I Am a Salted Fish in the Interstellar Era - Chapter 14

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Su Jianxing was a journalist, a war correspondent, to be precise. Having just returned from the front lines, he was granted a three-month vacation. Hearing about the commercial and tourist acclaim of the Deep Blue Star System, which was renowned across the Federation, he joined a tour group.

Su Jianxing had spent less than a day on Sea Blue Star, the central planet of the Deep Blue Star System, when an unknown species invaded. Using his keen observation and adaptability honed on the battlefield, he managed to escape to a shelter.

Su Jianxing volunteered the day the unknown species attacked the shelter. He was helping in the rescue area when debris struck him, causing so much pain that he couldn’t concentrate to summon his mecha, thinking he was about to meet death. But then, a silver-blue mecha appeared, swiftly eliminating the rampaging creatures in the rescue area within seconds.

Touching the fixator on his arm, Su Jianxing grabbed a nutrient solution and activated his brain-computer interface. The interface was in private mode, invisible to anyone but him.

Clumsily using his left hand, Su Jianxing opened a video. The radiant silver glow, like the first light of dawn spreading across the land, never failed to stir his amazement and excitement, no matter how many times he watched it.

Indeed, driven by instinct from years on the battlefield, Su Jianxing’s first thought upon being injured was not of survival but to record what he deemed valuable.

The video showed the silver-blue mecha easily dispatching one creature after another, with Su Jianxing only able to capture parts of the battle from his angle.

The video ended after a few minutes, leaving Su Jianxing regretful he couldn’t witness the battle from a better perspective.

He watched the video again attentively.

To capture valuable news on the battlefield, it was not enough to just record; one had to survive and have keen judgment.

Su Jianxing, an S-class mecha pilot with research on various national mecha models, couldn’t determine the level or even classify the silver-blue mecha with any known type.

Chewing on the nutrient solution, Su Jianxing wondered if it could be a new model developed by the Federation when he suddenly heard a female voice next to him.

“Can you stop following me, top student? I said no means no.” Judging by the voice, she was a young girl.

Su Jianxing turned to see a girl with a high ponytail, arms crossed in front of her, showing a rejecting attitude.

“The shelter is recruiting people. We can—”

“It’s not ‘we,’ it’s you. I’m just a salted fish.”

“Salted fish?” The boy looked puzzled.

The girl’s exaggerated voice rang out, “No way, no way? You actually don’t know what a salted fish is? Are you living under a rock? On a 2G network?”

The boy looked puzzled once again.

The girl seemed a bit exasperated, tapped her forehead with her index finger, and then spread her hands: “It means I’m too busy to entertain this.”

The girl sat down at a table next to Su Jianxing, taking out a small pudding and started eating it with relish.

The boy seemed not to give up, sitting next to the girl: “Really not going? There are merits and subsidies…”

“One only has one life,” Shi Yu interrupted Lu Dongyan’s words quickly.

She was all too aware of her own limitations. Although she had killed a few monsters with the ?War God?, it was all thanks to the impressive performance of the ?War God?. Now, with only twenty percent of the ?War God?’s energy left, going outside was akin to delivering oneself to danger.

Shi Yu was a survivor of the apocalypse, having witnessed countless life-and-death situations and the darkest sides of human nature. Asking her to sacrifice herself for others was truly a tall order. If accused of being cold-hearted, she would boldly accept the label.

“There’s also a spot in the first batch to leave Sea Blue Star…” Lu Dongyan added the part he hadn’t finished.

A light bulb went off in Shi Yu’s head: “Really?”

“You didn’t know? It was all in the notice sent out this morning.”

Shi Yu lost her appetite for the pudding, quickly revisiting the notice she had skimmed over, and indeed, there was mention of spots to leave Sea Blue Star.

The notice clearly stated that once a rescue channel was established between the shelter and the space station, refugees would be sent off Sea Blue Star in batches. However, with limited spots available, the method to obtain a spot was through acquiring merits, with the order of departure arranged according to the level of merits earned.

Shi Yu had to admit, the current leadership of the shelter was quite impressive.

Everyone was reluctant to risk their lives, but everyone wanted to be the first to leave Sea Blue Star.

With such conditions set, there was no need for coercion; capable individuals would surely step forward proactively.

Lu Dongyan twisted his right hand, which had just had its fixator removed, and said, “Since you’re not interested, I’ll have to go alone then. I hope to see you somewhere beyond Sea Blue Star.”

Shi Yu: “…”

This was retaliation, naked retaliation.

Retaliation for her earlier indifference and cold words.

Shi · Salted Fish · Yu was always flexible, immediately swallowing her small pudding and standing up to say, “We don’t have to wait that long; we can leave Sea Blue Star together.”

For the first time in many days, Lu Dongyan managed to turn the tables, his lips uncontrollably curving up, quickly masked as he cleared his throat and said, “Before that, could you sell me another nutrient solution?”

Shi Yu: “…”

She didn’t understand. The shelter also sold nutrient solutions at normal prices, so why was this kid only eyeing her supply? If she continued to cater to his demands, he would eat her out of house and home.

Shi Yu blurted out, “The price has gone up, twenty federal coins each.”

Lu Dongyan was stunned by her thick skin and decided to buy nutrient solutions from the shelter’s vending machine instead.

Su Jianxing watched the two leave, shook his head with a smile, and softly sighed, “Youth is wonderful.”

He put away his brain-computer interface, also planning to sign up.

–

A silver-red light flashed by, the sharp blade cutting through the green mantis’s scythes in the blink of an eye. The mantis’s huge scorpion tail was swung but was severed by the returning curved blade. In just a few minutes, a pile of green mantises lay on the ground.

?Chasing Wind?retracted its silver-red blades and slowly landed in front of a nearby building.

Xie Jiangsa, wearing a mimetic exoskeleton, stepped down from the cockpit and showed a hint of a smile upon seeing the silver-haired youth standing outside the cabin, then removed the mimetic exoskeleton.

“Are you alright?” Xie Jiangsa went up to ruffle the youth’s silver hair, then awkwardly withdrew his hand under the other’s cool gaze.

Xie Yuyan did not respond but turned to look at the dilapidated cabin behind him that, in the interstellar era, could be considered rundown.

If Shi Yu were here, she would definitely recognize it as the shabby cabin she had lived in for ten years.

“Let’s go.”

Xie Yuyan’s cool tone was dispersed by the breeze.