"Where is it? How much?" Igor stared intently into Gray Rat's eyes as he asked.
Gray Rat was startled by Igor's gaze and swallowed hard before answering, "Five thousand credits. There are over ten armed robots guarding it, plus a dozen engineering robots dumping metal scraps inside. So it's highly likely to be an armory."
Igor pondered for a moment. If it was true, seizing that armory would mean huge profits just by selling weapons to smugglers. Even if it wasn't an armory, having a recycling furnace for metal recovery could still earn some modest income. Five thousand credits seemed acceptable.
"Fine, but I need to verify the information first," Igor said. Being broke, he naturally wasn't going to hand over the money so easily.
Though somewhat displeased, Gray Rat knew too many scavengers were aware of that armory. Selling the intel quickly was the priority, so he agreed to Igor's condition.
Not long after, the cargo was unloaded, and the promised tobacco payment was settled. Without even saying goodbye to Keling, Igor closed the hatch and ordered the AI to take off.
Once he reached the cockpit, he put on the control gear, activated the projection, and turned to Gray Rat, who was seated beside him. "Now, tell me."
"It's on the other side of Garbage Star," Gray Rat said, sliding the projection to zoom in on the planet. He located the Pyramid Core and marked its position.
Igor piloted the ship toward the target. Upon reaching the airspace above the Pyramid Core, he stared at the reconnaissance satellite feedback on the projection and fell into deep thought—was this thing already claimed?
Meanwhile, down below, Liu Hai was completely stunned when he realized the ship was heading straight for him. Frantically, he scoured the technical data for any weapon that could shoot down the ship. Unfortunately, most couldn't be manufactured due to insufficient conditions, and the few that could required time—time he didn't have, given the ship would be overhead in minutes.
"Damn it, it must be those scavengers who leaked the info and brought this ship here," Liu Hai thought. There was no way the ship would fly toward him for no reason—it had to be the armed robots and the Pyramid Core that attracted them.
After ordering the production of two laser cannons, Liu Hai kept his eyes glued to the approaching ship while racking his brain for a way to survive this crisis.
"It's only the second day! Couldn't they give me a few more days to build up the factory? Just a few days to manufacture a couple of space fighters would've been enough!"
Liu Hai was too exhausted to complain about his never-ending misfortunes. How could there still be so much trouble after being teleported to a damn Garbage Star?
He possessed technology at the level of an Elementary Interstellar Civilization—was his journey really going to end before it even properly began?
As Liu Hai's thoughts spiraled, Igor in the cockpit was also conflicted. The presence of three orbital satellites confirmed that the structure below was some kind of production base, similar to the military's Wartime Emergency Production Base, and definitely under someone's control. He just couldn't figure out why they'd be holed up on a garbage planet.
The metal scraps on Garbage Star did have some recycling value, but it was too low. The universe had no shortage of ordinary metal alloys—only the residual electronic components could fetch a decent price.
But since they had already spent money on the information, they couldn't afford to lose out, right? Sending those three to the administrative planet had only earned them 4,000 credits. Now, buying the information would actually put them at a loss—how could that be acceptable?
Igor pondered for a long while. Just as Liu Hai was puzzled about why the ship had stopped motionless above their heads, a communication request came through.
"Receiving directed electromagnetic wave communication. Accept?"
Hearing the Intelligent Nexus's reminder, Liu Hai was momentarily confused. "Have you deciphered this civilization's language yet?" he asked.
"Language has been deciphered through received electromagnetic wave communications. Full conversion is possible."
"Accept." Once assured by the Intelligent Nexus, Liu Hai didn't hesitate further. The reason he hadn't considered taking captives earlier was the language barrier. Now that the Intelligent Nexus could translate in real time, avoiding exposure as outsiders, there was no need to hide.
Projections of both parties appeared before each other, each sizing up the other's Control Room. When Liu Hai saw Gray Rat sitting beside Igor, he immediately knew who had led the ship here.
Liu Hai had been watching Gray Rat's group during their meeting, though he hadn't realized they were the same ones he'd sent armed robots to eliminate.
"Greetings, sir. I am Igor Green, captain of the starship Pioneer. May I know your name?" Seeing Liu Hai remain silent and simply stare at Gray Rat, Igor took the initiative to introduce himself.
"Liu Hai of the Star Sea Commerce. Pleased to meet you, Captain Igor." Liu Hai quickly improvised the name "Star Sea Commerce." Since they would inevitably interact with the locals later, posing as merchants might be more advantageous.
Igor frowned slightly. His neural interface searched the Starweb of the Stellar Federation for "Star Sea Commerce," but found over ten thousand entries with the same name, making it impossible to pinpoint Liu Hai's identity.
"Mr. Liu Hai, may I ask what products your company deals in?" Igor didn't want to drag this out. Maintaining the ship's current orbit consumed energy—and energy meant money.
"Weapons, equipment, machinery, starships, battleships—we sell it all, as long as the price is right." Liu Hai gave the impression that there was nothing he wouldn't sell if the price was high enough.
Igor felt a headache coming on. He figured he now understood why this guy was holed up on this Garbage Star—probably hiding from the Enforcement Division after being caught smuggling arms.
But openly admitting to selling weapons to anyone who asked? No wonder the Enforcement Division was after him. Turning down such an easy arrest would be downright foolish.
"Could you provide a price list and contact details?" Igor couldn't afford arms and had no intention of reporting Liu Hai. Being a smuggler himself, he wondered if he could act as a middleman and earn some extra credits.
The request for a price list stumped Liu Hai—he had no idea about local prices. What now?
After a moment's thought, he instructed the Intelligent Nexus to assess the local civilization's technological level based on the electromagnetic wave communications they'd intercepted. Then, he compiled a list of low-end fighter jets, weapons, and ships and sent it over.
"Here's the product catalog. Pricing depends on order volume—the more you buy, the lower the price." Liu Hai just wanted to get this over with. If someone actually wanted to buy, aside from armed robots, he didn't have much to offer.
Igor stared at the catalog in disbelief. Battleships? Are you serious?
After carefully examining the product information and confirming it wasn't any model he recognized, Igor became even more certain about Liu Hai's identity.
After some thought, Igor said to Liu Hai, "Mr. Liu Hai, I'm not entirely sure what products I need at the moment. Would it be possible to get your contact information so I can reach out when necessary?"
"Certainly, please wait a moment." Liu Hai initially wanted to refuse, but reconsidered, realizing that doing so might arouse suspicion. He instructed the Intelligent Nexus to produce a pair of Quantum Communicators and sent one into orbit.
After receiving the communicator, Igor exchanged a few brief pleasantries before preparing to leave. Now that he had secured a means of communication, there wasn't much else to discuss.
Liu Hai watched as the other party accelerated away from Garbage Star. Once beyond the planet's gravitational field, Igor activated the Warp Drive and vanished from radar detection.