... did you all arrive?"

Their fake identities had been arranged by Ping’an Trading Group, and they had always used them on Purple Star.

Ping’an had been constantly monitoring their entry and exit records, and didn’t expect them to appear so suddenly.

"Hmm, heard you were going to audit the minerals," Flower Scorpion nodded, "so we came."

At that moment, a shadow flickered in the distance, Qinghu appeared, nodded at them, "Come?"

They really did arrive just in time, as in seven days, people from Ping’an would lead government officials to the abandoned star body.

Granny Jia was also a little surprised by their arrival, but after listening to Qu Jianlei’s concerns, she nodded.

"I’m accustomed to taking such things for granted, overlooking the special circumstances."

Qu Jianlei inexplicably felt a bit hurt—so, is this the difference between regular armies and unconventional means?

In fact, it was true. When Jia Shuiqing was at her peak, if she declared Ping’an was under her protection, who would dare make trouble?

But that’s all in the past; the regular army is now mixing with unconventional means?

Ping’an valued their arrival highly; that night, Jilt and Hail quietly came to entertain everyone.

They didn’t ask a word about Xiao Moshan’s disappearance, instead asking if the newcomer needed an identity arranged?

Flower Scorpion casually responded, if convenient, they could arrange it; if they were busy with auditing, let’s discuss it later.

Hail immediately stated that at the latest, the identity proof would be delivered by the day after tomorrow.

That evening, Qu Jianlei and the others didn’t drink much, after all, they had been traveling for some time.

Jilt and Hail were also quite perceptive, and after sitting for less than two hours, they got up to take their leave.

It wasn’t until nearly noon the next day that everyone regrouped.

Qu Jianlei casually inquired about the approval process for the energy stone mine.

Granny Jia shook her head, "I haven’t looked into that detail, but Ping’an has already allotted some dry shares, want to find out more?"

Upon hearing this, Qu Jianlei couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

"Senior, we really don’t need to interfere in Ping’an’s affairs, but since it concerns our profits, you should at least ask some questions."

Granny Jia replied casually, "There’s no concrete agreement yet; we need to see the mine before deciding, you can ask Duoduo about it."

Flower Scorpion immediately called Duoduo over to understand the specific situation.

It turns out that three companies in total have shares, and one of the investors is the Celestial River Branch of the Energy Block Alliance.

The Energy Block Alliance is semi-official, except for purely official or military energy stone mines, they manage the sales of all others.

If Ping’an is strong enough, it can refuse the alliance’s shareholding, but sales must still go through the alliance’s channels.

That’s right, energy blocks are a hard currency, but they ultimately have to face market sales.

So, can private sales work? Absolutely, small-scale energy block transactions in the private sector are rarely questioned by the government.

However, long-term bulk sales... that’s not just feasible, that’s punishable, extremely punishable.

If there wasn’t this concern, Ping’an might as well mine privately, why go through the formalities?

Ping’an can indeed refuse the Energy Block Alliance’s shareholding.

Selling through their channels is nothing more than following the proper procedures; besides paying taxes, there’s also a management fee.

However, what constitutes proper procedures? Here’s where it gets nuanced.

Ping’an’s scale is still a bit small; although it has a strong backer, the backer is so powerful that it’s unsuitable to be used casually.

The Celestial River Branch is also quite familiar with Ping’an’s situation—no need to know before, but it’s different now that there’s a mine.

They also don’t want to have conflicts with those backing Ping’an, expressing willingness to offer one-tenth of the costs for a one-tenth shareholding.

Energy Block Alliance holding shares doesn’t exempt them from any fees—they still have to pay for their portion of the profits.

But it does reduce unnecessary trouble and provide some help.

Can the alliance provide help? Definitely, the resources within the alliance will prioritize cooperating partners.

Such as loans, or affordable spare shipping capacity, information sharing, jointly dealing with crises, and so forth...

So, from some perspectives, it’s a good thing that the alliance is willing to invest.

However, for this reason, when they face smaller partners, they tend to be relatively assertive, and the conditions are stricter.

Facing Ping’an Trading Group, their proposal for one-tenth cost for a one-tenth share is indeed very fair.

As for why it’s so fair... do you need to ask?

The people from the alliance even candidly stated that the main purpose of holding a ten-percent share is to effectively manage the mine resources!

Energy stone mines are specially licensed by the Imperial, but illegal mining is rampant because once extracted and sold, it’s immediate money.

And just as everyone suspects, many official mining companies also conduct significant private transactions.

Thus, the alliance holding shares is essentially a necessity—having shares means having the power to dispatch regulatory personnel.

But for some powerful forces, they aren’t afraid of the alliance’s difficulties, and naturally aren’t willing to let others take a piece of the pie.

Now that’s a bit off-topic, in any case, Ping’an doesn’t reject the alliance’s investment; on the contrary, they somewhat welcome it.

No choice, their backing is too high-profile, making a move means a sure kill; anyone would be reluctant to use it easily.

So, for middling issues, let this minority shareholder from the alliance handle it—you also have benefits.

Especially since the alliance has made its intentions so clear, Ping’an really has no reason to oppose.

As for whether the alliance may have ideas about taking over the mine, Ping’an really doesn’t care.

Such a situation, if it indeed occurs, would thoroughly justify using the trump card!

Ping’an doesn’t believe that its trump card could necessarily shake the Energy Block Alliance—there’s even a high possibility of losing.

No way, the alliance is simply too big, wherever there are energy blocks, there’s the alliance.

But still, that question remains: is it worth it for such a small mine?

The reason strong alliances are stable is often not that they appreciate each other, but because the cost of betrayal is too high!

So, Ping’an is generally satisfied with having the alliance as a shareholder; everyone gets what they need, and that’s the true essence of cooperation.

But for the other two shareholders who hold dry shares, Ping’an is not so willingly accepting.

Even Duoduo has quite a few complaints.