1. The Barren Garbage Planet
◎Second Gender◎
In the year 3900 of the galaxy, the Gabeki planet in an irregular galaxy, also known as the Garbage Planet area, seemed no different from before.
The scorching stellar rays burned the earth, endless waves of heat rising and rolling over the land.
This place was desolate and uninhabited. Yellowed, brittle bones were scattered sparsely. Some unknown small grasses wilted and curled in the shadows.
“The last one.” Huainan murmured softly.
Facing a red beetle nearly two meters tall, she skillfully slid her blade into its mouthparts, lifting the shell carefully, and carefully picked out the glistening white meat inside, not missing even the smallest scraps of leg meat.
This red beetle was the only edible insect-like creature on the Garbage Planet. Although bland and tasteless, it was large enough to satisfy hunger, and its shell could be sold for a good price. When unable to afford nutrient fluids, it was the best choice.
Just as she was working hard, the sky above, once scorching bright, suddenly darkened.
Realizing it was getting late, Huainan quickly transferred the white meat onto the concave chest shell, then swiftly picked out several pieces of the shell and pulled them all into a hidden cave beneath the rocky mountain.
When she came out again, only a small box remained in her hands.
She climbed atop the rocky hill to look out, her dark pupils faintly flashing with light.
Sure enough, not far away, a violent hurricane came roaring, accompanied by sandstorms that blotted out the sky and earth—dark and gloomy, just like the coastline before a storm.
After waiting so long for this suddenly appearing red beetle, the hurricane was about to arrive!
Huainan dared not delay. She jumped down the hill and sprinted, running hundreds of meters away with the warm wind still on her face.
This reckless, illogical run reminded her of the current situation. She felt the damp sweat on her forehead dry instantly in the wind, and her heart was filled with complicated feelings.
— You and she both carry traces of the “spirit,” able to reach that world through energy positioning. As a transcendent, high-dimensional species, we must not violate the will of the universe’s highest civilization by freely traversing low-level galaxy universes.
— After completing the mission, you will be unconditionally granted one wish.
After dying and awakening again in a strange space, she not only crossed into the interstellar world but mysteriously gained a second gender: alpha.
Huainan’s current height had reached 1.75 meters, and it was expected to grow to 1.8 meters without issue.
With the increase in height came significant improvements in endurance, physical strength, and mental power. Although she didn’t know her exact rank, after years of observation, she was definitely above level A.
On the Garbage Planet, there were very few advanced alphas.
Huainan had once seen a C-level alpha kill more than twenty red beetles and feel proud, but as long as she was around, she could keep killing until the protective shield was shut down.
The problem was, red beetles were not infinite. Over the years, the more they killed, the fewer remained, and life grew harder.
It was still too remote.
Her mind was full of random thoughts, but it didn’t affect her rushing along. Huainan quickly timed it just right and dashed through the protective shield, though this still cost her 10 credit points.
“You were 15 seconds late this time. Be earlier next time!”
On duty was Morin, a fierce-looking beta. His family had many members working under Old Buck, and they didn’t want him going out to kill insect beasts. Sometimes Huainan would give him some insect meat as a bribe to keep things smooth between them.
“Got it, Morin. There were too few red beetles today. You know I couldn’t just let them go, right?”
Huainan let the machine deduct her credit points without protest.
Morin looked at Huainan’s freckled face, knowing she was not only delicate and good-natured but also very easy-going — yet he always found her annoying. On the Garbage Planet, what good temper does an alpha need? The meaner, the safer!
He couldn’t help but grow impatient: “Enough, I’m not talking to you anymore, you’re holding up my shift.”
Seeing him leave, Huainan didn’t care and picked up her box, heading back.
The living environment here was extremely harsh. Every night, violent hurricanes and radiation could take lives at any moment.
Not only that, because the Garbage Planet had no Federation officers stationed here, some well-connected merchants had set up bases with protective shields, buying supplies at low prices and selling them high.
People on the Garbage Planet who wanted to survive had to fight in the wastelands and trade with merchants to earn credit points.
She had to hurry to exchange the insect meat and shells now. This lowest-grade spatial container was small inside and didn’t preserve freshness — if she dared to bring it home, no matter where she put it, it would rot and stink by the next day!
After wasting quite a while at Hanni’s old small spaceship, Huainan finally came out.
She stared at the few thousand credit points just added to her terminal, which quickly dropped by half, and couldn’t help but shake her head.
She wanted to pay for her grandfather’s medical treatment and improve little Thor’s nutrition. With such big expenses, honestly killing insects on the Garbage Planet wasn’t enough.
It seemed that she must pass the academy’s assessment in a few days. Otherwise, she wouldn’t even be able to leave here, let alone complete her mission!
Speaking of “spirit,” Huainan frowned. Those advanced civilizations were “tolerant” enough not to limit her time and even provided quite a bit of help, but she still didn’t know what they were really after.
For now, she pushed the thought aside — it was still too early to think about it…
Back at the settlement, houses were crowded everywhere. No windows, no repairs, thick outer walls were covered with erosion pits and corrosion holes. Black scars made the walls lose their original metallic luster long ago.
Every time she saw those dense pits, Huainan felt dazzled.
Resources were scarce here. It was common for violent hurricanes to break through the shields, in the past few years, she had seen it happen at least twice.
Thinking about the trapped, dark, hopeless lives inside those houses, her mood grew heavy. The thought of leaving here became more and more persistent.
Huainan slowly walked back to her door and was about to open it when she faintly saw large red stains on her face in the reflection. She reached up to touch it and realized her face was sticky — she had forgotten to wipe it earlier!
No one cared about appearances on the Garbage Planet, it was common to go around with a face covered in blood like this. She lowered her hand and called out at the door.
“Grandpa! To—”
Before she finished speaking, the door suddenly opened!
A flash of silver light appeared from the darkness, and a blade crackling with electricity suddenly lunged at her!
Clang!
The white bone knife was barely blocked, and the crackling electric sparks hissed loudly right in front of her eyes, while a burnt smell slowly spread out.
Huainan saw her opponent trying to use more force. She kept her knees steady, leaked the force to dodge the light blade, then turned and kicked the man straight in the chest.
The black boots on his feet scraped with a sizzling sound as Kunke barely steadied himself, staring intently at the person before him, his face full of disbelief under the mask.
“How is this possible?!”
This alpha had blocked his attack with just a crude, poorly made weapon? Although his own weapon was only a two-star light blade, it shouldn’t be so weak as to be stopped by a simple bone knife!
Huainan quickly scanned the room—there was only one enemy in front of her, and not far away were her grandfather and Thor lying in a pool of blood.
Seeing them bleeding on the floor, Huainan’s eyes instantly grew cold and fierce.
She suppressed her anger and worry, flipped the knife in her hand, and the snow-white blade reflected a chilling cold light. Just as she was about to strike, she let out a fierce growl:
“Ao Ting!”
“Roar—”
As soon as she finished, a black-and-white beast suddenly appeared above her head, its huge body roaring as it charged.
“What? S-class!” Kunke was terrified deep inside. Facing the lightning-fast icy claws, he rolled on the ground and immediately turned to run.
This girl was unbelievably tricky, and with a spirit beast whose power was comparable to her own body, he was no match! The mission intel was wrong—there was no useless alpha on this remote planet! This was obviously…
Kunke dodged the claws as the spirit beast brushed past him and rushed toward the door. He thought he had a chance to escape through the narrow doorway, but in the next second, a long tail like a steel whip struck him head-on.
“Pfft!” Pain exploded in his face as Kunke was whipped, spewing fresh blood onto the ground. Hearing more rushing sounds behind him, he barely raised his arm to block.
Huainan squinted, watching everything closely, and instantly understood the situation.
She leapt forward and engaged Ao Ting from two sides, in a flash of lightning and fire! Under Kunke’s stunned gaze, while releasing pheromones, she decisively stabbed her knife into his heart.
This was alpha-level suppression!
Such suppression only worked when the level gap between two sides was huge. Though it lasted just a moment, it was enough for Huainan.
“…You!” Kunke, his whole body stiffening, could only watch helplessly as the sharp bone blade flashed white and then easily pierced through his armor.
The hollow in his chest made him grimace in pain. He gasped desperately, trying to save his life by surrendering. But he hadn’t expected Huainan to be so decisive—she didn’t even ask questions before killing him.
“Ao Ting, finish him off.” Huainan kicked him toward Ao Ting and hurried to the back room.
There were more important people there!
She crouched down to check their injuries. Thor was well protected, but her grandfather… this elderly man with gray hair was unconscious in the blood, his thin fingers still tightly gripping Thor.
Seeing this, Huainan didn’t dare delay any longer and immediately carried them both away.
“Roar—”
In his final moments, Kunke could only faintly see the giant mouth opening wide…