In the A-Class residential area, He Kui found himself living right next to Su Lei's house, thanks to some unknown arrangement. Although they were no longer in a superior-subordinate relationship, they had become neighbors quite unintentionally.
"The Earth Alliance has accused us of being the first to use measures to detonate the 'Cyclops' system at the Endymion crater, which is an insult to the people of PLANT and a contempt for Coordinators. Our development should be an opportunity for all humanity."
"Hey, He Kui, how much did you earn from your promotion to director?"
Amid the background noise from the television, Shi He curiously asked.
"Ten thousand."
That was roughly the amount he earned from a single mission, which was a bit low, but considering the recent circumstances, he felt it was acceptable. At least it was enough to buy some things.
What frustrated him was that even in these times, ZAFT continued to provide various aids to the Oceania Union without any cutbacks, which only highlighted their own "poverty."
If he hadn't been promoted to director, He Kui might have struggled to afford meat for most of the month.
However, considering that their Capetalian base was in the Oceania Union, it was impossible to turn against them.
"Planning to buy materials again?"
"Yeah, I need more supplies now."
Their building was a two-story small villa.
Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a living room, along with a garage and a combined workspace, were more than enough for the two of them.
He was also thinking about getting a vehicle, preferably one equipped with anti-beam and anti-nuclear explosion features, and a life support system that could sustain simple mobility in space.
To achieve this, ten thousand wouldn't be enough.
However, if he built a vehicle for Shi He, he expected the experience gained would be substantial.
After all, Shi He was his.
The issue was that materials were still too expensive. Although the prices for secondary materials had dropped, the consumption of high-level materials was increasing due to the need to produce more armed units after the losses on the Moon.
"That might be okay, but I heard taxes are going up again."
Shi He sighed.
Although it hadn't been heavily reported, the PLANT Supreme Council was already discussing the matter. Given the scale of the discussions, tax increases seemed almost certain.
Artificial food items like beef and rice were considered luxuries in PLANT, and the taxes on those would likely rise the most. The previous time they had hoarded supplies, prices jumped significantly, and this news might trigger another spike.
"Yeah."
He Kui had received that news too. He rubbed his stomach, realizing that if taxes continued to rise, he might not be able to afford anything.
However, solving PLANT's production capacity issues was not something that could be addressed overnight. Fundamentally, while there were abundant resources in space for manufacturing military equipment, such as minerals from asteroids, the speed of mining and manpower availability had always been a challenge.
Fully automated mining equipment had yet to be fully developed. Currently, space mining relied on MS predecessors, the exoskeleton-assisted power suits.
Otherwise, the Earth Alliance wouldn't have developed the Cyclops on the Moon.
If beams could be used for mining, the efficiency might increase significantly, especially since they wouldn't face interference in space unless they activated a neutron jammer.
With these thoughts in mind, He Kui temporarily said goodbye to Shi He and headed to the studio to open the internal forum of the design bureau.
"Mining."
Entering the keyword into the search bar, a range of research on mining appeared before He Kui's eyes.
[On the Controllable Miniaturized Beam Energy's Role in Mineral Extraction]
The latest article published at the top discussed the benefits of using He Kui's achievements for mining, authored by the director of another design bureau specializing in mining.
It seemed that many people had thought of this before him.
This wasn't surprising.
He Kui didn't consider himself exceptionally brilliant; he was just one of many Coordinators.
"None of these ideas seem particularly feasible."
While control over beam energy had improved, there were still unanswered questions about how to ensure it wouldn't damage the minerals, how to conserve energy, and how to outfit the MS with beams for excavation, among others.
"It looks like there's still a long way to go before efficient mining is achieved."
Feeling frustrated, He Kui closed the computer and stepped outside the residence.
It was a monotonous place, with green pathways and bright streetlights illuminating rows of identical houses. In the distance, the lights of the Hailan Design Bureau faintly lit up the dark sky belonging to the Coordinators.
"Looks like someone is still working late."
"Are you planning to join them?"
He had just sighed when Su Lei's voice came from behind him.
"Not really."
"Every day, you seem busy without a clue. Working late is just an excuse."
"Did you meet Miss Lacus? How was it?"
Su Lei walked alongside He Kui and whispered.
"Nothing much."
He Kui frowned. That lady hadn't even approached him for a one-on-one conversation; she just looked at him with that encouraging and admiring expression.
She didn't even invite him to join the Klein faction.
His affinity hadn't increased at all; instead, she had charmed his parents thoroughly.
Because of this, Shi He had been sulking for days.
"She can be a bit self-absorbed," Su Lei explained.
Lacus might not see He Kui as her fan, even though it seemed obvious. If not, then why was he pretending to be her fan?
Though Lacus had tested her assumptions, she wouldn't directly probe He Kui's feelings.
After being saved multiple times, Su Lei had come to see He Kui as a good person.
"At least in her eyes, that's how it is."
"I didn't really mind."
"Oh."
"By the way, we're neighbors now."
Su Lei hesitated before speaking.
"Yeah, if you're working late, I can bring you food. Just let me know."
"Who said anything about that!"
Why was this a way to increase affinity?
He Kui mentally rolled his eyes but continued, "What did you want to say?"
"I just wanted to say you two shouldn't be too loud at night!"
"..."
He Kui awkwardly rubbed his nose and continued, "By the way, do you know of any research groups focused on space mining studies?"
"I know some. What do you want to do?"
"I want to try to solve the problem fundamentally."
"I see. The director's meeting is coming up soon; I can help introduce you next time, but the difficulty of the research will likely be quite high."
"That's fine; I just want to give it a try."
"Okay."
As they spoke, Su Lei grabbed the sleeve of He Kui's shirt.
"What's wrong?"
"Just don't walk out of the residential area."
"Oops, sorry."
He Kui had been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed they were close to exiting the residential area.
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