The Interstellar Queen of Scavengers

Chapter 1439: Chapter 1439: Garbage Planet No. 381

Dr. Luo said, ”I’m going to check the thrusters, I think I just heard a stuttering sound.”

After speaking, Dr. Luo left quickly.

After assigning the most important pilot position, Principal Hong finally turned to Shen Changqing, Yue Qiyuan, and Sheng Qingyan, and said, ”You three leave the cabin with me.”

The three of them stiffened at once.

Principal Hong’s tone was flat as he said, ”The long-distance monitoring probes have malfunctioned. There are spares in the backup bay. Yue Qiyuan, Sheng Qingyan, you’re in charge of replacing them.”

When the two heard this, without mentioning Yue Qiyuan, even the always lazy and slouchy Sheng Qingyan suddenly straightened his back and nodded with unusual seriousness.

Principal Hong looked at Shen Changqing. Shen Changqing raised his head, a little nervous, a little expectant.

Principal Hong said, ”I’m going to repair the navigation system. You’re responsible for carrying my toolkit.”

Shen Changqing: ”...”

The expectation on Shen Changqing’s face vanished in an instant. It was so obvious—how could Principal Hong not notice?

Principal Hong said, ”And help me out while you’re at it.”

Shen Changqing’s eyes lit up.

Principal Hong’s face hardened as he said, ”The repair is expected to take two hours. Your job is more dangerous than anyone else’s. Not scared?”

Scared?

Shen Changqing froze.

That word didn’t exist in his dictionary. No—according to the Shen Family’s family precepts, that word had never existed.

They couldn’t, and were not allowed to, harbor that kind of emotion.

Shen Changqing shook his head and said, ”I’m not scared.”

Principal Hong’s dark eyes were deep as he said, ”That old geezer of a grandfather of yours is the same stubborn way. Sigh!”

With that, Principal Hong stuffed the toolkit into the Space Button and strode toward the hatch.

Yue Qiguang and the others, who were waiting for their assignments, grew anxious at once. Yue Qiguang asked, ”Principal, what about us?”

”Yeah.”

”What do we do?”

Principal Hong said, ”You just sit tight. Eat and sleep when it’s time.”

Yue Qiguang and the other five: ”...”

Principal Hong asked, ”Don’t tell me I still need to teach you that?”

Yue Qiguang nearly jumped up to curse him out, but when he thought of how he might get pinned to the floor and rubbed into it, he chickened out again.

Principal Hong said, ”Let’s go.”

Shen Changqing, Yue Qiyuan, and Sheng Qingyan hurried to follow.

Ji You sat in the pilot seat, her expression extremely serious the entire time.

Principal Hong and Shen Changqing working outside in the starry void was extremely dangerous. If anything unexpected happened, it was very likely to be the worst-case scenario.

So this was a major test of the pilot’s skills and emergency response.

Ji You understood that Principal Hong giving this job to her was both a test and a way to give her more chances to hone her skills.

Using his own and the other three classmates’ lives to temper Ji You.

The hand Ji You had on the controls trembled ever so slightly, as fast as lightning. She was extremely nervous inside, but on her face there was no sign of it; she looked utterly calm and composed.

Chu Jiaojiao didn’t see Ji You’s trembling hand. She was nervous too, but influenced by Ji You, Chu Jiaojiao also calmed down in an instant.

Chu Jiaojiao said, ”Classmate Ji You, let’s first lock down our route! Even though the navigation system is down, we can backtrack our previous course chart and find the closest docking point to our current coordinates—preferably a planet or Space Station where we can resupply, then try to head toward that location.”

Ji You said, ”Okay.”

They really did need to stop and give the spaceship a thorough inspection. Fortunately, before leaving Nami Star, Principal Hong had deliberately switched them over to a military small spaceship; otherwise, it might not have withstood this swarm of restless mayflies.

These days, deep-space travel was riddled with danger; the spaceship couldn’t have any hidden risks.

After thinking for a moment, Ji You said, ”I’ll leave this to you. You can rope in that bunch of freeloaders to help.”

”Hey, hey...” Yue Qiguang’s ears were sharp; he immediately objected, saying, ”You idiot 4444, watch your mouth. Don’t piss Daddy off.”

Still, once they heard there was work to do, Yue Qiguang, Lou, and the others all got excited. Even Liu Fufeng, who didn’t look in great shape, squeezed up to stand beside Chu Jiaojiao.

Ji You focused on piloting the spaceship, while following instructions to coordinate with Principal Hong and the others.

About half an hour later, Chu Jiaojiao said, ”Found it! But...”

There was a bit of hesitation in her voice.

Ji You asked, ”What is it?”

Chu Jiaojiao said, ”The closest docking point to us is a garbage planet, designation No. 381.”

Ji You: ”???”

The always quiet Yu Song said softly, ”It should be an abandoned garbage planet. Everyone should’ve already moved out.”

Ji You thought for a moment, then decisively said, ”Think of a way to confirm its coordinates. We need to stop and repair the spaceship.”

Trying to do repairs in open space was far too uncertain. If they ran into something like a Cosmic Storm, the three people outside the ship would be in too much danger.

If they were just students, of course they could reasonably enjoy the protection of their teachers. But everyone here was determined to become a Mechanical Warrior, to work toward being protectors. None of them could rest easy just enjoying someone else’s care.

So when Yu Song and the others heard this, they all immediately got busy thinking up solutions.

Time ticked by.

Sheng Qingyan and Yue Qiyuan completed their task smoothly, and Ji You immediately lowered the floating ladder and pulled the two of them into the spaceship’s Isolation Cabin.

Only after ten minutes of isolation could they come out.

Meanwhile, Principal Hong and Shen Changqing, who were working on the navigation system, still hadn’t made any substantial progress.

By this time, after checking the thrusters, Dr. Luo also left the cabin to go help Principal Hong.

Before she left, she looked completely at ease with this group of students and only said, ”I’m heading out.”

Her tone was like some auntie swinging a market basket on her arm as she headed out to buy vegetables. Ji You’s mouth twitched, and she gave Dr. Luo an OK gesture.

Dr. Luo just waved her hand and walked off.

Right then, Chu Jiaojiao said, ”Got it! According to the plan we designed, we should be able to lock down the position of garbage planet 381.”

Ji You’s eyes lit up as she said, ”Scan it immediately.”

Chu Jiaojiao and the others moved to execute at once.

While piloting the spaceship, Ji You kept an eye on Principal Hong and the others, and at the same time monitored the search progress for Garbage Planet No. 381.

Chu Jiaojiao said, ”Done!”

Her voice carried obvious excitement as she said, ”It’s at coordinate 78 degrees. From the spaceship’s current position, it’ll take about thirty minutes of flight.”

Ji You didn’t act immediately. Instead, she relayed her decision to Principal Hong and the other two, who were hanging on the outer hull of the spaceship.

Principal Hong didn’t object.

In fact, his teaching style had never been about force-feeding knowledge to students, but about inspiring their thinking and letting them verify their ideas through real action.

Once Ji You had them temporarily pull back into the spaceship’s Isolation Cabin, she quickly changed course, pushed the thrusters to maximum, and the spaceship shot toward Garbage Planet No. 381’s coordinates at high speed.

The journey was smooth and uneventful. They arrived successfully, and the spaceship stopped at the edge of Garbage Planet No. 381, sending in a landing signal.

This garbage planet was elliptical in shape, its surface pitch black, showing no obvious abnormalities.

Looking at this garbage planet, Ji You suddenly found herself missing Garbage Star No. 101 a little, missing Grandma Jenny and Uncle Xie Yi, and Ryan, from whom there had been no news for a very, very long time.