The leader sighed in his mind and spoke up with sincerity in his tone, “Duke, please ask your questions.”
“Where are you from, who are you, and why are you here?” Ling Lan asked the three basic questions. She needed to understand who these people are and what they were doing here.
With mechas that looked like a mess with patches and spare parts of mechas of other models being jumbled together, they definitely weren"t from mecha armies under the 13 Lords. The mecha armies of the 13 Lords would definitely not have any mechas that seemed so dilapidated.
Ling Lan carefully studied the mechas in front of her. Their mechas looked rough around the edges from all the repairs, however in fights, the power their mecha showed and their defensive strength was not any weaker than the official mechas from the Federation. This proved that behind these mecha operators, there was an expert modification master, and behind the expert modification master was an ent.i.ty that could gather this many exceptional mecha operators and an expert modification masters. No matter if they were an organization or not, their power wasn"t something that they could ignore.
The leader of the scavengers hesitated, he was in a dilemma. If he were to expose the scavenger organization behind them, they wouldn"t be able to live a good life even if they were to return back alive. However, if he didn"t tell them, he wasn"t sure whether it would anger these three people standing before them which might cause their death.
The reason he brought these people out here to take such risk was to feed their families, and he wanted to bring them home safely.
The leader knew very well about the situation of his underlings" families. They couldn"t afford to die. Once they pa.s.sed on, their family members probably wouldn"t be able to continue to live in this dog-eat-dog world that was the Lawless Lands, not to mention there was even a first-time scavenger he needed to be responsible for. A young man like him had unlimited potential in the future. If he just died here, it would be very unfortunate.
The leader thought about it for a moment, sorting out in his mind about the details he could spill. “We are mecha scavengers. In every battle royale, we would come here and look for mecha parts that could be exchanged for money.”
“Mecha scavengers?” This answer surprised Ling Lan. She didn"t expect a profession like this to come up in the Lawless Lands.
“There"s a battle royale every year. In every royale, there would be losers and winners. According to the rules, anything the losers left on the battlefield would belong to the victors as spoils of war. For example, these destroyed mechas would be cleaned up by the victors after the battle royale,” explained the leader of scavengers. “We on the other hand would sneak into the battlefield, using the small time window before the victors could come to clean up to pick a few parts to sell. We would then go to the black market and exchange them for some daily necessities or money.”
“We don"t have a choice but to do this risky job. There"s elders and children at home who can"t feed themselves. They need us to make money to live, and they are still barely sc.r.a.ping by. In the Lawless Lands, if a person wanted to make money, other than putting their lives on the line, everything else was suicide. We can"t die. The fates of so many people on our shoulders…” The bitter sadness in his tone showed that they were forced to do this job.
“So you mean you found out about this money making scheme accidentally?” asked Ling Lan.
“Yes.” The leader nodded.
“Your mechas are modified quite well, huh?” Ling Lan suddenly changed the subject of the conversation.
“Huh?” The leader of the scavengers could grasp the underlying intention behind Ling Lan"s words in that moment.
“Although your mechas are visually disgusting, the different parts actually melded together quite well. The modifications done on the mecha aren"t lowering the specs of the mecha at all,” said Ling Lan with a half-smile on her face. “And the defensive strength of your mecha is tough even with all the patches and repairs.”
The leader of the scavengers could feel his heart tightening up. At that moment, he didn"t know how to respond.
“I"m sure you know what that means, right?” Ling Lan said calmly.
“Um, what does it mean?” the leader could only follow the conversation and ask.
“The person who modified your mechas is a master-level engineer. You guys are quite lucky to randomly have such a big shot working with you,” Ling Lan said sarcastically as she smiled slightly.
“Haha, yeah, we really are lucky.” The leader could only pretend to play dumb until the end. In the c.o.c.kpit, he was already completely soaked through and through with cold sweat. It was because he knew he could no longer lie to the opponent. Most mecha operators wouldn"t focus on mecha modifications. How could he have known that this imperial operator standing before him was knowledgeable enough about mecha modifications to see through the secrets of their mechas" repairs with just one look?
They were too unlucky!
“You guys are part of an organization.” Ling Lan didn"t need that leader"s answer to conclude that. From the way the leader answered her questions, she had more or less already confirmed this. That was why Ling Lan said it as a statement and not a question.
The leader had been afraid he would expose the organization. However, after the opposition made it clear, it was as though a tense string had snapped, allowing him to finally feel relieved, causing him to lay flat in his c.o.c.kpit.
Ling Lan didn"t hear a response, but not answering could also be an answer.
“A mecha scavenger organization. The mechas you bring back would be handled by them. They would then give a certain price for the quality of the mecha you have brought to them… Members like yourselves would then also receive some benefits from the alliance or organization, such as mecha modifications.” Ling Lan continued, “This would explain why your mechas had signs of a master-level modification engineer"s work on them.”
The leader of the scavengers was completely speechless. Just in a few sentences, the opponent had already exposed the inner workings of their organization.
“Yes, perhaps, you appearing here is also because your alliance or organization had given you the coordinates, and these coordinates would require money or points to redeem…” Leader of scavengers went through a myriad of expressions the longer Ling Lan spoke. It was because what Ling Lan said was the complete truth. He felt relieved that he wouldn"t have to expose the organization, but he was getting more fearful of this imperial operator standing before him.
“That"s interesting.” Ling Lan was quite happy. After entering the Kamoda district, she no longer had any intel, and with the fact that she couldn"t get in contact with Zhao Jun and the other two, she was going in blind. She could only fly around like a headless fly and hope a blind cat like her could encounter a dead mouse. She didn"t think they would be so lucky not to encounter a dead mouse, but rather a fat and lively rat.
It was clear that in the Mecha Scavenger Organization, had intel about the other battlefields, and this intel was indeed what Ling Lan needed the most at this moment.
There was once a saying that would say that war was fought with logistics, but intel was essential for winning a war.
Ling Lan put much importance on the intel that could determine the win or loss of a battle. That was why Ling Lan decided right then and there to turn towards a different direction. They would go and meet with this secretive Mecha Scavenger Organization.
Ling Lan believed that the Mecha Scavenger Organization definitely didn"t just have intel about the situation in the Kamoda district. This was an organization that managed to perfectly dismantle mechas from the battlefield, silently sell them without showing any flaws on the markets of the Lawless Lands, and not be discovered by the 13 Lords in all these years. Its power and roots were definitely planted firmly into the Lawless Lands.
Perhaps, they would be a suitable partner to cooperate with.