Deep Space Scavenging, Hand Over Alien Warships at the Beginning

Chapter 148 Since it’s an interstellar mafia, then it has to be two-on-one.”Tick, tock, tick, tock.”

The black square box floating in the center of the force field was like a grim reaper, the red light flashing with increasing frequency.

Four minutes left.

If this thing exploded, not only would this dilapidated flagship be finished, but the dragon sparrow currently cleaning up the battlefield would likely be flipped over by the antimatter turbulence.

”Playing the self-destruct card? Did you guys buy a wholesale copy of ’The Self-Cultivation of a Villain’?”

Lin Yuan stood in the secret chamber, not even bothering to look at the complex combination lock. He reached into the void and grabbed, as if pulling something out of an invisible pocket.

【 Ding! 】

【 High-risk explosive detected. 】

【 Classified as: Ownerless high-energy waste. 】

【 Initiate forced recovery for ”Deep Space Salvage Operation”? 】

”Collect it.”

Lin Yuan snapped his fingers.

There was no heart-pounding bomb defusing or cutting wires, nor the cliché plot of stopping at the last second. Just as the red light was about to become a solid line, the box, capable of blowing half a satellite to dust, vanished into thin air like a pencil sketch erased by a rubber eraser.

The next second, it lay quietly in Lin Yuan’s system inventory slot. The status bar displayed: 【 Mechanical Papacy Relic · Heart of Lies (Stationary / Fuse Removed) 】.

In the system’s logic, once it’s in my pocket, it has to listen to me whether it’s round or flat.

”Whew—”

Lin Yuan whistled, turned, and walked out of the secret chamber, casually connecting to the full-band broadcast.

”Boys, don’t just stand there. This place belongs to the Lin family now.”

”Dinner time!”

Following this command, the originally dead-silent space of Proxima Centauri instantly became as lively as a market opening for business.

The massive cargo doors on the belly of the dragon sparrow slowly opened, and thousands of engineering drones swarmed out. They needed no rest or air, pouncing on the floating wreckage of the Three-Eyed Race warships, their laser cutters swinging so fast they were just blurs.

This wasn’t cleaning up a battlefield; it was like a swarm of locusts passing through.

【 Ding! Recovered 124 ”Tick”-class frigate wrecks, gained 3.72 million points. 】

【 Ding! Recovered 5 ”Divine Punishment”-class battleship core power furnaces (damaged), gained 15 million points. 】

【 Ding! Obtained rare technology blueprint: Planetary Environmental Modification Technology (Basic). 】

【 Ding! Obtained biotechnology sample: Biochemical Beast Breeding Sequence (Incomplete). 】

Lin Yuan watched the data scrolling wildly on his retina; that satisfaction was even more tangible than swallowing a stellar flare just now. This wasn’t trash; these were the building blocks for the rise of the Great Xia.

Especially that 【 Planetary Environmental Modification Technology 】, it was practically tailor-made for Earth right now. With this thing, restoring the scarred Earth to lush green mountains and clear waters would just be a matter of using a bit more electricity.

”Commander, you need to see this.”

In the communication channel, Academician Wang’s voice sounded shaky, not from excitement, but from some suppressed chill.

”I’m in the medical room of the Three-Eyed Race flagship.”

Ten minutes later, Lin Yuan stood before a cold metal autopsy table.

Lying on it was the previously arrogant Commander Zaka. This guy was thoroughly dead, his head detached, now being held in place by several robotic arms for a deep scan.

”Look here.” Academician Wang held a laser pointer, pointing at the structure of Zaka’s brain displayed on the holographic projection. Deep within that gray-white cerebral cortex, roughly where the hippocampus should be, was embedded a black crystal the size of a grain of rice. It had grown countless tentacles thinner than a hair, deeply rooted into every key node of the cranial nerves.

”What is this? A tumor?” Lin Yuan frowned.

”It’s a lock.” Academician Wang took a deep breath and took off his glasses to wipe them. ”We’ve dissected three hundred corpses, from the low-level boiler workers to this Commander, all of them have this thing in their brains.”

”It’s a type of bio-chip. Normally, it constantly releases a special neurotransmitter, causing people to feel extreme ’devotion’ and ’fanaticism.’ This explains why these guys don’t fear death when fighting.”