Chapter Two: Liu Shaoyu, the Miner

Name: Shaoyu Liu
Age: 19
Date of Birth: Star Calendar Year 1218
Citizen ID: xckayak124011265378
Place of Birth:
Star Domain: Virgo Supercluster
Galaxy: Milky Way
Stellar System: Feiyuans Yekrika

Staring at his new identity on the computer screen, Shaoyu Liu lit a cigarette. Beside the information, the computer had unfolded a star map for him. “So far away,” he murmured inwardly. Indeed, the star map showed his birthplace at the fringes of the Milky Way, at the intersection of the Fengtower and Fuweihi galaxies.

It was a mineral planet, mined centuries ago by the Earth United Mining Company. The planet boasted vast reserves of crystal minerals.

Newborns in the Earth Federation received a chip implanted at birth, recording their biometric data. This chip could never be replaced by the individual, though its reserved module port allowed for certain disguises, as they had done during their last mission.

But Shaoyu Liu’s information wasn’t the result of such trickery; all the displayed data was his genuine identity, according to standard procedures.

He was the first beneficiary of the “God” Project. For this reason, his original identity would be forever sealed away. Now, he was a miner. Why? Because everyone in the mineral galaxies was a miner.

Miner or not, Shaoyu Liu comforted himself, “I am a miner, and I am proud.”

Let’s begin with the day Shaoyu Liu awoke. Once he found his mobility restored, he opened his chamber from the inside, hoping to find someone to inquire about his situation. To his surprise, the entire base was devoid of humans. All tasks were carried out by robots.

Ask the robots? They ignored him. After wandering about, he was “escorted” back to the medical bay by a security robot. Truthfully, he hadn’t gone far; his medical bay resembled a sealed, isolated space, filled with dazzling high-tech equipment and nothing else. The sole exit couldn’t be opened from within.

“They’ve just locked me in a larger place,” Shaoyu Liu mused.

He knew who was responsible for his resurrection, for he had sent the data to Qingyi Xin in his final moments. But how had Qingyi Xin managed it? The vast resources required for such a plan would be impossible for a single person to mobilize in three months. If Shaoyu Liu had been more inquisitive and checked Qingyi Xin’s records, he’d find his access level insufficient. But Shaoyu Liu wasn’t the curious sort, nor did he move in those circles, so he never grasped the true cause of it all—let alone the massive upheaval his revival had triggered.

Climbing back into the pod-like chamber, Shaoyu Liu underwent a recovery check, then lost consciousness once more.

When he awoke again, he found himself in a completely unfamiliar environment. No pod, no machines, no cold robots. Yet the arrangement was oddly familiar—his first impression was that the room’s decor closely resembled his old villa room on Earth.

Perplexed, Shaoyu Liu called up his personal computer, leading to the information he now examined.

He roughly understood who was behind it all. Yet his new identity contained no means to contact anyone from his past, including Qingyi Xin. Even if he wanted to ask, he had no way to reach her. For now, all he could do was accept his new identity. As for his military past, he could only let it lie dormant.

Of course, Shaoyu Liu had no way of knowing what had happened on distant Earth. Even in this age of advanced information, learning about events light-years away was nearly impossible without any information channel; Shaoyu Liu could glean only a fragment from the broadcasts of the News Agency. But such news was useless to his question-filled mind. So, he instructed Thomas to search for happenings during his three months of slumber, while he began the process of obtaining his miner’s license.

A pleasant surprise awaited him: in his new residence, he discovered several bookshelves of Earth books, the best thing that had happened to him lately. It seemed his monotonous mining days could be brightened by reading. Yet as he gazed at these familiar volumes, a silhouette with hair tied behind her head appeared in his mind—perhaps he missed the members of the Young Dragon Squad too much. Shaking his head, Shaoyu Liu took out the well-worn War and Peace, gently stroking its cover.

He wished deeply to thank Qingyi Xin in person for everything she had done, but since he couldn't reach her, he would have to wait until their next meeting.

Survival is needed everywhere. In mineral galaxies, the economy depended on mining. For this most basic and humble yet indispensable profession in the universe, to become a miner, one first needed a miner's license, followed by a pilot’s license for a mining barge. Meeting these two requirements allowed one to apply for a standard mining barge. If one had wealth, one could purchase a superior barge from the United Mining Company, though that required a corresponding pilot's license and considerable funds.

Checking his assets, Shaoyu Liu was nearly in tears. In the military, all supplies were provided, so with his leisure time and officer’s salary, he was at least comfortably middle-class. Now… ah, reborn and returned to square one!

Given his financial situation, Shaoyu Liu had no choice but to pay a deposit and apply for the most basic mining vessel, known in the trade as the Bumblebee. The Bumblebee stretched 133 meters along its longest axis, painted entirely yellow. Manufactured by United Mining, it was a beginner’s barge designed for rapid operations, boasting a mineral hold of 5000 cubic meters.

He procured a mineral distribution star map from the United Mining branch, and piloted his Bumblebee on his first mining journey. According to regulations, Shaoyu Liu could name his temporary mining barge. On the industrial yellow hull, three characters formed its name: “Young Dragon.” Out of nostalgia for his past, Shaoyu Liu simply chose this name. This decision would alter the trajectory of his life once again. Were it not so, he might truly have spent decades as a miner.

The boundless sea of stars stretched endlessly, the distant galaxies mere sparkling pinpoints in the cosmic void. There was no rising and setting sun; time in space could only be measured mechanically. Though miners were synonymous with drudgery and labor in the universe, it was their toil—ship after ship of raw minerals—that built vast space stations and forged battleships that roamed the stars.

Miners, the pioneers of cosmic enterprise, labored tirelessly…

For the first time, Shaoyu Liu could quiet his mind and feel the expanse of the universe. For the first time, he found it beautiful.

After launching his light drones for escort, Shaoyu Liu targeted a low-grade crystal mineral for collection. The 5000 cubic meters of cargo would take forty-five minutes to fill. Then, miners would eject the mineral hold from the hull, awaiting pickup by United Mining’s transport ships, before replacing it with a new hold and resuming mining. This swap-and-go system maximized efficiency, though it incurred a fee. Of course, one could make the trip back to the company every forty-five minutes, but Shaoyu Liu much preferred to pay the transport fee.

Basic mining vessels could only gather the lowest-grade cosmic crystals. The day’s earnings were minimal by cosmic standards, but stable. While his barge worked, Shaoyu Liu read the books in his cockpit, never feeling bored.

The Feiyuans star radiated a piercing blue glow, the whole void shrouded in mysterious smoky cosmic particles. Outside the warp acceleration lane, holographic screens scrolled with universal wanted posters and Earth Federation Navy notices.

Such highly secure stellar systems rarely attracted pirate attacks, but today, for some unknown reason, Shaoyu Liu was particularly unlucky, encountering two pirate ships. These were light raider vessels assembled by pirate factions, thirty-two meters long, equipped with numerous light weapons and a handful of long-range missiles.

Cosmic miners dreaded these pirates most. For reasons unknown, the “bumblebee” vessels seemed to attract pirate hostility; a few minutes’ effort could net them nearly an hour’s worth of miners’ harvest, making it a lucrative business. Usually, pirates wouldn’t operate in high-security zones, but recent setbacks had left them desperate for mineral supplies, forcing them to risk being shot down by mining sector patrols.

Typically, these pirate raiders had double the operational radius of mining barges, and could use their missiles to destroy targets before being detected. This was their trump card. As usual, spotting a Bumblebee, the pirates debated the small reward, then activated their targeting systems. Even a mosquito is still meat. One raider prepared to deploy its tractor beam.

Pirates, though, divided their labor clearly: one attacked, one hauled. Once the cargo was warped to a rendezvous point, the pirate transport team would tow it away, not unlike the United Mining ships. Pirates considered themselves industry pioneers of a sort.

But this time, their scheme would fail. Because this mining barge was Shaoyu Liu’s Young Dragon.

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If this chapter feels familiar to anyone, well, that’s right—a small tribute to the author’s own experience as a miner.

This chapter is merely a transition; the protagonist won’t be mining for several chapters. In the next chapter, Shaoyu Liu will return to the stellar battlefield.