171: Chapter 171 Dark Energy Star, We've struck it rich!

After the 100 spaceships moved away from Frost Ice Star, they continued sailing north.

After sailing for 200 light-years, Su Fan and the others finally discovered a resource-rich planet.

This was a small, pitch-black planet hidden within the Asteroid Belt of a large star system.

Its volume was similar to that of the moon.

However, unlike the moon's barrenness, this small planet was filled with dark energy crystals!

"Everyone, land immediately!" Su Fan ordered. "Mine the dark energy crystals on this planet at the fastest speed possible!"

The 100 spaceships dispersed and quickly landed across various parts of the planet, with a large number of robots and engineering machinery rumbling out of the ships' cargo holds and onto the planet.

"Dad, we've struck it rich!" Su Mingxia said happily.

These were all dark energy crystals; whether for spaceship jumps or human cultivation, a vast amount of dark energy crystals was required!

Xia Country currently has over 2,000 class-c spaceships, and every jump consumes a significant amount of dark energy crystals.

Once the dark energy crystals are exhausted, these spaceships would become sitting ducks among vessels of the same level.

Because without dark energy crystals, the Star-Shattering Cannons would have no power supply and could not be fired.

"Master, according to the probes' scans, there are so many dark energy crystals that nearly the entire planet is composed of them!"

Hearing Red Queen say this, Su Fan finally couldn't help but grin. He laughed and said, "Dig! Dig with everything you've got!"

He had never seen such a rich mine; an entire planet of dark energy crystals would definitely last Xia Country for a very, very long time!

"Red Queen, notify the Great Elder and have him transfer all the spaceships disguised as the Black Dragon Empire over here!"

"Yes, Master!"

There were 990 spaceships disguised as the Black Dragon Empire in total. Excluding the 50 deep in the battlefield, the other 840 spaceships making multiple trips should be enough to mine and transport all these dark energy crystals back to Blue Star.

"Dad, if you transfer half the spaceships over, how will we fight the war?" Su Mingxia asked in confusion.

Su Fan smiled upon hearing this. "Son, why do we fight wars?"

"To seize territory, of course!" Su Mingxia blurted out.

"And what is seizing territory for?" Su Fan continued to ask.

"For resources!" Su Mingxia blurted out again, then he froze for a moment and immediately smiled.

"Exactly. War is for plundering resources, and now we have such abundant resources right in front of us," Su Fan said with a smile.

"There's no need to worry about the battlefield for now. Let the Canglan Empire and the Black Dragon Empire fight like dogs while we make a fortune in silence behind them!"

"Dad, you're awesome! As expected of my resourceful old man!" Su Mingxia's flattery made Su Fan grin again.

"Go on, you're the only one who knows how to praise people! You're so slick-tongued, yet I don't see you finding a wife!" Su Fan said this, but in his heart, he was feeling incredibly pleased.

Being praised by his son... that feeling of accomplishment was maxed out!

...

On the other side, when the Great Elder heard that Su Fan had discovered a planet-sized reserve of dark energy crystals, his hands trembled with excitement.

"Zhao Jianguo, you're in command. Immediately take the remaining 840 spaceships disguised as the Black Dragon Empire there. The coordinates have been sent; get there as fast as possible!"

"Be careful not to let the enemy discover your movements!" the Great Elder ordered with the utmost urgency.

"Yes, Great Elder!" Zhang Jianguo took the order and led the 840 spaceships toward Su Fan's location.

The mining progress on Su Fan's side was very fast. A large amount of dark energy crystals was mined and loaded directly into the kongming.

To fit more, not only were the cargo holds filled with dark energy crystals, but even the upper decks of the spaceships were packed with them.

Half a month later, Su Fan received a notification from Red Queen.

"Master, all 100 spaceships are completely full!"

Su Fan nodded and sighed as he looked at the planet below, which still looked almost unchanged.

"Continue the mining; first, pile up the extracted dark energy crystals together."

He had still underestimated the reserves of dark energy crystals.

A planet the size of the moon, almost entirely made of dark energy crystals—such reserves could definitely not be mined and transported in a short time!

Thinking of this, Su Fan made a decision and directly connected to the Great Elder's communication line.

"Great Elder, of the other 950 spaceships, leave 100 in place to support the 100 ships deep in the battlefield, and bring the other 850 spaceships disguised as the Canglan Empire over here as well!"

"The dark energy crystal reserves here exceed my expectations; let's finish mining them as quickly as possible."

The Great Elder immediately agreed to the decision.

He ordered Zhang Weixia, the head of the Second Army Group, to stay in place and lead 100 spaceships to guard and provide support.

And he himself personally led 850 spaceships straight to Su Fan's location!

On Su Fan's side, after filling the 100 spaceships, he did not immediately lead them back to Blue Star but waited silently on the spot.

He didn't dare leave directly; if an enemy accidentally stumbled upon this place and discovered the robots and engineering machinery mining the dark energy crystals, the consequences...

Therefore, he needed to wait for the arrival of the spaceships led by Zhang Jianguo before transporting these dark energy crystals back to Blue Star.

Fortunately, during the wait, no cliché plot twists occurred.

This place was very remote; under normal circumstances, who would be bored enough to come here?

Moreover, it was wartime, and most of the Canglan Empire's spaceships were concentrated on the western border, so they wouldn't split their forces to wander around here.

The Milky Way was simply too vast; forget tens of thousands of spaceships, even millions couldn't fully cover it!

A few months later, the spaceship formation led by Zhao Jianguo finally arrived.

Su Fan gave a few brief instructions and then headed toward Blue Star with the 100 spaceships fully loaded with dark energy crystals.

Meanwhile, Zhang Jianguo stayed with the 840 spaceships to continue mining dark energy crystals on the planet.

Later, the Great Elder also arrived with 850 spaceships and immediately joined the mining operation.

As time passed, Su Fan returned and divided the spaceships into three batches.

The 940 spaceships disguised as the Black Dragon Empire were divided into two batches: one of 500 ships and another of 440, led by Su Fan and Zhao Jianguo, respectively.

The 850 spaceships disguised as the Canglan Empire formed a separate batch, led solely by the Great Elder.

In this way, the three batches of spaceships continuously mined and transported large quantities of dark energy crystals to Blue Star.

This transportation lasted for 10 years!

Once the reserves of a resource reach a planetary scale, even if it's only as large as the moon, it cannot be mined and transported in a short time.

Besides the limited carrying capacity of each kongming, it was also related to the distance.

Each spaceship took nearly a month to travel back and forth between Blue Star and the Dark Energy Star.

It was extremely time-consuming.

Dark Energy Star was the name Su Fan gave to this planet with its massive reserves of dark energy crystals.

After ten years of mining, the planet had already shrunk many times over.

On this day, Su Fan was leading his 500 spaceships to continue mining dark energy crystals.

When the system's notification sound suddenly rang out!

"Advanced cosmic rarity discovered!"

...