Chapter 311: Ghost

Xiaoqi groggily opened her eyes.

"Still sleeping?"

Long Ming said with a smile.

"Long Ming? Ah! A ghost!"

Xiaoqi answered dazedly, then immediately screamed in terror, all traces of sleepiness gone in an instant.

"Sister Qi, what's wrong?"

Cloud Fish, Johnny, and the others immediately rushed out.

When they saw Long Ming, they too cried out in alarm.

"Long Ming?"

"Are you human or a ghost?"

...

"A ghost? I'm not dead."

Seeing how strongly Xiaoqi and the others were reacting, Long Ming explained with a sigh of resignation.

"You... you're not dead?"

Xiaoqi and the others still couldn't quite believe it.

"Of course I'm not. Here, I'll prove it."

Long Ming reached out and pinched Xiaoqi's cheek.

"Ow! You're really not dead! This is wonderful!"

Excited, Xiaoqi came out from behind the counter and gave Long Ming a warm hug.

"It's really you, Long Ming! It's wonderful that you're alive!"

Cloud Fish and the others also gathered around, speaking with great excitement.

"Easy, everyone. By the way, where's Luoxue?"

Long Ming asked with a smile.

"Sister Luoxue? She isn't at the Star Wish Cafe."

Xiaoqi quickly told Long Ming.

"Then where is she?"

"She enlisted. She's serving in a legion of the Star Alliance."

"Oh."

Long Ming was taken aback by this.

"Long Ming, where have you been for over a year? Why didn't you contact us? We all thought you were dead."

Xiaoqi and the others all started asking him questions.

"It's a long story."

For a moment, Long Ming wasn't sure how to explain.

Just then, Xiaopang said with a chuckle.

"Big Bro, you probably haven't eaten yet, have you? Why don't we find a place to eat while we talk?"

"The barbecue joint next door is delicious."

Xiaoqi immediately said to Long Ming.

"Sounds good."

Long Ming was, in fact, a little hungry.

Xiaoqi turned and told Cloud Fish and the others,

"Cloud Fish, you all watch the Star Wish Cafe. And while you're at it, get a clean room ready for Long Ming."

"Okay."

Cloud Fish and the others replied cheerfully.

"Let's go!"

Xiaoqi led Long Ming and Xiaopang out of the Star Wish Cafe.

They went to the barbecue joint next door and found a simple table outside to sit down at.

"Well, if it isn't Xiaoqi. What can I get for you?"

The owner asked warmly.

"Grill five pounds of lamb for us. For everything else, just bring us whatever looks good."

"That much? Are you splurging today?"

"Don't you worry!"

Xiaoqi replied, in extremely high spirits.

Soon, plate after plate of grilled skewers was brought to their table.

"Long Ming, eat up while it's hot."

Xiaoqi enthusiastically picked up a skewer and handed it to Long Ming.

"Thanks."

Long Ming took the skewer and started to eat.

"So, Long Ming, where have you been all this time?"

Xiaoqi asked curiously as she watched Long Ming eat.

"Yeah, Big Bro, where'd you go?"

Xiaopang was also very curious.

"I didn't really go anywhere. Back in the final battle at the ruins of the Royal City, that guy Hilic tried to take me down with him as he died. I ended up falling onto the continent of another civilization. It took every ounce of my strength to finally make it back here."

Long Ming gave a simple explanation.

He didn't tell Xiaoqi and Xiaopang that he and Hilic were now in a symbiotic relationship.

"So that's what happened."

After listening, Xiaoqi and Xiaopang both let out sighs of amazement and relief.

Then, Long Ming asked,

"Xiaoqi, how is everyone doing these days?"

"Not so great. A lot happened while you were gone. We've been hitting walls at every turn, especially after we joined the Star Alliance."

Xiaoqi said, shaking her head.

"Tell me everything."

"The civilization we're part of is called the Star Alliance. It's a massive superpower that has absorbed many low-level civilizations, with a total population in the trillions. Although it's supposed to be a democratic parliamentary system, the government is incredibly bloated. It's full of powerful nobles and corporate titans who monopolize every industry, as well as all the energy and resources. We were on the losing side of a war when we joined the Star Alliance, so when we entered, we had no supplies, no money, and our military forces were broken up and assimilated."

"It was that bad?"

"Mhm. And on top of that, it's really hard to earn money within the Star Alliance."

"Wait, how hard? Aren't the major dungeons in Civilization Paradise still open?"

"Extremely hard. The money we used to earn was First-Dimension Currency, and different civilizations produce different currencies. The Star Alliance, however, is a Level 5 civilization. They use Fifth-Dimension Currency, also called Star Coins. The conversion rate between each level is a factor of ten, which means it takes 10,000 First-Dimension coins to exchange for a single Star Coin!"

"That's a pretty rough exchange rate."

"Right now, there are only three ways to make money. The first is the conventional route: doing business or getting a job within the Star Alliance. But that's not easy, either. When it comes to business, our products can't compete, and we don't have the capital or connections they do. As for work, our people can only take on the most menial physical labor because our civilization's level is too low and our knowledge base is limited."

"What's the second way?"

"The second way is to enter Starry City and go searching through the worlds of various civilizations. But that path is also difficult. Most of the dungeons have been farmed into the ground by the people of the Star Alliance. Going in to explore usually means losing your entire investment. The only hope is to get a newly-appeared invitation scroll for a place that hasn't been cleared out yet."

"And the third?"

"The third method is to board a starship and travel to other star seas to mine or search for treasure, but you need a starship for that."

"The Star Alliance's technology is that advanced? They have starships?"

"Of course. They've achieved faster-than-light travel and spatial jumps. They can cross entire star seas with ease."

"Impressive!"

Long Ming couldn't help but remark in admiration.

"However, space is also very dangerous. It's filled with all sorts of powerful monsters and alien species. Starships that venture out are often destroyed, and colonized planets are constantly under attack. The mortality rate is extremely high."

Xiaoqi said with a heavy sigh.

"Hearing you put it like that, it really does sound hard to make money."

After listening to Xiaoqi, Long Ming couldn't help but sigh.

"Big Bro, it's not just 'hard,' okay? I can't even earn enough to cover my expenses. Everything costs money here. It feels like they're one step away from charging us to breathe!"

Xiaopang chimed in, his voice full of grievance.

"But on the bright side, since the Star Alliance actively recruited us, they did give us some benefits, like a fifty-percent tax cut for three years. That's the only reason Mountain City Mountain is barely scraping by, but there's no real future here. That's why a lot of people left to try and make it on their own."

"Doesn't City Lord Qian Luo do anything about it?"

Long Ming asked, his brow furrowed.

"She can't do anything. There's nothing she can do. We were latecomers to the Star Alliance. Even though the Alliance has a council system and is supposed to follow rules, you still need to be under the protection of someone powerful. That's why City Lord Qian Luo had Sister Luoxue and the others join the Star Alliance's army, to get official military posts and see if they could climb the ranks."

"So how are they doing?"