193: Arrogant wine glass

The once dark and damp Ore Warehouse No. 7 had now been transformed into the most luxurious banquet hall on Ashen Earth Star. The corners, originally used for piling waste residue, were filled with synthetic flowers purchased at high prices from smugglers. A massive holographic projection on the dome cast the new logo of Hanhai Trade—a Golden Lighthouse standing firm amidst the waves.

The air was thick with the mixed scent of low-quality champagne and high-energy grilled meat.

"Drink! Everyone, drink!" Reno stepped onto a reinforced alloy table, clutching a crystal wine bottle from who-knows-where, his tie already crooked down to the base of his neck. "See that? This is what happens when you roll with Boss Chen! There's wine to drink! There's meat to eat!"

The circle of arms dealers and speculators gathered below immediately erupted into a burst of laughter and flattery.

"Captain Reno is mighty! Those regulars from Giant Star Mining were scared witless by you; they ran away without even daring to let out a fart!" a fat man with a fleshy face shouted, raising his glass.

Reno let out a drunken hiccup, his face flushed with an abnormal redness. He waved his hand sharply, nearly throwing the bottle. "Regulars? Bah! What bullshit regulars! They're just for scaring kids!" He pointed at his own nose, glaring with his single eye. "I used to be afraid of them because I didn't have guns! Now? With the current Vast Sea Fleet, even if the Alliance's cruisers show up, I could bite a chunk of meat off them! They're just a layer of paper; poke through it, and it's all cowards inside!"

"Right! All cowards!"

"Vast Sea is invincible!"

In a corner, Chen Feng held a glass of red wine, having only taken a single sip, watching the scene with cold eyes. Dressed in a well-tailored black formal suit, he looked somewhat overly thin, yet his eyes remained as calm as a pool of stagnant water.

"Aren't you going to go deal with him?" Su Li walked to his side, also holding a glass, her gaze falling on the reveling Reno. "He's about to brag himself into becoming the God of War of the Universe."

"Let him vent." Chen Feng gently swirled his glass, watching the crimson liquid leave streaks on the glass walls. "He's been suppressed for half his life, lived as trash for half his life, and suddenly became a hero. You have to let him float for a while. As long as he can still remember the grip of a gun when he sobers up tomorrow morning."

Su Li turned her head, looking at Chen Feng's profile. "What about you? Do you feel like a hero too?"

"A hero?" Chen Feng chuckled softly, as if he had heard a joke. "Su Li, heroes usually die very miserable deaths. I'm just a businessman, a businessman who doesn't want to lose money."

"Doesn't want to lose money..." Su Li repeated in a low voice. She turned around, leaning against the railing, looking out at the pitch-black night sky beyond the terrace. "You know? My father used to say that too. He said as long as the calculations are precise, there's no hurdle you can't cross. Later... later I saw his name in the ledger, turned into 'written-off assets'."

Chen Feng was silent for a moment, then reached out and gently clinked his glass against Su Li's. "That's because he didn't account for the human heart. In this universe, the human heart is more expensive and more uncontrollable than data."

Su Li looked up, a trace of complex emotion flashing in her eyes—a long-lost weakness and dependence. "Chen Feng, now that we've beaten Giant Star Mining, can we... be a bit more stable? Without having to dance on the edge of a cliff every time."

"You want to stop?" Chen Feng asked.

"I'm just..." Su Li took a deep breath. "I'm just a little tired. Seeing these people laughing so happily, I'm suddenly afraid that all of this will shatter like a bubble."

"As long as we don't shatter, the bubbles will turn into steel." Chen Feng's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable certainty. "Trust me, Su Li. This is just the beginning."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the banquet hall in the technical monitoring area.

This place seemed like a different world from the noisy dance floor. Eve was curled up in a large ergonomic chair, several screens in front of her flickering with complex data streams. She was biting a plastic fork, a piece of cream cake with a corner missing sitting before her.

"Girl, stop looking." Lao Mo walked over carrying a plate, wiping his oil-stained hands on his apron. "The boss said tonight is a holiday. You've been staring at those gravitational wave noise points all night; can you see flowers growing out of them?"

Eve frowned, her fingers tapping rapidly on the keyboard. "Lao Mo, these wavebands aren't quite right. Although they're very weak, there are indeed several unnatural gravitational collapse readings at the edge of the star system."

"Bah, you know how chaotic the shipping lanes are in this area." Lao Mo leaned in to take a look and waved his hand dismissively. "To save fuel, those smuggling ships often blast their afterburners recklessly; it's normal for the disturbance to be a bit large. Plus, solar sunspot activity has been frequent lately, so the false alarm rate is high."

"But..." Eve bit her fork, hesitating.

"No buts." Lao Mo snapped her terminal shut and pushed the cake toward her. "Take Lao Mo's advice: your mission tonight is to eat this cake. With your small frame, if you don't put on some weight, the boss will say I'm abusing child labor again. Eat up, and after you're done, go dance—even if it's with a robot."

Eve looked at Lao Mo's wrinkled face full of concern, and the trace of unease in her heart was finally suppressed by the warmth. She nodded and picked up her fork again. "Alright... maybe I really am overthinking it."

The lights in the center of the banquet hall suddenly converged.

The music gradually lowered, and everyone's gaze focused on the high platform. Chen Feng straightened his collar and stepped up.

"Everyone."

His voice spread throughout the hall via the loudspeakers. The originally noisy crowd fell silent instantly, with only Reno still letting out loud hiccups.

"Three months ago, this place was still an abandoned mine pit numbered 734. Every one of us was a disposable item on a ledger waiting to be processed." Chen Feng's gaze swept across the pairs of eyes filled with fervor and adoration below the stage. "But today, we stand here. We haven't just survived; we've let those high-and-mighty big shots know what pain feels like."

"Roar—!" A burst of beast-like cheering erupted below.

"Some say Hanhai Trade's ambition is too great, our pace too fast. They are right. Because in this man-eating universe, being one step slow means death! We don't just want to live; we want to live better than anyone else! This star sector is just the starting point. Our goals are the shipping lanes that blockade us, the Alliance that sets the rules, and the Sea of Stars!"

"The Sea of Stars!" Reno raised his bottle, roaring until the veins on his neck bulged.

"For Hanhai!"

"For the boss!"

Chen Feng raised the wine glass in his hand, the red liquid vivid as blood under the lights. "To ambition."

"To ambition!"

Thousands of people in the hall raised their glasses simultaneously, the crisp sound of crystal clinking together forming a pleasant melody. Su Li stood below the stage, looking at the man enveloped in light, a trace of relieved smile finally appearing at the corner of her mouth. Maybe he was right; bubbles would turn into steel.

Just at the moment everyone's glasses touched their lips.

"Screech—!!!"

An extremely shrill shriek, as if it were about to pierce the eardrums, exploded without warning.

The originally soft and ambiguous golden lights of the banquet hall went out instantly, replaced by heart-palpitating, frantically flashing blood-red alarm lights.

"What's going on?!"

"Why did the music stop? Who turned off the lights!"

"My ears!"

The crowd instantly fell into chaos, the sound of glasses shattering rising and falling.

The glass in Chen Feng's hand didn't shatter, but his fingers gripping the stem suddenly tightened, his knuckles turning white. He snapped his head up toward the technical area.

Over there, Eve was pouncing like mad toward the terminal that had just been closed, while the smile on Lao Mo's face had frozen into a pale mask.

"Boss!"

Eve's scream came through the microphone that hadn't been cut off yet, carrying a sob, like an ice blade stabbing into everyone's hearts.

"It's not a false alarm... it's not a false alarm! They... they're already right above us!"