Chapter Ten: Fire Sunflower Terracotta Warriors, Tiny Fragment Bands

Over half an hour passed quickly. The luster in Song Chi's eyes gradually dimmed, and his complexion took on a sallow hue.

"Could I really be so unlucky as to be dropped into a Star Sea Void Zone on my very first interstellar exploration?"

Millions of years ago, during the Great Fragmentation of the Multiverse, countless cosmic fragments were left behind. However, the Shattered Star Sea is unimaginably vast—so vast that it cannot be measured in light-years. Consequently, the fragments scattered throughout the star sea do not cover every corner, and what are known as "Star Sea Void Zones" are the result of such gaps.

Generally speaking, star sea civilizations refer to regions with diameters exceeding ten thousand light-years that lack celestial structures like floating continents, asteroid belts, or minor debris fields—or contain only a negligible number of them—as Star Sea Void Zones. These areas are typically avoided by all star sea civilizations, as the absence of celestial structures also implies an extreme scarcity of resources.

If Song Chi had truly been dropped into such a region, he would have no choice but to resign himself to bad luck.

Fortunately, that was not the case. After cruising at light speed for over an hour, the Sky Vault’s long-range radar finally detected a debris field of considerable size. Seeing this, Song Chi hurriedly adjusted the trajectory of his shuttle and headed straight toward it.

Even though minor debris fields are the least valuable among all resource points—far inferior to floating continents, and even significantly less desirable than asteroid belts—Song Chi was already thrilled.

According to official authoritative data from the Human Fire Civilization, although the mortality rate for Fire Ships on their first exploration of a foreign star region is only 5%, behind that small percentage lies a sobering reality: among the 95% of Fire Ships that return successfully, over 70% return completely empty-handed.

Thus, Song Chi was acutely aware of how precious the debris field he had discovered truly was.

Even though he knew that where a debris field exists, a floating continent must exist somewhere in the vicinity, Song Chi had no intention of searching for it. His goal was clear: he was focused entirely on this debris field.

As a newly fused Fire Shuttle, even with the support of his parents and a round of reinforcement and upgrades, the ship was woefully inadequate for the scale of the star sea, where distances are measured in light-years. It must be understood that while textbooks state "a floating continent is always nearby," the term "nearby" is relative. In reality, the distance is almost never one that a Psionic Shuttle can cover within twenty-four hours.

If he were to attempt to hunt for that unknown continent, the most likely outcome would be the expiration of his 24-hour exploration window before he even obtained precise coordinates. Even if he were lucky enough to reach it, the delay would leave him with little time to scavenge resources. It was far more practical to stay and explore the debris field at hand. While the resources in a debris field are indeed less rare than those found on planets or floating continents, they were at least something Song Chi could actually secure.

Furthermore, he mustn't forget that he had the "Rage Tiger Type-I Mining Truck" in his marketplace inventory. If the unit price isn't high, he could make up for it with volume.

Soon, the Sky Vault reached the periphery of the debris field. Confirming it was indeed a minor debris field as described in textbooks, Song Chi suppressed his eagerness. He first retrieved the "Basic Public Civil Exoskeleton" from the shuttle's hold, donned it, and then activated the Sky Vault’s only special component: the "Fire Sunflower Soldier Tree."

After consuming exactly one thousand points of psionic energy from his pool, ten Fire Sunflower Soldiers, each over two meters tall and glowing with a deep, fiery red, were summoned. Looking at the ten soldiers standing neatly before him, radiating an intense, heat-like aura, a hint of satisfaction appeared in Song Chi's eyes.

These ten Tier-1 Fire Sunflower Soldiers would be his primary security for exploring this minor debris field. Though they were only at the entry level of Tier 1, they were more than enough to ensure the Sky Vault's safety against any encounter with up to five Tier-1 alien creatures.

[Name: Fire Sunflower Soldier]
[Quality: White]
[Tier: Tier 1 (Cap: Tier 2)]
[Level: Lv10]
[Active Ability: None]
[Passive Ability: Fiery Blaze (As a fire-attribute soldier, attacks deal additional burning damage)]
[Description: A product of a lost civilization; the quality is quite average.]

Ordering the ten soldiers to stand guard around him, Song Chi felt a flash of light at his brow. The next second, the Sky Vault beneath his feet suddenly vanished, retracted into his Fire Seed origin point.

Immediately, Song Chi and the ten soldiers were exposed to the vacuum of space. A wave of discomfort washed over him, and he instinctively held his breath. As a member of the Star Sea human race with a Guidance Technique level of only Lv4 and a life tier of zero, Song Chi could not adapt to the harsh environment of space. Only those who have surpassed Tier 1 can remain in the vacuum for extended periods.

Fortunately, there was no gravity in the void, and prior scans had shown no presence of special spores or floating viruses. The eleven figures remained silently suspended.

Ordering the Fire Sunflower Soldiers to wait, Song Chi vanished; two minutes later, he reappeared and summoned the Sky Vault once more. By now, several large items had been added to the cabin.

Inside, after working with two of the soldiers to install the "Mining Truck Special Exploration Instrument" onto the "Rage Tiger Type-I Floating Continent Mining Truck," Song Chi piloted the Sky Vault slowly into the debris field.

This debris field stretched for tens of thousands of kilometers, filled with mixed celestial fragments of all sizes. A single moment of carelessness could lead to a collision, making the previous light-speed cruising impossible.

Fortunately, there was no need to inspect every single fragment manually. The onboard AI of the Rage Tiger Mining Truck, now equipped with the scanner, would automatically detect resources. As long as any special mineral resources existed within ten kilometers of the Sky Vault, the AI would provide an immediate alert.

They moved forward slowly, and the AI's alerts came from time to time, but Song Chi did not let the Sky Vault stop.

"Radiation from 'Black Copper' detected on a fragment at coordinates XXXXX on the left. Preliminary estimate: about 100 kilograms."
"Radiation from 'Refined Iron' detected on a medium-sized fragment at coordinates XXXXX ahead. Preliminary estimate: about 50 kilograms."
"Radiation from 'Gold' detected at coordinates XXXXX on the left. Preliminary estimate: about 200 kilograms."

...

Although there were many alerts from the AI, they were mostly common resources with pitifully low reserves. None reached even the ton-level, and none exceeded three hundred kilograms, making them not worth the effort of mining.

One must understand that every time a Psionic Shuttle stops to deploy the Rage Tiger Mining Truck, it takes at least half an hour—often more than an hour. Spending that much time to mine one or two hundred kilograms of common minerals, which weren't even worth a single wisp of Tier-0 floating continent essence, was simply not cost-effective.

As for towing the entire fragment containing the ore back to the shuttle? Regrettably, that was a function reserved for Fire Ships of the Psionic Ship class and above. (Psionic Shuttle, Psionic Boat, Psionic Ship...)