Chapter 484 – The Fire of Greed

“Cre-aaak-“

Below the fierce mechanized battlefield, a wall that glowed deep green suddenly split open, revealing a massive exit.

A team of tall men, fully armed and dressed in gray combat suits, quickly emerged while pushing large crates.

The group automatically split into two lines behind the Gem Lord, quickly stacking the heavy black crates onto the open ground before him.

Their numbers were plenty, and their movements swift. In less than half a minute, the black crates were stacked into two towering walls.

At a glance, there were nearly a thousand of these crates.

Those in the midst of the fierce battle were somewhat distracted by the sudden activity below. Many looked on with caution, but before they could investigate what was inside these numerous black crates…

“Boom!”

The two towering walls of black crates were abruptly toppled over and collapsed.

In an instant, countless clear green crystals spilled out like a flood, rolling out in a grand spectacle.

Accompanied by the pleasant sound of the crystals clashing, a massive and intensely concentrated wave of Life Energy was released.

The air in the vast area of the ruins’ cave bottom was instantly purified.

Under the impact of this Life Energy surge, everyone in the field felt as if they had been transported from a smoke-filled battlefield to a lush, post-rain primal jungle.

In that moment, all the space pirates were stunned.

Even Lu Yuan felt his mind fiercely shaken.

He knew the Gem Lord had a significant amount of Life Source Ore, but he never imagined there would be so much.

Nearly a thousand large crates, each several meters in size, collectively holding up to thousands of tons of Life Source Ore!

What surprised him even more was that the Gem Lord casually dumped such a vast amount of Life Source Ore in front of everyone as if it were trash.

The massive quantity of Life Source Ore, the misty green glow, and the overwhelmingly dense Life Energy all crashed upon the nerves of every space pirate present.

After a moment of silence.

A sudden, high-pitched roar of engines shattered the silence.

That sound acted as a trigger.

Once activated, the space pirates, who were shocked just a second ago, transformed into swift shadows, quickly breaking away from their original battle groups and madly dashing toward the mountain of scattered Life Source Ore below.

Deafening sonic booms filled the air as mechas sliced through the atmosphere.

A Life Source Ore the size of a fist was worth hundreds of thousands of Duoling Coins. And now, right in front of them, lay thousands of tons of Life Source Ore!

When converted to money, it amounted to a colossal wealth valued at billions, if not trillions!

No wonder everyone went insane.

The space pirates, like a swarm of locusts with blood-red eyes, rushed towards the scattered Life Source Ore on the ground.

Even the crimson gold mecha bodyguards, who had been fighting tooth and nail with the space pirates, did not stop them, seemingly allowing the pirates to plunder at will.

Lu Yuan remained motionless.

On the space pirate side, about a dozen others also stayed put, most of whom were level 6 or 7 pilot powerhouses within the pirate ranks.

The Gem Lord’s operation of “opening the floodgates” was truly strange and suspicious; no one believed it was without a hidden agenda.

These level 6 and 7 space pirate leaders, having survived this long, were as shrewd as foxes. Even though their eyes gleamed green at the sight of the Life Source Ore, they cautiously opted to let their servants go first.

Lu Yuan glanced at the distant Gem Lord.

Around him, layers of anxious bodyguards were as tense as if facing a formidable enemy.

In contrast, he appeared relaxed, watching the frenzy of space pirates looting the Life Source Ore with keen interest, as if he were enjoying an entertaining play he had directed himself.

Lu Yuan frowned slightly, his expression suddenly shifting as he discreetly looked up.

It was then that he noticed the crimson gold bodyguard mechas, now devoid of opponents, had organized into formation. They were slowly closing in on those space pirates who hadn’t joined the plundering of the Life Source Ore…

“Relax,” the Gem Lord said coolly, glancing at the tense bodyguard beside him. “In this place, no one… can so much as touch a hair on my head.”

The Gem Lord’s tone was calm, yet it exuded immense confidence and assurance.

His confidence seemingly did not stem from the layered armor of loyal bodyguards surrounding him.

“Oh, right,” the Gem Lord continued, as if recalling something, “Is the mold in place?”

The bodyguard replied softly, “As per your instructions, everyone has been positioned accordingly, my Lord.”

“Very well,” the Gem Lord nodded.

He then lifted his gaze, which first swept over the two high-grade mechas, one black and one white, engaged in a fierce battle that occasionally unleashed terrifying energy and consciousness waves.

Next, his eyes rested on the level 7 space pirate leaders surrounded by the crimson gold mechas.

Finally, he looked at the ordinary space pirates scrambling for the Life Source Ore below.

A satisfied expression slowly spread across his face as he softly muttered:

“Arrogant and noble main ingredients, mixed with envious and suspicious additives, ignited by the fire of greed from a foolish soul, slowly roasted, then sprinkled with the seasoning of fear and pain…

Tsk, tsk, I can’t imagine how sumptuous and delicious this meal will be…”

“He will surely be pleased…”

“Don’t you think?” the Gem Lord turned, smiling as he inquired of his close bodyguard.

The bodyguard, seeing the eerie smile on the Gem Lord’s face, felt a chill in his own heart, and then… nodded blankly.

…

“Boom!”

A piercing explosion echoed, as white shockwaves rolled outward.

Several crimson gold shadows simultaneously lunged toward Lu Yuan.

Two at level 7, and three at level 6.

Lu Yuan immediately assessed the strength of his opponents.

And he wasn’t the only one receiving this grand treatment.

Once the main battle group had been lured by the Life Source Ore, space pirate “elites” like him, cautious enough not to act, became the focus of all the crimson gold mechas’ assaults.

“Is this an overt strategy? Using profit to split the battle group and then gradually picking us off one by one?”

Even as he faced the assault of five crimson gold mechas, Lu Yuan’s expression remained remarkably composed, his mind still contemplating the deeper intentions behind the Gem Lord’s series of actions.

Each crimson gold mecha was a formidable force, with the weakest among them at level 5, and several experts reaching levels 6 and 7.

By using the lure of the Life Source Ore to disrupt their formation, they could concentrate fire to take out some opponents first, and then gradually deal with the rest.

This approach was indeed effective, fully exploiting the space pirates’ lack of cohesion and organizational discipline.

However, there were too few crimson gold mechas.

Regardless of the level, their numbers were only a third or even less than that of the space pirates.

Unless the Gem Lord had some other hidden forces, relying solely on his crimson gold mecha bodyguards to completely eliminate all the space pirates seemed unrealistic.

Facing the encirclement by several crimson gold mechas, Lu Yuan remained calm and refrained from direct confrontation.

Instead, he took advantage of his speed, effortlessly breaking through the encirclement and heading towards the nearest level 7 space pirate mecha.

The crimson gold mechas pursued relentlessly.

As Lu Yuan reached the target level 7 mecha, he suddenly shifted direction again.

He seemed to hear the level 7 space pirate cursing through the mecha’s communications, frustrated by the increased pressure.

Showing no change in expression, Lu Yuan continued to change positions.

On the other side of the battle group, a magenta-colored female mecha was performing similar maneuvers to Lu Yuan.

She moved between smaller battle groups, disrupting the previously separated clusters and linking them together.

With just a few strategic diversions by Lu Yuan and Sonis, the space pirates began to “awaken,” actively moving toward each other.

They weren’t fools; it was evident that they understood Lu Yuan and Sonis’s intentions.

At this moment, banding together was clearly far better than fighting individually.

Initially, they hadn’t considered it, as the idea simply hadn’t crossed their minds, and they didn’t trust each other enough.

Such cooperation couldn’t be forced even if planned beforehand; there would always be someone who refused to cooperate.

Now, whether by Alfonso’s design or by accident, they were being pushed to unite, and surprisingly, the space pirates cooperated and formed a united front.

“Whoosh-“

Lu Yuan’s figure appeared in the air, and just as he stabilized himself, two attacks came at him from either side.

He gave his arms a slight shake, and his claw-like weapons left trails of afterimages in the void, forming a faint cross pattern.

He completely ignored the attack coming from the right, focusing solely on the one from the left.

“Boom!”

“Bang!”

Two muffled explosions sounded one after the other.

Lu Yuan slightly retreated in midair, his long, strong alloy arms naturally hanging down, as he stood with a calm expression.

Beside him, a stocky, robust, copper-red mecha holding two laser blades let out a cackling laugh in a voice belonging to a red-bearded man.

“Alfonso, you ought to thank me, or your head would’ve been detached by now…”

Lu Yuan shot a faint glance at the red-bearded man, remaining silent.

At this point, the dozen or so level 7 space pirates had successfully banded together, and similar “cooperative” maneuvers between him and the red-bearded man were not uncommon.

Facing the crimson gold mecha bodyguards who outnumbered them more than twofold, the pressure might not have vanished, but at least everyone felt a significant emotional relief.

Lu Yuan’s objective was also achieved.

His choice to encourage the space pirates to unite wasn’t a committed decision to take their side.

Instead, the Gem Lord gave him an inexplicably eerie feeling, causing some unease in his heart.

Whatever the reason, he didn’t want the space pirates to “fall” too quickly, or rather…

He didn’t want the Gem Lord’s plans to proceed too smoothly.

“Dammit, those guys… I’ve been yelling for ages, and not a single one of them paid attention, just watching us get swarmed and bullied…”

The red-bearded man, standing next to Lu Yuan, grumbled loudly, even opening the distant cannon barrel on his mecha to fire two shots below.

The energy cannon blasts landed amid the Life Source Ore pile, erupting into two dark green flames.

These shots were evidently intended to warn several mechas beneath, busy picking up ores, but the nearby mechas seemed unperturbed, continuing to use their machines to frantically gather the Life Source Ore.

Even though the storage space inside their mechas was already full, causing the Life Source Ore to be ingested and expelled repeatedly, they seemed oblivious, caught in their mechanical actions.

“Are they really going insane?!”

Similar scenes unfolded among many space pirates, and not just the red-bearded man; other level 7 space pirates who hadn’t gone down also started noticing something odd.

“Every piece of this Life Source Ore is marked with a spatial Mark; they can’t be stored in space storage tools, so they have to be transported piece by piece!”

“There’s something strange about these ores!”

The space pirates, besieged by the crimson gold mechas, discussed nervously while under constant pressure.

At this point, even the slowest among them realized something was amiss.

The communication channels established earlier were now populated only by those who had stayed above. Those who had gone down to grab the ores, whether level four, level 5, level 6, or even level 7, hadn’t uttered a single word in response.

It was as if every one of them had become possessed, with mechas overloaded by the ores, moving sluggishly.

They resembled bloated worms sprawled on mounds of Life Source Ore, greedily “devouring” them.

It seemed like everything else had faded away in their minds; only the ores before them held any importance.

“Crack-“

On the ore mound, an overloaded mecha wobbled and fell backward with a crash.

The cockpit door swung open in the next instant.

A space pirate, eyes bloodshot and expression maniacal, leapt out from within.

He landed on the ore mound in a dive, and as soon as he hit the ground, he began stuffing green ores into his arms and clothes, frantically, like a madman.

A few moments later, the pirate abruptly stopped moving, and then…

“Boom!”

A brilliant flame, like gold coins, suddenly erupted from his body.

The fiercely burning flame enveloped the space pirate in an instant, and a piercing scream shattered the air.

At the center of the flame, a twisted humanoid silhouette seemed to flicker.

When the flames died down, chunks of Life Source Ore, shimmering with a beautiful green light, clattered onto the ore mound, dusted with a thin layer of black ash.

The space pirate himself had vanished without a trace.

“Hiss-“

The level 7 space pirates who witnessed the scene inhaled sharply.

Before they could fully process their shock, similar incidents began occurring one after another below.

Their initial shock quickly transformed into horror and dread, silently spreading within their hearts and minds.

“What is… this?!”

Lu Yuan was equally shaken.

He fixated his gaze on the mountain of green Source Ore below, where clusters of yellow flames were igniting.

For reasons he couldn’t quite fathom, the color of those flames suddenly reminded him of the Abyss Fallen Demon coin in his hand.

The color resemblance was uncanny, and both carried a similarly eerie aura.

Lu Yuan’s brow furrowed as he glanced toward the Gem Lord. He saw the round, white, fat man standing with his hands behind his back, a gleeful smile as he observed the unfolding events.

From a certain angle, in just a fleeting moment…

Lu Yuan thought.

The Gem Lord before him bore an uncanny resemblance to the image on his Abyss Fallen Demon coin-the pot-bellied, spindly-legged creature sporting a grin full of sharp teeth!