On the observation deck of the flagship Star-Train Sweet-Spring No. 1, Pei Xuan stood with a warm mug of red-date tea in his hand, looking out at the newly completed rail junction linking System #80 to System #81.
Inside his dantian, eight miniature golden suns spun slowly in a neat circle around his central furnace core. Every time he took a breath, a gentle wave of Rank 8 Late Peak Star-Realm warmth flowed through his meridians, making the air inside the train cabin smell faintly like toasted grain and warm spring sunshine.
Just in front of his eyes, his translucent blue RTS Territory Screen flickered with the morning report:
“Three hundred and twelve trillion points in the bank,” Pei Xuan murmured, taking a slow sip of his tea. “Not bad. Even after paying for those five supernova pressure-cooker valves and ten million foot-massage tubs, the treasury is filling back up nicely.”
Beside him, Abacus Su pushed his round brass spectacles up his nose, his fingers flying across his golden abacus with a rapid clack-clack-clack.
“My Lord, the foot-massage resort in Systems #71 through #80 has already paid for itself three times over!” Abacus Su beamed, his eyes shining like two copper coins. “Yesterday alone, forty billion tourists from the neighboring sectors bought five-Note day passes! And Elder Jin Bao—our new Chief Water-Temperature Inspector—fined sixteen junior attendants fifty copper coins each because Pool #42 dropped from one hundred and four degrees to one hundred and three point eight! His loyalty is…
