Big Head Butterfly is not belligerent; rather, a thirty percent markup for it is incomprehensible and intolerable.

This is the inherent flaw of artificial intelligence, much like its pursuit of large machines.

"The journey to awakening independent consciousness is still a long road," Qu Jianlei couldn't resist educating it once again.

However, due to its objection, Qu Jianlei didn't buy too much, only purchasing barely over two million rounds of ammunition.

With an amount like this, silver coins couldn't be used, so Qu Jianlei donned his Mecha and handed over Silver Notes.

With the ammunition in hand, after checking there were no issues, it counted as another successful deal.

Next, there were no more transactions, and three days later, the time for the big market had arrived.

Originally, there were only about ten starships here, some seemed to have been stationed for a long time with some scattered brokers aboard.

On the day of the big market, there were as many as thirty armed merchant ships participating, along with some cargo ships.

This is vast outer space, and this level of participation was already considered astonishing.

However, Qu Jianlei wasn't focused on these; he noticed that within no time, the online trading platform had become active.

Little Lake was even angrily indicating, "A lot are Pudding's transaction orders, some ammunition trades only have a twenty percent markup!"

This meant the resources Pudding Mining possessed could originally be supplied to Qu Jianlei.

Yet they were supplying outsiders, especially the ammunition pinch point, which Little Lake was particularly concerned about.

Qu Jianlei was a bit angry internally but didn't show it.

"Being new here requires a process of getting acquainted, and ammunition is relatively sensitive... perhaps they want to avoid suspicion."

However, there were those who were truly unafraid, as someone actively sought them out, indicating they had a ship-borne weapon system.

Qu Jianlei didn't hold back, first asking whether the weapon was brand new or had been used.

Through interactions with Titan, he had already grasped the key points, so he knew to ask in detail.

The other party, seeing his skillful questioning, indicated their system was ninety percent new and not expensive.

Upon hearing ninety percent new, Qu Jianlei had an inkling, and after hearing the price, he outright declined.

"If it's a transaction, then be sincere. Whether it's ninety percent new or your quote, it proves your insincerity!"

The other party got angry upon hearing this, "Are you underestimating our integrity?"

Qu Jianlei responded with a cold snicker, "Then let's take it online; my side will cover the ten percent management fee, just to see your ninety percent new!"

The other party grumbled and left; Pudding Mining wouldn't fake a report for such a small deal.

However, their behavior seemed to have opened Pandora's box.

Soon after, someone else approached, saying they had weapon systems for sale.

The visitor straightforwardly stated, the system is seventy percent new but priced sincerely.

Qu Jianlei listened and refused again; the system they mentioned was known to him and indeed wasn't bad.

However, this system belonged to ground-based weapons and was rarely used on starships.

He stated your price is sincere but regrettably, the caliber doesn't match!

The other side continued to pester, stating that modifying the warship would solve it, and if he lacked the ability to modify, they could introduce a company.

The key point was it was very cheap, wasn't it?

Qu Jianlei had reason to suspect the other party might be probing whether they possessed warship modification capabilities.

The mismatched caliber meant he had little interest; he wouldn't be part of a joke like a mismatched compendium.

After rejecting this person, shortly after, someone else came recommending a weapon system.

This time, it seemed more reliable; mainstream starship weapons, eighty percent new, quoted at thirty percent of the factory price, without installation.

Supposedly, this price was still somewhat high, but since installation wasn't included, the sincerity was decently there.

According to them: selling to a Star Thief could fetch fifty percent.

Qu Jianlei made the decision and not long after, the whole system was actually brought over!

However, at this time, some dialogue reached his ears, revealing the party trading with him were scavengers in the interstellar realm.

This particular weapon system had been picked up by them over ten years ago and had never been sold.

It was originally possible to sell it to a Star Thief, but the issue was that this weapon was military standardized.

This group felt selling weapons to Star Thieves was too dangerous; if something happened, no one could escape.

They picked this as scrap by regular means, and the process was clean; if not for the low military acquisition price, they would've wanted to sell it back.

Today, finally sold at an almost acceptable price, these individuals were satisfied.

Qu Jianlei checked the weapon system and bluntly stated, "Eighty percent new? Hardly hitting seventy percent!"

"Also, no maintenance whatsoever. I can't buy yours for 6.3 million; my firm offer is 5 million, take it or leave it."

The other party knew their poor preservation, haggling for a while, ultimately selling at 5.01 million.

Qu Jianlei made a firm offer, unwilling to accept a counter-offer, not adept at this.

However, the other party kept lowering the offer, finally despairingly saying.

"Even if I just add one thousand, it serves to show my partners that I tried!"

A partner for scavenging? Qu Jianlei found it a bit funny to hear.

But honestly speaking, if you want to scavenge in space, you really do need a partner.

Besides, he himself is also a scavenger... well, there's really no need to mock these poor souls.

Just as he was about to refuse, the Big Head Butterfly buzzed in his mind, "Boss, I think the price is okay."

It was in charge of the weapons systems testing, so of course, it had a say.

Qu Jianlei thought, even the super stingy Xiao Hu agreed, so he had to give in to this.

Five million wasn't such a big deal, but at least it showed that the 8384 merchant ship was earnest about making purchases.

Soon, another person came to discuss computational units.

Computational units are extremely expensive, just take a look at Vortex; a terminal costs over ten million.

Of course, they weren't discussing portable ones, not needing to be as freakish as Vortex.

But the price of a unit, basically starts at twenty million, and the ones that catch Xiao Hu's eye start at thirty million.

It liked a fifty-million unit and wanted to buy two sets, "8384 can fit them in!"

Qu Jianlei refused its request, "A hundred million... aren't you going to buy a mainframe afterward?"

Indeed, the resources spent on cultivation were like a drizzle compared to Xiao Hu's appetite.

The Big Head Butterfly hesitated, then said, "Well… choose that eighty-million one, just buy one set, two warships can fit it."

"Doesn't it make you feel uncomfortable not being extravagant?" Qu Jianlei was upset, "The twenty-million one… two sets!"

A twenty-million computational unit has computing power that exceeds an ordinary starship control system.

The key is that a computational unit only cares about computation, with no need to consider star wars' demands, nor tolerance for complex environments.

Relatively delicate and complicated, but the computing power is greatly unleashed.

The Big Head Butterfly spun a couple of times, softly yet firmly stating, "The thirty-million one, two sets!"

Qu Jianlei didn't mind its bargaining, as Xiao Hu's performance improvement benefited their small group.

But the line had to be drawn, "The twenty-million one, three sets! That's the limit!"

Just as he knew Xiao Hu well, Xiao Hu knew him well too, realizing that the limit once set wouldn't change.

But it was precisely because of this that it couldn't help but say, "Aren't two thirty-million sets better than three twenty-million sets?"

The same sixty million silver coins, two thirty-million units combined, are definitely stronger than three integrated twenty-million ones.

Besides, the latter not only takes up more space but also consumes more energy.

Though it didn't want to complain, it couldn't resist, "Are you stupid, isn't daily consumption money?"

Qu Jianlei responded lightly, "Think about it, with three computational units, if one breaks, there are still two left!"

Could you please understand that computational units are installed on warships, and warships are meant for combat!

Xiao Hu finally realized that the boss was considering not only computing power but also practicality.

But in the end, it couldn't resist its longing for powerful computing power, "The fifty-million one, one set!"

A fifty-million unit might not be as good as two thirty-million sets but is certainly better than three twenty-million sets.

Of course, there are other advantages, "It takes up less space, consumes less energy... installing on a warship, all these need consideration."

Qu Jianlei found it a bit funny, just now you wanted two sets of fifty million.

"Then aren't you considering, what if it gets destroyed?"

The Big Head Butterfly hesitated for a while, pretending to be mature, "Things like this are inevitable, we can't buy insurance, after all."

After a pause, it suggested, "If you're worried about them getting damaged, how about… buying an extra twenty-million one?"

Hearing this, Qu Jianlei couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart: Xiao Hu is enduring hardships with me too.

"Alright, seventy million is a bit over budget, but we still have two hundred million, so no worries."

The silver notes he had were nearly three hundred million initially, spending seventy million was not a big blow.

They concluded their computational unit combination, but the seller said, "I don't have stock now."

Being out of stock is normal; having it would be truly strange, such computational units are never common demands in space.

The other side expressed that you have to place an order and pay a deposit, otherwise... it's really not possible to deal.

However, the deposit requirement isn't high, just five percent, three million five hundred thousand will do.

The other party was quite keen to close this deal, proactively revealing their identity.

"We are from Sea of Thought Creation on Celestial Handle Star, you can check us out, the official computational unit supplier of Celestial Handle Star."

Celestial Handle is the central star of Celestial Hook, and the size of Sea of Thought Creation might not match Pudding or Titan, but it has official support.

What of cross-Star Realm forces? Please understand what local big shots mean.

Moreover, the other party really didn't mind skepticism, "We can have Pudding Mining vouch for us."

Qu Jianlei was somewhat curious, "Then how do you run this business in the Asteroid Belt?"

Dealing with computational units, coming to space for work, feels like… did they get the wrong script?