Chapter 390 - 380: A Hot Potato

[Redlight: All of them!]

The people at the base had naturally thought of the same things Hugh Finch had.

Having learned of Divine Soul’s unique nature through the game, they realized this was an opportunity.

Currently, their only contact with the interstellar community and the Federation was through a system of unknown origin.

Frankly, it was a tenuous connection.

If the system were to disappear one day, they might revert to their previous state of isolation.

So, after learning about the unique nature of the game Divine Soul, Cathaya’s experts immediately formulated a plan.

They would use this special game to gradually establish a foothold in the interstellar community.

This made the gaming devices that granted access to the game the crucial element.

To this end, they had even dipped into their reserve funds.

Meanwhile, Moira Lynch looked at the private message panel, hesitated for a moment, and finally chose to agree.

[SoySauceDrunkard: Okay. We’ll trade at the usual spot.]

Upon seeing Moira Lynch’s reply, Redlight leaped up in excitement.

The commotion quickly alerted the others.

Chase Shepard was the first to react, asking, "How did it go? Did SoySauceDrunkard agree?"

Redlight nodded. "They agreed. Said to trade at the usual spot."

Hearing this, Chase Shepard couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from turning up. He clapped Redlight on the shoulder excitedly. "Well done. The funds are ready. You should head out now to avoid any unexpected complications."

If they waited until the "Don’t Miss It" shop opened tomorrow, a new batch of gaming bracelets, helmets, and pods would surely be listed. Every one of those sold would be one less for them, so they had to act fast.

The others also looked thrilled.

They had all seen how popular the gaming pods were. Even the gaming bracelets were being sold by scalpers for exorbitant prices. Despite everyone at their base trying to buy them, they hadn’t managed to secure very many.

Now that SoySauceDrunkard had agreed to a deal, perhaps they, too, could get their hands on one.

Their demands weren’t high. The best gaming pods and helmets would surely go to the military and the top players; they would be happy just to get a gaming bracelet.

And so, carrying the hopes of his entire village, Redlight entered the "Don’t Miss It" shop and skillfully made his way to the fifth floor.

He saw rows upon rows of Healing Pods and Hibernation Pods, many of which were currently in use.

Meanwhile, Moira Lynch still had no intention of showing up herself, instead leaving Patience to handle the matter.

[Oh, by the way, Master, I have some good news! I can now connect to the interstellar Astranet!]

Hearing Patience’s words, a question mark slowly formed over Moira Lynch’s head. "Haven’t you always been able to connect to the Astranet?"

[That’s true, but the connection was often poor. After all, the Myriagon Galaxy is in a rather remote location, and there are no signal towers nearby. I was piggybacking off the network of a neighboring galaxy, so the connection was sometimes unreliable.]

"So how are you connected now?" Moira Lynch asked curiously.

Patience replied in a very proud tone, [While you were doing quests in the game, I entered a lottery and won the grand prize! It was the latest upgrade package. After installing it, I won’t have to worry about losing signal, even in uninhabited zones!]

Hearing Patience’s tone, Moira Lynch suspected that if it had a physical body, it would probably be doing a few celebratory somersaults in front of her.

[Now that I’m connected to the Astranet, you can browse information on it anytime, anywhere!]

"Mm, I see. You should head to the fifth floor. Don’t keep them waiting."

After sending Patience off, Moira Lynch opened the Astranet and began browsing its content.

The feeling was remarkably similar to her old life, lying in bed scrolling through videos and social media.

The Astranet was flooded with all sorts of information: entertainment, finance, technology, sports, military affairs, and so on. It was all-encompassing.

Moira Lynch’s eyes scanned the information, only pausing on topics that interested her.

After browsing for a while, just as Moira Lynch’s eyelids were growing heavy and she was about to fall asleep, a particular news item instantly caught her eye.

#BREAKING! S-Class Exploration Team Discovers Unknown Planet in Uncharted Star System#

Below was a photo of a pink planet. It looked gorgeous, like a pink chocolate ball against a black backdrop.

She clicked on the post, which described the process of finding the planet and included some preliminary data.

According to expert analysis, the planet’s surface was covered with exposed deposits of many rare minerals.

If that much was visible on the surface, there was bound to be even more hidden within.

It was a true treasure trove of a mining planet.

The reason it was just a mining planet was that it was completely uninhabitable.

The planet’s surface temperature was extremely high. Although no volcanoes were visible, geysers of water reaching hundreds of degrees could erupt from the ground at any moment.

Experts suspected that a massive active volcano was hidden deep beneath the planet’s crust, which could erupt at any time.

Just like that, the treasure they had found instantly turned into a hot potato.

This was due to an interstellar law stating that whoever discovers a new planet gains ownership of it.

Most people chose to sell the planets they discovered; only a tiny minority opted to develop them themselves.

Because if you didn’t sell it and also didn’t develop it, you had to pay an annual management fee to the Federation.

The amount of the fee was determined by the planet’s danger level.

For example, the few planets Moira Lynch currently owned were all classified as non-hazardous. So while she also had to pay a management fee, the amount was small, and she could even use minerals from the planets to pay it off.

Furthermore, to encourage the development of planets and the discovery of more habitable worlds, the management fee was waived for the first three years of development.

Reading the description, Moira Lynch knew the management fee for this planet would be astronomical—which is exactly why it was such a hot potato.

The exploration team that discovered the planet was now as regretful as they had once been excited.

They were kicking themselves.

Because if they couldn’t find someone willing to take the planet off their hands within the next year, the Federation would forcibly collect the management fee from them.

Now, the exploration team was even willing to pay someone to take the planet.

But even so, there were no takers.

Even those who were initially interested went silent after a brief chat with the exploration team.