My name is Zhang Ga.
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself sitting in a completely unfamiliar room.
My last memory was of working overtime at the office until the dead of night. A sharp pain had erupted in my chest, and then, darkness.
From the looks of it, I must have... transmigrated.
And, judging by the metal and monitors everywhere, into a hardcore sci-fi setting.
I was alone in the vast cockpit, the cold light from the various instrument screens stabbing at my temples.
"Captain, I am your artificial intelligence assistant, Nightlight," a mature, calm female voice sounded in my ear. "You have been in stasis for six hours. Your breathing was stable, with deep sleep accounting for 33% of the duration. Welcome back to the Prosperity Blossom Frontier Development Base."
"I was forced to awaken you because the base has detected a squadron of Fortune-class frigates entering the edge of our detection range," Nightlight continued. Her voice was pleasant, but utterly devoid of inflection, lacking a human touch. What's the deal? This sounds worse than the text-to-speech AI on my phone back home, I thought. "Please issue your orders."
I collected myself. Based on my thousands of hours of gaming experience, the game always starts you off with some low-level mobs as a sort of tutorial. So, these frigates must be the "small fry" of this tutorial.
"What's the panic?" I said, mimicking the demeanor of the old captains from the movies, trying my best to make my voice sound steady and magnetic, even though I could feel my knees starting to tremble. "Nightlight, report the base's current armaments and available units."
"Acknowledged, Captain," Nightlight replied, her voice as flat as ever.
A massive three-dimensional star chart unfolded before me, displaying our lonely "Prosperity Blossom" base. Next to it, a few pathetic icons blinked.
"The Prosperity Blossom base currently possesses:
Three 'Get Rich Quick' class mining vessels, currently operating in Mining Sector Two. Hull integrity is at 98%. Their mining lasers are... hmm, incapable of inflicting effective damage on starship shields.
One 'Years of Abundance' class repair barge, docked at Bay Seven. Primarily used for repairing structural damage.
One 'Hall of Gold and Jade' class armed shuttle, which is your current vessel. It is equipped with two small-caliber pulse laser cannons. Recommended use: scaring off space rabbits or firing a celebratory salute for your departures."
As I listened to Nightlight's report, a muscle in my cheek began to twitch uncontrollably.
"Wait... that's it? Where's my fleet? My star destroyer? I'd even take a tutorial-grade destroyer at this point!"
"Captain, the primary mission of the Prosperity Blossom Development Base is resource acquisition and stellar development, not military operations. According to the previous captain's log, the core philosophy of this base is: 'Peace is Prized, Get Rich Quietly'."
I nearly coughed up blood all over the control panel. "Peace is prized? Then what are those 'Fortune-class' frigates doing here? Have they come to 'get rich' with us?"
"Based on data analysis, the Fortune-class frigate is a model commonly used by interstellar pirates. It is characterized by decent firepower and weak armor, and a preference for extorting merchant vessels and harassing remote colonies. There is a 97.3% probability that their intention is to commit armed robbery against this base," Nightlight stated, her tone as placid as if she were commenting on the weather.
On the screen, the squadron marked in red had grown considerably larger. I could even make out the giant, crudely painted skull and crossbones on their ugly hulls. The three frigates were advancing in a standard V-formation, making a beeline for us.
"Hold on! This isn't how I imagined it! Isn't this tutorial difficulty a bit too high?!" Cold sweat instantly beaded on my forehead. These weren't small fry; these were the real deal, and they were here for my life! My most powerful weapon was a shuttle used for shooting at rabbits, and I was up against three bona fide warships!
"Nightlight! Immediately! Right now! Recall all mining ships to port! No! Don't come to port! They'll be sitting ducks!" I yelled, all my feigned composure gone. "Have them find the biggest asteroid in the mining field and hide behind it! Shut down all signals, play dead!"
"Order received. Notifying 'Get Rich Quick' vessels One, Two, and Three. However, Captain, the probability of this evasive maneuver being detected is 82%."
"It's still better than flying right into them!" I stared intently at the screen, my mind racing. To die from overwork, only to transmigrate and get blown into space dust by pirates less than a day later? Was my, Zhang Ga's, luck really this bad?
No, I couldn't just sit here and wait to die. I'm a man who's played thousands of hours of strategy games! My theoretical knowledge is maxed out!
"Nightlight!" I grit my teeth. "Get the 'Years of Abundance' repair barge moving!"
"Please specify the command."
"Have it... have it hide in the shadow of the main communications tower!"
"...Order executed. Captain, I must remind you that the repair barge has no armaments, and its speed is lower than that of the 'Get Rich Quick' class mining vessels."
"I know!" I glared at the three approaching pirate ships as a crazy idea began to form in my mind. "Nightlight, on my authority, open a communications channel to the approaching ships!"
"On what authority?"
I cleared my throat, trying to recall every gangster movie I'd ever seen. I lowered my voice and growled, "Tell them: 'This is Zhang Ga of the Prosperity Blossom Heavy Armed Mining Conglomerate, Huaxia Division. You've crossed the line, friends.'"
"Transmitting," Nightlight executed my command without a trace of emotion.
A moment later, a gruff voice, crackling with static, boomed through the cockpit.
"Hah? What the hell is a 'Prosperity Blossom' Conglomerate? The name's 'One-Eye' of the Blood Skulls! If you know what's good for you, hand over everything valuable in this base. Otherwise, my ion cannons won't be so polite!"
He took the bait!
I forced back my fear and let out a cold laugh into the comms. "One-Eye? You dare to run a crew with only one eye? I don't care what kind of skull you are. Get your scrap heaps out of my mining sector, now! Or you'll get a taste of my 'Base-Grade' defense matrix!"
"'Base-Grade' defense matrix? Hahaha!" A grating laugh erupted from the other end. "You think I was born yesterday? If this dump of yours had something that nice, we wouldn't be here! Boys, let's go! Blast open that tin can they call 'Prosperity Blossom'! I want to see what kind of 'prosperity' we can find inside!"
The communication was unilaterally cut.
"Captain, the enemy is accelerating. They will be within main cannon range in approximately seven minutes," Nightlight's voice was like a bucket of ice water over my head.
"Damn it! The bluff failed!" I slammed my fist on the armrest, but immediately pulled myself together.
"Nightlight! Activate all of the base's searchlights, signal lamps, and engineering lights! All of them, full power! Make the whole base look as bright as a festival!"
"This command... is irregular. What is its purpose?"
"Don't ask! Just do it! And turn on the base's external broadcast system. Put it on a loop... play 'Good Luck Comes'!"
Nightlight went silent for two seconds, apparently processing this absurd command.
"...Order confirmed. Activating all base lighting systems. Searching for and playing the specified audio track."
The next second, an upbeat, festive tune blasted through the cockpit's internal speakers.
"Good luck comes, wishing you good luck, good luck brings joy and love..."
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, chanting a mantra in my head: Fortune favors the bold, and only the crazy survive!
Come on, One-Eye. Let's see just how crazy a wage slave who's already worked himself to death once can be.