Chapter 39: Individual Actions

Tang Xiao walked over just in time to hear the old man muttering, "Hey, that young lady on the transport earlier was quite spirited. Why didn't she come down with us?"

"Huh?" Tang Xiao picked at his ear, wondering if he had misheard.

"Oh, you must be the Administrator. Hello, hello, hello." The old man spotted Tang Xiao, smiled, nodded, and reached out to shake his hand.

"Ah, hello, Professor Chi. We have done our best to meet your requirements. We woke you up now hoping to utilize your knowledge and wisdom to assist us," Tang Xiao said.

To his surprise, the old man shook his head. His gaze drifted past Tang Xiao toward the colony, which, while thriving, was clearly still in its infancy. "Oh, why are you waking me up so early? I only signed up to come here to find a place to retire."

"Eh?"

"I've been busy my whole life; I wanted to take it easy. But once a person is used to being busy, how can they ever really stop? Even when I'm sitting in a garden smoking, my hands instinctively twist the tobacco into the shape of a propeller. That’s why I thought, if I moved to another planet to retire, maybe my brain wouldn’t be so cluttered anymore. I could finally sleep in." Chi Jianjun said, sounding listless.

"This is..."

"So, the mansion and all that don't really matter. I was just thinking, if you’re at the point where you can build mansions, then the material conditions must be sufficient. If you have a mature technical team, you don't really need me. Once you’ve built large-scale testing facilities and have actual scientific results, wouldn't that be the perfect time for me to wake up and sleep in?"

"So... does that mean don't bother you with small problems, and you wouldn't be able to handle the big ones anyway?"

"My, look at you, a young man becoming an Administrator—that level of insight is something else. Now, where is this mansion I’m supposed to retire in?"

"Weren't you just saying that the mansion didn't matter?"

"I still need a place to live, don't I?"

Tang Xiao felt his spirit deflate. What happened to the legendary "Devil Professor"? What happened to the national treasure-level aerospace master? Why did he get a grumpy old man who just wanted to nap and had his eyes on the young ladies?

"Graham, take Professor Chi to his residence. It's getting late, and he’s exhausted from the journey. Let him rest for the night," Tang Xiao said, quickly adjusting his composure and giving the order to Graham.

After seeing Professor Chi off, Tang Xiao scratched his head, feeling as though his brain had grown a size larger from the headache.

...

"Administrator, is that old man reliable? He doesn't look like much of an expert," an administrative official whispered behind Tang Xiao.

"Who says? Professor Chi is a master-level expert! Do you know what a master is? Can you judge such a person by ordinary standards? Go back and finish your work! Disperse!" Tang Xiao waved them away.

He then retreated to his own residence, planning to talk to Professor Chi again in the morning.

...

Meanwhile, in the Outer Rim of the galaxy, on the planet Tatooine.

The YT-1000 freighter *Lancer* descended slowly and docked at a bay. Inside the ship, Kunt closed the engines and performed a final self-check, then looked at Yuri Orlov, who was sitting in the back with a face ashen with nausea. "We’ve arrived, great merchant," Kunt said with a sneer.

Yuri couldn't hold it in any longer; he lunged out of the ship and vomited. Unfortunately, he vomited all over an engineering droid that had just rushed over to inspect the ship.

The vomit obscured the droid's sensors, causing it to scramble around blindly like a headless chicken. It crashed into another droid carrying engine oil, which caused an oil pump to spray a fountain of lubricant, creating total chaos.

"Oh! I... FUCK! What kind of hellhole is this?!" Yuri, covered in oil, cursed loudly.

Kunt walked over and tossed a towel at Yuri's face. "Welcome to Tatooine, great merchant."

Yuri wiped his face with the towel, looking wretched. "I am just a common merchant, Mr. Kunt. Everyone is just getting what they need."

"I'm putting the cleaning fee for this mess on your tab! Kunt." The speaker was Truda, a Nikto who operated this docking bay. Kunt had gotten to know him during his last visit. "By the way, where are Quinto and the others? Didn't they come?"

"Still inside." Kunt laughed, picked up a steel pipe from the ground, and banged it hard against an oil drum. "Let's go, Quinto! We're going to grab a drink."

Hearing the summons, Quinto and Felacy scrambled out of the cabin, Felacy looking somewhat disheveled.

Seeing their state, Kunt laughed knowingly and patted Quinto on the shoulder. "Hey, brother! There’s no need to be in such a rush, is there? The *Lancer's* cabin isn't soundproof, you know!"

Quinto looked embarrassed. "No... no, we were just..."

"Tell me, I spent a lot of effort convincing the Administrator to let me bring you two out. You won't cause me any trouble, will you?" Kunt smiled, pulling Quinto into a friendly embrace. As he patted Quinto's shoulder, his fingers moved deftly, sticking a button-sized bug under Quinto’s collar.

"Let's go! Time to drink! It's been a while since I've had a drink on Tatooine, hahahaha!" Felacy had already straightened his clothes and walked off as if nothing had happened.

Elsewhere, Yuri had somehow struck up a conversation with old man Truda. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes, took a puff, and lit one for Truda. He laughed as Truda coughed uncontrollably from his first drag, then familiarly draped an arm over his shoulder. "Hey, old man, anything big happening around here lately?"

"Everything that happens on Tatooine is either fighting or killing! But what is this stuff you gave me? It feels... uh..." Truda sniffed, the nicotine making him feel lightheaded. His tongue began to tie, and he struggled to speak clearly, mumbling for a long time before saying, "Let me tell you about Mos Eisley... there's a group of Bith causing trouble. Their leader is Broderick Stone-Crusher. Just a few days ago, he trashed the repair shop run by those Quarrens."

"Ha, that sounds terrible. Where are they?" Yuri smiled and handed him another cigarette.

"Mos Eisley... Northwest sector... haha... hahahaha! This feels amazing!!" Truda took the cigarette, lit it clumsily, and began to dance along with the nearby music, his speech becoming completely incoherent.

"Are these the aliens? They react this strongly to cigarettes?" The speaker was Vitaly Orlov, Yuri's younger brother. He had brown curly hair and beautiful blue eyes, looking slightly decadent—a very handsome young man.

"Yes, aliens. Didn't I tell you earlier? Don't be so surprised. There are tens of thousands of alien species in this galaxy!" Yuri patted his brother’s shoulder.

"No... that's not it. You have to understand, these are aliens! I've only ever seen them in movies! Are you sure they aren't actors in costumes?" Vitaly grew excited.

"Listen to me, Vitaly. If you keep acting like this, you're going to get into trouble. Some aliens aren't very easy to deal with," Kunt warned from the side.

"And what would happen if we sold these cigarettes to them?" Vitaly’s mind was sharp, immediately shifting to a new problem.

"Maybe it could work, but the environment on Dawn Star isn't suitable for growing tobacco. It would have to be grown in a completely enclosed environment, so the yield wouldn't be high. Besides, I have no interest in things that are bad for your health," Yuri said, lighting a cigarette for himself.

"Compared to cigarettes, guns kill people," Vitaly shook his head. "If we could open up a market for cigarettes..."

"Heh..." Yuri took a drag and blew a plume of smoke toward the sky. "An AK-47 won't give you lung cancer. Believe me, Vitaly, if what the Administrator said is true—that a war is about to break out and sweep across countless planets in the galaxy—then cigarettes really aren't a big deal at all."