After Nan Qingchuan left last time, Gu Jiaqi began purchasing defensive equipment. Although she was fairly confident that ordinary people would not be able to defeat her, she could not guard against having things stolen all the time. She could not exactly stay awake around the black hole day and night.
The 80,000 star coins she had barely gotten her hands on were exchanged for several defensive robots, an invisible alarm, a fence enclosure that could automatically trap enemies, an infrared anesthetic device, and other highly practical defensive equipment.
Of course, because she did not want to accidentally capture the wrong people, all the equipment with offensive capabilities could be registered with safe faces. Once a safe face was entered, whether it was a robot or an anesthetic device, it would ignore that person.
Because Nan Qingchuan came fairly often, Gu Jiaqi had entered his face as a safe face first. That was also why those robots showed no reaction when Nan Qingchuan entered.
“If you discover anyone on your side in the future who can travel here, don’t let them in rashly. Tell me first, and I’ll enter their face as a safe face. Otherwise, they’ll get captured.”
Gu Jiaqi gave Nan Qingchuan a brief introduction, mainly because she wanted to show off some of the advanced technology on her side.
“Planet Lord Gu, this time I’ve brought fifteen tons of vegetables in one go…” Nan Qingchuan used the fifteen tons of vegetables and meat in his space to exchange for another three mecha with Gu Jiaqi.
This time, Gu Jiaqi had not prepared the mecha in advance. Instead, she let Nan Qingchuan go to the mountain of mecha and pick them out himself. She had been too busy that day and simply had no time to sort through the mecha.
Fortunately, Nan Qingchuan did not mind. He was actually quite happy that he could choose the mecha himself.
“Oh, right, Planet Lord Gu, we’ve already tried many ways of cooking that Tata Beast. Whenever you need one, I’ll have it sent over.”
Gu Jiaqi smiled. “Sure. Just bring me a little for now. If it’s really delicious, I’ll go hunt some more.”
Thus, Nan Qingchuan followed the new path Gu Jiaqi had paved, went around several fully armed robots, and headed straight out.
Gu Jiaqi watched his figure disappear into the black hole, patted her right shoulder, and changed back into her red dress. She strode back to her little shed.
Inside, Xiaoshu was undergoing holographic treatment from an interstellar psychologist.
Since Gu Jiaqi had no idea what exactly Xiaoshu had been through, she could only take a conservative approach to treatment, soothing Xiaoshu’s mind little by little.
She checked her remaining star coin balance. She only had enough left to pay for three more treatments for Xiaoshu… 90,000 star coins per session. It was ridiculously expensive!
In the Empire, everything involving human labor was expensive. After all, almost every illness could now be treated with a medical pod. The times when doctors were actually needed were mainly for psychological disorders or mental instability.
This had indirectly driven up the value of all psychologists and psychiatrists, with consultation fees reaching tens of thousands of star coins per hour. It was practically daylight robbery.
All Gu Jiaqi could hope for now was that Xiaoshu would recover soon and save her some money. Otherwise, the 300,000 star coins she had just earned from selling vegetables would be gone again.
Gu Jiaqi sighed and divided the fifteen tons of vegetables she had just received into three batches before putting them up for sale on the StarNet again, hoping someone would buy them quickly this time.
Yesterday, Gu Jiaqi had bought Xiaoshu a personal bodyguard robot. She did not know whether a dangerous person might suddenly emerge from the black hole one day, and it was impossible for her to stay by Xiaoshu’s side all the time. Finding a robot to protect her was the most suitable option.
Looking at Xiaoshu, who was wearing holographic glasses and receiving treatment from the doctor, Gu Jiaqi decided to work on her foundation first.
That’s right, the foundation.
Wherever there were people, there had to be houses. Even if Gu Jiaqi was dirt poor, she still had to build a house.
She planned to build a small villa in a strategically located area of the garbage planet, with roads connecting it in every direction. She would also buy a protective shield capable of withstanding most weapons. From then on, she would be able to make easy money by selling garbage and live the good life she had always dreamed of.
“Hehehehe…” As Gu Jiaqi fantasized about her wonderful future, she raised her lightsaber and cut down a large stretch of steel trees directly facing the black hole. She then began using her mecha to dig out the roots.
Naturally, there was no way Gu Jiaqi could build a house with such precision all by herself. She could only buy an automatic house, and automatic houses had extremely high requirements for their foundations. So the cool, domineering, and dazzling Planet Lord Gu was now digging her own foundation.
Gu Jiaqi had a habit: whenever she started something, she had to finish it immediately. Otherwise, she would feel uncomfortable all over.
Looking at the dozens of tree roots that needed to be dug out across several hundred square meters, Gu Jiaqi declared that she had to finish them before lunch. The robots she had purchased were currently incapable of handling such difficult work, so she had no choice but to do it herself.
The roots of the steel trees grew straight down. Once she dug down to a certain depth, she could pull them out directly. The roots were just as hard as the trunks. Gu Jiaqi stored both the trunks and roots in her space, planning to give them to Nan Qingchuan and the others later to see if they could make use of them.
In reality, all the gifts Gu Jiaqi gave the people of Ming Country counted as market research. They were currently her biggest customers, after all, so she naturally had to investigate their preferences. For example, judging from the Tata Beast meat, it seemed they liked it quite a lot.
“This zero-cost business is seriously so much fun!” Gu Jiaqi, the excavation worker, said smugly.
When Gu Jiaqi had almost finished digging, Xiao Hong reminded her that Xiaoshu’s treatment for the day had ended.
Gu Jiaqi sped up and quickly dug out the remaining few roots. She then went to bring the obedient Xiaoshu outside so she could get some fresh air.
“The vaccine Sister bought for you should arrive tomorrow. Don’t worry, I won’t let you get sick.” She stroked Xiaoshu’s head and spoke in a rare gentle tone.
Gu Jiaqi always had a certain amount of patience with Xiaoshu, probably because Xiaoshu resembled her younger self so much. The daughter of a civilian martyr had been brought to a school for noble children, bullied and looked down upon, her own experiences serving as an illustration of the rotten order of this kingdom’s nobility. There was nothing happy about it.
When Gu Jiaqi was little, she had been just as quiet as Xiaoshu. She did not like to talk, had no friends, was thin and frail, and was extremely timid.
Now that she had grown strong, she could not help wanting to protect children like Xiaoshu.
“Xiaoshu, how are you feeling today?” Gu Jiaqi asked.
Xiaoshu nodded, a bright smile spreading across her face.
Gu Jiaqi was slightly disappointed, but she knew this was normal. It was impossible for Xiaoshu to start speaking after just one day of treatment. They had to take it slowly.
She took a small skewer from among the pile of vegetables Nan Qingchuan had brought last time out of her space and handed it to Xiaoshu to fill her stomach first.
“I’ll give you some delicious Tata meat later.” Gu Jiaqi brought Xiaoshu to the black hole. “There will be many people from other worlds coming here. They could be good people, or they could be bad people, and they might pose a threat to us. So promise me that every time you go outside, you’ll bring this robot with you. It will protect you.”
Xiaoshu obediently nodded. She turned to look at the tall robot Gu Jiaqi had given her. She did not really understand what a robot was and could only think of it as a fake person.
Just as the two of them were talking, there was movement on the other side of the black hole. Nan Qingchuan strode in with his head held high.
He took two large food containers out of his space. “These are all Tata meat dishes made by the head chefs on our side. The specific names of the dishes are also attached to the plates. You can take your time enjoying them.”
“Thank you.”
Gu Jiaqi took the food containers and watched Nan Qingchuan return.
This was one particularly troublesome aspect. The time difference between the two planes was truly enormous, while there were too few people capable of traveling between them right now. Unless Nan Qingchuan completely adjusted his schedule, his body simply could not withstand it, making large-scale trade impossible.
After seeing Nan Qingchuan off, Gu Jiaqi placed the food containers on the dining table and called Xiaoshu over to eat.
The various Tata meat dishes completely amazed Gu Jiaqi. What kind of magical country was Ming Country, anyway? How could they make Tata meat taste this delicious?!
Gu Jiaqi’s thoughts immediately began to race. Could she hunt several more Tata Beasts, send them to Ming Country for processing, and then bring them back to sell to interstellar tycoons?
That seemed like a pretty good idea.
“Beep-beep-beep!”
Suddenly, the alarm Gu Jiaqi had installed on the steel tree where the black hole entrance was located went off. The alarm was directly connected to Gu Jiaqi’s artificial intelligence, Xiao Hong. Every time an alarm went off, the sound would be transmitted straight into Gu Jiaqi’s mind, making her head feel like it was about to explode.
“Xiaoshu, don’t come out. Sister will go take a look.” After giving Xiaoshu a warning, she immediately rushed out.
Sure enough, there were actually two people at the black hole entrance, locked in a struggle with the defensive robots Gu Jiaqi had purchased.
But the outcome was already obvious. The two black-clad visitors from another world were being beaten down by the robots. It was only a matter of time before they were captured.
Gu Jiaqi pulled out her lightsaber and charged forward at top speed. She had to catch the little thieves who had stolen her potatoes!
However, just as Gu Jiaqi was about to reach the black hole, the two figures suddenly dodged the robots’ attacks at a speed beyond what ordinary people could achieve and fled toward the other side of the black hole.
Once they escaped inside, there would be nothing Gu Jiaqi could do. She immediately sped up, shooting to the side of the black hole in an instant and grabbing the hem of the clothes of the person running behind.
The person turned back in terror and glanced at Gu Jiaqi, who was brimming with killing intent. Then he was violently yanked forward by the person in front of him. Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
Gu Jiaqi clutched the person’s collar tightly and was just about to plant her feet and pull him back when, to her complete surprise, the person in front suddenly exerted an inexplicable amount of force and dragged Gu Jiaqi into the black hole along with him.