From star gatherer to leader of humanity

The Shattered Star Sea is 80 million miles away from the Space City of Team 185 of the Colorful Stars. A Hummingbird-class single-person mining spaceship can reach it in just 40 minutes at full speed.

Xu Bai piloted his fully fueled and loaded single-person mining spaceship toward the Shattered Star Sea, his heart pounding with excitement.

"Hakimi, play some upbeat music~" In his past life, Xu Bai liked to listen to music while driving, and he did the same when piloting his spaceship.

"Please authorize me to activate a music platform membership, which costs 20 strands of spiritual energy per month," Hakimi's voice rang out.

"Isn't there anything free?"

"They all charge a fee."

"Never mind~"

Xu Bai looked at the empty and lonely silent universe through the projection screen in front of him, and finally couldn't help but spend 20 strands of spiritual energy to open a membership.

The stirring music made Xu Bai feel excited again about this mining trip.

At this moment, tens of thousands of miles behind Xu Bai's mining spaceship, two Hummingbird-class mining spaceships equipped with medium-sized machine guns were following closely behind in optical stealth mode.

"He started fighting the moment he entered the Shattered Star Sea. A newcomer with no background or connections, trying to be a lone wolf? Dream on!"

"Calm down, his spaceship is equipped with heavy machine guns. If you get locked on, you're dead."

"He's a newbie. If we attack him from both sides, he won't have a chance to fight back. Remember to target the control room, but don't damage our heavy machine gun."

Half an hour later, Xu Bai stared in disbelief at the shattered star sea before him. The endless fragments of celestial bodies seemed to separate the universe, stretching as far as the eye could see.

At that moment, the broadcast on the mining spaceship came on.

"The path to immortality is vast, the future bright; may you return laden with riches!"

With this broadcast, the mining spaceship flew into the Shattered Star Sea.

Xu Bai skillfully maneuvered the spaceship through the celestial gaps, and a unique mineral exploration wave spread out.

"Prospecting fluctuations can only detect a range of a thousand miles, which is a bit too small in the Shattered Star Sea."

The shattered celestial bodies within the Shattered Star Sea vary in size, ranging from a few dozen miles to over a thousand miles.

"I didn't feel it when we were going straight, but changing directions so frequently in the Shattered Star Sea is surprisingly agile and effortless."

"It's even easier to control than a single-person mining spaceship with all its power components fully utilized in a virtual spaceship room."

The spaceship was extremely fast. After passing through a gap, there was another celestial body hundreds of miles in size ahead. Xu Bai controlled the single-person mining spaceship to take off directly from the ground, skimming over the celestial body and flying towards other areas.

If it were a normal mining spaceship, Xu Bai would either be too slow to react or damage the spaceship's power unit if he were to control it in this way.

"Hakimi, test the density of spiritual energy in the shattered star sea outside the spaceship," Xu Bai suddenly said.

"Spiritual energy density: medium; spiritual energy purity: severely chaotic, containing various unknown and violent energies. Cultivation is not recommended here," Hakimi's voice rang out.

"I knew it."

Xu Bai pursed his lips, and the mining spaceship accelerated to bypass a broken celestial body several hundred miles in size.

As the mining spacecraft ventured deeper, the data transmitted back from the exploration fluctuations began to show ups and downs.

"Chen Iron, one ton and five strands of spiritual energy. The Chen Iron contained in this small piece of celestial body is clearly substandard."

"This one is acceptable. The content barely meets the standard, and it's about 100 tons. It took a whole day, so it's perfect for practice."

Xu Bai maneuvered the mining spaceship to slowly dock on a massive celestial body that resembled an inverted mountain peak.

Suction cups extended from both sides of the spacecraft to fix the celestial body in place, the hatches on both sides opened, and ten mining engineering robots began to operate.

Cutting, crushing, and collecting.

The collected ore was sent into the smelting furnace on the mining spaceship to begin refining Chen Iron.

Xu Bai sat in the spaceship, controlling four reconnaissance drones to keep watch around.

The twin heavy machine guns on top of the mining ship are on standby, rotating and locked onto targets at all times.

During his virtual training on the spaceship, he consistently chose the most challenging operational levels. Mining in the virtual sharded star sea was the easiest time for him to be ambushed.

Four drones patrolled thousands of miles away from the spacecraft.

"You need to collect at least 20,000 strands of spiritual energy worth of spirit ore every month. New members only need to complete half of that in the first six months after joining the company."

"It seems that with some effort, it shouldn't be difficult to collect 20,000 strands of spirit ore in a month."

Xu Bai leaned back in his spaceship seat and looked at the status on the spaceship's projection screen.

Just then, the drone's monitoring data transmitted back a slightly abnormal signal.

In that instant, Xu Bai immediately adjusted his seat and became alert.

The heavy twin-barreled machine guns on top of the spacecraft also began to warm up.

"Is someone tracking us?"

Xu Bai looked at the celestial bodies around him and slowly used the spaceship's weak power to adjust the rotation of the celestial body containing the Chen Iron ore vein where he was located, so that there were no blind spots for sneak attacks.

Three thousand miles away, the two men looked at the images transmitted by the celestial-like drone with extremely grim expressions.

"This kid must have practiced a lot in the spaceship's virtual training room. His operational score is definitely no less than 75. His defense from this angle is too perfect."

"No wonder he dared to declare himself a lone wolf; he's got some skills!"

A man's voice came through the private broadcast.

"After all, they only practiced in the spaceship's virtual room, so they're still a bit inexperienced."

"Since the defenses are so tight, let's flank them from both sides and lead this kid by the nose. There will always be a moment when he makes a mistake," another voice sneered.

Two Hummingbird-class mining ships began to circle around Xu Bai from both sides. Although they were using optical stealth, they were still detected by Xu Bai's detection drones.

"Abnormal data detected, suspected spacecraft approaching. Request alert!"

Inside the spacecraft, a red light illuminated on the instrument panel.

Xu Bai quickly brought the mining robot back, and the spaceship was ready for takeoff.

"Is the first day of mining this exciting?" A hint of murderous intent flashed in Xu Bai's eyes as he recalled the figures of the four people before he participated in the training.

"The Shattered Star Sea has never been a quiet place for mining." This was the sentence that Xu Bai remembered most clearly throughout the entire training.

Xu Bai looked at the coordinates transmitted back by the abnormal data, and with a thought, the spaceship's attribute panel reappeared in his eyes.

Hummingbird-class mining ship - Attributes: Agile [Easy to control, speed +20%], Repair [Slowly recovers non-fatal damage to the ship].

"Come on, cut off my path to wealth, and you'll cut off my path to immortality!"

"You have already chosen your path to death!"

Seeing the two abnormal data points and coordinates transmitted back, Xu Bai certainly wouldn't wait for them to attack from both sides, and rushed directly towards the nearest coordinate.

The Sea of ​​Shattered Stars is filled with fragmented landscapes of varying sizes, with winding and meandering gaps between celestial bodies, the furthest point visible being no more than a few hundred miles away.

Once the two spaceships meet, war will break out.

Xu Bai's drone had already tracked the optically cloaked spaceship, and the instrument screen was full of tracking coordinate data as well as the distribution of celestial bodies in the surrounding area.

"Based on coordinate analysis, my location is also under his surveillance."

"Then let's meet them head-on!"

Xu Bai skillfully maneuvered the spaceship through the gaps between celestial bodies, increasing its speed. In some narrow gaps, he even began to perform maneuvers to avoid machine gun fire.

"In the Shattered Star Sea, whether it is alien races or space pirates, they all use small spaceships. In the complex terrain of the Shattered Star Sea, the competition is not about the performance of the spaceships, but about the control of the small spaceships."

"Whoever reacts fastest and hits the target first wins!"

At this moment, Xu Bai recalled the sixteen years his family of four lived in that cramped apartment of less than fifty square meters.

"Those who are weak and try to escape will only be devoured without a trace here!"

With his eyes gleaming with fire and his will burning, Xu Bai entered a state of extreme excitement.