This game is so weird!

On the other side, the base was established.

Li Ang (guild leader) and "Li Ang" (base manager) were sitting at a dining table in the base hall, eating grilled fish and seaweed sprouts cooked by bio-engineered humans.

The taste was actually quite good.

The originally simple grilled fish, after the cyborgs creatively added some spicy fish and pepper powder for seasoning, had a somewhat familiar taste.

It's you, the street-side charcoal-grilled fish that's a common sight on Earth at night.

A barbecue restaurant can be set up with just a small food cart or even an electric tricycle. Although Li Ang had never eaten grilled fish at these restaurants, the taste was not much different from their grilled meat skewers.

Li Ang ate for a long time with a rare hearty appetite. Since the warehouse supplies ran out, he had been eating synthetic meat chops for several days.

Well, the taste is passable, but no matter whether it's synthetic beef, synthetic chicken legs, or synthetic fish fillets, the dishes all taste pretty much the same, which he personally can't accept.

Before he was cut in half at the waist in his previous life, besides work, the thing he spent the most time on and enjoyed the most was eating, drinking and having fun occasionally.

Once or twice a month, I go out to eat some proper food or cook some stew.

Or perhaps going hiking or shopping, or playing games at home, are all precious moments of leisure.

Unfortunately, after arriving here, I basically said goodbye to entertainment.

The food was terrible; it tasted like a synthetic food delivery service that I was sick of.

Drinking it—I don't want to drink it. The taste of purified seawater is indescribable. When I was a child, the waterworks in my county used to draw water from a dragon cave, which made me picky about water. Only recently, players have discovered coconut juice and other fruits that are slightly better. Diluting them with water can also alleviate the odor of the purified water. Li Ang has already arranged for the guild to prepare to issue planting and cultivation tasks.

Playing—nothing to do. The Scarred Star was deserted before the players arrived. Li Ang stayed up until dawn for two nights in a row before falling asleep. The base terminal blocked all electronic entertainment from the Empire. He was originally interested in movies, TV series and anime published by aliens, but now he had nothing to watch.

Does happiness—the happiness of high-tech rural scenery—count?

After inexplicably connecting to the Earth's network, life became slightly easier.

When he had nothing else to do, he could read online novels and watch A-B's short videos. After the gaming helmets became increasingly popular and he had enough money, Li Ang also gave a few tips to the novels he was following.

When poor, one should take advantage of others; when successful, one should give back to the world.

Li Ang used to enjoy going out with friends and would often take the initiative to treat them and pay the bill.

In his view, happiness is the most important thing. As long as it doesn't affect his and his family's lives, there's no need to worry too much. Life is only a few tens of thousands of days long, so enjoy each day as it comes.

Of course, this excludes friends who are particularly greedy and take advantage of others; once discovered, they rarely contact you anymore.

Occasionally, when Li Ang recalls his past life, he also thinks about how his parents and friends are doing, whether they are too sad, and whether the AI ​​assistant he deployed before helped delete photos, cloud storage, and format his computer.

After speaking with "Li Ang," the base manager who had given himself the nickname POKO, and suggesting that the cyborg be given more time and authority to practice cooking, Li Ang watched as POKO opened its mouth wide in a form that was difficult for a human to achieve, and "Ah~" stuffed the whole fish into its mouth.

"Hey, hey, maybe you should pay a little attention to your image..."

The two players eating nearby looked up, glanced at him indifferently, and then lowered their heads to continue eating.

The grilled fish smells so good today! I'll go get some barbecue after I log off!

Li Ang frowned, feeling that his lifelong reputation was about to be ruined by this guy.

Before Poko could reply, the partition door inside the base hissed open, and a young woman wearing a familiar-looking white lab coat walked out.

Her two beautiful legs were straight and long, supporting her upper body like a compass. The white research coat draped over her body did not show much academic style. Instead, it revealed a seductive and wild aura when paired with the short shirt stretched taut by her pectoral muscles and her gorgeous face.

Even Li Ang, who has met many outstanding women, has to admit that this girl's temperament is at least in the top five.

Her alluring eyes swept around the hall before finally settling on Li Ang and his companion. She strode towards them with her long, slender legs crossed.

Li Ang stood up, tugged at Poko, the current base manager, and greeted her:

"Hello, are you Ms. Vera Tesla?"

"I am Richard, the president of the Scar Planet Exploration Guild. This is our Scar Planet Expeditionary Governor, Leon, you can call him Poko."

Vera nodded slightly, her beautiful face maintaining a cool expression, giving off an icy vibe, while her soft and magnetic voice drifted out.

"Vera Tesla, Gold Researcher."

"I don't care about salary or anything like that. What I need is independent research access and support for my research. If possible, I can start working immediately."

Li Ang thought for a moment and added a few conditions:

"Your research projects must not harm the interests of Scar Planet. At the same time, you must prioritize completing the research and development needs proposed by the base and the guild. You can conduct research and development freely at other times. The base and the guild will provide mission subsidies."

"Including but not limited to posting tasks in the guild, hiring exploration teams to collect materials and cooperate with experiments, and providing you with certain financial subsidies."

"The research results you lead will be shared by the pioneering base and you. You will have the right of authorship and ownership, while the base will have the right of use and the right of first refusal. If you want to sell the results to others, the base has the right to participate in the assessment of whether it will damage the interests of Scar Planet."

"The ownership of the projects proposed by the base belongs to the base, but the right of attribution belongs to you, and the base will provide all the resources needed."

Poko swallowed the grilled fish stuffed in her mouth with force. A complete fish shape went down her throat into her stomach, arching out a wide arc on the surface of her throat.

With a smacking sound, Poko added, "The base can protect your safety, and it will provide delicious food every day!"

Vera, who had been frowning slightly, looked at Poko carefully, then suddenly raised an eyebrow and, surprisingly, agreed without any haggling.

"I can accept these conditions, but I require an independent research lab and security guarantees."

"Welcome to our Scar Star family! We hope you feel the warmth of home here!"

Poko smiled happily and reached out to shake hands with Vera.

Vera then shook hands politely with Leon, and after withdrawing her right hand, she placed it behind her back and rubbed her fingers thoughtfully.

"So where is my research lab?"

"Ahem, just a moment. Let's first sign a formal employment agreement regarding what we just discussed, haha!"

Inviting Vera to sit down and enjoy the newly served grilled fish, Li Ang called over the base's AI to add what he had just said to the contract. They discussed the specific details and, after confirming there were no problems, the three of them signed their names.

The guild leader of the employing party, Leon, and the employee, Vera, both signed by hand, while the supervisor, Poko, left an electronic signature certified by the Empire.

After the contract was officially added to the Imperial Employment Contract Database and came into effect, Li Ang subtly curled the corners of his mouth, but quickly concealed it.

Gold researcher, got it!

Vera's lips curled up in a beautiful smile.

The sucker and the research subject, got it!

"So where is my research lab?"