The Interstellar Queen of Scavengers

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Star Beast Disturbance

Ji You regretted so much that she hit the wall.

This Iron Plate—

Gold Swallowing Beast!

It must be a Gold Swallowing Beast!

No doubt about it.

Just from the fact that the Iron Plate gobbled up 460,000 credit points in one go, Ji You believed it must be extremely useful; but what exactly is its use? Is it a system? Is it a superpower? Is it a portable space or some other kind of Golden Finger... Thinking all day long, her brain was nearly exploding; the Iron Plate lay hidden in her mind, without any movement...

Ji You tried to use a superpower, but no.

Called for her portable space, but no.

She called for a system for a long time, but not a single system came out to assign her a mission.

”Only knows how to eat, doesn’t know how to do some work.”

”A Gold Swallowing Beast that only takes in but never gives out!”

”Looks like, I’ll have to slowly figure out what it’s for later.”

”Sigh!”

Ji You complained, then climbed onto her bed, ready to sleep.

After a day of hustle, she was extremely tired and had no interest in browsing the Star Network. Once she was in bed, Ji You fell asleep almost instantly.

The next day.

Ryan had already sold yesterday’s Butterfly Honey and the Banded Butterfly Queen, and had transferred everyone’s share. The Banded Butterfly Queen was sold for 30,000 credit points, Ji You received 15,000 from it, and with 320 grams of Butterfly Honey selling for 325,000, Ji You had a total income of 340,000.

That was quite a fortune.

Ji You was so delighted, already thinking about how she would spend this money...

The season for Iron Pear Wood had not yet passed; the group gathered together, and headed out into the fields again.

Once aboard the airship, Ji You noticed that the faces of other passengers were very serious, and moreover, this small airship was not fully occupied. Out of 50 seats, there were only 45 people present. She felt a bit curious and asked Liya next to her, ”Sister Liya, what happened today? Why did the airship leave before it was full?”

Liya said softly, ”You didn’t watch the news last night, did you? The government issued a new announcement that recently there are signs of a Star Beast uprising. People are advised to avoid wild areas recently, especially in the Star Domain where our Garbage Planet No.101 is located, the traces of Star Beast disturbances are clear; many people probably saw the announcement and didn’t dare to go out.”

Garbage Planet No.101 is located at the eastern edge of the Interstellar Alliance territory, and is the only inhabited planet in this border area, neighboring planets 100, 99, 98... and several others have long been abandoned.

Ji You was stunned: ”A Star Beast uprising?”

Fear flashed in Liya’s eyes, she whispered, ”Aqiong and Grandma’s idea was that while collecting today, we should observe more. If we really find something unusual with the Star Beasts, we won’t go out collecting anymore after today.”

Earning money is good, but one must be alive to enjoy it.

A Star Beast uprising is not a joking matter. Star Beasts in an uprising lose all reason, even their instinct to pursue benefits and avoid harm; they will attack, destroy, lash out indiscriminately...

A Star Beast uprising, commonly referred to as ’Beast Tide’.

In the interstellar era, the biggest crisis for humankind is not enemy states, not their own kind, not aliens, but Star Beasts! The Beast Tide, if unfortunately within the range of a Beast Tide, these rampaging Star Beasts could even eliminate all life within a Starr Domain—

You can imagine how terrifying that is.

Ji You snapped back to her senses, nodded and said, ”Hmm, this time let’s just stick to the periphery and not go too deep. If we detect anything unusual, we pull out immediately.”

However—

According to the pattern, a Star Beast riot occurs only once every hundred years, and it has been ninety years since the last one. Ji You was puzzled and said, ”Why has the Star Beast riot happened so soon? Shouldn’t there still be ten years left?”

Lea sighed, ”Beast Tides don’t just erupt without reason; there are always some signs.”

Ji You knew this and with a frown, she said, ”It can’t be that unlucky to happen here, could it?”

Lea said, ”But the Alliance has issued a notice, and the marked location is the Erathia Triangular Zone, which is very close to us, less than ten light years away. Taking an Alliance standard spaceship, it would only take a week to get here.”

Previously, the Erathia Triangular Zone was also within the territory of the Alliance, originally hosting two habitable planets, but both were destroyed in the last Beast Tide. Now, the entire Erathia Triangular Zone is a paradise for Star Beasts, with no one daring to venture there.

Ji You opened her mouth: ”...It... It can’t be that unlucky, right?”

Lea shook her head and said, ”Let’s not worry about that now, prepare the airship.”

The airship was preparing to land, and the pilot’s voice came over the cabin’s broadcast: ”We are only open for 2 hours today, and will return after 2 hours; we will not wait for latecomers.”

”Why only 2 hours?”

”How can 2 hours be enough?”

”How much can we collect in 2 hours?”

...

Seemingly noticing the passengers’ complaints, the airship pilot explained, ”According to the announcement released by the Alliance, there is a crisis of a Star Beast riot in our area. For everyone’s safety, it’s best that we assemble here early.”

With that, no further explanations were provided.

Then, the airship safely landed on an open field.

Ji You disembarked from the airship with a heavy heart; as soon as her feet touched the ground, she noticed that many others had solemn expressions like hers, with hardly any sounds of joy or excitement around.

Ji You felt a heavy weight in her heart.

A few people followed Ryan silently to their destination.

That day, everyone was more alert, not daring to be careless. After Ji You collected two Iron Pear Woods, she heard Grandma Jenny’s exclamation from behind; she immediately turned around to look.

Grandma Jenny’s expression was serious as she said, ”The Black Spot Ant colony here is moving.”

Ji You leaned over to look and said, ”Maybe... it’s going to rain soon?”

Storms, heavy rains... In such severe weather, even Black Spot Ants would migrate.

Black Spot Ants are not Star Beasts, but ordinary animals that do not attack humans actively and have no toxins that pose threats to humans. They are about the same size as 21st-century ants, but have a much stronger adaptability, managing to survive even on the harsh environment of the 101st planet.

This weaker creature has a seemingly stronger premonition of danger.

Now—

Even the Black Spot Ants are moving...

Does this mean?

After seeing this, everyone felt very heavy-hearted.

Xie Chuanqiong said, ”I’ll contact Ryan, and everyone should gather resources quickly; we’ll return in half an hour.”

Everyone: ”Okay.”

...

Half an hour later, Ji You and the others, including Ryan, all gathered at the airship’s docking point. If everyone looked joyful the night before, now, everyone’s eyes carried a trace of worry, and no one spoke much.

Today, there were only about twenty airships in service, and as the departure time approached, most airships were not fully occupied.

The pilot, not wanting to wait any longer, prepared for takeoff.