Right now, her pregnancy wasn’t showing much yet. If she didn’t earn and save some money now, once her belly grew bigger and her mobility decreased, she probably wouldn’t be able to do anything.
The late stage of pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum recovery period would take at least four months in total.
And during that time, there were still the living expenses for their whole family…
Her big brother couldn’t go out to work alone—he had to stay with her. She had to plan ahead.
With her thoughts in disarray, Su Yue searched the star network for information. After checking some materials, she forced herself to close her eyes and sleep.
She couldn’t wait any longer. Tomorrow, they would go out of the city.
The next day, Su Yue woke up early.
She prepared breakfast ahead of time.
After eating, she took Su Yi out to purchase equipment for picking oranges.
She had already done her research the night before.
Aside from a small electric saw, they also needed a hoverboard.
The electric saw was for cutting the orange stems.
The hoverboard would allow them to reach higher areas and pick fruit more easily.
Although the hover motorcycle could help to some extent, its height limit was restricted, and its large size made it less convenient than a hoverboard.
After buying everything, the siblings rode their hover motorcycle out of the city.
With better transportation, they quickly arrived at the location of the orange tree.
The tree was tall, making it easy to spot from afar.
After getting off, Su Yue opened her smart device, located the spot on the map, and marked it.
Previously, her device hadn’t been connected to the network, so many features were unavailable. Now, she could finally use them.
Not just this tree—any fruit trees they found in the future would also be recorded.
After all, fruit trees could bear fruit twice a year.
Once harvested now, they could return in half a year for another batch.
“Let’s start. Pick the ones at the top and outer edges first. Big brother, be careful,” Su Yue said.
“Mm!” Su Yi replied excitedly.
Activating the hoverboard beneath his feet, he shot up into the air.
Though thrilled, he remembered his sister’s warning and kept quiet.
This was the wilderness—they had to minimize noise.
Reaching the edge of the tree, Su Yi held an orange in one hand and used the electric saw in the other to cut the stem.
The saw sliced through effortlessly.
One orange fell into the basket.
Excited, he continued picking.
After gathering four oranges, he descended, handed the basket to Su Yue, swapped for an empty one, and flew back up.
With practice, his speed increased.
Every few minutes, Su Yue received four oranges.
Time passed, and soon it was noon.
After an entire morning of work, they had harvested less than a quarter of the tree.
When Su Yi came down again, Su Yue stopped him.
“Let’s eat first. We won’t finish today anyway.”
Su Yi was already starving and agreed immediately.
Su Yue took out pre-prepared boxed meals from her space, and they ate.
After eating, Su Yi didn’t even rest before going back to work.
Su Yue didn’t stop him.
Time was tight—the more they gathered, the better.
Under Su Yi’s efforts, the number of oranges on the tree steadily decreased.
Meanwhile, in Su Yue’s space, the oranges piled up into a small mountain.
Around 4 PM—
As usual, Su Yue waited below for the next batch.
Suddenly—
A sharp, piercing bird cry echoed through the air.
Then came terrifying beast roars and heavy crashing sounds.
Su Yi, still on the hoverboard, looked toward the source—
His pupils shrank.
“Yueyue, not good—!”
He nearly fell but quickly regained control.
Without even landing first, he tore off his basket and rushed down.
He grabbed Su Yue just as the sky above them darkened.
Looking up, she saw a gigantic bird hovering overhead.
At the same time, the ground beneath them trembled violently.
A realization struck her—
A herd of star beasts was approaching. And not just a few.
Her scalp tingled in fear.
“Help! Help!”
A familiar voice rang out.
Zhou Yin?!
Before she could think further, chaotic beast hooves thundered nearby, flattening vegetation.
Now she could clearly see—
It really was Zhou Yin and his followers.
They were riding hover motorcycles, fleeing for their lives, chased by several star beasts.
Seeing them heading straight in her direction, Su Yue immediately told Su Yi to get her onto the hover motorcycle.
She had already taken it out from her space the moment danger appeared.
But it was too late—
Zhou Yin flew past overhead, with massive beasts charging right behind him.
A huge shadow lunged toward the siblings—
Without hesitation, Su Yi pulled Su Yue into his arms, preparing to shield her from the impact.
A deafening crash sounded—
The ground shook violently—
But the expected trampling never came.
After a moment, Su Yue carefully pushed him aside to look.
A spaceship had crashed down—
It had knocked away a massive elk-like star beast that was about to step on them.
The beast wasn’t dead, but it was pinned beneath the ship, struggling.
Meanwhile, the other beasts had already chased after Zhou Yin.
For now… they were safe.
Su Yue glanced at the nearby hover motorcycle but chose not to leave.
The beasts might still be nearby.
Using the motorcycle now could attract them again—making things worse.
Her gaze shifted to the trapped beast.
It was enormous—even larger than an elephant.
A thought crossed her mind.
If they had a proper weapon…
Knock. Knock. Knock.
A sudden sound startled them.
They both froze.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Again.
Su Yue turned toward the sound—
A hand appeared on the spaceship cockpit window, knocking against the glass.
Realizing it wasn’t a star beast, she let out a breath.
“Y-Yueyue… there’s someone…” Su Yi said nervously.