Chapter 190: The Stranger that Showed Up on the Starship [Part 1]
In GAL, Sector M is the place to mine for well known mineral resources. There were many big families and financial groups who had set up mining companies at Sector M, but after so many years, the amount of rare metals and the output of some precious metals had declined sharply. Therefore, it wasn’t rare to hear some adventurers and Hunters selling rare and precious metals at a high price after they had returned from a mission. There were plenty of buyers who were willing to take up arms in order to acquire these metals. This also showed just how important these metals were.
That being said, a lucky encounter such as Falvey accidentally discovering the T13 minerals during their mission wasn’t common. One could only bet on their luck to run into rare metals like that.
Although Sector M had plenty of mineral resources, the common ones didn’t fall under Shawton or Falvey’s regard. The two commanders had set their sights on one of the 13 backwater Sectors, Sector U.
Sector U was among the last in terms of development among the 13 backwater Sectors. The reason Sector U was incomparable even to Cillin’s hometown Sector X was due to its planetary habitability.
Unlike Sector Z, Sector U was neither littered with danger nor attacked by unpredictable electromagnetic storms all the time. However, in this Sector rank A planets were literally as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, and rank B planets were all categorized as major development regions. 99 percent of the planets in Sector U were rank C or rank D, which was why plenty of big businesses avoided investing in this place.
Without a market or even much cheap labor force, who in their right minds would pay attention to this place? If this region wasn’t part of GAL’s territory, it was likely that the government couldn’t even be bothered to station troops here as a formality.
Since their goal this time was to probe for mineral resources, all of their attention would be focused around this objective. They wouldn’t spend any manpower or resources on other interests.
The Third Squad and Sixth Squad had plenty of metal detectors, so there was no actual need to send anyone over personally. However, searching for mineral resources was a dry and dull task. They were plenty idle already back when they were searching for a habitable planet at Sector Z, although there were still things to do back then since they had to pay attention to any fast moving objects and electromagnetic storms in space at all times. However, Sector U was a comparatively much stabler environment, so everyone in both squadrons except for some technicians was entertaining themselves to pass time.
Since Cillin’s team had a couple of new recruits, Cary and Xiao Shang weren’t bored stiff just yet. From time to time they would duel Udoze in virtual combat on the microcomputer, crack some jokes that were inappropriate for children and so on.
The animals often gathered together to play chess too. Since the gray cat had set an example, everyone had procured their own storage cabinets now. Therefore, Cary’s storage cabinet wasn’t as threatened as it used to be.
The moment Cillin had any spare time, he would research those liquid chips inside the workshop. He had improved all of the design blueprints, modified and upgraded the liquid nucleus chip’s programs.
The task of modifying the liquid nucleus chip’s programs was difficult. It was exactly why the Robert Family normally needed plenty of manpower to work on the liquid nucleus chips except during mass production. Even though the Robert Family members may be pretty good at creating robots and their individual calculation abilities were comparatively higher than other people, they still needed more than three people to work at the same time when programming a robot’s liquid chip. Right now, Cillin was doing three people’s worth of work with still plenty of energy to spare. After all, his calculation abilities were several times stronger than the Robert Family members. He might as well be a computer.
Eudy and Beaver were upgrading the squadron’s defense systems, whereas Dias and Asiya were enjoying their honeymoon period. No one tried to disturb them. Rikulab and Tico had their own researches to busy themselves with, so overall speaking no one was too bored.
“Beep—— Beep——”
The internal comm of every team came to life. The dispatched detectors had finally reported back the heartening news of discovery after more than a month’s time.
“Judging from the analysis and appraisal data transmitted by the detectors, that rank D planet contains at least two kinds of precious mineral resources!” Shawton said from the other side of the communicator.
“Commander, can you send me a copy of the analysis and appraisal data?” Cillin asked.
“Sure.”
Shawton sent Cillin a comprehensive document after connecting to the workshop’s main microcomputer.
Cillin’s heart skipped when he opened the analysis and appraisal data document and saw the various numbers, diagrams and relevant ratio analysis.
These functions… it looks pretty suitable!
Cillin wanted to create a special robot, and naturally its exterior’s materials couldn’t be of lower quality than Frentz’s 1st generation robot’s. To this aim, he had even researched all kinds of products produced by various robot manufacturers, and checked out their component ratio and relevant functions too. Using the theories of these designs, he calculated and came up with an ideal material mix ratio. Components built with this ratio would be able to alter their own properties under certain conditions, adjust their own magnetic fields to adapt to the different magnetic fields and gravity of certain planets, flexibly switch between a conductive body and insulative body, possess viscoelasticity and good restoration abilities and so on.
Some of the mineral resources listed in this composite material mix ratio were pretty difficult to find. If he tried to buy them, he could spend every credit in his possession and still not acquire the ideal component he sought for. Cillin disliked substitutes, so he had decided that he might as well not create this robot if he couldn’t find these ideal mineral resources.
To his surprise, his luck was holding up pretty strongly. He didn’t think that he would make progress so soon.
Cillin calculated the data he saw on the display, and was very satisfied with the analysis data of the few kinds of minerals sent over by Shawton.
This was a rank D planet, so all dispatched personnel must wear a protective suit before heading out. The good news was that there were basically no life on a rank D planet, and this planet was no exception to the rule. They hadn’t discovered any signs of life after scanning the planet multiple times, so no unknown lifeforms would be attacking them this time. The planet was a little small, but it contained a wealth of mineral resources. They didn’t need to waste time and effort extracting the more common mineral resources. They only needed to focus on the precious minerals.
Shawton had discussed things with Falvey and pinpointed several locations with the richest amount of mineral resources. All teams were dispatched to their respective locations.
Cillin took a few people with him, rode on a spaceplane and descended at a designated coordinate.
While they were slightly encumbered by their protective suit, it was a necessary demerit for the sake of their own lives. It was better to be safe than sorry.
The mineral detectors were passed out to each person. Cillin stared at the detector in his hand, and all areas containing precious minerals in this region were displayed on view.
He transmitted the results of the scan to everyone’s microcomputer, opened the toolbox and passed out the mining machines in preparation for mining.
Scarlet Wind didn’t hold any tools with him. This was the first time he wore a protective suit, and he was obviously not very used to it. Moreover, the planet’s environment had caused even his movements to become stiff. Therefore, Cillin told him to simply watch from the sidelines, to learn and to familiarise himself with this process.
Snowball was wearing a near round shaped protective coat. Since a custom made protective suit that could fit it hadn’t been made yet, and it didn’t want to be left behind on the starship, Cillin simply grabbed a protective coat and wrapped it around Snowball directly. Right now this white fatso was rolling back and forth on the ground due to a sense of novelty. It didn’t look discomforted by the suit or the environment at all.
The gray cat was the only living thing among the group that didn’t wear a protective suit and was still able to leap and frisk about energetically in the area. This made the group much envious of it.
The gray cat was a free spirit, so Cillin gave it some verification programs. He told the gray cat to collect some of any minerals that matched the ones listed in the program.
As he watched the gray cat break off to the distance, Cillin waved his hand and said, “Let’s begin.”