Chapter 40: Respective Actions

39. Individual Actions

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

"Huh?" Tang Xiao rubbed his ear, feeling as if he had misheard.

"Oh, so you're the Administrator. Hello, hello, hello." Noticing Tang Xiao approaching, the old man nodded with a smile and proactively reached out for a handshake.

"Ah, hello, Professor Chi. We have done our best to meet your requirements. We are awakening you now in the hope that we can 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 behind him—a place that, while flourishing, still showed signs of being in its infancy. "Goodness, why did you wake me up so early? I signed up because I actually wanted to find a new place to retire."

"Eh?"

"I've been busy my whole life and just want to relax. But once you're used to being busy, how can you possibly slow down? Even when I'm just sitting in the garden smoking, my hands instinctively shape the tobacco into the shape of a propeller. So, I thought, if I moved to another planet to retire, maybe my brain wouldn't be so full of things. I could finally sleep in," Chi Jianjun said listlessly.

"This..."

"So, luxury mansions and such don't really matter. I was thinking, if you guys are already capable of building mansions, then material conditions must be sufficient. If you have mature technical teams, then it doesn't matter whether I'm here or not. Once the large-scale experimental bases are set up and scientific research starts yielding results, wouldn't it be perfect if I woke up then to sleep in?"

"So... you mean, don't bother me with small problems because you can't involve me in the big ones?"

"Ha! Becoming an Administrator at such a young age—your intuition is certainly something else. Anyway, where is my retirement mansion?"

"Weren't you just saying that mansions and such didn't matter?"

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

Tang Xiao felt his spirit deflate instantly. Where was the "Devil Professor"? Where was the national treasure-level aerospace master? Instead, he got an old man who just wanted to sleep in all day and had a crush on the young girl.

"Graham, take Professor Chi to his residence. It's getting late, and the elderly man has had a long journey. Let him rest for the night first," Tang Xiao commanded Graham, quickly regaining his composure.

After seeing Professor Chi off, Tang Xiao scratched his head, feeling like his head had grown a size larger from the stress.

"Administrator, is this old man reliable? He doesn't look like a very powerful person," an administrative official whispered behind Tang Xiao.

"Who says? Old Professor Chi is a master-level expert! Do you even know what a 'master' is? You can't judge someone like that by common logic! Now go back and get your work done! Dismissed, dismissed!" Tang Xiao waved his hand to shoo them away.

Tang Xiao then returned to his own residence to sleep, planning to speak with Professor Chi again the next morning.

...

Meanwhile, on the outer rim of the Milky Way, on the planet Tatooine.

The YT-1000 starship *Lancer* descended slowly, docking at a berth. Inside the ship, Vurt was shutting down the engines and performing final self-checks while glancing at Yuri Orlov, who sat behind him with a face ashen with rage. Vurt said contemptuously, "We've arrived, Great Merchant."

Yuri Orlov finally couldn't hold it in any longer. He lunged toward the exit of the ship and retched violently. In the process, he vomited all over an engineering robot that had just rushed over to inspect the ship.

The vomit covered the robot's sensors, causing it to scurry around blindly like a blind man. It then slammed into another robot carrying engine oil, causing the oil pump to spray a massive amount of oil everywhere, turning the scene into total chaos.

"Oh! I... FUCK! What kind of hellhole is this?!" Yuri shouted, cursing as he was drenched in oil.

Vurt walked over, tossed a towel at Yuri's face, and said, "Welcome to Tatooine, Great Merchant."

Wiping his face with the towel, Yuri said miserably, "I am just an ordinary merchant, Mr. Vurt. Everyone is simply getting what they need."

"I'll charge the cleaning costs for this nauseating mess to your account, Vurt!" spoke Truda, a Nikto. He managed this docking berth and had become acquainted with Vurt during his last visit. "By the way, where are Kunto and the others? They didn't come?"

"Still inside," Vurt said with a smile. He picked up a steel pipe from the ground and banged it hard against a nearby oil drum. "Kunto! Let's go grab a few drinks!"

Hearing the call, Kunto and Felacci finally ran out of the cabin, with Felacci looking somewhat disheveled.

Seeing them, Vurt laughed heartily and patted Kunto on the shoulder. "Hey, brother! No need to be in such a rush. The cabin of the *Lancer* isn't soundproof, you know!"

Kunto said sheepishly, "No... it's nothing, we were just..."

"Listen, I went to a lot of trouble to convince the Administrator to let you two come out. You wouldn't cause me trouble, would you?" Vurt said with a smile as he put his arm around Kunto's shoulder. As he patted Kunto's shoulder, his fingers moved subtly, sticking a button-sized listening device under Kunto's collar.

"Let's go! Drinks! It's been a long time since I've had a drink on Tatooine, hahaha!" Felacci had already tidied his clothes and walked out nonchalantly.

On the other side, Yuri had somehow started chatting with old Truda. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes, took a puff for himself, and then lit one for Truda. Watching Truda cough uncontrollably during his first smoke, Yuri laughed loudly and familiarly put an arm around the old man's shoulder. "Hey old man, anything big happening around here lately?"

"Everything that happens on Tatooine is either a fight or a murder! But what on earth is this you're giving me? It feels... uh..." Truda sniffed. The effect of the nicotine made him feel slightly intoxicated, and his tongue began to tie itself in knots. He struggled to speak clearly, stammering for a long time before saying, "Let me tell you about Mos Eisley. A group of Bossas has been causing trouble lately. Their leader is called Broderick 'Rock-Crusher.' A few days ago, they trashed the starship repair shop run by the Quaran."

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

"Mos Eisley... Northwest district... haha... Hahahaha! This feels amazing!!" Truda took the cigarette, clumsily lighting it, and actually began to dance to the nearby music, his speech becoming incoherent.

"Are these the aliens? They react so strongly to cigarettes?" spoke Vitaly Orlov, Yuri's younger brother. He had curly brown hair and beautiful blue eyes; he looked somewhat decadent and was a very handsome young man.

"Yes, aliens. Didn't I tell you before? Don't make such a fuss. There are tens of thousands of alien species in this galaxy!" Yuri said, patting his brother's shoulder.

"No... no, you have to understand, these are aliens! I've only ever seen them in movies! Are you sure they aren't just actors in costumes?" Vitaly became excited.

"Listen to me, Vitaly. If you keep this up, you might get into trouble. Some aliens are not very easy to deal with," Vurt warned from the side.

"And what if we sell cigarettes to them?" Vitaly's mind was quick, and he immediately thought of another problem.

"Maybe, but the environment on Dawn is not suitable for growing tobacco. It must be grown in a fully enclosed environment, so the yield probably won't be high. Besides, I have no interest in such health-hazardous things," Yuri said while lighting a cigarette for himself.

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

"Heh..." Yuri took a drag and exhaled a plume of smoke toward the sky. "An AK-47 won't give you lung cancer. Believe me, Vitaly, if what the Administrator says is true—that a war is about to erupt across countless planets in the galaxy—then cigarettes really won't amount to much."

(End of Chapter)