Chapter 2: Anomaly in the Void
The mining fleet departed the main ship in orderly waves.
Inside his mining pod, Lin Yan leaned back and activated the auto-navigation system. The journey to the assigned mining zone would take between thirty minutes to one hour, depending on asteroid drift.
As usual, the team's private channel filled with noise.
"Anyone up for a round of BlueStar Cards?"
"Loser buys drinks—if we survive."
Lin Yan smiled faintly and joined in.
Games were how miners distracted themselves from the silence of space—and from the constant awareness that one mistake meant death.
For a while, everything felt normal.
When the mining zone came into view, the pods separated.
Each miner took control of a mining pot—the smallest operational unit available. The vessel could hold only one person and a limited cargo of crystal stones. No weapons. No shields worth mentioning.
Only trust in luck.
Lin Yan guided his pot toward a drifting asteroid cluster and activated the scanners.
Then—
An alarm blared.
"Warning. Incoming object."
Lin Yan's heart jumped.
An asteroid spun out of nowhere, hurtling straight toward him.
"Damn it!"
He slammed the thrusters, narrowly slipping past the rock as it tore through the space where his pot had been seconds earlier.
His breath came fast.
"That was too close…"
Before he could relax, his mining pot shuddered.
Clang.
Something had struck it.
Lin Yan froze.
"That wasn't an asteroid."
The scanner screamed again.
A massive object slowly emerged from the darkness.
It was a spaceship—but unlike anything Lin Yan had ever seen.
Its surface was smooth and angular, shaped like a distorted triangle. No visible engines. No known insignia. Its design was nothing like the ships currently used on Blue Star.
Lin Yan felt a chill crawl up his spine.
"This… isn't registered."
Before he could react, a calm, emotionless voice echoed through his cockpit.
"Lifeform detected."
"Initiating boarding protocol."
"Oxygen levels stabilized."
"What—wait!"
A beam of light enveloped his mining pot.
The next moment, the hatch behind him opened by itself.
Lin Yan swallowed hard and slowly put on his space suit. Every instinct screamed at him to flee—but curiosity and fear rooted him in place.
He stepped out.
The interior of the ship was silent.
Too silent.
Smooth corridors stretched ahead, lined with glowing panels filled with symbols he couldn't understand. He tried opening several doors.
"Access denied."
"Access denied."
"Access denied."
Each rejection tightened his chest.
Then he reached one final door.
The words engraved above it were clear.
CAPTAIN ONLY
Lin Yan hadn't touched it.
The door opened on its own.
No buttons.
No force.
No sound.
Just a slow, obedient opening.
A cold air rushed out.
Lin Yan stared into the darkness beyond the doorway, his pulse pounding in his ears.
"…Why me?"
He stepped forward.
The door closed behind him.