The plunder of the heavens begins with the Spirit Cage.

People in the city looked up and exclaimed in surprise as they pointed at the several massive transport ships that were slowly descending through the clouds.

Chapter 43 Starlight Encounters 1

"Everyone, perk up!"

"This batch of supplies must be handled with care during loading and unloading; rough handling is strictly prohibited!"

"If there are any losses, you can't afford them!"

On the spaceship deck, Li Che shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice carried by the wind to the ground.

"Each team should coordinate according to their assigned numbers. Fuel tanks go to area A, and metal containers go to area B. Carefully check the list to make sure you don't miss anything!"

Other soldiers on the ship's side also shouted instructions to the machine operators and porters below.

The loudspeaker kept repeating the message, and even the most clueless porters understood the importance of these supplies, so they all handled them with extra care.

Li Che glanced at his pocket watch. It was noon, and the construction in the distant city had ceased. The fuel tanks on the open ground were being loaded with priority.

He waved to a few team members in combat uniforms, then pointed to Starlight City in the distance and said, "Old Boss, Old Bai, want to go for a stroll in that city?"

Ban Zhenhai, with a thick beard, lit a cigarette and looked out at the city. "What's so interesting about this place?"

“These people outside are all survivors who fled here,” Bai Fuguang agreed.

"If you want to explore, you might as well ask Her Highness the Princess for permission to enter Beacon City."

“Beacon City…” Ban Zhenhai looked up and exhaled a smoke ring, seemingly reminiscing about the past, and said with emotion, “I heard from the brothers who guarded the princess last time that they still retain the civilization of the old world there…”

After the disaster, the ground environment was almost dark and silent, and the climate became worse day by day.

The million people living around the Jingxu Starship Port were almost all depressed.

If you could stay in Beacon City for a few days, it would definitely help relieve your mental stress.

"Don't even think about it! We lowly soldiers think we can see the princess?!" Li Che scoffed.

"You might as well just ask the captain to take us in!"

"Um... when the captains came down, they were given authority and went to report to the princess."

Some officers also went, but Captain Ouyang was in charge of the overall situation. Bai Fuguang then shared the inside information he had heard.

Having suffered the hardships of the apocalypse, the secluded paradise of Beacon City is truly captivating, especially for the older generation.

"Damn!" Li Che cursed enviously, interrupting the two from continuing their amusing conversation.

"Enough said, just asking if you guys want to go over there and take a look!"

"Don't you get tired of seeing steel and sparks at Starport every day?"

“That makes sense,” Ban Zhenhai stubbed out his cigarette. “Since we’re on a mission, let’s go take a look around.”

"Since none of the higher-ups are here, asking the team leader for leave shouldn't be too difficult."

With permission granted, the three men quickly unloaded their weapons, leaving only a pistol, and boarded a military tram heading towards Starlight City.

The fleet was anchored in the five-kilometer buffer zone between the Dark Fortress and Starlight City. There was a gate in front of the city and another in the back.

Before even registering to enter, Li Che looked at the nearly twenty-meter-long, heavy metal gate with great curiosity.

In the old century, with the infrastructure capabilities of the Heluo Kingdom, building a gate hundreds or thousands of meters high would not have been difficult, so there's nothing surprising about it.

But five years have passed since the apocalypse, how can the bunker still have so many resources?!

"If I remember correctly, the Tarim Basin used to be a natural ecological zone, right?"

Where did they get so much metal and concrete?!

Bai Fuguang shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe it was dug up from underground."

While various earthquakes and tectonic plate collisions have caused numerous natural and man-made disasters, they have also exposed many hard-to-mine mineral resources.

The surviving workers were able to find any equipment left over from civilian factories and use it on the spot.

It's not too difficult for a basin overlord like Dunbao to have stockpiled so many resources in advance.

"Then what about all this meat?!" The three had just driven through the gate and hadn't even had a chance to explore the local customs and culture.

Li Che immediately noticed the posters and advertisements pasted on the high walls and buildings on both sides of the road.

The poster features a middle-aged man with a hearty smile, wearing faded overalls and with his arms crossed over his chest.

Behind him was a mountain of fruit cut into small pieces, and on the wooden table in front of him was a plate of sliced ​​beef.

As for why it's beef, the bold text at the bottom of the poster is straightforward and honest.

Special offer on beef! Bring it home for just 68 credits – all you can eat and enjoy!

Fresh fruit is available in limited quantities, first come, first served!

Starlight City is united in its fight! Survivors from all directions are welcome to join us!

The first batch of participants will each receive one free entry into a prize draw, with a 20% chance to win beef and fruits and vegetables...

The man on the poster is Du Sinan, the mayor of Star City. He has gone to great lengths and come up with all sorts of tricks to boost consumption.

Li Che stared wide-eyed, and subconsciously swallowed.

Let's not talk about fruits and vegetables.

Meat!

They can only eat some during the New Year, and even those are luxurious clones made by the princess after she fought hard for them!

Normally, they eat either specially made compressed dry rations or random canned food, and sometimes they can't even get any.

They've almost forgotten what fruit tastes like now.

"This can't be some kind of zombie meat, can it?!"

If it weren't for the century-old frozen meat, Ban Zhenhai really couldn't figure out where the bunker came from.

The dark-colored fruits and vegetables on the poster... they all look like genetically modified products!

No!

Where do they get the resources to go through all this trouble and effort?!

"Why don't we go take a look?" Bai Fuguang suggested.

The other two nodded without any objection.

There's not much to see in Star City. No matter how well it's planned, there are only so many people.

But it cannot be denied that the smiles on these people's faces are more vibrant and genuine than those in Jingxu.

As they drove to the Starlight Supermarket built in the city center, the three could vaguely hear workers laughing and talking about high-tech things like space, outer planets, and aliens.

"It seems the people here are all highly educated; they even have the leisure to discuss aliens."

"Tch, stop talking nonsense, go into the supermarket and take a look at those so-called fruits and vegetables!"

Li Che, pulling the remarkably composed Bai Fuguang along, had just stepped into the supermarket.

The three of them then headed straight for the fruit and vegetable section as instructed.

As soon as I turned the corner of the shelf, a strong smell of blood hit me.

The aroma was fresh and intense, with the distinctive fishy smell of raw meat mixed with a hint of fresh grass, hitting the nose directly.

The group instinctively sniffed, their surprise almost impossible to hide – this was definitely not the smell of zombie meat!

In the apocalypse, meat that has been frozen for who knows how many years only has a rotten, gamey smell. Where would you find such a strong, fresh aroma?

Ban Zhenhai also frowned, walked quickly to the meat stall, and gently poked the bright red beef on the cutting board with his fingertip.

The meat is firm and springs back slightly when pressed. The blood vessels at the cut are clearly visible, indicating that it was freshly slaughtered not long ago.

"This is weird." Based on his father's experience slaughtering pigs, he muttered to himself, "This meat... seems to have been slaughtered no more than three days ago?"

The other two also came over, staring at the neatly arranged slices of beef on the plate, their Adam's apples bobbing involuntarily.

Chapter 44 Starlight Encounters 2

"Hey hey hey~ What are you three doing?"

"Don't poke around if you're not buying. If someone sees you, nobody will buy this plate of meat." Upon seeing this, the butcher quickly picked up a fly swatter and shooed the flies away.

The survivors who arrived later were all like that, swarming around like flies, never-ending.

Seeing this, Li Che was not angry. He pointed to the meat and asked, "Uncle...where did you get all this?"

Okay, same buzzing problem.

Just as the stall owner was about to explain as usual, he looked up and saw the long-lost yet familiar combat uniform.

"You're from... the Space Fleet?"

"Yes, we flew in from Jingxu," Bai Fuguang answered truthfully.

"Oh, I saw that huge spaceship too." The stall owner nodded; it turned out to be officials.

He could only shake his head without hesitation, indicating that he didn't know the source of the meat.

Mixed in with this is his resentment at not receiving help after the apocalypse.

Ban Zhenhai could tell that the other party seemed to have a lot of history and grudges with the authorities, so he decided not to get entangled with him anymore.

If it can be made public so openly, then it can't be a secret.

Sure enough, after some trouble, the three of them found an honest man and immediately obtained the information they wanted.

Space technology?! Extraterrestrial life?!

"Brother, you're not trying to scam us, are you?" Bai Fuguang looked the tall, thin man in front of him with obvious curiosity.

The workers' faces fell immediately upon hearing this. "We asked you, and you're not happy about it? What do you want?!"

Even honest people can get angry, and one of them said, "Believe it or not!" and left.

"Hey!" Li Che was about to reach out and call out to stop them, but the other person had already walked further and further away.

It gives you the illusion that this is indeed the case.