Junk Guild, 11:33 AM, East Asian Restaurant.
Zhou Tianming sat at a corner table eating lunch. Across from him, Wei Jun was enthusiastically recounting his space adventures, slapping the table loudly during the exciting parts.
Zhou Tianming mechanically shoveled rice into his mouth, expressionless. Even the braised pork and salted vegetable soup on the table seemed to lose their flavor. He glared at Wei Jun, hoping his stare could pierce through the man's thick skin.
Just as Zhou Tianming felt anger rising from his core, a ringing sound interrupted. Wei Jun frowned in displeasure, stopping mid-sentence to pull out a brick-sized phone from his pocket. His expression darkened further after checking it.
"Kid, wait here while Uncle Wei takes this call. Then I'll continue my magnificent adventure story," he said before stepping outside.
Seeing his chance, Zhou Tianming accelerated his eating pace, hoping to finish and leave before Wei Jun returned.
Outside, Wei Jun answered the call and his displeasure instantly transformed into delight after two sentences: "Zhou Junguo! Never thought you'd contact me. It's been over ten years!"
After brief pleasantries, Wei Jun cut to the chase: "Just tell me what you need. Calling out of the blue after so many years - either you're buttering me up or planning something."
"My apologies."
"Haha, no big deal. At least you remember this old friend. Speak up - if I can help, I will."
"I heard you're selling a spaceship?"
"What? You want to buy? Too late - someone already paid above asking price. We signed the contract."
"Ah, bad timing then. Heard your grandson's about to be born?"
"Haha, surprised? Once the money comes through, I'm heading home. This sum will let my family live comfortably."
"Congratulations. Since you frequent Junk Guild, could you do me a favor?"
"Stop beating around the bush. I'm actually there now."
"My grandson's there too. Could you look after him?"
"Sure, I—" Wei Jun suddenly remembered Zhou Tianming and paused. "Your grandson wouldn't happen to be Zhou Tianming, would he?"
"Huh?"
"What a coincidence!" Wei Jun reentered the restaurant and called to Zhou Tianming, who was devouring his meal, "Tianming! Your grandfather's on the phone."
Zhou Tianming choked on his food in surprise, pounding his chest and gulping down salted vegetable soup to clear his throat.
"My grandfather?" he asked blankly before approaching curiously.
After their conversation, all three marveled at the strange twist of fate. Learning Zhou Tianming was his old friend's grandson, Wei Jun pounded his chest promising thorough care. Zhou Tianming also spoke briefly with Zhou Junguo, mainly inquiring about Zhou Hanxiang's condition. Hearing his grandmother was supervising her recovery put his mind at ease.
However, the conversation with Zhou Junguo was slightly contentious.
Zhou Junguo still believed that a five-year-old child's mind was too immature to make any plans, insisting that Zhou Tianming should focus on studying at a PLANT school before discussing anything else.
Zhou Tianming found it odd that he was being sent to study at PLANT instead of returning to East Asia. After some thought, he realized there might still be some discrimination against Coordinators within East Asia.
Though the two argued briefly, both held back and avoided a full-blown quarrel.
In the end, Zhou Tianming memorized Zhou Junguo's private number before returning the phone to Wei Jun.
The two of them resumed their conversation.
Seeing Wei Jun's attention diverted by his grandfather, Zhou Tianming's impression of this grandfather he had never met before improved significantly.
He continued eating, leisurely savoring the meal.
Around 3 p.m., Zhou Tianming was in the factory building, learning about spaceships.
He had pulled out a few more notebooks from the mountain of books—these contained the jottings of a spaceship repair technician, detailing strange malfunctions encountered during voyages and the unique methods used to fix them.
The bizarre malfunctions left Zhou Tianming astonished, and he marveled at the repair technician's ingenious solutions.
"Tianming, kid!"
Wei Jun's booming voice suddenly rang out from outside the factory.
Zhou Tianming set down the notebook and stepped outside. "Uncle Wei?"
He was puzzled—what could Wei Jun want with him?
"Come on, the Black Tortoise has arrived. Didn't you say last time you wanted to take a look?"
"But you refused back then."
"That was before your status changed! Back then, you were just a friend at best. Now you're family—how could I say no if my nephew wants to see a spaceship?"
Zhou Tianming's lips twitched, his face darkening. "I'd rather stay friends. Feels like I'm being taken advantage of."
"Hahaha—" Wei Jun burst into laughter.
Before long, Wei Jun led Zhou Tianming to the Spaceport. After passing several docked spaceships, he pointed to one in the distance.
"That's the Black Tortoise. Pretty impressive, huh?"
Zhou Tianming followed Wei Jun's finger and looked.
At first glance, the ship lived up to its name. It had an oval shape, wider at the front and narrower at the back, with a high, arched back and only slight curvature on the underside. It measured 90 meters in length, 20 meters in height, and 30 meters in width.
As they approached, Zhou Tianming circled the Black Tortoise, examining it closely.
It had four pairs of movable thrusters—two at the front, two at the back, and one on each side. The front thrusters extended outward like wings.
The entire hull had no exposed windows or visible weaponry, making it look remarkably "clean."
Wei Jun stood nearby, explaining, "Don't let this old girl's age fool you. She still outperforms most modern ships in thrust, stability, and defense."
Just then, a middle-aged man with a thick beard and a tall frame descended from the ship. Spotting Wei Jun, he walked over. "Captain, who's this kid?"
Wei Jun swung an arm toward Zhou Tianming's back. "The grandson of an old friend. Just happened to be here, so I'm looking after him."
Hearing the movement, Zhou Tianming sidestepped, and Wei Jun's hand swished through empty air with a whoosh.
Shooting Zhou Tianming an annoyed look, Wei Jun introduced, "This is Li Chi, the ship's pilot. They call him the 'King of Pilots.'"
Zhou Tianming greeted him with a smile, and Li Chi laughed in response. "If you're the captain's friend, you're my friend too. Want me to take him for a spin?"
"No need. You go ahead—I'll handle it."
Li Chi nodded, waved, and left. Wei Jun then led Zhou Tianming inside the spaceship.
The metallic walls inside the spaceship appeared dull, clearly showing the vessel's considerable age.
As they walked, they encountered several groups of crew members chatting casually while passing by.
Whenever they met Wei Jun, everyone greeted him with respectful expressions, indicating a warm rapport.
Upon seeing Zhou Tianming, they were even more delighted and tried to pat his head, only for him to dodge each attempt.
"A man's head shouldn't be touched so casually."
Everyone burst into laughter.
After parting ways, Wei Jun led Zhou Tianming to the bridge for a tour.
It was a concealed bridge buried deep within the spaceship—a circular space with the captain's seat at the center, surrounded by stations for CIC, radar operators, and weapons control. At the front was the pilot's seat.
The massive panoramic screen on the metal walls displayed a full view of the surroundings outside the ship, offering an exceptionally wide field of vision.
"Is this bridge also a prototype design?"
"Yep, but honestly, it's pretty useless. I can't keep track of everything, and in space, you don't rely on visual observation anyway. So this design was scrapped later."
The setup reminded Zhou Tianming of the panoramic cockpit in a Gundam.
Eyes sparkling, he turned to Wei Jun: "Uncle, I really like this wide view—could you—"
"No."
Zhou Tianming gritted his teeth and glared at Wei Jun.
"Don't blame me. The buyer demanded it—they insisted none of the ship's data could be leaked."
Frowning, Zhou Tianming wondered what kind of bizarre rule that was.
Wei Jun shrugged. "With such a high premium, strange requests are normal. Rich folks can afford their eccentricities."
After leaving the bridge, they toured the living quarters. As an older ship, the equipment took up too much space, leaving it cramped and cluttered with odd personal belongings.
The tour continued with explanations of the Prototype Type-3 Mechanical Arm, Prototype Type-1 Thermoelectric Generator Engine, and Prototype Type-5 Artificial Intelligence AI Operating System...
"Why is everything a prototype?"
"Back then, this ship was East Asia's most advanced conceptual vessel, so they loaded it with all kinds of prototype equipment. After nearly 30 years of service with no real use case left, it was finally retired."
Exiting the ship, Wei Jun turned and ran his hand along the hull, his voice tinged with nostalgia. "I spent half my life on this ship. Back then, I scraped together everything just to buy it."
Zhou Tianming felt no emotional connection—only one question mattered: "How much did it cost?"
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