Several hundred meters away from the pyramid's core, a dozen scavengers riding magnetic hoverbikes lay sprawled across a trash mound, peering toward the central structure.
"Boss, looks like premium goods. See those robots still stuffing garbage inside? Might be an automated production line," one scavenger drooled over the silvery pyramid, unable to resist urging his leader to act fast.
"Yeah, boss, we gotta move now. If others find out, we're screwed," another scavenger chimed in, gripping his electromagnetic rifle as he glanced at their leader lying beside him.
The boss, wearing a standard-issue infantry helmet from the Stellar Federation, shot them an annoyed look and snapped, "What the hell do you know? That thing's completely unharmed under all that garbage dumping—you think a few EM rifles can take it down? And even if we did, how long do you think we'd last holding it with just those pea-shooters? You think the other crews are just gonna roll over and die?"
The group's excitement was doused by the boss's cold realism. Their team was mid-to-low-tier among scavengers, far behind the major crews in both firepower and manpower. A structure this conspicuous would spread like wildfire by dawn, and anyone who tried to claim it—aside from the big players—would be signing their own death warrant.
"So what do we do? Just sit here and watch?" The first scavenger winced in frustration. Finding something this valuable was rare, and letting it slip away went against every scavenger's instincts.
The boss pondered how to profit from the pyramid. A direct assault was suicide—there were already robots working outside, and who knew what armed forces or defenses lurked inside? Risking his neck wasn't his style.
"Third, go contact Gray Rat. Sell him the intel—minimum 100, no, 500 standard energy blocks. Tell him it's an arms factory. If he won't pay, try White Tiger. If that fails, go to Black Wolf or Jackal. One of them will bite." The boss observed the pyramid through his helmet's optics. By his estimate, the robots had already stuffed nearly a hundred tons of trash inside—and they were still going.
The scavenger hesitated. "Boss, what if they detain me and torture the info out of me?"
The boss stared at him like he was an idiot. "Are you dense? Just tell them if you don't return safely, we'll sell it to someone else. How are you still this dumb after all these years?"
"Boss, maybe I should go instead. Third's got no talent for negotiation," another scavenger cut in, trying to defuse the awkwardness.
"Fine. Second, you handle it." The boss agreed immediately.
Second's face fell as he realized—yet again—he'd been played. How many times was this now?
Shooting a resentful glare at his two brothers, who acted completely innocent, Second mounted his hoverbike and sped off to find Gray Rat, the most reputable buyer around.
While several scavengers were preparing to seize the pyramid core, Liu Hai began producing and assembling robots and satellite detectors. With scavengers and omnipresent mutated creatures around, Liu Hai thought it over and decided that solving the survival issue took priority.
Thus, while the leader and his group were still waiting for the second-in-command to return, they saw the pyramid release several four-meter-tall, multi-legged armed robots, which then dispersed within a hundred-meter radius around the pyramid.
Seeing the twin-linked gun barrels on their helmet displays, the leader and his men were extremely relieved they hadn't impulsively charged toward the pyramid. Though they couldn't tell whether the weapons were energy-based or electromagnetic, the over-ten-millimeter caliber was unmistakable—no matter the type, these were not weapons ordinary scavengers like them could handle.
The leader, already preparing to leave upon seeing the assembly robots appear, then witnessed a spherical object suddenly shoot out from the pyramid, spewing flames as it soared into the sky.
Sensing something was wrong, the leader immediately ordered a retreat. He mounted his motorcycle at top speed and raced off in the direction the second-in-command had gone, with the others following closely behind without time to ask why.
Inside the pyramid core, Liu Hai used the newly launched reconnaissance satellite to observe the surroundings. Watching the projection of the scavengers retreating at near-supersonic speeds, he also sensed something amiss, but they were already too fast to pursue.
"It hasn't even been long, and they've already found me. I need to increase firepower. These multi-legged armed robots only have twin-linked electromagnetic rapid-fire guns—their firepower is too weak." Liu Hai browsed through the list of currently producible weapons and equipment, wanting to boost his sense of security.
Unfortunately, most armed units were controlled by humanoid beings. Fully automated armed robots only came in a few models, and aside from the multi-legged robots, none of the others met production conditions—they simply couldn't be manufactured.
With no other choice, Liu Hai produced another fifty multi-legged robots and had the Engineering Robots conceal them within the garbage piles across a three-hundred-meter radius.
Still feeling insecure, Liu Hai turned his attention to the biological factory and its associated weapon production lines.
"Let's see… fusion materials only last a hundred hours—less than four days' worth. Too bad there's no water here, or I could just pump it for use." Liu Hai complained about Garbage Star's lack of water, wondering how the scavengers even survived.
"Total production materials: three hundred and twelve tons. Still a bit lacking, but it should be enough if I add materials while producing. Time to start the biological factory."
The biological factory could produce clone soldiers and ordinary genetic organisms. Liu Hai could even create a harem with it, customizing their proportions to his liking—more satisfying than character creation in a game.
"Ground combat armory: can produce exoskeleton armor, electromagnetic rifles, laser guns, mobile infantry vehicles, self-propelled artillery, etc."
He placed this in the second production queue. The soldiers produced would be completely unequipped, not even having basic gear, far from the "fifty-credit brothers" standard. But in terms of cost-effectiveness, it was similar—just raw materials and energy needed for production.
Liu Hai was still pondering the next production plan when, on the other side, Lao Er successfully sold the information. The Gray Rat team immediately gathered their forces and sped toward the pyramid in dozens of maglev cars.
Other teams that noticed the Gray Rat team's movements didn't know the reason for such a large-scale mobilization, but adhering to the scavenger principle of "your loss is my gain," they also sent small squads on motorcycles to trail behind. If conditions permitted, they wouldn't mind taking a few cheap shots from the rear.