Chapter 3- Prologue(3)

Ever since his parents had died when he was young, Adelaide had been living in Moon Shadow Village. The heavily polluted atmosphere, combined with the harshness of its residents had forced him to resort to scalping in order to feed himself.

This way, he was very familiar with all the nooks and crannies of the graveyard, treating it almost like a second home. He also knew that the few minutes after the garbage ship left were crucial; they offered a brief window of opportunity before the hoards descended upon the piles of discarded possessions.

Knowing that hesitation would cost him dearly, he hurriedly slipped on his goggles and lightly tapped the power button.

These weren't any ordinary goggles; they were a prototype of his own creation, a personal project he had poured countless hours into. It was equipped with features to aid his scalping operations —from enhanced night vision to real-time data analysis.

It even had an augmented reality overlay that made scalping in the disposal site more efficient. Adjusting a loose wire with a quick, practiced motion, he activated the augmented reality overlay.

As Adelaide scanned his surroundings, icons representing salvageable components, repairable gadgets, and other valuable items appeared as holographic projections in his field of vision. The system utilized advanced algorithms to assess the condition and usefulness of each object, streamlining his decision-making process.

The augmented reality overlay displayed real-time data on the potential value of the discarded items he encountered, highlighting valuable components and repairable gadgets.

With the dim light from the local star overhead, he began his daily operations.

Pieces of discarded drones, virtual reality headsets, and advanced AI companions lay in disarray. With nimble fingers, he plucked a malfunctioning personal assistant bot, its neural core still intact and threw it into his cart. Nearby, he spotted a stack of quantum computing modules and also added those to his stash.

Those who lived in better conditions might call it a dirty job, but to him, it was a treasure hunt. He always felt giddy as he anticipated what he might discover amidst the heaps of discarded items.

Moving through the site, he encountered fellow scalpers, each equipped with their own gear. One scalper, also clad in patched-up attire, wielded a repurposed energy scanner that emitted a low hum as it analyzed potential power sources within the discarded piles. Another, with makeshift drones crafted from salvaged components skillfully directed her airborne companions to sift through the debris.

Nearby, two men were trading blows over the ownership of a half destroyed exo-suit. Sparing them both a glance and concluding that he couldn't take neither on, Adelaide went on his way in search of other goods. Although the exo-suit was a very valuable find, the most important skill to have as a scalper was to be aware of your limits.

In addition, involving himself in their squabble would waste the precious time he had left for scalping.

Moving further along, he noticed a team of scalpers chasing after a woman with a tattered scarf over her face. Based on the frustrated curses they hurled her way, it seemed that she had snatched a fairly intact data crystal from their pile before scurrying away.

Time passed as he meticulously sifted through the refuse. Although every second counted, the treatment area was after all a place where highly volatile materials were strewn around. He had learnt the hard way that even the most inconspicuous item could be dangerous.

As he delved deeper into the trash piles, his mind wandered to the grand ceremony that had been televised the day before. The opulence and order of the central plaza stood in stark contrast to the chaos and decay of Moon Shadow Village. It was a world away, both physically and metaphorically, and it was an indicator of what life could be like if circumstances were different. But such thoughts were fleeting; he knew better than to dwell on what could never be.

His cart filled slowly with his morning's haul—discarded tools, damaged smart clothing, a half-broken holo-emitter and a set of rusty robot maids. It was meager compared to what he'd hoped for, but in this cutthroat world, survival often meant settling for less.

While sifting through a particularly promising pile, he heard a commotion nearby. He glanced up to see a group of thugs harassing another scalper, a young female chuzkah who looked like she'd only recently started in the business.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"one of the thugs sneered. "Looks like fresh meat."

Oh great, the local welcoming committee, Adelaide rolled his eyes.

He ducked behind a pile of scrap, keeping a low profile as he observed the situation. The woman tried to back away, but the thugs surrounded her, their intentions clear. Once they took everything of value from the woman's stash, they left, probably to go find other targets.

Since the coast was clear, he moved out of his hiding spot and continued with his work, deliberately ignoring the sobbing woman a short distance away from him. Intervening was not his style—too risky, and he preferred to avoid unnecessary attention.

Some time later, as he decided that his haul was enough for the day, his augmented reality goggles pinged with an alert. A distinct energy signature appeared on his display, one that he had never encountered before in the disposal site's database. His heart quickened with anticipation as he carefully cleared away the debris.

Beneath a pile of discarded holographic projectors and holographic glasses, he found it—a lifeless gray crystal.

Adelaide's hands trembled as he carefully lifted the strange crystal, its unbelievablly smooth surface raising a lot of questions in his mind. Despite wearing gloves, he noticed the crystal felt incredibly light.

"What is this thing?" he muttered, studying its peculiar tetrahedral shape.

With a deep breath, he tapped on his goggles and activated its scanning function, his eyes fixed on the readout as it flickered to life. A surge of anticipation coursed through him as the goggles analyzed the crystal's energy signature. His heart quickened as the scanner revealed an astonishing result: the object in his hand emitted a remarkably high energy signature, far beyond anything he had encountered before in his scavenging expeditions.

Eyes widening in astonishment, he couldn't help but feel a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Whatever this gray crystal was, it apparently held enough energy to blow up an entire block.

Wait a minute! Blow up an entire bl—

"Move!"

The thick voice behind him sent a chill down his spine, chasing away all thoughts of the weirdness of the crystal. He recognized it immediately—Garu, the gang lord of Moon Shadow Village, and his band of enforcers. Their cybernetic enhancements glinted menacingly in the dim light, and their presence exuded an aura of imminent danger.

Crap, they're too early.

Adelaide's heart sank as he sensed the approach of the group behind him. The leader, a burly figure with a cybernetic arm and a scarred face, was Garu, one of the gang lords of Moon Shadow Village and the reason why he had wanted to leave quickly.

Garu and his gang were notorious in the slums of Moon Shadow. They extorted scalpers, demanded protection money, and were not above resorting to violence to get what they wanted. Many who had crossed their path had paid a steep price, and it seemed that he was their next victim.

"Hey, you there!" Garu barked, eyeing the crystal with a greedy gleam in his augmented eye. "Watchu got over there?"

Adelaide internally let out a frustrated sigh. His initial plan had been to rummage a little and quietly slip away. But the discovery of the crystal had temporarily made him lose his sense of time and had now thrust him into a perilous confrontation with Garu's gang, a situation he had desperately hoped to avoid.

Looking around, he realized that he was outnumbered and outgunned. The menacing glares and the subtle threats the other gang members threw in his direction was enough to make him lose any thoughts of resistance.

He was skilled at navigating the treacherous terrain of the treatment area, but facing off against a gang with cybernetic enhancements was a different kind of danger.

With the obviously valuable crystal poised to slip from his grasp, he made a calculated decision. Relinquishing it now was merely a temporary setback, a way to survive this encounter and bide his time.

"Heya, boss," he called out, a forced grin on his face as he turned to face the approaching gang leader, trying to mask the underlying tension. "Just stumbled upon something interesting here. Was actually planning to bring it to you, as a little gift, and here you are. Talk about perfect timing."

Garu's scarred face twisted into a smirk, his cybernetic eye narrowing as he approached ide. The gang members, still eyeing him suspiciously, seemed to relax a fraction at the mention of a valuable find.

"What's that?" Garu grunted, his augmented arm flexing menacingly. "Better not be wasting our time, rat."

Adelaide, with a calculated blend of flattery and subservience, gestured towards the device in his left hand. "Found this wierd crystal thing, boss. Don't know what it is but its energy levels was off the charts. And then I had a thought. This thing must be very valuable. Why not bring it to Lord Garu so he can assess its worth and decide what to do with it?"

Garu's eyes glinted with avarice as he eyed the device. "A crystal, huh? Looks like you might be useful for something after all."

With feigned enthusiasm, Adelaide nodded vigorously. "Exactly boss," he exclaimed, gesturing theatrically to the gray crystal. "Just goes to show, you're the man with the vision." he continued, his tone dripping with feigned enthusiasm. "I was actually just about to bring it to you, honest. You probably don't remember me but I always find the good stuff."

Garu, momentarily mollified by his praise, gestured for him to proceed. "Alright, let's see what you got. And remember, if this is some kind of trick, you won't like the consequences."

Adelaide, suppressing his internal frustrations, moved towards Garu and his gang, the gray crystal visible in his hand.

But then, as he moved closer to hand over the device, the previously lifeless crystal reacted with a sudden and violent surge of energy, causing Garu to immediately leap backwards warily.

"What the—"

Adelaide's goggles flashed a warning about the increased energy levels. Before he could react to the sudden change in events, the space behind him fractured, like glass under immense pressure, breaking apart to reveal a swirling void of energy.

The tear unleashed a surge of energy that raced outward in a massive sphere, sweeping through the graveyard with relentless force.

The shockwave from the surge propelled him through the air like a ragdoll, his body slamming into a pile of debris with bone-jarring impact. His goggles shattered, the augmented reality overlay flickering out as shards of glass scattered around him.

Around him, the treatment area descended into chaos. The shockwave uprooted piles of junk, sending fragments of drones, virtual reality headsets, and advanced AI companions flying in every direction. The ground itself seemed to ripple, and structures that had stood for years collapsed in an instant, turning into a tangled mess of metal.

Fires erupted from volatile materials igniting upon contact with the energy. Small explosions continued to ripple through the area, as pressurized containers and unstable gadgets succumbed to the inferno. The air was thick with the acrid smell of burning plastic and metal, adding to the already oppressive atmosphere of Moon Shadow Village.

As for Garu and his gang members, since they were a bit farther, they were only thrown backward by the sheer force of the blast. Their bodies tumbled across the ground, their cybernetic enhancements offering no protection against this unexpected force. The searing heat from the explosion singed their clothes and left painful burns on their exposed blue skin.

A thick cloud of dust and smoke filled the air, obscuring vision and making it difficult to breathe. Scalpers who had been scouring nearby piles were knocked off their feet, scrambling to find cover as the blast wave roared past them.