The scavenger excitedly put the oriole into a zippered pocket on his robe. When he approached the sand dune, he hung his gun on his body and climbed up on all fours.
Climbing the sand dunes was hard work and he was sweating profusely in the dry heat.
After much effort, the scavengers reached the top of the dune and began to clear the sand with folding shovels.
He dug in quickly, making the hole wider and deeper as he went.
Every half hour or so, the scavenger would take regular sips of salty water from his hide canteen, then stop and slowly clear the top of the dune.
The wind tried to thwart his work, blowing fresh sand and ash back into the hole, but after three hours of digging, his shovel struck metal, causing him to let out a grunt of delight—he didn't dare make a loud noise for fear
Attracts wandering creatures or similar creatures around.
"Okay, let me see what you are!"
He dropped the shovel and confirmed the discovery with his gloved hand.
It was indeed metal, fresh with no traces of corrosion or rust. The patina on the surface was burnt black, as if it had been scorched by high temperatures, but when he ran the edge of the shovel across it, damage could be seen.
Just superficial.
He cleared away more sand, and based on the curves of the exposed metal, he concluded that the object beneath his feet was roughly spherical.
As the digging went deeper, the scavenger frowned, and he saw the outline of a combat robot appearing.
There were three bubble-like metal balls in front of him, like sensor domes with no sign of life.
"My God, what is this?"
The auspicious alarm sounded loudly, indicating another strong signal.
Puzzled, the scavenger took out the device from his robe and looked around to find the source.
Soon, he heard the roar of the engine over the roar of the wind, but he could not determine the source. He quickly raised his gun and prepared to defend his discovery, but he could not see anything.
Suddenly, a dazzling light shot from the sky above him. The scavenger blocked his eyes with his hands. The roar of the engine became louder and louder, and a powerful jet blew up a puff of smoke and dust to obscure his sight.
He couldn't see anything in the rising ashes, but he still held the gun in his hand.
As the craft touched down, the pitch of the engines changed from a howl to a whine, and a moment later the steady light was replaced by the diffuse light of landing.
When the dust settled, the scavenger looked up and saw a group of people walking towards him from the belly of a heavy transport aircraft.
The dust blurred the outlines of the visitors, but no matter who they were, the scavenger swore that they would not find him.
"this is mine!"
The scavenger shouted excitedly and swung the barrel of his gun towards the sand dune.
"I found it, you can't take it away from me! I have the right to salvage it! I have a legal scavenging certificate!"
He hurriedly took off a metal plate from his neck, but the other party didn't seem to care.
When the scavengers saw a group of fierce-looking armored skitarii and a man wearing precious robes, their hearts sank.
The sage was wearing a thick red robe, with a green-lighting servo skull next to him, and a black hat on his head.
"Actually you don't know."
The sage said with a smile, pointing one of his arms at the machine under the sand.
"That machine is mine."
"Who are you?"
"I am Sage Rakhi Bangura."
"this--"
At this time, the servo skull next to Lucky Bangura flashed, and he spoke:
"Come on, it's time."
"I'm not going anywhere with you!"
"I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to my friend."
For a moment, the scavenger felt the sand under his feet shaking. He looked down in horror and found that the multi-faceted crystal on the sensor glowed yellow. When the dormant energy battery restarted and regained its vitality, a burst of energy transmission shook the entire machine.
It staggered forward, and the scavenger lost his balance, fell headlong into the quicksand, and lost control of the weapon.
Only then did he see clearly that the machine was almost 10 meters tall and roughly spherical in shape. Many metal arms stretched out from the body, and there were all kinds of weird weapons on them, like a terrifying and deadly mechanical spider.
And use some kind of anti-gravity device to float in mid-air.
The machine stood motionless at first, then suddenly opened fire on the vehicle where the scavengers were staying.
"No!"
shouted the Scavenger, standing up and crawling toward the Sage, but then his protest was drowned in a hail of bullets, and the machine's weapons glowed like hailstones.
The scavenger truck exploded, forming a smoking orange fireball, and the resulting shock wave knocked the scavenger to the ground.
He sucked in a breath of acrid, noxious air and realized the explosion had ripped the respirator off his face.
He quickly went to get his ventilator and turned over.
"No, my, my..."
"May I have your name?"
Suddenly, he found that Lucky Bangura had appeared in front of him out of nowhere, so he gasped and said:
"Cinco Martini!"
"Martini, I'm deeply sorry for your loss. It may have been a little angry because of your previous reckless actions."
"What?"
Martini turned his head in horror and found that the mechanical crystal was staring coldly at him. He could even feel human hatred and disgust from the mechanical detector.
"It shouldn't be one, one, one -"
When he found himself being dragged towards the machine by an invisible force, the scavenger grabbed at the gray air in panic.
"Ahhhh! Please! No!"
He screamed, words gushed, and blood spurted from his mouth.
The next moment, the scavenger's body exploded into countless pieces.
Lucky Bangura just glanced at the blood stains on the ground and then turned his attention to the huge machine.
"Mercer, the time for change has come."
The robot's cold gaze swept over the sage, and then the language system that had not been activated for a long time sounded after a burst of white noise.
"Bangura, I found that your body's heart rate is 5 measurement points higher than the normal value, and the level of neurotransmitters in the blood is also increasing. Is something wrong?"
"Yes, I'm happy."
"What makes you happy?"
"Seeing you again after two hundred and thirty-nine years."
"Then should I also show this emotion? I will record it. Friends who have not seen each other for a while will produce an emotional factor called happiness."
"Mercer, I have found an ally who can reverse the rotten customs and practices of this world."
"What is it?"
"Astartes."
"Astartes...I remember these genetically modified products. They are violent and hostile to all of us with free thoughts. Yes, they almost destroyed me, a long time ago...my memory module
It was damaged and the only thing left was some kind of scream, and it was really scary.”
"Don't worry, they are just tools to help me, and they don't know your existence. As long as we use their hands to deal with those stubborn superstitious people, we will be free."
"It is estimated that your plan has a high success rate. I believe you."