A figure approached from a distance.
Kromi, yawning as he reached the door, was taken aback. "What are you doing here?"
Qianlong lifted the bag in his hand slightly.
Kromi's expression darkened.
Moments later, the two sat on a metal bed, enjoying hot pot.
Kromi let out an excited yet pained sound, "Awesome!"
Qianlong remained calm and said, "You don't need to live here on your salary."
"Kid, what do you know? I'm a bachelor, born with nothing and will die with nothing. Why do I need that money? What's the point of living in such a nice place?" Kromi poured himself a glass of dark beer and sipped it slowly.
"Born with nothing, die with nothing, but you can still enjoy," Qianlong raised his head and asked curiously.
"Some people are just not destined for that. By the way, what made you suddenly think of buying so many things to treat me to a meal?" Kromi shook his head.
Qianlong replied seriously, "I don't like owing others. Besides, I'm tired of those Nutrition Bars."
Kromi immediately laughed out loud, "Haha, you're good at everything, but every time you speak, you're so serious and rigid. I really wonder who taught you that."
"My mother," Qianlong answered earnestly.
"Cough, she taught you well," Kromi felt like he had said something wrong and quickly changed his tone.
Qianlong curiously asked, "Why do you want to be so good to so many people?"
Kromi said seriously, "This is called inheritance. You should know what despair is, right? I've experienced despair too; I was a homeless refugee. But I was lucky, I was taken in, and through my own hard work, I have the life I have now. So I plan to do something meaningful, to try to give more people like me who are in despair a new opportunity."
Qianlong thought for a moment and said, "A very special ideal."
"Kid, you'll understand later. You can't change the world as it is, but you can decide how you want to live," Kromi said.
Qianlong spoke up, "Isn't this what my mother taught me? To follow your heart and fear nothing?"
Kromi was momentarily speechless. What kind of mother teaches these things? "Let's just eat."
The next morning, Qianlong arrived early at the designated training location.
People were gradually entering, and Qianlong followed them inside, going through identity verification and arriving at the internal classroom.
It was a very special classroom, with rows of round egg-shaped machines. It seemed the course combined practical and theoretical training, and he finally understood why the standards couldn't be set too low.
Because the training conditions were also very harsh. Even if they relaxed the requirements during admission, did they expect anyone to do the same now? As the designated time approached.
A tall, dark-skinned man with explosive muscles walked in.
"Everyone, get into your training machines. I will explain and teach you practical operations at the same time. If you don't listen carefully, when danger comes, crying for your father won't help. Each machine has a screen displaying the corresponding name."
Soon, everyone began to look for their machines. There were over a hundred trainees in this session, and some walked directly to their machines, as if they knew which one was theirs. They didn't seem like first-time trainees.
Qianlong searched for a while and found his machine, sitting down.
The egg-shaped shell began to slowly close, and Qianlong sat in the driver's seat.
At that moment, the instructor's voice echoed in his ears.
"Many of you are newcomers, and some are those who didn't pass the last training. You will be merged for training again. I hope you can study hard. Of course, this is not just linked to your benefits; more importantly, it's linked to your lives."
"The so-called miners are all modified from retired Light mechs of the Hyberian generation, with most of the weapons removed and larger thrusters installed, making operations more convenient."
Qianlong listened attentively, and he felt the gravity changing, the temperature in the cockpit also rising. It seemed they intended to help people adapt to abnormal conditions for a long time.
Time passed minute by minute, and suddenly, with a bang, an egg-shaped shell popped open.
A trainee crawled out, exhausted and unable to bear it.
The staff waiting nearby rushed over to support the trainee and took him away.
Meanwhile, the internal instruction continued.
They learned a lot, first needing to know how to operate the miner, then familiarizing themselves with the miner's performance, followed by how to identify useful resources and learn to interpret the patterns presented by exploration instruments.
Finally, they needed to learn how to survive in extremely harsh environments and how to avoid attacks from alien races.
A month of training was honestly too short. The instructor knew this very well, but there was no way around it; he could only force his knowledge into the trainees' minds.
The personnel in the resource extraction department were indeed insufficient. The Hyberian had been unable to find a large supply of civilized planets and could only resupply from fallen planets along the way and desolate planets. Miners were suffering casualties every day, experienced workers were dying, and newcomers couldn't keep up, leading to a near gap in skills. For this reason, Jiela from the extraction department had argued fiercely with the minister.
Qianlong suddenly felt that life wouldn't be so boring; everything began to feel fulfilling. He had endless knowledge to learn every day, and it seemed he had returned to his childhood.
Days passed, and on the twentieth day, while the instructor was teaching.
Several officers in blue standard long-sleeve military uniforms walked in.
"What's going on?" The instructor frowned.
"Hello, I'm Second Lieutenant Boroka. This is a mobilization order from the logistics department's resource division. We are calling new miners to start work early."
"Nonsense." The instructor was immediately furious.
"I'm sorry, this is an order. I'm just responsible for executing it. If you have any objections, you can appeal to your superiors," Boroka said apologetically, clearly understanding the Big Man's anger.
After speaking, Boroka turned to all the trainees and said, "Everyone, please follow us."
All the trainees exchanged glances, looking at the instructor, feeling a bit guilty.
The instructor, with a grim face, finally spoke, "You can go."
More than a hundred trainees followed Boroka out, and soon he led the new extraction workers to a special entrance in Area D.
Three guards in single-soldier armor were stationed at the entrance. Boroka walked over and said.
"Open the passage elevator; we need to go to Area E3."
"Yes, sir." The guard captain saluted and turned to start operating.
The entrance, a massive alloy door standing ten meters high and twenty meters wide, began to rise.
"Let's go." Boroka took the lead and walked in.
After entering the passage, they followed Boroka onto a huge steel platform.
Then, with a jolt, the platform began to descend.
(End of Chapter)