Full-Time Public Enemy

Within an abandoned city, a sealed underground base had just been opened.

A group of people was tidying up the base when one of them couldn't help but ask, "Hey, do you think those crazies from True Knowledge Sin will come back?"

"They definitely will!"

On a desolate square, the ground already cracked, hundreds of people gathered amid the howling cold wind. They wore patched-up, old-model protective suits and dirty goggles. All of them looked up, hopefully gazing at the sky.

This time every month was the salvage ship's scheduled arrival.

The scavengers on this planet all needed to sell their 'harvests' to this ship in exchange for Starshield, the currency they needed to survive.

A flickering light appeared in the distant sky, just as it did every other time. The scavengers sighed with relief, for no one knew if those large corporations would suddenly abandon this planet and stop sending salvage ships.

After about fifteen minutes, the equally dilapidated salvage ship made a shaky landing. Its hatch opened, and the scavengers began trading with the robots on board in an orderly fashion.

Meanwhile, from another hatch, a group clad in brand-new light Mecha suits stepped out. They didn't even glance at the dirty scavengers as they boarded an advanced maglev armored vehicle and sped off into the distance.

The scavengers were surprised. Except for wanted criminals fleeing pursuit, no outsiders had come here in a long time.

But most scavengers were indifferent, merely curious. Still, some who fancied themselves 'fierce' secretly eyed these newcomers.

Their equipment, if stolen, could fetch a good price. On this planet, that was a huge fortune.

So, some scavengers broke away from the crowd. From a concealed spot nearby, they dragged out their crudely assembled motorcycles and swarmed after them. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Inside the newly reactivated base, a signal came through: "A ship has arrived."

"It's a regular salvage ship. It comes every month. Do we need to monitor it?"

"Bring up the satellite imagery."

The feed came through quickly. They saw the group disembark from the salvage ship, then a band of scavengers stealthily followed them. About fifteen kilometers from the salvage ship, the maglev armored convoy suddenly stopped. Several weapon hatches opened, revealing large-caliber rapid-fire energy laser cannons, which unceremoniously blasted the ill-intentioned scavengers behind them into shattered debris.

The entire process took only about a dozen seconds. Then, the convoy retracted its weapons and continued to speed toward its target.

"It's them!" several voices inside the base shouted excitedly at once.

"Move out!"

Soon, armored combat vehicles equipped with advanced holographic cloaking technology rolled out of the base. They lifted into the air and immediately began traveling at supersonic speeds.

A massive primordial mountain range, like a majestic ancient dragon, snaked across the planet's surface, its grand body stretching for 100,000 kilometers.

It extended from south to north, passing through vast plains. However, at its midpoint, it seemed as though its spine had been snapped by a giant hammer. Here, entire sections of mountain peaks were severed, and large swathes of surface rock stripped away. This left behind numerous excavated mine shafts, their gaping openings resembling empty eye sockets—dark, hollow, and somewhat sinister.

In and around this region, there were several completely abandoned cities. From their vast footprints and the skeletal remains of towering buildings, one could imagine how prosperous these cities once were.

The lucrative resource extraction industry had rapidly built these great cities, but as resources dwindled, the cities just as swiftly declined.

Desolate and decaying, the planet's surface winds whipped up yellow sand and gravel, roaring wantonly through the cities' crumbling walls and ruins.

A skinny boy in a tattered protective suit hid behind a low concrete wall, sheltering from a gust of wind. Then, he grabbed his worn sack and hurried toward a target he had spotted earlier.

It was a stone monument where the wind had just blown away the surface sand, revealing an uncovered manhole.

It had been concealed before and likely hadn't been 'explored' by anyone yet. Perhaps it still held some 'good stuff.'

The nearby 'cities' were the territory of the Hyena Gang. They had risen to prominence decades ago through ruthless acts and cunning schemes, gradually coming to dominate the area.

The scavengers living here had to regularly pay them 'taxes,' or they would meet a very grim end.

The boy had a younger sister to support. It was already nearing noon, and he still hadn't gathered enough for their taxes for the day, making him understandably anxious.

By five in the afternoon, it would be time for the Hyena Gang's various posts to start collecting taxes. Everyone would obediently go to turn in their daily share. Those who broke this rule were all hung from the flagpoles in the city square.

In the largest of these abandoned cities, atop the tallest building, was a room whose 'decor' was, relatively speaking, quite lavish.

'Bear' sat in the room, drinking from a bottle of strong liquor from a bygone era. Of the original 700 milliliters, less than 300 milliliters remained.

On Capital Star, this kind of liquor could fetch an astronomical price at auction.

If sold to the salvage ship, it would also represent an income sufficient for any family on this planet to live without worry for a lifetime.

But 'Bear' was agitated. He didn't care about money; he just wanted to go back. He had plenty of this liquor, all procured by those worthless subordinates of his. As for how many other 'worthless people' they had killed in the process of obtaining it, he couldn't care less.