Picking Up An Alpha On Garbage Star - Chapter 43

Although the enemy fortress was blown to smithereens with missiles, there was still the task of cleaning up the battlefield. One person had to make sure there were no enemy survivors left to counterattack, and any useful supplies remaining had to be salvaged and brought back.

Adhering to the traditional virtues of diligence and thriftiness, Xie Yu didn’t hesitate to lead his team in scavenging supplies from the hands of the enemy, especially canned food and dehydrated vegetables. Despite the fact that interstellar pirates were constantly hiding like rats playing cat and mouse, nobody knew where they were lurking, but their quality of life was much higher than theirs.

“Everyone search carefully. If we can find more food, I’ll treat everyone to an extra meal today,” Xie Yu transmitted this message to each pilot through the communication device.

Laughter erupted among the crew.

That’s how it was in war. When things were going smoothly, they could enjoy extra meals and drinks. When things got tough, they’d charge ahead with a nutritional supplement clenched between their teeth.

Pei An tapped on the command console and reached out his hand to Xie Yu for the communication device. Without hesitation, Xie Yu handed it over to Pei An.

“Everyone, this is Pei An.”

Thanks to Xie Yu’s enthusiastic promotion, not only the soldiers under his command but even the military dogs knew that their legion had recruited a formidable technical expert named Pei An. They would address him as “General Pei” with respect.

“Please carefully inspect the enemy fortress for any usable equipment. Whether it’s a photon brain, a holoscreen, or a smart processor, even if it’s just a circuit board, please bring it back if it’s still functional.”

Xie Yu rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Are you being thrifty?”

Pei An lightly nodded and explained, “Interstellar pirates have been fighting the Empire for so many years, yet they still possess such a large force. We can’t even determine whether the pirates have grown stronger or weaker compared to before. Their resources should be quite abundant. It wouldn’t be illegal for me to use some of their equipment.”

The crew on the bridge burst into laughter.

“Boss, this is absolutely reasonable and legal!” Claude sat in the first officer’s position, slapping his thigh with laughter.

Lika gave Pei An a thumbs-up. “It’s still General Pei who’s amazing!”

After the fortress had been bombed into smoke and rubble, the pilots had to wear protective face masks and carry their own oxygen supply when descending into the fortress to inspect it.

One of the pilots lifted the metal shell of the bombed fortress and crawled into the space no more than twenty square meters. He first confirmed that all the interstellar pirates inside were as dead as could be, then began to search.

There were a total of four interstellar pirates inside. It had been quite a while since they had fired, and the second wave of missiles was about to come. These four interstellar pirates didn’t have time to react and were all blown to pieces. Their smart processors on their wrists were as dead as they were.

He checked the photon brain again, and it hadn’t completely died out yet. It still felt usable, although he didn’t know how to operate it. He decided to dismantle both the photon brain and the mainframe and consolidate them together. Then he called down his partner to help carry things.

These interstellar pirates hadn’t been on land for a long time, so there was definitely a shortage of food. He shone his overhead flashlight around and found a refrigerator in the corner. This refrigerator was luckier than those four interstellar pirates. Aside from being covered in a thick layer of dust from the explosion, everything inside was intact. There were still about one-third of the canned goods stock in the refrigerator.

“It looks like we’ll be having an extra meal today,” he excitedly took out the cans and pulled out a pocket from his waist, gently placing the cans one by one into it.

“These interstellar pirates really know how to enjoy life! They even have canned fruits.”

In their military, they only provided nutritional supplements. If they wanted to eat canned food, they had to buy it themselves on land. Except for what they bought themselves, any additional amenities came from the commander’s own pocket.

The commander never mentioned this to them, only instructing logistics to load supplies onto the warship. But everyone knew it was the commander who used his own money to improve their rations. They weren’t stupid; with a little inquiry, they knew that besides the Third Army and the First Army, no other units received such treatment.

Among canned goods, canned fruits were rare because they were not considered main meals, at most just an extra or dessert. The interstellar pirates really knew how to enjoy themselves, staying in this broken 20-square-meter place and still having canned fruits to eat.

“Peach canned fruit, a classic!”

“Strawberry canned fruit, bring it back to the medical room for the doctors. There are quite a few omegas; maybe they’ll like it.”

“This is loquat. Loquat is good for the throat. Let’s see who can make use of it.”

Unconsciously, he had already arranged the destinations for these canned fruits.

“This is… caviar?”

Since he wasn’t entirely sure, he double-checked, and indeed, it was caviar.

“Are these interstellar pirates on vacation? They even have caviar!”

This small box of caviar was worth more than all the cans combined. He took out the remaining ones, a total of three boxes of caviar.

“This is really rare!” he sighed, wiping the three boxes of caviar on his clothes before putting them in his pocket.

What if they got damaged when placed with those cans? He had to put these three boxes of caviar in his pocket and give them to General Pei.

He was a pilot of the KM-008 fighter jet. The KM-008 needed a different type of energy oil, and the commander didn’t hide the reason from them. They all knew that the energy oil for KM-008 was provided by General Pei. If General Pei didn’t provide the energy oil, for safety reasons, the commander wouldn’t let them use the energy oil from Xihua Company’s No. 71. So, as pilots of the KM-008, they couldn’t participate in combat without General Pei.

For every pilot of the KM-008, General Pei was their deity.

“Lao Geng, did you find something? Do you need me to help you carry it?” His partner crawled in from outside.

“General Pei instructed us to dismantle any usable equipment and bring it back. I found that their photon brains are still usable, so I dismantled them. You carry them back.” Lao Geng himself carried a bag of canned goods. “I also found a lot of canned goods.”

His partner carried the photon brain and the mainframe. “No wonder our ambush went so smoothly. I think these interstellar pirates just treat this place as a leisure base.”

The two of them loaded the supplies onto the fighter jet, sat back in their seats, and started the jet towards the main ship.

On the way back, Lao Geng couldn’t wait to boast, “I found three boxes of caviar here! I want to give the caviar to General Pei!”

“Your luck is amazing!” His partner looked at Lao Geng with surprise. “We’ve been floating in space for a long time, and we haven’t found anything good to give to General Pei. Caviar is indeed great, and it’s confiscated goods, so it’s very meaningful!”

However, Pei An was on the command ship Blaze, under the command of Captain Pang Li. The fighter jets had to fly back to the Underworld, so it seemed they would have to ask the captain to help with the transfer.

“After we return, I’ll go find the captain and ask him to help,” Lao Geng said gleefully.

After the supplies brought back by each fighter jet were not handed over for centralized distribution, they were distributed by the participating personnel themselves, but a record of confiscated supplies would be made.

When Lao Geng was tallying the supplies, he had already arranged all the canned fruits he had brought back, leaving none for himself and his partner.

“Captain, I also confiscated three boxes of caviar and want to give them to General Pei. Can you help take them to the Blaze?” Lao Geng took out the three boxes of caviar, wiped them clean, and presented them.

Although he had told his partner that he wanted to give the caviar to Pei An, Lao Geng still felt a bit nervous. Pei An could procure so much energy oil; would he value these three boxes of caviar?

Captain Pang Li smiled kindly. “Why ask me to transfer them? You can go yourself.”

Lao Geng widened his eyes, stuttering as he spoke, “I… I go… myself?”

Pang Li said, “General Pei is very kind. If I inform him, he’ll see you. Do you want to go to the Blaze to see him?”

“Of course!” Lao Geng was excited.

Pang Li sent a message to Pei An, briefly explaining the situation.

Receiving more than one similar message, Pei An sighed. It seemed he couldn’t quite handle everyone’s enthusiasm.

There was more than one person with the same idea as Lao Geng. Among the fighter jets participating in the battle today, there were as many fervent fans of Pei An as there were KM-008 pilots.

Of course, others weren’t any less enthusiastic than Lao Geng and his partner, especially when they learned that Pei An had been working tirelessly for days on end to inspect and repair military equipment. A group of grown men were so touched that they were almost in tears.

These people’s thoughts were simple: they wanted to give whatever good things they had to Pei An, and not just Pei An, but also the various technical personnel he brought with him. Many of the confiscated supplies this time were given to them.

“It’s troublesome to meet one by one. How about this, I’ll set a specific time for representatives of your fans to meet you all together. They can give you their gifts, and you can accept them all,” Xie Yu was very happy to see this harmonious scene, and he made it happen.

However, to save time, Xie Yu only allocated half an hour for the meeting and limited it to ten spots.

They had destroyed the hiding places of the nearby interstellar pirates’ eyes. Soon, those interstellar pirates would realize that, in order for their established battle plan to succeed, they needed to immediately rush to the next battlefield after gathering here.

During the operation, time was of the essence, and there wasn’t much time available to let everyone meet Pei An.

Fortunately, Xie Yu set quotas, so if others couldn’t come, the gifts would be handed over to Pei An by those who could.

These people were more enthusiastic one by one. When Pei An stepped into the conference room prepared by Xie Yu, the enthusiastic applause continued uninterrupted for several minutes.

Pei An: Suddenly developing social anxiety.

The people in the Star Organization had evolved from initially wanting to ask him for autographs every time he achieved something, to just marveling for a moment and then returning to normal. After all, they had gotten used to it after a long time.

But the people under Xie Yu’s command had an almost fanatical admiration for technical personnel. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be shouting “Dad” and “Mom” at them. He was a bit worried. If these people also started calling him “Dad,” he still didn’t want to be a dad at his current age. In the interstellar era, people’s average lifespan had extended to over a hundred years. Being a dad in his twenties was still too young.

But if there really was a child connected by blood, it might not be bad. In his previous life, all his relatives had died, leaving none behind. In this life, Pei Ruyu hadn’t been with him for long either. Having a relative would be a very happy thing.

Pei An was taken aback, then shook his head. Forget it, why think so much? It would be better to just tell Xie Yu and ask the officers on the Blaze to stay calm.