After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar] – CH9

Chapter 9

As the countdown appeared, the system switched screens.

On the game interface, three neatly stacked green buttons appeared, all selectable.

[1. Domination Route; 2. Management Route; 3. Research Route]

[System Prompt: The following strategy routes can be chosen once and only once. Unless the game fails, it cannot be changed for life (? ).]

Although Xie Xingchen hadn’t played many games, just looking at the names was enough for him to guess the general idea of each route.

And then he was left speechless.

The system looked like it was offering three choices, but in reality, he only had one.

He didn’t even dare think about the [Domination Route], let alone pick it. Just from the name, he knew the Star Alliance would grind him into dust!

Dominate?
If he so much as showed a hint of stirring up trouble, people from a dozen-plus civilizations would probably scatter his ashes across the stars.

Didn’t you see that even the official main leads of this novel never took the domination route?

As for the [Research Route]—that was a trap too!

Never mind whether a research route would even work in a Star Alliance with such advanced technology.

He—someone who, back in the twenty-first century, couldn’t even make it into a gifted youth program—was supposed to walk the research route in the interstellar era with that level of IQ?

Xie Xingchen: ) manual goodbye.jpg

Cursing under his breath, he jabbed the [Management Route] button, feeling his chest seize up.

[Ding-dong]

[System Prompt: Congratulations, player. Game successfully activated.]

[System Prompt: System upgrading. Upgrade countdown: 23:59:59]

Xie Xingchen: ……

This game was surprisingly rigorous.

From obtaining the system, triggering it, getting the qualification, and then officially entering the game—yeah, he could tell this system was absolutely a “ceremony-type” system, the kind where it couldn’t miss a single step.

The countdown on the panel continued to tick down, and Xie Xingchen lost any desire to do “tasks” for the moment.

Whatever missions the system might give could wait. If he wanted to survive here, he first had to solve his living situation.

The 24-hour upgrade countdown felt more like a window for him to reorganize. No one knew what kind of tasks would appear once the game officially started, so Xie Xingchen had to prepare for the worst.

At Xie Xingchen’s request, the delivery cruiser from the Mechanical Trading House set down on a small patch of land dotted with sparse grass—this was what Xie Xingchen asked for, and also the place he’d identified as possibly being on Huaguo’s land.

The moment his feet touched the ground, Xie Xingchen’s heart suddenly settled.

Even though there were no skyscrapers, and even though he had only stepped onto this soil, it felt like a wanderer finally returning home.

Looking out, the familiar steel-and-concrete world was gone, replaced by various landscapes—so unfamiliar that it left him with a hollow ache.

Seeing Xie Xingchen’s sadness, the deliveryman Nier said bluntly, “Mr. Xie, don’t be sad. Actually, your planet is pretty good.”

Misunderstood, Xie Xingchen didn’t explain. He only nodded with a smile. “Thank you. Actually, I think so too.”

Then why are you still so sad?

Nier couldn’t understand it. Nier’s processing system was practically about to error out.

In the end, Nier gave up on that question and said in a stiff, formal way, “Mr. Xie, please confirm the delivery location.”

Xie Xingchen smiled. “Sorry to trouble you. Here is fine.”

Nier corrected him earnestly. “Not a trouble. This is my job. It’s simple for me.”

Nier’s seriousness made Xie Xingchen want to laugh.

Since arriving in the Star Alliance, Xie Xingchen hadn’t met many mechanical lifeforms, but the few he had met all struck him as adorable.

Pure, meticulous, and rigorous—truly robots, but alive.

Unlike many humans who more or less held the attitude of “not our kind, their hearts must differ,” everything in the Star Alliance strictly counted as “other” to Xie Xingchen, so he could genuinely treat all civilizations’ lives equally.

Deliveryman Nier had a great attitude and strong work ability. Once he confirmed Xie Xingchen planned to stay here, he even drove a beast-detection scanner around the area. Only after confirming there was no danger did he begin unloading.

Following Ludwig’s recommendations, what Xie Xingchen bought was small but refined. Some machines were a bit pricier, but combined the functions of two or three machines. Overall, the quantity was pared down to the most minimal set.

Nier drove Xie Xingchen’s small star cruiser down from the delivery ship, then set it on a flat patch of ground closer to the water source.

Nier: “Hello, Mr. Xie. The cruiser’s defense system has been activated. If you encounter danger while pioneering, please return to the cruiser immediately.”

Hearing “defense system,” Xie Xingchen smiled on the outside while bleeding on the inside.

The cruiser was great, but its energy consumption was terrifying.

If an ordinary energy stone could run a small machine for a month, then it could only run the cruiser—on power-saving mode—for one day.

[Light-brain: Beep-beep~ You’ve received an email.]

Nier: “Mr. Xie, the cruiser map has been sent to you. Please take a look.”

Xie Xingchen opened the email and received a detailed holographic schematic of the cruiser.

Nier: “The small star cruiser is divided into thirteen zones: workshop, private rest quarters, entertainment room, kitchen, public lounge, public bathroom, medical room, testing room, cold storage, energy room, armory, cockpit, and a sterilization area, among others.”

Nier: “Wasteland planets are full of dangers, including unknown pathogens. We recommend you keep the sterilization zone active and replenish disinfectant in time, otherwise it may pose a threat to your life.”

Xie Xingchen’s spirit jolted at that and he immediately took the sterilization zone seriously.

Seeing this, Nier nodded in satisfaction. Then he inspected the other machines Xie Xingchen had purchased and placed them one by one into the cruiser’s workshop.

After all the pioneering machines were placed into the workshop, Nier even organized the energy stones Xie Xingchen had casually tossed there and carried them into the energy room.

By the time Xie Xingchen noticed the stones had been moved, Nier was already adjusting the treatment instruments and the medical pod.

Even though there was only one deliveryman, Nier moved quickly. Including debugging time, it took only three hours for him to finish installing every piece of equipment Xie Xingchen had bought.

After installing the remaining testing instruments, he even clapped his hands in a very human-like way and nodded with satisfaction.

Nier put on a mechanical smile. “Mr. Xie, all items you purchased from the Mechanical Mall have been delivered. Please verify the goods.”

Instead of saying something like “I trust you, no need to count,” Xie Xingchen carefully checked each item—mainly by trying them out. Only after confirming he could operate everything did he dare sign.

Nier opened the safe built into his abdomen, carefully placed the order form inside, then waved. “Goodbye, Mr. Xie. You’re welcome to visit again next time.”

Xie Xingchen not only marveled at Nier’s speed, he also envied that portable little safe. With admiration and envy, he said, “That little safe of yours is so convenient!”

Nier turned his head, surprised to find that this human was genuinely envious that he had a built-in safe.

Nier couldn’t help scratching his head. He thought for a long time but still didn’t understand—and yet… he felt happy.

Nier couldn’t help saying, “Human, you’ve got good taste! If one day you’re going to die, maybe you could consider becoming a mechanical lifeform?”

Xie Xingchen’s mouth fell open. “Convert into a mechanical lifeform?”

Humans could turn into robots?

Nier nodded, then shook his head. “Not with a natural death. But in other cases, it’s possible. I don’t know the specifics—ask a mechanical master.”

After speaking, Nier smiled happily and waved again. “I won’t chat more—I still have deliveries to make. If you like mechanical lifeforms, you’re welcome to visit our Mechanical Civilization. Bye.”

Nier waved and boarded the ship, leaving a stunned Xie Xingchen behind.

Unable to resist, Xie Xingchen searched his light-brain. It really existed. But after reading for a while, he calmed down.

He wouldn’t even mention how harsh the conditions were for converting a human into a mechanical lifeform. The key was that you needed a mechanical master, and there were only a handful in the entire Mechanical Civilization. With the luck and money to find one, you could probably spend money on treatment and not die in the first place.

Shaking his head, he pushed the odd trivia out of his mind.

Xie Xingchen felt he should focus on what was right in front of him. Conversion or not—what did it have to do with him?

Out of politeness, Xie Xingchen didn’t take out the robots while Nier was still there. Only after Nier left did he activate the robots stored in his space button.

The game countdown still had nineteen hours left. Judging by the situation, his “settling in” journey was only about 30% complete.

There were so many items in his space button that Xie Xingchen was grateful he had bought a ton of storage racks when he went to pick up goods at the Mechanical Trading House. Otherwise, he really wouldn’t know how to store so much stuff in a way that was easy to find.

The small star cruiser Xie Xingchen bought was called “small,” but that “small” was only relative to other cruisers. If it could travel through space, it certainly wasn’t small.

Anyway, whether others thought it was small or not, its space was definitely big enough for Xie Xingchen.

Since a cruiser was meant for space travel, to prevent it from being harmed by pirates during flight, cruisers and starships generally came equipped with offensive weapons. Weapon channels were set around the hull to make it easier to fight back against pirates.

Near the hatch, there was a unified sterilization area. Except in special circumstances, anyone entering or exiting had to be disinfected to avoid unknown infections.

In addition, the cockpit was at the very front of the cruiser, the safest place in the entire ship. The remaining central area was the living zone.

After years of continuous improvements, the living-zone layout was reasonable, and some areas even came with simple furniture and appliances.

For example, the kitchen—Xie Xingchen had never imagined it would actually come with two large refrigerators!

He had originally thought he’d have to use the cold storage room as his fridge after reaching Earth. He never expected such a big surprise the moment he walked into the kitchen.

But since it was sold as a bare unit, aside from those two refrigerators, there were no other appliances—just basic facilities like a sink and counters.

After taking a look around the kitchen, Xie Xingchen nodded in satisfaction. Then he took kitchen supplies out of the space button and had the robots sort and organize them.

Since everything had already been packed and organized, all they needed to do was open the boxes and put items in the right places. Before long, the three robots finished organizing the kitchen.

After that, Xie Xingchen led the robots to the medical room, took out the stockpiled medical supplies, and had the robots continue organizing.

Once everything was placed where it belonged, he went to the lounge area and opened the door to the largest public lounge, planning to turn this 100-square-meter space into a small storage room!

He directed the robots to assemble more than thirty shelves and line them up neatly, then took out the remaining “miscellaneous items” from the space button. Then it was three robots and one human, heads down, hard at work.

Thank goodness for the professional organizer!

During packing, the organizer had already bundled items by use, packed them into boxes, and sealed them. So now, Xie Xingchen didn’t even need to open most boxes—he only needed to place the labeled boxes onto the correct shelves!
So convenient!

He worked diligently, opening boxes for spot checks, then carrying them onto shelves—until he wasn’t paying attention and the shelves filled up.

At that point, only five oversized boxes of tissue remained. Xie Xingchen thought for a moment, didn’t add more shelves, and simply stacked them in the corner before leaving with the robots.

After daily supplies were sorted, only the bedroom was left.

Xie Xingchen chose the largest bedroom on the cruiser, the one connected to a walk-in closet.

Even though it was the “master” bedroom, it was still very empty.

That huge space contained only a metal bed, a metal chair, a metal desk, and a metal nightstand, plus built-in wall storage cabinets.

Empty was good. This empty meant it would definitely fit all of Xie Xingchen’s personal belongings.

He took his personal items out of the space button, and the sorting continued again.

Xie Xingchen had a lot of clothes and shoes. But this time he had brought fewer everyday outfits, and most of what he brought was clothing for different environments. Those clothes and shoes stuffed the walk-in closet full.

After organizing the closet, Xie Xingchen took out the mattress he was used to and laid it on the bed. At this point, only about half of the items in his space button remained.

And in that remaining half, only three large boxes were bedroom items. The rest were emergency supplies, tools, and medicines he’d stored away “just in case.”

Making the bed, folding blankets, softening a cold, hard space—one housekeeping robot was more capable than ten Xie Xingchens.

Watching as the housekeeping robot transformed the cold, sci-fi-style cabin into a cozy bedroom, Xie Xingchen’s eyes sparkled with admiration!

When he learned the medical robot had already prepared disinfectant and started full-ship sterilization, and the maintenance robot was checking the ship’s systems, this “country bumpkin” from Earth froze.

These were low-intelligence robots?

With performance like this, what part of them was “low”?

Sitting there dazed in the bedroom watching the three robots work, Xie Xingchen stopped them as they finished and prepared to enter standby mode in the workshop.

“You can each choose one of the nine small bedrooms as your own room.”

Even though they were robots, there was a Mechanical Civilization here.

Since that was the case, and there were plenty of rooms, Xie Xingchen couldn’t bear to treat robots like mere machines—especially when they might someday awaken into mechanical lifeforms.

Receiving this strange instruction, the three robots’ operating systems paused for an instant. Then they mechanically followed Xie Xingchen’s “direction” and each chose a room.

[Ding-dong]

[System Prompt: System upgrade progress 50%. Upgrade countdown: 12:00:00]

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