It was a closed valley with a 10-meter wide hole going straight into the ground on the other side. Along the two sides were the structures with the center being left completely open, creating a sort of road that was about 7-8 meters in width, leading straight into the mouth of the hole.
The structures looked like they were made from rusty metal pieces just pieced together randomly to create a habitable place of dwelling.
"There's slightly more than 500 of them. It looks like a temporary camp since I don't see any shriekers," Hao Xuan mused.
After getting some basic information about them, Hao Xuan had Baracus tell him everything about them.
The roaches he was looking at currently were between 1.5 to 2 meters in height with rough weapons and pieces of armor. They could be seen scurrying around, moving rocks and boulders and to make space for new structures. Obviously they were planning to stay here for a while.
These were the absolute weakest of their species, with power levels at around Origin Realm. As compared to normal human beings, they would be around 20 times stronger with just their physical strength alone. Not to mention the weapons on their weapons which fired energy bolts that could burn through most things.
Other than cultivators or stronger species, not many could stand against them.
And then there were the more powerful 'units', each with their own roles.
A shrieker was a roach of about 1 meter in height, much smaller than normal ones. It was born without eyes and its upper limbs were weak to the point of being useless. But its sensory perception organs had reached a new height. It was able to pick up slightest sounds from over 5,000 meters away, observe the change in temperature and even detect spiritual energy to some extent.
Shriekers only came out with a type of roach called "Scum". This one had full body armor, advanced weapons and was even able to cultivate a strange type of method to raise its own power. They were the elites of their race.
"Baracus, do you think they will have a trader in there?" Hao Xuan asked somewhat stiffly. He knew all the terms but it felt weird saying them out loud for the first time.
*Beep*
"Most likely. Each camp of significant size should have one. Since they are expanding this one, a trader should already be in charge," Baracus responded swiftly, ignoring Hao Xuan's tone.
A trader was not a fighter. It was like a manager of sorts and in charge of most roach camps. It had extremely high intelligence and was even able to speak many languages. It was called a trader because that's what it did.
The roaches were part of an alliance of outer tribes that were all in the same situation. They were willing to be on relatively friendly terms with one another and if one was part of it, they could go and find any of these traders to buy all kinds of things from them.
And since roaches were basically looters and hoarders by nature, they usually had a lot of things to sell.
Hao Xuan, of course, was not part of this alliance, but Poriverse was. Poriverse had designed intergalactic ships for several outer tribes and held a very respectable position in their eyes.
After finding this out, Hao Xuan really wanted to at least take a look at their wares once. They had weapons, rare materials from the deep space and other planets and races they had ransacked. It was basically a treasure trove for someone like him.
"You really think they will deal with me?" Hao Xuan asked warily.
It would not be easy to escape if he just walked in like that.
"Yes. You have progenitors identification code so it should work. The 'roaches' as you so kindly call them, are quite loyal despite their many flaws and most importantly, they respect power. Progenitor did some truly valuable work for two of the biggest houses in their species. As long as you can prove your identity, they will treat you like royalty."
Just like any other species, Roaches also had their own religions.
The Roaches served five different Gods, each with their own 'House' of worship. Their governing system was a mix of Theocracy and Monarchy. The upper echelons were ruled by these houses, while the lower echelons of roach society were governed by their Kings that were chosen by the ruling houses.
It was all quite complicated from an outsider's point of view but Roaches had never had an internal fight or at least none that outsiders knew about. They worked together and fought together against all enemies and were a force to be reckoned with.
"Progenitor did some work for the House of the White Sun and the House of the Black Serpent so they won't dare harm you."
With Baracu's constant reassurances, Hao Xuan decided to take the risk. It seemed like they had been here for a while and might know something about this planet. Not to mention their inventory which was filled with items from across the universe.
Hao Xuan waved his hand and the mask was called back to his body. Since he was going to do something so risky, he was planning on making an entirely new identity.
"Do it," he mumbled while closing his eyes.
"Alright," Baracus replied with an excited tone. Even he was looking forward to meeting this trader.
With a slight sizzling sound, minuscule droplets of silver nanotech poured out of the pores of Hao Xuan's face. Drop by drop they came out of his skin and stuck to it like glue.
When there were enough, the droplets melded together and created a hard surface. A mask that covered his entire face was created. It looked like a completely different human-like face with a tinge of silver on it.
When the face was complete, Hao Xuan jumped down and landed at the very entrance of the valley where four roach foot soldiers stood guard.
