After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar] – CH119

Chapter 119

The cotton cloth was absolutely something he had to bring!

And all ten bolts of it—he had to take every single one.

Next came Earth Trading Company’s various wool products and related merchandise.

And finally: fresh flowers, fresh fruit, and food.

But for items like fresh flowers, fruit, and food—anything that depended on freshness—Xie Xingchen absolutely refused to pack them in advance. He planned to wait until he arrived in the Insectoid territory, then have them shipped in by express delivery on the day of Trade Day.

On top of that, he crammed his spatial button full of all kinds of hanfu, accessories, cookware… as well as the tools and materials he thought he’d need to set up and decorate a booth.

Not knowing that Trade Day didn’t actually include a “decorate your booth” segment, Xie Xingchen agonized over it.

How should he decorate his booth so it would feel fresh and eye-catching at Trade Day?

After thinking it over, he ended up buying some wood from the StarNet mall, and then packed up all the leftover Spring Festival decorations—couplets, lanterns, paper cutouts, Chinese knots, and so on—stuffing them all into the spatial button as well.

When he finally finished packing, Xie Xingchen realized his spatial button was completely stuffed—so full he couldn’t even squeeze in a backpack.

Xie Xingchen: “…”

Good thing fresh goods could be shipped by express delivery. Otherwise, he’d probably have to fly there in a starship.

He was quietly congratulating himself when, a moment later, he froze.

W-wait. Fly there in a starship?

Damn it—Earth still hadn’t opened public space routes!

So there were no public spacecraft passing through here.

Then how was he supposed to get to the Insectoid star?

Was he really going to fly a starship himself?

And here came the real problem:

He didn’t know how to pilot a starship!

Sure, any starship had autopilot, but space itself was dangerous, and there could be pirates along the way!

If he got unlucky and ran into danger or pirates, autopilot wouldn’t save him. If something went wrong, he wouldn’t even be able to escape!

Xie Xingchen: collapses in despair

He never expected the biggest problem with attending Trade Day wouldn’t be the merchandise—

It would be transportation.

This was beyond ridiculous.

Xie Xingchen was instantly deflated.

With a serious face, he started thinking about what to do.

Right now, he had three options.

Option one: use autopilot to reach the nearest White Dove Star, then take a public spacecraft from there to the Insectoid civilization.

This wasn’t very dangerous and was highly doable, but it was a hassle.

Option two: hire a “driver” at a high salary, have them come to Earth, then fly a starship to the Insectoid civilization for Trade Day and fly them back afterward.

This was convenient, but not very realistic—and Xie Xingchen didn’t really want to use this option.

Option three: find a friend and see if he could hitch a ride.

Out of the three, Xie Xingchen preferred option three most, then option one, and only then option two.

As for the friend he could hitch a ride from…

Xie Xingchen: “Hmm…”

This was where his good friend—Ludwig—made his grand entrance.

Actually, the Mechanical Civilization was pretty close to Earth.

As for the route from the Mechanical Civilization to the Insectoid Civilization—whether passing Earth was “on the way” or a detour—that was something only his wrist terminal could answer.

After checking the flight route, he discovered Earth sat right along the shortest path, at one of the key points.

Xie Xingchen immediately beamed.

Eyes shining, he said, “Hahahaha, I’m really lucky!”

This ride was totally hitchable!

He smugly thought: if it was just a matter of passing by, then even without personal friendship, it should still work, right?

He’d done plenty of business with the Mechanical Trading House over the past year. Just a few days ago, when their people came to install equipment, he’d even gifted them more than ten boxes of the newest papaya-milk-flavor energy drink—so new it wasn’t even on the market yet!

Hitching a ride that didn’t take up cargo space… surely they couldn’t refuse.

After all, he was basically their VIP customer.

So Xie Xingchen got confident.

He messaged Ludwig first to say he wanted to hitch a ride. As expected, Ludwig agreed immediately.

Then Xie Xingchen went to the person in charge at the Mechanical Trading House. Before he even mentioned that Ludwig had already said yes, the manager instantly approved his request to hitch a ride.

Xie Xingchen: satisfied bunny.gif
Xie Xingchen: handsome-guy pride.jpg

As expected of me—solved the “travel is hard” problem in one go!

Now he had rides both ways, and they were Mechanical Trading House rides at that. Reliable security, pirates would back off—perfect!

Overflowing with gratitude, Boss Xie couldn’t hold it in. He logged onto StarBlog and posted a heartfelt thank-you message praising the Mechanical Trading House.

Everyone: ?

What the heck? Boss Xie is hitching a ride? He’s thanking them? He’s excited?

His bright, natural, totally-unaffected StarBlog post left people completely stunned.

Then, once they snapped out of it and understood the key point, they laughed so hard they collapsed.

“First comedian is still you: Hahahaha, I’m dying. Boss Xie is amazing. I hereby crown him ‘Star Alliance’s Number One Ride-Hitcher.’”

“Pants flying everywhere: Seriously, I’m shaking from laughing. How is there a planet lord in this day and age who can’t pilot a starship, has no subordinate who can pilot a starship, and ends up having to hitch a ride from a business partner? This is peak dumb-funny.”

“Laugh lines incoming: I’m not stopping. You guys are laughing so hard; I’ve basically turned into a clucking beast. Cluck cluck cluck… I can’t, I can’t… I’m hiccuping from laughing… Almost missed Trade Day because he can’t fly a starship—my god, Boss Xie is about to become legendary. Can’t wait for him to ‘make history’ on Trade Day, hahahahaha…”

The internet couldn’t stop laughing.

Sure, dumb-funny people were everywhere, but a planet lord this dumb-funny? They were seeing it for the first time in their lives.

Honestly, they almost felt sorry for him.

How could this kid be so adorably clueless?

Only remembering at the last minute that neither he nor any of his robots could pilot a starship—was that even real?

People were laughing so hard their stomachs cramped.

The whole thing was so bizarre it even dragged the Mechanical Trading House onto the trending list.

#Mechanical Trading House Good Deeds#

If you didn’t know better, you’d think they’d done some heroic charitable act.

Then you clicked in.

Everyone: ?

They let someone hitch a ride?

That’s it?

Since when did letting someone hitch a ride count as a major good deed?

Well… okay, it did count as a good deed.

But still—was the internet so starved that even something this small could trend?

Curious, passersby clicked into the comments.

Then they realized: this “good deed” really was a good deed.

At the very least, it prevented a tragedy where a high-profile planet lord missed Trade Day because he couldn’t pilot a starship.

Xie Xingchen: You might as well just say my name directly!

Everyone: comedic grin.jpg

If you asked Xie Xingchen what he regretted most recently, he would definitely answer:

Posting. On. StarBlog.

Last time he posted, not only did he fail to shake off the “angelic boss” label—he ended up cementing it. He’d already regretted that.

But now he discovered he could regret things even more.

Being called “angelic boss” was fine. It even sounded nice—plenty of people wanted that title and could never get it.

But now?

He’d become the biggest dumb-funny meme on the entire StarNet.

And somehow, even in the interstellar era, the word “dumb-funny” still existed—and its meaning was basically identical to the old days.

Xie Xingchen: One word—insane.

With a stiff face, Xie Xingchen boarded the gangway with his three robot companions under the barely-suppressed laughter of the Mechanical Trading House crew.

He looked calm on the surface, but the moment he reached the guest suite, he couldn’t help burying his face in the bedding with ears faintly red.

Too embarrassing. Truly too embarrassing.

This time, even he couldn’t pull off the mindset of “as long as I’m not embarrassed, the embarrassed one is you.”

Luckily, the straightforward mechanical lifeforms were nothing like nosy humans. Compared to gossip-loving humans, these mechanical folks were honestly adorable.

When they saw Xie Xingchen act like he didn’t care, they laughed for a bit, got bored, and then also stopped caring—like nothing had happened.

The Insectoid civilization’s territory was collectively known as “Insect Star.” It consisted of one main planet and multiple smaller habitable planets.

It sat at the far edge of the Star Alliance. Beyond Insect Star, to the left was a dangerous space black hole, and to the right was the largest current interstellar battlefield: the mutant-beast star system front.

Living in such a complex and extreme environment, the Insectoids had long embraced a “might above all” principle.

Of course, they weren’t so extreme that society became lawless. “Might above all” here meant: might above all within the framework of law.

But their law enforcement…

Well.

Opinions varied.

As long as you didn’t kill or cripple someone, it was “sparring,” apparently.

Either way, outsiders generally saw their society as rough and violent.

And the Insectoids toward outsiders?

Even more extreme.

Not only rough—they were fiercely protective of their own.

Especially their little larvae.

If anyone dared hurt a larva, that person became the enemy of the entire Insectoid race.

For example, the infamous “black-hearted cotton” incident.

In the end it was just a problem, but the Insectoids were the type to mobilize an army on the spot—no fear, no hesitation.

If the Star Alliance leadership hadn’t stepped in, the Tongxin Group—the ones responsible—wouldn’t have just seen the culprit punished and the company go bankrupt. It would’ve been far worse.

Still, the “black-hearted cotton” incident wasn’t all bad—at least not for Xie Xingchen.

Because of it, his plush products successfully entered the otherwise xenophobic Insectoid market. His high-quality baby products—including formula—won him Insectoid goodwill in a short time.

At any other time, he never would’ve gained that friendship so easily.

All he could say was: his luck was ridiculous.

He just happened to find multicolored sheep beforehand, just happened to make wool products, just happened for the black-hearted cotton incident to happen, just happened for his products to heal the larvae whose potential had been damaged.

A perfect closed loop.

Miss any step and the result would’ve been totally different.

Xie Xingchen hadn’t thought too deeply about it before.

But now that he was actually heading into Insectoid territory, he replayed the whole thing in his head.

After thinking it through, he burst out laughing.

Xie Xingchen: Suddenly felt like his Thousand-Mechanism Umbrella was completely unnecessary!

After all, he held an Insectoid emblem that netizens jokingly called an “Insectoid goodwill badge.”

Would the Insectoids really let him get attacked on their turf?

Yeah, right.

If he got attacked and injured in Insectoid territory, their face would be gone.

Get-Rich looked up after finishing some work and saw his boss grinning idiotically.

Get-Rich startled, then hurried over anxiously. “Boss, are you feeling unwell?”

Get-Rich was already considered pretty “smart” for a robot, but compared to humans—and especially compared to mechanical lifeforms—he still lagged in certain nuances.

For example, even if he understood the meaning of “embarrassment” and knew his boss was embarrassed, he couldn’t actually experience what embarrassment felt like.

So to Get-Rich, his boss’s behavior simply looked… weird.

And if a human behaved weirdly, they were probably sick!

Xie Xingchen: Your logic is great, but I’m forbidding you from thinking it.

Xie Xingchen explained, with equal parts laughter and helplessness, that he wasn’t sick—he’d just been embarrassed earlier.

He repeated the explanation so many times he eventually went numb and stopped feeling embarrassed at all.

Xie Xingchen: gives up.jpg
Xie Xingchen: I refuse to make things hard for myself.

Trying to explain it felt like talking to a chicken about ducks—exhausting—so he quietly changed the subject and stopped discussing “embarrassment” with Get-Rich.

The Mechanical Trading House’s exclusive spacecraft was enormous. Even though part of it had been remodeled into storage and an armory, its facilities were still extremely luxurious.

Like the guest suite Xie Xingchen was staying in.

It was called a “bedroom,” but it was basically a presidential suite.

It had a master bedroom, three guest bedrooms, a kids’ room, living room, study, conference room, gym, and more. Conservatively, it was at least 300 square meters.

The only downside was: there was no kitchen.

But that wasn’t a flaw unique to this ship—it was standard across most ships and starcraft these days.

Times had changed.

Kitchens weren’t considered essential.

People drank nutrient solution year-round. Why would you need a kitchen?

Even with the recent food craze and the rise of so-called chefs, kitchens still weren’t a mainstream need.

If someone truly needed one, they could renovate a large empty room. Demanding a factory-installed kitchen was asking too much.

Well-prepared, Xie Xingchen had brought a full insulated freshness chest of food plus two boxes of decent-tasting high-grade nutrient solution when he left Earth.

If this were his own place, he could barely get away with cooking in the living room, but this was someone else’s territory. He couldn’t exactly smoke up their suite, so he went with “fast food.”

He called Prosperity and Long-Life back from their ship tour. Then he took out the robots’ energy drinks and his own food from the spatial button.

After handing out each robot’s favorite flavor, Xie Xingchen pulled out a bowl of scallion-oil noodles and happily dug in.

The Mechanical Trading House ship was the best on the market, so it was extremely fast. From Earth to Insectoid territory would take only three days—so he’d packed three days of food.

With the high-grade freshness chest, three days was no problem. The food wouldn’t spoil—maybe the taste would be a bit worse, but that was it.

And honestly, he’d suffered before. Slightly worse taste wasn’t a big deal. As long as it filled his stomach, it was fine.

Besides, three days of food was plenty. In three days, they’d arrive at Insect Star.

And once they arrived, he’d probably get busy. Even if he had ingredients, he might not have time to cook.

He might end up living on nutrient solution for a while.

After Xie Xingchen and Get-Rich, Prosperity, and Long-Life had eaten, drunk, and rested, he grabbed Prosperity before he could run off again.

He pulled out two large boxes of the newest flavor energy drink and said, “Prosperity, when you go out, bring these to the captain and the others.”

Relationships were built through these little gestures.

Even though he’d already given the installation engineers a lot of unreleased new flavors a few days ago… hey, giving more never hurt.

Prosperity didn’t ask why. If the boss told him to carry it, he carried it.

And Prosperity was strong—an ordinary human might not even be able to haul a box this big.

After staying in the suite a bit longer, Xie Xingchen started feeling restless too.

He peeked out of the suite, quietly scanning the corridor with curiosity.

This was the legendary Mechanical Trading House spacecraft!

The kind that made pirates keep their distance—packed with a ridiculous number of ultra-large weapons!

Should he… go take a look too?

While he was still debating how to find an excuse to go sightseeing, suddenly—

“Boss Xie, do you need something?”

A passing engineer from the Mechanical Trading House noticed him peeking and asked curiously.

With someone already there, Xie Xingchen stepped out casually.

Hands behind his back, he closed the door and said lightly, “I thought I saw my robot walk by, so I came out to check.”

Deren nodded in understanding. “Oh, I see. Then you probably saw wrong. I just came from that way and didn’t see your robots.”

Xie Xingchen pressed his lips into a smile—this simple, straightforward robot was honestly adorable.

“I see. Thanks for the heads-up.”

Then he smoothly shifted topics. “By the way, Deren, can I tour your spacecraft?”

Tour? Deren immediately agreed. “Of course you can!”

Remembering that Boss Xie had given them unreleased but insanely delicious energy drinks twice, he was even extra enthusiastic. “Boss Xie, do you want to tour by yourself, or should I take you?”

Was that even a question?

Of course Xie Xingchen chose to have Deren guide him.

Deren made a great “tour guide.” Once he understood what Xie Xingchen wanted to see, he promptly took him straight to the armory.

The massive armory was packed with all kinds of top-tier weapons.

Some even looked ordinary—so ordinary that Xie Xingchen thought they were there just to fill space.

But then—

After Deren explained, Xie Xingchen learned a hard lesson:

Never judge a person by appearance.

And never judge a weapon by appearance either.

Those “ordinary-looking” weapons were only ordinary on the surface. Their actual destructive power ranked in the top ten.

Xie Xingchen’s hand snapped back like he’d been burned.

He was terrified by the weapon descriptions.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

He absolutely couldn’t touch anything.

If he caused an accident, everyone on the ship might end up dying with him.

After that scare, Xie Xingchen stopped touching things and obediently followed behind Deren, listening quietly.

He listened for a full hour—and even then, they’d covered only part of the armory.

Now he truly understood why pirates feared the Mechanical Trading House.

Honestly, if he were a pirate, he’d be scared too.

With weapons like this, you wouldn’t just repel pirates—you could probably attack a planet.

Pirates come to rob you?

Sure.

Totally “robbery.”

More like suicide.

After circling the armory once, Xie Xingchen left with a deep sense of safety.

Then he spent even more time touring the training room, entertainment room, game room, and so on.

When he finished, he had only one thought left in his head:

His good friend was ridiculously rich.

If this spacecraft could be sold for money, that money could probably build up Earth all over again to a whole new level.

Xie Xingchen: hugging my poor self and trembling.jpg

Satisfied, he returned to the suite to rest.

He’d been exhausted lately—so exhausted he barely had time to sleep.

Now that he finally had downtime, he needed to make it up.

After washing up, he told his three robots not to bother him unless something important happened. The moment his head hit the pillow, he fell into deep sleep.

When he woke up, he realized he’d slept for more than twenty hours.

Get-Rich, Prosperity, and Long-Life had even agreed that if he didn’t wake within two more hours, they’d wake him.

Waking up refreshed and energized, Xie Xingchen looked like a completely different person.

Some mechanical lifeforms who’d never interacted with him before originally thought he was a refined, gentle planet lord.

But after actually meeting him, they discovered he was nothing like traditional planet lords.

He was more like a big kid—lively and cute.

Most importantly, he treated mechanical lifeforms extremely well.

So well it almost didn’t feel like the kind of attitude humans usually had.

Before, they’d only heard other mechanical lifeforms say Boss Xie was great.

Now that they’d met him, they finally understood how great he really was.

Basically: really, really great.

Great enough that they genuinely started to like this planet lord from Earth.

Both sides were friendly, so getting along was easy.

And once you got along easily, becoming friends wasn’t hard at all.

In just this short journey, Xie Xingchen had already become friends with many mechanical lifeforms.

He’d even taught a bunch of them skills like singing, dancing, cooking, and more.

You could say that even if they left the Mechanical Trading House later, they wouldn’t starve—because everyone had learned new ways to make money.

comedic face.jpg

And so, a bizarre scene unfolded.

At the largest starport on Insect Star…

Under countless eyes, the people of the Mechanical Trading House walked out.

But the one walking in the middle wasn’t the great mechanical master of their civilization—

It was a boy with a sunshine-bright smile.

And the boy looked… kind of familiar?

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