Deep Space Scavenging, Hand Over Alien Warships at the Beginning

Chapter 166: A Piece of Advice – Write Your Will FirstThe Black Shark King’s semi-mechanical face looked exceptionally hideous under the lights.

He hadn’t misheard. This Earth native, wearing a tattered protective suit and looking like he’d just crawled out of a dirt pit, had actually said he was going to rob them to his face.

”What did you say?”

The Black Shark King slowly straightened up from his throne, his right hand suddenly drawing the massive high-energy blaster at his waist.

The muzzle emitted a faint blue light as it was pressed directly against Lin Yuan’s forehead.

The scorched smell produced by high-heat energy in the atmosphere swirled right at the tip of Lin Yuan’s nose.

The pirates in the hall were stunned for two seconds before erupting into a burst of merry laughter. Some pirates even slapped the tables as they laughed, spilling their drinks all over the floor.

”Boss, has this kid been dazed by our fortress’s gravitational waves?”

”I think he’s been driven mad by fear. How could a monkey from a primitive civilization have ever seen a spectacle like ours?”

The Black Shark King pressed the muzzle forward a bit more, his thumb already flicking off the safety.

”Kid, what kind of tricks are you playing? Do you really think I wouldn’t dare blow your head open right here and gouge that chip out?”

Lin Yuan remained seated on the metal chair, not even moving an inch.

He glanced sideways at the blaster, then turned his head to stare at the massive load-bearing pillar above the hall for a few moments.

”This model of blaster would sell for two thousand credit points at most on the interstellar black market.”

Lin Yuan’s voice was calm and steady, even carrying a hint of disdain. ”The heat insulation layer on the barrel is cracked. If you fire a shot, this thing will likely blow off half your own arm first. Also, don’t blame me for not warning you, but your fortress’s structural mechanics are a total mess. That main beam to the front-left is already suffering from metal fatigue. If I’m not mistaken, you welded third-grade titanium alloy to the keel of a discarded starship, didn’t you?”

The Black Shark King was taken aback and subconsciously glanced at the crossbeam above.

”If that pillar snaps, at least half of the West Sector will collapse.”

Lin Yuan shook his head and lamented, ”You bandits really have no sense of craftsmanship at all. You call this a fortress? It’s just a cobbled-together scrap heap. This isn’t how you do recycling; it’s a complete waste of materials.”

”Shut up!”

The Black Shark King felt he had been subjected to a great insult. He could tolerate people calling him cruel, but he could not tolerate a native nitpicking his ’toll station’ here.

”Black Shark, your gun is too noisy.”

Zeta, who had been watching coldly from the side, finally spoke.

He set down his silver scepter and stared at Lin Yuan with narrow eyes, his gaze containing more greed than murderous intent.

”Mr. Lin, rather than this meaningless verbal provocation, I suggest you look outside. Your clansmen seem to understand the rules better than you do.”

Zeta pointed to the large screen on the wall.

On the screen, Earth, berthed in the distance, was undergoing a violent change.

The exhaust plumes of tens of thousands of planetary engines had turned from light purple to an eerie deep crimson—a sign that energy output had reached its peak.

”Look, they have already opened all the energy storage ports as I requested.”

A smug smile appeared on Zeta’s pale face. ”This planet contains more heavy fusion fuel than I imagined. I accept this ’grand gift’ on behalf of the Moran Dynasty.”

Lin Yuan looked at the engines on the screen, poised and ready to fire, and suddenly let out a soft laugh.

”A grand gift? It is indeed a grand gift. However, Captain Zeta, your eyesight seems to be quite poor.”

”What did you say?” Zeta’s brow furrowed slightly.

”gaia, help them zoom in on the image.”

Lin Yuan snapped his fingers at the air.

In an instant, the holographic star map in the center of the hall was forcibly switched to a high-definition real-time monitoring feed.

The blue orb representing Earth slowly adjusted its posture in the void.

Those tens of thousands of steel towers standing on the surface were not spraying propulsion backwards. Instead, like upright steel needles, they had pointed all their exhaust ports directly toward the Black Shark Fortress.

These ten thousand-plus muzzles were like countless wolf eyes staring at their prey.

The noisy pirates in the hall gradually fell silent, while several technicians worked at their consoles, drenched in sweat.

”Re... Report! The opponent’s energy readings are skyrocketing! They’ve already broken through the warning threshold for civilian engines!”

The Black Shark King grinned. ”So what? They’re five hundred kilometers away. Do they think they can roast us with their exhaust plumes? By the time that plasma diffuses here, it won’t even singe a single flake of paint!”

”Let me correct you.”

Lin Yuan stood up and straightened his collar, a hint of playfulness flashing in his eyes. ”This isn’t exhaust; it’s a high-pressure directional gravitational jet. And to ensure the sincerity of our gift to you both, I’ve had the Command Center close all the safety relief valves.”

He extended a finger and tapped the air. ”In other words, every single engine is now an overloaded cannon that could explode at any second.”

Zeta stood up abruptly, the Gravity Scepter in his hand glowing with a piercing blue light.

”You want to threaten me? Playing with gravity in front of a Gravity Scepter—you are seeking your own death!”

”Whether it’s a threat or not, you’ll find out soon enough.”

Lin Yuan glanced at the virtual countdown on his wrist, his tone becoming exceptionally serious. ”Now, I’m giving you a suggestion. It’s also an ultimatum.”

An eerie silence fell over the hall once more, broken only by the hum of machinery.

”I’ll give you ten minutes.”

Lin Yuan placed both hands on the table in front of him and said word by word, ”Take your people and get the hell out of this fortress. Get on your scrap ships and run as far as you can. In ten minutes, I will perform a forced demolition here according to the standards for ’illegal unauthorized construction.’ If anyone gets buried in the scrap heap then, don’t say the Daxia Civilization didn’t warn you.”

After a few seconds of silence, the Black Shark King erupted into a fit of laughter, laughing so hard tears almost came out.

”Hahaha! Demolition? He actually wants to demolish my Black Shark Fortress?”

The surrounding pirates followed suit with jeers and laughter.

”This native is truly insane! Even an expeditionary force from a Level 3 civilization wouldn’t dare say they could demolish our place in ten minutes!”

”Boss, I say we stop talking to him. Let’s break his legs first and see if he’s still so arrogant!”

The Black Shark King grinned and turned the muzzle of his gun, preparing to fire a shot at Lin Yuan’s thigh.

But a second before he pulled the trigger, Lin Yuan’s lips parted slightly.

”Ten minutes. The clock starts now.”

Lin Yuan sighed, the expression on his face hard to distinguish between pity and boredom. ”Good advice can’t save a ghost determined to die. We gave you a chance, but you’re truly useless.”

Snap!

A crisp snap of the fingers echoed through the hall.

On the originally unremarkable metal floor, dark gold patterns suddenly lit up in several spots where Lin Yuan had just been standing.

Those were the Void Beacons he had deployed earlier.

These patterns were like a breathing organism, instantly extending downward and plunging directly into the fortress’s power grid network.

”Warning! The energy center is experiencing unknown interference!”

”Emergency cooling system failure!”

”Shield frequency encountering strong interference; deflection rate is dropping rapidly!”

Piercing red alarm lights instantly illuminated the entire hall, and the previously stable lighting system began to flicker on and off.

The Black Shark King’s face changed drastically. He discovered that the blaster in his hand had even lost its display screen due to the power interruption.

”What did you do?!”

The Black Shark King roared hysterically as he tried to reach out and grab Lin Yuan.

But Lin Yuan’s figure suddenly became blurred at that moment, like a holographic projection, allowing the Black Shark King’s palm to pass right through his chest.

”Voidification...”

Zeta, sitting nearby, finally lost his composure. For the first time, he showed an expression of terror, frantically waving his Gravity Scepter in an attempt to capture Lin Yuan by interfering with the surrounding space.

”You are a Void Walker?! That’s impossible! how could a primitive civilization have an Evolver of this level!”

Lin Yuan stood in the semi-transparent shadow, not even glancing at him.

He turned his head to look at the distant deep space.

There, Earth’s ten thousand engines had finished charging, their purplish-red glow almost obscuring the distant starlight.

”gaia, tell Old Chen.”

Lin Yuan gave a soft command, his voice sounding as if it were coming from another dimension. ”No need to wait ten minutes. They’ve refused mediation. Just... proceed with the forced demolition.”

At the same time, in Earth’s Heaven’s Court Command Center.

Chen Weiguo stared intently at the energy gauge that had turned deep crimson, and slammed his finger hard onto the red fire button.

”All units, first round of saturation strike... fire!”

Boom—!

In the silence of the vacuum, there was no sound, only a massive curtain of light capable of blinding everything within ten thousand miles.

Tens of thousands of gravitational jets, thick as dragons and carrying the destructive aura of warped space, crossed five hundred kilometers of void and instantly engulfed the Black Shark Fortress.

The originally indestructible outer armor of the fortress was like butter under a high-temperature welding torch at this moment, undergoing a silent disintegration.

Inside the hall, the Black Shark King and Zeta saw only a purplish-red color beyond description.

That was the first roar... from Earth.

Lin Yuan’s figure completely dissipated in the firelight, leaving behind only a faint sentence.

”This business deal—I’m really taking it.”

The fortress’s outer shields shattered instantly, and the dense meteorite roadblocks were like a pile of withered leaves swept up by a hurricane under the washing of the gravitational torrent.

Those pirates who had been planning to watch a joke couldn’t even let out a scream before they were thrown directly into the violent plasma stream along with sections of ruptured metal corridors.

When Lin Yuan’s figure reappeared, he was at the very top of the fortress’s observation tower.

Stepping on the scalding metal hull, he watched the behemoth beneath him disintegrating inch by inch and slammed his palm downward.

”System, activate Stellar-class Salvage Mode.”

”Recover... everything!”

In the dark void, a tiny black dot was forming in Lin Yuan’s palm, opening its gaping mouth toward this magnificent, crumbling ruin.

Meanwhile, inside the silver patrol ship, Zeta had just escaped via emergency teleportation. Before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, he saw a sight on the radar that made his heart shatter with terror.

That black hole was actually biting toward his flagship, along with the surrounding space.

”No, this is definitely not a Level 1.0 civilization...”

Zeta collapsed into the command chair, his eyes reflecting that ever-expanding dark vortex.

”Who... is he?”