Superstars of Tomorrow - Chapter 250

Chapter 250
Chapter 250: Swatting a Fly with a Baseball Bat
Translator: Min_Lee Editor: Tennesh

The trio returned to a storage facility with the stamped passes in hand . There were five others waiting . Next to them was parked a cart loaded with six large sealed boxes .

The men sitting on the boxes blurted out, "How did it go?"

"Well!"

"We got all three stamps . " The man holding the pass snickered . "The soldier on duty in the outpost who gave us the third stamp even wished us a happy Memorial Day . What an idiot!"

"You got the third stamp at the outpost? Was it Lu Yan who was on duty?" one of the men sitting on the boxes asked .

"I don't know . He was in uniform . I didn't get a good look at his face," the man with the pass said . "He sounded quite young . "

"He didn't give you a hard time?" the man sitting on a box asked . "Lu Yuan is quite talkative . Sometimes he likes to interrogate folks . "

"Not at all . All he did was say, 'Happy Memorial Day . ' Isn't Lu Yan's wife in the hospital? If I were him, I wouldn't be in the mood to interrogate anyone either . "

"It doesn't matter whether it was Lu Yan or not as long as we got the stamps . " The leader of the group pulled a mini-scanner from his pocket and aimed it at the stamps .

The stamps on the pass weren't visible to the naked eye . They would only illuminate when read by a special scanner . The three stamps were their ticket to the freight transport .

The men relaxed when they saw the three stamps light up .

"We're good . We got all three stamps—we're not missing any . "

"So should we head out now?"

"Yes . Everyone is taking Memorial Day off, so the mines won't be guarded . We should hurry . "

"I wonder what they'll think when they realize eight miners are missing, haha . "

"What's so special about eight miners? What'll be interesting is when they realize they're missing 5 tons of Baiji power ore after the Memorial Day holiday . "

Five tons of grade A power ore wasn't that much in the context of the entire mine, but it wasn't a small amount either . It wasn't a blip you could just write off . Some folks would probably be quite shocked by the discovery .

After he tucked the pass away, the leader instructed the men sitting on the cart, "Let's ask around first to see if anything is out of the ordinary . "

The smuggling operation didn't rely on these eight alone . They also had inside help .

This was the result of six months of careful planning .

"All normal . Nothing out of the ordinary nearby," one of the men sitting on the boxes said .

"Then let's pack up and proceed as planned . Let's go!"

The eight men changed into their miner uniforms and packed their things .

Baiji space port .

After presenting all sorts of credentials to the guards at the space port, the eight men entered the space port without incident . The space port was quite empty, probably because of the reduced traffic during Memorial Day .

They parked their cart next to a freight vessel . Power ore excavated from the mining district they belonged to were typically shipped to this transport, which in turn transferred the load to a larger spaceship near Baiji .

But as long as they boarded this freight vessel, they would be good to go .

They maintained their composure under the watchful gazes of the security guards as they approached the freight vessel with their cart and the cargo on it .

The leader pulled out his pass and swiped it by the entrance to the vessel .

Buzz!

A bland beep sounded, and an access denied symbol flashed .

Access denied .

The eight men tensed up and glanced at the security guards nearby . They were starting to get some attention .

The leader of the group started frowning but still managed to project a sense of calm . "Maybe the swipe was incomplete . "

This time, he swiped the pass slowly so that all three stamps could be scanned .

Buzz!

Another beep, another bright red access denied symbol .

The voice of one of the men started quivering . "What's . . . what's going on?" He had already spotted security guards heading their way .

One of the other men on the other side of the cart had a stern look on his face . He had already quietly gone for the gun hidden in his mining uniform . He was ready to blast open the door to the vessel, but in that case, a firefight with the guards was guaranteed .

The leader was sweating profusely as he gritted his teeth and swiped his pass again .

Beep!

A green access granted symbol flashed on the display .

Never had an electronic bleep sounded so lovely, an answer to their prayers .



A few of the men secretly cursed . What a cr*ppy system!

A simple swipe took three tries to complete . If that isn't a cr*ppy system, I don't know what is . The Baiji military district is so rich now . Why don't they upgrade their scanners? We were scared sh*tless .

False alarm . As they watched the door to the transport open, the men relaxed and started to smile as well .

They had done it!

But their smiles froze when they got ready to move their cart and the door to the transport opened completely .

On the other side were eight soldiers wearing dark-gray robotic exoskeleton armor . A cold glint reflected off the the armor and the eight gun barrels pointed at them .

The eight men: " . . . "

Uhm . . . are we busted?

How come there are armored warriors here?

Aren't they reserved for terrorists and beasts?

All we did was steal a few power ore—and they actually sent armored soldiers .

What, they ran out of places to deploy their resources?

Why are they swatting a fly with a baseball bat?

The fingers of the ringleader who was holding the pass started shaking . He turned pale and was sweating big time .

Disappointment . Desperation . The carpet had totally been pulled out from under their feet .

What to do now?

Detonate a bomb?

They were carrying small bombs that were easy to carry and conceal, but such light-weight explosives would barely make a dent in the exoskeleton armor, and yet they themselves might become collateral damage .

Not to mention that they were no suicide bombers . They didn't have the guts to sacrifice themselves . They were quite scared of dying .

They didn't even dare go for their guns . They had done their research on the preparedness of the Baiji military district, so they knew how ruthless these armored warriors that were considered the equivalent of military-grade weapons were . They had no intention of crossing these opponents . They had never thought that military-grade weapons would be used on them .

And if they thought about going for their guns? The armored soldiers would fire before they could touch their firearms .

Just one shot from the kinetic combat rifles the armored soldiers were equipped with would be enough to tear any of them apart—into shreds, that is .



These thieving "flies" simply quivered before these "baseball bats . " They didn't have the guts to fight back .

The moment they were handcuffed, they still hadn't figured out what exactly had gone wrong .

They had spent half a year plotting their route, devising a plan, bribing the right people, and obtaining the necessary paperwork . The operation had gone smoothly step-by-step today . They had even gotten their stamps . How come they had been ambushed at the very last minute?

A flying transport landed behind them . From it emerged Major General Edmund, the officer in charge of the mines near the base .

The eight men were ghastly pale as Edmund stared them down .

His cold stare was followed by a command uttered in a restrained grunt that belied the level of outrage bubbling underneath . "Take them in . Let's let everyone get back to enjoying Memorial Day . "

The soldiers answered in the affirmative, gagged the eight men, and led them away .

The eight men had come and gone quietly without so much as causing a ripple, as if nothing major had gone down .

Ignoring the eight arrested men, Edmund approached the cart they had left behind . The security guards had already opened the boxes .

"It's grade A Baiji power ore all right . Five tons . It's all here," the captain of the space port's security detail said .

"They're quite bold to have stolen such a big load . " Edmund was speaking in a calm tone, but anyone could sense the incredible anger he was suppressing .

Edmund had been enjoying a meal with his family . It was the first time he had spent Memorial Day with his entire family since he had been posted to Baiji, and he had been in a good mood because of his recent promotion and rosy career prospects . He had even been drinking a little .

The moment he had gotten word from Fang Zhao, he had felt like someone had slipped a cube of ice down his undershirt . His festive mood had evaporated and he had sobered up immediately .

Five tons of grade A power ore wasn't a huge amount, but this was grade A energy ore they were talking about . Plus, the quality was good . Early estimates put their worth at more than 10 billion .

Edmund couldn't possibly contain the fallout from losing 10 billion dollars worth of power ore .

He had worked so hard to get where he was today and enjoy a cushy position . So many people wanted to see him gone . If this had gone down, all his ambitions would have gone out the door along with the five tons of power ore .

Thankfully, the thieves had been stopped in time .

After taking inventory of the power ore, Edmund briefed Shanta . The interception plan had been Shanta's idea . Only Shanta had the authority to deploy the armored warriors .

As far as Shanta was concerned, swatting a fly with a baseball bat was exactly his intention . That way it would be easier to follow up .

"You didn't tip anyone off, did you?" Shanta asked .

"No . Everything is normal elsewhere . No one noticed the interception," Edmund responded .

"Good . "



Shanta wanted to keep the interception hush hush, not only because it was Memorial Day but also so he didn't alarm the collaborators of the eight thieves . The fact that the eight men had been able to smuggle so much power ore so easily meant there were other bad apples . This was not a simple operation that took a day or two to plan .

The mining companies that worked with the Baiji base would pilfer a few ore at most when they were being transported . Shanta didn't bother to quibble with them over a petty few stones; an official investigation would take tremendous manpower and resources . As long as the stealing wasn't excessive, Shanta was willing to turn a blind eye .

But this was completely different, and the amount smuggled was quite substantial . Did they think the commander was an idiot?

"I want a thorough investigation!" a furious Shanta bellowed .

After hanging up, Shanta was still panting . He had yet to find his composure . He sat in his office pondering how to clean house .

But Edmund's briefing also had him intrigued .

Unable to contain his curiosity, Shanta reached out to Fang Zhao .

"How did you know something was wrong?" Shanta asked .

"By listening carefully," Fang Zhao responded .

"It's your hearing again?" Shanta was reminded of Fang Zhao's reputation: "diting," "godly ears" and all .

"I listened and observed . Body language and heartbeat are great indicators . The trio were quite nervous when they approached the outpost . They were feeling guilty . Plus, they might have been armed with lethal weapons," Fang Zhao explained .

In fact, Fang Zhao could tell something was off just from his first-rate instincts honed during the 100-year Period of Destruction, but that couldn't be his official story .

"So you stamped their pass with an expired stamp . "

The stamps were updated every few days, but few knew that . All outsiders knew was that three stamps were required for passage .

After the trio left, Fang Zhao had immediately alerted Major General Edmund, who in turn had briefed Shanta after confirming that something was wrong .

The eight men who had stolen the power ore had failed to open the door to the flying transport twice because they had the wrong stamp . Their first two stamps were the right ones, but the third one was outdated . When the door had opened on their third try, it had been done manually from inside the transport .

"Thank god for your tip . I'll log this as a merit in your personnel file . "

The military was clear on merits and misdeeds . This wasn't a major accomplishment, but it wasn't a minor one either . After all, the power ore was worth some 10 billion .

After hanging up, Shanta skimmed Fang Zhao's personnel file out of curiosity . His "merits" column was filled with accomplishments both big and small . Another promotion when his service period concluded was a sure thing .

A kick-*ss soldier .

But Fang Zhao was a rarity among the conscripts . It was a pity he had decided to become an artist .

What a waste of talent .