As per the team's protocol, MT indeed held the priority right to claim spoils of war... provided, of course, that he could put them to immediate use. The group examined the Teardrop Stone; the description it yielded was utterly mundane: an ore containing peculiar power, potentially classifiable as an Unknown Marvel.

Naturally, no one intended to dispute possession of such an item with Fang Senyan, so there were no objections. Nor did anyone raise the bidding price.

The group continued their exploration, and thankfully, they soon located a cavern specifically designated for storing miscellaneous refuse. This area was remarkably vast and was one of the few locations naturally above the waterline.

To put it plainly, describing it as a junkyard would be quite accurate.

Here, Fang Senyan and the others found, with minimal effort, several discarded Androids scattered about. Fang Senyan was left with only three of his own Androids; Aldaris retained just two. Including other odds and ends, only eight Androids remained in total. Fortunately, they had all sustained only superficial damage.

For an Android, superficial damage was almost equivalent to a normal person getting a tear in their clothing—nothing more than a slight rent.

When these Androids saw Fang Senyan and his group, there was certainly no immediate weeping or overwhelming excitement, but a surge of delight and a significant boost in morale were inevitable. Even a humble Android, one who viewed itself as mere refuse, possessed dreams! And while the nature of dreams is infinitely variable, it certainly would never involve slowly rotting away in a cave on this damned planet.

As the saying goes, one's position dictates one's actions. Now that Fang Senyan had assumed the mantle of team leader, he naturally had to consider matters from multiple angles. At this point, his only option was to consolidate the Androids for use, but on the condition that each surviving member hand over the nutritional fluid they had set aside for their own Androids.

Each surviving Android received two units of nutritional fluid as a reward—a fortune that would otherwise require ten years of labor to earn. Thus, even though they appeared somewhat weary, the Androids tackled the task of processing the Xenomorph and Berserker corpses with vigorous energy.

Furthermore, Android Unit 1, originally belonging to Fang Senyan, delivered some excellent news: within this cavern, they found a Field Combat Automaton whose model was not overly ancient. Its locomotion system was a hybrid of quadrupedal movement and tracked treads.

It seemed that after some spacecraft managed a forced landing, its crew must have all perished. The Automaton was left behind. Having received no commands, it had wandered until it ended up here. It was subsequently captured by a Berserker, which, finding it of no tactical use, casually discarded it in this location.

Following inspection and assessment by Android Unit 1, the machine only suffered from water damage to its circuitry. Once its internal energy reactor was reactivated, it could handle the transportation of virtually all the cumbersome materials for the entire team.

Fang Senyan had no desire to bother with such trivialities and simply ordered Android Unit 1 to proceed as it saw fit, telling it to source any necessary parts from Paul, whose mastery over controlled metals was astonishingly potent; if he could fabricate a fully automatic sniper rifle, then surely a few simple parts were well within his capabilities.

Perhaps due to the unique property of the Lumina Ore to refresh the mind and enhance recovery, it had become a favored collection item for many creatures. While their powerful bodies might scoff at such a minor enhancement benefit, it was widely known that young life forms are inherently fragile, and the protection afforded by Lumina Ore would significantly decrease the chances of their premature demise.

Consequently, Fang Senyan and his team discovered a large cache of Lumina Ore in the Xenomorph hatchery. Since the team had sustained losses, and the disintegration extractors belonging to the deceased members had been abandoned, they suddenly found themselves with a surplus of these extractors.

More astonishingly, however, during their search of the cavern's lowest level, they uncovered a piece of Soul-Bound equipment. It appeared to be Aziza's highly reinforced deep-blue quality shield. Beside the Soul-Bound item lay an enormous seed!!

This massive seed was at least the size of a train carriage, displaying a deep blue hue adorned with intricate, naturally formed patterns on its surface. It was protected by heavy layers of seed coat, making it look as though it were encased in sturdy plate armor. More critically, where the seed contacted the ground, countless roots sprouted, deeply embedding themselves to absorb life essence from the earth.

The seed's exterior bore clear, ragged wounds—undoubtedly the masterpiece of the Berserkers and Xenomorphs. Yet, the seed's shell was even tougher than it appeared, and with its continuous self-repairing capability, one could still sense a surging, vigorous life force within.

Upon seeing this seed, the entire group was stunned. Fang Senyan's eyes narrowed slightly. He extended his hand and pressed it against the surface of the giant seed. An indescribable sensation of suffocation immediately radiated outwards, like being twisted, chilled, and violently constricted by insane, coiling vines around the throat.

The veins on the back of Fang Senyan's hand began to swell; inexplicably, to anyone watching, they resembled the root systems of a plant. Even before his fingers made full contact with the seed, several fine tendrils emerged and tentatively brushed against the roots covering the giant ovum. The seed's roots instantly retreated in disarray, allowing Fang Senyan to press his palm flat against the surface.

He pressed it gently.

For some inexplicable reason, watching this action instilled a strange sense of conquest in the hearts of the observers.

The tendrils of the Sun's Staircase rapidly spread across every part of the seed, and a trembling influx of information instantly emanated from within. Fang Senyan's expression remained unchanged, but inside, a monstrous wave of realization crashed over him. It turned out that when facing absolute desperation for survival, human beings were capable of truly hideous acts!

This plant seed, being part of the botanical realm, was utterly defenseless before the Sun's Staircase, akin to encountering its natural predator. Suddenly, a voice—or more accurately, a coherent thought—transmitted itself to Fang Senyan. It was the botanist, Dardanian!

"You actually managed to breach this area! That's excellent!! Who are you? Are you a Mariner?"

Fang Senyan stated calmly: "Indeed."

"What power resides within you? How can it be so immense, so filled with sheer might!!" Dardanian registered the presence of the Sun's Staircase instantly. His astonishment bordered on boiling fervor! However, Fang Senyan ignored the question and pressed seriously: "I think you should explain what precisely has happened to you first."

Dardanian responded with unnerving composure: "I simply did what anyone facing inevitable death would do. Upon realizing the situation was irreparable, I implanted the Seed of Tremor within myself. I acquired it from the Middle-earth world. You must know that many high-ranking Elves were incubated from the seeds of the World Tree, correct? The Seed of Tremor is essentially a World Tree fruit corrupted by malevolent energies. Since then, I have survived through its power, waiting for your rescue."

Fang Senyan inquired coldly: "Then can you explain the purpose of these corpses inside the seed?"

It turned out that Dardanian was curled up like an infant at the core of the massive seed, and his front, back, left, and right were stuffed full of corpses!! These included Berserker remains, but also human ones. Fang Senyan recognized the bodies of Hedikuri, Vassili, and William... their corpses were completely covered in root-like tendrils, already decomposed and ruptured beyond recognition, with rotting flesh and skin continuously sloughing off and dissolving into the amniotic fluid within the seed—a truly terrifying and ghastly sight!!

Dardanian choked slightly and whispered: "The growth of the seed requires massive nutrients. Without these corpses, the seed could never have developed so rapidly."

Fang Senyan stated flatly: "I will stream the visual feed to the others and see if your explanation is convincing enough for the rest of the team?"

"No, no, don't!!" Dardanian finally weakened. "Fine, what do you require?"

Fang Senyan fell silent for a moment, then suddenly sneered: "Do you think I intend to extort you? Ridiculous. Here is the deal: as long as you consistently support me within the team, I will pretend I saw nothing today."

Dardanian never expected such a favorable outcome and readily agreed. Fang Senyan demanded that he clean up the aftermath himself, disposing of the corpses and related materials, to which Dardanian also readily consented.

Once their exchange concluded, Fang Senyan announced to the rest of the team that Dardanian had survived. Everyone was considerably relieved; after all, in this desolate place, having one more companion meant one more person to share the risk factor.

The subsequent work was naturally delegated to the Androids. After a two-hour wait, a series of statistical results were displayed.

The organs and materials salvaged from the Berserker and Xenomorph bodies, tallied up from various sources, amounted to approximately 500,000 Universal Credits. Dark Crystal X1 Teardrop Stone X1 The purified Lumina Element extracted from all the Lumina Ore totaled 137 grams. Elemental Creature Captured: Stone Blade Razer (one).

Since Fang Senyan had exercised his priority right to take the Teardrop Stone, which held little value for others, he symbolically distributed 20,000 Universal Credits to everyone. Bokan, who was arguably the MVP, ceded his rights concerning the Stone Blade Razer, thus eliminating the privileged class from further claiming. Next came the division of spoils among the remaining members.

Fang Senyan, Ronnie, Paul, and Aldaris first divided the 500,000 Universal Credits equally, and then the Lumina Element was also split into four equal portions for them to take.

The appearance of the Dark Crystal clearly initiated a frantic bidding war, which predictably unfolded between Paul and Aldaris. Fang Senyan had assumed Aldaris was determined to win it, likely to gift it to Zi, but in the end, Paul emerged victorious... he crushed his opponent outright with a superior outlay of Universal Credits! (To be continued)RQ