novelraw Chapter 41 : Hundred-Day Star
Chapter 41 : Hundred-Day Star
On the other side of the chat box, an effeminate young man's light brain vibrated once. Across from him, a girl with large wavy curls lowered her eyes to look at him, her gaze indicating: "Commander Xie, you have a message, from your special attention too."
Her tone was soft as she stared at the young man's movements with a look of someone enjoying the show.
His bangs covered his eyes, and his short hair had a curly curve. The hair strands were fine and soft, looking like a very cute hairstyle, but from the gaps between the strands, those snake-like vertical pupils were revealed, instantly making the atmosphere somewhat gloomy.
He lowered his eyes to look, then replied.
[Stupid Liar Bro: In a meeting]
Xie Yi saw the message, pouted with boredom, put away her light brain, and looked reluctantly at Chen Sui's departing figure.
[Xie Scenery: Saw Little Spring Bro's teammate, but seems to be alone, didn't see Little Spring Bro QAQ]
This message wasn't seen by Xie You until after the meeting ended as he walked out of the school team building.
His light brain lit up in front of him, the white light of the chat box illuminating his gloomy face, his pitch-black snake eyes staring coldly at the message.
After a while, he pulled at the corners of his mouth and smiled.
The wavy-haired girl left a step later. As she came downstairs, she saw the young man's thin figure, surrounded by an aura that kept people at a distance. A blue-haired young man wearing a black hood walked past him, as if not recognizing him, without even a glance.
On the distant road from the school team, the school team's agile attacker Simos, wearing an exquisite uniform, strolled leisurely among the rose bushes. With his playboy face and deep eyes, he broadcast charm indiscriminately to the surroundings. Any girl who made eye contact with him would instantly turn red.
He Lanqi tossed her wavy curls behind her, observed her teammates, and the usually calm girl licked her lips.
Her teammates all seemed somewhat antisocial and unique.
Could such a team really achieve coordination?
She covered her head, thinking painfully about her summoned body editing.
It had been rejected by the school team again.
With less than two months before the Star League Competition, if the summoned body editing form wasn't confirmed soon, Na Luo River would truly be a step behind others.
Did the school team really think she was a genius who could complete editing a summoning body in just a few days?!
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Hundred-Day Star.
At the rightmost counter in the waste processing area, a tea-colored partition was extended between two mecha arms, and a pair of yellowish-brown leather shoes were placed on the operating table, swaying left and right beyond the counter's display glass.
A picture of leisurely contentment.
Chen Sui put away the images on her light brain.
Before coming, she had already prepared mecha material divisions. After showing them to people in the waste processing area and asking if there were similar waste materials, she was finally directed here.
Waste processors and clearance hunters had their own communication area, and those with good relationships would even introduce business to each other.
This clearance hunter reportedly specialized in going to energy fields recruited by the Border Army, rarely looking for materials, and focusing solely on salvaging mechas.
Through the display window, Chen Sui followed the leather shoes upward: military green leather work pants, a slim waist secured by a black scale leather belt, an earthy red vest rolled up to reveal distinct abdominal muscles, the lines winding all the way up the chest, converging at the human fish line, interrupted by the belt.
He was comfortably lying in a rocking chair, propping up his legs, hands pressed behind his head, enjoying the sunlight streaming through the window, contentedly narrowing his eyes.
Suddenly, a shadow fell before him. The man with stubble on his chin raised his eyelid and, seeing the black-haired young woman in front of him, quickly put down his legs. But because the movement was too hasty, he nearly fell off the rocking chair.
Seeing this, Chen Sui stepped forward, instinctively wanting to help him. However, the wobbling man kicked against the display cabinet, flipped his body, and landed steadily on his feet. His twisted body stood up, his tall figure blocking half the display cabinet.
"Hey, boss, what would you like to see?"
He waved his hand, and after a biological information scan, the outer glass of the display cabinet opened. Chen Sui scanned through the window but didn't see her target object, so she simply displayed an image from her light brain.
"Have you seen this kind of material?"
On her screen was a shattered remnant of a mecha, designed through holographic projection.
The man bent down to look closely, his hot breath blowing on the back of Chen Sui's hand with the light brain bracelet.
As he leaned closer, Chen Sui could see that he had a young face, with somewhat arrogant features. There was a centipede-like scar from his nose bridge to his right cheek, with new flesh creating a color difference around it.
On his chest was an intersecting mark, the end of which peeked out from his vest-covered chest.
Noticing her examination, the man pulled down his vest to cover the scar, then rose to rummage through the storage cabinet under the counter.
"This?" he looked up at Chen Sui, his eyes somewhat appraising, then carefully examined the mecha pattern. "Actually, I do have it."
He recalled for a moment.
"Let me show you to confirm."
Chen Sui breathed a sigh of relief, her tension and worry instantly subsiding. Watching his movements, she became somewhat excited and couldn't help clenching her hand.
"Clang."
After rummaging for a while, the man placed a square box on the table.
"Is it this?" he opened the box, which contained the material Chen Sui had shown—identical in color and even matching the pattern. He narrowed his eyes, staring at her curiously: "So what is this thing used for?"
Chen Sui reached out to take a fragment.
The mecha had undergone severe compression and explosion, its entire structure completely collapsed, leaving only a pile of fragments. The special metal from the wasteland had edges full of corrosion marks, covered in deep red rust.
"Yes, are there any more of these? I want them all."
She didn't answer the man's other question.
He stared at her with a half-smile, his light-colored eyes like scanners, making Chen Sui somewhat uncomfortable. She furrowed her brow, raised her eyes, and looked at him with displeasure.
"Ha," the man stepped back, raising both hands in a friendly gesture. "No misunderstanding, I didn't mean anything else, just curious. This is a mecha, right?"
"When I picked up this thing, although it was shattered beyond recognition, the entire structure looked like a mecha. However, this design doesn't quite resemble the Star Alliance's standard structure. You're not from our star region, are you?"
He glanced at Chen Sui, seemingly trying to guess her origin from her appearance.
Chen Sui calmly closed the box, quickly completed the payment, and prepared to leave. She feared that a few more exchanges would lead him to guess she wasn't from this world.
"Hey, don't go, aren't you going to ask where I found it? Let's chat a bit."
The tall man crossed his arms, his arm muscles bulging, tilted his head, and his black short hair shook.
Chen Sui put the items into her spatial button and nodded: "Alright, where did you find it?"
"Be a bit nicer, little sister," the man drawled. Seeing Chen Sui's cold face and expressionless stare, he pouted, "No fun at all."
"Even if you knew, it wouldn't help."
He sat down in the rocking chair, lowered his head, and said with a smile.
Chen Sui frowned, pressing: "What do you mean?"
Lu Cui Ning looked up. At this moment, light passed through Chen Sui's body, dividing before him.
Chen Sui stood in the daylight, her shadow cast on the display cabinet, while the man sat in darkness, his hair covering his eyes, the lower half of his face bearing an eerie smile.
His voice had a chill in the blazing sun.
"Your mecha fell in [God-Abandoned Domain], one of the ten major energy fields."
Chen Sui's mind was engulfed by immense confusion. She couldn't help but grasp the pendant on her chest. "What's special about the God-Abandoned Domain?"
Lu Cui Ning suddenly tilted his head and smiled: "Isn't being one of the ten major energy fields special enough?"
"Little sister, with your mecha destroyed like this, there's no need to look for it anymore. It's already pretty good that these pieces could be collected. Basically, everything has been ruined by energy. Take my advice, make a new one and consider the old one dead."
Chen Sui sensed he had more to say and looked at him with slightly cold eyes: "What exactly is special about the SSS-level energy field [God's Domain], primarily wind attribute?"
Lu Cui Ning's smile paused. "What's special is that within this energy field, massive changes occur every year, understand? The God-Abandoned Domain's main energy attribute, energy bodies, and terrain all change annually. The location where your mecha fell might appear in a different position after the change."
Chen Sui looked at him suspiciously: "Just that?"
"What else?"
Lu Cui Ning said irritably: "You're just a kid. Looking at your age, you're probably still a military academy student, right? Why are you asking in such detail? Planning to go to the God-Abandoned Domain to salvage your mecha?"
"What are you thinking? Are the ten major energy fields so easy to enter?"
"Be careful you might not come back out."
He closed the display cabinet glass. "Not interesting. Want to chat? Let's chat for a while. If not, I'm going to sleep."
Lu Cui Ning lay in the rocking chair. Chen Sui was about to leave but, seeing his posture, stopped to examine him.
He was around thirty or forty years old, which by Star Alliance average age standards would be considered young. Although seemingly relaxed lying in the rocking chair, his body muscles were tense, covertly gathering strength even in rest. Moreover, Chen Sui observed his hands had some special features, very similar to the Border Army members she had seen.
"Are you from the Border Army?"
Lu Cui Ning was reaching for a hat on the display counter when he heard this and paused, immediately denying:
"Ah, you think too highly of me, little sister. I'm not worthy. Would the Border Army want someone like me?"
His tone was sarcastic.
Chen Sui found him somewhat strange and couldn't help but look a few more times, provoking Lu Cui Ning to look back: "What, want to buy something else? Let me introduce you? All high-grade goods salvaged from high-level energy fields, I'll give them to you at a discount?"
The disciplined Border Army shadow Chen Sui had seen in him was instantly shattered. She blinked her eyes and shook her head in refusal: "No need, thank you."
Lu Cui Ning waved his hand, showing a smile: "No problem, boss, take care!"
After seeing Chen Sui leave, he resumed his previous posture, feet propped up on the display counter. He shook open the hat in his hand, flipped it inside out, and covered his face with it.
The badge on the hat gleamed in the sunlight.
The small line of text below was strikingly visible.
[Congratulations to Colonel Lu Cui Ning on winning the Zone Eleven Combat Championship]
[Engraved by Song Baining]
The jump flight returned to Yuguang Star on the evening of the third day. Chen Sui went with a sufficient balance and returned with a spatial button full of materials and a zeroed account.
Opening the dormitory door, she took a nutrition solution from the entrance storage rack, slowly gulped down an entire tube, and leaned silently against the heavy wall at the entrance.
In the living room, Gu Qinxue turned her head at the sound and looked back. "What's wrong, not going smoothly?"
Chen Sui wore a solemn expression, as if encountering a thorny major problem.
Gu Qinxue also frowned.
Then she saw her shaking her head: "Smooth, excessively smooth."
Gu Qinxue breathed a sigh of relief: "Then why do you look like something terrible has happened?"
Chen Sui threw the nutrition solution trash into the processing box, walked to the sofa, and threw herself into the cloud-like soft cushions.
"Too smooth, so smooth that I seem to have been drained dry. Nothing left, not a single cent."
She stared blankly at the light above, then suddenly turned to Gu Qinxue: "What do you think, if I list my weapon design diagrams on Star Ring Banquet, how much should I price them?"
Chen Sui seriously pondered this question.
She hadn't even considered whether there would be a market, simply assuming they would sell.
Gu Qinxue realized this subtext, recognizing Chen Sui's consistent confident assumptions, and couldn't help but lower her head and curl her lips.
"Around seventy thousand, with no upper limit."
Even with Chen Sui's confidence, she wasn't prepared for Gu Qinxue's sudden statement. She froze and looked at her. "You have such faith in me?"
Gu Qinxue opened her lips: "Not just faith in you, but more faith in the abundance of suckers in the Star Alliance. Those people on the main star love to throw money around on Star Ring Banquet. Draw some totem patterns on your weapon design diagrams, invent a beautiful and sorrowful story, and they'll sell for even more."
Gu Qinxue had even thought of marketing strategies.
Chen Sui silently approved.
She entered the StarNet, looked at Xie Yi's online store, and suddenly, upon seeing the pinned item, thought of something and carefully observed it.
"What's wrong?"
Gu Qinxue was attentive to her actions.
"Xie Yi, this name sounds familiar."
Chen Sui murmured.
Gu Qinxue's movements paused as she turned to look at her: "You met Xie Yi?"
Chen Sui nodded, searching through her memories, suddenly realizing what she had missed.
Her gaze met Gu Qinxue's, and they spoke simultaneously.
Chen Sui: "Second Academy agile attacker, spiritual body [Blazing Fox]"
Gu Qinxue: "Commander Xie's sister, Second Academy agile attacker."
After speaking, Chen Sui exclaimed, "Commander Xie's sister?"
Gu Qinxue was momentarily stunned, then looked at Chen Sui and nodded slightly. "Yes, also a newly joined agile handler at the Second Academy. She loves interstellar travel and is rarely seen unless competing."
Chen Sui was incredibly surprised. "Don't they need to train?"
With Zhu Jing Fu's school team having a packed daily schedule, why could other academies travel throughout the interstellar realm?
On this point, Gu Qinxue said without any shame: "Besides the new analyst Xue Yaoyao, the other four members of Saint Laurent's school team have deep relationships and extremely high team coordination. Our school team... do we look like we have coordination?"
She asked rhetorically.
Chen Sui thought about it—on the battlefield, Zhu Jing Fu might not have fought with others because the agile attacker and the strong attacker would have started fighting each other first.
She thought silently, so how does Zhou Chen manage to step on Gu Qinxue's landmines with every sentence?
Chen Sui stroked her chin.
Seeing her still thinking, Gu Qinxue explained: "But she doesn't have much time to play anymore. Once the league roster is submitted, regardless of what happened before, all academies will arrange intensive training." After saying this, she pondered for a moment: "Xie Yi went to Hundred-Day Star, ha, could it be she's short on money again?"
Seeing her thorough understanding of interpersonal relationships in the near Star Ring, Chen Sui nodded and continued to browse the online store. Gu Qinxue curiously looked up and was surprised to find many items that clearly weren't made by Xie Yi.
"Xie Yi's father is Xie Xifeng, the head of the main star's Repair Technician Association. She and her brother Xie You have both passed the repair technician qualification exam."
Gu Qinxue explained.
Chen Sui indeed observed two distinct styles in the online store.
"Her brother is Na Luo River's Team Leader, Xie You." Gu Qinxue added softly, resting her chin on her hand.
Chen Sui silently turned her gaze toward her, sensing something amiss, and asked her puzzling question.
"So, for the upcoming Star League Competition, most people actually know each other?"
What she really wanted to ask was whether most people came from the main star.
Gu Qinxue nodded, seeing her frown and somewhat unusual expression, understanding why Chen Sui would show such a reaction.
"Try to understand. The main star occupies the best resources in the entire Star Alliance. At least before the old nobility completely occupied the council seats, people from distant Star Rings had pathways upward. Originally, the two directors, Song Baining and Xie Liuyun—one serving in the Border Army, the other in the Star Alliance council—combined forces to equally distribute council seats across the Star Rings. But now, with one missing and one imprisoned, most of the council consists of Gu family members. The Gu family, from old nobility, sees people in distinct classes. Beyond the Third Star Ring, all are distant Star Rings, becoming resources to be exploited."
"With so many resources, even a waste can be hammered into a genius. So in the Star League Competition, during these years of severe council situations, the proportion of main star origins has increased."
She spoke calmly, almost coldly, delivering a long passage.
Chen Sui extracted several pieces of information from this speech.
"Xie Liuyun is Commander Xie's..."
"Father." Gu Qinxue completed.
"Then the Gu family and you?"
Gu Qinxue pressed her lips together, her cold eyes mixed with disgust. "The Gu family is the most disgusting place in the entire Star Alliance, a gladiatorial arena, a cage."
Her voice was hoarse. Chen Sui rarely saw such intense emotions on her face. Even when Zhou Chen spoke most unrestrained, Gu Qinxue only flushed with anger.
She couldn't help but reach out and press on the back of Gu Qinxue's hand, which rested on her knee.
"The Gu surname is simply the biggest stain on my life."
Gu Qinxue clenched her fist and slammed it heavily on the table.
Chen Sui pressed her lips together, waiting for her surging anger to subside before softly offering comfort: "If you despise this surname, then why not make this 'Gu' the 'Gu' of Gu Qinxue, rather than the 'Gu' of the Gu family."
Gu Qinxue's form stiffened, as if struck at the heart of the matter. Her gaze focused intently on Chen Sui, extremely firm and serious.
"That is precisely my purpose in coming to Zhu Jing Fu and participating in the league."
Chen Sui clarified her thoughts.
The Star Alliance established a council, with each Star Ring electing council representatives, a total of eleven seats. When Song Baining represented Zone Eleven in the council, he could suppress the old nobility, led by the Gu family, from controlling the council. After Song Baining's disappearance, Xie Liuyun went mad, violated the law, and was imprisoned in the main star's prison tower.
The Gu family's infiltration of the council became increasingly severe. Zone Eleven's representative, who replaced Song Baining, couldn't contend with the council, leading to a gradual imbalance in resource allocation between the Border Army and the Star Alliance.
She shook her head. "Political matters are truly complex."
Seeing her declining to get involved, Gu Qinxue's eyes showed a hint of desolation as she smiled: "No need to understand matters between politicians. Our task is simply to perform well in the Star League Competition. As long as we can bring sufficient resource input to the Fourth Star Ring through the Star League Competition, we can break free from the main star's control over distant Star Rings."
"In summary, one sentence: we must win the league."
Chen Sui watched her extend her fist and instinctively bumped fists, nodding in agreement: "We must win the league."
She closed the StarNet shop, shut off her light brain, and looked at Gu Qinxue, clapping her hands somewhat reassuringly: "Sleep?"
Gu Qinxue nodded. "There's a training match tomorrow, you------"
"Not my business," Chen Sui's eyes, which had just regained vitality, became vacant and hollow again. "First is Teacher Yang's analysis class, then Teacher Qin's summoned body editing class, after Teacher Qin is Teacher Phlyria's summoning body repair class. Tomorrow we're going to Mountain No. 2; the teachers said we'll start high-level energy crystal analysis."
Hearing this, Gu Qinxue's eyes widened slightly, her voice a bit higher than usual: "You can already analyze energy crystals?"
Chen Sui nodded, seeing her expression and assuming she was surprised by her slow progress.
She quickly raised her hand, speaking rapidly: "I know the progress is a bit slow, and there's still much to do, but before the league starts, I'll definitely be able to edit summoning bodies. It won't delay the preparation progress, the school team can rest assured."
Gu Qinxue was blocked by her rapid-fire words.
Watching Chen Sui tiredly shake her head, yawning as she prepared to return to her room.
"I'm going to sleep first."
Watching her wave goodbye, leave the living room, and enter the bedroom, Gu Qinxue slowly uttered the second half of her sentence: "You call this slow progress?"
A puzzled expression appeared on Gu Qinxue's cold face.
She wasn't an analyst, but she knew how long Chen Sui had been studying.
From learning until now, it had been just over thirty days!
Over thirty days?! And she could already analyze energy crystals?!
Gu Qinxue slowly exhaled, laughing once. She brought up her light brain and opened a coded chat box.
Looking at the coded nickname, she clicked her tongue lightly and changed the nickname to a person's name.
[Gu Qinxue: From the start of practice to successfully analyzing energy crystals, how long did it take you?]
At night, still collecting energy body information and constructing summoning body data, the long wavy-haired girl heard her light brain's special attention notification sound and suddenly raised her head from a pile of data.
[He Lanqi: You don't listen to a word I say, do you]
[He Lanqi: 40 days, just 40 short days, sis is a genius, understand?]
Gu Qinxue smiled, pulling at her lips.
[Gu Qinxue: Studying theory since childhood, yet still taking forty days to cross the practical threshold]
[Gu Qinxue: Really lame]
[He Lanqi: ?]
[He Lanqi: I'll give you one chance to rephrase that, otherwise don't blame me for bullying your analyst on the league battlefield]
With internal channels already providing access to school team rosters within military academies, He Lanqi looked at the unanswered chat box and reread Gu Qinxue's words.
She pressed her palm against her temple, supporting her forehead. Her fair, slender index finger tapped on the table as her red lips parted, quietly speculating: "Could it be that this new analyst is very formidable?"
As Zhu Jing Fu's last officially announced school team position, all information about Chen Sui was completely blank.
All information about her on the Zhu Jing Fu forum had been deleted. Inquiries through internal channels revealed only stories about Chen Sui that were tinged with legendary qualities.
They looked like fiction.
Such as "Analyst Department, Combat Department, Biology Department jointly fighting over her," "With one command from her, the entire academy exploded," "Defeating two-time top students, the rise of a new analyst king," and so on, full of overly dramatic, chuunibyou-style phrases.
However, it was clear that to be recognized by the school team, she must have exceptional qualities.
Now, looking at this message, He Lanqi couldn't help but think.
"Perhaps she took less time, and similarly, her talent value would be higher."
Based on the duration, He Lanqi estimated Chen Sui's approximate spiritual threshold, her expression becoming increasingly serious.
Zhu Jing Fu was definitely not as weak as StarNet claimed. If they added an exceptionally talented analyst, combined with the deep-thinking Xie Chunshi, plus two reckless outputs and a combat unit with extreme defensive power.
They would become the most shocking new stars in the league.
He Lanqi couldn't help but feel the pressure.
Chen Sui, still unaware that her 31-day achievement had already spread throughout the school team, once again immersed herself in analyst practical courses.