A deep bow of thanks for all the tips and rating votes; still eagerly requesting recommendations, mua mua da!
"Holy hell! The little brat is unleashing his power, run!" The onlookers scattered in a rush, fleeing at top speed. On the entire Silver Talisman Star, Zi Ye possessed the most robots; there were over thirty combat-type robots alone. The range of the manganese matter railgun projectile within the atmosphere was precisely three thousand meters. If struck, whether a ship or a mech, nothing less than utter annihilation awaited, let alone a person.
The two men locked in a fierce PK instantly realized the gravity of the situation. They halted their fight, engaged the auto-navigation, and flew toward the distant mountains, quickly vanishing from Zi Ye's sight.
Zi Ye stood in the courtyard, staring at the pale purple sky for a long time. Feeling her anger subside somewhat, she commanded the robots to automatically return to the warehouse. Having just thrown a tantrum, she was ravenously hungry, yet An Junlie was preoccupied fighting and hadn't cooked a thing. Frustration boiled up in her. She ordered Little Sprout to hack into An Junlie's small Raven's optical computer and transmit the command: "Return immediately to cook, or your mech will be confiscated!"
An Junlie stared at the gruesome image of a knife on the optical screen, the veins on his forehead throbbing, and decisively jumped back home to cook.
From that day forward, An Junlie grasped a fundamental truth: disturbing Zi Ye's sleep would not be forgiven; disturbing Zi Ye's work meant being hunted down; as for preventing Zi Ye from eating, that was a guaranteed path to death!
After the meal, Zi Ye was satisfied. She set down her chopsticks and began to settle the accounts. "From now on, F430 will be in complete charge of everything concerning you, including food, clothing, housing, and travel. You won't need to clear any matter with me. Furthermore, those bastards who book PK challenges with you will also go through 430. You only need to adhere to two rules: One, if the cannon fire during a PK closes within a three-thousand-meter radius, you are forbidden from piloting a mech for one week. Two, return punctually to make dinner."
This seemed like no great hardship, and An Junlie readily agreed.
He paused, then asked, "If they book me for PKs, can I charge them money?"
Zi Ye looked at him, surprised. "Are you short on funds?"
It wasn't just short; he was severely lacking. In the time An Junlie had been on Silver Talisman Star, he hadn't even seen what a Silver Talisman Coin looked like. In reality, the Silver Talisman Coin was merely a concept; it wasn't printed or circulated at all.
On Silver Talisman Star, even bartering was a perfectly viable method of exchange.
An Junlie looked sincere. "I want to earn money to buy vegetables."
Zi Ye gazed at his expression, filled with such earnestness, that she couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Do you even know I rank third on the Silver Talisman Star Rich List?"
Although her mechs and robots were sold at bargain prices, the entire planet required them, so her business volume was immense. Other people on the rich list were either specialized vegetable farmers or ammunition experts. Except for those who ran restaurants, who lagged slightly behind, the rest of the wealthy, even if not officially listed, weren't exactly poor.
In essence: communal prosperity.
An Junlie felt a flush of embarrassment from being laughed at, his ears turning red. Having eaten and stayed at Zi Ye's house for so long, he desperately wanted to contribute something for her, only to find he had no clear avenue to do so.
Zi Ye chuckled softly. "Alright, first, draw out the flight path map from when you fell here. It will be very useful."
Hearing this, An Junlie's face instantly clouded over. He had almost forgotten; he was still trapped on Silver Talisman Star! To leave as soon as possible, he had to apply himself.
An Junlie nodded. "I will complete it as quickly as possible."
Zi Ye reached out, intending to pat his shoulder, but he was so tall that the gesture felt awkward, so she let it drop. "The data in F430 is complete; you can look up whatever you need directly."
Stepping out of the living room, the new-model robot F430 stood in a corner of the room, staring at him expressionlessly. It wasn't an embedded unit; it lacked a human-like exterior and couldn't mimic expressions like smiling or sadness, appearing as nothing more than cold metal.
Coincidentally, this was exactly the type An Junlie preferred. For him, a robot's practical functions were paramount; its exterior was irrelevant.
He activated the robot's optical screen, accessing the information stored within its core.
Besides the profiles of clients who booked him for mech PKs, there was a wealth of other data, including the Cosmic Encyclopedia published by the Interstellar Federation three years prior. He searched carefully and found an interstellar warship record in the shared files that piqued his interest. However, upon opening it, he felt utterly bewildered.
He recognized every character on the page, but strung together, their meaning was completely incomprehensible.
Helpless, he addressed the robot. "Do you understand what this record says? Could you read it aloud for me?"
F430 stared back, expressionless, yet the look seemed laced with mockery. Its synthesized electronic voice was frigid. "This is the Silver Talisman Script, abbreviated as Silver Script, created by the Bald Donkey. You can utilize a translation tool for interpretation."
This was the first time An Junlie had ever been condescended to by a robot. He located the translation tool, and instantly, the full meaning of the text appeared before him.
June 9th, 3028, 10:00 AM: An interstellar warship appeared three thousand meters above the atmosphere after traversing a wormhole. Red Hair first spotted the vessel through the telescope and initiated a long-range attack with the Ultra-Strong Laser Cannon. However, by the time it reached an altitude of twenty-four thousand meters, the warship had already deployed three airships and retreated stealthily.
The airships landed eight minutes later. Their outer hulls showed no damage, but they were coated in a layer of black substance whose properties remained undetermined.
The occupants of the first airship displayed a deathly pale, cyanotic complexion, motionless. Big Head approached and confirmed the person had ceased breathing. The occupants of the second airship were alive; through the transparent protective shield, their expressions were utterly panicked, their mouths incessantly screaming, "Don't kill me." The occupant of the third airship was calmer; he lowered the shield and tried to step out but his legs gave way, leaving him unable to move. Big Head pulled him out, and only three steps after they moved away, all three airships suddenly exploded simultaneously!
According to Cyclops’s analysis, the airships were equipped with self-destruct mechanisms, timed to detonate after the occupants disembarked, to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Silver Talisman Star inhabitants.
Because the newcomer stumbled upon exiting the airship, everyone started calling him "Wobbly-Legs."
An Junlie continued reading. The records of prisoner drops showed the same time and location every year, documenting every individual arriving on Silver Talisman Star.
The appendix contained various analytical tables.
One table was titled: What speed is required to hit an interstellar warship?
The table meticulously recorded the warship's appearance at specific coordinates, the deployment of the airships from the hull, and the activation time for departure. Every timing was precise to four decimal places after the second, accompanied by coordinate locations, and analysis diagrams of projectile range and travel time.
The personnel responsible for shooting down the warships every year were Red Hair and Old Dog. To date, they had never succeeded, but their accuracy was improving year after year, the data constantly converging, and the projectiles they used were becoming increasingly advanced!