Chapter 7 Modeling Room

Mingyu picked up his glasses that had been knocked off the ground and put them on, then looked up at the other person.

Two people stood before him. Behind the burly man stood a shorter young man. The young man was dressed elegantly, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and had a gentle demeanor. His eyes also fell on Mingyu.

Mingyu's virtual image originally wore thick bottle-bottom glasses. At this moment, his hair was messy and his face was pale. He looked like a down-and-out starship designer.

He didn't have any accessories purchased with money: a free hairstyle, free glasses, even this shirt and jeans were the system defaults. It seemed that he had never been to the Star Network Clothing Store to buy clothes.

The young man added the word "poor" before Mingyu's description of a down-and-out starship designer.

He smiled at Mingyu.

"Excuse me," the young man said, "I need this modeling room."

The tone of his voice sounded polite, but it carried a sense of superiority.

"I am a senior starship designer." He showed Mingyu his ID card, hinting at his ability and status.

Mingyu stood up straight and adjusted his glasses.

"Stop dilly-dallying!" the burly accomplice beside the young man said impatiently, "Hurry up and log out and give up the room! Our Master Lan wants to design a starship for Ming Yan, the eldest son of the Ming family!"

Now is the final stage before the start of the Star Navigation Competition. All teams are racing against time to design starships. The modeling rooms are full. Mingyu just opened the last modeling room in the starship design department.

Mingyu: “…”

He knew both of them.

Song Lan from the Starship Design Department of the First Star Navigation Academy, and his follower Tai Hu who is also in the Design Department.

This Star Navigation Academy and the First Military Academy where Ming Yan studied belong to the same Space City No. 1, and the students of the two schools have a close relationship.

Song Lan and Ming Yan were in the same class and were very close to each other. Ming Yu had also met him several times at home before.

At that time, Song Lan treated him with extreme courtesy, gentleness, and caution. Even though he knew Mingyu was not an awakened human, and Mingyan and Mingyu's relationship was not good, he did not dare to neglect Mingyu.

Because from the outside, although Mingyu's parents were cold towards him, they never showed any dislike for Mingyu. No matter what, Mingyu was the young master of the Ming family.

The Song family, to which Song Lan belonged, happened to be a vassal of the Ming family. The family's influence was modest, having declined significantly in recent years, and its relationship with the Ming family was not particularly close. If it weren't for the emergence of a talented designer, Song Lan, in this generation, and his connection to Ming Yan, the Song family would have long been spurned by the Ming family, never to have the chance to cling to their support.

Without the Ming family, the Song family would become the "ordinary people" they themselves despised, those powerless and controlled people whose fate was controlled by them. Therefore, Song Lan was very cautious in his attitude towards the Ming family.

Mingyu remained silent. Taihu wasn't sure if he was slow to react or if he had never heard of the Ming family and therefore didn't understand what he was saying. But he was used to being arrogant and domineering, relying on the reputations of the Song and Ming families. Seeing Mingyu's lack of reaction, he couldn't help but reach out and pull him over, wanting to drag him to the control panel so he could swipe his card and exit the room.

Taihu was already tall in the real world under the Star Network, and his virtual image was made even more terrifying, so he spent money to unlock the giant bloodline.

His mountain-like figure almost hit the ceiling. He took a heavy step forward with a dull sound, and his palm stretched out towards Mingyu like an iron clamp.

Mingyu wasn't frightened by his movements. His thick, bottle-thick glasses obscured a small portion of his face, making it impossible to discern the expression in his eyes. The moment Taihu reached out, Mingyu's body, following muscle memory, reacted naturally.

In a flash, Taihu only saw him lean to the side, and suddenly reached out to grab his wrist...

The movement was frighteningly fast.

The special bloodlines in the virtual star network will only affect the appearance of the image, and the actual physical strength data of each user will either choose the standard configuration of the system or scan the real body data, and no secondary adjustment will be made.

Mingyu initially logged into StarNet using the former. Three months ago, after recovering, he began planning to leave the Ming family and researched planets with relatively low costs of living. Finding some planets to be a mixed bag and poor security, Mingyu reluctantly invested in training courses at a fighting club on StarNet and began regularly scanning his body data to ensure effectiveness.

His diligent training and study over the past few months have yielded remarkable results.

Mingyu wasn't nearly as tall as Taihu, but after intensive training, his strength was no less. He twisted and pressed with his right hand, then kicked Taihu's calf with his left foot.

Taihu, who was as strong as a mountain, had no chance of avoiding Mingyu's attack. He howled in pain, and his huge body suddenly lost its balance and fell heavily to the ground with a dull thud.

The fall was quite severe. Even though the perception on the Starnet was only 50% of that in reality, he still cried out in pain and felt dizzy lying on the ground.

Taihu instinctively shook his head and tried to get up, but the back of his head suddenly felt heavy and his forehead hit the ground again.

Mingyu stepped on the back of his head to prevent him from getting up.

He didn't use much force on his feet. Firstly, he didn't want Taihu to get up and cause trouble for him again. Secondly, he didn't want to hurt him and turn self-defense into an attack, so his movements were very calm.

But it makes people feel frighteningly skilled.

Ming Yu looked up at Song Lan and said in an innocent voice that was completely inconsistent with his current actions, "I need this modeling room, too."

Tai Hu: "..." He leaned his face against the cold ground, pressing his cheek against the ground, and uttered a series of meaningless syllables.

Song Lan: "..."

Song Lan had never seen such a scene before and subconsciously took a step back.

"You..." His face turned pale, and his evaluation of Mingyu changed from a down-and-out designer to a ghetto thug who knows a little about starship design. "You openly attacked us at the designer headquarters, and I'm supposed to design a starship for Mingyan... You're interfering with my work, and the Ming family will come after you!"

Ming Yu uttered an "oh" and said with a bit of boredom, "Except for reservations made in advance, the Starship Design Department's modeling room is available on a first-come, first-served basis. You threatened to log me out and even intended to use force against me, but I was only defending myself."

He pointed to the surveillance camera overhead, then pulled up the screen to show Song Lan the modeling room's published rules. "You've violated the terms of the designer headquarters and will have to pay a fine and have a violation record added to your account. The evidence is irrefutable. If you bring up Ming Yan's name, I'll report him to the design department as well."

Mingyu is a young man who will not be intimidated by Mingyan and the Ming family's reputation and dare not report to his superiors.

The Ming family is indeed very powerful, but as a member of the Ming family, Ming Yu knows that the Starship Design Headquarters happens to be one of the institutions that the Ming family has failed to successfully control through connections.

His father would occasionally complain about it at the dinner table.

At that time, my father was usually drunk, so his words were much more relaxed. Normally, he would only discuss these matters with Mingyan in the study, never letting Mingyu participate.

If my mother or older brother was present when my father let something slip, they would quickly stop him from continuing.

Mingyu has always been the one excluded from this family.

He was distracted for a moment, but his finger had already covered the communication bracelet and clicked the attack report button.

Seeing that he was truly not intimidated by the Ming family's reputation, Song Lan quickly said, "...You! Don't! Wait a minute!"

Fines didn't matter to him, but violating the terms of the designer headquarters would leave a record of violation and punishment on the linked designer account, which would affect his future development, whether it was internship at the designer studio... or collaboration with Mingyan.

Mingyan will definitely scold me for embarrassing him!

This incident might even affect my credibility in Mingyan's heart!

Song Lan wasn't usually so flamboyant. It was just that the Starship Competition was about to begin, and Ming Yan suddenly had new requirements for the starship. He rushed to finish the design draft in a week, but he wasn't confident in his ideas and wasn't sure what problems would arise during the modeling. So, he didn't want to wait even a minute and came to the modeling room as soon as the draft was finished.

With the competition just one day away, Song Lan worried that he wouldn't be able to design a starship that would satisfy Ming Yan. If he held Ming Yan back, his entire family would be implicated.

I didn't expect to run into someone who wasn't afraid of the Ming family. If I didn't get the modeling room, I might even be reported for violations...

"Don't..." Song Lan's expression changed, turning pale and blue. Ming Yu didn't have time to play a mime with him, so he shook the communication bracelet that was still recording at him. Song Lan said anxiously, "Let's settle it privately! I'll compensate you!"

Mingyu: “…”

Mingyu looked at him speechlessly.

It didn't seem too strange that the other party had been hanging out with Mingyan and had learned Mingyan's foolish way of solving problems by throwing money around.

"Money transfers are fine." Mingyu was in need of cash. He transferred the account number under his LUCE identity to Song Lan and said casually, "How much would Mingyan offer you to be his designer? Seven hundred star coins is definitely affordable, right?"

Seven hundred star coins are just enough to cover the registration fee for the Star Navigation Competition and the virtual plug-in download fee.

"Ming Yan won't pay me!" Song Lan felt his status was insulted and couldn't help but yelled, "Ming Yan and I are friends and partners! Not an employment relationship!"

As he spoke, he transferred money to Mingyu.

Taihu on the ground let out a helpless whimper, and his eyes rolled towards Mingyu.

Mingyu took the money, looked down at him and sneered.

"Bullying the weak? Do you think you are physically strong? Are you using your virtual image to deceive yourself?" He said sarcastically and raised his leg to step over the other person.

The big guy immediately got up from the ground, rubbing his face and not daring to do anything. Mingyu was too lazy to argue with them anymore.

Time was precious, and Mingyu needed to polish his drawings. Although he had already earned back the cost of registering, he certainly hoped his team could compete a few more rounds, earn more money, and then be eliminated.

The door to the model room closed, isolating Song Lan and Tai Hu's frustrated gazes from outside. The lights in the model room automatically turned on when Ming Yu entered.

The room wasn't large. There was a sofa by the door, and in the center was a white modeling machine. The massive computing module made the machine rather large, and the body was regular, a typical cubical shape.

It reached Mingyu's chest, with an operating screen hanging in front. Mingyu entered the connection code on the screen into the communicator on his wrist, established a connection with the modeling device, and then transferred the design draft.

The rotating rainbow light around the cube is a sign that the modeler has started to calculate.

Based on Mingyu's design, the supercomputer would simulate and deduce the starship's capabilities under various scenarios. These calculations usually took quite a while. Mingyu sat on the sofa, his eyelids growing heavy, and he fell asleep while waiting.

A light screen pops up above the modeler, giving an initial judgment of the design draft after scanning.

"Basic exploration ship, modification ratio: 60%."

Rainbow light flickered, and half an hour later, the light screen spit out the measured values ​​under normal scenarios.

"Feasibility test passed."

The specific values ​​are as follows:

Starship speed level: A (original ship: A)

Defense: B (Original ship: B)

Attack: D+ (Original ship: F)

Load: A- (Original ship: A)

Safety: C (original ship: F)"

The change in light in the room disturbed Mingyu's sleep. He didn't hear the notification that the final test results were complete, so he just turned his head in a half-asleep state and buried his face in the pillow.

The simulation scenario constantly changed, and the measured values ​​fluctuated, but the "Feasibility Test Passed" on the first line remained unchanged. Screens lit up one after another, and after several hours, the modeler spit out the final results:

"Starship feasibility test passed. Modeling times: 1, re-inspection times: 0."

This result was recorded in Mingyu's designer identity modeling record in real time.

"Xiaoduo." Someone on the top floor of the Starship Design Department patted the shoulder of a colleague who was staring blankly at the screen. "What are you staring at? It's time to hand over the shift."

"Hey, Brother Zhao." The young man called Xiaoduo stood up immediately. He was almost graduated from college, but his baby face made him look younger, like a freshman in high school.

The young man glanced hesitantly at the monitoring screen and asked, "Just now, the monitoring computer popped up a command to start, saying that the modeling instrument in Room B on the 3rd floor reported that the starship feasibility test had passed the first time. Could there be some problem with the program..."

He was in the program monitoring room of the Starship Design Department. To prevent errors in modeling instruments and other equipment from misleading designers, unusual modeling test results, such as passing a feasibility test once or failing it multiple times, would trigger a prompt, alerting monitoring personnel to pay attention to the relevant data.

Cui Xiaoduo has been working here part-time for nearly a year, and this is the first time he has seen the system pop up a warning prompt about special data.

He himself studied starship design and was quite talented, having won numerous top starship design awards. He knew how rare it was for a starship to pass feasibility testing on its first try. Even he, known as a starship design genius, had never managed to pass feasibility testing on his first try.

The senior who came to relieve the shift leaned over and took a look at the records.

The designer's information is kept confidential within the system. Neither the name nor the design draft will be displayed, but the user's level and starship category will be displayed for auxiliary troubleshooting.

Brother Zhao took a look at the relevant information on the screen and marked it.

"The user is a junior designer, and this is a very basic exploratory starship modification. Perhaps it was approved on the first try due to the difficulty of the modification... I'll mark it. If there are no other alerts related to this type of starship, don't worry about it. If this designer passes another draft on the first try, I can check it out later. It's not a big deal."

"Hey, let me tell you something else. I have a design that's stuck on the feasibility test and can't pass. I know you'll be busy with the upcoming Star Navigation Competition, but if you have some free time someday..."

"Yes." Cui Xiaoduo responded readily.

"What's the big deal about the Star Navigation Competition preliminaries?" He said naturally, "Brother Zhao, I'll help you check it now!"