The morning sun rose over Garbage Star, dispelling the night's bitter chill.
Liu Hai, having slept soundly, groggily got up from the command chair, momentarily forgetting he wasn't in his old home anymore.
"Clap!" He slapped his hands together, and the projections in the Control Room lit up, marking all biological entities within a fifty-kilometer radius around the Pyramid Core.
"Why are there still so many people? Are none of them afraid to die?" Liu Hai was baffled as he looked at the projections showing thousands of scavengers surrounding him.
Just last night, he had wiped out hundreds, yet this morning, tens of thousands of scavengers had gathered within dozens of kilometers. Were they here for a convention or a supermarket sale?
Upon closer inspection, everyone stayed at least ten miles away from the pyramid, hovering at altitudes of two to three hundred meters in their patched-together, makeshift flying contraptions, peering toward the Pyramid Core. It seemed they were still in a cautious, wait-and-see mode, with no intention of charging recklessly.
"Whatever, I can't deal with them right now. Let's check on my factory's progress instead." Liu Hai dismissed the scavengers and pulled up the factory construction status.
The Biological Factory, after round-the-clock work by dozens of Engineering Robots, had completed all necessary equipment. Even part of the Armory had been built, though there was no open space nearby to install it, so it remained stored in the Pyramid Core's Spatial Warehouse.
Surveying the surroundings, Liu Hai noted that while the garbage mountains had shrunk somewhat, they were still overwhelmingly numerous. Clearing enough space would likely require another half-day of hard work from the Engineering Robots.
As he directed a life-support robot to prepare breakfast, Liu Hai pondered his next move. After consulting the central AI, he waved his hand decisively and ordered the Pyramid Core to manufacture fifty Industrial Robots along with their supporting Engineering Robots.
This batch of robots varied in size—some required hundreds of tons of metal materials, while the smallest needed only a few dozen pounds.
The moment the Industrial Robots were completed, they began drilling under the cover of the Pyramid Core's Optical Shield.
The densely compacted rock layers of Garbage Star yielded like tofu under the Engineering Robots' drills, expanding at a rate of ten cubic meters per second. Following behind, other Engineering Robots reinforced the newly dug tunnels with structural materials.
While Liu Hai was busy digging, several scavenger team leaders slowly gathered under the morning sun. Even Gray Rat, who had cleverly survived the previous night by crashing his hover car into a garbage pile, crawled out and reassembled his remaining crew.
Thirty kilometers from the Pyramid Core, on a garbage mountain, several hover cars emblazoned with black wolf heads and White Tiger insignias linked together to form a floating platform spanning over a hundred square meters. A round table had already been set up on it.
Around the garbage mountain, hundreds of hover cars marked with different symbols formed squads, patrolling and keeping watch. Weapons of all kinds—scavenged from who-knows-where—were mounted on the vehicles, manned by hardened scavengers ready to open fire at any moment.
Soon, several hover cars arrived at the floating platform one after another, each carrying a team leader and a few of their subordinates.
Gray Rat was the first to sit down with a grim expression, idly tapping a vintage lighter on the table. Only after everyone had taken their seats did he wave for his underlings to serve tea.
The leader of White Tiger's crew, a woman, looked surprised at the purified water brought by Gray Rat's men. This stuff wasn't cheap on Garbage Star—over at the smuggling port, a liter of purified water cost as much as fifty energy blocks.
Black Wolf, Jackal, and the other faction bosses were equally astonished. Had Gray Rat lost his mind, splurging on purified water instead of ammunition?
White Tiger studied Gray Rat through her air shield and asked curiously, "Gray Rat, I heard from my men you lost over a hundred elite fighters last night. Yet here you are, serving purified water like it's nothing. What's your game?"
Jackal, a hulking man who resembled a humanoid bear, downed his water in one gulp before smacking his lips and chiming in, "You're not expecting us to help you get revenge, are you? Hah, don't tell me that's it?"
Black Wolf, ever the refined one, sipped his purified water slowly, savoring it with visible pleasure. "Gray Rat, out of respect for our past dealings, I won't touch your turf. But anything else is fair game."
Gray Rat took a deep breath before explaining, "I'm not asking you to fight my battles. Their firepower is beyond anything our scrap can match."
"I called you here to make an offer—I'm selling my crew and smuggling routes. I'm leaving. Anyone interested?"
"Why the rush? Does it have to do with last night's shootout?" Black Wolf, unfazed by the offer, cut straight to the heart of the matter.
All eyes turned to Gray Rat, waiting for his answer.
Gray Rat pulled a cigarette from his chest pocket, lit it, and inhaled deeply before speaking. "Last night, I almost died. That's the truth."
"Their firepower was on par with a military force—not something we can mess with. So, before I go, I'll sell the intel to the smugglers. They'll be more than happy to profit from it."
Silence fell as everyone weighed the risks. How the smugglers dealt with the other side wasn't their concern—those guys had ships, and shipboard cannons, even the shoddiest ones, were beyond their league.
That left only the question of whether to take over Gray Rat's operations—and more importantly, the issue of trust.
"Gray Rat, how are you selling this, and when are you leaving?" Black Wolf asked after finishing his water.
"The moment the deal's done, I'm gone. As for the ship, don't worry—it's the Destroyer. I'm sure you've heard of it." Gray Rat didn't want to drag this out. "Five thousand energy blocks. Who's in?"
"I'll take it," White Tiger said immediately. "Five thousand—we each pitch in a thousand. Deal?"
Under her gaze, Black Wolf and Jackal nodded, and the others quickly agreed.
The Destroyer was known in the smuggling port as the most reliable ship in the region, though it never took this remote route. Now that they had a chance to board, they were willing to pay a premium.
Gray Rat happily collected the payment, placed a shortwave communicator on the table, and left with two underlings in a hover car, speeding toward the smuggling port.
After some discussion, they sealed the communicator, with each person setting a password. In the end, it was entrusted to White Tiger, who had the best reputation among them. They agreed to meet once a month when going to the smuggling port to sell their goods.
Once the plan was settled, and due to Gray Rat's warning, the teams quickly withdrew their personnel observing the pyramid. They cleared out their own people from the surrounding dozens of kilometers, leaving only many confused small teams and lone scavengers hesitating whether to approach and take a look.
By the time Liu Hai noticed the large-scale disappearance of scavengers around him, several hours had already passed. Unsure of what the other side was up to, Liu Hai grew even more anxious. He urged the AI core to speed up construction, aiming to establish the Clone Legion as quickly as possible and then build a spacecraft to leave this place.