A few days later, a desperate merchant caravan arrived at a scavenger outpost filled with an indescribable smell.
Figures in tattered hoods emerged from a battered, commonplace cabin.
Along with the dust they stirred up came the tang of rusted metal and the stench of rotting things. The sticky heaviness of industrial lubricant, reused who knew how many times, enveloped that jumble of smells and sent it straight into their skulls.
The faces of the six people mingling with the caravan instantly twisted.
The caravan leader held a thick roll of tobacco, drew on it until red sparks glowed, and exhaled a great cloud of smoke.
"This is Star-Ruin District Twenty-Eight, and the meeting point our contact chose. Remember, don't ask about anything here, and don't believe anything.
"Especially you six newcomers. I don't have time to teach you how to survive. What you paid only covers bringing you here. Whether you live or die after this has nothing whatsoever to do with us."
Ye Buyu pressed the cloth covering half her face tighter and gave a muffled response.
"Thank you, Brother Xiehu."
Xiehu raised a hand to refuse her thanks. "It was just a transaction. For the sake of those Thousand-Wind Coins, I'll give you one last piece of advice: don't flash your money when you're out in the world.
"If you'd run into anyone other than us, you'd have been killed already. This is where we part ways today. I hope you live a little longer."
With that, he left with his caravan.
The six looked toward the scavenger outpost.
The so-called Star-Ruin District Twenty-Eight was a burial ground for the remains of planets. Countless wrecked spacecraft were welded to the broken ground, larger ones enclosing smaller ones, old ones enclosing even older ones. It was a city