After dinner, David and Elder Qin went to the inn and headed toward City Lord Jino's ho.
Yang Xiao and Qin Lu were playing chess in the room.
After two gas, Yang Xiao asked:
"Brother Qin, do you have a map of Purple Origin Star here?"
"Why would you need that? You can buy it from the Genetic Store."
"Let's go buy it now."
"Huh? Let's play one more ga of chess."
"There will be plenty of opportunities to play chess later."
With no other choice, Qin Lu reluctantly accompanied Yang Xiao to the Genetic Store to purchase the map.
The map was three-dinsional, the size of an egg. By pressing a button on it, a holographic projection of the map appeared, showing clear mountains and rivers.
To examine a specific area in detail, one could also touch it with a finger to zoom in several tis, up to a hundred tis magnification.
Returning to the inn, Yang Xiao opened up the map of Earth and first looked at the general situation, then he found the location of Karachi City and David Base.
"What is this place?"
Near the David Base, Yang Xiao noticed a large blank area without any markings.
Qin Lu glanced at it and said:
"That's a Primitive Forest covering thousands of square kiloters."
"Why are there no marks for mines and bases here?"
On the map, the most important markings are those of bases and mines. If an area has a mine or base, there will be a symbol of a mine indicating its presence.
Qin Lu took a closer look and said:
"That Primitive Forest is tricky. It's an aggregation area for the Wilderness people. It's nearly impossible to start mining there. If I'm not mistaken, Uncle David's mine must have frequently suffered attacks from the Wilderness people."
Yang Xiao nodded and said:
"Exactly, the local Wilderness people attack every now and then. Not long ago, they killed dozens of miners at the base and destroyed two mines. I almost got killed by those Wilderness people too."
Qin Lu sighed and said:
"There's nothing that can be done about it. Previously, the Great Dragon Empire, Youming Empire, and Snow Leopard Empire held a joint conference and unanimously decided to leave so living space for the Wilderness people to protect this unique species,
The area near Uncle David's base belongs to one of the Wilderness Protection Zones allocated to them. There are about twenty to thirty similar zones on Purple Origin Star."
Qin Lu then rotated the map and pointed out several places to Yang Xiao for him to see.
As Yang Xiao looked, indeed, those places were all Primitive Forests without any marks for bases or mines.
Yang Xiao pondered and said:
"Is there really no way to mine in these areas?"
Qin Lu was taken aback and said:
"Why, are you thinking of opening a mine?"
Yang Xiao smiled and said:
"If I were to open a mine, what would be the requirents?"
"Money and people."
"How much money?"
"Most of the Purple Origin Crystal Stones are found in rock layers a hundred ters underground. Just digging a mine a hundred ters deep costs about a hundred million Crystal Coins, plus establishing a base, hiring personnel for defense, buying spaceships, applying for orange Defense Light Screen Array from the Genetic Store, and so on,
A mature base that can operate on its own would hardly start running without a billion Crystal Coins as initial capital."
"Hmm,"
Yang Xiao nodded and said:
"If I can find a Crystal Ore Veins, would you be interested in partnering with ?"
"As long as you can find the veins, I'll provide the capital."
Qin Lu said generously.
On Purple Origin Star, what really matters are the Crystal Ore Veins. Currently, the veins are almost fully claid. If new veins are found, money is definitely not an issue; many people would be eager to join.
Yang Xiao focused and magnified the map of the blank area near the David Base by a hundred tis, inspecting it carefully.
According to Qin Lu, this area belongs to the Wilderness Protection Zone of the Wilderness tribes. To mine here, one would need the consent of the Wilderness people.
Will the Wilderness people agree to let him mine?
"Why do the Wilderness people need the Crystal Mines?"
Yang Xiao asked.
"Huh? I know that. The Wilderness people use the Crystal Stones to feed the beasts in the forest, increasing the Evolution Energy in those beasts' flesh. When the beasts are fully grown, they kill and eat their flesh to obtain Genetic Evolution Energy. This has been the tradition of the Wilderness people for thousands of years."
"How do you know this?"
Yang Xiao looked at Qin Lu.
Qin Lu chuckled and said:
"Don't you know where I'm from? I'm from Witch Star. Witch Star has been studying Purple Origin Star for hundreds of years. I know very well about the creatures, Wilderness people, Purple Origin Crystal Stones, forests, and so on here,
because my father mined on Purple Origin Star and was away from ho all year round. I grew up reading a lot of books about Purple Origin Star."
"Oh, you were a left-behind child then?"
"Left-behind child? What do you an?"
Qin Lu looked puzzled at Yang Xiao.
"It refers to children whose parents work elsewhere and leave them at ho under grandparents' care. Aren't you one?"
As Yang Xiao said this, Qin Lu thought it over and it actually seed to be the case, he fell silent for a few seconds.
"You said, if we want to mine in the Wilderness Protection Zone, what would we need to do?"
"It's simple, get the consent of the Wilderness people, but that's almost impossible."
"Why?"
"There's no why. Wilderness people and our humans have been mortal enemies for hundreds of years, constantly fighting each other.
The Wilderness people were once the masters of Purple Origin Star, but ever since our Great Dragon Empire found Crystal Mines on Purple Origin Star, they have been dood, never having a good day since,
You're from Earth, don't you hate us, the people of Witch Star, for invading Earth?"
Qin Lu spoke frankly, accidentally blurting it out.
Yang Xiao stared at Qin Lu,
The room fell silent, and the atmosphere beca quite awkward.
Qin Lu realizing his blunder, scratched his head and said awkwardly:
"Yang Xiao, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I hit a sore spot."
Yang Xiao gave a bitter smile and said:
"To be honest, I don't really harbor any hate right now. I can't even ensure my basic survival, let alone have the ti and ability to hate others.
There's a common saying on Earth, 'lagging behind gets you beaten.' Our Earth being invaded is just because we are too weak and too far behind. Even if your people from Witch Star hadn't invaded Earth, others from different planets might have, don't you think?"
Qin Lu nodded and said:
"You're right. Just like our current situation on Witch Star, we are also the weaker ones being oppressed, and beyond Witch Star, we also face threats from other powerful Alien Races."
"There are other planets that can threaten Witch Star?"
Yang Xiao was surprised.
"Hehe, did you think Witch Star was the number one overlord of the universe? Far from it."
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