Chapter 62: Mining Planet A

Xie Sen saw the black giant leopard beast’s smug look, rubbed the side of its neck, and praised, “Smart.”

He looked at the rest of the contract beasts, and reminded them, “When I’m out, the giant leopard beast will switch on and off the live broadcast, so you can broadcast what you want. I will ask Sun Mao to take care of you, and you can find him if there is something you need. I will also watch the live broadcast when I have time.”

The contract beasts lightly rubbed him, “Sen, don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”

Xie Sen took a look at the pop-ups in the broadcast room and smiled. “I’ll be leaving in the morning. You guys can start your own broadcast later.”

The giant black leopard beast raised its paw, and was about to press the start button, when Xie Sen said, “Wait a minute.” He stepped back from the camera and said, “That’s it.”

The giant black leopard pressed the start button precisely, and the live viewers found that the broadcast was back on. However the contract beasts were clustered around the wall, so they couldn’t see their heads, only most of their bodies behind them.

For the live broadcast, Xie Sen had two cameras installed, one on the wall directly in front of them, the frontal shot, and one in the middle above, a global shot.

At the moment, only the frontal camera was on, so the position against the wall was outside the camera. The terminal was installed on the wall, and the giant black leopard beast went to the wall  to press the button. Since the rest of the contract beasts were watching curiously, they were all gathered at the wall.

[Is the anchor hiding in the corner again?]

[Anchor, come out. Don’t bring the contract beasts to the wrong side, I want to see them all!]

Xie Sen looked at the screen and didn’t make a sound. He reached out and pointed towards the middle, to remind the contract beasts to go to the center right in front of the camera.

The contract beasts were smart enough to understand his gesture and went to the center. They came together for a discussion then went off to play with their toys.

Xie Sen kept watching the pop-ups, which were no different than usual. They praised the contract beasts, occasionally exclaimed in praise of one of their actions and then talked about it.

Xie Sen watched for an hour, just to make sure there was no problem, then waved at the contract beasts and left Zone 4-5.

In the afternoon, he asked Sun Mao for a leave of absence, while also requesting that he look after the contract beasts without too much interference, just to pay more attention if the situation was unusual.

Sun Mao simply agreed. Although he was curious about what Xie Sen was going to do, he didn’t ask any questions.

Maine picked Xie Sen up from work, and Xie Sen kept an eye on the live room on his way back to the apartment. It was unusual for the contract beasts to plop down and chat together after they got tired of playing. But even though the contract beasts did nothing, the audience was still large, and each contract beast was repeatedly complimented by the audience from head to toe.

[Ahhhhh! When the giant lion beast raised its neck, its golden mane fluttered, it was simply too handsome!]

[Did the giant tiger beast just yawn? Look at that big mouth. Even if it opens casually, it can scare people to tears!]

[The way Little Spot is rubbing the giant black leopard beast is so cute, I want to rub it too!]

System broadcast, [‘I love contract beasts’ gave the anchor a watermelon rain – contract beasts are really too cute, can the anchor sell me one?]

The next words were a special effect speech that followed the gift announcement.

Xie Sen typed in a reply, [I can’t sell them, they don’t belong to me. They have their own minds, they are not for sale.] After he wrote that, he clicked send. He was startled when he looked at the pop-ups again. The number of pop-ups had skyrocketed and the whole screen was filled up.

[Did they just shake their heads?]

[Oh my god, is the anchor standing in the corner commanding? This head shaking action is too neat!]

[So smart, the big head shaking look can be cute and adorable.]

[Hey, the color of the comment just now is different. That’s the anchor’s reply, right? Is the anchor not feeling well? There has been no talk.]

[Yes, no wonder the contract beasts answered for him!]

Xie Sen looked at the contract beasts who were still lying together discussing something, without any difference. Originally they didn’t know what was happening, but they looked at the pop-ups and understood.

They didn’t know that he was watching the live broadcast and heard the broadcast, so they shook their own heads in reply, to indicate that he could not.

Xie Sen also couldn’t help but secretly sigh. They were really smart. Now he was even more relieved. They could understand human words, and in case something happened, they could figure out how to deal with it.

He had been hanging in the live room but at eight o’clock, the black panther giant panther beast went to the corner. The pop-ups were curious, [Hey, is the anchor still on the scene this late?]

The contract beasts rarely went to the corner. When they were there, they were basically looking for Xie Sen, so the audience saw the giant leopard beast walking towards the corner, and thought Xie Sen was there.

A moment later, the giant black leopard beast gave a light roar, then the live screen disappeared and the broadcast was interrupted.

[What’s wrong? Is this a break or is it off the air?]

After ten minutes, viewers realized that it was really off the air.

Xie Sen saw that the giant black leopard beast remembered to turn off the live broadcast, put his worries aside, turned off the bracelet and looked back at Maine who was hugging him. “They’re smart enough not to have to go off air when I go to Mining Planet A.”

Maine kissed him lightly on the side of his face. “Mn, most places over there have signals, so you can see what’s going on in the live feed. Don’t worry.”

The next morning, the two of them went to the spaceport at the appointed time. When they saw Huo Feng, Xie Sen was stunned, “You’re going too?”

Huo Feng nodded, “Originally I wasn’t intending to go, since I just formed a contract. But I wanted to take Xue Yue to see outside. Mining Planet A is mountainous and isn’t developed so the vegetation is dense. The environment is quite good.”

Xie Sen asked, “Xue Yue? Is that the name of a giant wolf beast?”

“Mn,” Huo Feng looked at Tuan Tuan who landed on his shoulder, his eyes flashed with surprise, “This is a white-headed eagle beast?”

Tuan Tuan’s wings flapped, and it chirped at him. Xie Sen said, “Mn. It’s called Tuan Tuan. It’s a young white headed eagle beast, and it’s coming with us.”

The three of them got on the airship, which was private and not very big. Besides the three of them, there were two staff members from Huo Feng’s company accompanying them, as well as eight mercenaries. 

Huo Feng led them to the entrance of a lounge. “The journey will take about eight hours. You can rest in the lounge. This is your lounge, and you can contact me anytime if something happens. You can go to the restaurant for lunch, or you can ask someone to bring it to your room.”

“Thank you. Thank you for your trouble.”

Huo Feng said, “It’s nothing.”

At four o’clock in the afternoon, the airship landed at Mining Planet A. After they disembarked, Xie Sen’s group went through an identity check before being released.

“Mr. Huo.” A man in a suit greeted them. He was the resource manager of Guangyao Mecha. “Why are you here in person?”

Huo Feng said as he walked out, “Don’t worry about me. You decide on your own about resource procurement.”

The manager of the resource department followed his footsteps, and shook his head despondently, “Sotoko denied hiding the gold crystal, and the military investigation was inconclusive. The gold crystal mine has completely disappeared, so the procurement quantity is likely to be insufficient this time.”

Huo Feng said, “Then let’s talk to the military ministry about compensation for breach of contract!”

The manager said, “Yes. Preparations are underway. We have arranged your accommodations, so please come with me.”

The accommodation arranged by Huo Feng was a small three-story building with a large area and a rugged architectural style, but it was well-equipped.

Xie Sen and Maine stayed in the room on the second floor to the west, while Huo Feng stayed in the room to the east. They each fixed up in their rooms, and at six o’clock, they went to the first floor and had dinner together.

After they ate, Xie Sen asked, “Do you have a map of Mining Planet A map?”

“Yes, I’ll pass it to you,” Huo Feng said and transferred the map to Xie Sen. “At present, the work on Mining Planet A is only a small part of the southwest, the rest of the area isn’t developed, and maintains a pristine environment. Close to the mining area is okay, but going deeper will be very dangerous.”

Xie Sen opened the map, then expanded the virtual screen for Maine. Maine reached out and took him by the shoulders, then the two looked together.

The southwest corner of the map, at the bottom left, was a white area that said mining was in progress. The rest of the map was a large green area, which was unoccupied.

In the upper left corner of the map was the scale of the map and the exact area of the two regions. The white domain looked small on the map, but the actual area was not small, equivalent to a modern province. The location they were in was in the middle of the white area, which was a residential sector.

Xie Sen called out to Adam in his head, and Adam’s voice was very light-hearted, “A’Sen, you’re fantastic. You’ve arrived at Mining Planet A so quickly! I can feel the aura of earth energy, but it’s a bit far from here.”

Xie Sen asked, “Can you sense the exact range?”

Adam, “Yes, just a moment.”

Xie Sen noticed that the peony on his right shoulder was getting hot, so he knew that Adam was sensing the location of the earth energy, and he was calm.

Maine took him by the shoulders. He was wearing only a T-shirt, so Maine immediately felt the heat in his shoulder. His brow wrinkled, and he put his palm over his shoulder. He took into account the presence of other people, and didn’t pull down his clothes, but stared at him with a worried expression, “Sen?”

Xie Sen smiled at him. “It’s okay.”

Huo Feng looked at them in confusion. “What’s wrong?”

Maine stood up. “We’re going back to our room.” He grabbed Xie Sen’s hand. “Back to the room.”

Xie Sen knew that Maine wasn’t at ease, so he got up without resisting Maine’s strength. He had just left the bench when his whole body was suddenly picked up by Maine. He was shocked and subconsciously whimpered.

Xie Sen’s face instantly reddened with embarrassment, and he patted Maine’s shoulder. “Put me down.”

“No.” Maine refused, his eyebrows knitted, he nodded towards Huo Feng, then carried him away with big strides.

“This?” The resource manager was puzzled.

Huo Feng said, “Don’t worry, and don’t be curious. Prepare some allergy medicine, or medicine for water and soil. Maybe he’s not feeling well.”

Maine put Xie Sen carefully on the bed, and pulled down the clothes over Xie Sen’s right shoulder. The peony was no different than usual, and the temperature was back to normal.

Xie Sen raised his hand to rub between Maine’s eyebrows. “Don’t worry. It was just sensing the location of the energy. It’s fine.”

Maine’s face eased a little, and he hugged him tightly. “If you don’t feel well, make sure you tell me.”

Xie Sen bit his chin. “Mn, you’re too nervous. Even if it was a fever, it’s not a big deal.”

Maine lowered his head and kissed him on the lips, his eyes dark, “You said you would stay with me for the rest of your life. Nothing can happen to you!”

Xie Sen exchanged a long kiss with him, then reached out to push his shoulder away. “Let’s see where the energy is first.” 

Maine pulled him up and leaned against the bed, while he held him surrounded in his arms.

Xie Sen leaned against Maine, and asked in his head, “Adam, what’s up?”

Adam said, “Two hundred and twenty kilometers to the northeast. A’Sen, when you get there, look for it for me!”

Xie Sen heard the weakness in his voice and replied in his head, “Okay, you rest well.”

He made a mark on the map according to Adam’s location, and said to Maine, “It’s around here.”

Maine raised his hand to zoom in on the map. “It’s all mountains here. It will be tough to walk. We’ll need to borrow a flying machine.”

Xie Sen patted his arm to signal him to let go. “I’ll get Huo Feng to help. He should be able to borrow it. It’s too late today. Let’s discuss it now, and leave early tomorrow morning.”

“I’ll go,” Maine squeezed his shoulder. “You rest first.”

Maine let go of Xie Sen, and got out of bed to leave the bedroom.

Xie Sen went straight to the bathroom to wash up. Although he had stayed in the lounge during the trip, the space leap and the long space journey were very exhausting and he felt a little tired. He waved at Tuan Tuan, “Did you find anything to eat?”

“Chirp!” Tuan Tuan nodded his head, and waved his wings in a circle. It looked very happy.

Xie Sen put his mind at ease. “We’re going to the mountains tomorrow morning, so you can stay here and wait for us.”

Tuan Tuan shook his head, lifted his wings and pointed at Xie Sen, and then pointed at itself. Xie Sen asked, “Do you want to go with us?”

Tuan Tuan nodded its head, and Xie Sen said, “Then you can’t run around or you might meet danger.” Tuan Tuan nodded again, and landed lightly on the windowsill, where it pecked at its feathers and groomed itself.

Xie Sen sat on the bed and opened the live streaming room of the contract beasts. Once there, he heard the System gift broadcast, [‘Lovely’ gave the anchor a watermelon rain. ‘ahhhhh, can I see the giant tiger beast lifting its claws?’]

Xie Sen raised his eyebrows, and sighed at the charm of the contract beasts.

The giant tiger beast raised its paw and shook it toward the camera, like a giant beckoning cat, super cute. Xie Sen couldn’t help but think that when he looked at it, so cute.

[Ahhhhhh, huge cute!]

[Super cute!]

[It’s so smart!]

[‘Little spotted little fanboy’ gave the anchor a watermelon rain, I want to see the spotted leopard beast pampering his brother!]

[‘Water’ gave the anchor a watermelon rain, want to see the giant elephant beast spraying water, forming an arch of sorts!]

Xie Sen listened to the continuous watermelon rain broadcasts, watched the contract beasts in the live room react one by one according to the broadcast and rubbed his forehead violently.

Something didn’t seem right!

He clicked on the anchor background interface, and looked at the account balance. Today’s one-day income actually exceeded 100 million!

Oh my god!

Xie Sen was simply stunned. He counted the zeros in his account back and forth to make sure he didn’t count them wrong, then hurriedly cut to the fan bar, sliding from the top to the bottom. The number of people who were Advanced Guardians had already broken 10,000.

Maine had set up the live studio titles as well as avatars. The titles were all guardians, then divided into five levels: primary, intermediate, advanced, super, and sincere, which corresponded to the number of star coins spent on sending gifts: one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand, and one million.

This means that there were more than 10,000 people who spent more than 10,000 star coins on gifts!

His ears were filled with the continuous broadcast of sending watermelon rains at this time, and the number of senior guardian spots was increasing rapidly.

He shouldn’t have been reported for cheating, right? As an ordinary person who suddenly had so much more money, he didn’t feel joy for a while, only shock. He exhaled deeply to remind himself to be calm. He first looked at the number of followers, more than four million, and then looked at the popularity of the live stream, more than forty million. Very good. That’s right.

Then on second thought, if more than four million people have more than 10,000 rich people inside, then the probability wasn’t exaggerated, so the number of gifts was normal!

He calmed down and switched to the live streaming interface.

[Wow, there are suddenly a lot more Outland IDs today, both from Sun City and Moon City, it seems the contract beasts have become red throughout Brandt Star Star.]

[If this is not hot, it’s too unscientific!]

[‘Three Trees’ bull batch, only has one anchor, but became a Star City top 10 live platform. Too powerful!]

[Am I the only one curious about how the anchor trained? These contract beasts are too smart, right? I’m starting to suspect that I usually underestimate contract beasts too much.]

[Yeah, they understand everything we say, and the commands are all done perfectly. My son isn’t even that smart.]

[And their combat power is very strong! I really want one!]

[That said, the anchor has not spoken since yesterday. Curious if he is there?]

[Wait? Is the anchor in?]

[I suddenly have a bold idea, these last two days, the anchor was not in. So they are live on their own, right?]

[Today I am a lemon essence again. The anchor’s boyfriend is too happy, right? This, if married, is equivalent to married a pot of treasure, right?]

Xie Sen couldn’t help but lose his smile. Maine walked in the door to see him like this, and went to sit beside him, “Why are you unhappy?”

Maine frowned when he saw the pop-up. “I’m not doing this for your money.”

“Of course I know.” Xie Sen leaned on his shoulder. “I was poor when you were first with me. If you hadn’t lent me money to bet and then taken me in, I would have been living on the streets.”

He told Maine about the live stream’s income that day. “I was shocked when I saw it.”

Maine looked at the live feed. “They are so special, it’s normal for so many people to send gifts.”

Xie Sen nodded and asked, “What did Mr. Huo say?”

“Tomorrow morning at seven o’clock, the driver will send us there. He wanted to follow, but I refused. I have discussed it with the pilot. The mountains here aren’t not flat, so it’s difficult to land routinely. I will descend with you using the vines. Can you do it?””

Xie Sen said, “No problem. Go wash up first. We have things to do tomorrow, so let’s rest early today.”

Maine went to wash up, while Xie Sen continued to watch the live broadcast. Maine finished washing up, then took him in his arms and watched with him. The two of them watched and chatted quietly.

Around eight o’clock, the giant black leopard beast walked to the edge of the wall, growled softly, and turned off the live stream.

[Crooked? Why is the broadcast suddenly turned off again?]

[It was the same yesterday. What was the meaning of that light roar from the giant leopard beast?]

[I think that viewer’s bold idea from before might be true! The roar of the giant leopard beast is to inform us that the broadcast is going to be turned off, right?]

[If this is true, the anchor is too happy! I also want to have such a contract beast and make live money myself.]

[Wake up, how many people do you think can make senior contract beasts like the anchor and listen to him. Besides, even if they find other contract beasts, they are not as smart as them. Let’s forget about live broadcasting ourselves.]

Xie Sen turned off the bracelet when the broadcast closed. He grabbed Maine’s hand that was messing with his waist, as he panted slightly, and turned his head to look at Maine who was nibbling on his shoulder. “Stop it, we have to go to the mountains tomorrow!”

“It’s okay,” Maine’s voice was husky. “It’s still early.” He kissed his way up his shoulder, and nibbled on Xie Sen’s cool earlobe, which he had already discovered was Xie Sen’s sensitive spot.

Xie Sen’s body went limp, his neck tilted back like he couldn’t stand it, as he held Maine’s head in his hands, and gasped for air.

Maine picked him up and turned him around, so they were sitting face to face, and the next moment kissed him heavily on the lips.

The next day when Xie Sen woke up, he looked at the marks on his body, then kicked Maine’s foot and said, “Are you a dog?”

Maine caught his foot, and rolled over to pin him to the bed. Xie Sen pushed his shoulders, his expression dark, “You have too much energy, you know? Get up. It’s after six. It’ll be too late for breakfast.”

Maine didn’t care if they had breakfast or not, but when he considered Xie Sen’s poor health, he restrained his desire. His fingers lingered on Xie Sen’s face for a moment, and he kissed him before he let go.

The two just arrived at the restaurant, but Huo Feng was already there. Huo Feng’s eyes lingered on Xie Sen’s neck for a moment, then quickly moved away, as he nodded his head in greeting.

Xie Sen blushed slightly.Just as he was washing up he noticed there was a mark on his neck  he couldn’t cover with his collar. To wear a scarf was really stupid, so he could only pretend it to was a mosquito bite.

Xie Sen rubbed the side of his neck, and asked, “Are you going to take Xue Yue out?” Then sat down.

Huo Feng nodded. “Just going to the nearest unexplored mountain. Not very deep,” he paused. “You have to be careful. If you encounter danger, contact me immediately.”

Xie Sen, “Okay, thank you.”

After breakfast, the trio went their separate ways.

The pilot of the craft, a lean, dark-skinned man, was quiet and didn’t say a word after asking for the destination, just made sure Xie Sen and Maine were seated then immediately started the craft.

The craft was fast, and moved at ten kilometers per minute. Twenty minutes or so later, it reached its destination and the pilot asked, “Do we land here?”

Xie Sen asked Adam, who sounded excited, “It’s around here, down there!”

Xie Sen said to the pilot, “Yes, descend slowly, to the lowest point you can, and stop.”

The pilot nodded.

Xie Sen opened the System and exchanged twenty meters of vines, Maine moved to the hatch, reached out and grabbed his hand. He slowly moved over. Maine held him in place as he summoned the watermelon vines to bind them.

The pilot said, “Here we are.”

Xie Sen, “Open the hatch.”

The hatch opened. Maine lowered his head, and kissed Xie Sen on the side of his face. His voice was steady, “Don’t be afraid.”

“I’m not afraid.” Xie Sen said, then ordered in his mind, to let the watermelon vine tug them out of the craft, and then let them hang them and descend slowly. After he got used to it, he gradually increased the speed.

He kept looking down at the situation below, as he dictated the direction the watermelon vines moved so as not to hit rocks or trees.

Soon, both of them landed at the same time. The peony on Xie Sen’s right shoulder started to burn. He summoned back the watermelon vine, and Maine wrapped his arms around him. “Is everything okay?”

Xie Sen shook his head. “Yes, it’s around here.”

It was a rocky, exposed mountain where only a few tall trees grew, while the rocks were all different colors of gray, white, and yellow. The ground where they stood was high with a slight slope.

Adam said, “It’s down there!”

Xie Sen looked around, and took Maine’s hand to indicate it was below, and the two of them started to walk down. The journey was calm, with no creatures, not even birds, in sight. The closer they got to the foot of the mountain, the more vegetation there was. The peony on Xie Sen’s shoulder got hotter, and as he walked, he saw a lot of golden plants in the vegetation, but no earth energy carrier.

After another ten minutes of walking, he reached the foot of the mountain. On the other side of the foot of the mountain was a mountain of dense vegetation. It wasn’t very high, but lush and mysterious. They were unable to see inside.

“Huh…” Adam’s puzzled voice came, “It’s farther away.”

Xie Sen turned around and looked back. He surveyed the mountain they had just walked around. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing that carried earth energy. He looked at the mountain and couldn’t help but say, “Could it be inside the mountain, or underground?”

Adam said, “No, the energy was definitely on the surface when it scattered. Unless the mountain suddenly covered it up, or…the earth energy was brought in by something.”

Xie Sen pondered that. “The mountain is stable. It can’t have been built suddenly, so if it was taken inside by something, there must be an entrance.”

“It’s around here,” Xie Sen said to Maine, and pointed to the mountain. “It’s not on the surface. Maybe in the mountain, or in the ground below the mountain. The energy won’t go directly into the interior,so  let’s go look for an opening.”

“Okay.” Just as Maine answered, a rustling sound suddenly came from the back of the densely vegetated mountain hillside.

The two turned their heads to look over, and saw the low plants in the middle of the mountainside fall like dominoes. A wide and long black shadow pressed against them, and moved rapidly toward the foot of the mountain.

Xie Sen’s scalp tingled, and a chill rose up his spine.

Maine grabbed him and stepped back, his voice tense, “Python.”