114: Chapter 114 Vesta Mining Area

The information center was a semi-enclosed electronic library.

These records were not open to the public, but after Gao Yuan swiped his ID card, he had the highest level of authorization!

Standing next to Gao Yuan was a tall woman; in the Asteroid Belt, the average height exceeded 190 centimeters. Living in a microgravity environment for a long time made these people significantly taller than native Earthlings.

"What is your name, little sister?"

"Director Gao, my name is Zhou Zhiqingqing!"

"How long have you been here?"

"My father works on Ceres. I was born on Ceres and grew up here as well!"

"Have you ever been to Earth?"

"Twice. Both times were to accompany Governor Mu to report on work!"

"Do you want to go back to Earth to live?"

Gao Yuan asked.

"No!"

Gao Yuan was a bit surprised. As a human, was there really someone who didn't want to work on Earth?

"Why? Is Earth not good? You don't need to wear a protective suit outside, and you can breathe the air freely!"

Zhou Zhiqingqing remained expressionless.

"Our station is the same as the Eight Great Capitals on Earth. You don't need protective suits inside the station, and the air here is also free to breathe!"

Gao Yuan was stunned...

Thinking about it, it really was about the same!

In that case, why would there be a need to go back?

Gao Yuan stopped talking and began searching through the records.

Once connected to the system, he could use his brainwaves to search for key information.

Under Ceres, there were three major mining sites that also served as residential areas for miners: the Juno, Vesta, and Pallas mining areas!

Gao Qiu was definitely in one of these three mining areas.

Gao Yuan focused his search on information regarding the three mining areas.

Especially records from within the past year.

"Director, these records track the production output and types of minerals for each mining area... as well as records of miner riots!"

As Zhou Zhiqingqing spoke, she noticed that Gao Yuan had already started searching for records of abnormal incidents involving miners.

Her heart skipped a beat. Was Gao Yuan really here for that matter?

But no one was supposed to know about that...

Gao Yuan asked while nonchalantly scanning the records.

"How many miners are in these three major mining areas?"

"There are currently a total of 120 million on the books..."

"That's quite a lot of people!"

"It's incomparable to Earth!"

"Of the three areas, which one has the most miners? Huh, the Vesta mining area... hasn't had any new miners in the past year?"

Gao Yuan asked.

Zhou Zhiqingqing immediately became nervous.

"Director, the mineral resources in the Vesta mining area are nearly exhausted. The surrounding asteroids have already been completely smelted..."

"Let me see... the records of miners' applications to return to Earth..."

Just as he said that, the entire information center suddenly flickered...

All the equipment in front of him went dark...

Gao Yuan was taken aback...

"I'm sorry, Director. The solar winds on the surface of the Asteroid Belt are strong, and solar storms frequently break out, so the voltage is very unstable. It's probably a power outage!"

"A power outage?"

Fine, fine!

Gao Yuan had a rough idea of where Gao Qiu was now.

The power outage was a joke. Even if the external voltage was truly unstable, did the Governor's office area not have a backup power supply?

It was obvious that the other party didn't want him looking anymore.

"This godforsaken place... even the electricity is unstable! How boring!"

Gao Yuan grumbled as he walked out of the information center.

Zhou Zhiqingqing breathed a sigh of relief.

"Director, the Governor has arranged a banquet for you... I'll take you there!"

"What good food could there be in this godforsaken place? I'm not eating. I'm going to Mars to eat!"

...

When he left, Mu Ming had a fake smile on his face.

"Director Gao, my apologies for the poor hospitality!"

"I'm never coming back. There's nothing here..."

Mu Ming watched Gao Yuan, thinking he might have been overthinking things. This Gao Family scion had probably just come on a whim to reap some benefits, only to be disappointed...

He was leaving after only being here for a little over an hour.

...

Gao Yuan boarded his battleship and flew towards Mars.

Mu Ming immediately contacted the Earth headquarters. "Gao Yuan has gone to Mars!"

On the way to Mars, Gao Yuan went to the battleship's armory, which was filled with individual combat equipment. He donned a suit of Individual Power Armor. As the battleship swept past Vesta, he ordered the robots to continue piloting the ship to Mars, instructing them to circle Mars once and then head straight back to Earth...

Now, Gao Yuan was flying towards Vesta in his power armor.

He had seen it while checking the records earlier; the mining area had no guards at all, because there was no need...

After all, it was remote, cold, and had nothing. Who would sneak here?

And without a large battleship or transport ship, leaving would be impossible. There was only a single Heavenly Army monitoring station here, primarily for tracking large aircraft...

The Individual Power Armor had a maximum range of 100,000 kilometers, a distance that was negligible in space!

Gao Yuan planned to sneak onto Vesta. If all went well, he might even be able to catch the returning battleship after meeting Gao Qiu.

That way, no one would know he had ever been to Vesta.

...

The armor ejected from the bottom of the battleship like a single hair falling off a running rhinoceros. Even if someone were monitoring the ship, they wouldn't notice such a tiny change.

The thrusters on the back of the armor ignited, and Gao Yuan flew rapidly toward Vesta.

Vesta is one of the three largest asteroids in the Asteroid Belt, second only to Ceres.

Its diameter is 525 kilometers!

Vesta is located between Ceres and Mars, and it produces minerals such as iron, aluminum, and copper!

According to the records Gao Yuan had seen, this was the area with the largest number of miners among the three mining districts.

Soon, he landed on the surface of Vesta.

Gao Yuan began making his way toward the mining area...

At the entrance of the mining area, Gao Yuan expected to be stopped or asked to swipe his ID.

But to his surprise, the guards at the gate didn't stop him; instead, they gave him a salute.

...

Entering the mining area, Gao Yuan headed straight for the mines. If Gao Qiu was here, he could only be underground. The subterranean tunnels of the Vesta mining area were a crisscrossing maze, and this small asteroid had over fifty million registered miners.

Finding one person among fifty million was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

But Gao Yuan believed that as long as he entered, Gao Qiu would come looking for him.

If he didn't even know his son had arrived, then there was no point in acknowledging this 'father.' Whatever schemes were afoot would have nothing to do with him, and he would just contentedly remain a black-market tech middleman!

Entering the tunnel, Gao Yuan took off his armor and changed into a protective suit, which he had demanded directly from the mining area's management! The manager had wanted Gao Yuan to register, but Gao Yuan had scolded him into silence!

This was the standard protective suit for miners, designed primarily for warmth, insulation, and radiation protection. Besides that, it had another crucial function: pressurization and oxygen supply.

Without pressurization, living here long-term might make someone grow to two and a half meters tall, but their bone density would only be one-third that of an Earthling's...

Such a person would have their bones shattered by Earth's atmospheric pressure the moment they returned!

At the entrance, there were many 'Monkey Cars.' This name had been passed down from ancient times, but they were now electromagnetically driven. Their design looked more like seats taken off a roller coaster.

Furthermore, their speed and incline were entirely comparable to a roller coaster's.

Gao Yuan didn't know where to go.

The depths were so complex that even the Development General Administration didn't know what was actually down there. The mining area's management didn't dare go down; going down was easy... but coming back out was another story.