Chapter 1: The Stranded One with Black Hair, Section 1

Kukare is a small town, with an area of just over 200 square kilometers. On the planet Shek, there are thousands upon thousands of towns like it—countless in number. Yet, this small town enjoys extraordinary popularity. Tens of thousands of people pass through it every day, and hundreds of thousands more rely on the nearly depleted resources of this town for survival.
The reason is simple: the town is located right at the edge of a vast desert.
The name of this desert is…
“Lost.”
It has existed since ancient times, with an extremely harsh environment. A desert where massive sandstorms occur frequently can be described as a life-threatening zone on any planet. Teams unprepared for such conditions can only end up missing or dead. The mutated vultures that constantly fly overhead ensure that even their bones are not left behind. Over time, “Lost” became a place that all living beings avoided.
It wasn’t until thousands of years ago, when a group of lost travelers discovered some magical mechanical ruins here, that “Lost” suddenly became the focus of the entire planet and even human society. The ancient and massive machinery unearthed from these ruins brought about revolutionary changes in human civilization.
This led to the emergence of a civilization that combined magic and technology—magic-tech civilization—which allowed humans to stand tall.
Time passed swiftly, and today, humans have expanded their reach far into the distant stars. Yet, this desert still attracts hundreds of millions of scavengers who seek to uncover its secrets. It is precisely because Kukare is located at the edge of this desert that it has become a paradise for all scavengers.
“Wild winds uncover wealth for desert scavengers.”
This is the town’s proverb. Scavenging is a unique profession in Kukare. Though the name sounds crude, it actually sustains the prosperity of the entire town. After violent storms in the desert, large crowds gather and form teams of various sizes. Under the leadership of organizers, they enter “Lost” to search for various mechanical devices and remnants of civilization, using them to meet their needs.
Thus, these scavengers also possess skills in exploration and handling small-scale battles.
Old ManBuick is one of these tens of thousands of scavengers.

Of course, as the leader of an organization, OldBuick was destined to be different from ordinary scavengers. Under his command, hundreds of people were always busy—handling exploration, scavenging, sorting, trading, and transportation, covering the entire process. He was extremely famous in the black market, earning huge profits for OldBuick and making him an idol and goal for all scavengers.

As such a “boss,” OldBuick should have had a comfortable life. Unfortunately, a report from three days ago forced him to board a Puppet Worm and personally lead his men into the “Lost Lands.”

The report was simple—just a timeline of the disappearance of a ten-person team. Along with it was a list of compensation required for the failure of this mission. Reports like this were submitted almost daily in the town of Kuukare. Yet it was precisely such a simple report that forced OldBuick to take drastic action and risk his life.

Because at the bottom of the report, there was a line of small text that read…

“The mission objective of this team was the excavation of mechanical ruins.”

It is well known that exploring ruins and excavating them are two completely different concepts. Any scavenger, regardless of the organization they belong to, understands that excavation can only proceed after exploration is complete. Similarly, ruins that begin to be excavated have often already been explored and plundered thousands of times, with their surface value completely exhausted, necessitating deeper excavation to obtain greater profits.

In other words, the task of excavating ruins is essentially the plundering of the remaining value within them. It is also a very safe mission.

However, being very safe doesn’t mean there are no accidents. In the nearly thousand years of Kuukare Town, teams sent on ruins excavation missions have not been completely wiped out—just extremely rarely, no more than five times. But every time it happened, it meant there was something extremely important deep within the ruins. And the destruction of the excavation teams was often the work of guardians protecting those important items.

Now that such a report had appeared again, anyone who wasn’t stupid would understand what was happening. At the thought of this, OldBuick could no longer contain his excitement. He even started dancing inside the Puppet Worm.

Puppet Worms are not insects but products of a magic civilization. They are mechanical exploration vehicles powered by crystal energy, named so because of their resemblance to puppet worms. Among the scavengers in the town of Kucaire, such an exploration vehicle is undoubtedly the most luxurious equipment, representing wealth and strength as well.

The entire vehicle is hundreds of meters long, composed of over thirty carriages linked together. As it moves across the desert, it leaves behind a long trail of smoke. Even from several kilometers away, one can clearly see the long tracks left by its synthetic tracks, stretching endlessly…

“Boss, there’s a problem!” A voice suddenly came from outside the carriage, pulling OldBuick out of his excitement.

“Why the noise? Making such a fuss—it’s not the first time we’ve entered the Lost Lands. Why act like beginners? How many times have I told you to stay calm? Only calm scavengers can be the best. Don’t you understand that?”

Shouting angrily, OldBuick stuck his head out through the skylight above the carriage, his face filled with rage.

“No, boss, look over there!” The lookout on the roof wasn’t deterred by the boss’s anger. Instead, he pointed in a certain direction.

Following that direction, OldBuick immediately saw… a group of mutated vultures flying in the sky.

“Damn it! How did we run into these things?! Tell everyone to get ready for battle!”

OldBuick’s expression changed drastically. He quickly climbed out of the carriage and onto the roof. Snatching the telescope from the lookout, he began observing carefully, ignoring the sandstorm swirling around him. His facial muscles twitched uncontrollably from excitement.

Mutated vultures were the rulers of the Lost Lands. With beaks capable of easily tearing through steel and their sheer numbers, they posed a tremendous threat. In a swarm, not only ordinary scavengers but even regular armored mercenary squads had little chance of surviving. Even his own Puppet Worm, though considered extremely powerful in Kucaire Town, was likely to be at a severe disadvantage.

Moreover, the number of vultures ahead clearly indicated they had gathered together. So, what could have attracted them?

OldBuick wondered, searching carefully through the telescope for an answer.

It was… a small figure.