Chapter 75: Discovery in the Prison

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Discovery in the Prison

Liuyun Star System.

Liuyun-5 Satellite Prison.

Conference Room.

The warden sat at the head of the Conference Room table, skimming through a report. He looked worn to the bone — his condition was terrible.

His hair was a tangled mess, stubble had crept across his jaw, and it was obvious he hadn’t bothered to take care of himself in days.

Around the Conference Room table, people were scattered loosely in their seats.

Clearly, none of this had anything to do with routine prison business.

Most of them weren’t even paying attention to the warden. They were whispering among themselves, each clearly preoccupied with their own calculations.

It wasn’t hard to see why. Everyone in the room knew the warden wouldn’t be keeping his position once this whole mess was over.

They were all his people — his inner circle — and none of them were going to walk away clean either.

The company wasn’t stupid. They all knew the warden couldn’t have kicked up this much of a fuss over one wanted fugitive without a reason — and that reason had ended up blowing the cover of the company’s moles inside the Anka Star patrol units.

There had been an ongoing investigation, with online inquiries directed at the warden popping up every now and then.

But the warden had held his line, insisting that the people he’d sent to assist with the interception had acted on their own initiative and gone too far. His orders, he maintained, had only been to cooperate with the patrol units in containing the escapee and preventing him from reaching the city.

It wasn’t like the company could waltz into an Anka Star prison and drag out the local patrol informants who’d already been taken in for questioning.

For the time being, the only threat the warden truly had to worry about was Chairman Liu.

Though Chairman Liu had gone quiet ever since the warden filed the report stating that Xiang Yi had died during the Abnormality incident.

That was a small mercy, at least. Chairman Liu’s fury wasn’t something just anyone could survive.

The problem was, as long as Xiang Yi was still breathing, the warden couldn’t afford to relax for a single day.

If Xiang Yi were actually dead, the warden could at least take his punishment from Chairman Liu and move on.

But as things stood now...

The warden set down the report, fished a pill bottle from his jacket pocket, and swallowed one of the stress-relief tablets, taking the edge off the pressure bearing down on him.

He’d had no energy to manage the prison these past few days. Every ounce of his focus had gone toward the Xiang Yi situation.

With pressure mounting from every direction, he had to act — and fast.

As it happened, some news had come in not long ago. A bit of both good and bad.

"Ahem."

The warden cleared his throat and said, "We can stop searching the city districts for Xiang Yi’s body. He’s been confirmed alive."

He’d estimated it would take another day or two to fully verify through their informants whether the body was even within the expected area. At least they’d saved themselves that much time.

"His whereabouts have also been pinned down. He’s mostly been operating in the slums on the outskirts of the Southwest City District."

"Where else would he hide in that colony?"

He Dong, seated beside him, chimed in with a quiet remark. He looked marginally better than the warden, though still far from his usual self.

As the person held responsible for Xiang Yi’s successful escape, he’d clearly been carrying his own share of pressure these past few days.

"Right. This came from our informants through the local Bounty Hunters."

"The Southwest City District of the Anka Star Colony is extremely rough terrain, and it seems Xiang Yi has already worked out some kind of arrangement with a local kingpin."

"Apparently he’s got a vicious bodyguard from somewhere, and he’s armed with an area-effect weapon. That’s why the Bounty Hunters haven’t dared go after him."

He Dong asked, "The area-effect weapon — that’s the Mind Pulse Generator, we can be fairly sure of that. But where did he get this bodyguard?"

"No idea."

"Then keep raising the bounty. Enough money brings out the brave."

The warden shook his head. "We’ve already raised it once. Doing it again won’t accomplish much."

"Push it too high and we might start drawing attention from Bounty Hunters in other Star Systems who catch wind of a big payout here."

"We’re near the Federation border. The number of Bounty Hunters operating in this area is way beyond what you’d expect. Too many people knowing about this is the last thing we need."

"So what do we do?"

The warden didn’t answer He Dong directly. Instead, he swept his gaze around the table.

Aside from He Dong, not a single person would meet his eyes — whether because no one had a viable idea, or because they had other things on their minds, he couldn’t tell.

The warden let out a disappointed sigh and was about to say something when his secretary suddenly slipped in through the door and handed him a fresh document.

The warden gave it a quick once-over, then passed copies of the intelligence update on Xiang Yi around the table.

The document had several photographs clipped to it — shots taken from various dark corners of the Southwest City District.

You could see Xiang Yi talking to a robot, and in a later frame, the robot abruptly pulling down a metal shutter.

"Fresh intel — confirmed just moments ago. Xiang Yi appeared again in the Southwest City District and met privately with that local kingpin."

"My informant is about to go have a word with the kingpin, see if he can be flipped to our side and used to set a trap for Xiang Yi."

"On top of that, he’s also made contact with a gang operating out of the Southeast City District..."

That gang actually had ties to both the company and the warden himself — but there was no need to say that out loud.

"If things go smoothly, they’ll work together with the kingpin and move on Xiang Yi when the timing’s right."

At that point, someone at the table finally spoke up: "Ordinary people can’t actually pose a threat to Xiang Yi, can they?"

"Not with the Mind Pulse Generator in play, no. But regular muscle can still be useful alongside other methods — as long as they can cause some disruption, that’s enough."

"What other methods?"

Another voice at the table pitched in: "What about a sniper?"

"Snipers are useless against a Spiritual Ability User."

"But he only awakened recently."

"He’s been developing at a rate that’s caught almost everyone off guard. Can you even imagine a freshly awakened Spiritual Ability User remotely controlling a Nanochip injected under someone’s skin?"

The warden rapped the table, cutting off the argument.

He was done listening to people go back and forth. His mind was already made up.

"When it comes to dealing with Xiang Yi, we use everything — ambushes, snipers, whatever can throw him off. All of it."

"That said, the real priority is getting our hands on new equipment specifically designed to counter a Spiritual Ability User like him."

Someone raised an objection: "The local government is willing to tank massive economic losses just to lock down the port entry and exit points, and they’re tightening the screws more every day. We’re basically limited to whatever’s already on the planet."

"’Basically’ means there are still gaps. The lockdown was a top-down call — their leadership is ready to go to war with us if it comes to it. But the people at the bottom care more about whether they’re eating well."

"Someone’s making money at that port."

"The lower-level officials don’t have the power to change anything, but they can sense which way the wind is blowing. They’re all scrambling to squeeze out one last payday while they still can."

"I’ve already managed to get in touch with one of those local officials. Our people can’t get through, but we can smuggle the equipment in."

"What equipment?"

"Power Armor."

The moment the words left his mouth, a ripple of murmuring broke out around the table.

Almost immediately, someone challenged him: "Power Armor — who’s going to pilot it? Who even knows how? You’re banking on those gang members?"

"I’ll handle that." The warden’s answer was blunt. The local gang his informant had connected with — the one with ties to the company — did in fact have people who knew how to operate Power Armor.

"Is Power Armor alone going to be enough? Don’t forget his Spiritual Energy."

"His Spiritual Energy doesn’t enhance his physical body. He’s still as fragile as any ordinary person."

"And the Power Armor will be prepped with countermeasures against his Spiritual Energy before it’s shipped over."

"Don’t forget — our Engineer is back."

"Also, that business I mentioned before about hacking into the Anka Star satellites — we can move on that now. Things have already come this far. There’s nothing left to be cautious about."

The warden assigned tasks to everyone in the Conference Room and called the meeting to a close.

Before long, only He Dong remained. He looked at the warden with a rueful expression and said, "Who would’ve thought the mess we accidentally made would end up buying us time and room to maneuver..."

"But if we hadn’t made that mess, the Anka Government would never have shut us out. Xiang Yi would’ve been tracked down by satellites and drones on his very first day on the ground — there’s no way he’d have stayed on the run this long."

"Too bad there are no ’what ifs.’"

The warden didn’t linger either. He got to his feet and headed for the door. "I’m going to see about borrowing some new gear from the company. We’ll send it all over together."

"The company is still willing to lend us things?"

"Yeah. Because of everything that’s happened, the company has spotted a new opportunity on Anka Star."

"Every disaster has a silver lining. Play this right, and we might even dodge the punishment altogether."