010 Fire Sun Terracotta Warriors, Small Fragment Zone

More than half an hour passed swiftly, the brilliance fading from Song Chi's eyes as his expression turned somber.

"Could it really be this unlucky, launched into the Star Sea Hollow Zone on my first star field exploration?"

Tens of millions of years ago, during the Great Multiverse Shattering, fragments of the universe scattered widely across the vast expanse of the Broken Star Sea. Despite its size spanning light-years, the fragments couldn't completely cover the star sea, creating what was known as the Star Sea Void Belt—an area devoid of structures like floating continents, asteroid belts, or small debris belts.

In galactic terms, a star field with a diameter exceeding 10,000 light-years and lacking such internal structures—or having very few—is labeled a Star Sea Void Zone. Galactic civilizations generally avoid these zones because they offer extremely meager resources.

If Song Chi had indeed been thrust into such a zone, he would consider himself exceedingly unlucky.

However, luck was on his side this time. After over an hour of traveling at light speed, the sky cruiser finally detected a substantial debris field on its patrol radar.

Seeing this, Song Chi quickly redirected the shuttle towards the debris.

Although the value of a small fragment belt was the least among all resource points, far inferior to asteroid belts or floating lands, Song Chi was already elated. He knew from Xinhuo human civilization's official data that despite a low 5% mortality rate for first-time explorations of alien star fields, the remaining 95% of successful returnees often returned empty-handed, having occupied more than 70% of the available exploration time.

Therefore, Song Chi understood the preciousness of the debris field he now discovered.

Despite knowing that where there was a debris belt, a Star Sea Floating Land wasn't far away, Song Chi had no intention of seeking out such an unknown floating land. His goal was clear: to explore this debris field directly.

Even as a newly integrated fire-class shuttle, supported by his parents' investments and recent upgrades, it was a mere speck in a starry sea spanning light-years.

In textbooks, it was often stated that "near small fragments, there are always stars, seas, and floating lands," though "near" was a relative term; in actual distance terms, it was not feasible for a nether energy shuttle to reach within 24 hours.

Should Song Chi attempt to explore an unknown floating land, the likely outcome would be the 24-hour exploration window expiring before he could pinpoint its exact coordinates. Even if he were to miraculously find it, the time lost would severely limit his ability to search for resources. It made more sense to stay and explore the debris field before him.

While resources in the debris belt were indeed less rare compared to planetary belts and floating lands, they were currently Song Chi's tangible opportunity.

Moreover, considering the presence of Furious Tiger mining vehicles in the market, their unit price was uneconomical, necessitating a quantity-over-quality approach.

The Sky soon arrived at the outer edge of the debris belt, confirming it matched the small debris belt described in his textbooks. Song Chi suppressed his anxiety.

He first retrieved the "Basic Civilian Exoskeleton" from the shuttle's hold. After donning it, he activated the Sky's sole special feature, the "Fire Sun Terracotta Tree."

Consuming a thousand nether energy points from the pool, Song Chi summoned ten Fire Sun terracotta warriors, each over two meters tall with fiery red bodies.

Surveying the ten warriors standing at attention, exuding a fiery aura, Song Chi's satisfaction was evident.

These ten first-level Fire Sun terracotta warriors would provide the confidence he needed to explore this small fragment zone. Despite being only first-level, they could handle up to five first-level alien creatures, ensuring the Sky's safety.

[Name: Fire Sun Terracotta Warriors]

[Quality: White] [Level: First Level (Upper Limit: Second Level)]

[Level: LV10]

[Active Ability: None]

[Passive Ability: Fiery as Fire (Deals additional burning damage as a fire-attributed warrior)]

[Explanation: A product of a forgotten civilization, with average quality.]

Deploying the ten warriors evenly around him for protection, Song Chi's brow furrowed momentarily before the Sky beneath his feet disappeared, sucked into the Xinhuo Ancestral Aperture between his brows.

In the next instant, Song Chi and his ten Fire Sun terracotta warriors found themselves exposed to the open starry sky. A wave of discomfort washed over him, instinctively causing him to hold his breath.

As a Level 4 Guidance Technique and Level 0 Life Level Star Sea human, Song Chi couldn't acclimatize to the special environment of the starry sky. Only once his life level reached Level 1 could he remain in the starry sky for extended periods.

Thankfully, the starry sky lacked gravity, and early detection results showed no signs of special spores or floating viruses. The eleven figures floated quietly.

Instructing the Fire Sun Terracotta Warriors to remain in place, Song Chi vanished. Two minutes later, he reappeared, summoning the Sky once more.

This time, the cabin housed several large objects.

Inside, Song Chi loaded the "Special Exploration Instrument for Mining Vehicles" onto the "Furious Tiger Type 1 Floating Land Mining Vehicle," alongside two Fire Sun Terracotta Warriors. Taking control of the Sky, he slowly navigated into the nearby small debris field.

Stretching tens of thousands of kilometers, the belt contained debris from stars large and small, posing collision risks if not navigated carefully. Consequently, cruising at light speed wasn't feasible here.

Fortunately, there was no need to survey piece by piece. The onboard intelligence of the Furious Tiger mining vehicle, equipped with exploration instruments, would automatically detect any special mineral resources within a ten-kilometer radius of the Sky, providing timely alerts.

As they moved forward cautiously, the onboard intelligence sporadically chimed in with notifications, but Song Chi never halted the Sky.

"Detected radiation from 'black copper' on the left fragment at coordinates xxxxx, initial estimate around one hundred kilograms."

"Detected radiation from 'fine iron' on the medium-sized fragment ahead at coordinates xxxxx, initial estimate around fifty kilograms."

"Left coordinates... detected radiation from 'gold,' initial estimate around two hundred kilograms."

Despite numerous prompts from the onboard intelligence, the resources they detected were mostly ordinary, with pitiful reserves. None reached the ton-level and were scarcely above three hundred kilograms—hardly worth mining.

It was important to note that each stop of the Nether Energy Shuttle, decentralizing the Furious Tiger mining vehicle for mining, took no less than half an hour, sometimes exceeding an hour. Extracting such meager quantities of ordinary mineral resources, hardly justifying the effort or expense.

As for directly towing the shuttle alongside ore-bearing fragments, that capability was exclusive to nether energy spaceships and above.