Very soon, Dumpling followed the method for returning to Earth and began flying within the Dark Universe.
After several minutes of flight, Dumpling finally located the Dark Universe coordinates of the solar system.
"Preparing to decelerate to a halt and exit the Dark Universe."
The sound of Dumpling's voice echoed inside the spaceship.
At this moment, Luo Fan was already prepared.
Very quickly, the spaceship's speed began to slow down, gradually coming to a stop.
The next instant, the spaceship exited the Dark Universe.
"Dumpling, head to Mars first."
Luo Fan ordered Dumpling.
After receiving the order, Dumpling flew the spaceship toward Mars.
Soon, the spaceship passed through Mars' atmosphere and descended onto land.
From afar, Luo Fan could see several steel cities.
He knew these were the cities where miners once lived on Mars.
On Mars, there was a Black Iron Mine.
"You all stay on the spaceship."
After giving this order to the twenty slaves, Luo Fan flew out from the ship.
He intended to take over these steel cities.
In the original, Babata had directly dismantled them.
That was far too wasteful.
These were fully intact mining cities.
Inside, there was still plenty of mining equipment.
Arriving before one of the steel cities, Luo Fan transmitted a message to Dumpling.
"Dumpling, seize the authority of these steel cities."
"Okay, Master."
Only a few seconds later, Luo Fan heard Dumpling's voice again.
"Master, I have seized the highest-level authority here."
Upon hearing this, Luo Fan walked directly into the interior of the steel city.
Before he arrived at the city, the gates automatically opened.
After Luo Fan entered, his path was completely unobstructed.
Although this place had been abandoned for an unknown length of time, the machines inside could still operate.
This was the Earth people's capital!
This steel city could manufacture many things.
It also had basic functions for collecting and refining metals.
Luo Fan even found weapons in some of the buildings.
These were produced from Black Iron.
One hundred tons of Black Iron cost less than a single Black Dragon Coin.
However, if it were manufactured into weapons like laser rifles, the price could multiply by hundreds of thousands!
Of course, those were more expensive weapons.
If it were only made into ordinary weapons, the price might only increase by several dozen to a few hundred times.
Laser rifles belonged to restricted items; the technology was not that easy to obtain.
However, Dumpling was an intelligent lifeform!
He had collected a great deal of technological data, designing an A8-grade Black Iron laser rifle would be completely feasible.
But for anything more advanced, it would require time.
After all, some advanced technological data was still beyond Dumpling's clearance level.
But Babata could access it!
He had once followed Hu Yan Bo, whatever clearance Hu Yan Bo possessed, Babata had as well.
Although Hu Yan Bo never joined forces like the Virtual Universe Company or the Giant Axe Dojo,
he had indeed joined the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance.
So, getting access to certain kinds of technology wouldn't be a problem.
Besides that, there was another method.
That was the Mechanical Race's spaceship on Earth.
That vessel stored an immense amount of data.
Surely, it contained plenty of information on weapons.
After all, to the Mechanical Race, such data was practically worthless.
They could casually design weapons on their own.
Laser rifles, to them, were no more than toys.
For this reason, Luo Fan planned to keep all nine steel cities intact.
When he left the docking port, he had also bought some extra energy.
Adding in the rewards from the system, he now had enough energy to keep these places running for quite some time.
Although the steel cities could still operate for now.
However, the main source of power still came from absorbing and storing solar energy.
If mining, refining, and weapon production were to be carried out, this amount of energy would never be enough.
After inspecting some of the equipment, Luo Fan arrived at a plaza.
"System, claim the reward!"
Luo Fan silently commanded in his mind.
At this moment, his eyes were filled with anticipation.
This time, the rewards were quite generous.
Soon, the prizes appeared before him.
A space ring, Water Source Crystals, nanobots, a C5-class spaceship, as well as combat robots and energy.
Information regarding these items also surfaced in his mind.
Luo Fan first picked up the space ring and bound it to himself.
Immediately, he sensed the capacity of the space ring.
Inside, it contained a cubic space with each side one kilometer long!
Although it couldn't store living beings like a World Ring,
the sheer size of its internal space was already terrifying.
As for the C5-class spaceship, it appeared to be a cargo vessel.
It was even larger than the one Luo Fan had purchased before.
He could even fit the B9-class cargo ship he had purchased directly inside.
The Water Source Crystal, on the other hand, was a blue, transparent crystal about the size of a human head.
When Luo Fan picked one up, he discovered that the energy within constantly flowed into his body.
According to the system's information, a single Water Source Crystal contained enough energy for a third-rank Star-level warrior to break through to the fourth rank.
For Luo Fan at his current stage, just one Water Source Crystal would be enough for him to absorb and advance all the way to the Star-level.
Moreover, the energy within was extremely easy to absorb and convert.
It could simultaneously enhance both his body and his soul.
In addition, it contained a trace of energy imbued with the Origin Law of Water. Although the amount was tiny, it was still incredibly precious.
This truly suited Luo Fan perfectly.
After putting away the Water Source Crystals, Luo Fan bound the nanobots and battle robots to himself.
The C5-class battle robots could stall a fifth-rank Cosmic-level warrior,
though at most, they could only kill a third-rank Cosmic-level warrior.
After all, when it came to the same level, warriors were ultimately stronger than machines.
Luo Fan left nine of the robots behind in Mars's nine steel cities, while taking the rest back to Earth.
The reason for leaving nine there was so Dumpling could control them to begin producing A8-grade laser guns.
By then, he would only need to purchase some compatible energy cores and components to come back and assemble them.
After all, the factories here were fully automated.
In the past, those workers were mainly responsible for supervision and maintenance.
Sometimes, workers even had to bring machines down into the mines for extraction.
That sort of task could be left to Dumpling.
After setting aside part of the energy, Luo Fan stored everything else properly and returned to his ship.
He loaded the cargo ship into the system-rewarded C5-class ship and then stored it within the system space as well.
After that, he went back to his own vessel and powered it up.
The ship began its journey toward Earth.
Once it reached Earth's orbit, the ship activated its cloaking function.
Soon, it hovered invisibly above Yangzhou City.
With the B9-class ship's stealth engaged, Earth's technology had no chance of detecting it.
"You all stay on the ship for now."
After giving the order to the others, Luo Fan eagerly flew down toward the villa.
Within a few seconds, he was at his front door.
Back home at last, he couldn't help but feel a wave of relief.
After all, this trip had been anything but safe.
Don't be fooled by how smoothly things had gone.
In truth, danger could have struck at any moment.
After all, when he first left, he wasn't even a citizen of any cosmic nation.
If someone had captured him and sold him off as a slave, no one would have cared.
On Coiling Dragon Star, he hadn't even dared to wander around too much.
Fortunately, the journey had been relatively smooth, without any major setbacks.
Still, he had been tense the entire way.
Only now, back home, could he finally let out a sigh of relief.
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