MX-10 was a barren and desolate wasteland of a planet.
Cold and gloomy year-round, sunlight was a rarity.
Now, a dim ray of daylight barely pierced through the white fog, streaming in through the window of a small wooden cabin.
The cabin was as impoverished as the planet itself—only an old bed and a rickety table.
Amidst the emptiness, a single flower on the table stood out conspicuously.
Jian Congxing sat by the table, having stared at this flower for a full two days.
It was a Bluefei flower—once a common sight across all alliance star systems. It had little value and even fewer people who cared about it.
But ever since seven years ago, when a natural disaster brought mysterious contaminants raining down from the sky and spread rapidly, the alliance’s soil, water, and air had become severely polluted.
Famine ensued, and the alliance crumbled to the brink of collapse, resembling the apocalypse.
In just a few short years, even the most fertile main planet of the alliance could no longer grow pure crops free of contaminants. Elsewhere, forget purity—plants could barely survive at all. The desolate planet Jian Congxing was now on was a prime example.
And yet, here was this vibrant, utterly uncontaminated Bluefei flower right before him.
The flower stood tall and straight, its petals perfectly clean—not a single ugly black spot of contaminant to be seen.
—100% pure!
That was nearly impossible in today’s alliance.
Even the alliance’s most advanced research institutions couldn’t completely eliminate contaminants!
The scene before him was so absurd it felt like an illusion.
But Jian Congxing knew it was no illusion.
Because he had watched with his own eyes as this pot of Bluefei flowers became purer and purer in his hands.
…
Two days ago, Jian Congxing had been deployed to the front lines as an alliance mecha pilot. Unexpectedly, the alliance was defeated, his aircraft was blown up, and he fell onto this desolate planet.
At the time, Jian Congxing was barely clinging to life, hiding behind a boulder, his consciousness fading in the biting wind… when he spotted a Bluefei flower growing in a crack in the rock.
Perhaps because it was wedged between stones, it had escaped the complete decay that had befallen its kind on the contaminated soil.
But even so, its petals were covered in black spots, and its stem was twisted and deformed—clearly not long for this world.
Jian Congxing saw its fragile, damaged roots clutching desperately into the rock crevice, trembling in the wind just like him.
It looked pitiful.
In the wind and snow, Jian Congxing groggily reached out and placed his hand in front of the rock crevice, shielding the flower—just as unfortunate as he was—from the wind.
Then, something extraordinary happened.
—The black spots on the flower rushed through his fingertips and poured into his body!
At that moment, only one thought remained in Jian Congxing’s mind.
It’s over.
Damn it. He’d been careless!
Jian Congxing had been born with an inherently deficient mental sea. This not only left him frail and physically weak—his legs disabled, bound to a wheelchair his entire life—but also made him unable to resist or fight off contaminants like other alliance citizens.
To prevent contaminants from completely eroding his mental sea and driving him to rampage or death, he had to avoid contact with them as much as possible—through long sleeves and gloves.
But he hadn’t noticed that his glove had been torn open during the fall!
The contaminants surged into his body without resistance.
Jian Congxing clearly heard something shatter within his mental sea—a sign that… his mental sea’s threshold had been breached.
In that instant, Jian Congxing closed his eyes peacefully, ready to embrace death.
But the anticipated pain never came.
As the sound of shattering faded, his mental sea, instead of collapsing, began to gradually condense and solidify amidst the turbulence!
The contaminants hadn’t killed him—and miraculously, they had given him… a sliver of a chance at survival?!
It was precisely because of this that Jian Congxing had regained some mobility, managed to find this abandoned cabin, and brought this Bluefei flower with him to warm up.
As he repeatedly touched the Bluefei flower in the cabin to verify, the flower’s contaminants slowly flowed into his body, bit by bit, until it became completely pure.
These very contaminants—the ones that had nearly destroyed the alliance, and which everyone, including him, had always detested and feared—were actually repairing and strengthening his mental sea once they entered his body.
Utterly inconceivable…
“Rumble—”
Just as Jian Congxing was staring blankly at the Bluefei flower, the roar of an aircraft engine sounded from outside.
A knock came at the door.
“Hey! Anyone there? I’m from the Universal Merchant Association!”
Jian Congxing paused.
Finally!
He had spent the past few days recovering and healing, unable to go out and search for resources. He hadn’t had a drop of water in two days inside the cabin, and he desperately needed clean drinking water and nutrient solution to stave off hunger.
But after sending countless distress signals to the alliance via his terminal, he had yet to receive a single response. Left with no choice, Jian Congxing turned to the Universal Merchant Association instead.
Even in the midst of the apocalypse, the Association’s aircraft still filled the starways, available at a moment’s notice. They had a presence even on this godforsaken desolate planet—a non-governmental force not to be underestimated.
Their aircraft were also famously… fast!
And sure enough, it was already right outside the door.
Jian Congxing quickly placed the Bluefei flower into the only “supply” he’d scavenged from the cabin—a worn-out empty wooden box—then hugged the box and wheeled himself over to open the door.
“Creak—”
The rickety wooden door swung open, revealing a man with a head of blond hair, dressed in the Association’s work uniform, standing outside and stamping his feet impatiently.
He was one of the Association’s staff members.
The blond man froze for a moment at the sight of Jian Congxing, then let out an annoyed click of his tongue.
He’d seen the location was on a desolate planet before coming, and he’d already figured this would be a low-profit gig. Now that he was here, it was clear he’d been right.
The blond man sized up Jian Congxing—pale complexion, lips so faint they were nearly transparent, which only made his black hair, dark eyes, and the tear mole at the corner of his eye stand out even more sharply. His lean, angular frame was curled up in a wheelchair, looking fragile and utterly non-threatening.
Even if he was strikingly good-looking, in the apocalypse, he was still easy prey.
In front of the Association, he was nothing more than an ant before an elephant.
One wrong move, and not even his bones would remain.
The blond man just wanted to finish up and leave. Impatiently, he said, “So, you poor little thing, what do you need?”
Jian Congxing: “…”
He wasn’t too surprised by the blunt, dismissive address—or rather, he was used to it.
He’d always been looked down on as a useless mecha pilot because of his poor mental sea and physical condition. And yes, he really was broke.
But what the broke were best at was… surviving on the bare minimum!
Jian Congxing smiled and said, “I’d like to sell some goods to earn some star coins to buy supplies.”
He wanted to sell the Bluefei flower!
Even though it was just an ordinary wildflower with little practical use, in this apocalypse—if it was completely uncontaminated—would anyone be interested?
Even if he could get just a few star coins, it would be enough to buy the cheapest nutrient solution and drinking water to keep himself alive!
“Oh? Selling goods?”
The blond man wasn’t impressed. He handed a barcode to Jian Congxing and went through the motions perfunctorily. “Register an account and you can use the Association system. Registration fee is 20 star coins—you can put it on credit. If you don’t pay it off within a month, the account will be automatically closed and you’ll be charged double interest.”
Jian Congxing had already lowered his head and started filling out the application.
【You have successfully joined the Association! Welcome!】
With the pop-up window, Jian Congxing’s terminal jumped to the Association’s personal interface.
【Name: J】
【Assets: 0】
【Association Level: 1/10】
【Access Level: Level 1 Exchange, Level 1 Marketplace】
In addition to 【Personal】, the Association interface also showed 【Friends】, 【Backpack】, 【Exchange】, and 【Marketplace】.
Jian Congxing tapped on the Exchange—the page where he could list items for sale. Since he was only Level 1, he couldn’t sell anything worth more than 100 star coins.
But he had no idea what a fair price would be, so he decided to check the Marketplace first to gauge the market.
He opened the Marketplace page. Since he was only Level 1, he could only see items priced at 100 star coins or less.
At that price range, there was naturally no real food. Even a contaminated potato or a ragged vegetable leaf was worth a fortune—only the big shots and nobility on the capital planet could afford those.
Ordinary people survived on nutrient solution.
Jian Congxing’s goal was nutrient solution. He scanned through the listings for what he needed.
【Bottled Water (Pollution Value 90%) x10 Star Coins】
【Bottled Water (Pollution Value 75%) x20 Star Coins】
【Pure Water (Pollution Value 41%) x30 Star Coins】
【Low-Grade Nutrient Solution (Pollution Value 90%) x20 Star Coins】
【High-Quality Nutrient Solution (Pollution Value 60%) x50 Star Coins】
Jian Congxing: “…??”
Wait…
Was he seeing that right?!
This was apocalypse pricing…?
That’s insane!! A scam wouldn’t even be this brutal!
Back when he worked for the alliance, his wages were paid out in tiny rations of nutrient solution and water. He’d thought the alliance was exploiting its employees at the time—but now, in retrospect, that actually seemed reasonable…
Jian Congxing closed his eyes in pain. If prices are this absurd, he’d have to budget meticulously…!
Nutrient solution also contained water, so that counted toward hydration. He could start by buying a 20-star-coin low-grade nutrient solution to get by.
But even so, he’d have to price the Bluefei flower at 40 star coins just to have enough star coins upfront—half the total—to make the purchase!
Ughhhhhh!
Jian Congxing’s face twisted in agony. The sheer resentment radiating from this poor wretch almost stung the blond man’s nose.
Would anyone actually be willing to buy a wildflower for 40 star coins?!
And if the item went unsold after a month on the exchange—just like the 20-star-coin registration fee—if he couldn’t pay it off within a month, he’d have to pay double!
That would be 40 star coins in total. Wouldn’t he be drowning in debt?
What kind of “Association” was this—it was practically a heartless capitalist racket! The apocalypse was making them a killing!
But Jian Congxing had no other choice right now.
Survival came first…
He had no choice but to grit his teeth and go through with it.
【Item Name: Bluefei Flower (Pollution Value 0%)】
【Price: 40 Star Coins】
Get some star coins first to stay alive, then figure things out later…
Just as Jian Congxing was about to confirm—
【Ding!】
A notification box suddenly popped up on the system interface.
【Price does not meet the pollution value pricing standard. Unable to list!】
Jian Congxing opened the details and learned that each item’s pollution value had a corresponding minimum price.
If the pollution value was 0%, the minimum starting bid would have to be 80 star coins.
Jian Congxing: “…”
Heavens above! An 80-star-coin wildflower—even with a low pollution value, there’s no way it’d sell—
The blond man was growing more impatient by the second.
He glanced at the rundown cabin behind Jian Congxing, then at the battered wooden box in his hands, and urged him: “Hey, don’t try to game the system. The price has to match the goods. No amount of stalling is going to change that!”
Definitely another idiot trying to pass off junk as treasure, inflating the price to scam an advance payment!
Whatever—he’d seen plenty of people like this before. They all ended up as debt slaves to the Association.
Heh. A month isn’t that long.
But Jian Congxing, hearing the blond man’s words, only grew more frustrated.
He had no idea the man had misunderstood and thought he’d priced the item too high. He was still worrying about—how to set the price lower.
Jian Congxing thought for a moment, then tried changing the pollution value in the item name to 10%.
He swallowed nervously. Even if he wasn’t being honest… the system wouldn’t know, right? And the blond man didn’t seem interested in opening the box to inspect the goods anyway.
Sure enough, after changing the pollution value to 10%, the minimum price dropped from 80 star coins to the 40 he wanted.
So 0% was a massive hurdle!
After listing the item, Jian Congxing immediately withdrew 20 star coins in advance and used them to place an order for the nutrient solution in the marketplace.
“Finally got it done before sundown, buddy…”
The blond man rolled his eyes, but instead of heading straight back to the aircraft to get the nutrient solution, he held up his work badge to show his employee ID and said bluntly: “See my ID number? Go ahead and block it, will you? Save me from having to come back to this godforsaken dump to pick up scraps again.”
Jian Congxing: “…”
Right in front of the blond man, he went to his Friends page, searched for that ID number, and blocked it. Only then did the blond man pull a pouch of nutrient solution from the aircraft and hand it to him, then board the aircraft and take off without so much as a glance back.
Fast as could be.
Jian Congxing shook his head helplessly. But he didn’t have the energy to dwell on the staff member’s attitude—he hurriedly shut the door and guzzled down the nutrient solution like a starving wretch.
“Ahh…!”
So good!
Even though the nutrient solution tasted awful—low-quality nutrient solution with contaminants was especially foul—to Jian Congxing, who’d been starving for days, it was like nectar.
After finishing, he sucked the lid clean, then tore open the pouch and licked the bottom dry before finally letting out a long, relieved breath.
The parched sensation in his throat eased somewhat, and his body regained a little strength. The fog of dizziness finally began to clear.
Jian Congxing felt a bit more lucid—and immediately started stressing over what, for him now, was a massive debt of 40 star coins…
“Ding dong!”
The Association watch on his wrist suddenly vibrated with a notification sound.
At the same time, the blond man, who had just piloted his aircraft away from the desolate planet, also heard the transaction alert.
He opened the message and looked.
The listing that the broke nobody in that cabin on the desolate planet had just put up… had actually received a bid?!
“Damn—”
Before he could finish.
“Ding—”
“Ding—”
“Ding! Ding! Ding!!”
The auction bid alerts rang out one after another.
In less than ten minutes, the sole item listed on the newly registered merchant J’s homepage had already been bid up from its base price of 40 star coins to… 150 star coins!
“Ding!”
Another bid came in.
TOC | More chapters later
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