Late at night, Zhou Tianming tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep.
He had mentally prepared himself for the difficulty of obtaining a spaceship, but hadn't expected it to be this challenging.
Should he set aside the spaceship and focus on the Gundam first?
After some thought, he suppressed his urge to build a Gundam first.
Creating a Gundam would mean starting from scratch—mechanical engineering, software programming, biomechanics—all these fields required learning from the ground up. Without a secure location, he couldn't possibly focus on such complex work.
Go to East Asia?
While it was safe there, Gundams were considered weapons. Given East Asia's circumstances, it would likely be confiscated. Moreover, some prohibited materials needed for construction would be hard to obtain in that environment.
Join an East Asian organization to build it?
No, he was too young to gain anyone's trust. By the time he was old enough, the political climate might change again—too many uncertainties.
After much deliberation, he concluded that working alone offered more freedom, even if the difficulty was significantly higher.
Where there's a will, there's a way!
Pumping himself up, Zhou Tianming closed his eyes and wrapped himself in the blanket to sleep.
The next morning, upon waking, he found a plate of breakfast placed on the floor outside his door.
Picking up the tray and placing it on the bedside table, Zhou Tianming pulled at the door. "Mom, why did you leave breakfast on the floor?"
The door didn't budge.
A sense of foreboding.
He yanked at it twice, but it barely moved.
"Seriously?" Zhou Tianming sighed.
Just then, his phone rang. He picked it up—Zhou Hanxiang calling.
He answered, "I really had something important yesterday—"
"If you dare leave, don't come back."
The call ended abruptly.
Zhou Tianming shrugged at his phone. "Fine, I won't leave then."
He hadn't planned to go out today anyway. The information he'd gathered yesterday would take time to process.
Turning on his computer, he first verified the details Wei Jun had shared with him.
Wei Jun's information was indeed accurate, even more detailed than what he could find online.
Since obtaining a Spaceship Purchase License seemed impossible for now, Zhou Tianming set that aside and focused on finding ways to earn money.
At five years old, no one would hire him for a job. He'd heard about remote work opportunities in his past life, so his goal was to find such positions that didn't require face-to-face interaction.
Several hours passed quickly. Leaning back in his chair, Zhou Tianming closed his eyes to relieve the strain.
The search had yielded nothing. Legitimate companies, even those offering remote work, still required interviews and formal hiring processes.
But his current appearance made that impossible.
If the straight path was blocked, he'd have to take the crooked one.
After a short break, Zhou Tianming resumed his search—this time for black-market websites. If the dark web existed in his past life, this world must have its own underground networks too.
After a long while, there was still no progress.
Zhou Tianming had been just an ordinary person in his previous life, with computer skills limited to gaming and basic setups. Small websites were entirely dependent on the generosity of netizens.
Now that he was in a different world, it was no surprise his skills were useless here.
Facing repeated setbacks, Zhou Tianming couldn't help but feel dejected. He buried his face in the pillow and wallowed in frustration for a while.
After resting, he returned to the computer and began searching for textbooks on networking, computers, and programming.
If shortcuts and shady methods didn't work, he'd take the proper path with dignity.
But after staring at the learning materials on the screen for hours, Zhou Tianming only felt dizzy and unable to absorb anything.
Damn it.
Could it be that this Ultimate Coordinator brain of mine is actually useless for studying?
It worked fine in combat. Did all my talent go into fighting?
Groaning, he clutched his head and writhed in frustration.
The door creaked open, and Zhou Hanxiang walked in, staring at Zhou Tianming in bewilderment.
Zhou Tianming froze, the awkwardness of having his chuunibyou moment exposed washing over him.
Lunch passed in this strange atmosphere.
Zhou Tianming asked Zhou Hanxiang about his condition, essentially questioning whether his brain had been messed up during the adjustment process.
Zhou Hanxiang pinched his cheeks and tugged at them. "Nonsense! You were perfectly fine when reading The Complete Compendium of Traditional Chinese Medicine."
His eyes lit up. Right, why was that?
After pondering the difference between the two, Zhou Tianming had an idea.
Could it be because one was on a computer and the other was a physical book?
In his past life, computers weren't widespread during his childhood—he had grown up with books. Even after getting a computer, he mostly used it for gaming and movies. He'd never really tried studying with one.
"Mom, are there any bookstores around here?"
Zhou Hanxiang shook her head. "I don't know. You'd have to ask Big Brother Wei Jun."
His deep brown eyes widening, Zhou Tianming gave Zhou Hanxiang an innocent look. "Can I go out this afternoon? I promise I won't wander off. I just want to find some books to study."
"I'll go with you. I'm free this afternoon."
"Deal."
Zhou Tianming agreed without hesitation, and his earnestness convinced Zhou Hanxiang he wasn't lying.
After lunch, they rested briefly before heading out to find Wei Jun.
When they located him, he was deep in conversation with a man in a sharp suit, both scribbling notes on a tablet.
Zhou Tianming and Zhou Hanxiang waited quietly to the side.
About ten minutes later, the suited man left, and Wei Jun strode over with a triumphant grin. "Sister Hanxiang, kiddo, what can I do for you?"
Zhou Tianming cut in, "Please call me Zhou Tianming. Thank you."
Wei Jun nodded. "Sure thing, kiddo."
"..."
I hate people who don't listen.
Zhou Tianming's expression darkened.
Zhou Hanxiang smacked him lightly on the head, instantly clearing his mind.
She spoke up, "Brother Wei, I wanted to ask—are there any bookstores in the Junk Guild? I'd like to find some study materials for Tianming."
Wei Jun frowned in thought. "Bookstores… they're rare these days. You might find some on Earth, but Satellites don't have many."
After a moment, he remembered something. "Follow me. It's not exactly a bookstore, but there are books there. You can dig through them yourself."
Dig?
Zhou Tianming had a bad feeling about this.
Half an hour later, Wei Jun's off-road vehicle stopped outside a remote warehouse.
A strange odor hung in the air—not exactly pungent, not exactly foul, just an odd mix of smells.
"You can see this is an abandoned warehouse. Nobody usually comes here. Inside are the junk items that couldn't be processed after the Junk Guild cleanup."
"Books count as unprocessable?"
"There's no profit in them. They take up too much space, and processing them would be more trouble than it's worth. Might as well leave them here since they're worthless and not dangerous."
Zhou Tianming thought this made sense.
Getting out of the car and approaching the warehouse door—which wasn't even locked—Wei Jun casually pulled it open with a screech of rusty hinges.
A musty smell of old books wafted through the gap.
All three covered their noses.
"This stench is overpowering," Zhou Tianming said, waving his free hand through the air.
"Can't be helped. Nobody comes here unless they have to."
Inside the warehouse, stacks of documents, books, and other paper products formed mountainous piles.
A closer look revealed everything coated in a thick layer of black dust.
Wei Jun gestured for them to proceed.
Zhou Tianming didn't know where to begin.
An hour later, the two returned after changing clothes and bringing gas masks.
"Mom, help me look for books or materials about computer programming and mechanical engineering."
Zhou Hanxiang nodded, and they began searching through the piles.
During his search, Zhou Tianming discovered numerous blueprints detailing Junk Guild structures, along with some newspapers dated mostly between 15 to 20 years ago.
There weren't many proper books—mostly notebooks filled with random contents, making their search more difficult.
After much effort, they only found a few notebooks related to computers and machinery.
Then Zhou Tianming suddenly had an idea.
Why not just print out the computer contents?
Wouldn't that count as a book?
Glancing at Zhou Hanxiang, whose clothes were now completely blackened by dust, he decided to abandon that thought.
"Tianming," Zhou Hanxiang suddenly spoke up, "we could actually print out the computer contents, couldn't we?"
"Y-yeah... Mom, you're so smart."
The atmosphere grew heavy.