Chapter 56: Chance Encounter
The sky of Gloomy Dark Star was a blue-gray, the result of severe pollution. As a remote area in the Void, there should be no major races here.
Su Xiao had been to the Demon Race's territory. The sky there seemed gray, and in some places, magma was exposed on the surface, but the air was fresh, and the land was extremely suitable for plant growth.
Gloomy Dark Star seemed to have experienced a major pollution outbreak many years ago. It had recovered a lot by now, at least the air wasn't toxic, and there was no strange smell.
The black vortex beside Su Xiao disappeared, condensing into a black card. This black card slowly dissolved, transforming into an accessory that looked like both an earring and a ring. It was pitch black all over, with the Void number '5' on the front.
Su Xiao grabbed the ring floating in mid-air, and a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[You have obtained Starry Sky Ring (5).]
[Starry Sky Ring (5)]
Origin: Void · Starry Sky Seat Exclusive
Material: Super-Strength Spatial Fluid Metal, Doom Star Core Fragment, Dark Attribute Substance, Space-Time Power, Void Stone
Durability: 1052/1052
Equipment Effect: Proof (Passive), proof of membership in the Starry Sky Seat. Wearing this accessory allows free passage through the Annihilation Mist.
Hint: This ability is pending activation. It will automatically activate upon reaching a specific area.
Description: A sealed ring/earring, its age unknown.
Selling Price: Cannot be sold.
Looking at the [Starry Sky Ring] in his hand, Su Xiao didn't put it on. Unlike what he imagined, the meeting location of the Starry Sky Seat didn't seem to be randomly chosen. It depended on the position of the Annihilation Mist, or perhaps the black mist figure could control the Annihilation Mist to some extent.
Through the [Starry Sky Ring], Su Xiao learned many things. For example, the Starry Sky Seat wasn't formed by a few powerful beings gathering out of interest. The 'Annihilation Mist' and 'Starry Sky Ring' seemed to have existed for a long time. It was through these two that the Starry Sky Seat was established.
Holding the [Starry Sky Ring], an indescribable feeling arose. The location of this Starry Sky Feast was to the south, not far away. At Su Xiao's speed, it would take six hours to get there.
"Woof."
Bubu Wang, who had blended into the environment, barked. Baha was nowhere to be seen; it was actually nearby, hiding in an alternate space.
"Don't move. Move a finger, and I'll blow your head off."
A gun barrel pressed against the back of Su Xiao's head. The barrel was somewhat worn, but it was covered in energy meridians and was in a fully charged state.
A girl with wheat-colored skin, wearing a gray-black vest, and with metal earrings studding her left ear, stood behind Su Xiao. She held a meter-long 'Sub-Particle Convergent · Portable Impulse Cannon' in both hands, her fingers resting on three triggers arranged side by side.
"Slowly raise your hands. Slow. I've been exposed to particle radiation, and my fingers are always unsteady."
"..."
Su Xiao slowly raised his hands. A whooshing sound came.
Click, click~
Two handcuffs emitting blue light flew over, locking onto Su Xiao's wrists.
An engine roared. A truck-like war chariot sped over, its wheels at least half the height of a house. On the dozen-meter-long carriage behind it sat over a dozen men and women, all wearing somewhat worn kinetic exoskeletons. Though worn, they weren't bulky. Several with physical disabilities had replaced their limbs with mechanical prosthetics.
"Hey, what race are you?"
The girl behind Su Xiao spoke.
"Human."
"There are plenty of humans in the Void. I'm one too. So be more specific."
As the girl spoke, the speeding war chariot stopped with a drift. Over a dozen men and women jumped down. Such people had a collective term in the Void: Scavengers.
A burly man with a mechanical eye replacing his right eye walked over. The exoskeleton he wore was more advanced, but Su Xiao wasn't from the tech side and didn't understand such things.
The Scavenger leader stopped a few meters away, looked Su Xiao up and down, then frowned. For some reason, he felt Su Xiao looked familiar.
"You are..."
The Scavenger leader tapped his forehead with a mechanical finger, as if thinking.
"Youni, doesn't he look familiar?"
The Scavenger leader turned his gaze to the girl behind Su Xiao, Youni. Hearing this, Youni, holding the particle cannon, slowly sidestepped to Su Xiao's front.
"Huh? He really does look a bit familiar."
Youni and the Scavenger leader both frowned, thinking hard about where they had seen Su Xiao before. Just then.
Boom!
A spatial shockwave erupted. A surge of space power crashed down from the sky above, spreading upon contact with the ground. Ripples of spatial energy radiated outward.
"Another one's arrived. Your space teleportation devices... are really outdated."
Youni chewed on something, implying that Su Xiao had arrived the same way.
When the spatial fluctuations dissipated, a woman in a pure white long dress, with a gorgeous long train, stood a hundred meters away. She had long, light golden hair, and her skin was so fair it seemed it might break at a touch.
"That annoying black smoke, using cheap stuff again."
The white-dressed woman slowly floated up from the ground. The next instant, she appeared near Su Xiao.
"Oh~, a new member. You've been... hijacked?"
The white-dressed woman floated a few meters above the ground, her magnificent skirt hanging down.
"That's obvious."
"Another unpleasant guy. But... need help? I'm very warm-hearted."
"No need."
"Then forget it."
As soon as the white-dressed woman finished speaking, she vanished from the spot, leaving Youni and the Scavenger leader dumbfounded.
"You, what's your relationship with that woman? Huh? Where'd he go?"
Youni looked around and found that Su Xiao had already moved to the front of their war chariot, surrounded by over a dozen energy guns. Anger surged in Youni's heart, but she quickly calmed down.
"Leader, how about we forget it? Let's not do this deal."
"We have to."
The Scavenger leader strode forward. At his command, the rear door of the carriage opened. Without the Scavengers urging him, Su Xiao walked inside.
The space inside the carriage was considerable. Though the facilities were worn, they had everything. Many mechanical parts were piled on the workbench, mixed with empty cans, bottle caps, and such.
After the Scavenger leader, Youni, and the other dozen Scavengers entered, the carriage door automatically closed. The war chariot began driving on its own, heading back to the Scavenger settlement.
"This war chariot, not bad."
Su Xiao, with his hands bound, spoke as he looked around the carriage.
"Of course it is. Cargo, don't worry. We caught you for your belongings, plus the Feather Clan's reward."
"The Feather Clan's reward?"
"You don't even know that? Where are you from? This place will soon be Feather Clan territory. We scraps are just temporarily latching onto the Feather Clan's coattails, helping them clear the residents off this planet.
After they purify the environment here, they'll sell this planet. That's a huge sum of money. The guys living on this waste planet are really lucky. If my hometown could also catch the Feather Clan's eye, I wouldn't have to be a Scavenger. I could live in Feather Clan territory."
A Scavenger chuckled, implying they wouldn't kill Su Xiao. But was that really true? Su Xiao could smell a strong scent of blood on their clothes.
Su Xiao didn't know the Feather Clan did this kind of business. If so, the somewhat arrogant Feather Clan probably had a pretty good reputation in the Void.
"I heard the Bana Dwarf Clan also got involved in this deal. This waste planet hit the jackpot. Soon, it might even become a tourist spot."
As they talked, the Scavengers' eyes were full of envy.
"Hmph, a bunch of shorties who can't even reach my knees when they jump. What do they have besides technology? So what if they're rich?"
"Don't be jealous. Be careful. There are quite a few Spellcasters on this waste planet too. They're here to get some natural elements, I heard. They even clashed with the Feather Clan."
The Scavengers chatted, each holding a bottle of alcohol. Seeing the glass bottles in their hands, Su Xiao was reminded of saline infusion bottles.
Sss~
The screen high up in the carriage flickered with static. Youni jumped up and slapped it. Bang. A figure appeared on the small screen.
"Let's see who's on this batch. Kill one, and we're set."
"That's none of your business. Anyone with a bounty on their head..."
A Scavenger with a ponytail stopped mid-sentence, suddenly choking. On the small screen, a photo of Su Xiao was displayed, with the annotation below:
'Kukulin Bai Ye, Law Destroyer, Bounty: 1700 grams of Black Maple Tree Branch.'
The carriage suddenly fell silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Now the Scavenger leader and Youni knew why Su Xiao looked familiar.