Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 183 - 009. [Starry Abyss] First Press Conference (Double Edition)

Chapter 183: 009. [Starry Abyss] First Press Conference (Double Edition)

Luo Le and Xue Nian, the two big fools, still wanted to get close to Li Aozi, but a call came in summoning all employees for a meeting, so they had to log off while cursing.

Li Aozi was in a good mood. Next, his image was going to deeply embed itself in the hearts of Fiery Summer District players.

He browsed the forum, and in the meantime, Li Aozi started to transform the Biological Pool and installed the Incubator.

After readjusting the solvent, Li Aozi handed over a batch of Mingji Humanity data to the scientists under the Lord of Oakland. Taking this opportunity, Li Aozi also raided the warlord’s library. Unsurprisingly, he easily found two pieces of prerequisite knowledge and successfully activated the craftsman occupation.

Once the craftsman occupation was activated, Li Aozi began to prepare to craft all sorts of things.

Based on the original CNC lathe, he built a workbench, then used various materials he synthesized to start making accessory equipment.

Accessories were extremely rare types of equipment in the early stages. Actually, even if the attributes were slightly worse, someone would still buy them—but Li Aozi didn’t want to be a profiteer, sacrificing his conscience for a bit of profit. That would make him no different from those Mingji Humanity people.

The failure rate was very high in the early stages. Once an accessory was made unsuccessfully, unlike modular-designed weapons such as guns that could be directly replaced, if enchanting failed, the materials would be scrapped and could only be melted down.

Li Aozi meticulously honed his skills, but after failing too many times, he could no longer bear the costs. So, adapting to local conditions, he replaced the precious metals originally recorded in Dmitry’s manual with a more robust alloy like tungsten steel alloy.

Though a bit heavy, the quality of the finished products was not bad. The key was that they withstood his scrap rate. When the tungsten steel ran out, it could still be recycled and remade into bullets.

Half a month after arriving in Triangle Town, thus, Li Aozi’s mind gradually calmed down. He became more composed and started chatting with some local residents. Sometimes he even played football—unfortunately, his football skills were terrible; without using Arcane Energy, he couldn’t even compete with the local professional soldiers.

The environment of Triangle Town could not be described as good, but it was orderly and relatively peaceful. For people in chaotic times, it wasn’t important if there weren’t frequent shooting incidents or gang battles at night. What mattered was that under the protection of the Oakland Family, they could barely support themselves and not suffer from the cold.

Of course, the most critical issue was the lack of sunlight.

Unlike the military-strong cities and advancing cities, the people of the Outer World did not have barrier emitters and artificial sunlight technology. Triangle Town also couldn’t produce the deuterium, tritium, and Helium-3 needed for nuclear fusion. People could only dig downward, carving out palace-like facilities below the ground like ant nests.

Sometimes, seeing the crystallized efforts of the Outer World people, Li Aozi felt amazed—relying just on shovels and pickaxes, ordinary people without advanced technology managed to dig out underground kingdoms comparable to those of the Zerg Race beneath the vast snowfields. But he also felt regret—if they could enjoy artificial sunlight, they wouldn’t have to endure so much suffering.

Energy always flowed to the Four Nations that didn’t lack it, and suffering seemed to always flow to the Outer World that didn’t lack suffering.

Li Aozi often stood at the entrance of the underground football field. Due to a lack of heating, the youth always ran and played football wearing cotton clothes and pants. Without grassy fields and lightweight jerseys, they were as vigorous as tigers, lacking nothing in swiftness.

Among them was a fourteen-year-old boy who played forward exceptionally well. He weaved and dodged, leading the charge. No one could keep up with his speed. Even if someone tried to block him, his body, clad in heavy cotton clothes, would sway, and he could dribble the ball through the defender’s legs, easily delivering a long shot.

In the following days, the boy didn’t appear. When Li Aozi asked around, people said there was a gas explosion in the mine where he worked. The boy and his father, who went into the mine together, were both killed in the explosion.

At that moment, Li Aozi suddenly remembered what Qiu Ran had said to him:

"If you have time, go to college."

Li Aozi looked at the simple football field, unable to see the figure of that young forward anymore.

A fourteen-year-old boy, a sixteen-year-old Nomi, a twenty-six-year-old Qiu Ran.

They all stayed in a certain period, never to grow again. As for college, they might never have had the chance to think about it in their lifetimes.

"Sorry, Qiu Ran, I’m afraid I’ll never have the time to go to college now."

Li Aozi murmured:

"But I have a chance to let more people go to college—I promise you."

——————————

CE.2142/9/17

Mother Star Terra, Fiery Summer Country, Lijing Island, Clever Network Headquarters.

"Are we ready?"

Personnel in the studio were busy and bustling. Robots and staff cooperated to ensure all equipment was functioning properly.

The launch event for the internal test version of "Starry Abyss" was aimed at all member countries and colony planets within the Federation’s entire star system, carrying significant importance. Nobody dared to mess up at this crucial moment.

"The livestream room is already packed with 4.5 billion people. Hurry up and get the sharding prepared. The servers for just three planets’ audiences can’t handle it, the chat feature is already stuck. Lu Run, go help, have them adjust quickly!"

"No problem, everything’s systems are ready, information channels are in place, and network latency is stable with no fluctuations—we can start the livestream. Wait, where’s Director Luo Ming? We can’t start the stream without a host."

"The host is on the way—he’s here! Director, prepare the camera, lighting team, turn off the lights."