Starting Cultivation in Wasteland-Chapter 433 - 305: Disgusting People

As soon as Youyou spoke, the middle-aged man’s face changed slightly.

However, the star pirates traveling with her seemed a bit unconcerned after hearing her words—having an entry and exit permit should be enough, right?

The recent modifications have used up quite a bit of manpower, and even the core area is a bit stretched thin.

Besides, time waits for no one—who knows when Black Heaven and Pan Yifu might regroup and attack the military station again?

But Youyou’s reasoning wasn’t wrong; a curfew is a curfew. Those without proper identities shouldn’t be in the core area.

The middle-aged man’s face turned pale as he mumbled a reply, "Sir, I realize my mistake. No matter how tight the schedule is, rules must be followed."

"I’ll have him leave first thing in the morning."

Youyou sneered, "A tight schedule... do you actually have a point? Is it that hard to issue a temporary permit?"

Her words were still reasonable, but the middle-aged man was indeed in a difficult position; issuing a temporary permit wasn’t that easy.

The key issue was that he conscripted labor for only two or three days at most. Any longer, and not paying them wouldn’t be quite right!

For just these few days, you want me to issue a temporary permit... is that really necessary?

The society managed by star pirates did have some problems; often, a rule was decided on a whim.

And besides those iron-clad rules, other rules were enforced rather haphazardly.

But the middle-aged man dare not argue, he could only reply quietly, "Alright, I’ll take them to get a permit when work resumes tomorrow."

One of the star pirates was a bit unconcerned, "It’s only a few days; is it really necessary?"

Youyou gave him a glance and said calmly, "Fine, maybe I’m being overly cautious..."

"But these are exceptional times; I’ll ask the Fourth Master if the rules should still be followed."

The star pirate was even more displeased when he heard this, and snorted coldly, "Hmph, Fourth Master... that’s all you’re capable of!"

Youyou also snorted, "My capabilities? Heh, if my cultivation level weren’t sealed, I’d take you on even with both hands tied!"

Qu Jianlei finally realized, Youyou was still touchy about her status, just relying on strong support from the Fourth Master.

But that star pirate was just talking, eventually snorting and falling silent.

The star pirate patrol team left, and the middle-aged man stepped forward, kicking Qu Jianlei once more, "Dammit, always causing trouble!"

The act wasn’t very harmful, but it was extremely insulting.

Qu Jianlei looked up at him, then lowered his eyelids without saying anything.

"Are you unhappy or something?" The middle-aged man was annoyed, muttering as he moved to strike again.

Eventually, someone stopped him, "Alright, getting serious with such a small figure—aren’t you afraid of losing face?"

The person persuading him was shooting him meaningful looks: Aren’t you afraid he’ll report to that woman?

The middle-aged man was still a bit reluctant: So what if he reports? Would she even remember him?

But then he thought, this guy’s ugliness is so overwhelming, coupled with that stench...he’s indeed hard to forget.

He turned around, muttering to himself as he walked away, "Being so ugly, how do you have the nerve to live?"

Qu Jianlei smacked his lips before slowly standing up: No one watching—thank goodness I don’t have to eat that disgusting food anymore.

But, won’t someone notice something unusual? After all, everyone else is eating with relish.

In the end, he steeled his resolve and silently picked up the bowl: I must consider the bigger picture...

Around four or five o’clock in the morning, a command came down: work stops here; continue at dawn.

As someone conscripted, Qu Jianlei didn’t even have a place to sleep, just laid on some straw on the ground.

As dawn was breaking, he was awakened by cold droplets of water—it turned out it was raining...

Four others were in the same situation as him, some could sleep soundly even in the rain.

One has to admit, the physical condition of the Imperials is truly remarkable.

After breakfast, the middle-aged man did lead the five people to get temporary permits, which didn’t actually take much time.

For some reason, he just couldn’t stand Qu Jianlei, constantly muttering as if he might hit someone at any moment.

Qu Jianlei did want to keep the larger picture in mind, but this guy was really wearing down his patience.

Because it was raining, they couldn’t mix the mud, so they started acting as porters again.

In the afternoon, Youyou passed by the construction site with the star pirate squad, suddenly stopping.

She looked at the middle-aged man, speaking coldly, "Did you get the temporary permits?"

"Got them, got them," the middle-aged man replied, originally taking shelter from the rain under an eave. Seeing her, he quickly forced a smile and jogged over.

His skill in gauging a person’s mood was truly superb.

However, carelessly, he stepped into a small puddle, legs giving out, he fell to the ground with a thud and actually fainted.

A cold smile appeared at the corner of Youyou’s mouth, but her eyes were full of delight, "Did you really faint... or are you pretending?"

Actually, she could pretty much confirm, he wasn’t pretending but genuinely passed out, sensing a kind of... spiritual power fluctuation?

Someone hurriedly ran over, some pinching the dip between the nose and the mouth, others squeezing the tiger’s mouth, creating a chaotic scene with many hands at work.

After a short while, the middle-aged man came to, but for some reason, his head still hurt terribly, and he couldn’t speak coherently.

The star thief who had choked Youyou yesterday pointed at Qu Jianlei, "You, come over here... show the proof."

This was to disgust Youyou... Didn’t you dislike this guy? I want him to show proof.

Youyou looked at him expressionlessly, then turned to Qu Jianlei, "How many proofs were processed in total? Collect them all."

The star thief thought Youyou was just holding on and didn’t stop her, just folded his arms and looked on with a smile.

Qu Jianlei gathered five proofs and handed them all to Youyou.

Youyou inspected them leisurely, while frowning, "Why does it stink so much? Stay away from me."

Qu Jianlei knew she still had doubts in her heart, unable to confirm his identity, which is why she said that.

So he took two steps back and respectfully replied, "I was unaware, disturbing you, even causing the steward to fall."

As expected, it’s you who bring the trouble! A hint of a smile appeared at the corner of Youyou’s mouth, "It’s rare that you have self-awareness, get far away!"

Get far away? Upon hearing this, Qu Jianlei took two more steps back, with a slight doubt in his heart: Is this some kind of code?

He had cooperated with Youyou more than once or twice, having agreed on a widely applicable and practical set of codes.

But this ’get far away’... was truly not among the agreed codes.

Could it be that, although she’s been released, she’s still being suspected by the star thieves, with someone observing in the dark?

However, that seems unreasonable, right? After all, she’s a known traitor of the Garbage Star, smuggled on the spaceship!

The next moment, he guessed another possibility, so he drooped his eyelids and said nothing more.

After Youyou finished inspecting the proofs, she tossed them back to him, with a face full of disgust, then turned and left without a word.

Qu Jianlei guessed correctly, shortly after it got dark, a star thief came to the site and found him.

This one wasn’t the one who had clashed with Youyou, but the expression he showed Qu Jianlei was also somewhat strange.

The star thief took out something resembling a plastic bag, which contained a stack of paper documents.

"Remember the woman from this afternoon? Give this to her, after she signs it, bring it back to me."

Qu Jianlei blinked and said hesitantly, "Master, I have work to do."

"Is your work more important than mine?" The star thief’s face darkened, "She’s drinking at the Star Night Bar... Got it?" 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Got it," Qu Jianlei nodded, he knew this bar, "How should I address you, sir?"

"What’s it to you how you address me?" The star thief glared, speaking menacingly, "Tell her I have a mission, can’t leave!"

"Understood," Qu Jianlei nodded, thinking to himself that they were just making him annoy her!

Anyway, he had no way to refuse, so he grabbed a wooden board to shield his head and left in the rain.

The Star Night Bar was about a kilometer from the site, and by the time Qu Jianlei arrived, he was nearly soaked through.

Inside the bar, it was smoky and there was deafening music playing.

The lights outside the bar were also very bright, with a few small tables facing each other, beside them were ring chairs, and above them were sun umbrellas.

Youyou sat in the outermost ring chair, with an umbrella placed opposite her, clearly showing her unwelcoming stance.

She was holding a glass of wine, occasionally sipping it gently, her eyes vacant, seemingly lost in thought.

"Sir," Qu Jianlei approached, nodding and bowing, "Someone sent me to deliver documents to you."

"Stand in the shadow," Youyou spoke plainly, "Give me the documents... Alright, there’s no camera here."

Qu Jianlei obediently stood in the shadow, letting out a light laugh, "You’re doing quite well for yourself..."

"They’re short-handed," Youyou picked up the documents and, without moving her lips, spoke softly, "How did it end up so ugly?"

"Ugly is safer," Qu Jianlei whispered, "I’m just a substitute; if exposed, it would implicate you."

"Just kill them," Youyou replied flatly, "They’ll think it’s other star thieves venting their resentment."

Qu Jianlei remained silent, then sighed lightly, "It seems you’re having a hard time too."

"It’s alright," Youyou said softly while looking down at the documents, "Are the Pioneers starting their counterattack?"

Qu Jianlei pondered for a moment before sighing, "Can I still trust you?"

Reuniting with an ally, the first topic was trust issues, which was truly harsh, yet... inevitable.

Youyou remained silent; after a while, she sighed, "No one knows Black Heaven is A-level, is that enough?"

"If not... no one knows who the A-level with Earth Attribute is."

"It’s enough," Qu Jianlei replied softly, "Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend, I just didn’t trust you, so I took the risk to come."

"I figured," Youyou lowered her head, no one could see, the corners of her mouth slightly curved.

"But I’m doing alright, being a traitor of the Garbage Star has granted me some limited freedom."

"I should thank Pan Yifu, if it wasn’t for your commotion, I might still be detained."