Mecha Star Wars.

Chapter 1402 A Shortcut to Building Momentum

Wanxinghui Market encompasses everything.

There are gene-optimizing agents; there are five-dimensional holographic projection artworks that integrate form, sound, taste, and touch; there are storage chips that record knowledge of ancient extraterrestrial civilizations; there is fast-growing soil containing special energy...

Of course, I also saw a lot of familiar things.

What Lin Fan considered a relatively low-end magical artifact, however, exemplified the truth that rarity increases value amidst a sea of ​​high-tech products.

Even agricultural products whose varieties Lin Fan couldn't identify were considered high-end goods here. This instantly reminded Lin Fan of the lush plantations on the Noah, prompting him to reconsider the possibility of opening a Lanxing agricultural products store…

The Noah crew split up to explore the ring of stars.

From nanoscale components and materials to starships, rare metals, and energy sources of various grades, all sorts of information converged in the control room, greatly broadening the horizons of those who hadn't disembarked.

Especially for Lin Fan's side. Ruberu's introduction was not limited to the product itself, but also included everything from the planet's inhabitants to customs and characteristics, the value of the product, and even anecdotes about the star system... He clearly explained the various institutions and forces on the star ring, the points to note, and the taboos of all parties.

He spoke frankly about everything he knew, his mouth practically never stopping.

Even knowing that it was due to Binze, the Noah crew also knew very well that the cause and effect of Binze had already been settled in the exchange of supplies between Moonflower Star and Perun Star.

The people looking for the moon were looking for a shortcut, but this shortcut turned out to be far too convenient.

On top of the gifts Cen Fangyuan prepared for Rubelu, Lin Fan personally paid extra to add some low, medium, and high-grade healing and restorative pills he had refined on Perlun Star, as well as an indestructible scimitar.

These things were just practice pieces for her, nothing special, but for Rubel in the interstellar world, they were like a windfall.

After his initial surprise, Rubelu tried to decline—that wasn't what he was after in the first place. Besides, he couldn't continue his tour on Emerald Star, so it wasn't a perfect ending.

Lin Fan and the others disagreed and instead tried to persuade Rubelu, saying that at least he had accepted it.

Emerald Star is, after all, a planet. To explore the entire planet like Star Ring, even with a special Type B tour, would take at least half a year.

Rubel is, after all, the manager of the weapon shop on Moonflower Star; it's impossible for him to be completely unemployed. It's already quite remarkable that he could spare three days to guide them on their entire tour.

Moreover, he also mentioned that Emerald Star is a money pit, where not only are the prices high, but the entrance fees are also expensive.

Given Ruberu's financial situation, she could manage to pay for tickets for one or two people, even if she had to grit her teeth. But Lin Fan's team had fifteen people...

If he doesn't invite anyone, he won't be fulfilling his duty as a host; if he invites everyone, he'll have worked for nothing for years; deciding who to invite and who not to invite is also awkward.

With Lin Fan around, it was impossible to let Lu Beilu pay. Her main concern was Lu Beilu's position as store manager. She couldn't keep having him skip work to accompany them!

Those bald-headed, meticulous people are always very serious; they might even record everything that's happened in their work logs. If they end up ruining someone's job, they'll be completely out of line.

Anyway, through Rubel's description, they all had a pretty good understanding of the Nexus Ring. Emerald Star was basically a resort destination. Under the strict regulations of the Nexus Ring, personal safety and property security were guaranteed, so what major incident could possibly happen?

Ruberu was deeply moved and racked his brains to add many more points of attention and information that he could think of. Finally, he specifically emphasized that the Noah should find an opportunity to create its own buzz.

“With me around these past few days, we can at least leverage Moonflower Star’s prestige to give the Noah some momentum,” Ruberu said, clearly intending to do so. “But that alone isn’t enough. Spending more money is the easiest way to build up financial power and prestige, but it also has its downsides—it makes us easy targets for pirates.”

"What do we do then?" Antonio shrugged and spread his hands. "We can't fight here..."

“Hey~” Rubel laughed, “Of course you can’t fight in a normal environment. Don’t reach out, or you’ll get caught. The AI ​​capture technology of the Nexus Ring is no ordinary level. If you get caught by mistake, it will cost a lot of money and time to get you out of trouble. I advise you not to try.”

“It sounds like,” Jin Sichen pushed up his sunglasses, “that there are still places where legal fighting is allowed.”

"It can't really be called fighting; to be precise, it was a competition," Ruberu explained to Jin Sichen. "Legal competition, a reasonable release of excess energy. Of course, there are legal constraints, and..."

He clenched his fist and coughed twice: "Collecting admission fees..."

"Well, that's like putting unavoidable conflicts under your nose for oversight, and generating revenue on the side?"

"You can make money from everything here?" Lin Fan realized. "No wonder they say this place will empty people's pockets. They use the ticket revenue to pay out bonuses and still make a profit themselves. It's really... amazing!"

"Looking on the bright side, at least the security is good," Rubel chuckled. "Besides, it's not just pure violence; there are also racing and competitive events, many kinds. Because of the special status of the Star Nexus Ring, Emerald Star's events are considered authoritative in the star field. During events, people even come specifically to compete for rankings."

"Can we go?" Lin Fan asked, noticing the looks on everyone's faces.

“That’s exactly what I wanted to say,” Ruberu said with a smile. “There are competitions for different events every now and then. When you go to Emerald Star, if you come across a suitable competition, you can participate. The rankings in the competitions are recognized by the star region. Moreover, in addition to the credit points they earn, the winners can also accumulate credit points for their own faction and exchange them for official preferential treatment.”

"Official preferential treatment?" Antonio raised an eyebrow.

"It's nothing more than trade privileges and the like," Lin Fan affirmed.

“Indeed.” Rubel nodded. “However, the privileges of the Star Nexus Ring are also valid in other factions in the star field. So if you want to quickly obtain faction certification, competing on Emerald Star should be the fastest way.”

This wasn't a secret; the crew of the Noah could have found out even if they went to Emerald Star. But Rubel's reminder saved them a lot of trouble.

"Thank you." Lin Fan flipped his palm, and another item appeared.

Rubel stepped back, saying, "I can't take it anymore. I really didn't do it for these things..."

Seeing Lin Fan make a move forward, he immediately threw out his vehicle, shouted "Goodbye," waved, and sped away.

Lin Fan packed up his things and turned around to see a group of people gathered in front of Jin Sichen's terminal screen.

“I saw the news about this competition a couple of days ago, and I was wondering why there were so many competitions here. I didn’t know it had this purpose.” Jin Sichen quickly searched in front of the enlarged screen, pointed to a schedule, and said, “Look, the next one is this ‘Star Shuttle All-Obstacle Race’, which is in 46 hours.”

"What are we comparing?" Lin Fan asked.

"Let me take a look." Jin Sichen clicked on the link and skimmed through it. "It's about riding star shuttles, like hoverboards, to race across obstacles in extreme environments. The arena is on Emerald Star. The equipment is a single-person star shuttle, and you can wear protective soft armor, but offensive weapons are not allowed. Rules..."

He quickly scrolled through the page: "It prohibits all types of racing and confrontational behavior, and strictly forbids malicious interference, collisions, entanglements, and other subjective attacks against other participants. Those who surround others will have their credit points deducted and will be directly banned from the competition."

"It sounds like a regular speed race," Lin Fan said.

"That seems to be the case." Jin Sichen quickly typed in the keywords and clicked on the video that was ranked first.

Dark red stardust, carrying fragments of meteorite, raged across the landscape, while indigo star shuttles carried helmeted competitors low over the scorched canyon.

Suddenly, a star shuttle rushed out from the left, overturned by the turbulent waters of the canyon, and narrowly missed the indigo star shuttle, sending sparks flying everywhere.

The scene suddenly shifts. Another contestant clings tightly to the edge of the star shuttle, crouching low, tumbling and rolling through a rain of rubble. Behind him, a massive rock pillar collapses and crashes down, engulfing the contestant in a cloud of dust.

The camera shifts again. The competitor spins rapidly in mid-air, the shuttle dodging icicles but whipping up frost that instantly freezes half of their body. The competitor kicks at the ice, gliding through the narrow ice track amidst the shattered ice, chasing after the snow and ice, finally breaking free of the treacherous path…

No one had ever witnessed such a grueling race before; just watching the video made their adrenaline surge. They were so engrossed they were speechless.

Only Antonio grinned and patted Jin Sichen hard on the back.

"Quickly! Sign me up!"