73: Dual-line operation

"Let's begin."

Chen Feng's voice rang out in the silent command room, carrying a hint of unquestionable decisiveness. He sat alone before the main console, his calm, expressionless face illuminated by the eerie blue glow of the screen.

His fingers tapped rapidly across the virtual keyboard, first dealing with that high-purity associated mineral vein.

"Interstellar Exchange, industrial equipment section, filter criteria: silent, miniature, high-stealth mining drones."

Lines of product information flowed like a waterfall until, finally, his gaze locked onto a drone called the 'Rock Bat.' It featured a biomimetic design, silent flight, and used high-frequency sound waves for non-destructive cutting. Perfect.

"Contact the seller."

A dialog box popped up on the screen; the other party's avatar was a cold, mechanical bat.

“【Rock Bat Power】: Hello, buyer. Fifty 'Rock Bat' drones, standard quote, one million interstellar credit points.”

“Too expensive,” Chen Feng replied without hesitation. “I only want twenty units for three hundred thousand credits. Additionally, I need the matching underground storage units and concealed signal base stations.”

The other party fell silent for a moment.

“【Rock Bat Power】: Fine. But the payment must be three cubic meters of ‘Argon-7’ isotope gas; we need it urgently. We do not accept credits.”

Chen Feng's brow furrowed slightly. This was a rare gas, and he didn't have any.

"Wait a moment."

He didn't close the dialog box; instead, he immediately opened the system's 'Matchmaking Trade' function.

“System, post a request. Target item: ‘Argon-7’ isotope gas, three cubic meters. Payment item: high-purity undead crystals.”

Almost instantly, the system matched him with a buyer. The avatar was a silicon-based lifeform represented by a cluster of leaping data.

“【Information Torrent】: undead crystals? High-entropy order samples? I need them! How much ‘Argon-7’ do you want? I have plenty here, just extracted from a decaying star!”

The corner of Chen Feng's mouth curled into an arc.

“Very well,” he said to the silicon-based lifeform. “I will trade undead crystals worth three hundred and fifty thousand credits for three cubic meters of your ‘Argon-7’ gas.”

“【Information Torrent】: Deal! Quickly! My processor cannot wait to taste this delicious chaos!”

The transaction was completed instantly. Chen Feng immediately said to Rock Bat Power, “The gas has been credited. Ship the goods.”

“【Rock Bat Power】: ...You're a trading genius. Send the address.”

Half an hour later, a massive metal cargo crate appeared silently in Mining Area No. 7's secret warehouse via the Exchange's physical transmission channel.

Chen Feng called for Lao Mo.

“Boss, this... what is this?” Lao Mo was speechless with shock as he looked at the twenty palm-sized drones before him, their wings folded like mechanical bats.

“The keys to our vault,” Chen Feng said succinctly. “Follow me.”

Under the cover of night, the two arrived at an abandoned vent near the collapse site in Area C. This was an absolute blind spot for surveillance.

“Deploy them here.” Chen Feng placed a miniature signal base station deep inside the ventilation duct.

Lao Mo carefully took out the 'Rock Bat' drones one by one, performing final calibrations. His fingers trembled slightly with excitement. “My god... this craftsmanship, this structure... Boss, this is practically a work of art!”

“Hurry up, Lao Mo,” Chen Feng urged in a low voice, his eyes scanning the surroundings alertly.

Just as the last 'Rock Bat' was about to be deployed, footsteps and voices drifted from a distance.

“Damn, this hellhole. The wind cuts like a knife,” a young voice complained.

“Save the chatter. Boss Reno said we can't miss an inch of the perimeter patrol. Who knows if those bastards from Giant Star Mining will try a counter-attack,” another steady voice responded.

It was Reno's patrol team!

Chen Feng's pupils constricted. He immediately pulled Lao Mo down into a crouch. Both pressed themselves against the cold rock wall, not daring to breathe.

“Say, what's the difference between the work we're doing now and before? Isn't it still just patrolling?”

“There's a huge difference! Before, we were guard dogs for others; now, we're guarding our own home! You don't know shit!”

“Hehe, true...”

The footsteps and conversation gradually faded until they vanished into the wind.

Chen Feng breathed a sigh of relief and said to Lao Mo, who was also covered in cold sweat, “Alright, activate them.”

Back in the command room, a new surveillance feed was quietly opened in the corner of the main screen. In the footage, the twenty 'Rock Bats' dove like ghosts into the mineral vein beneath the collapse zone, silently cutting chunks of high-purity ore that shimmered with a strange light before noiselessly transporting them back to the preset secret underground warehouse.

Hanhai Trade's first secret vault began to fill up.

“Done.” Chen Feng looked at the screen, a heavy weight lifting from his heart. He turned to Lao Mo. “Now, it's time for the other one.”

Lao Mo's eyes immediately grew fervent; he knew what Chen Feng was referring to.

Chen Feng turned his gaze to the mysterious black chip on the table. He plugged the chip into the analyzer and opened the Interstellar Exchange once more.

“Service market, data processing, algorithm type: Ancient Civilization Encryption.”

He didn't choose the providers with the highest prices or glittering credit ratings. Instead, he selected a provider with a moderate rating but whose customer reviews repeatedly mentioned phrases like 'cracking obscure algorithms' and 'unique thinking.'

“You'll do.”

At the final step of uploading the chip data, the system popped up a blood-red high-risk warning.

“【Warning: Decrypting high-dimensional encrypted data of unknown origin. There is a 0.01% probability of being reverse-tracked by the original encrypting party or causing local data chain contamination. Continue?】”

Lao Mo looked at Chen Feng nervously. “Boss, this...”

Chen Feng stared at the warning for three seconds in silence.

“Continue,” he said.

Transaction confirmed.

On the main screen, a virtual nebula composed of countless points of light began to rotate slowly, representing the ongoing data analysis. The provider sent a message: “The algorithm structure is very ancient. Estimated decryption time: 12 hours.”

“12 hours...” Reno had entered the command room at some point. He looked at the rotating nebula with a solemn expression.

“Yes, 12 hours.” Chen Feng leaned back in his chair, watching the screen. “These 12 hours will be our calmest, yet most dangerous moment.”

None of the three spoke again, simply watching that rotating light in silence. That light seemed like a newborn about to be born, yet also like a bomb counting down.

And unbeknownst to them, on the other end of the distant sea of stars, a report—heavily embellished to shift all responsibility onto Bachm—already lay quietly on the desk of a Giant Star Mining regional manager. A storm targeting Mining Area No. 7 was silently brewing.