She spoke the toughest words, but her eyes were perfectly clear, even carrying a hint of nervousness.
Brother Pili had originally wanted to tease Lin Xiaohe, but when he met her sincere gaze, his heart softened immediately.
He clutched his chest dramatically and said with exaggeration, “Really, Xiaohe? You’re actually magnanimous enough to give us another chance to join you?”
He was so moved that his eyes welled up with tears. “You’re truly the best person in the universe. Of course we want to! We’d love to!”
Brother Lao Hei’s expression softened as he watched the two of them fool around.
Dong Yuxuan happily sent red envelopes to Brother Pili and Brother Lao Hei. “You’re my master’s sidekicks, which makes you my sidekicks too. Consider this a small welcome gift. From now on, we’re one big happy family.”
Brother Pili raised an eyebrow, his eyes looking none too friendly, but after seeing the notification that said “Transfer of 200,000,” he withdrew his fist.
“Kid, we’re only your master’s sidekicks, got it? Hers and hers alone!”
Dong Yuxuan nodded in confusion. “I think I get it. Kind of like how I only recognize her as my master.”
“Now you’re getting it.” Brother Pili rubbed his big hand over Dong Yuxuan’s head.
“So… do I still need to give a welcome gift?”
What?
Didn’t hear that. Didn’t hear a thing.
Brother Pili and Brother Lao Hei casually followed behind Lin Xiaohe and walked into the farm.
Their arrival was warmly welcomed by the Lin family.
Even Mori, who had been holed up in the lab, came out to show his face.
Lin Grandma held Brother Pili’s hand and kept wiping her tears. “I’m so glad to see you again. You’ve gotten thinner and tanned. Ah, just stay here and farm with us. Stop all that fighting—it’s so dangerous!”
Lin Grandma would never forget that on Wasteland Star, when their family was in the most danger and facing the hardest times, it was Brother Pili and Brother Lao Hei who stepped up and helped them!
It’s easy to add flowers to brocade, but hard to send charcoal in the snow.
That kindness was deeply engraved in Lin Grandma’s heart.
Lin Dad also sincerely invited them. “When you’re young, you all want to go out and make a name for yourselves. But when you reach our age, you’ll realize that living a peaceful, stable life is better than anything else. You should both stay. Satellite 3 might be small, but there’s no drama here. It’s easy on the mind.”
Brother Pili and Brother Lao Hei exchanged a glance and solidified their decision.
“We’ve already agreed to join Xiaohe’s team. Once we complete this current commission, we’ll go back to the group to resign, and then we’ll come here to join Xiaohe.”
Lin Chiyang raised his nutrient drink. “Fantastic! This beautiful moment deserves a toast!”
Brother Pili swallowed the strange-tasting nutrient drink and looked out the window.
The enormous figure of Tigris Star hung in the sky, and they could clearly see the spaceport wrapped around its waist.
The sight was incredibly imposing, as if Satellite 3 might crash into Tigris Star at any second.
But at that moment, Brother Pili felt nothing but anticipation and a sense of security—like a spaceship that had been sailing through space for a long time had finally found a safe harbor.
The next day, Lin Xiaohe and the others went to the port to unload the goods.
Inside the capsule orbital taxi, Brother Pili asked curiously, “Xiaohe, what did you buy? When we took this job, the client repeatedly stressed that we absolutely cannot open the transport cabin under any circumstances.”
Not only that, but the quarantine time at each star ring took one to two days longer than usual.
Lin Xiaohe: “Crayfish.”
Brother Pili was completely confused. What the heck are crayfish?
When they arrived at the port, Lin Xiaohe ran into Li Qing.
Li Qing greeted her warmly. “Xiaohe, why haven’t you come to see me this past month?”
Lin Xiaohe pointed at the port. “I’ve been really busy. I’m here to pick up my goods. What are you doing here?”
“Ha ha, what a coincidence. My husband is the security inspector here.” Li Qing waved at a military-uniformed man inside.
The man walked over and smiled at Li Qing. “Wait a bit longer. I’ll be off work soon.”
Li Qing asked, “Are my friend Lin Xiaohe’s goods done with inspection yet?”
The man raised an eyebrow. The last batch of goods he had inspected belonged to Lin Xiaohe.
All the data showed no problems, but he still felt something was off.
“The shipping manifest says ‘crayfish.’ Where did they come from?”
Lin Xiaohe didn’t even blink. “A specialty from the Sixth Star Ring.”
In the Sixth Star Ring, many planets were heavily polluted by stardust, making plants and animals prone to mutations. Many species weren’t even recorded in the Federation’s databases.
The man frowned. “What is your purpose for buying these crayfish?”
Lin Xiaohe was surprised. The security checks on Satellite 3 were this strict?
Seeing this, Li Qing quickly pulled the man aside and whispered, “What’s wrong with you? Is there a problem with Xiaohe’s goods?”
“I didn’t find any problems, but something feels off to me.”
Li Qing rolled her eyes hard and said with frustration, “You always feel something’s off! Have you forgotten why you were demoted to being a security inspector here? You stopped a Starlight Life transport ship and insisted they were carrying contraband. They searched it, and there was nothing! You did it over and over, so they made sure you got demoted.”
Li Qing gritted her teeth. “We’ve finally had some peace. I’m warning you, don’t stir up trouble. Xiaohe is not just my friend—she’s the youngest stardust plant manipulator and the student council president of the Central Military Academy. Even if her mental strength is damaged now, her contributions to the Federation are undeniable.”
The man stood his ground under Li Qing’s murderous glare and stubbornly looked at Lin Xiaohe.
Lin Xiaohe: “They’re for eating.”
The man’s expression was complicated. He felt like Lin Xiaohe was messing with him, but he had no proof.
His wife’s stare was practically boring a hole through his back. The man gritted his teeth, operated the machine, and ran another inspection. After confirming there were no abnormalities, he finally let them through.
Lin Xiaohe paid a transport fee at the port, and the port dispatched robots to deliver the goods to the farm.
Li Qing ditched her husband and caught up with Lin Xiaohe, an apologetic look on her face. “Xiaohe, I’m really sorry about that. He wasn’t deliberately trying to make things difficult for you. He’s just stubborn like that—once he gets an idea in his head, he follows it to the end. Even if it’s Starlight Life or the Renault family, he’s the same way.”
Lin Xiaohe waved her hand. “No worries. It’s his duty, right? I understand.”
Besides, this batch of crayfish was indeed problematic.
The Giant Sound Whale had said that crayfish couldn’t be transported via Whale Sea or the StarNet.
Just that fact alone told Lin Xiaohe that these crayfish were definitely not the crayfish she had imagined.
But when they returned to the farm and opened the transport cabin, Lin Xiaohe was still shocked by the sight before her.
Inside the transport cabin, dark, flowing water filled half the space. Hundreds of crayfish, each over a meter long, brandished their giant claws, trying to break out, but they were held back by a transparent, flexible membrane.
Their shells weren’t purely biological—they were covered in a dense, dark bio-metal layer resembling titanium-chromium alloy, all scratched and marked with sediment.
Those giant claws glinted with the cold light of high-strength alloy, radiating immense offensive power.
Brother Pili looked at the ferocious crayfish and couldn’t help but swallow hard. “Xiaohe, are you really planning to eat these?”
Who exactly would be eating whom here?
I actually caught a cold. How do you catch a cold in this kind of heat?!
