Mining Duty

Xu Lingqu had always believed that this interstellar era might be another highly similar civilization somewhere in the vast, boundless universe.

But looking at the familiar beasts before her, that conviction was slowly beginning to crumble.

If the beasts of the interstellar era could be equated with those of Earth, then what about interstellar humans and Earth humans?

Was this the same universe, or a parallel world?

*Bang.* A weighted pack hit the ground before them, the thud and the cloud of dust jolting Xu Lingqu out of her tangled thoughts.

Instructor Kai Ang announced the purpose of tonight's exercise: "We're starting a weighted cross-country march. Now."

He didn't say how many kilometers, and he didn't say where they were headed. Likely he was taking them somewhere specific for training.

The students roused in the middle of the night wore resigned, lifeless expressions, one after another. They numbly shouldered their packs, and as the gate opened, they began the march.

The start of training pulled Xu Lingqu's focus away from her ruminations about the world.

There would be plenty of time to explore such questions later. For now, the priority was getting through this trial period without incident.

The nighttime march lasted about an hour and a half. Instructors in vehicles flanked the main group from all sides, and by the time they reached their destination, most people were exhausted—they still had the debuff of sleep deprivation working against them.

Their destination had a modest wooden door. It creaked open, and the students and instructors filed inside. This was a small, uniquely rustic training base.

Compared to the main training facility, this place was practically primitive—plants and dirt everywhere, with what looked like wooden cabins for housing.

The instructor who ran this base came forward to shake hands with Kai Ang.

"The mech engineer training is progressing smoothly," he reported to the chief instructor.

Kai Ang clapped him on the shoulder and nodded.

So this was where the 'mining' students had been sent. Looking at the harsh conditions, the command and analysis students who had been complaining earlier all went quiet.

Their own accommodations were far better than this.

Whatever had possessed Kai Ang to drag them out here—was he planning to exile them to this godforsaken place?

Natata had heard the commotion outside from her cabin early on, but the days of constant studying and assignments had left her severely sleep-deprived. She was too tired, too drowsy to get up. Only when she sensed that the commotion outside was truly out of the ordinary did she throw on her clothes and stumble out, yawning.

She first spotted the deranged chief instructor who had made them do that insane warp jump on day one, and her heart skipped a beat. Then her gaze drifted through the crowd and landed on a familiar face.

"How did you end up here?"

Xu Lingqu had been observing the training base when a figure suddenly rushed up to her. She studied the face before her for a moment, but couldn't place it.

Her bewildered expression told Natata everything she needed to know—she'd been forgotten. Natata quickly prompted, "I'm the girl who kept holding onto you on the Stalker, remember?"

Ah, right. This was the one who had asked her why she wasn't scared. Xu Lingqu nodded in recognition.

Instructor Kai Ang noticed the two of them reuniting but didn't stop them. He announced, "You have twenty minutes. You can use the time to get acquainted with the mech engineer students here."

Natata breathed a sigh of relief and extended her hand to Xu Lingqu. "Let's properly introduce ourselves. I'm Natata, mech engineering track."

"Xu Lingqu, command," Xu Lingqu replied, reaching out to shake her hand.

Studying the person before her, Natata suddenly felt that Xu Lingqu had changed a lot. She seemed taller, and she no longer had that frail, sickly look from before. Standing there, she radiated strength.

Clearly, Xu Lingqu had been through a lot in the meantime. But this wasn't the time for catching up, so Natata began filling Xu Lingqu in on the situation at the small training base.

"Ever since we parted ways that day, we've been stuck here. It's been about half a month now. At first, we focused on familiarizing ourselves with and identifying the raw materials produced here. There's a large cave about 800 meters away, with a mine shaft in the middle. The workers go down to extract ore, and we follow alongside them to learn and recognize the materials." Natata gestured as she spoke. "After our daily lessons, we come back and start selecting materials, cutting, softening—a whole series of tasks. Don't let the shabby look fool you; some of the instruments in the lab cost tens of millions of imperial credits."

Xu Lingqu listened to her describe the daily routine and realized that being a mech engineer required both intense mental activity and physical labor. They did the most cutting-edge research, yet they spent their days polishing materials and personally descending into mines to gather raw ore. It was time-consuming, exhausting, and mind-numbingly dull.

"I have no idea why he brought you all here. Our instructor didn't notify me either..." Natata finished her long spiel, her mouth dry from talking so much. She'd been so engrossed in her explanation that she hadn't noticed the strange group of people who had gathered around, curiously sizing her up—especially the ones with red hair and blond hair.

Xu Xiqin and Jin were equally stunned.

"Sis/Commander, how do you even know someone from the mech engineering track?"

Kai Ang had told the students to seek out the mech engineer students for information, and no one dared take his words lightly. Everyone had gone looking for them.

But there were too few to go around. There were only twenty mech engineer students total, and with 280 of them, each engineer would have to entertain an average of fourteen students.

Xu Xiqin had been worrying about that very problem when she spotted a mech engineer student approaching her sister on her own initiative.

The group that usually stuck with Xu Lingqu naturally crowded around to listen attentively. The others, who didn't know her well or at all, didn't dare squeeze in, making them the biggest beneficiaries of the chaos.

She had to tell Mother and Brother all about this when she got back. Xu Lingqu holding them back? Not a chance—she was happily latching onto her sister's coattails.

Seeing Natata's expression turn flustered, Xu Lingqu reached out and pushed Jin's craning head back down. "It's fine, don't worry."

She turned to introduce her to the people behind her: "This is my roommate, Natata."

So they were roommates—that explained the connection. Xu Xiqin and Jin nodded in sudden understanding.

Liu Zheng and Lin Xiao, standing nearby, knew better. It wasn't just the roommate connection that earned that kind of treatment.

Lin Xiao silently mused that Commander Xu must have worked her charm somewhere again.

The twenty minutes flew by.

Some people had gotten a full picture, while others were still lost in the fog. Kai Ang observed the students' states and finally announced the purpose of their visit: "Mining. We brought you here today to go down into the mines and help collect raw materials."

Xu Lingqu calmly raised her hand and gave two slow claps. Just trying to get an education, and she'd already scored herself some under-the-table labor.