Chapter 1: The Unprotected Zone
Lin Yan was eighteen years old when he learned a simple truth about Blue Star:
If you had no family, no money, and no power, the city did not protect you.
He had no father.
No mother.
No relatives who would remember his name.
The only people he could call close were a few workmates—men who laughed with him during meals and forgot him the moment their shifts ended.
Lin Yan lived in the Unprotected Zone, far from the inner city.
It was a place where law arrived late and mercy never came at all.
He rented a single, narrow room—bare walls, a cracked window, and a bed that creaked whenever he turned in his sleep.
The cost was brutal.
1,000 Blue Star Coins for rent.
500 Blue Star Coins for "protection fees" and local taxes.
Protection from whom?
No one ever explained.
To survive, Lin Yan worked as a space resource miner—one of the lowest and most dangerous jobs on the planet. Every day, he left the safety of the main ship and entered open space, gambling his life for crystal energy stones.
His monthly income was 3,000 Blue Star Coins.
After rent, fees, food, and transport, there was barely anything left.
But Lin Yan endured.
Because beyond survival, he had a dream.
University.
The Ship Piloting University—a place that could change his fate forever.
Tuition was expensive. Competition was ruthless. Scholarships were rare.
Still, Lin Yan saved every coin he could.
That dream was the only thing keeping him standing.
A sharp voice echoed through the mining bay.
"Attention all teams!"
The Resource Collection Manager appeared on the main screen, his expression cold and impatient.
"By order from above, each team must mine and submit twenty tons of crystal neutron stone."
A murmur spread through the workers.
Twenty tons.
Impossible.
"Failure to meet the quota will result in full deduction of this month's payment."
The screen went dark.
Lin Yan's teammates cursed under their breath.
"Again?" someone muttered.
"Does he think we're machines?"
Lin Yan clenched his fists.
Twenty tons…
If not for his university savings—
If not for the future he was desperately holding onto—
He would have quit long ago.
The teams moved toward their assigned vessels.
Lin Yan boarded a mining pod, a small one-man spacecraft designed only for short-range operations. It could carry a single miner and a limited amount of resources—and could not travel more than 12,000 light-years from the main ship.
As the pod detached, Lin Yan muttered quietly,
"This director… always demanding the impossible."
Stars stretched across the viewing window as the mining zone drew closer.
Lin Yan took a slow breath.
Just another shift, he told himself.
Survive. Save. Endure.
He did not know—
That this mission would be the last ordinary day of his life.