Chapter 5: Black Gold, Section 2

The dust from the desert still hung in the air, and the flames from the destroyed mechs continued to burn.
Yet the battle was already over.
The squad of seven mechs, under the combined assault of the black-haired man and the blood-eyed one, crumbled like weaklings. They not only failed to carry out their protective duties but also couldn’t even send back a complete battle recording. During the black-haired man’s initial sniper attacks on the puppet insects, he not only destroyed their power systems but also burned out their communication devices. All that could be sent back was information about the attack itself.
So the black-haired man was quite satisfied with this operation. He was also eager for the large sum of money he would receive.
Unfortunately, that expectation soon turned into a burden…
“Damn, what the hell is this?” Ignoring the crew inside the puppet insects, the blood-eyed man tore open the cargo hold of the transport vehicle and was stunned by what he saw inside.
“What?” The black-haired man frowned. He stopped trying to save himself and, covered in scattered debris and glowing with flames, slowly approached.
The cargo hold had been torn apart by the blood-eyed man, but the goods inside remained untouched, showing his skillful methods—perhaps he had done similar deals before. But what caught the black-haired man’s attention wasn’t that. It was something in the middle of the cargo hold.
There were neatly packed boxes, arranged in order throughout the hold. The contents were marked with magic runes from this world on the outside of the boxes. The black-haired man could read them but not understand them, so he had no choice but to wait. However, aside from those runes, there were some other markings that piqued his interest—rows of abstract geometric lines that, judging by their shape, resembled certain human body parts.
Soon, he understood what these things really were.
“These are machine parts. And they’re experimental models,” the blood-eyed man sighed as he opened one of the boxes. Under the sunlight, the metal emitted a dazzling shine.
“Oh? Isn’t that great?” The black-haired man was slightly surprised. With a flick of his alloy hook, he opened another box, revealing its contents.
“There are so many parts. We should be able to sell them for a good price. Blood-eyed, you’re an expert in magic mechs. Tell me, is it enough to pay off our debts?”
“Enough, way more than enough…” The blood-eyed man gave a bitter smile.

“The parts here are all experimental models—without numbers and without matching drive cores. Though they’re extremely valuable, they can’t be sold normally; as soon as they hit the market, they’ll attract attention. Boss, we’re in big trouble this time. These parts are usually reserved for the research institutes on Xieke Planet. They’ll definitely receive high attention. No wonder seven mechs were needed for protection on such a secure route. Now that we’ve seized them all, I’m afraid they’ve already alerted their base.” Amid the friction of metal joints, the blood-red mech moved to the other side of the Puppet Worm and raised its machine gun.

“Maybe we should destroy them all to leave no trace.”

“Oh?” The black-haired man raised his eyebrows slightly, narrowing his eyes. Through the little guy’s vision screen, he could see much more clearly than Blood Pupil, especially the joint parts of those components, which were carefully scanned with rays.

“Don’t act yet, Blood Pupil. Open the rear compartments.”

“Creak…” Boxes of precious mech parts were carelessly dumped out of the Puppet Worm by Blood Pupil as if they were worthless, scattering everywhere. This also gradually lit up the black-haired man’s eyes.

“Alright, that’s it. We’ll keep these parts.”

“What!?” Blood Pupil exclaimed in shock. “Boss, are you sure you’re not dizzy? We can’t sell these parts. And with so many of them, carrying them is a huge burden. We can’t even use them—do you plan to keep them as decorations?”

In his excitement, Blood Pupil’s massive energy machine gun swung back and forth, causing the workers gathered below to become extremely nervous; many even started crying in fear.

Everyone knew that encountering sand pirates during transportation was the worst thing that could happen. After all, they were neither combatants nor skilled mechanics, and no organization would be willing to pay a high ransom for them. Countless past incidents had proven that their only chance of survival was to pray for the sand pirates’ compassion.

However, although these sand pirates were powerful, they hadn’t attacked them yet, so there still seemed to be hope.

With them present, the black-haired man seemed unwilling to say much more. He simply repeated his decision affirmatively before walking back to the tall dunes. Soon after, an extended version of the Puppet Worm drove out.

Seeing Black Hair’s actions, Blood Pupil knew he couldn’t stop him and could only reluctantly accept the reality. Still, in the end, he used machine gun bullets to “wash” the remaining puppet insects, turning them into mere remnants in the endless desert sea. Without these tools, even if the remaining staff were capable, they would be unable to send back information in time. By the time the rescue team arrived, they would have long disappeared far into the distance.

It was truly a joke. The battle was successful, and the results were glorious. Yet in the end, they still didn’t earn a single penny. Su Lei’s 500,000 debt would likely continue to pile up. But to Black Hair’s surprise, the girl showed no sign of worry at all; instead, she started singing cheerfully among the puppet insects.

“Is she okay?” Black Hair shook his glass, silently observing the happy girl for a while before turning to look at Blood Pupil.

“Of course she’s okay. She’s overjoyed to be free from Black Gold’s clutches. Do you think she’d be afraid? Hmph, stop joking.” Blood Pupil curled his lips in boredom, also picking up a glass of red wine and raising it toward Black Hair.

“That girl is famous in Berlin for her boldness. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have managed to earn the title of ‘Gold Coin Princess’ in a black market full of scoundrels. Pretending to be weak all the time—she must have deceived many poor fools. Now, she’s probably proud that she’s found another powerful backer.”

Hearing Blood Pupil’s explanation, Black Hair fell silent…