Chapter 1: Xia Fei
Since ancient times, there were plenty of seniors who went to prison. However, it could be said with certainty that Xia Fei was the first to go to alien prison.
Since ancient times, all the seniors who went to prison hoped for the prison cell doors to open up suddenly. But Xia Fei was living comfortably within this prison cell, and he didn’t really wish to leave this place.
It was 6 o’clock Earth time, and Xia Fei was curled up, lying down on that narrow single bed. He used an army-green blanket to bury him from head to toe while sleeping soundly.
*Beep Beep Beep Beep*
At the bedside, there was a cheap digital watch letting out an awful and ear-piercing sound that woke Xia Fei up from his dream.
He conveniently pushed the silent button on the watch before getting up from the bed in a daze.
He silently counted to three before abruptly opening his eyes.
A few seconds later, Xia Fei confirmed that he was still in the prison cell, and he immediately revealed a satisfied smile on his face.
This prison cell was more comfortable than Xia Fei’s home. The cell was less than ten square meters, but it contained all sorts of facilities. Whether it was spring, summer, fall, or winter, the cell would always remain warm, and there was even an independent shower room.
Xia Fei took a hot shower in the shower room before retrieving his clothes from the smart washing machine.
Xia Fei couldn’t describe his passion and love for such an advanced washing machine. The dirty clothes would only need five minutes to be cleaned, and they looked as though they were carefully smoothened, and they were fresh and bright like the sunlight.
This was simply the ultimate sacred tool for a bachelor. With it, there wasn’t any need to worry about a pile of smelly socks, and there wasn’t any trouble distinguishing between slightly clean or slightly dirty clothes.
After eating a breakfast that tasted like a Chinese toothpaste, Xia Fei sat on the bed and stared blankly. If he were still on Earth, he would be riding his bicycle towards the company to retrieve the packages before distributing them.
The bicycle courier was rather a trendy job as there wasn’t any city that didn’t have a traffic jam; therefore, bicycles became a priority for the couriers.
Xia Fei earned $5 for every delivery, and the income of $6,000 a month was rather fine. It was enough for Xia Fei to live in a major city like Beijing. If he were lucky, he could watch a movie every week while enjoying a cup of coke and a bucket of popcorn.
After sighing, Xia Fei decided to do some push-ups to kill the unbearably slow-moving time.
He placed his legs on the bed and his palms on the ground.
“1, 2, 3, 4...”
Sweat gradually dripped from his head as the originally simple exercise was getting increasingly difficult, but Xia Fei wasn’t planning to give up.
After completing the push-ups, he took a small break before doing another set of push-ups.
Until every trace of strength was exhausted, Xia Fei laid down on the bed and covered his head with the blanket.
Subsequently, Xia Fei went back to sleep...
Wake up, shower, eat, push-ups, sleep, repeat.
This was Xia Fei’s daily routine, and it had been on repeat for half a month. Of course, he would still have to receive Fatty Connor’s routine interrogation.
It was unknown how much time had passed, there was a series of footsteps in the hallway, approaching closer.
Xia Fei, who was covered in his blanket, opened his eyes with vigilance. Fatty Connor’s footsteps were heavy and very lazy, making it easy to distinguish. Xia Fei wasn’t familiar with the other set of footsteps. It was a resounding and sharp sound, much like high-heels stomping on the ground.
“A woman?” Xia Fei mumbled to himself and quickly dispelled this conjecture. “Why would there be a woman in prison? It must be my imagination.”
Clatter!
The heavy metal door was opened, and two individuals walked into the room one after the other.
Xia Fei was already used to this. According to the routine, they would then bring him to the interrogation room before asking a series of inexplicable questions.
“Hey, it doesn’t matter how many times you ask, my answers won’t change. I am Xia Fei, 17 years old, Earthling, ID No. ESS370402... I have no money, car, house, or girlfriend. I’m not what you call a ‘Phantom.'” Xia Fei said with frustration.
After lifting the blanket, Xia Fei sat up from the bed and rubbed his bloodshot eyes. “Alright, I will follow you. Do you understand that you are violating human rights? Earth might be a low-class civilized planet, but we are still humans.”
Xia Fei rubbed his eyes and suddenly stopped moving because there was an unfamiliar lady who appeared in front of him apart from Fatty Connor.
She was around 1.75 meters tall with a curvaceous body. She had gorgeous red hair that flowed over her shoulder. From her looks, she seemed to be around 27 or 28 years old, and she was a natural beauty who didn’t need any cosmetics. Her entire body emitted a mature lady’s charm.
She was wearing a green professional suit, and there was a silver circle crest on her breast. On it, there were three sparkling stars that were very dazzling.
The red-haired beauty looked at Xia Fei with her dazzling eyes, so much that he felt a chill down in his spine. Suddenly, she burst into laughter while covering her mouth as Xia Fei noticed that she had a mischievous dimple on her left cheek. “This is the ‘Phantom’ that you captured?”
‘Phantom’ was this universe’s most mysterious and the most unlucky assassin. It was rumored that he had only done a single job, but he was already one of the most wanted criminals in the universe.
Fatty Connor’s face was flushed red as he stammered and said, “I... We thought...”
“I don’t know what you people think, nor do I wish to know.” The red-haired beauty sounded as though she was scolding a child. “You Secret Police are truly living up to your inefficiency. You actually captured a primitive human who hasn’t even unlocked his seventh brain region to impersonate the ‘Phantom.’ Can I trouble you people to be professional? Even if you wish to use an impersonator, can you find one who looks rather convincing?”
Fatty Conner’s forehead started to sweat. He took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat and said, “When we were patrolling Earth, we noticed that he was wearing the same Moore Stone pendant that ‘Phantom’ also wore.”
After speaking, Fatty Conner took out a red pendant from his pocket and handed it to the red-haired beauty. The pendant had a shape that was like a drop of fresh blood. On it was a yellow label on which the word ‘evidence’ was written.
The red-haired beauty glanced at it while her hand trembled before throwing the pendant back to Xia Fei. Xia Fei caught the pendant and thought to himself, ‘Brother, you have put me through such suffering. When I picked you up, I thought I picked up a treasure. Look at what happened? I was made to serve an unjust prison sentence for half a month, and it was in an alien prison!’
Xia Fie didn’t think too much before tearing off the label on the pendant and wearing it on his neck again.
“Such a pendant is around 50 star coins in the free market, and you can have as many as you want. Does it mean that anyone who has this pendant is the ‘Phantom’?” The red-haired beauty spoke with disdain, “Furthermore, it is only a rumor that ‘Phantom’ also wears a blood-drop shaped Moore Stone pendant. In fact, no one knows what he looks like.”
“But he is just a primitive person, why would he have the Moore Stone as a pendant? Isn’t this suspicious?” Connor was trying to justify himself.
The red-haired beauty was rather angry as she said with a cold face, “Why can’t primitive people have the Moore Stone pendant? Did you investigate their planet? What if their planet does produce Moore Stone?”
Connor didn’t continue speaking, and he was constantly using his handkerchief to wipe the sweat off his face. He was so nervous; it felt as though this red-haired beauty might eat him up at any time.
Xia Fei frowned slightly and used a firm tone to speak, “Apologies beauty, I don’t mean to interrupt you. But, my name is Xia Fei, and I’m an Earthling, not some primitive person.”
The red-haired beauty turned around to look at Xia Fei with a surprised expression. “Beauty? This appellation isn’t bad, I like it very much. It is a pity that you are still a primitive person in my eyes, and it is a fact that will not change.”
Her eyes looked just like a human observing a monkey, and it made Xia Fei very uncomfortable.
“Beauty.” Xia Fei revealed a smile that was radiant as the sun. “I really am a human and not a primitive person who uses stone tools to hunt.”
The red-haired beauty laughed and said, “Why? Do you think you are not a primitive person if you don’t use stone tools for hunting?” While speaking, she took out a micro-calculator that was the size of a cigarette box and pressed on it lightly.
Swish!
A screen suddenly projected, and the red-haired beauty quickly entered the word ‘Earth.’
“Earth. It was discovered by Universe Explorer Madoff three years ago. The civilization level is between a primitive planet and a class 1 civilized planet. Seven billion Earthlings live in 224 countries.”
“The chances of an Earthling unlocking the seventh brain region is only 1/100 million. The Universal Pan-Human Alliance defined Earth as a class 0.5 civilized planet.” The red-haired beauty read the information about Earth that was stated on the projected screen. She didn’t even try to conceal her mocking tone towards Earth.
“It is very regretful. Earth is only a class 0.5 civilized planet. Therefore, to the numerous universes, you are just primitive people who just learned how to look at the starry sky.”
Connor also laughed while his massive beer belly jiggled.
The red-haired beauty cast an icy cold glance at Connor. “You actually dared to laugh? If I have to say it, your Blue Sea Star’s Secret Police is worse than the primitive people. You people are simply a bunch of fools!”
Connor held back his laughter awkwardly as he scratched his plump head with resentment, but he didn’t dare to retort.
Xia Fei was speechless as he felt this was the first time in life that he had such difficulty in proving that he was a human.
“Firstly, Earth has already formed the Earth Federal Government according to the request of the Universal Pan-Human Alliance. Secondly, our chances of unlocking the seventh brain region are at 1 in a million, not 1 in 100 million. Thirdly...”
Xia Fei stared blankly for a moment and sighed. “Forget it, why do I even have to argue? What does it have to do with me even if Earth isn’t a civilized planet?”
The red-haired beauty laughed as she felt it was rather fun. “How can you say it has nothing to do with you? Earth is your home planet after all, even if it is a little primitive.”
Xia Fei stood up and stretched his body. “So what if Earth is a low-class civilization? No matter how wealthy the government is, they will not spare any money for me. I will still be a person who has to work every day and pay my taxes and rent on time.”
Xia Fei then took a closer look at the crest on the red-haired beauty’s breast. “Eh? Adjudicator! You are actually an Adjudicator! No wonder Fatty Connor is so afraid of you.”
Connor glared at Xia Fei, but he didn’t refute as Xia Fei was right. He was just a bureau chief of a class 1 civilized planet’s police station. In the face of an Adjudicator, he wasn’t even an insect. Moreover, this beauty was a Silver 3-star Adjudicator.
“Keke, a primitive person like you actually knows of an Adjudicator?” The red-haired beauty didn’t really bother.
“Last year, the Adjudicator Union established a branch on Earth, and I heard that Adjudicators are among the noblest professions in the universe. Although I don’t know how noble it is, I know that all Adjudicators are wealthy people.”
Connor spoke with disdain, “No wonder you are a primitive person from an uncivilized planet. The great Adjudicators have such respected status. How can it be compared with vulgar money?”
Connor suddenly realized that this was a great chance to bootlick this beauty Adjudicator.
“The Adjudicators and Monastics are known as the two super professions. They have the priority to use most of the public facilities and can freely enter planets that aren’t open to others. Furthermore, they enjoy a non-interest credit limit of one million star coins and don’t even need any collateral.”
“Once a person is declared as a criminal by the Adjudicator Union, the Adjudicators have the right to execute the criminal, and they aren’t restricted by any law. Each Adjudicator possesses one ultimate execution authority. Even if the Adjudicator uses the execution authority to kill a president, they will not be prosecuted.”
“Any intent to bring harm to the Adjudicator is viewed as a declaration of war against the entire Adjudicator Union. The offender would be listed in the super blacklist of the Adjudicator Union and shall be pursued for eternity until death!”
Xia Fei was attracted to the outrageously special privileges of the Adjudicators as his eyes lit up.” I understand now. Adjudicators are rich people that aren’t restricted by laws! How can I become an Adjudicator?”
“Ha, you are just a primitive person who hasn’t even unlocked your seventh brain region, and you actually wish to become an Adjudicator? This is probably the greatest joke I have heard in my life.” The red-haired beauty spoke with slight arrogance, “I have other matters to attend to. Young man, see you again.”
After finishing her statement, the red-haired beauty turned and prepared to leave. Fatty Connor immediately ran over and politely opened the heavy door for her.
When the red-haired beauty was at the entrance, she suddenly stopped and said, “No, you are a primitive person. We shouldn’t have any chance to meet again.”
Xia Fei didn’t mind her arrogant words while his mind was rapidly thinking.
“Hold on.” Xia Fei set his mind and chased after them before asking calmly, “I wish to know. How do you people plan on dealing with me?”
The red-haired beauty looked at Connor indifferently while the latter said in an unpleasant tone, “It is obvious that we will be sending you back. Do you think that we will feed you for life?”
Xia Fei smirked and unhurriedly reached out his hand. “I have been captured by you people here while being innocent. Because of your mistakes, you have wasted 15 days and 8 hours of my life. You have to compensate for my economic loss and psychological damage!”
Compensation?
“You!” Connor had an ashen face as he said, “Kid, don’t forget that we have planted a translation microchip in you. Otherwise, you wouldn’t even understand our language or our written words. Do you know the price of a translation microchip? As a human of class 0.5 civilized planet, even if you spend your remaining life working, you still wouldn’t be able to afford it!”
Xia Fei suddenly realized something and reached for his neck. There was a shallow and red scar on the back of his neck. It was a mark that was left behind due to the planting of the translation microchip.
“Many thanks for your reminder. I nearly forgot about this matter as there is still a need to include the compensation of my physical damage. I didn’t ask for you to plant this microchip in me. Do you know how painful it was when this thing was planted in my body?”
Connor abhorred Xia Fei for not being satisfied with his gains. Connor wished he could strangle Xia Fei to death right now. He then looked at the red-haired beauty helplessly and asked, “What do you think of this matter?”
The red-haired beauty raised her head while her face had a delightful smile as Xia Fei’s words amused her.
“This is your Secret Police’s matter, what does it have to do with me?”
Subsequently, she supplemented, “However, this matter is your fault, to begin with. You should provide some compensation.”
Connor gave an apologetic smile and said, “Yes, yes, you are right. Our Secret Police is also a regulated organization. To correct the wrong is always our motto.”
“We will give you 300 star coins as compensation for each day here. For 16 days, it should be 4,800 star coins. You should be satisfied with this, right?” Connor gritted his teeth and said to Xia Fei.
After converting it to Earth’s currency, 4,800 star coins were a lot. The star coins were one of the universal currencies of the universe. The Earth’s federal dollar was incomparable, and no one would be so foolish to exchange for a class 0.5 civilized planet’s currency with the star coins.
Xia Fei shook his head and said, “I feel that it is more reasonable for you to compensate me with a bottle of gene optimization fluid.”
“What!?” Connor’s face changed drastically. “Why don’t you just ask for a space shuttle!”
The red-haired beauty giggled and admired Xia Fei’s indulgence in fantasy. “This is indeed a wonderful idea. With the gene optimization fluid, you can forcefully unlock the seventh brain region and optimize your bodily functions. You might even become a powerful person.”
“Most importantly, a class 0.5 civilized planet will not be able to purchase a gene optimization fluid even if you have the money. Primitive person, I have to admit that you are rather clever.” The red-haired beauty’s beautiful eyes lit up as she asked, “Chief Connor, are you planning to fulfill his request?”
Connor was so furious that his fat facial features were distorted. He suddenly had an inspiration as he recalled something.
“Keke, trivial matter.” Fatty Connor gave an old fox’s smile and said, “It’s just a bottle of gene optimization fluid. I will ask someone to bring it over later.”
Xia Fei couldn’t believe his ears, but he suddenly realized something after Connor and that red-haired beauty had vanished at the end of the hallway.
“Damn it! I miscalculated. It seems like the legendary gene optimization fluid is a very cheap commodity in this place. I should have asked for two more bottles.” Xia Fei was rather annoyed as he spoke to himself.
...
Connor sent the red-haired beauty out of the Secret Police’s headquarters in a respectful manner.
“Are you really going to give him a bottle of gene optimization fluid? You should know that the cheapest bottle is at least 50,000 star coins, right?” The red-haired beauty asked with astonishment.
Connor slapped his stomach forcefully. He actually wanted to slap on his chest, but it was a pity that everything under his head was his stomach.
“We are the Secret Police, after all, and can afford this much. We have wrongly accused him and imprisoned him for such a long time; we do need to compensate him.” Connor boasted shamelessly.
The red-haired beauty smiled. A person of her status didn’t need to bother about such trivial matters. She gently jumped onto a red convertible sports car before vanishing at the end of the streets without even turning back.
Connor returned to his office on the 26th floor and sat on his massive-sized swivel chair before revealing a treacherous smile.
He used his fat finger to press a button on the table, and a projected screen suddenly appeared above the table.
On the screen, there was a black-clothed man who looked to be in his 30s. He had a lean body and was straight like bamboo. He was obviously capable and experienced.
“Chief, what is the matter?” The man asked.
“Hei Nan, I remember that we were investigating a batch of smuggled gene optimization fluid yesterday, right?”
“Yes, there were a total of 74 bottles of gene optimization fluid, and none of them had any manufacturing location or labels. I suspect that the batch of fluid is fake.”
“Very good!” Fatty Connor revealed an evil smile. “Give one of the bottles to the Earth kid on the 7th basement floor. Don’t say anything and ask him to consume it after returning to Earth.”
Hei Nan frowned. “Chief, this batch of fluid is from an unknown origin, and the inspection report isn’t out yet. If we give it to someone to use, they might just die.”
Connor slammed the table angrily and said, “What you need to do is to conform and not to question. Do as I say and find someone to send that kid back to the damned Earth.”
Bang!
Before Hei Nan could reply, Connor had switched off the screen.
“Kid, you are the one who asked for it,” Connor mumbled to himself while having a ruthless expression on his face.
...
A few hours later, Xia Fei held a box that contained the gene optimization fluid and was riding a spaceship back home.
At the same moment, the communication screen that belonged to the Secret Police Chief Connor had suddenly opened up.
“Chief, not good! The inspection report is out. That batch of gene optimization fluid is the Purple Jade!” Hei Nan spoke with urgency.
Connor was slightly startled and asked, “What Purple Jade?”
On the screen, Hei Nan rubbed his palms with anxiety and said, “Chief, the Purple Jade is a kind of a super gene optimization fluid invented by the top-notch scientist Harris 13 years ago. It is said that he spent 60 years of hard work to research this gene optimization fluid. But during the experiment, all 179 individuals, who participated in the experiment and had consumed the Purple Jade gene optimization fluid, had died! Harris had also fled as he feared being punished. These aren’t gene optimization fluids anymore and are simply the most lethal poison!”
Connor nodded after he understood and said, “I remember now. Isn’t this type of gene optimization fluid listed as a universe class banned drug? Why would it be circulated in the market? Send those smugglers to the Planet Security Bureau. They are definitely going to get the death sentence this time!”
“Yes, understood!” Hei Nan hesitated before asking, “What about that young man?”
Connor put on a straight face and asked, “What young man? What is it regarding?”