Chapter 159: Sakaar

'Whoosh—'

Transforming into a blurred afterimage, Kyle swooped down from the summit of the trash mountain in the blink of an eye.

The explosive speed, ten times that of a normal human, was utterly terrifying. The lead scavenger widened his mouth, empty-handed, and stuttered out three words in a tremor, "Open fire!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than several blinding white laser beams grazed the human silhouette, missing their mark and exploding against the mountain of trash.

Immediately afterward, Kyle closed in. Without holding back, he unleashed a full-powered double punch. The two scavengers standing at the very front let out miserable, agonizing screams under the tons of crushing force, powerlessly releasing their weapons as their bodies flew backward uncontrollably.

Clear fist imprints were embedded in their chests, with muscles and ribs visibly caved in, sending them rolling and tumbling like footballs over ten meters away. Resembling human shapes, yet possessing a vitality seemingly no greater than ordinary humans, half of their bodies drove straight into another garbage mountain, becoming lifeless new pieces of trash as they lay completely still.

Flipping his palms, Kyle’s expression remained indifferent as he accurately caught the two black-gold-lustered firearms dropped by the scavengers he had just dealt with. He quickly aimed the muzzles separately at the remaining two armed scavengers.

"Quickly take him..." The two scavengers cried out in alarm while raising their guns to retaliate, but their aggressive words quickly turned into shrieks of agony.

Their bodies were pierced and riddled by intersecting laser beams, leaving round, bloody holes in their lower abdomens or chests. Losing all signs of life, they toppled straight to the ground.

"I, for one, utterly despise having guns pointed at me." Shrugging his shoulders, Kyle sidestepped, casting a cold and chilling gaze toward the surviving scavenger boss, and slowly advanced.

The scavenger boss sat in a daze upon the garbage-strewn floor. This reversal had happened far too quickly; in less than three seconds, all four of his companions had been reduced to corpses.

*Stomp! Stomp!*

Dressed only in loose boxer shorts and combat boots, the strangely attired and bare-chested Kyle halted before the scavenger. The scavenger boss knelt on the ground, bowing his head in supplication as he lightly kissed Kyle’s filthy boots, trembling as he babbled, "Don't kill me. I'm very familiar with this place. I can be of great use to you."

"What use could you possibly have? Let's hear it," Kyle asked coldly.

Venom was absent, so he indeed needed a local to understand the situation here.

"I can..." As the scavenger boss spoke, his left hand hidden beneath him suddenly whipped out. A small technological device, akin to a hidden weapon, launched a surprise attack at close range toward Kyle.

As if he had anticipated it all along, Kyle’s eyes flickered. His body remained in a state of combat readiness, his five senses and reflex arc acutely sharp. Faced with this seemingly inescapable close-range sneak attack, his body simply leaned slightly to the side, skillfully dodging the miniature technological device by a hair's breadth.

The tech device crashed into the abandoned steel bulkhead behind him, instantly clinging lightly to the surface and appearing to inject some kind of liquid inward.

"How could he have dodged it?!" Seeing this, the scavenger boss completely lost his mind, his pale, ugly face wearing an expression of utter despair.

"When it comes to hidden weapons, you're not even as good as the ninjas of Risang." Kyle shook his head. If this had been someone else with thicker nerves, they probably would have fallen for the trap.

Unfortunately, he was a war hero who had fought his way through the brutal battlefields of Earth's Second World War. Such cheap tricks were nowhere near enough to catch him off guard.

However, after this act of defiance, Kyle's temper was triggered. He raised his boot and brought it down directly on the scavenger boss's head, ignoring the man's wails and pleas for mercy as he ground half of the man's face into the ground.

"You can't kill me... If you kill me... you alien... won't survive a single day here..." the scavenger boss said through gritted teeth, half of his mouth buried in the ground, choking and sputtering on garbage and dirt alike.

"Kid! I'll tolerate you for now, and soon I'll sell you off to the gladiatorial arena and count the money for me!" he thought resentfully, believing that since he held leverage, the other party wouldn't kill him lightly.

Unfortunately, he had misjudged Kyle yet again.

"I've already given you two chances. There's a saying in my hometown: never more than two. But with me, there is never a third chance." With a cold, chilling smile, Kyle applied increasing pressure with his foot, driving it down inch by inch.

The scavenger boss's head felt as though it were about to be crushed flat, his brain throbbing with agonizing pain. Only then did he begin to panic, realizing he had encountered a ruthless executioner!

"Give me one more—"

*Splat!*

Following the crisp sound of something shattering, the giant vortex wormhole above Kyle's head shrank back to its original size. The rain of garbage ceased, and the noises in the vicinity subsided.

"Did I end up here because I encountered a space wormhole along the way... And what about Venom? Why didn't it follow me over?" Glancing at the pile of trash mountain he had emerged from, Kyle fell into deep contemplation. He rested his foot on the cotton cloak of the scavenger boss's corpse, rubbing back and forth to wipe away the viscous blood from the soles of his shoes.

Kyle's gaze lowered. Hovering above the scavenger boss's corpse were three claimable, ownerless item cards.

[High-Pressure Laser Weapon]: A high-tech thermal weapon capable of firing single laser beams, dealing piercing, burning, and destructive damage upon hitting a target. Blue item card.

[Neural Toxin Remote Control]: A high-tech auxiliary tool, forming a control set with a miniature neural toxin launch probe, capable of remotely controlling the probe to inject toxins and paralyze targets. Blue item card.

[Scavenger ID Badge]: An identification badge for the scavenger profession, numbered 266. White item card.

"Even scavenger beggars are an officially recognized profession on this planet? Are they serious?" Twitched slightly at the corner of his mouth, Kyle drew the cards and, for the first time, carefully surveyed his surrounding environment, beginning to understand the origin of this occupation.

As far as his eyes could see, the field of vision consisted entirely of endless alien garbage. This scenery carried an inexplicable sense of eerie familiarity.

The most urgent task at hand was still to find a local and understand the situation here.

Kyle thought for a moment, then suddenly turned his gaze toward a pile of trash twenty meters to his left, raising the laser weapon and saying calmly, "Come out. I've found you."

"Um."

Under the aiming reticle of the firearm, a small creature resembling a cross between a squirrel and a white polar bear stepped out with a human-like, timid gait. It bowed to Kyle in a gentlemanly fashion and whispered, stumbling over its words, "Respected extraterrestrial powerhouse, I offer you my respects. I was merely passing by and am not with those scavengers from just now."

"What kind of species are you?" Kyle lowered his gun, his interest piqued as he looked at the talking beast.

It was about the size of an Earth house cat, covered entirely in fluffy white fur that stood out slightly against the filthy garbage terrain. When standing, its shape resembled a miniature bear several times over, yet it possessed the tail and ears of a squirrel.

"My name is White Wave. I'm a modified creature from a certain planet, a substandard organism born from illegal genes and simulation experiments," the beast lowered its posture significantly, speaking with humility.

"White Wave." Kyle nodded and said calmly, "I need detailed information about this place."

"I am more than willing to answer your questions."

White Wave stepped forward cautiously, spreading its hands, and said earnestly, "This is Sakaar, located at the edge of the universe between known and unknown worlds. Everything that is lost and unloved is collected here."