MPWATMBC Chapter 102

“This canned food looks good.” Old Ryan took out a knife from his chest pocket and opened a can of meat, shoveling a large chunk into his mouth. His speech became muffled as he chewed. “Beef, huh? Kid, bring us a few boxes.”

Bandner forced a smile. “Big brother, that’s not possible. We only bought three boxes of canned meat, and it’s meant for the kids.”

“What, you’re saying we brothers aren’t as good as those bratty kids you’re raising?” The younger pirate immediately became displeased, pointing his dark gun barrel at Bandner. “Tell me, which one’s more important?”

Around the younger pirate, the pile of stolen supplies was taller than a person. Yet, they were still unsatisfied and wanted more.

Bandner clenched his fists, his teeth gritted. The inspection was becoming more and more outrageous. His shoulder was pushed, and the disguised Ryan, posing as Rennie, stepped in front of Bandner. With a cold expression, he stared at the two pirates.

The younger pirate flinched in fear but stubbornly took a step forward, cocking his neck as he spat, “Rebellion, huh!? Don’t even know your own weight, think you’re worth wasting a few bullets on!” His harsh words couldn’t hide the tremor in his voice. He felt that the man standing before him had eyes as deep as a dark well, capable of crushing everything that stood in his way.

‘Rennie’ spoke, his voice very low. “The kids are waiting for the meat.”

“Damn it.” The younger pirate cursed under his breath, but as ‘Rennie’ looked at him, his confidence began to waver. He was frightened and turned to avoid ‘Rennie’s’ gaze. “Old Ryan, let’s go. We’re unlucky to run into these blind fools. The people from the east are disgusting. How did the boss allow them to stay? They should’ve killed the useless ones and brought the useful ones into the team. What a waste.”

“Oh, oh.” Old Ryan, obsessed with eating meat, hurriedly picked up a box of meat and started walking out. “Hey, hey, hey, you’re not taking the cart? I can’t carry all this by myself.”

The younger pirate, rushing to leave, twitched his cheek a few times before biting the bullet and turning to push the cart. In his haste, the cart swerved wildly, and the pile of goods, taller than a person, fell off halfway. Old Ryan kept bending down to pick things up, grumbling, “What are you doing? All the stuff’s fallen. These are the noodles I like, this is the soda the boss wanted…”

The two of them were just the vanguard, with a group of armed pirates outside. It wasn’t a good time to get into a conflict.

Once the two of them had left, Bandner stepped out from behind Rennie, feeling frustrated. “Sorry, I almost got into a conflict with them.”

“It’s fine. They were really out of line,” Ryan said calmly, his gaze sweeping across the piled-up supplies. The once full room of goods now had a large depression in it, clearly missing a lot of things. The pirates seemed to want to take everything in one go, as if that would satisfy them.

Bandner sighed. “When I was younger, there were rules—ten percent of the supplies would be taken each time. But after the Red Spider changed their boss, the restrictions loosened, and the people from the East have had it worse. It got even worse last time; they directly took half of everything. We resisted… sigh, Rennie was severely injured, took three or four months to heal.”

He felt guilty toward Rennie. Every time they went out, Rennie would stand in front of him, and it was always Rennie who got hurt.

Ryan patted Bandner’s shoulder. “After this mission is successful, you won’t have to suffer under that oppression anymore.”

“Yeah, it has to succeed.” Bandner said, “Cooperating with your mission will surely expose our situation. If we fail, the East will face a massacre. I’m betting the lives of everyone with you. I hope you won’t let us down.”

“Please believe us, we won’t let you down.”

Fan Lanting’s voice came from the cockpit. “Oh my God, is this the beast you were talking about, Bandner?”

Bandner turned his head to look out the window and saw the small starship flying over a group of clumsy ox-beetles. The large black beasts had wings but couldn’t fly. The passing of the small starship caught the attention of some of the younger ox-beetles, who lifted their heads, curiously gazing with their black compound eyes. Being watched by a pack of wild beasts felt both tense and exciting. “These are ox-beetles, herbivores. They won’t attack unless provoked.”

“Are the beasts on Savage Star enlarged versions of insects?” Fan Lanting asked.

“Insects?” Bandner didn’t quite understand. He was someone who had ventured beyond Savage Star and seen the world, so hearing the word “insect” caught him off guard at first due to his fixed mindset, but soon it clicked. “Right, right, like the insects from Earth’s home planet. But the insects on Savage Star are far bigger, some even larger than starships.”

On Savage Star, insects had been magnified to the size of dinosaurs, a daily sight. Most insects had wings and were good at flying, they had strong reproductive capabilities, and were incredibly destructive to the environment. It wasn’t without reason that the insect species saw this place as a food source. Savage Star had very little water resources, most of its surface was barren desert, and the few oases that remained became the “insect” territories. Humans living here had very limited space to utilize, and every day they faced multiple challenges from the environment and the giant beasts. The entire population of Savage Star barely maintained around 13,000 people, thanks mostly to pirates periodically replenishing the population.

The pirates who had just plundered and the Eastern District that Bandner mentioned were the destination for this trip. The area was densely populated with scrub trees, and there were no exposed water sources on the surface. Under the scorching sunlight during the day, everyone would huddle in houses deep underground, only coming out at night to move around and hunt.

“We’ve arrived.” Despite the harsh living conditions, this was where Bandner had been born and raised, and he had a deep-rooted attachment to this place.

“There aren’t any beasts around here.” Fan Lanting, being a scout, immediately started observing the environment when they arrived at the unfamiliar location.

Bandner explained, “It’s too hot during the day, no beasts then.” In other words, they would appear at night.

The small starship landed smoothly, kicking up swirling dust. Under the intense sun, the shifting sand layers and the transparent air became distorted. As the hatch opened, the heatwave, undeterred, swept in along with the sand, stinging the skin and taking away its moisture. This was the extreme weather of Savage Star—uncompromising heat!

“It’s too hot during the day. We need to get to the cave as soon as possible.”

Ryan: “Aren’t we going to move the supplies?”

“No.” Bandner handed out the headscarves he had prepared in advance to Fan Lanting and Ryan. He explained, “Don’t worry about the supplies being stolen. The temperature here can reach over ninety degrees during the day, and the pirates from the west won’t come. They hate the heat.” Far to the west, there was an oasis where pirates had built walls to fend off the beasts. The oasis had a lake that never dried up, farmland that could be cultivated, fruit trees that could grow, and tameable wild beasts… For those from the east, it was like paradise.

Many of the people living underground in the east had never left the planet in their lives. They only knew there was an east and a west, and had no idea that the world beyond the planet had vast territories, an information era, and various kinds of resources… The world depicted in the books Bandner brought back was, to many, nothing more than a fabricated myth.

Ryan wrapped the headscarf Bandner handed him around his face and neck, leaving only a small gap for his eyes. The moment he stepped out of the cabin, he was momentarily surprised. The heatwave that rushed into the starship was merely an appetizer, far less intense than the outside heat. The atmosphere on Savage Star was thin, and the ultraviolet rays that reached the surface were even stronger. Skin exposed to the air would dry and crack within thirty seconds, skipping over the usual redness and peeling caused by sunburn and jumping straight to the stage of burns. If one stayed outside without protection for too long, it wasn’t impossible to become a dried corpse in five or six hours.

The rising sand dunes and the stubbornly growing saxaul trees hardly brought any sense of vitality to the area. Instead, the yellowed branches of the saxaul trees seemed sparse and lifeless.

Ryan did not urge Bandner to hurry them into the underground shelter, silently following him, his steps uneven as he walked through the desert. The sand was dry, shifting underfoot, and with each step, he had to find his balance again. Ryan and Fan Lanting quickly adapted, using their high levels of individual capability, while Bandner, as a native, was already accustomed to this environment.

“It’s hot during the day, but there are no beasts attacking,” Bandner’s voice came from ahead. “At night, it’s too noisy here; the starship can’t get close.”

The people of the East used the extreme daytime heat and the presence of wild beasts at night to protect themselves from the pirates of the West.

After struggling for about twenty meters, Bandner crouched by the base of a large sand dune, using his gloved hand to brush away the golden sand. He revealed a one-meter-wide metal hatch. With a firm push, he opened a small gap, and the cool air that came from below was inviting. As the metal hatch opened, a dark and deep passage appeared. Bandner said, “Dare to go down first?”

Fan Lanting scoffed, “What’s so difficult about it? I’m the man who dares to venture deep into the Zerg swarm.” As a scout, there was no place he wouldn’t explore. He swiftly descended into the tunnel.

Fan Lanting had descended a little further when Ryan followed closely behind. Finally, Bandner was last, responsible for closing the hatch and activating a small device on it that allowed the sand to cover the entrance and restore it to its original state.

The downward tunnel turned out to be longer than expected. After descending over two hundred meters, they finally reached the bottom. Their eyes gradually adjusted to the dim light, and they no longer needed additional lighting to see clearly.

Ryan raised his arm and glanced at his personal terminal, which displayed a body temperature of around thirty-six degrees Celsius. While this would be considered high temperature elsewhere, on Savage Star, it felt like the cool “winter” compared to the searing daytime heat outside. Ryan touched the dark green wall, feeling the dampness and the texture of moss-like plants. There was definitely a water source underground.

“Aren’t you bringing the two little robots down?” Bandner, who was the last to descend, asked in confusion.

Ryan answered, “No need.” He had already made small, palm-sized bodies for the Yuan Chu and Code Zero. When Bandner wasn’t looking, Ryan had integrated their systems into the small bodies, and both were now nestled safely in his jacket pocket.

Since Ryan said there was no need, Bandner didn’t ask any further questions. Finally home, Bandner eagerly quickened his pace, bypassing Fan Lanting, who was scouting the terrain, and moved ahead. “It’s still a bit further to our settlement. There are many underground forks; follow me, or you’ll get lost, and I won’t be able to find you.”

Ryan remarked, “This is somewhat like the underground tunnels on Cranberry Planet.”

“It is somewhat similar, but the end of the tunnel leads to completely different places. Cranberry is a paradise of indulgence,” Bandner replied. “Here, it’s a place where survival is a constant struggle.”