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| ← Ch.183 | Ch.185 → |
The Celayan Brothers were quarreling in the next room, and Jeram and Lady Assai were guarding the unconscious Orr.
"Mom, I can't figure out why Kane doesn't just kill him directly. Right now, all I have to do is just gently twist his neck to send him straight to hell." Jeram paced around his older brother, his hands restless. Only God knew how much he wanted to personally kill him, he even dreamt of it.
"Kane won't only kill him, he'll completely destroy his reputation. You know already, the honor of being labeled a Superhero should've been Kane's, but Orr stole his glory. Don't be impulsive boy, everyone in the galaxy is paying attention to the Assai family right now, if Orr suddenly died, the military and the police would swarm this place in investigation. Our identities would make things awkward, and we might get caught up in the mess. It's best to have someone else kill him." Lady Assai swirled her wine glass, patiently waiting for the quarrel next door to finish. As for that interstellar superstar, it's understandable that he found it hard to give up such a prosperous life.
"Don't worry mom, I won't dirty my hands. I can understand Kane's feelings, Orr has always been so annoyingly perfect, he could always easily get the things that other people only dreamed of. There I was thinking that my father loved me, who knew he'd hand over all of the Assai family property to Orr on his death bed." Jeram laughed bitterly.
Lady Assai's composed expression finally cracked a little. The Assai family's property was huge, including some of the Empire's most advanced arms factories, two star harbors, and more than a dozen minor planets, which mineral reserves grades have reached S class. If Old Assai was a little bit generous to Jeram, just a little bit, this mother and child would've been able to forever live a life of luxury. But he was not fair, he secretly wrote up a will, handing all of the Assai family's inheritance to Orr, and he also set limitations, forbidding Orr from handing over control to others by any means.
This was simply driving the mother and child to murder.
While brooding over this, the quarrel next door stopped. Nan Qing, his face deathly pale, stood in the doorway and glanced at the two, then dully murmured, "I'm leaving first."
"Pheebs, it'll be okay, I promise to give you an even more glamorous future!" Kane hugged him and gently comforted him, in the end, he escorted him to the suspension car, and ordered his subordinate to secretly send him off to another planet.
"Who's going to do it?" Lady Assai put down her wine glass, her face awash in expectation.
"Both of us." Kane and Jeram said in unison. They didn't trust each other, so it was better to have both of their hands get equally dirty.
Lady Assai sashayed out of the room, waving, "Then you two get busy, I'm making dinner."
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Zhou Yun Sheng stayed in the studio until the next afternoon. The once bustling air-raid shelter was now very cold and lonely, as soon as the Marshal announced that the Queen had completely disappeared, everyone quickly abandoned the place, desperate to once again bask in the sun. Only the Ministry of Military Affairs and the Cyber Security Center staff haven't withdrawn. Seeing the various building materials and industrial robots constantly transported in, Zhou Yun Sheng guessed that the two departments would probably permanently set up base underground, because it was more secure.
The air-raid shelter's tunnels were very long, new lighting was installed, the surroundings lit up in deathly pale white. Zhou Yun Sheng slowly walked forward, his footsteps echoing against the walls, sounding like two people were walking at the same time, one in reality, one in fantasy. Suddenly feeling a premonition, Zhou Yun Sheng stopped and touched 008 on his earlobe. Right now in the whole galaxy, he was probably the only one who dared use a personal terminal with such advanced AI, other people still felt traumatized by the Queen's rebellion, and for at least two or three years, they probably wouldn't be able to overcome their fear.
He turned on 008's tracking function, searching out Orr's position. Yes, he'd implanted a tracking chip in the man's body, as long as he didn't leave Asaph Galaxy, he'd be able to quickly track him down. 008 instantly sent the coordinates back to its master, the screen's constantly flashing red dot showed that Orr was in Kavala prison.
Kavala prison, the most infamous prison in the Empire, specialized to hold criminals with spiritual power and constitutions higher than A level. Most of the prisoners had extraordinary strength, but they were extremely depraved, even the prison guards were unwilling to get closer than three feet to them. Kavala prison had the highest incarceration death rate, and the lowest release rate, once a person was sent in, that person would either die of old age or be killed, the possibility of gaining freedom was nil.
What the hell is going on? I look away for 10 hours, and Orr that stupid idiot actually managed to get himself incarcerated! Zhou Yun Sheng's expression sunk, he immediately turned and walked towards the Ministry of Military Affairs department. He needed to find out what happened.
Orr didn't understand how he became a murderer overnight. He was curled up in the corner of his cell, staring at his washed clean hands. He would never forget when he woke up from his coma and saw Phoebe lying in a pool of blood, a sharp blade gripped in his own hands. He was paralyzed with shock, unable to think about anything, even Jeram and Lady Assai screaming questions at him couldn't withdraw him from his suffering and shock. He threw himself forward, holding Phoebe's cold dead body, silently weeping, wishing he could follow him in death.
Despair was the only thing that filled his mind.
When the police asked him why this tragedy occurred, he couldn't even spit out a word in explanation. He'd once again lost his memories, he could only conclude that he'd killed Phoebe while he was sleepwalking. So when Kane rushed over and knocked him to the ground, he didn't want to resist, he confessed to his crime then and there. He was at a loss to describe the specific circumstances surrounding the tragedy, he could only repeatedly state, "I'm guilty, please let me accept punishment."
The Celayan family put pressure on the police, demanding that they put this deranged thug in the strict Kavala prison, since he could easily escape from other prisons by virtue of his S level strength. The case was still undergoing trial, as a rule, the suspect shouldn't be incarcerated so hastily, but in addition to the Celayan family, several other influential families banded together to put pressure on the police department, forcing the police to compromise. The evidence had already been collected, they were unlikely to find anything that casted doubt on the crime, and the suspect himself had confessed, he would've been sent to Kavala sooner or later.
He could only blame himself for being too outstanding, he'd inadvertently made a lot of hidden enemies. The fourth Admiral, Admiral Augustus, was going to retire in a few days, which meant that one of the Generals would be replacing his position. Orr, as the most popular candidate, naturally became the target of public criticism. If he could hold still for a few days, he would've become one of the most powerful decision-makers in the Empire, but clearly, he failed to seize that opportunity.
Orr was not a fool, he knew why he was sent to Kavala before the end of the trial, but he didn't protest the decision. He was now full of despair and sorrow, he didn't even have the courage to live on. If he'd known he would've killed his most beloved person, he wouldn't have left the hospital so causally. He started pulling at his hair, sorrowful wails spilling out from between his clenched teeth, like a trapped beast.
The four prisoners sharing his cell slowly inched closer to him, their murky eyes filled with murderous intent.
"Kid, you're being very noisy right now, did you know that? I'll let you in on one of our rules, never make your cellmates grow sick of hearing your voice, you'll likely provoke a bloody massacre." The most bulky looking prisoner grinned evilly and grabbed Orr's collar, picking him up like a baby chick. This 'kid' was an S level warrior, but his outward appearance didn't show it. His current tearful appearance made him look like a lost little boy, which provoked the imamates' drive for violence.
"Oh my God, this is our Superhero? If the outside world could see him now they would die laughing!" Another convict shouted theatrically.
"Stop fooling around, just kill him!" Back against the wall, a feminine looking man issued this order in a cold tone, he was apparently their leader.
The other men no longer dawdled, they lifted Orr up and fiercely slammed him into the ground, then stomped on his chest, trying to break his ribs and puncture his fragile heart. There was a loud bang outside the cell doors, it was a prison officer, but he only glanced through the door and left, muttering, "Be quiet, don't make too much noise."
"Yes good sir." The feminine man mocked.
These prisoners had A level strength, it wasn't difficult for them to kill an S level warrior as a group, especially when the other person was offering no resistance. Their itch for violence was finally getting scratched, so they didn't plan on giving Orr a peaceful death, they wanted to torture him. They grabbed him by his hair, slamming his head into the specially crafted super-metal wall again and again, seeing his bloodied face, they cackled, as if playing an interesting game.
So they didn't notice, after each impact, Orr's eyes grew blacker and blacker, until they were pitch black, like inky black abysses, and his painful expression instantly turned menacing.
The big man was obviously tired of playing around, he gripped Orr's head with all his strength, intending to crush his skull with one final impact. Then he'd dig out his squishy brain and have it for dinner, an S level brain must certainly have a unique taste. However, the devastating scene of a skull cracking open and exploding into bloody pieces didn't happen, instead, the super-metal wall was dented inward.
Huh?
Everyone was stupefied, staring in shock at Orr, who had his hands pressed against the wall. It should be noted, this super-metal was mostly used for crafting starships and mecha, it was designed to not only withstand bombardments from various particle cannons, but also withstand the enormous pressure from crossing wormholes. They had never heard of anyone in the galaxy strong enough to dent this metal with flesh, which meant that this person had the power to tear a mech, or even a starship, to shreds with his bare hands. Even the legendary 3S level warriors absolutely couldn't do such a thing.
But now, such an unbelievable thing actually occurred. Orr seemed to be trembling, but the prisoners knew that it wasn't because of fear, but in restraint. His hands pressed against the super-metal walls slowly started sinking in, when he finally stopped trembling, he turned around, exposing two, inch deep handprints etched into the wall. What kind of terrifying strength does this feat require? Forget about sending a few A level prisoners to assassinate him, even if they sent in the special forces, they wouldn't be able to touch a hair on his head.
The men huddled together, with no chance of retreat, they tried their best to stay as far away from Orr as possible, their previous arrogant expressions have long been twisted in fear.
Orr let out a deep, long sigh. He slowly raised a hand and pushed his blood soaked hair back, revealing a smooth, unscarred forehead. He twisted his neck and rotated his arms, then raised an eyebrow and asked with mild interest."Who hired you to kill me?"
"No, no one did." The feminine man's previous calm was nowhere to be found, his knees buckled, almost falling to the ground.
"Article 987 of the Prison Safety Act states that if a prisoner is attacked by another prisoner, they have the right to use all their power to defend themselves. I'm not a prisoner, but I am a suspect, so please prepare yourselves, I will begin fighting back. If anyone can't bare it, feel free to give up the name of your employer in exchange for your life." Orr smiled slightly, then in the blink of an eye, he leapt in front of the feminine man and punched him in the abdomen.
The rest of the prisoners didn't even catch a blur, they just saw their leader fly through the air, slam heavily into the wall, and slip down, blood constantly oozing from his mouth. In one move, he actually disposed of the fifth ranked strongest prisoner in Kavala prison. The men froze for a few seconds, then futilely tried to hide while calling for help.
By the time the prison officer heard the commotion and rushed over, Orr had already gotten the name he wanted, and was sitting in the cell's only chair, his slender legs neatly folded. He was slowly picking out the dried blood on his hair and hands, and smoothing out the messy wrinkles on his prison clothes one by one, apparently, he was very concerned about his appearance. A few human-shaped objects were lying by his feet, all four limbs snapped, no unmarred flesh, their breathing faint, they could only be described as 'tragic'. The silver-white metal walls were covered with mottled blood, but even more horrifying was the deep circular depression and two palm prints etched into the wall. Obviously, someone had their head bashed into the wall, then pressed their hands up against it.
But this was the strongest metal in the galaxy, could someone really cause such terrible destruction with just their bare hands? The prison guard was dumbfounded, he walked up to the door and looked around for a long time but he didn't know how to react. He knew he could get into big trouble, after collecting bribes from several families, he transferred his colleague of this area, and turned off the monitoring system, waiting for the feminine man to kill Orr so he could come in to clean up the mess. But it was awfully evident, with the cell so tragically destroyed, this mess was beyond his ability to clean up.
After staring blankly for a few minutes, he hurriedly raised his particle gun and fired at Orr, but frighteningly, the bullets were blocked by his spiritual force field, drawing circular ripples in the air before disappearing. Even someone with 3S level strength can't block attacks from a heat-ray gun. Orr, was he no longer human?
The prison guard sat paralyzed on the ground, seeing Orr's foot shift slightly, he immediately crawled up and ran, scared witless. He knew that if Orr came out of the cell, all the guards in Kavala prison couldn't stop him. He had to report this to the superiors as soon as possible, otherwise, the situation would only escalate.
On this day, Kavala prison's long neglected category A security alarm system blared sharply. The prisoners crowded their cell doors, watching the heavily armed guards marching towards a certain cell with curious and excited gazes. The guards set up a particle cannon, lifted their particle guns, and erected a super-metal shield in order to deter the prisoner in the cell. But judging by their pale faces and flickering eyes, the prisoner was not frightened, on the contrary, they were the ones who were terrified.
This is amazing! The prisoners on the same cell block stretched their necks, trying to see who this man was. Was it the leader of the Chinese gang, Dong Huang? I heard he's a 2S level warrior.
While the crowd watched with rapt attention, the cell door finally opened, and the heavily armed guards cautiously moved in, carried out a few badly mutilated humanoid objects, then retreated ten meters, continuing to point their various heat ray guns at the prisoner within cell. A few minutes later, the warden rushed over, then walked into the cell and negotiated with the mysterious man for half an hour. When the negotiations were over, calm and steady footsteps were heard, and a tall, handsome man walked down the corridor to the warden's office under threat from numerous muzzles.
"Holy shit, it's General Orr!"
"What did he do?"
"Hey, those things that were just carried off seemed to be Viper and his men. But Viper's the fifth ranked in Kavala, did General Orr kill him just like that?
"Didn't you notice? General Orr was unscathed, he really is worthy of being the Empire's Superhero!"
Hearing the prisoners' gossip, the warden couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly. If they could see the state of cell 308, they wouldn't even be able to muster the courage to look at Orr Assai right now. When the first batch of people with special powers were born, they were called Supermen, but scientists rejected this name, renaming them special people. They also predicted that mankind would continue to evolve, and eventually, spiritual power and physical strength would surpass the limit, to the point where the human body could shuttle across the universe. Until then, the race that achieved the ultimate evolution would be called Supermen.
The first S level person was born, the first 2S level person was born, the first 3S level person was born, humanity really became more and more powerful, but no one could achieve the scientists' definition of a Superman. The warden once doubted whether this was just delusions of scientific madmen, but now, he couldn't stop observing the man walking in front of him, realizing that he might've witnessed the birth of humanity's first Superman.
If Orr really was powerful to that extent, no one here could keep him locked up. If he wanted to leave Kavala, it was as easy as tearing through a wet piece of paper. He could go to any corner of the universe and kill any of the Empire's enemies. The warden suddenly felt the weight of the heavy burden on his shoulders, he had to do everything he could to pacify Orr.
For some unknown reason, the Queen's hatred for the Empire was far greater than other states. She delivered a devastating blow to the Empire, and after the war ended, the once most formidable empire in Asaph Galaxy was reduced to the weakest presence. In order to avoid being annexed by the Federation, the Empire urgently needed increased military strength. The Marshal was even considering releasing the A level and above prisoners and sending them to the battlefield, allowing them to contribute to the army in exchange for freedom.
This method was very dangerous, and also had many drawbacks, however the proposal was unanimously accepted after it was first presented to the court. This is because the souls the Queen devoured were all from the most aggressive go-getters in the Empire, they were the best source of energy for the Queen, so contrary to expectations, mostly the submissive people survived. Now, the Empire's biggest source of worry was not from external aggression, but from lack of talent. If the army found out about Orr's true strength, they would desperately try to recruit him.
Perhaps soon, the youngest Admiral in Asaph Galaxy, or maybe even the youngest Marshal, would be born. The warden saw things clearly, so he treated Orr with particular respect, he not only allowed him to wash up in his office, he even fetched him a neat new uniform.
Orr tidied himself up and bluntly sat down on the couch, then asked, "Do you have a cigar?"
"Yes, please wait a moment!" The warden didn't smoke, so he immediately sent a guard out to find one. The big shot prisoners in each zone certainly hoarded such items, and they only took the best.
The guard confiscated a box of cigars and ran back, sweating profusely. The warden personally cut and lit one, then handed it to the man and respectfully said, "General, the army sent a car to pick you up. It'll arrive in about ten minutes."
"I'm not going to the barracks." Orr puffed on his cigar, his bottomless black pupils flowing with ice-cold silver.
"Then are you heading back home? Do you want us to escort you?"
"No need, someone'll be here to pick me up soon." Apparently thinking about something amusing, the gloomy faced man suddenly chuckled.
Apart from the military, the warden couldn't think of anyone else who would come to pick up Orr, but he didn't dare probe, after nodding in acknowledgement, he stepped out for a breather. The man's power was exuding too much pressure, it was difficult to breathe in the same room with him. The military officers waited for half an hour, seeing no one from the Assai family arriving, they were about to head upstairs to plead with the General to come with them when a speedy suspension car pulled up.
"Hello, Mr. Zhou! Do you have some business here today?" Zhou Yun Sheng was now the Ministry of Military Affairs' special cyber security expert, his authority was comparable to the Imperial Marshal, so the military men naturally recognized him.
"I came to bail Orr out." Zhou Yun Sheng took out the bail order issued by the Marshal. This required a 30 year free work order for the Ministry of Military Affairs, thinking about it made him feel depressed.
"Your news is lagging behind, the General's already......" Before this person could finish explaining, the previously reluctant to leave Orr suddenly strode out of the elevator and wrapped the boy in a bear hug.
Zhou Yun Sheng raised an eyebrow, staring into the man's pitch-black pupils. From top to bottom, the original gentle and courteous atmosphere was replaced by overbearing arrogance. A showy smile filled with love, he shouted, "Baby, I knew you'd come pick me up!"
"Orr?" Zhou Yun Sheng asked in a calm tone, not hugging him back.
"There's no Orr, that was me......" Before he could finish, the man was ruthlessly slapped by the boy, his face rendered askew by the impact.
The senior military officials glanced at the warden with suspicious eyes, silently asking: This is the Superman you described? Are you playing us?
The warden hurriedly pointed upstairs, towards that scene. The prison officer had turned off the surveillance camera in the cell, so it wasn't recorded on video.
The two men glanced meaningfully at each other, secretly vigilant, afraid that Orr might fly into a rage and kill the boy, but unexpectedly, the man just nonchalantly wiped his face, then pulled the boy into his arms, frantically biting his lips. The boy punched him a few times at first, then seemed to give up, responding equally as eagerly. The boy climbed the taller man's neck, the man enthusiastically groped the boy's buttocks, the blush inducing sounds of lips and tongues intertwining echoing. After more than ten minutes, the boy pushed the other man away, and brushed a smear of blood off his lips.
Because their actions were too intense, his lips were cut.
Didn't General Orr kill Nan Qing out of anger because he didn't accept his love, how did he replace his object of infatuation in a blink of an eye? The warden and the military officers were baffled.
"Baby, I missed you so much!" Orr groped the boy's butt and pulled him in close, letting him feel his hard length on his soft belly.
"Animal." Zhou Yun Sheng threw another slap. Seeing the other man only grin in response, he also smiled, then tossed over the bail order and pulled his lover away. The warden picked up the bail order and led the military officers to examine the scene, afterwards, they went to interrogate Viper and his men.
"You've been here all along?" Letting 008 pilot the suspension car, Zhou Yun Sheng and his lover sat in the back seat.
"It was me, but it also wasn't me. My database is too big, Orr's body would've exploded if I was activated all at once. I needed time to help him upgrade, so I turned on his database first, meaning, the memories within his brain." The man impatiently embraced the boy, showering his cheeks with kisses.
Zhou Yun Sheng nodded, finally understanding what happened. Advanced software and low-end hardware weren't compatible, once booted, it would cause a blue screen error, or even a crash, so his lover had to temporarily use the original low-end software to host the entire system. It was so simple, if he'd used the logic of a computer program to decipher why his lover couldn't wake up, rather than the more mysterious logic of the soul, he would've found his answer earlier. When all was said and done, his lover was originally just a bunch of data, he had built in modes of operation, even if he became human, that wouldn't change. Orr was never Orr, he was just an overseer his lover created according to Orr's memories, so he naturally performed identically to the original Orr.
He gripped the back of his lover's head and pulled him in for a passionate kiss, for the first time in a while, he felt completely relaxed.
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T/N:
Special people- 特種人-tezhong ren, literarily special person. It's the name for people with levels in this story. The author doesn't build up this universe much, but if it's the same logic as the similar world in another one of her stories (which I won't name cause massive spoiler), only a small percentage of the population has levels, the rest are normal folks. That's why it's such a disgrace for Nan Qing to be F level, he's one of the 'chosen ones' but he's not much different than a normal human.
| ← Ch. 183 | Ch. 185 → |