CHAPTER 55: CHAPTER 53: REVENUE AND EMERGENCIES

After Chen Ming sorted out his money-making mindset based on what Old Wu said,

he opened the terminal and started searching for the recent price of White Cloud Steel.

Chen Ming knew there was a website specifically for determining the prices of various commodities.

Previously, when Chen Ming worked on the Mining Space Station, he used this website to check the prices of various metals, and it’s the same now.

The best thing about this website is that

the prices displayed on the website are not based on official set prices, because the prices of many commodities vary in size due to geographical differences.

For example, high-grade metals like White Cloud Steel, derived largely from the Mechanical Race, obviously have different prices in the Edge Star Realm compared to the Prosperous Star Realm.

It seems like the creator of the website has some significant connections behind the scenes.

The prices for most commodities in all human-inhabited star systems of the Human Empire are determined based on the latest recorded transactions in the local area.

Precisely because of this, this website is highly suitable for caravans and others who frequently deal with commodities.

As a result, this website has been active for an unknowable number of years.

Anyway, by the time Chen Ming started working, this website already existed.

Although the Pirate Space Station wasn’t shown on the website, Chen Ming could verify the approximate price of White Cloud Steel by looking at the adjacent star systems, namely the Military Outpost’s star system.

Soon, the price trend chart of White Cloud Steel appeared on the terminal, with an upward-sloping curve indicating that the price of White Cloud Steel had indeed increased.

This just confirmed what the previous pirate said about the reduction in the number of the Mechanical Race.

Since that is the case, Chen Ming is not greedy; by the time it comes to leave behind the portion needed for ship maintenance, the remaining White Cloud Steel can be sold.

Chen Ming also checked the price of Sky Steel, finding that the price fluctuations at the Military Outpost seemed significant, making it cheaper there than elsewhere.

Therefore, Chen Ming decided not to sell the Sky Steel for now, as this material is the most crucial material needed for the Superspace Navigation System.

The technology of the Superspace Navigation System had been made public long ago; Chen Ming could even purchase the materials needed for the Superspace Navigation System on the Space Station and make it himself.

It’s definitely much cheaper than buying a finished product directly.

Although Chen Ming is still a bit uncertain whether to continue operating the Iron Ore No. or find a way to switch to a ship with a built-in Superspace Navigation System, it’s never wrong to prepare first.

So Chen Ming continued to check the prices of several things he was interested in; after getting a general understanding, he closed the website.

"Hmm? What’s this?"

Just as the website was closed, Chen Ming suddenly noticed something seemed to have appeared on the terminal.

A program he hadn’t seen before inexplicably appeared on the terminal interface.

Was it from the data card just now?

Chen Ming was a bit puzzled and casually opened the program.

Soon after, a forum-like interface with various sections popped up.

The name Mu Shuikong was displayed in the upper right corner of the interface.

This seems to be an internal program of the Pirate Space Station.

Chen Ming clicked on a few sections and looked around.

He found that this program seemed to be a platform for those with fake identities to communicate with each other and post task bounties.

However, Chen Ming only took a broad look and did not study it in detail.

Because the lateral elevator he was taking had already stopped, and 13th Space Arm’s door was right in front of him.

Waves of heat were continuously surging out from within the 13th Space Arm.

Making Chen Ming feel a noticeable temperature rise even through the protective suit.

Chen Ming closed the Pirate Space Station internal program, opened the previous map, and walked into the 13th Space Arm.

The program was already on the terminal and wouldn’t run off; now it’s better to quickly go in and see if the shop Old Wu mentioned is indeed as he said, capable of purchasing his goods.

The 13th Space Arm, similar to the 2nd Space Arm, is an industrial area with many plants set up.

However, the industrial equipment inside these plants is somewhat different from those in the 2nd Space Arm.

The 2nd Space Arm seemed to have industrial equipment for producing weapons that complemented the adjacent maintenance plant, whereas here it seemed more related to smelting and metals.

The Space Station seems to be able to rely on these different types of equipment to form a complete industrial chain.

This is good news for Chen Ming, as he has decided to join the maintenance plant, so naturally, the more functional the Space Station backing it is, the better.

Chen Ming once again boarded the elevator.

He searched for the "Eryang Recycling" that Old Wu mentioned earlier on the map.

This recycling station is located in the middle section of the 13th Space Arm, along the main route of the entire space arm.

Actually, besides this Eryang Recycling Station, there are some other scattered marked locations visible on the map along the main route.

They were basically places that recycled and sold ores and similar items.

However, since Old Wu mentioned this place before, Chen Ming didn’t mind checking it out first.

The Eryang Recycling Station was connected to a plant and it was possible to directly enter the industrial park where the plant was located through the recycling station.

Once Chen Ming confirmed the recycling station’s doors were open and that it was indeed in operation, he went in and knocked on the door.

The owner of the recycling station noticed Chen Ming from the sound at the door and wore a business-like smile as he said, "Welcome."