From star gatherer to leader of humanity

"How much spiritual energy does a small single room have per month?" Xu Bai first looked at the person renting the room.

The space city's satellite-collecting teams were provided with housing, but it was all large communal sleeping quarters with absolutely no privacy.

"Six hundred strands of spiritual energy per month, free cleaning every five days, and 20% off water and electricity!" the man immediately said.

"Five hundred strands of spiritual energy per month, conditions unchanged, or else!" Xu Bai said immediately.

"Deal!"

Xu Bai signed the contract on the spot, and his personal terminal obtained the access control information for the small room.

"Leave your contact information if you need loans, repairs, gangs, spirit chambers, or spell guidance. I'll contact you if I need anything," Xu Bai said as he walked forward.

After leaving his information, Xu Bai arrived at the headquarters of Team Caixing 185.

A Foundation Establishment stage expert dressed in a long robe but without any protective gear glanced at Xu Bai and then activated a light screen from the side to check Xu Bai's information.

"That's ruthless. The new spaceship is even equipped with a heavy twin-barreled machine gun. Looks like you have connections. Do you belong to a gang?" the Foundation Establishment stage expert asked.

"If you want to be a lone wolf and stick with a gang, you'll never find anything good," Xu Bai said bluntly.

"Clever, yet foolish; have you considered the dangers involved?"

There weren't many newcomers reporting for duty at this time, giving the Foundation Establishment stage experts time to chat with Xu Bai for a bit.

"In the Shattered Star Sea, the people we should be most wary of are our own people!" Xu Bai said calmly, knowing the tradition of fellow villagers betraying each other when they are away from home.

A single sentence caused a hint of admiration to flash in the eyes of the Foundation Establishment stage expert.

"Good, be careful, and you'll live longer."

"The Star-Picking Team here is newly established, and no gang has yet been able to dominate the area. We should take advantage of the current chaos and grow stronger as quickly as possible."

"You should know the rules, right? You have to hand over at least 20,000 worth of spirit ore each month. The Star Gathering Team takes half, and the other half is yours. New players get half that for the first six months."

"If you fail to meet the standards for three consecutive months, you will be expelled from the star-collecting team."

"Before you go mining in the Shattered Star Sea, go to the training department for a day of classes. They will tell you what dangers you should escape from and what dangers you should hide in."

"You're smart to graduate early. I hope you can make a lot of money here."

After the Foundation Establishment stage expert finished speaking, Xu Bai received information about joining the Caixing 185 team and a letter of instructions for joining the team.

Leaving the headquarters of the 185th Star Discovery Team, Xu Bai looked down at the entire space city from a high place.

"It is 50,000 meters long and wide, and 30,000 meters thick at its thickest point. The core area is the smelting plant located in the center of the space city."

"There are at least 300,000 people living here."

After surveying the entire space city from above, Xu Bai followed the navigation to his small single room.

The small single room is less than 25 square meters. When you open the door, you can see a single bed. In one corner of the room is a small bathroom with a shower.

"Welcome home, Master. Would you like to connect to your personal terminal?" A smart voice sounded in the room.

"Connect." Xu Bai nodded slightly.

A beam of light was projected from the wall, playing a video introducing Team Caixing 185.

"This spiritual energy...it's another trap!"

Xu Bai felt the extremely thin spiritual energy in the air and couldn't help but laugh at himself.

One of the main reasons he came to the Star Gathering Team was that there was free spiritual energy to absorb here.

But this free spirit is worse than having none at all.

"Xiao Ai, please help me find information and news about the Shattered Star Sea in the Star Gathering Team's internal database."

A green light flashed from the personal terminal that resembled a wristwatch in Xu Bai's hand, and then the light screen projection on the wall transformed into an area where countless large and small fragmented celestial bodies converged—this was the Sea of ​​Shattered Stars spanning thousands of light-years.

"The Shattered Star Sea has a cosmic observation length of 4872 light-years. The Star Collection Team 185's space city is located at Terran standard cosmic coordinates eg18746………"

After reading the most basic introduction, Xu Bai was filled with nothing but amazement, and also a sense of relief.

A single star-collecting team is responsible for a star-shattering sea covering nearly half a light-year, which means the area is vast and there's no need to focus on one particular spot and fight for it.

After reading the information about the Shattered Star Sea, Xu Bai opened his terminal, and the screen displayed his wallet balance.

"Thirteen thousand two hundred strands of spiritual energy, all my assets are here."

Xu Bai looked at his balance and silently made a decision.

At the United Bank, Xu Bai exchanged 10,000 spiritual energy for 10 spirit stones. After returning to his room, he absorbed the 10 spirit stones, which formed a beam of attribute light within his body.

"The space city is shrouded in an array, and fighting is absolutely prohibited. To mine in the Shattered Star Sea, the only thing we can rely on is the mining ship. Tomorrow, let's try to add a second attribute. If it works, great; if not, we'll attach the attribute to the heavy twin machine gun."

After settling down completely, Xu Bai sent a message to his parents, who lived some distance away.

He could have used video calls, but when he saw that it cost 1000 strands of spiritual energy per second, he felt like they were trying to kill him.

The next morning, Xu Bai, who had rested overnight, got up and went to the training department.

As soon as I arrived at the entrance of the training department, I was stopped by a group of four people.

"Kid, among the newcomers, you're the only one who hasn't joined a gang. With your Qi Refining Level 1 cultivation, you think you can be a lone wolf?" A dark-skinned man with a scar on his face said arrogantly to Xu Cheng.

"Being a lone wolf is fine, but you must hand over 20% of your share to all our gangs." A powerful aura exploded from the speaker, pressing down on Xu Bai.

"What can you do if I don't give it to you? Do you dare to lay a hand on me here?"

Looking at the four people, Xu Bai's eyes flashed. Half of the spirit ore collected had to be handed over to the Star Gathering Team, and another 20% had to be given to these gangs. Even if he was a coward, he couldn't stand it.

"Kid, have you thought this through? Without a gang, if you run into trouble in the Shattered Star Sea, no one will be able to help you."

"Your spaceship got damaged in the Shattered Star Sea. If no one takes care of it, the spirit ore you painstakingly collected will belong to someone else. At that time, not only will you lose your spaceship, but you won't even be able to save your life," the scarred man in front of Xu Bai threatened.

"I've always been very lucky~"

"You four, if you don't get out of the way, I'm going to report this to the patrol team." Xu Bai said, opening his personal terminal to call the patrol team.

"It's hard, I like it!"

"When you actually get into trouble, don't back down!"

Seeing that Xu Bai was unmoved by reason, the four snorted and left.

After a day of training at the training department, Xu Bai excitedly arrived at the spaceport and found his own mining spaceship.

Wearing a spacesuit, Xu Bai looked at the endless spaceport and the mining ships parked inside, feeling excited.

Whether we can enjoy a life of luxury from now on depends on this opportunity.

Xu Bai slapped one hand on the hatch of the mining spaceship, and the spiritual light of his attributes surged into the spaceship.

Hummingbird-class Mining Ship - Attributes: Agile [Easy to control, speed +20%], Repair [Slowly recovers non-lethal damage to the ship]

The two gray words made Xu Bai feel unusually close to them.

"Hakimi, from now on you'll live the high life with me."

At that moment, a raging fire ignited in Xu Bai's heart.