“Mr. Su Mo, what a coincidence! I didn't expect to run into you here again. The washing machine you sent me last time works great. I haven't had a chance to thank you yet.”

A hint of a smile appeared on Jia Lan's otherwise cold face, completely dispelling the aloofness she had previously projected.

“It was nothing. What are you doing here?”

“It's because we are also participating in this operation.”

Jia Lan didn't hide anything from Su Mo.

Just then, the mechanical sphere floated over and stood between Su Mo and Jia Lan, saying in a warning tone,

“Hey kid, don't get so close, back away a little.”

Su Mo didn't mind and scrutinized the adorable mechanical flying sphere with great interest.

“Jia Lan, this is?”

Jia Lan smiled, reached out her hands, and hugged the mechanical flying sphere. Then, she said to Su Mo,

“Mr. Su Mo, please don't mind him. Xiao Zhou doesn't have any bad intentions.”

“Xiao Zhou? Wait, could this be that...?”

Su Mo muttered to himself, suddenly recalling something. He looked at the mechanical flying sphere in disbelief.

“Yes.”

Jia Lan didn't hide it from Su Mo, though she didn't explicitly state it either.

Su Mo felt his worldview tilting. He remembered how ruthless and tyrannical the out-of-control AI Black Zhou had been, and now the contrast was so great.

“Hey kid, what's your problem? Just because you're strong and a little handsome doesn't mean you're all that. Go cool off somewhere else and don't even think about hitting on Jia Lan.”

Xiao Zhou was extremely protective at this moment, as if afraid his treasure would be stolen.

The more Su Mo listened, the more awkward he felt. Was this guy scolding him or praising him? Why did his thinking seem so off the rails?

Of course, Su Mo wouldn't argue with him. Others might not know its identity, but he was well aware.

This guy used to be Jia Lan's father. It was perfectly normal for him to protect his own daughter.

However, Su Mo also noticed a problem. This exploration of the Titan ruins likely had a high chance of success. Otherwise, Jia Lan and the others wouldn't have participated in the operation and brought this guy along.

Su Mo really wanted to ask Jia Lan for information about this. Given their relationship, Jia Lan would probably reveal some of it to him.

But there were too many people present, and it wasn't the right time.

Especially since Su Mo noticed that Xiu Lisi, who had been about to leave, was now staring at him from the crowd.

So Su Mo asked, “I have some things to take care of and will be leaving soon. I'll look for you to chat later. Is that convenient?”

“No!”

Xiao Zhou directly rejected him.

“Mr. Su Mo, please don't mind him. It's convenient for me. If you need anything, you can find me in the C1 living area.”

Jia Lan reached out and covered Xiao Zhou's mechanical mouth, replying with a smile.

“Okay, then goodbye. Xue, let's go.”

Su Mo turned his head and said to Qian Chengxue beside him.

“Okay!”

Qian Chengxue followed Su Mo and left directly.

Xiu Lisi stared at Su Mo's departing back, his eyes growing sharper. Although this exploration mission was for the entire GT department,

there was still a difference in who found the clues first.

Xiu Lisi had originally thought that since Wang Hai wasn't leading the team this time, he could really show his skills.

But now it seemed that this Su Mo was also a bit difficult to deal with, and he also had a very good relationship with the Hongji Empire remnants.

If he really managed to get some first-hand information, he could seize the initiative.

However, Xiu Lisi wasn't worried at all. So what if he gained a little advantage? He could just keep an eye on Su Mo and the others.

.....

On the other side, Su Mo and Qian Chengxue walked towards their rest quarters.

Along the way, Su Mo pondered and said to Qian Chengxue, “I feel like something's a little strange. This mission seems like it's being carried out by the entire GT department, but the internal competition is so intense. It even feels like there's a sense of division.”

“That's because it involves利益 (lìyì, interests). If it were purely a combat mission, you wouldn't have this feeling, and everyone would be united. But when利益 (lìyì, interests) are involved, the divisions between countries appear, and everyone will profit from their own groups. There's no way around it. After all, the Federation was only established recently, and the cohesion is still not enough.”

Qian Chengxue explained to Su Mo very intelligently.

“I understand.”

Su Mo thought about it and felt that what Qian Chengxue said made a lot of sense.

“Su Mo, you need to change your thinking now. You're now the leader of the Z district. To some extent, you're the leader of the Z district's operatives. In some matters, you need to lean towards the people of the Z district and strive for some利益 (lìyì, benefits) for the people of the Z district within a reasonable range.”

Qian Chengxue hesitated for a moment before reminding Su Mo.

“Okay, I'll try my best.”

Su Mo was very uncomfortable with this feeling. Although the leader enjoyed rights, he also had heavy responsibilities and obligations.

.....

---------------------------

Several days later, within the Kativalo Star System.

The Black Tooth fleet advanced in an orderly manner.

Inside the command room, a subordinate was reporting the situation to Auberry.

“Commander, we have been in the Kativalo Star System for five days. During that time, we released a total of 321 reconnaissance drones and dispatched sixty-four teams to different areas for reconnaissance. The feedback we're getting is a little problematic.”

The subordinate looked a little unnatural at the end.

“What's the problem?”

Auberry asked.

“Well, we roughly explored 15 passing planetary bodies, and the resources they contain are extremely scarce, basically what you would call a waste star.”

“I see.”

Auberry also felt that something was not right. Generally speaking, even in the worst case, they should at least find a level two or three resource star.

The planetary resources of this universe are actually graded. For example, a level two resource star primarily produces level two resources, and occasionally level three minerals or a very small number of level four minerals will emerge.

But a waste star is basically not even worthy of being called a level one resource star. It is filled with the most worthless soil and rock structures.

“Rich resource stars are not that easy to find. The exploration has only just begun. Are you already losing patience? Did you expect a second Zhi Gu planetary fortress to disintegrate in front of you, allowing you to scavenge at will?”

Spader suddenly said in a deep voice.

“No, Lord Spader.”

Everyone present replied quickly.

In fact, Spader was not surprised by this result at all. Gann had already given him a heads-up that this star system was unusually barren.

Suddenly, at this moment, the Black Tooth's alert system popped up a series of warning boxes.

“Warning, unidentified biological energy reaction detected.”

“Warning, unidentified object approaching the Black Obsidian.”

....

“What's the situation?”

Everyone in the command room was slightly stunned.

Auberry said, “Switch to the optical scanning device and capture the opponent's image to the greatest extent possible.”

“Yes, switching now.”

The operator responded immediately, quickly entering commands.

Soon, a blurry image was captured.

It showed a huge monster with wings, but overall very blurry, chasing a rather special small mecha.

After Spader squinted his eyes and finished watching, he roughly guessed what was going on.