Chapter 1: CH 1

Year 2202 C.E. of the Galactic Calendar.

Vega Interstellar Port.

From a small inconspicuous ship that was docked poured a sparse stream of people from the hatch. Following the guidelines, they made their way to the immigration inspection window to submit their applications.

A month ago, the Federation won a great victory against the Empire.

This victory unified the galaxy and ended the war.

The President of the Federation gave a victory speech and notified the whole nation to take a seven-day holiday to celebrate the unification victory.

Therefore, Zhang San, a civil servant, stayed up partying for several days and only slept for three or four hours yesterday. It was inevitable that he was lifeless and tired as he mechanically reviewed one document after another.

Their planet was located in a remote system with a small population, underdeveloped commerce and tourism. Only their agriculture was okay. Unfortunately the farmable areas were not too many and the rest of the land was still relatively barren, so few people traveled there.

The maximum number of visitors was less than 10,000.

It could be said to be such a back-water planet that even birds didn’t come there to shit.

So, how could a spy come here? He just needed to stamp documents and let people continue on their way.

He tapped the electronic stamp and said numbly, “Next.”

Pang.

A document popped up on the light screen.

[Name: Yan Xueshan]

[Age: 32 years old]

[Gender: male/beta]

The first thing he noticed was the photo. The person on it was so handsome that he woke up with a jolt.

It was said that the ID photo was the genuine way to test someone’s face value and there was no doubt that this man was very handsome, very distinctively handsome.

He had exquisite and delicate features, skin whiter than snow and the appearance of a gentle temperament.

This man’s genetics looked very poor, reminiscent of Chinese ethnicity from the ancient earth civilization you could see in the history textbooks, with a pair of sword eyebrows and starry eyes, while his hair and irises were as black as ink.

It had to be known that in the interstellar era, Earth immigrants for thousands of years blended with different ethnicities so this kind of appearance was very special and unique, making it stand out from the crowd.

Zhang San still raised his head to compare the photo with the actual person.

It was a great disappointment.

The man was dressed very poorly.

He wore a vest, shirt, with a frayed leather jacket, and jeans. It was a very outdated look, calling back to the style of about 20 years ago. It could also be seen with a glance that his clothing was very dusty, so it was clear that he came here to work on a farm.

There was always a shortage of labor on their planet, so every year farmers hired farmers from different planets to work for them.

Zhang San asked, “You have a Work Visa? What is your purpose of entry? What is your job? The location of your job?”

The man answered indifferently, “Purpose of entry is farming, Zone C Farm 48. I just bought it so it hasn’t been named yet.”

Ta-ta-ta.

Zhang San tapped on the keyboard, entered the necessary information, and said, “The toll fee is 10 yuan in Star coins.”

At the mention of the money, the poor man frowned and muttered, “I need money again…”

Zhang San thought to himself, ‘this amount of money shouldn’t be much, right?’

Zhang San waited for the man to take out the money, and unconsciously stared at the man’s hands.

This man had a beautiful pair of hands, with long fingers and knuckles of just the right length. His nails were also beautiful, pink and glistening.

The man took a long time to search for money, before he slowly said, “Wait a minute.”

Zhang San thought, ‘this person won’t try to run, right?’

This person was stuck for a while, and the people waiting in line behind him weren’t happy about it, as they began to talk to each other anxiously.

The man squatted down, opened his suitcase and rummaged through it.

Because the counter was in the way, Zhang San couldn’t see the contents of the suitcase.

At this point, Zhang San noticed the reaction of people in line who could see the contents of the man’s suitcase, like a stone thrown in water causing ripples, a strange tranquility quickly spread around this dusty man.

‘What was going on here?’ Zhang San thought.

Then the man stood up, casually handed over a small book and a medal, and asked, “I have this, can I get a discount or a reduction?”

Zhang San’s eyes widened and he held his breath.

He stood up suddenly, his drowsiness swept away as his back straightened into steel and he gave a military salute. “Salute to a hero of the Federation!”

This sentence was like a thunderbolt, making everyone present look over.

Everyone followed after him and also saluted, even a child who looked only three or four years old stretched out his chubby little hand to salute.

Feeling embarrassed, the man cheered up, raised his hand to return the salute, and asked again, “Can I get a discount?”

Zhang San blushed with excitement. “No! No! You are a decorated war hero, a S-level Mecha Master Sergeant! You have earned state benefits, there is no need to pay a toll.”

The man nodded. “Good, can I go then?”

Zhang San asked him coyly like a lovesick girl, “Can I, can I take a picture with you?”

The man refused indifferently. “It’s not convenient.”

Zhang San wasn’t discouraged as he spoke kindly, “Yeah, I went too far. It’s not convenient for you to take a photo with just anyone, right?”

He stood and saluted once again. “Well, I’ve dismissed the toll for you. Please, I wish you a smooth journey and a happy life on Planet Vega K37.”

The man replied, “Thank you.”

Then he took his suitcase and walked away without looking back.

People were still looking at his back.

“So that was a war hero, huh?”

“Fighter Mecha Master Sergeant? Isn’t that position only for city planets? It’s the first time I’ve seen one.”

“He’s so handsome, he’s so strong.”

“Soldiers are just different.”

“I saw it, his medal. It’s a Gold Star Medal, and you can only get it if you make first-class merit in the war.”

“Do you know what first-class merit is? Either it’s a martyr who made an important contribution, or someone who made a contribution that almost changed the course of the war. The total number of those medals awarded adds up to less than two hundred.”

“I don’t know who he is…”

Their whispers had nothing to do with Yan Xueshan anymore.

He had already retired from the military.

He joined the army at the age of eighteen and this year was his 15th year. His long service was because the war hadn’t ended before now and not because he was a war madman.

He had no intention of furthering his career in the military. He refused a promotion from the Marshal, and hadn’t even wanted to go to the military pension department. He insisted on retiring from the army, intending to find a quiet countryside and farm for the rest of his retirement.

No matter how much merit he had as a soldier in the past, he didn’t care. The moment he handed over his Major’s badge after he settled his pay, he decided to no longer be a soldier.

Leaving the Immigration Bureau, he took a Maglev bus that was about to be scrapped and slept inside the night before arriving at his farm.

The moment he stepped on the ground and saw the endless farmland that belonged to him, he felt extremely relaxed.

The stars of Vega’s residential region hung in the sky, emitting a dense, pinkish-blue light that shone warmly on him.

This was his farm!

This was the place where he planned to retire happily!

A life in paradise!

After some tidying up and settling, Yan Xueshan began to work on his farm.

He began to examine every piece of land he owned, determining where he could plant certain crops, where to plant fruit trees, and where to begin building an artificial lake. If he wanted to raise cattle and sheep, he also needed to find a place he could use for grazing.

Next came the purchase of farming tools and machinery.

The federal hero card was still very useful. He went to buy agricultural mechs and even though he bought them second-hand, he was given a 50% discount and reduced handling fee as well as follow-up maintenance service fee, saving him a total of 500,000 star coins.

Yan Xueshan was more moved with that than when he was decorated by the Grand Marshal, profoundly sighing that it was worth it for him to spill his blood and almost lose his life for the Federation!

Everything was in order and it would only take a week to arrive.

He didn’t hire a professional farm hand to work for him for the time being since he was ready to do the work himself. He even used his interstellar optic brain to study agricultural books every night.

Finally, the seeds arrived.

Yan Xueshan decided to test drive his agriculture mecha.

When he opened the warehouse and saw only the shadow of the mecha, for a moment he had the illusion of seeing the Artemis mecha that had been with him for 6 years.

The Artemis was an S-Class fighter mecha assigned to him by the government only after he rose to S-Class Mecha Master Sergeant.

A silver-blue mecha.

Every time she was activated in the launching bay, the micronuclear reaction engine on her chest lit up. In Yan Xueshan’s eyes, this sight was more beautiful than any stars.

If he had any regrets about his military career, it would be that he would never be able to ride his Artemis again.

He really missed her.

But since he chose to retire, he had to say goodbye to her.

Alas.

Maybe he’ll see his Artemis again in the future, on the TV news.

7:00 AM.

Uncle Qiao from the farm next door came to help. He had come over to say hello the day after Yan Xueshan arrived.

Uncle Qiao was in his fifties and had already finished sowing his fields for the year so he was very idle at home. Hearing that Yan Xueshan was a retired soldier and was farming for the first time, he was very enthusiastic about coming over and teaching him how to farm.

Uncle Qiao bragged with a smile on his face, “I’m not saying that I’m the best at farming on this planet but I am very good at driving agricultural mechas.”

Yan Xueshan: “Hmm.”

Turning to his mecha he adjusted it to soil plowing mode.

Uncle Qiao: “Remember to plow the interlaced ground. When you turn around and return, leave a row of distance, with some empty soil in the middle.”

“Open a straight line, it should be a straight line.”

Yan Xueshan: “Hmm.”

Uncle Qiao looked at his rusty movements and laughed, “Ha ha, the first time operating the mecha, isn’t it good? It’s the same as the first time I touched my mecha.”

Yan Xueshan thought to himself, none of the training machines he had at school had this kind of mechanical circuit. Eh, it was too old…

After Yan Xueshan finished plowing a piece of land, Uncle Qiao went to check if there was a place he didn’t plow well.

After going to take a look, he returned dumbfounded.

—He couldn’t find anything wrong.

Uncle Qiao slapped his head and exclaimed in amazement, “My goodness, have you really never plowed a field before? You’re really a genius at farming! Why did you run away to become a soldier? You should’ve become a farmer a long time ago.”

Yan Xueshan was quite happy with that so he smiled. “I also think I am very suitable for farming. I am so happy.”

With that, his first day of farming finished.

He went home and wanted to check his emails before going to bed.

Oh?!

Surprisingly, he received an email from Vega Bliss Matchmaking, informing him that several suitable matches had been found for him and asking when he was free to arrange a meeting between them.

Yan Xueshan replied to the email.

His goal before the decisive battle was:

After the final battle, he would go home, get married and retire.

Now only marriage was left to do.

When he bought the farm, he sought advice from a matchmaking company.

In the interstellar era, the number of human beings has skyrocketed.

Finding true love was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Just before he was about to turn off his optical brain and go to sleep, a message popped up on the screen, informing him that he had received a new message.

[From: Arthur]

[Content: Master, where are you now? My leave has finally been granted, and I would like to visit you.]

This tone, how respectful he was to his teacher! How warm and touching! Like nothing had happened!

Yan Xueshan was speechless.

Arthur was his comrade in arms and his disciple.

However, he wasn’t happy about Arthur coming over.

It’s a bit awkward.

Because Arthur slept with him the day before the final battle.

Not out of love.

Out of friendship.