I Married A Degraded Alpha
Chapter 165: On the Brink of Fortune

Chapter 165: On the Brink of Fortune

The mineral deposits underground were abundant, but the question was how to mine them.

"Has no one discovered this place before?" Yuri wondered.

"Hard to tell. This land is unclaimed, constantly snowed in and the climate is cold. Then there’s the biggest hurdle - insectoids. So, it’s quite normal that no one’s bothered to explore for mineral deposits," Tuss explained, manifesting an ore sample with his Enova power.

"Hmm, it’s just common sphalerite, I wonder if it’s valuable." Yuri was a little disappointed.

"I’ll look it up." Tuss pulled out his opticomputer, quickly searching for the price of sphalerite.

Curious, Yuri peered over and was excited when she saw the listed price, "Five hundred astracredits per pound."

"Right. That’s the buying price for the ore. The total volume of the deposits here should be tens of millions of pounds," Tuss chuckled.

Yuri gasped, "That would be in the hundreds of billions."

Tuss nodded, "Yes, hundreds of billions."

The sudden prospect of wealth stunned Yuri. But soon, Tuss pulled her back to reality, "A medium-sized warship also costs hundreds of billions."

Yuri: "...."

Seeing her come back to her senses, Tuss took a deep breath, "Let’s discuss the sphalerite mining. We both have patrol duties every day and this place isn’t protected by the Alliance. It’s unrealistic to hire people to mine, so we have to do it ourselves. How about we first buy a cargo starship?"

"Besides the starship, we’ll also need to buy two mining machines, even if they are just for show. Moreover, we’ll have to build a warehouse to store the ore, maybe we can set it up near our post."

"So after we finish patrolling every day, we’ll come here to mine?" Yuri asked.

"Seems like it," Tuss answered, "We’ll first use the mining machines to dig, then use Enova for extraction, it should be fast."

After considering it, Yuri felt it was acceptable, "Let’s consider it a way to practice Enova."

On their way back, Tuss and Yuri rode in a single mecha. Setting it to auto-pilot, Yuri leaned into Tuss’s arms and checked her earnings from her live stream that day, "After a 30% cut for the interstellarnet and 15% in taxes, I ended up with over 60,000. How much did you make?"

Yuri checked his earnings at his insistence, and then jealously remarked, "Who sent you so many gifts?"

"Classmates from school, they said it’s a wedding gift," Tuss answered honestly.

Yuri: "....." As long as it’s not a rich woman.

Once they arrived back at their base, Yuri stayed home to attend classes while Tuss went off to buy the mining machines and look into cargo starships.

It wasn’t until 11 PM that Tuss returned home.

"Have you eaten dinner?" Yuri asked, having ordered food for him which was in the warming box.

"I ate already. I’m going to take a shower first, we can talk afterwards," Tuss said, heading straight to the bathroom after grabbing his pajamas.

As he passed by Yuri, she detected a mix of scents. Is that someone else’s pheromones? There’s also a faint smell of blood. Is it from killing insectoids today?

Yuri shook her head, not really minding the odd scents. She went to the bed first, propping herself up against the headboard with a book while waiting for Tuss.

By the time Tuss came over, a mist of shower steam around him, she had already yawned twice.

"Are you tired? Want to sleep first?" Tuss, wrapping his arms around her.

"It’s just a few more minutes. Tell me about the mining machines and the cargo starship first," Yuri said, her eyes heavy with sleep.

"I bought two mining machines. As for the starship, even the smallest model costs a billion, we might not be able to afford it right now," Tuss confessed.

"No worries. We can use a couple of dimensional buttons instead. The combined space of several dimensional buttons is as good as a small starship," Yuri suggested nonchalantly, finding a comfortable position in Tuss’s arms and falling asleep within seconds.

Tuss kissed her forehead and enveloped her with his comforting pheromones, soon drifting off to sleep himself.

The next morning, Yuri collected her patrol schedule from Xiva. Today, she was assigned to another section of the defense line.

As soon as she climbed into her mecha, she began live streaming. The mecha sped up all the way to her patrol location, where she finally slowed down.

"The weather is better today than yesterday, there’s sunshine." Yuri chatted on her stream, "Do you want to see the sunset?"

As she said that, she pointed her camera towards the distant cosmos, "Isn’t it beautiful? Space is so beautiful, every time I look at it, I feel something different. It’s as if it never gets boring."

"Huh, there’s a mecha ahead, is that an insectoid hunter squad?"

"They’re sending a communication request," Yuri said, pressing the accept button.

"We’re from the Starfire insectoid hunter squad. Are you the former commander or Commander Yuri Hiro?" the person on the other end asked.

"I am Yuri."

"Hehe, looks like we’re lucky today. We ran into Yuri."

"Do you need something from me?"

"We’re about to take on a nest of level-two insectoids. If we can’t handle them, could you lend us a hand?" the voice on the other end asked, full of hope.

Yuri asked curiously, "How would you like me to assist?"

"If we can’t beat them, we’ll run towards you. We just need you to lend a hand," they said, then quickly added, "Any insectoids killed by you, you get to keep the bodies."

"I can’t promise to assist immediately, as I also have my patrol duties. Moreover, I will only be at this defense line for three hours," Yuri stated her conditions.

There was silence for a few seconds on the other end, followed by murmuring, likely discussing the situation.

"Okay. We understand. We’ll try to reach you within three hours."

"If you’re late, although I may not be here, there should be other patrollers around. You can ask them for help. But my advice to you is not to mess with insectoids that are stronger than you," Yuri cautioned.

"Alright, we’ll remember that."

After bidding farewell to the Starfire, Yuri continued her patrol.

"Damn, I didn’t know you could do that, I want to go to the 458 Defense Line and be a bug hunter."

"Want to team up? I’m interested too. We could choose the area where Yuri is patrolling. If we run into danger, Yuri might save us."

"During my vacation, I’ll register. I plan to spend the whole vacation on the 458 Defense Line."

"That sounds like a good idea."

"...."

The chat room was filled with enthusiastic discussions about vacation plans.

After three hours, Yuri hadn’t received a distress signal and she couldn’t help but worry. She decided to take her mecha beyond the 458 Defense Line from the point where she had encountered the insectoid hunter squad earlier that day.

Unsure of where the squad had gone, she piloted the mecha aimlessly, deciding that if she didn’t find them in half an hour, she would go mining.

Her mecha sped over snow-covered planets and just when she was preparing to return, she received a faint distress signal.

"Hello? Is this the Starfire?" Yuri asked.

"No, it’s not. My name is Ron Grogg. I’m alone." the voice responded.

"Okay, Ron, I’m Yuri Hiro, a patrol officer. What seems to be the trouble?"

"I’m a bit injured and my mecha is damaged. I need help." Ron said, sounding as though it took a lot of courage to admit his situation.

Yuri checked the coordinates of her mecha and found that the distress signal was close. She reassured him, saying, "Don’t worry, I’m on my way."