“Shier, get back underground!!”
Su Lian had only enough time to shout at the figure ahead of him before a silver white tail hook shot out from behind him and latched onto a nearby bundle. Using the momentum, he twisted his body and swiftly took cover behind a piece of debris.
The moment his words fell, the orange red canopy of the sky above suddenly darkened, as though an enormous curtain had been drawn across it.
Darkness descended, enveloping everything in its path. Even the howling winds that ceaselessly swept across this garbage planet, day and night, seemed to sense some kind of oppressive force in the atmosphere and gradually fell silent.
Su Lian’s tail hook was silver white. At first glance, it resembled a scorpion’s tail, complete with a sharp, inward curving stinger at its tip. However, upon closer inspection, it became apparent that the tail was actually made up of numerous interlocking metal segments. Its flexibility was also far greater than that of a real scorpion’s tail.
He controlled the tail hook to toss the bundle deeper into the shelter. Then, he cautiously poked his head out from behind the cover, his expression grave as he turned his gaze toward the sky.
In the darkened sky, countless blue lights suddenly began to flicker into existence. They looked like a shoddy starry sky image created with some low quality graphics software. The stars had been drawn so densely together that the entire scene lacked even the slightest trace of aesthetic appeal.
The blue points of light drew closer and closer. Before long, their actual forms were reflected in Su Lian’s eyes.
They looked like enlarged dandelions. At the top of each one was a cluster of slender, soft tendrils, roughly the size of a football. Beneath the cluster was a stalk, whose base bulged slightly. That swollen section was the source of the brilliant blue light.
“An extraterrestrial spore tide…”
Su Lian furrowed his brows slightly. Before the spores could discover his presence, he immediately retreated into the shelter.
The shelter he had casually chosen was an abandoned small aircraft. Everything of value had already been stripped from it, leaving behind nothing but a bulky metal frame.
Su Lian casually picked up a metal plate and propped it over the aircraft’s largest opening to block the entrance. Only then did he settle down beside the supplies he had tossed inside earlier and tap the communicator on his hand.
The communicator flashed twice before Shier’s youthful voice came through. Despite his tender age, his tone carried a maturity that seemed rather at odds with his voice.
“Su Su?”
“Mm. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I ran fast enough to get inside a pipe just in time. Su Su, is this a spore tide?”
Before Su Lian could finish speaking, the tail hook behind him suddenly shot forward. Its sharp stinger pierced straight into a spore that was attempting to squeeze through a gap, producing a wet, squelching sound.
The poison was injected directly into the spore. Its blue light flickered twice more before its body turned black and shriveled into a withered lump.
Without changing his expression, Su Lian flicked his tail hook to shake it off. Only after confirming that no residue remained on its surface did he retract it.
The tail hook was connected directly to his spine and controlled entirely by his nervous system. In a sense, it was almost no different from a body part he had grown himself.
“It should be a spore tide originating from the VH star system. These spores have a predatory instinct toward living organisms. If the swarm is small, they’ll leave in three to four hours.”
Shier drew in a sharp breath before asking, “What if it’s a large swarm?”
“Three to four days.”
Su Lian blinked, and several overlapping green rings appeared in his black pupils. They resembled streams of information compressed to an unimaginably small scale. The rings flickered twice before fading back into the depths of his pupils. He then added, “I managed to get in touch with Elijah. He said this is only a small scale spore tide.”
“That’s wonderful!”
Shier’s voice was filled with unmistakable excitement.
On this remote frontier planet, spore tides were not particularly dangerous. High energy radiation, the ever expanding Zerg, and fanatical cultists who took a deranged pleasure in slaughtering others… all of these posed far greater threats than a spore tide.
Unmodified humans, on the other hand, were exceptionally fragile. Their lifespans were short, and their physical bodies lacked the strength to withstand the dangers of the universe. It had taken humanity a considerable amount of time and countless explorations before they finally discovered a path suitable for their continued development: mechanical modification.
Initially, humanity had embarked on a series of experiments involving genetic modification. The results had been obvious enough. Human bodies became significantly stronger, and by incorporating the genes of other extraterrestrial species, people could even acquire additional physical forms. However, the drawbacks of this approach were equally pronounced.
The edited genes were extremely unstable, and the experimental subjects were all highly dangerous individuals with devastating destructive capabilities. Even worse, the effects of these modifications could be passed down to the next generation, affecting their offspring as well.
After abandoning genetic modification, humanity turned to the direct enhancement of the physical body. This led to the emergence of metal skeletons, prosthetic limbs equipped with powerful weapons, mechanical hearts, and various other forms of augmentation. Alternatively, just like Su Lian, people could retain their original human bodies while adding external attachments to enhance their capabilities, such as tail hooks, wings capable of flight, and razor sharp claws.
Humanity had always been insatiably greedy. At first, the modifications had been limited to something as simple as a hand or a heart. But as time passed, the extent of these alterations grew increasingly extreme, with people continually pushing the boundaries of how much of their bodies they could replace or modify.
Until one day, the Empire suddenly issued a decree prohibiting ordinary citizens from undergoing mechanical modifications that exceeded fifty percent of their bodies.
Anyone whose modification rate surpassed that threshold would be considered a potential threat and brought before the tribunal for judgment.
Su Lian glanced once more at the flickering blue lights outside before settling down where he stood. He leaned against the shelter and half closed his eyes, his long, thick eyelashes lowering over them. His fair, exquisitely sculpted face remained perfectly calm, revealing not the slightest trace of emotion.
He was reminded once again of the final mission he had undertaken before being exiled to this garbage planet.
Codename: Scavenger.
The mission had been to apprehend an ordinary citizen who had undergone unauthorized limb modifications.
The man had been curled up in the corner of a wall. The overpowering smell of metal had filled the air around him. Whether it was the result of an allergic reaction or a rejection response, the few patches of flesh remaining on his body had deteriorated into a rotting, mangled mess. In stark contrast, the artificial metal components seemed to possess a strange vitality of their own. One of the man’s eyeballs had already been pushed halfway out of its socket, yet it remained fixed firmly on Su Lian, staring at him without looking away.
His brain had registered the danger, while his stomach had been overcome by an intense wave of nausea and discomfort. Yet the instant he touched the man, the man’s entire body collapsed.
The flesh scattered like fluffy snowflakes, while the mechanical components crumbled into decay, sending parts and fragments flying in every direction. If not for the fact that the heap of wreckage had been a human being just moments earlier, the scene might even have seemed somewhat comical.
Then, three days after the mission was completed, the Emperor’s personal guards accused him of attempting to assassinate His Majesty.
The evidence they presented was something he could not refute. He did not even know who had framed him, much less understand how they had managed to arrange everything so thoroughly against him. After being tried and sentenced by the tribunal, he was stripped of his identity and exiled to this desolate planet.
Perhaps it had something to do with that mission. Alternatively, perhaps one of the families he had offended in the past had finally found an opportunity to take revenge on him. There were countless possibilities, but regardless of the reason, he no longer had any way of uncovering the truth.
Four hours later, the spore tide finally receded, and night descended upon the planet.
“Come on.”
Dragging his supplies along with him, Su Lian made his way to the pipe where Shier had taken refuge. He knocked on the outer wall of the pipe a few times before Shier finally crawled out, rubbing his sleepy eyes.
“Su Su, I fell asleep.”
Shier was only as tall as Su Lian’s waist. With his delicate little face and big blue eyes, he tilted his head back to look up at Su Lian and spoke with a cheerful, mischievous grin.
Su Lian reached out and patted him on the head. “Come on. Let’s head back underground first.”
Once night fell, some of the more dangerous predators would emerge to search for food, making the area even more perilous than it had been during the day.
Children always seemed to have an endless supply of things to say. As Shier followed behind Su Lian, he walked with a slightly unsteady gait, chattering away without a pause. “Su Su, you found so many things.”
“Mm.”
“Su Su, your reactions were so fast just now! Were you exiled because you robbed someone?”
“No.”
Before long, the two of them arrived at a concealed passage leading underground. Su Lian climbed inside first. After kicking aside a tall, burly man whose head had been infested by spores, he made room for Shier to crawl in after him.
“Eh? Su Su, someone’s injured.”
Su Lian continued walking toward the depths of the underground passage without even turning his head. “Leave him alone.”
“All right.”
Before following Su Lian, Shier turned to the man lying on the ground and gave him one last adorable smile. “I hope I get to see you again next time.”
After walking for a while through a passage constructed from piles of discarded metal, the surroundings gradually began to change. The metal debris gave way to rocks, and patches of damp, moss like organisms grew across their surfaces.
The moisture in the air steadily increased as they ventured deeper underground. Finally, after crossing a doorway, Su Lian found himself facing a spacious, bustling room.
“Su!”
Several people immediately turned their attention toward the large bundle in his hands, their eyes sweeping over it from one end to the other. A moment later, they looked at him with undisguised envy.
“Su, what good stuff did you find this time?”
“Weapons? Or perhaps an energy converter?”
The greed in their eyes was practically overflowing. Most of the people living on this planet were criminals. If Su Lian were not sufficiently powerful, they certainly would not have been content to sit around and make a few snide remarks at his expense. They would have found a way to take what he had by force.
Su Lian did not spare them so much as a second glance. Instead, when Elijah approached, he immediately informed him, “Zack has been infected by spores. He’s at the entrance to the passage.”
Elijah had a head of brilliant golden hair, and his deep set eyes seemed to carry an innate air of tenderness. With his naturally affectionate features and handsome appearance, he looked far more like a pretty boy than the person in charge of a settlement where ninety nine percent of the inhabitants were criminals.
“That idiot.”
Wearing a face that seemed born to convey deep affection, Elijah delivered the insult in a melodious, almost enchanting voice.
Su Lian had no intention of engaging in further conversation with him either. He simply took out a small piece of solar panel and handed it to Elijah.
“Lucky man.” Elijah narrowed his eyes slightly. After inspecting the small solar panel, he gave Su Lian a smile so captivating that it could easily make someone lose their senses. “Su, you really are a lucky man.”
Su Lian replied, “Thank you for the compliment.”
Elijah took out a small bag of fresh fruit, an extremely rare commodity in this place, and handed it to him. Then, he glanced at the large bundle behind Su Lian and asked, “What about the things in that bundle?”
Su Lian shook his head. “I have other uses for the rest.”
With the transaction complete, Su Lian gathered his belongings and returned to his room, while Shier stayed behind. The little boy wrapped his arms around Elijah’s leg and began acting coquettishly, trying to wheedle something out of him.
“Elijah~ I found lots of things too, you know! I don’t want to drink nutritional supplements anymore, ”
Continuing farther into the spacious room, one would find another doorway that led to yet another passage. A complicated network of intersecting corridors stretched beyond it, winding in every direction. Su Lian made his way through these intricate passages, navigating the maze of underground tunnels until, after quite some time, he finally stopped in front of a door.
When he opened it, a simple room came into view.
The bedroom was immediately inside the entrance. Since it was located underground, the room had no windows. Its furnishings consisted of a bed, a table, and a basic household cleaning robot that was busy working on the floor.
Su Lian placed the bundle he was carrying beside the table. He then went into the kitchen, washed the fruit he had obtained through the trade, and sat down on a chair to eat it with a serious, almost solemn expression.
The fruit looked like a tomato and was roughly the size of a child’s fist. Its taste was evenly divided between sweetness and sourness, making it neither particularly delicious nor especially memorable. Nevertheless, in a place like this, it was already considered a rare delicacy.
Resources were scarce on this garbage planet, and its surface was buried beneath all kinds of discarded waste. Almost no native plants remained alive here.
Apart from Elijah, who had gone to considerable lengths to establish a cultivation pod, everyone else had no choice but to rely on nutritional supplements for their daily sustenance. However, aside from keeping a person from starving to death, nutritional supplements offered none of the satisfaction or pleasure that came with eating a proper meal.
Su Lian had been exiled to this place for more than a year, and the number of times he had managed to eat fresh food during that period could be counted on one hand. It was true that he could exchange things with Elijah to obtain some vegetables, but Elijah’s cooking skills were best left unmentioned…
Only after finishing the fruit did Su Lian crouch down on the floor and begin sorting through the “garbage” he had collected outside.
With resources so desperately scarce, the people exiled to this planet could do little more than scavenge through the trash to survive. Every single person living here harbored the same desperate hope: that one day, they might stumble upon a curvature engine or some other kind of engine that would allow them to escape this godforsaken place!
Su Lian first reached into his pocket and pulled out a particle gun. Its muzzle had already been damaged, but the most crucial components remained intact. With a little repair work, it could still be put to use.
Next, he took out a small mechanical dog. The bionic fur covering its back was badly charred, as though it had been burned, leaving the little dog looking rather ugly and shabby.
After examining it carefully, Su Lian discovered that apart from a few relatively insignificant components missing from its ears, the mechanical dog’s internal structure remained completely intact.
It had probably been discarded for the simple reason that it was ugly.
Su Lian had little difficulty removing the binding that connected the mechanical dog to its previous owner. Once the process was complete, he activated it.
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
The little dog’s dull eyes gradually brightened, turning glossy and black. It wagged its tail at Su Lian before eagerly rubbing its head against his waist, displaying an almost overwhelming amount of affection toward its new owner.
Because the little dog was far too enthusiastic, Su Lian had no choice but to issue it a guard command. The dog immediately sat down beside him, alert and vigilant as it began scanning the entire room, keeping a watchful eye on its surroundings.
Su Lian then pulled the last item out of the bundle.
It was a bionic robot modeled after an adult human male.
The bionic robot had been designed with perfectly proportioned features, its appearance so flawless that there was not a single imperfection in either its facial features or its physique. Even Su Lian couldn’t help admiring its face for a little while.
Its skin was made from the latest generation of bionic materials, complete with the fine, delicate patterns found on actual human skin. When Su Lian had first dug it out of the garbage heap, he had mistaken it for a corpse. It was only after touching it that he realized something was wrong.
Robots manufactured to this level of sophistication were exceptionally expensive. Whether intended for protection or companionship, they were valuable even if they were broken. The materials alone could fetch a considerable price if the robot were dismantled for parts. For that reason, Su Lian had brought it back without the slightest hesitation.
“I hope you won’t disappoint me.”
With the hopeful thought that he might be able to exchange the robot for three months’ worth of fruit, Su Lian pulled open the collar of its clothing and located the activation switch in the area corresponding to its “heart.”
The “man” slowly opened his eyes. They were a deep, dark black, just like Su Lian’s own, but they contained not the slightest trace of emotion or vitality. A moment later, a floating holographic screen sprang out from its chest.
When Su Lian saw the line of text displayed on the screen, “Bind to access more services”, a smile finally appeared on his face.
His luck really was excellent. This was a robot that had not yet been bound to anyone.