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Zhi Wei went back to sleep, paying no further attention to Andre.
But Andre was in the middle of his work frenzy. Her indifference made him reflect for a moment... and then he worked even harder!
Zhi Wei would have preferred if he slacked off, but Andre refused. She wasn’t even paying him, yet he remained energetic, cheerful, and diligent!
Just the night before, they had only managed to send away all the reporters and representatives from organizations trying to recruit Zhi Wei by around 2 a.m., and it was nearly 3 a.m. by the time they finally slept.
Yet at 9:30 in the morning, Andre showed up again.
This time, he didn’t climb over the balcony—he knocked on the door.
The moment he knocked, the AI system inside the room started blaring, disturbing Zhi Wei’s sleep.
Still half-asleep, she rubbed her face, sat up in bed, and took a moment to gather her thoughts before finally waking up properly.
She grabbed one of the outfits she’d asked the hotel staff to buy for her earlier, changed into it, and yawned as she opened the door.
Andre was holding a thick sheet of paper, waving it excitedly as he stepped inside.
If the room had been any bigger, he might have dashed in like a newspaper boy, swinging it around with flair.
Once inside, he spread the paper out on the table, carefully unfolding it in front of Zhi Wei.
She looked down and saw that it was a layout diagram of a starship.
Most likely, he hadn’t slept at all. After Zhi Wei mentioned wanting to buy a starship, the young master had spent five or six hours researching and came rushing over with what he deemed the best option.
Zhi Wei could tell that the physical constitution of interstellar humans was probably different from hers.
Andre, despite pulling an all-nighter, was still buzzing with energy. Meanwhile, she was yawning, forcing herself to stay awake as she examined the starship.
Given their limited budget, the starship Andre found for her was far from brand-new.
It was a decommissioned warship, previously part of the escort fleet in Stiyad-Timothy, the most prosperous electoral district in the galaxy, where it had served for fifty years.
After being retired, it had spent another fifteen years in storage.
A sixty-five-year-old starship, its designation number already worn away—whoever bought it would have to give it a new name.
Zhi Wei studied the layout, her only impression being that it had quite a few rooms.
"It looks... pretty good," she said.
But what did she know? If it were a car, she could talk about engines, transmissions, chassis, drivetrains, or backup cameras. But this was a starship—she was completely clueless.
Still, a decommissioned military vessel probably felt more reliable than a civilian one.
"How much?" she asked, prioritizing the price.
Andre hesitated. "Five point eight million, not including taxes. With taxes, it’ll probably be around six point five million."
That would almost completely drain their current funds, and they’d have to pray that Zhi Wei’s continued donations kept growing—otherwise, they wouldn’t even have enough to cover the payment.
Then again, no sane person would spend their entire fortune on a starship. Even if it was a long-term necessity, the price was outrageous.
Most people without money would just rent, while those with money would have one allocated by their organization.
But Andre came from nobility, raised in luxury—he wasn’t exactly a typical "sane person." And Zhi Wei, who wanted to be eliminated, was even less normal.
With two abnormal people together, Andre somehow seemed the more reasonable one.
Afraid Zhi Wei might be displeased, he quickly added,
"It’s a bit old, but the warship’s equipment, weapons, and navigation systems are all intact."
"Can we get it?" Andre asked cautiously, eyeing Zhi Wei's expression.
Zhi Wei raised an eyebrow, bypassing all the questions Andre had prepared for—questions he assumed she’d care about.
Instead, she asked, "Taxes? Who are we paying taxes to?"
She’d been wondering this for a while. In a place without a unified government to redistribute income, who was collecting taxes, and where was that money going?
"To the gods, of course. Divine taxes—how else would the temples be built?" Andre replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Zhi Wei nodded in understanding.
Her original plan had been to spend all her money so she’d eventually run out of funds for gatherings, making her elimination a foregone conclusion.
But the high-tech, cross-galaxy space-jumping starship cost 5.8 million, and the taxes alone came to 700,000.
Even with her goal of reckless spending, that still stung.
Only four or five days in the interstellar world, and she was already thinking about tax evasion. Human adaptability truly knew no bounds.
"Let’s go take a look first," Zhi Wei said, motioning to Andre.
She’d never seen a starship before! If possible, she might as well go all out and get a big one.
After gathering her things, Zhi Wei followed Andre out the door to a secondhand shop to browse starships.
Despite the name "secondhand shop," it was anything but small.
Andre piloted the hovercraft along the skyway, ascending steadily.
Zhi Wei peered out the window and realized she could already see the planet’s curved horizon—they were tens of thousands of meters in the air.
She fell silent for a moment before turning to Andre. "You’re sure we’re going the right way, right?"
This looked suspiciously like a trip to another planet.
Andre tapped the control panel a few times, accelerating. "Absolutely."
As the hovercraft climbed higher, breaking through the atmosphere, they headed toward the planet’s speedway tower.
Entering the tower’s tunnel, they were passively accelerated through it, hurtling into space.
From inside the cabin, Zhi Wei could clearly see the planet they’d come from, along with the distant satellites, ships, and space stations orbiting it in slow motion.
"Where is this?" Zhi Wei asked, disoriented.
"Still the Temple," Andre answered.
Only then did Zhi Wei realize that the skyscraper she’d visited earlier—the awe-inspiring, hyper-realistic cathedral wrapped in neon data streams—was merely the heart of the Temple.
It was the Temple, and it was called the Temple, but the Temple was more than just that.
This planet, along with the three satellites circling it, had all been designated and constructed as part of the Temple.
Andre gestured around. "This area is also Temple territory. Think of it as a free city—no permanent human residents, no voting rights."
Zhi Wei didn’t follow.
"What about people like the hotel owner or staff? They stay here long-term, don’t they? Doesn’t that count as living here?"
How could they not be considered residents?
After a moment’s thought, she asked, "The Temple has existed for over three thousand years, right? Even if we ignore later arrivals, the people who’ve lived around it since the beginning—after all this time, they still don’t count as locals?"
Andre’s tone was firm. "No. When it’s time to vote, they return to their home planets to cast their ballots."
"The Temple is impartial and fair. It belongs solely to the gods, untouched by political campaigns."
Everything revolved around the Temple. No matter how devout the surrounding humans were, this was never meant to be their home.
This place could not be called a home, for it was a temple of the gods.
Zhi Wei seemed to understand something.
She and Andre passed through the tunnel and arrived at the satellite. Andre found the secondhand shop they were looking for.
The shop was located near the planet’s satellite, right on the space station orbiting the satellite’s exterior.
Transparent walkways connected it to several starships up for sale, allowing people to observe and inspect them up close.
Andre docked the hovercraft at the shop, and the two of them disembarked and entered.
Zhi Wei walked through the store, gazing outward at this "divine temple" and the vast cosmos beyond.
She had never seen the universe this close before.
It was an ink-black void, dense enough to swallow and imprison the entirety of human consciousness.
In stark contrast, she stood safely upon the man-made structure of the space station, breathing effortlessly behind a transparent protective barrier.
The starship she was here to inspect—a colossal feat of human engineering—was docked nearby.
Its hull was a mottled, gleaming silver, while behind it, stretching into the distance, scattered points of light and a flowing, river-like streak of blue shimmered.
These were the flickering star clusters, the breathing stardust.
A fleeting, iridescent streak of purple flashed across the void like a trembling fragment, insignificant to the workings of the cosmos yet shattering and redefining humanity’s threshold for grandeur.
Zhi Wei listened to the staff’s explanations as she examined the starship bit by bit.
It was old, having served its time. Though its streamlined curves remained smooth, it looked downright shabby.
The outer alloy-nano coating was visibly peeling, giving it a zebra-striped appearance at first glance. Its rear section had been knocked askew from a docking mishap, leaving it without a proper right "hip."
A raised bump along its spine, where the coating had buckled, gave the once-dignified vessel an oddly fluffy look.
It came equipped with basic shields and weaponry, though the protective field and photon-based attack systems were military-grade.
Its stealth coating allowed it to evade detection, slipping silently into orbit around any planet.
Dual engines—a gravity drive for long-term, low-power hovering and a warp drive for rapid spatial travel—made it a versatile hybrid.
Though it looked like a patchwork mess, it was the best of a mediocre lot.
Originally a military vessel, it had been retrofitted for civilian use, with added cabins, a domestic AI system, and service robots.
In short, it was a scrappy, misshapen thing, neither cheap nor exorbitantly priced.
Plenty of smaller civilian ships were far more affordable, and with a slightly higher budget, one could even buy a brand-new model.
Aged sixty-five, it was outdated, practically forgotten—yet undeniably practical.
Zhi Wei liked it, genuinely.
She wasn’t the type to throw money around recklessly—otherwise, it wouldn’t be called spending, just waste.
So what if the starship was ugly? She had a soft spot for things that might embarrass her.
Take her wildly successful personal fundraising site—crude and barebones—which she fully intended to keep that way.
Andre, now flush with cash and free time, had even asked if she’d let him polish it up, bring it up to par with the sleek campaign sites of proper politicians.
She immediately refused, saying it wasn’t necessary.
Zhi Wei was also afraid—afraid that if Andre moved even a little, some unforeseen event would swoop in to help her succeed...
A trashy website and a trashy starship, a perfect match!
“I think it’s great, don’t you?” Zhi Wei asked Andre.
Andre was quite satisfied too, but he was anxious.
This was his first time as an adjutant, and whenever he accomplished something, he couldn’t wait to bring it back to Zhi Wei to show off. As a result, he often overlooked the bigger picture.
Only now did Andre realize he had forgotten something crucial.
His face scrunched up as he glanced longingly at the massive starship before forcing himself to look away.
Zhi Wei: “What’s wrong? Are you worried about the money? Don’t be. Once we have enough, we’ll buy it. Judging by the fundraising speed on that website, the latest we’ll have the funds is this afternoon or tomorrow.” Her tone was oddly amused.
Andre shook his head, whispering to Zhi Wei, “It’s too expensive. I… I forgot to factor in the cost of the fuel. This kind of old-model warship guzzles energy like crazy—it’s basically burning money. Way too expensive!”
Zhi Wei: …What? A money-devouring monstrosity with sustainable spending potential?
Perfect! Buy it!
Andre kept muttering about how expensive it was, pacing around the staff as if he wanted to say something.
But under Zhi Wei’s strict orders not to speak, he looked like he was about to burst from the internal struggle.
Zhi Wei tugged at his sleeve. “What’s on your mind?”
“I… I really want to throw my weight around.”
Zhi Wei: “Hmm?”
Andre said awkwardly, “If I drop my parents’ names and cash in on my family’s reputation, I could save you a lot of money.”
“If we can use it, why not? It’d be a waste not to.”
Zhi Wei understood.
It was like when she shopped at a luxury store, and the owner recognized her assistant as the son of a business partner—instant freebies.
A perfectly logical and highly probable scenario, one so terrifying that Zhi Wei immediately made her decision.
“Buy it. Now. We can’t wait any longer!”
If they delayed even a little, someone might recognize Andre and offer a discount—or worse, a freebie!
Back in the day, she only used Pinduoduo. Now, even after transmigrating, she had to compete with you rich folks!
