Chapter 5: Black Gold, Section 3

Actually, Xue Tong’s assessment was quite modest. After some time of interaction, Hei Fa truly realized he had probably encountered a real challenge.
That seemingly timid and delicate girl, resembling a princess, was actually a true expert—a master who knew everything about arms and transactions in this world.
What Xue Tong had labeled as worthless loot, after being organized and analyzed by this girl, resulted in a complete report delivered to Hei Fa by the next evening. It included a detailed plan for handling this massive haul and estimated outcomes, so thorough it was astonishing.
“Two magic mechs, all the parts for one mechanical mech, and complete maintenance facilities. Is this our haul?” Hei Fa frowned, studying the report in his hands. Across from him, the girl Su Lei sat quietly, still looking timid and fragile. Yet, from her beautiful eyes, flashes of pride could be seen from time to time. Her pretty face was slightly flushed from drinking a glass of red wine, making her look extremely adorable.
“Yes, Mr. Hei Fa. This is a detailed description of all items. It can be said this is cargo of enormous value. If we can sell it, our profit could roughly reach eight million Kari. Unfortunately, there are no matching drive cores, so we probably can’t assemble them into complete units.”
As she spoke, the girl’s expression turned serious. Her bright eyes blinked a few times, showing a shrewdness.
“But didn’t Xue Tong say we couldn’t sell them?” Hei Fa raised his head, gazing at the twinkling stars with a calm expression.
“On the surface, that’s true,” the girl nodded. She tossed a piece of dried vegetable into the campfire, sparking tiny flames. The sand worms on the fire shifted their hind legs from time to time, dropping orange-yellow oil droplets into the flames, releasing an enticing aroma that made one’s mouth water.
“Oh? So there’s another way?” Hei Fa became interested.
“Mm. It’s difficult to sell these goods here in Belin. But if they can be transported to another planet, such problems wouldn’t exist at all. In fact, there’s another planet in this galaxy famous for its complete freedom—called Bai Yin. There, we should be able to find buyers easily.”
“Bai Yin? What a fitting name,” Hei Fa chuckled silently.

“Yes, silver is one of the most important minerals in magic-tech. The fact that this planet is named after it underscores its value. On this planet, anything can be sold as merchandise—only its value matters, not its origin. Even if you steal the crown of a planet’s ruler, you can sell it openly without anyone troubling you. But to get there, you need an airship.” At this point, Sulei seemed somewhat troubled.
Airships, as high-end products of magic-tech, are invaluable no matter where they are, and their defenses are astonishingly strict. Obtaining one requires an entire squad of warriors; ordinary mercenaries or thieves have no chance. Sulei had originally planned to rent space from a legitimate shipping guild, but it now seems everything is just talk.
It all comes down to money again… The dark-haired man felt helpless.
Yet, according to Sulei’s description, this planet called Silver was truly attractive to him. Not only were transactions unrestricted, but mercenary business was also extremely booming there. There were thousands of interstellar pirates in the vicinity, providing a perfect environment for those who made a living through force. Besides human mercenaries and warriors, various alien species were also common—making it a true paradise for adventurers without discrimination.
Obviously, such a place was more suitable for the dark-haired man to obtain whatever he needed.
So, over the remaining month, the dark-haired man and the blood-eyed one became a desert storm, sweeping through almost all trade routes. The pitch-black little demons and blood-red fiends acted like two ravenous beasts, launching devastating attacks on any black-gold caravans that came within sight. Aside from sparing the regular maintenance staff and goods, they destroyed everything else. Their brutal methods, swift movements, and fierce attacks terrified Berin, earning them a fearsome nickname:
“The Locusts.”
The horror of the Locusts lay not in their strength, but in their unimaginable arrogance. In fact, to deal with the wild plundering by the dark-haired man and the blood-eyed one, Berin’s authorities sent several official search teams, but none achieved any real results.

After all, only two mechs were fighting. Black Hair and Blood Eyes moved with extreme agility, fully utilizing the guerrilla tactic of firing a shot and then moving to a new location. Both of them were technicians with incredibly strong skills and intuition, so small-scale battles hardly ever had any suspense. As long as the opponent’s strength wasn’t much greater than theirs, they would end up as piles of steel wreckage in the vast desert under Black Hair’s strategy and their teamwork—without exception.

During this time, Blood Eyes first realized Black Hair’s extraordinary abilities. Almost every time they raided, they barely managed to defeat their opponents. The disparity in strength could be described as severe. Yet, thanks to Black Hair’s superb mech control skills and Blood Eyes’ close cooperation, they never failed. If the opponent’s strength exceeded theirs even slightly, Black Hair wouldn’t launch an attack. His precision in calculation and decisiveness in action were things Blood Eyes had never heard of before. Moreover, Black Hair’s raid plans were always extremely bold, yet they were perfectly executed every time. All of this was beyond the reach of even a battle-hardened general or elite warrior.

This only made Blood Eyes more curious about the background of this black-haired man before him.

Nevertheless, their results weren’t entirely optimistic. Black Gold was after all a black-market guild that had long prepared countermeasures against sand pirates. Aside from the first two raids where they managed to gain some resources, subsequent raids mostly ended in draws. The resources they obtained were constantly being consumed at a high rate. Later, they even encountered Black Gold’s decoy caravans and nearly fell into their trap.

After a month like this, Black Hair finally gathered enough resources.