A lot of capital is mining minerals in the asteroid belt, so it is really not surprising that starships appear here.
What's especially critical is that many starships are armed merchant ships - mining minerals requires protection by force, and transport ships must also be protected against robbery.
Is it rare? It’s really not rare at all. Minerals are quick to cash out and difficult to trace, so they are the favorite of most capital.
Even now, fighting and killing are common in the asteroid belt of Sky Blade Star.
However, the ordinary small forces no longer dare to easily participate in the battle, and those who dare to get involved are the giants.
What small forces can do is contract a mine and earn some hard money.
After Qu Jianlei came to Sky Hook, he deliberately collected information here. Thanks to Xiao Hu's help, he learned quite a lot.
The Star Thief actually chose this place as his base. To be honest, he was quite surprised.
He felt that with the current strength of the Star Pirates and the mine protection warships of some large forces, it would not be difficult to eliminate them.
So, is this another case of darkness under the lamp? Qu Jianlei is not sure whether his idea is correct.
But he can be sure that the location where these star thieves jumped is really not that close to the asteroid belt.
Generally speaking, it is best for starships to jump away from stars, otherwise it may bring uncontrollable risks.
Qu Jianlei has made many interstellar voyages, and the starship he is traveling on has to travel for at least a day and a half before he considers jumping.
Similarly, the end point of a starship's jump must not be near any stars that can maintain a journey of at least one and a half days.
But the end point of their current jump is only half a day's journey from the asteroid belt.
In other words, the Star Thieves are likely to have mastered more advanced or precise jump technology.
Realizing this, Qu Jianlei was really surprised. Can the technological level of the Star Thief be better than that of the Empire?
But technology is really hard to say. Accumulation is the basis, but occasionally variations are allowed.
Half a day later, three starships landed on an asteroid. The asteroid was not small, with a diameter of more than 500 kilometers.
The celestial phenomena around asteroids are extremely complex, and there are many ray sources of unknown origin, which can cause cognitive confusion to ordinary people.
After analysis, Qu Jianlei believed that such an environment could be considered to have hallucinogenic capabilities.
The starship passed through complex celestial phenomena and entered the asteroid, and it turned out that the natural environment on the asteroid was also very bad.
The weather is cold and cosmic rays are rampant. What's especially critical is that the asteroid doesn't even have an atmosphere.
"It's over two hundred degrees below zero, and it doesn't feel very cold," Qu Jianlei released his sense.
"That's because you're stronger," Xiaohu replied leisurely, "it's over two hundred degrees below zero. I have to warm it up before I can turn it on."
But to be honest, the asteroid chosen by the Star Thieves is quite telling.
The planet's rocks have high oxygen content, which is enough, and because the celestial phenomena are complex and there are not many minerals, no one cares about it.
There is a lack of water on the asteroid, but it doesn't matter. There are many awakened people with the water attribute in Star Thieves.
Of course, compared to the number of star thieves, there are still a few water-type awakeners, but can they be recycled?
Three warships landed in a wide gap, and a gate slowly rose from the stone wall of the gap.
This door is more than 100 meters high and more than 300 meters wide, and it rises very quickly.
Looking at the large hydraulic columns on both sides of the door and the diagonal traction cables, Qu Jianlei couldn't help but nod secretly.
Such a grand project is nothing in the empire, but if the Star Thieves can build it, it is obviously not a crude settlement.
After entering the gate, there is a cave inside, which is quite spacious and feels a bit like Tianfengxing dungeon.
Qu Jianlei walked down the gangway with a cane and looked around for a while before a C-level soldier came over with two people.
"Are you Tesla? Come with me!"
What's rare is that the Star Thieves actually have a security checkpoint, and Qu Jianlei's alloy crutches were inspected.
However, Xiaohu had already invaded the other party's network, and the hollow part of the crutch was not discovered.
Qu Jianlei's mental power can also affect the Star Thieves, but they are worried that some judgments are automatically made through the control system.
So let Xiaohu take action directly to save worry and effort.
After passing the security checkpoint, the C-class soldier handed Qu Jianlei to a scarred face and turned around and left.
Scarface is a reformed warrior with pitted faces, which makes him look very scary.
This man had a deep sense of hostility and didn't talk much. He rode a battery car and took Qu Jianlei away.
As he walked, Qu Jianlei realized that he still overestimated the Star Thieves, and the road became narrower and narrower.
However, being able to walk two or three kilometers means that there are many people living there, so he asked, "How many people are there here?"
Scarface replied in a sullen voice, "Almost eighty thousand."
Qu Jianlei was secretly stunned when he heard this. The scale of this star thief is not small. The key is that this star thief is not bad at all. He can dig out such a large underground city and has enough power lighting.
Not long after, Scarface took him to a large courtyard - a courtyard without a sky.
This is the maintenance department of Star Thief. Scarface gave him another access card, saying that you will follow me from now on.
Qu Jianlei was assigned to a four-person room, but it did have a separate bathroom.
There were originally two people in the four-person room, an old man and a middle-aged man, both of whom were ordinary people.
The middle-aged man was cold and indifferent, but the old man was relatively enthusiastic, especially after he knew that Tesla was a transformation warrior.
What happened to the lame leg? The strength of the reformed warrior is still stronger than that of ordinary people.
Qu Jianlei was not as indifferent as he was on the starship, chatting with the old man all the time.
Ultimately, he was more interested in the situation of the Star Thieves, but he didn't want to waste too much time.
When the old man learned that the other party was brought from the starship, he actually took the initiative to comfort him because he was also a captured maintenance engineer.
However, his evaluation of the Empire was very poor and he thought about many bad things. Instead, he felt that the Star Thieves were more humane.
Qu Jianlei couldn't stand listening anymore, "I'm just here to introduce you to the situation here."
The old man is quite enthusiastic and is willing to educate his new colleagues. The number of star thieves is less than 80,000, but less than half of them are star thieves' family members.
In other words, there are about 50,000 star thieves in total.
It is said that this is also a powerful force. If placed on Blue Star, it is enough to subvert the political power of a small or medium-sized country.
But the old man doesn't think this group of star thieves is very strong, mainly because the empire is too big.
Qu Jianlei thought about it and found that this was also the case.
For example, Blue Star's Wagner Group has a large number of people, and they are all desperadoes. But in the friction between big powers, what does it matter?
Therefore, the scale of this star thief is average at best, more than above, less than below.
Then the old man said that in this group of star thieves, there are at least four A-levels and more than ten B-levels.
Calculating this, the A-level and B-level stars in the Star Thieves team have a much higher probability of success than those in the Empire?
From a purely probability perspective, it is true. Without a population of 100,000, it is almost impossible to create an A-class.
But Qu Jianlei doesn't think so. Who are the Star Thieves? They are a group of extremely vicious gangsters!
To be a successful gangster is not easy. You have to be ruthless, not stupid, and have a little bit of luck.
There is a saying in China that most of the criminals in prison are smarter than ordinary people.
If you are not that smart, you will generally not be able to commit too many crimes.
As for luck, that's even more important. Being a star thief has a very strong survivor bias.
Star thieves who are not strong enough, especially those who are unlucky, would have died long ago.
So he asked again, "This
On such a large scale, doesn’t it have supreme protection?”
"Of course we have the Supreme One," the old man replied matter-of-factly, "otherwise how could we sustain such a big scene?"
At this moment, the middle-aged man spoke coldly, "If you don't want to die, don't bring up this topic."
Qu Jianlei snorted when he heard this, "I have to figure this out before I can develop a sense of belonging, right?"
His time was precious, so how could he bother to chat with these people? "A sense of belonging." The middle-aged man looked at him indifferently and said nothing.
But the old man shook his head, "Forget it, I won't mention it, but this one came here on his own initiative and has a good relationship with the superiors."
The one who took the initiative to join the Star Thief? Qu Jianlei glanced at the middle-aged man strangely. Was he the Star Thief's eyes and ears in the maintenance department?
Then there are some things that you shouldn't ask about. "I'm new here, can I go out for a walk in the yard?"
The old man nodded, "You can walk, but your legs are weak, so I'll walk around with you."
This is basically a lonely stronghold in space. Even if the star thieves are worried about the newcomers, they are not worried about them escaping.
The maintenance department's business was still very full. On the next day, Qu Jianlei was sent to check the ventilation system.
His work efficiency was recognized by the Star Thieves, and when he returned to the yard, Scarface's attitude became more friendly.
In the blink of an eye, Qu Jianlei had stayed in the Star Thieves' den for five days. Because he was dedicated to his work, no one paid attention to his comings and goings.
Through careful perception and Xiaohu's cooperation, he figured out the general situation here.
There is indeed a Supreme Star Thief. He doesn't know his name very well. This person is not currently in the lair.
Qu Jianlei originally wanted to wait for this person to come back before taking action here. After all, the Supreme Being should have more good things in him.
But on the sixth day, while he was repairing a mine car, he received a short notice asking him to repair a circulating water pump.
This water pump is very close to the energy power center and is specifically designed to cool the power center.
This is the opportunity! It is just right for his identity to disappear silently.
The power center of such a large lair cannot be made small. Not only is it tightly guarded, it also has two systems.
But this didn't stop Xiaohu. When Qu Jianlei was repairing the water pump, it output a series of error commands.
"The trend has begun, and it is expected to explode within twenty seconds." In the control room of the power center, the piercing alarm sounded non-stop. The three Star Thieves on duty looked ashen and entered various instructions quickly.
"Oops, the device is moving too slowly!"
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