Chapter 6
The first time someone had called him “handsome,” Ludwig was speechless for a moment. His fingertips paused for a long while before he finally began replying seriously.
Who knew a new message came from the other side.
[Xie Xingchen: Wait—are you maybe not “handsome,” but “pretty lady”?]
Ludwig pressed his lips together.
[Customer Service 001: It’s “handsome.”]
This one word made Xie Xingchen laugh.
Staring at the earnest answer on the screen, Xie Xingchen couldn’t help bursting into laughter.
As expected of mechanical life—getting this serious over such a tiny question? Mm… kind of cute!
[Xie Xingchen: Alright then, 001 handsome—if you have time, could you answer my question from earlier~]
[Xie Xingchen: Your store is seriously way too huge. I looked for ages and ended up realizing I have no idea what to pick.]
[Xie Xingchen: I keep feeling like I need to choose everything, but when I think about it carefully, it also feels unnecessary.]
[Xie Xingchen: How about you help me take a look? Or give me some buying advice?]
Xie Xingchen simply sent screenshots of his shopping cart for the customer service rep to see.
He wasn’t worried the rep would treat him like an easy mark and fleece him—after all, the other side was mechanical life, and mechanical life took machines seriously!
Having never met anyone as overly friendly as Xie Xingchen, Ludwig felt a little uncomfortable.
Fortunately, the people around him had all gone out to help, so this rare moment of awkwardness wasn’t witnessed by anyone.
Opening the screenshot Xie Xingchen sent, Ludwig didn’t answer right away. Instead—
[Customer Service 001: Do you have detailed information on the planet?]
As expected—very professional!
Xie Xingchen immediately sent over Earth’s basic information.
Not long after, another message came back.
[Customer Service 001: Current pioneering progress? Pioneering goal? Budget amount?]
[Xie Xingchen: Current progress is 0. The goal, of course, the higher the better. As for the budget… at most 15 billion.]
Even though he had 20 billion in his account, there was no way he could spend it all in one go. He had to leave some as follow-up funds.
Ludwig understood.
In this situation, there was no need to recommend large-scale machinery.
Maybe influenced by Xie Xingchen, Ludwig’s tone was still a bit stiff, but at least he typed more words.
[Customer Service 001: If you’re just starting and your budget is insufficient, I suggest purchasing smaller machinery to save funds and energy. After you generate revenue, you can upgrade to larger machinery.]
Oh damn… he’d almost forgotten about the energy issue.
Energy was a huge problem. Energy sold on its own wasn’t particularly expensive, but if he was running that many machines for a long time, the combined cost would definitely be a major expense. Xie Xingchen completely gave up the idea of buying big machinery once and for all.
[Customer Service 001: Recommended: medium excavator, medium seeder, small harvester, wind turbine, water turbine, generator… as well as a personal tool kit, etc.]
[Xie Xingchen: Handsome, my planet is super remote. I probably also have to consider shipping, medical care, lodging, interstellar transport [blushing, poking fingers].]
Ludwig paused, then replied with a straight face.
[Customer Service 001: You can add a hovercar, a small starship, a small medical pod, and a small wormhole receiver.]
Sigh—yeah, those really couldn’t be skipped.
Xie Xingchen let out a sigh and decided to have customer service pick him an economical, practical bundle.
All product specs were in Ludwig’s head. Based on Xie Xingchen’s requirements, Ludwig selected the items that best fit his current needs.
Looking at the list, Xie Xingchen smiled and gave the rep a thumbs-up!
[Xie Xingchen: Handsome, you’re seriously amazing~ This is exactly what I need!]
According to Xie Xingchen’s original plan, even 20 billion wouldn’t have been enough for everything he wanted to buy. But following this handsome guy’s list, he only needed items with a total original price a little over 5 billion!
And he didn’t know if it was just his imagination, but he felt like the starship he was buying—original price under 2 billion star-coins—looked ridiculously strong? It even gave him a vibe of being more impressive than that 4-billion starship!
As for the small wormhole receiver, no need to even mention it. Though the original price was only 3.2 billion, it was essential for outside contact: it could receive signals and accept deliveries, and its spatial channel was stable enough to transport small animals and plants—like little bugs and tiny potted plants.
Besides that, the most expensive item was the small medical pod. It was the priciest model among the small pods—just one compact unit cost tens of millions, and its total value was almost on par with the combined price of all the other machines he bought.
But Xie Xingchen didn’t feel bad about it. An 80%-off coupon was rare. The more expensive the medical pod, the better the effect—if he didn’t buy the pricier one, it would be a waste.
[Mechanical Bank: Your account completed a transaction of 3,831,273,625.6 star-coins at 03:00:02 on April 15. Balance: 16,520,315,320 star-coins.]
The total original price of the goods Xie Xingchen purchased at the Mechanical Trading House was 5,321,213,332 star-coins. Because the shop was participating in the spend-1000-get-100 event, the total after the event discount became 4,789,092,032 star-coins. From this event alone, Xie Xingchen saved 532,121,300 star-coins. Then, after using the 20% off coupon, he only needed to pay 3,831,273,625.6 star-coins.
5.3 billion turning into 3.8 billion—such a huge difference that Xie Xingchen was afraid the Mechanical Trading House might refuse to honor it.
This wave was a massive loss for the Mechanical shop!
He’d directly “shaved” 1.5 billion off them.
Xie Xingchen had originally wanted to thank the handsome customer service rep, but he instantly didn’t dare to speak.
Wait—shouldn’t the mall have subsidies?
After all, that 20% off card was drawn from the mall lottery. It couldn’t possibly be the merchant alone paying for it, right?
The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it felt.
After a long while, he finally gathered the courage to poke customer service again.
[Xie Xingchen: Thank you, 001 handsome. Shopping today was sooo fun—next time I’ll come buy from your store again [happy confetti.jpg]]
Finally receiving Xie Xingchen’s reply, the corner of Ludwig’s mouth lifted ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly. With restraint, he replied:
[Customer Service 001: You’re welcome.]
Same “recipe,” same tone. Not sensing any anger from the other side, Xie Xingchen instantly relaxed.
After ending the chat with customer service, Xie Xingchen ran off to buy a few robots elsewhere.
Mechanical Trading House didn’t sell robots, but mechanical shops from other civilizations did.
Based on his needs, Xie Xingchen only bought installation robots, housekeeping robots, and medical robots.
Installation robots could install machinery and do basic repairs. Housekeeping robots handled his daily living needs. Medical robots were responsible for his life and safety.
These three types were the most common robots in the galaxy. With mass production, the cost was naturally low, so Xie Xingchen spent only 300,000 to get pretty decent models.
However, because Mechanical Civilization existed, there were legal regulations regarding purchasing intelligent robots—for example, he had to use robots properly. And if he discovered any robot awakening, he had to immediately contact Mechanical Civilization; otherwise, Mechanical Civilization had the right to sue him.
Xie Xingchen wasn’t buying robots for anything else—he just wanted a few employees he didn’t have to worry about. So there was no way he’d knowingly break Mechanical Civilization’s laws.
After buying the robots, Xie Xingchen had only 16.5 billion and 20 million star-coins left in his pocket.
Xie Xingchen: Money really doesn’t last!
Fortunately, the big-ticket items were basically done. Only energy hadn’t been purchased yet.
Xie Xingchen didn’t plan to order energy from the mall. The Yuyang Star in the Gamma Supercluster—where he’d be transferring—was Human Civilization’s famous energy planet. Since that was the case, why would he let middlemen take a cut?
After setting the pickup location for the Mechanical Trading House orders to Yuyang Star, Xie Xingchen settled down at home and waited for deliveries.
Interstellar delivery was unimaginably fast—normally, right after you bought something, you could wait for it to arrive at your door. But there was one exception—shopping events.
Generally speaking, if the mall held a shopping event, there would be no deliveries in the first three hours. First, to give people more time to focus on shopping; second, to reduce returns caused by impulsive purchases.
Xie Xingchen was very happy when the first package arrived. But as packages came one after another, he started to feel tired.
Handing the purchase list to the butler, Xie Xingchen dumped the heavy responsibility of receiving, unboxing, and organizing deliveries onto this capable subordinate.
The subordinate really was capable. When Xie Xingchen woke up, everything had already been stacked neatly in the center of the living room according to his requirements.
Looking at the courier “mountain,” Xie Xingchen’s mouth fell open. “So much.”
The packages were piled up like a small hill. If the living room weren’t huge, it wouldn’t even fit.
The butler smiled respectfully. “Good morning, Young Master.”
Xie Xingchen nodded and replied, “Good morning, Butler.”
Butler: “The organizer you hired has arrived, and has already sorted and stored the deliveries, as well as everything except your personal items, into your spatial button.”
Xie Xingchen was surprised. “They’ve already sorted everything?”
Xie Xingchen glanced at the time. It was only 9:32 a.m.—only three hours since the organizer started work.
The butler nodded. “Yes. Part of it has already been standardized and arranged. What remains is your personal items and these deliveries.”
Ever since learning that his young master had bought a wasteland planet, the butler might have been the only one who felt happy.
This was the first step in reviving the Xie family!
It was also the first step for the young master to walk out of his “gloom”!
Whoever tried to stop the young master from pioneering was his enemy.
So after receiving Xie Xingchen’s decision to leave the central planet for Earth to pioneer—and not take them along—the butler was only depressed for a few minutes before he perked up again. From then on, every preparation was done meticulously.
Xie Xingchen was surprised. “That fast? Then have them go upstairs to pack.”
The butler smiled. “Alright.”
Knowing he’d only get in the way here, Xie Xingchen tactfully stepped aside.
After breakfast, Xie Xingchen went to the study with the butler.
Butler: “At present, the organizers have already placed the useful items from the villa into your spatial button. Together with the goods you purchased last night, it takes up roughly 80 cubic meters. The remaining 20 cubic meters is for your personal items and emergency supplies. As for the home furnishings you like, they will be packed and sent to the starship. They’ll go by cargo and arrive with you at Yuyang Star. After reaching Yuyang Star, I’ll see you off and then return…”
Xie Xingchen: Packing furnishings and sending them to Yuyang Star?
Looks like the butler wanted to pack up the entire villa and ship it with him.
Xie Xingchen shook his head and refused. “No need for furnishings. And you don’t need to see me off either. After I leave, you should go directly to the B District estate.”
Xie Xingchen planned to live on the star cruiser after reaching Earth.
A star cruiser was large. Aside from standard areas like a training room, control room, and armory, it usually came with several bedrooms. The decor was simple, but more than enough.
The butler didn’t approve, but seeing the determination on Xie Xingchen’s face, he knew nothing he said would change anything. He could only sullenly remove “furnishings” from the plan.
At 6 p.m., after working for twelve hours straight, the mechanical-life organizers finally stopped their busy work.
Even though the three organizers were mechanical life, watching them work twelve hours without eating or drinking made Xie Xingchen feel like his hairline hurt.
Xie Xingchen looked at them with admiration. “You’re amazing.”
That pure admiration, untainted by anything else, shocked the three mechanical-life organizers.
Xie Xingchen: “It’s already very late. Why don’t you rest for a bit and have something to eat before leaving?”
As he spoke, Xie Xingchen had the butler bring them the most expensive energy fluid.
Holding the energy fluid in a daze, the three mechanical-life organizers stared blankly at Xie Xingchen.
This was the first time a human had ever treated them to dinner!
After seeing the organizers off, Xie Xingchen stayed up all night with the butler to check and count supplies. The next morning at dawn, the butler began preparing to send Xie Xingchen off to board the starship—sighing again and again.
![After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar]](https://i1.wp.com/panda-translations.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/20220822190944_300_420.jpg?resize=151,215 "After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar]")
