Chapter 46 Transaction
The young man behind him was dressed elegantly and wore gold-rimmed glasses. He was Ming Yan's bound starship designer, Song Lan, who had once had an argument with Ming Yu in front of the modeling room.
Several information screens were floating around him. His originally straight shirt was now wrinkled and his hair was disheveled, as if he had been up all night for several days.
Song Lan looked at the designer in front of him with a complicated expression.
Luce still wore his usual, ordinary look, complete with a pair of black-framed glasses. Bathed in the sunlight, his brows slightly furrowed as he looked over… something Song Lan found a bit glaring.
As dazzling as his talent.
Song Lan was trying his best to increase the energy storage speed of the standard gun barrel, so that he could use this as a basis to design a mental force gun barrel suitable for Feren using ordinary materials.
But one day and one night is not enough.
His thoughts were still in turmoil, let alone increasing the barrel's charge rate to the level Lucé had improved! Feren's demands were extremely high, and he couldn't accept that the barrel he was using was inferior to others from the beginning.
He was a 2S-level awakened human from the Central Star Region. He always used the best and was full of arrogance, never considering the designer's difficulties.
"Xiao Lan?"
The door to the conference room at the end of the corridor opened, and two figures Mingyu was very familiar with walked out.
His older brother, S-class navigator Ming Yan, and his best friend, 2S-class ship Fei Lun.
Both men wore white military school uniforms, their expressions less than serene. Mingyan's expression held a subtle hint of impatience, while Fehren's discontent was practically tangible.
"A day has passed, and what has he come up with?" Fei Lun was complaining to Ming Yan, not even lowering his voice to avoid Song Lan. "Might as well just buy the design draft..."
Mingyan's gaze was fixed on Mingyu.
Mingyu: “…”
He raised his glasses, stood up, packed up his screen, and prepared to leave. Ming Yan, however, noticed something from Song Lan's expression.
This was the senior designers' reading room, and those allowed in were either senior designers or their friends. The young man sitting by the window was alone, ordinary-looking, and resembled the designer Song Lan had described, who had clashed with him outside the modeling room.
Akihiko paused, a smile plastered on his face.
"LUCE?" he asked with a firm tone.
"Xiao Lan mentioned to us that he and his friend had a run-in with you outside the modeling room and saw your nameplate." Ming Yan smiled and held out his hand. "It seems like you two are destined to be together."
Mingyu: “…”
Mingyu glanced at Song Lan, whose expression was becoming increasingly aggrieved, and shook hands perfunctorily with Mingyan, looking at him as if he were a stranger.
The Ming family members are all good-looking and attach great importance to maintaining etiquette and posture.
Mingyan was standing in the sunlight, a smile on his face. From what Mingyu knew about him, it seemed genuine.
It was completely different from the cold and disgusted look he usually showed towards her.
He obviously thought everyone should know who he was, so he didn't even introduce himself and said bluntly: "The Ming family has been trying to contact you."
Mingyu: “…”
This was the first time Mingyu knew about this.
He looked at Ming Yan in surprise, feeling an inexplicable sense of absurdity.
Mingyu: "Contact me?"
"Yes." Ming Yan thought his expression indicated surprise, so he smiled and said, "The Ming family has noticed your talent since the first match after the preliminaries."
Mingyan's tone was meaningful: "You are a talented designer and observer."
A few steps away, Ferran folded his arms and looked over, asking suspiciously, "Are you LUCE?"
He spoke in a condescending tone: "Although you are a colorful person, it is not impossible for a designer to take on work for other teams privately."
"Would you like to design a gun barrel for us?"
Feren also used his real-world face, shaved, and dressed in a white summer uniform. Mingyu's eyes swept over his exposed arms, confirming that he must have adjusted his muscle definition in the virtual image.
Mingyu felt that Feilun must be eager to create a tough guy image for himself.
It’s just that my aesthetic sense is not very good. The ones I spent money to make are not as beautiful as the ones made by Mu Baixing.
He shifted his gaze from Feren's overly exaggerated arm muscles to his face again.
Mingyu was somewhat confused.
Since the end of the game, he has not had time to watch the game videos of other teams, so he still doesn't know what happened to Lieyang and why he suddenly became dissatisfied with Song Lan's design.
But he wasn't going to take the job.
It’s not that I’m afraid that drawing the design draft for Lieyang will cause Wucaibianlan to suffer a loss.
No matter how many unexpected events occurred, with Ming Yan and Fei Lun's abilities, they would at least be able to make it to the finals through the Star Region Tournament. A slight change in their strength would not affect the colorful qualifying spots.
At least for now.
"I don't have enough time. I'm busy." Mingyu said casually, "I have a lot of design drafts on hand."
If he had this much time, he might as well draw a few more design drawings that could be used in competitions or in real life for Mu Baixing to choose from.
To be honest, after seeing that shabby mining ship, he had deep doubts about the performance of the Mu Baixing exploration team's long-distance starship. He also wanted to find time to see the other party's starship and help modify it.
Ming Yan nodded. Although he noticed Ming Yu's unenthusiastic attitude, he still had a smile on his face because he thought that the Ming family really needed a designer.
"If time's tight, we can also buy your designs." He thought for a moment and offered a generous price, a hint of alms in his expression. "Improved designs for the Lambda cannon, partial exclusive rights, 500,000 star coins."
This design drawing is exquisite, but without exclusive rights, the maximum price it can be sold for on the market is 350,000.
I gave a lot more!
Mingyan hasn't put down his pride and won people over like this in many years.
Mingyu raised an eyebrow.
Feren's weapons are all specially customized with high-grade materials, and this ordinary standard Lambda cannon is not something the other party would look down upon.
He didn't know what was wrong with him, but he could tell Mingyan was showing him some affection.
The Ming family seems to really want to win over designer LUCE.
Mingyu thought in his heart.
He shook his head, pondered for a moment, and then smiled.
"Five hundred thousand star coins isn't enough to justify the Ming family's wealth, right?" Ming Yu blinked, his expression innocent and matter-of-fact. "The Ming family spends a fortune on things. A million at least, right?"
*
"……puff!!"
In Mingyu's dormitory, Cui Xiaoduo held the takeaway lunch box and listened to Mingyu talk about his lunch experience. He almost spit out a mouthful of rice.
His eyes widened like bells, and he said in disbelief, "I'm not saying this...it's you who are so cruel..."
"One million...?! You're asking such a price... Are you kidding him?!"
"This is outrageous! Too outrageous!" Cui Xiaoduo shook his head and sighed for a long time, then turned to Mingyu with great interest, "What would Mingyan say? He must be pissed off, right?! Hahahaha! He's being taken advantage of!"
"He was the one who generously raised the price first." Mingyu swallowed the scallion chicken in his mouth, "...I just can't stand the look on his face."
But when I think of the 350,000, I feel a little painful.
The improved barrel he designed for Mu Bohang had almost completely abandoned the basic design of the original Lambda cannon. This design was completely useless even with its colorful design, but as Mu Bohang said, the trading rate of heavy barrels like Lambda cannons was not high in the free market, and there were not many exploration teams that needed this design.
The military and the space navigation department would buy it, but if Mingyu were to sell it to those two departments, his identity would be exposed, which would not be worth the loss.
He picked up the chicken cutlet with a little annoyance, while recalling Mingyan's expression at that time.
"His eyes looked like they were spitting fire." Mingyu felt happy again when he recalled the scene at that time.
When he quoted one million, his arrogant elder brother was obviously stunned for a moment, and then probably saw the obvious frivolous mockery on his face. Although his face was still trying to remain calm, his eyes were immediately filled with anger.
Even though the Ming family had a heavy burden, they still maintained superficial politeness and did not even refuse, saying that they needed to think it over carefully.
Mingyu wanted to laugh when he thought of him like that.
Cui Xiaoduo knew Mingyan quite well, and he was so engrossed in his imagination that he even ate an extra bowl of rice.
While chatting, the communication bracelets on both of their hands issued a prompt at the same time.
Cui Xiaoduo: "The questions for the third round have been released!"
At eight o'clock in the evening, the questions for the third round of competition arrived as scheduled, and the comprehensive rankings of the first two rounds of competition were also released. The comprehensive rankings will affect the available resources for starship design in the third round.
Mingyu swallowed the chicken fillet and reached for his communication bracelet. Cui Xiaoduo, chopsticks in hand, had already turned on the screen.
Along with the third match question came the combined rankings of each team from their first two matches. Cui Xiaoduo glanced casually at it, then suddenly froze.
"Bang." The next second, Cui Xiaoduo's chopsticks fell to the ground again, and he looked at Mingyu.
Mingyu: “???”
He had something stuffed in his mouth, didn't say anything, and expressed doubts with his eyes.
Cui Xiaoduo stared and turned his light screen to Mingyu.
"No wonder Mingyan and I asked for the Lambda cannon blueprints..." he muttered. "Their overall ranking is so low, not even in the top 60%..."
"I guess there aren't enough resources to customize weapons for Feren...!"
Mingyu: “???”
Mingyu had been unconscious when he left Xinghai, so he hadn't checked the individual match rankings for the second match. Cui Xiaoduo, on the other hand, simply didn't care, having happily gone to sleep after logging off. So, it wasn't until they saw this strange overall ranking and reviewed the live stream replay that they discovered the reason.
Cui Xiaoduo: "...Ah? They just left the starry sea to escape the Spotted Snail?!" He was dumbfounded. "There were so many directions, but they just happened to go the wrong way... But the killer in the southeast star field was fine." Cui Xiaoduo was still reviewing the video. "Although the killer was also fighting randomly for a while, he still accidentally stumbled into the area with the star map information... Hey, why is Ming Yan so unlucky?"
Cui Xiaoduo played the video at double speed while shaking his head. He paused for a moment, then lowered his voice to Mingyu, "Do you think... would he really spend a million star coins... to be a sucker for you?!"
Mingyu thought about it carefully.
Based on his understanding of Mingyan, it's not that the other party can't come up with the one million.
It depends on whether he can swallow this.
What's more, if Akihiko ever finds out that LUCE is actually him...
He might even be so angry that his mental strength would explode and he would have to go to the hospital!
Mingyu sincerely began to look forward to the success of this transaction!
What's more, one million was the minimum starting capital he needed to start his own business after leaving the Ming family! It was enough to cover a year's tuition at most public universities, a year's rent on second- and third-tier planets in the Central Star Region, travel expenses, and other expenses.
"Hey, just watch the communication." Cui Xiaoduo leaned over to watch the fun. "They must have been hoping for a lucky break this morning, wanting to see what other materials they could use."
"Now that the rankings and materials are out, there's nothing to worry about. The more I think about it, the more I feel like he should spend the money! The Lambda cannon is a relatively powerful type of standard cannon, which suits the characteristics of Feren. If they want to use a more powerful standard cannon, the charging time will be longer and more troublesome..."
"beep--"
As Cui Xiaoduo muttered, a communication prompt sounded. The communication ID number that Mingyu had specially left for Mingyan also lit up.
"One million." Ming Yan tossed over a half-filled contract. "Deal."
Mingyu: “!!!”
Cui Xiaoduo: “!!”
Cui Xiaoduo took a breath of cold air.
Mingyan: "I hope we will have more opportunities to cooperate in the future."
Mingyu automatically ignored his subsequent high-sounding words and directly opened the contract document.
Mingyu: “Wow…”
For the first time in his twenty years of life, he found Ming Yan pleasing to the eye.
Because what Mingyan threw over was a contract that had been signed and filled in with the amount and payment account number.
As long as Mingyu signs his name, leaving the Ming family will be within reach.
Of course, the more money the better, but having his basic needs met gave him a great sense of security.
"Wow!" Cui Xiaoduo looked at the string of zeros on the contract and exclaimed, "You're rich now, brother!"
Mingyu looked excited. He didn't even bother eating, instead putting his lunch box aside and filling out the contract, carefully filling in the account number.
This payment account was opened under his StarNet name LUCE. In theory, no one except the official monitoring agency could find the connection between LUCE and Mingyu.
After Mingyu finished writing, he checked the terms again and signed LUCE's name.
While he was checking the contract, Cui Xiaoduo had already cleaned up the takeaway lunch box, stood up, threw the lunch box into the trash can, and checked the time.
"I have to go. Brother Lian asked me to tutor him in the history of starship design tonight." Cui Xiaoduo and Mingyu were still chatting, and he took two steps outside and enthusiastically invited Mingyu: "Do you want to come with us?"
Cui Xiaoduo: "Every time Brother Lian tutors me, I feel like my IQ is really high. It feels really good! Do you want to join me in making some exercises for him?"
Mingyu: “…”
"No." Mingyu thought of Mulian's performance in the exam when she was at a loss as to how to start writing, and silently mourned for Mulian's upcoming tutoring time for a second.
"Okay." Cui Xiaoduo felt a little regretful. He was sending a message to the communicator as he walked out the door. As soon as he stepped out, he saw Mu Lian's message and turned back to look at Ming Yu.
"Ah, Brother Yu! Brother Lian asked me to remind you that there's an extracurricular practical exam tomorrow. It's that class, the History of Spaceflight Design. Don't forget to go!"
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