Ch 125: The Cannon Fodder Won’t Play Along Anymore [QT]

【Streamer, you must make sure to have good security. These flowers are truly too valuable. If someone were to have bad intentions, what a pity it would be.】

Among the many comments, this one caught Mu Xing’s special attention.

In fact, he had already thought about this.

The longer he stayed in this world, and with the continued livestreams, the clearer Mu Xing understood the value flowers represented on Red Moon.

With just a single rose it was fine. That rose was too rare and precious, and digging it up would be extremely difficult.

There were also hundreds of StarNet guards watching over it, so it was very safe.

But the addition of this patch of gardenias was different.

Valuable, yet just small single plants—easy to take, easy to transport.

Right now, Red Moon was like a child flaunting a treasure in the marketplace.

And in the future, there would be even more flowers.

With Red Moon’s current armed strength, if even a moderately strong star pirate group came, they might not be able to resist.

After some thought, Mu Xing submitted an application to the Federal Government to establish a Red Moon Planet Self-Defense Force.

He also submitted an additional request for Federal protection—as a taxpayer, he applied for a permanent Federal military garrison to guard the planet’s safety.

Given Red Moon’s current situation, many soldiers would certainly be willing to come.

Three days later, when white gardenias covered both sides of the road, the first stationed legion sent by the Federation arrived at Red Moon in their starships.

As the owner of Red Moon, Mu Xing personally went to meet them.

Seeing the man at the head, he gave a surprised “huh,” hesitated, then tapped his wristband to confirm the information he had seen earlier.

“I remember, the commander of this stationed legion was supposed to be surnamed Han?”

Han Jing took off his gloves, bent slightly, and extended his hand. “Colonel Han Jing of the Federal Third Legion. Accepting Red Moon’s commission, for the next five years, I will be responsible for guarding Red Moon’s peace. Young Master Mu Xing, long time no see.”

Mu Xing looked up at him. “Han Jing?”

Han Jing spoke in a low voice. “The last time, the situation was special. I had no choice but to use another name. I apologize.”

Oh, so he wasn’t that scumbag after all, Mu Xing thought.

He didn’t feel much anger at being deceived. Judging by Han Jing’s injuries from last time, it was clear he must have been on a dangerous mission.

In that situation, not daring to reveal his real name in front of strangers wasn’t excessive.

On the contrary, because Han Jing wasn’t the scumbag from the original story, Mu Xing’s impression of him actually improved.

He smiled, readily extending his hand. “Colonel Han Jing, I’ll be in your care from now on.”

*

For the Third Legion, which would be stationed on Red Moon for the next five years to protect its safety, Mu Xing was very generous.

Within less than a month of arriving, the soldiers of the Third Legion went in groups to the park under construction, walking down the gardenia path that millions of netizens had longed for but never obtained.

They even saw the one-of-a-kind miracle rose of the entire interstellar!

Of course, each person had to sign an agreement beforehand: they could not damage any plants or pick any flowers. Otherwise, Mu Xing would take them straight to Federal Court.

But as it turned out, he had worried too much.

These tall and sturdy soldiers, when walking near the flowers, all carried themselves with extreme care. Even their steps slowed, as if afraid the wind from their movements would disturb the blossoms.

Let alone actually touching them.

When they left, Mu Xing even gifted each of them a packet of rose tea.

This was something money couldn’t buy!

Every single soldier of the Third Legion couldn’t resist posting about it on their social accounts.

Not only did they attract the envy of countless comrades, they also, unsurprisingly, sent the topic straight to the top of StarNet’s trending list.

【I’m jealous, I’m envious. I want to see the flowers too, I want to take photos with them myself.】

【??? Why didn’t I apply to military school back then? Why didn’t I become a proud Federal soldier? Otherwise I would have had a chance to go to Red Moon!】

【Soldier of the Third Legion who didn’t get a slot here. Those guys, once vacation comes, I’m going to fleece them hard!】

【Wuwuwu, I saw the photos. I want to go too.】

【Rose tea! I’m jealous. Is that really made from the flowers? Can it be bought?】

【Excuse me, if I enlist now, is it still in time?】

【The gardenias are so beautiful. Every day I go into the livestream just to breathe them in. They look gorgeous and smell wonderful. Sitting for a while makes me feel dizzy.】

【Dizzy from the fragrance? I also think they’re beautiful, but I can’t handle the smell—it’s too strong.】

【I just love this scent. It’s amazing.】

Han Jing even specially visited the Mu family, once to express his gratitude for saving his life, and again to apologize for concealing his name back then.

The Mu family didn’t mind much. On the contrary, knowing that someone familiar—and someone who owed them a debt of life—was stationed on Red Moon gave them much more peace of mind.

*

By May, Mu Xing had successively planted large swathes of evening primrose, trumpet creepers, Chinese roses, roses, daisies… and even dug out a massive artificial lake, filling it with transplanted lotus leaves.

If all went smoothly, from this May until October, the park would never lack blooming seasonal flowers.

And with Iya present, accidents simply couldn’t happen here.

In fact, with the little Iya’s presence, the flowers here bloomed even more vigorously and lasted far longer than normal.

All kinds of green trees used for beautification and environmental improvement were transplanted directly as grown trees regardless of cost. The price was relatively high, but with Mu Xing’s daily livestream income of at least seven figures, it was still affordable.

Willing to spend money, and with tireless intelligent robots working day and night without pause, the greening and construction of Red Moon Star advanced at a frightening speed.

By early July, the flower park had already taken basic shape.

Inside, aside from pavilions and benches placed at intervals for rest, there were no other buildings in the park. The only infrastructure was the irrigation system and roads.

To preserve mystery and give the audience a surprise, after agreeing with them, Mu Xing shut down the progress livestream of the park more than half a month in advance.

Viewers could still watch other split-screen content.

For example, Red Moon Star had rented more intelligent robots, and the tree-planting team kept growing. The audience roughly calculated that with the current number of robots, Red Moon Star was gaining hundreds of thousands of new trees every day. And the team was still expanding nonstop.

There was also the demolition livestream. That was another team of robots, responsible for knocking down all the buildings in the old human settlements on Red Moon Star and hauling the debris away.

And of course, the courtyard at Mu Xing’s home, where the miracle rose grew—always the most popular content.

That flower’s blooming period was abnormally long.

But the viewers of the livestream had grown accustomed to the many irregularities around Mu Xing.

For example, with flower seedlings bought from the same place, his would survive and bloom one hundred percent of the time, while theirs would one hundred percent fail.

[It makes sense. If we could all do it, flowers wouldn’t be so rare.] That was how the audience thought.

*

On the first night the park was completed, Mu Xing walked inside alone.

All around was lush greenery. The yellow sands were blocked out, and this had become the most beautiful pure land on Red Moon Star.

Mao Mao and Mai Mai sat on his shoulders, their eyes sparkling as they looked at everything.

“This is the first park.”

Mu Xing looked a little troubled as he glanced at the two little fairies. “I was thinking of giving it a name. Should it be Mao Mao Park, or Mai Mai Park?”

The two little Iya froze.

They looked at each other, huddled together as if whispering in discussion.

After a while, Mao Mao fluttered his little wings, flying up to Mu Xing’s eye level. “Mai Mai and I think it could be called Xingxing Park!”

Mu Xing shook his head. “No, that won’t do. All these flowers are thanks to Mao Mao and Mai Mai’s effort. And the money for the construction is also what Mao Mao and Mai Mai earned.”

He firmly refused to use his own name.

Hearing this, Mao Mao and Mai Mai looked at each other again, unable to suppress the excitement in their hearts.

Mu Xing watched as the two little Iya crowded together again, whispering.

After a while, Mao Mao put on a serious face and said solemnly, “I’m a gentleman, and I’m already a grown-up. I can’t fight with a little girl who can’t even speak properly. Let’s call it Mai Mai Park.”

Mai Mai’s eyes sparkled.

Mu Xing nodded. “Alright, Mai Mai Park it is!”

Mao Mao felt both happy and a little sour. He flew to Mu Xing’s ear, gave him a quick kiss, and seriously emphasized, “Then the next time we build another park, it has to be called Mao Mao Park!”

How could anyone have the heart to refuse that?

Naturally, Mu Xing agreed with a smile.

At that moment, he was standing on a stone bridge.

Below was the shimmering artificial lake under the scarlet moonlight. On the surface, green lotus leaves overlapped one another, with little pointed buds peeking up between them.

Mai Mai, who had won the naming rights, was clearly delighted. Mu Xing watched her small figure land on a lotus leaf, her tiny body darting among them, leaving behind trails of green light.

She suddenly opened her mouth.

Mu Xing couldn’t hear a sound, but he could guess she was chanting something.

He didn’t pay it much attention, leaning on the railing as he admired the night scenery.

The scarlet moonlight suddenly grew brighter.

A breeze picked up.

It blew away the clouds, and the layers of lotus leaves swayed noisily.

Mu Xing noticed a flicker of green light.

At first, from a distance, he thought it was summer fireflies.

Soon, one by one, they gathered into a cluster.

From all directions, they converged here.

Mu Xing couldn’t help standing upright—because he saw clearly that these were not fireflies.

But one after another, with crystal-clear wings, Iya fairies summoned by Mai Mai.

❣╰(⸝⸝⸝꒳⸝⸝⸝)╯❣