The reason was simple: it was already afternoon, and there were fewer than 20 hours left until tomorrow morning's gathering. Once the space gate launcher was activated, the gate would remain open for 24 hours.
In other words, opening the market now would risk a time conflict with the alien star domain exploration scheduled for tomorrow.
As the master of the market, Song Chi could exercise absolute control. As long as no first-level or above creatures appeared, he could maintain order—but only if he remained in the market himself. If he left halfway, chaos could erupt.
Moreover, he had plenty to prepare. Tomorrow would be his first foray into the alien sea, and he needed to be fully ready. He also had several ideas about the market space that he wanted to verify.
He got to work immediately. Holding the market order in his hand, Song Chi entered and exited the market several times, each time carrying a different item water bottle, school bag, chair...
Ten minutes later, he had his first answer: anything he could physically carry could be brought into the market. Larger items beyond his personal lifting ability were excluded.
With this conclusion, he rushed to the vacant street stall area he had passed earlier. Despite its modest 10x10 size, it was spacious enough to summon his psychic shuttle, which was under 7 meters long.
That's exactly what he wanted to try next—summoning a psychic shuttle within the market.
Under his full control, psychic energy surged to his forehead.
"Hmm?"
A surge of energy emerged from his brow, and a gleam of light flashed out. A small psychic shuttle materialized in the empty area ahead.
"I can summon a psionic shuttle in the market!"
Overjoyed, Song Chi could barely contain his excitement.
This breakthrough opened up vast possibilities. Beyond using the market to escape during emergencies, it now seemed possible to enact many of his previous ideas.
Typically, what's the biggest headache for Xinhuo ship captains exploring alien star domains? Many would say "alien civilizations"—encounters with powerful alien lifeforms usually end with the ship destroyed and the crew dead.
But in reality, the most consistent pain point is storage space. The ships are small, and their limited capacity means captains must calculate their inventories down to the last square inch, both before setting off and when returning.
Large mechanical equipment like the Angry Tiger ① floating mining rig, Hornet-class drones, or Land War ④ exploration robots are hard to bring along.
Even if they do bring them, there's the dilemma: if you strike a valuable resource find, do you abandon the equipment to bring back more materials? Or do you keep the gear and sacrifice potential profit?
These machines are expensive. Abandoning them only makes sense if the harvested resources are worth more otherwise, it's a loss.
But not abandoning them means limited room for other loot, and the ship just can't carry much.
This frustrating contradiction has long plagued captains, which is why parts that expand or fold ship space are priced astronomically high. Even white-tier space components often sell for blue or purple-tier prices and are still hard to find.
Just earlier today, Song Chi had been obsessively trying to optimize every inch of space aboard his shuttle. But now, that stress was gone.
The market space, where he could freely summon his ship, essentially functioned as a massive auxiliary storage facility.
Though individuals couldn't carry in large objects, the Xinhuo shuttle stored in the ancestral orifice could bypass this limitation.
He could preload large equipment into the shuttle, store it in the ancestral orifice, and then summon the shuttle once inside the market. This effectively sidestepped all item size restrictions.
He could even use this method during alien domain expeditions—loading the shuttle with resources that otherwise couldn't be transported, then bringing it into the market for secure storage.
Of course, there was one key condition: the ability to access the market freely after arriving in the alien domain. Without that, none of this would matter.
His thoughts raced, but a sudden system notification snapped him back to the present.
[Please name the market as soon as possible!]
He'd nearly forgotten about that. Both the market and the psychic shuttle still lacked names.
Pushing aside his swirling ideas, Song Chi turned his attention to the naming.
After a moment of thought, two words surfaced:
"Zhu Tian."
In his past life, he'd read countless fantasy novels. Since this market could connect randomly to starfields across the Broken Star Sea, Zhu Tian Market felt fitting.
[Zhu Tian Market, named successfully.]
Next came the shuttle. Naming it proved more difficult.
"Xing Hai No."
[Sorry, the name already exists.]
"Zong Heng No."
[Sorry...]
"Yin He No."
[Sorry...]
Too many had already been registered within the vast Xinhuo fleet.
"Shenzhou!"
[Sorry...]
"Cangqiong."
[Cangqiong has not been used yet. Confirm?]
"Kunlun..."
He hesitated. "Hmm? OK?"
Then he clicked Confirm.
With the naming complete, he turned his attention to the shuttle's detailed specifications—something he hadn't yet reviewed due to his teacher Yang Minghui's earlier interruption.
[Name: Cangqiong]
[Model: Xinhuo-Psionic Shuttle]
[Level: Lv0]
[Basic Components:]
Colorless Xinhuo Hull Lv0
Psionic Main Gun Lv0
Psionic Secondary Gun Lv0
Hull Armor Lv0
Psionic Engine Lv0
Psionic Shield Lv0
Patrol Radar Lv0
Psionic Training Room Lv0 (8/8)
[Special Components: None (0/2)]