Chapter 144 Pre-match interview
Kash Space City lies at the junction of the Central and Southeast Star Regions, within the Southeast Star Region's jurisdiction. It borders a sparsely populated, uninhabited star sea. This space city is primarily used for transit and temporary repairs for ships on long-distance voyages.
The space city wasn't large, with the entire lower floor devoted to the Starport area, and the upper floors housing the residential areas. The population in the residential areas was simple: maintenance personnel and dispatchers stationed there for the various airlines, along with staff from surrounding supermarkets, restaurants, and other supporting facilities.
There are several hotels in Space City, all built and operated by various airlines. Normally, only long-distance passengers stay here when they stop, so it is very deserted.
But now the Star Navigation Competition has set its sights on the vast sparse sea of stars outside Kash Space City and has arranged the final venue for the Star Navigation Competition here. The originally quiet space city has changed drastically in just a few weeks.
A giant holographic projection system was temporarily erected around the central square of Space City, broadcasting live from the square. Advertising screens along the streets, previously unused, lit up, playing promotional videos and highlights from the Star Navigation Competition.
The space city, which had always been deserted, suddenly became overcrowded. All the hotels were fully booked. Some people even brought travel tents and several weeks' worth of instant nutrient solution, planning to stay on the streets outside the space city in order to be able to see the contestants' entrance ceremony and the grand spectacle of the participating starships leaving and returning to the port during the competition.
The Space City executives were eager to get started. After consulting with the competition and the players, they erected iconic avatars of the various teams' players around the starport, intending to capitalize on this opportunity to boost tourism in Cash Space City. If nothing else, they wanted to allow long-distance travelers to stay an extra night or two in the space city, tracing the Star Navigation Competition players' footsteps, visiting the starports they'd used, the restaurants they'd dined in, and so on...
The owner of the central hotel in Space City, responsible for hosting the teams, has already advertised the hotel as "Star Navigation Tournament Exclusive Reception Hotel" on their website, expressing confidence in its future development. During the competition, the hotel will only be open to Star Navigation Tournament players and staff, but once the competition is over, it will be the most eye-catching hotel in Kash Space City!
Although the actual competition didn't begin until ten days later, the pre-competition starship modification period was crucial. All participating teams had already checked into the hotel, with floors assigned to them by star region.
There were only thirty teams participating in the finals, ten from each star region, so the hotel had ample room, all arranged in double suites. Mingyu and Mu Baixing were the first teams to arrive, so after asking the hotel receptionist, they exchanged their standard suite for a king-size bed.
Because they had chosen not to reveal their identities during the competition, all the colorful people wore identical virtual masks. The young man at the reception desk gave the two of them a meaningful look.
The special device pinned on their collars made their faces look exactly the same as those of ordinary people, but Mingyu and Mu Baixing were standing in front of the team, and they were obviously the core figures of the entire team, so the young man immediately recognized their identities in the team.
The two separate standard beds have to be changed into a king-size bed, and the intimate postures of these two people when they move around... The young man confirmed that there is something going on between LUCE and Mu Baixing!
Because he had signed a confidentiality agreement, the young man could not share his discovery with others on StarNet. He could only sigh in his heart while he checked them in and put a check mark behind the colorful team list to indicate that the check-in report was completed.
Due to flight time constraints, Wucaibanlan arrived at the Kash Space Station late at night. Mu Baixing knew Mingyu would be busy for the next ten days, so he just held him and rested well for the night, doing nothing else.
The next morning, Mingyu turned off the alarm clock, took a quick shower, and holding a nutrient solution in his mouth, he and Mu Baixing, Wucai Toumao and others took the hotel's internal elevator down to the airport and came to the starship parking room assigned to them for the competition.
A large silver-gray standard battleship was placed in the parking space.
Perhaps to create an extra level of difficulty, the Star Navigation Competition's announcement didn't mention the model of this large warship. But Mingyu immediately recognized it as an A8-type standard warship. He was now familiar with the structures of various standard starships. He leaned against the railing, opened a light screen, and drew a diagram of the warship's structure directly on the screen, handing it to the purple-haired man beside him.
"Azi." Mingyu changed the color of the electronic pen and drew a few lines on the light screen. "Dismantle it according to this. First, remove all the parts of the starship."
Zimao nodded immediately and said seriously, "Okay, Brother LU!"
The colorful-haired men all took action. Purple-haired lifted the starship and stood on the main control platform to operate the manipulator, while the remaining brothers helped him deliver the necessary tools. Mu Baixing leaned against the door, activated the starport conveyor belt, and had the robots bring in the starship parts they had brought with them from Kash Space Station for modification.
"Knock knock." There was a knock on the door of the parking room. Mu Baixing, who was closest to the door, glanced at the light screen that popped up outside.
"Pre-match interview," he said as he unlocked the door.
"Good morning, contestant!" The rabbit host's gaze first fell on Mu Baixing. He moved to the side unnoticeably, and then shook hands with Mu Baixing politely and cautiously.
Mu Baixing nodded, glanced at the camera beside him, and signaled the rabbit host to do as he pleased.
"Alright! Audience! After seeing the identical virtual masks from the previous photos, you should already know which team's preparation room this is!"
"Yes! It's the mysterious colorful ones!——"
"Although all of you colorful people are wearing virtual masks, I believe this must be Captain Mu Baixing." The rabbit host said half-jokingly and half-seriously to the floating camera following him.
"The audience may not be able to sense Captain Mu's aura through the screen, but I'm not going to hide it from you. When he looks at me, I feel uncomfortable all over, as if my fate is being strangled by the throat!"
"Hey, but I didn't expect you colorful ones to be so cautious, even wearing virtual masks in the starship bay! I was originally thinking I could catch you all off guard and see your true faces!"
This sentence is just a joke.
The Star Tournament organizing committee had already obtained permission from all teams to conduct pre-match interviews today, so Mingyu and the others had already known that they would be doing so this morning. Mu Baixing had already seen the visitor on the light screen before opening the door, so it was impossible for him not to have made the necessary preparations.
"Even though I know it's impossible, I was actually looking forward to it just now." The screen in the Star Navigation Competition's live broadcast room was refreshing rapidly. "I'm really curious about the appearance of the colorful team! Among the thirty teams in the finals, they are the only one who chose to conceal their true information!"
"I can't see her face, but I can see her figure! Honestly, I was expecting a cute contrast! For example, the Southwest Star Region Qiehua team that the host just visited! I thought Captain Qiehua was a heroic big sister because she fights so fiercely, but when we met, I found out she was just a short, cute girl in a puffy skirt!"
"I can't see his face, but I bet fifty cents that Mu Boxing is a handsome guy."
"Mu Boxing really fits the stereotype of a high-powered handsome pilot perfectly... He's tough, quiet, broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted, and has long legs. When he reached out, this hand-control freak drooled!"
"Host, turn around! The one behind you! Is that LUCE writing and drawing on the screen?—"
"What's that on Luce's shoulder? It's so cute and round! Is that a pet bird? It's a baby bird that's still molting!"
The rabbit host also noticed the young man standing by the fence of the starship docking station.
"The person who has been writing and drawing on the light screen next to the starship should be the colorful designer and observer LUCE!" He said to the camera while waving to Mingyu.
Mingyu smiled at him, walked up to the rabbit host, and said politely, "Hello."
"Chirp!" The firebird that had been standing on Mingyu's shoulder made a chirp sound, stood up, flapped its wings, and tilted its head to look curiously at the strange human in front of it.
After a few months, the little bird grew several times bigger, but it was not as slender as an adult flamingo. It grew from a small round ball to a big round ball.
Its recent nutrient-rich diet had begun to molt. Its brown feathers had faded a bit, leaving a beautiful fiery red underneath. A crest had also sprouted on its head: the red feathers, tipped with a hint of golden blue, were particularly eye-catching.
"So what kind of pet bird is this! Did the Five-Colored Fur brothers force him to dye his hair? Hahahaha!"
"Not colorful? It shouldn't be multicolored hair! A little gold and a little blue, isn't this the color of Mu Baixing and LUCE's spiritual power? Maybe it's a token of love!"
"What token of love? Luce is mine!"
"Don't go crazy upstairs! It's obviously mine!"
"I want to see his face, I want to see his face, I want to see his face! My blind guess is that LUCE is the gentle and kind type!"
"I bet on the cute one!"
"Have you all forgotten the incredible power of Luce's swallowing explosion? I bet he looks gentle on the outside but is actually a violent and abstinent person!——"
"I think she must be a good little angel!"
"...and still a little angel." A very discordant comment suddenly popped up in the comments, "Does no one find LUCE suspicious? Did the Star Navigation Competition conduct a proper background check? He's kept his identity secret, yet he's gained so much popularity and even won the Silver Star."
"How bizarre! The Central Star Region hasn't produced such a genius in years, and it just so happens that the Black Tide is moving, and Black Tide creatures that can perfectly disguise themselves as humans appear..."
"Again, either there's something wrong with the Star Navigation Competition or there's something wrong with LUCE's background!"
"Also, the Ming family was attacked by Black Tide creatures, and there was a spatial rift that led them into the Black Tide Star Sea... How come everything happened to them? Coincidences can't be this good, right?"
"Wow, what's that supposed to mean? Are you saying LUCE is related to the Black Tide attack?!"
"When people are down on their luck, even drinking cold water can make them grit their teeth. What's so strange about that? Just be hysterical and stop polluting other people's eyes! How dare you randomly accuse me of something like this?!"
"Those who are not in their right mind just want to be racist, get out of the live broadcast room!"
The host, Rabbit, didn't notice the discordant comments in the comment section. He was trying to liven up the atmosphere, pretending to crane his neck to look at the screen next to Mingyu. "Let me see what LUCE drew! I'm actually very curious about the colorful starship modification ideas..."
Each team remained tight-lipped about their final starship designs and modifications. The rabbit host made this gesture just for show effect, but Mingyu pushed the screen forward in the general direction and said with a smile, "No problem, I'll show you."
"I dare not, I dare not!" The rabbit host was startled and quickly retracted his neck. "If there is a leak, I will be a major suspect..."
He was backing away as he spoke, but his peripheral vision unconsciously swept across the light screen and he saw the content on it.
The screen is filled with densely packed calculation formulas that are incomprehensible to ordinary people.
Rabbit host: “…”
"Do you look down on us and think we can't possibly understand?!" The rabbit turned its head back again, pretending to be angry.
Mingyu shook his head with an innocent look and explained seriously, "That's not the case."
"These are all basic formulas for adjusting starship parameters. Even if you understand these details, you can't guess how I'm going to modify the starship."
"…Luce's tone of voice is so cute!"
"Just now, when LUCE turned around and saw those formulas, I was wondering if he was a scheming person! Now it seems I still vote for the well-behaved little angel. LUCE should be the kind of good student who attends classes and answers questions seriously in school, right?!"
Mingyu, who skipped classes as a daily routine and hadn't studied any of the subjects except the history of starship design seriously, put away the screen as the rabbit host looked at the formula with a bitter and resentful look.
The mechanical arms behind the two men made a continuous low sound, and the colorful-haired brothers had already dismantled the starship.
The red-haired man stood on the top floor of the starship and waved from afar. The rabbit host also waved his arm and nodded, saying, "I guess these guys are our colorful brothers!"
"Everyone, although I haven't been able to see LUCE's starship design draft, judging by the actions of the Five-Colored Brothers, LUCE is undoubtedly going to make drastic modifications to this starship!"
"They not only dismantled the starship's gun barrels, engines, tail fins, and other parts, but also stripped off the starship's hull and chiseled open the joints between the main cabins. It seems that Luce is very confident and wants to perform a major surgery on the starship!"
"We arrived just in time! The colorful surgical materials have already been transported! Wow—we saw several equipment boxes being transported out from the conveyor belt! Before the colorful ones, we had already interviewed the Killer, Eggplant, and Ranger teams this morning, but none of them carried as much starship manufacturing materials as the colorful ones!"
"Could Luce please tell me a little bit about what materials you are carrying?"
Mingyu thought about it, operated the robotic arm, and opened the first box.
His actions were frank and clear, just like the information on the screen just now, even if others saw it, it would be impossible for them to guess his design ideas.
The rabbit host then looked inside openly.
Rabbit host: “…”
He couldn't help but reveal an incredible look.
"...Energy Generator?" The host scratched his head and looked at the camera. "What a surprising choice!"
"I find it hard to imagine how the starship design for the Star Navigation Competition would be related to the energy generator."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
