3: Wait a minute? What are you apologizing for?

Planetary Governor's Office, Governor's Office.

Governor Alexei brewed a cup of natural green tea, looked at the city outside the window, and prepared to start his afternoon work.

His Governor's Office was built at the very top of this steel city; the only taller structures were the Space Elevator Towers piercing through the clouds.

Last month's tax revenue met its target, and the natural agricultural supplies for the various space bases had already been shipped.

Recently, besides The Consortium's warning about the 'White Robe' dangerous saboteur gang operating everywhere, there shouldn't be any major issues.

Speaking of these guys, it's infuriating. They drive starships around, launching suicide attacks.

What the heck, are these guys crazy?

If they want to end it all, why drag others into it?

Even that barbaric empire next door, which brought back humanity's most primitive imperial system, wouldn't do something so insane!

It made his life recently quite unsettled.

Speaking of which, The Consortium's relationship with the Lakere Interstellar Empire has been quite tense recently.

But that's not something a planetary Governor needs to worry about, even if the Ursa Major system is the border between The Consortium and the Empire.

A naturally habitable planet just needs to fulfill its responsibility of providing high-quality primary agricultural products and population.

Let the System Defense Commander worry about the war.

Of course, if there are any major movements, it would be best to let him know in advance to avoid affecting him.

"Ding ding ding!"

Suddenly, his Emergency Communicator rang. Alexei picked it up and looked.

"Three unregistered warships? Requesting docking?"

"Oh ho, that's rare. Warships?"

"Not many dock at the planetary spaceport."

Alexei thought back, wondering if there were any important figures' itineraries he'd forgotten recently.

Doesn't seem like it?

"Wait, could it be—!"

Suddenly, he seemed to remember something.

Sudden appearance, warships, requesting to dock at a planetary spaceport.

Isn't this the modus operandi of a secret inspector!

What sudden appearance? The System Defense Fleet must have secretly opened a hidden route.

"Damn it! It can't be that they're coming for me!"

Instantly, Alexei broke out in a cold sweat.

"Kirk! Quickly dispose of the 'Cryogenic Fluid' in Warehouse D2!"

His hands weren't exactly clean... Wiping his sweat, he decided to personally go to the port to greet them and buy some time.

Meanwhile, directly below him, at the very bottom of the city, in Xi Hai's dilapidated shack.

"Phew—finally done."

"So that's how it works."

After about an hour of exploration, Xi Hai had pretty much figured out the night lamp's functions.

Simply put, his night lamp came with a compressed space, which contained a self-sufficient Lagrange standard base.

It could build warships and store warships, but like in games, it had population limits and service quantity limits.

Warships could be retrieved anytime, anywhere, but the built-in base could not.

However, he could also construct 'Pathfinder Base' units externally in the current universe to build ships.

Although these ships didn't have population or service restrictions, they also wouldn't come with clone crew members like the warships produced in the built-in space.

As for blueprints, he could obtain proxima centauri coins by completing tasks occasionally issued by the night lamp, or obtain Sacred Stellar Coins through 'recharging'.

Then, he could purchase 'Encrypted Technical Archive' through the night lamp and draw blueprints from them.

However, when 'recharging,' the currency used would be evaluated, and converted based on its actual value and recognized value, which was a huge rip-off.

Xi Hai stood up and stretched, loosening his muscles.

"Hmm, the ship coming to pick me up should be here by now..."

"Clang! Dong! Thump thump!"

Suddenly, his arm accidentally knocked down a bag hanging on a support pillar.

A round mechanical component rolled out.

"No? When did I put something here... Wait, do I even have this thing?"

Each salvaged mechanical component could fetch enough credits for a scavenger to eat and drink well for five or six days, and he had only found one once.

What's going on? It couldn't have been left by a thief, could it?

Could someone in the slums commit a burglary and still adhere to the principle of bartering?

That principled?

It can't be broken, can it?

A few days ago, he might have been interested in looking for this person.

But now, things were different. He was about to leave.

How could someone with an interstellar warship still be fixated on a small, broken battery?

Whoever stole it can have it, damn it.

He'd just consider it taken by his son.

"I need to find a way to contact my warship. I can't just have the crew come pick me up, can I?"

Stepping out of his dilapidated shack, Xi Hai looked at the shack next door.

That was also a shack.

He remembered a pair of twin siblings named Xu living there. When he first arrived, they had taught him many scavenging survival skills.

But recently, they had seen each other less often. It seemed the sister in that family was ill?

After some thought, Xi Hai decided to say goodbye before he left, as they had been quite helpful to him before.

As he was thinking, he reached their door, extending his hand to knock.

But suddenly, a soft "click" sound came.

"Bang!" "Clang!"

The outward-opening door directly collided with Xi Hai's head.

"Damn it! Who's blocking my doorway, you blind idiot!"

"Damn it! Who opens a door without looking, you blind idiot!"

Both parties almost simultaneously offered polite greetings to each other, then looked at each other.

Their gazes met in mid-air, sparking an awkward moment.

"Uh... Brother Xi Hai, why is it you...?"

"What a coincidence."

"What are you here for?"

"I came to talk to you about something."

Looking at the young man's strange expression, he asked curiously,

"What's wrong, Old Xu? You seem a bit off?"

"Do you have something urgent?"

"Uh... I was looking for you..."

Looking at Xi Hai's eyes, Xu Chang turned his face away, seemingly struggling internally.

"Well, perfect then, let's go inside and talk. What a coincidence."

"That, I'm here to apologize to you!"

Seeing Xi Hai about to push the door into his shack, Xu Chang finally seemed to make up his mind, shouting loudly at Xi Hai.

At the same time, he bent his waist ninety degrees, giving Xi Hai a standard bow.

"Huh? Wait? Apologize for what?"

This sudden turn of events startled Xi Hai, his face full of confusion.

Wait, is he feeling guilty for not stopping the thief who entered my house?

No way, right?

So, he thought for a moment and said to Xu Chang,

"It's nothing, no big deal. Come on, let's find a place to sit and talk?"

"Okay."

Seeing that Xi Hai didn't seem too upset, Xu Chang secretly breathed a sigh of relief and agreed to Xi Hai's proposal.

"Let's go to the Passerby Bar."

... (The comment section will eat images, so please, all Lagrange players, help me add a picture when you see the warship, thank you)