The scavenger excitedly put the augury into a zippered pocket on his robe. When he approached the sand dune, he hung the gun on his body and climbed up on all fours.
Climbing the 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 clearing 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 pause 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.
"Well, 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 trace of corrosion or rust. The patina on the surface was burnt black, as if it had been scorched by the heat, but when he ran the edge of the shovel over it, the damage could be seen. Just superficial.
He cleared away more sand and guessed from the curves of the exposed metal that the object beneath his feet was roughly spherical.
As the dig went deeper, the scavenger frowned, and he saw the outline of a combat robot appearing.
There were three bubbling metal balls in front of him, like sensor domes devoid of life.
"My God, what is this?"
The auspicious alarm sounded loudly, indicating another strong signal.
Puzzled, the Scavenger pulled the device out of his robe and looked around for the source.
Soon, he heard the roar of the engine over the roar of the wind, but he could not identify 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 covered his eyes with his hands. The roar of the engine became louder and louder. A powerful jet blew up a puff of smoke and dust to obscure his sight.
He couldn't see anything in the rising ash, but he kept his grip on the gun.
The pitch of the engines changed from a howl to a whine as the craft touched down, 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 obscured the outlines of the visitors, but whoever they were, the scavenger swore that none of them would miss his discovery.
"this is mine!"
The scavenger shouted excitedly, slamming the barrel of his gun towards the sand dunes.
"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.
The scavengers' hearts sank when they saw a group of fierce-looking armored Skitarii and a man wearing precious robes.
The sage wore thick red robes, and next to him was a glowing green servo skull with a black hat on his head.
"Actually you don't know."
Sage said with a smile, one of his arms aimed at the machine beneath 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 said:
"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 beneath his feet shaking. He looked down in horror and found that the faceted crystal on the sensor glowed yellow. When the dormant energy battery restarted and came back to life, a burst of energy transmission shook the entire machine.
It staggered forward, and the scavenger lost his balance, falling headlong into the quicksand and losing 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 perched.
"No!"
yelled the Scavenger, standing up and crawling toward the Sage, but then his protests were drowned in a hail of bullets and the machine's weapons glowed like hailstones.
The scavenger truck exploded, forming a smoking orange fireball and creating a shock wave that knocked the scavenger to the ground.
He gasped at the acrid, noxious air and realized the explosion had ripped the respirator from his face.
He hurried to get his ventilator and rolled over.
"No, my, my..."
"May I have your name?"
Suddenly, he found that Lucky Bangura had appeared in front of him at some point, so he gasped and said:
"Cinco Martini!"
"Martini, I'm sorry for your loss, it was...probably a little offended by your previous reckless actions."
"What?"
Martini turned his head in horror and found that the mechanical crystal was staring at him coldly. 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.
"Ahhh! Please! No!"
He screamed, words gushing, 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 machinery.
"Mercer, the time has come for change."
The robot's cold gaze swept across 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 your blood is also increasing. Is something wrong?"
"Yes, I'm glad."
"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."
"In 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 that remained was some sort of scream, and that 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."
"Inferring, your plan has a high success rate, I believe you."
"Come on then, old man, our time is coming."
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