by Hao Yang
Chapter 140
Klaycon kept a close eye on Gloria after that unhappy altercation, but nothing happened, so he thought Gloria was just bluffing. Then one day Gloria disappeared from training center. Klaycon was shocked and quickly had his friends check every corner in the training center. They even scouted the second class species area. After learning Gloria was not in the training center, Klaycon sent Nissen and Zier to Sylareon and the two talked with Gloria’s parents, but they didn’t get any clue where Gloria could be. Then Klaycon realized that Gloria might not be bluffing. He immediately contacted the warden of prison Listan, but there was no female Glycan prisoner arriving recently. He knew Gloria wouldn’t that stupid, so he decided to go to the prison himself to check it out.
Twenty-two hours later, Klaycon landed on prison Listan in a combat vessel. Warden Wy itetn welcomed Klaycon at the landing zone. He put on a big grin on his chubby face and said, “Welcome, welcome. Klaycon, it is so nice to see you in person.”
“Nice to meet you.” Klaycon said in disgust.
“I heard that your father General Kalan was promoted into the Joint Commanders of Staff. How nice! Please send him my regards and let him know as a member of guardian fleets we are always at his service.” Wy itetn said in a flattering way.
“Well, now you have the opportunity to serve.” Klaycon acted like a boss.
“Oh, absolutely. Would you like to have something to eat first? It must be a very long flight.”
“No. How many prisoners you got for the past month?” Klaycon asked hastily.
“I don’t have the number in my hand right now. But I can find it out right away.” Wy itetn said as he winked at Hwoei.
“Good.” Klaycon.
They left the landing zone on an airborne platform and headed to Wy itetn’s office. When they arrived, Hwoei came to them and said that the prison received 14 prisoners for the past month. Klaycon asked the warden to bring those 14 prisoners to him right away. He couldn’t wait to find out whether Gloria was among them or not.
When guards grabbed Gloria from the working site, she was worried that they found out her real identity. She soon joined other 13 prisoners and arrived at a small room with glass wall on one side. Now Gloria knew this was definitely for a lineup screening. She was wondering what she did gave her away.
The 14 prisoners lined up facing the glass wall. Klaycon was on the other side of the wall. The first glimpse didn’t yield any hint. He then studied each one of them carefully and patiently. But after 40 minutes, he still couldn’t figure out which one was Gloria. He motioned warden to dismiss the group.
Gloria had no idea what that was about. During the dinner time, She noticed that the number of drones cycling above Jason were more than usual. She had no idea that Klaycon was watching Jason through the drones right now. The warden Wy itetn was standing aside Klaycon. He handed Klaycon a drink and said, “There is something about this Human right?”
“Why is that?” Klaycon asked coldly and ignored the drink. He was more interested in whom Jason was talking to. He believed if Gloria was here, she must have made the contact.
“At least, I don’t know why he is locked up here?”
“Really?” Klaycon was a little surprised.
“Yes. He is a good fighter. If you are interested, he have a fight this weekend. Two days from now.” Wy itetn said respectfully.
“I will think about it.” Klaycon said casually.
“If you tell me what you are looking for, I might be able to help.”
“I like to speak to this Human.”
“Right away.”
Twenty minutes later, Jason walked into the room, his hands and feet cuffed by heavy and solid steel.
Jason recognized Klaycon at the first sight. He was surprised to see Klaycon here. They stared at each other in disgust for a while.
“Where is Gloria?” Klaycon asked directly.
Jason let out a long sigh and said, “You can’t even look after a girl.”
“I know she came here to save you. Tell me which prisoner is Gloria. I will say something nice for you and you can live an easy life here.” Klaycon said with a straight face.
“Even if I knew, you think I will tell you?” Jason said ironically.
“If you somehow count on her to save your ass, you can give up right now. You will stay here until you die.” Klaycon said angrily.
Jason knew Klaycon was right and he just didn’t want to think about it. Right now, he was also wondering what could happen to Gloria.
“OK. You want to do it in a hard way.” Klaycon said coldly, his uniform transforming into an armor suit.
“Clank.” A dagger popped out of Klaycon’s right fist, glowing in blue.
“You are going to die here anyway. I will make it quick.” Klaycon said hastily.
“Thank you.” Jason said calmly.
Klaycon was shocked at Jason’s reaction. He was expecting something aggressive and tough. But now Jason was standing in front of him leisurely as if he was talking about someone else’s life.
Klaycon lowered his body a bit, ready to launch. Just at this moment, Wy itetn ran to Klaycon and wheezed, “Klaycon, sir, this is a very bad idea.”
Klaycon pushed Wy itetn away as he aimed the dagger at Jason’s head.
“Take care of her.” Jason said sincerely.
Klaycon suddenly stopped. He felt like every word was echoing in his head. He paused there for several seconds and shouted, “Take him away!”
Several guards escorted Jason out of the room.
Klaycon thrusted the dagger at the wall. The love between Gloria and Jason made him angry and jealous and he knew even if he killed Jason, he couldn’t destroy this love. Later Klaycon left Listan in disappointment.
Chapter 141
After Jason went back to the dinner table, he didn’t have any appetite. Even though the notion that Gloria came to save him made him happy, he really hoped that was not the truth. He wanted to see Gloria, but not in this way.
The next day, while Jason was working, he thought about what Klaycon said yesterday. He was wondering if Gloria was really here, why she didn’t contact him. Or she did make the contact, but he didn’t know. Jason started to recall everything from last month, but nothing stood out.
During the break, Jason was waiting in the line to get some water. There were around 200 prisoners on this working site and they had to share one water fountain. As he was moving in the queue, he noticed Shopper and Luee were peeking at him nervously. Eiteuoo was whispering something to Hwoei. Then Hwoei stepped onto an airborne platform and flew away. Guards also started to leave, only leaving drones on the site. Jason had a bad feeling. He looked around cautiously and caught several prisoners jump the line and move close to him. He clenched his hammer and took a deep breath.
“Behind you.” Yawon shouted to Jason.
Jason quickly turned around and dodged a hammer thrown by a Sulan. A Ptueit rammed into Jason and caught his waist. Jason poked Ptueit’s eye with the hammer handle.
“Aaaaaaaah” The Ptueit screamed in pain.
Two Dolanz ran to Jason swinging their hammers at him. Jason grabbed the Ptueit and kicked him at the incoming Dolanz. The Ptueit fell on one of them. The other one swung the hammer at Jason’s head. Jason ducked down, but slipped and fell.
“Watch out!” Yawon shouted again.
Jason rolled aside before the hammer hit on his chest. He quickly got on his feet.
Others prisoners quickly cleared the area and watched the fight in the distance. Now Jason was facing six guys. Behind his back, Shopper, Eiteuoo and Luee were ready to attack. They each held a hammer, moving around cautiously.
“Don’t you worry, I won’t kill you. I only want to smash your balls with this hammer.” Luee chuckled.
“Yep, if you let us do that, you only lose your balls. You can still fight without balls.” Eiteuoo said happily.
“Don’t take it personal.” Shopper said ironically.
“No, this is just business!” Jason said easily as he swiftly turned around and dashed to Shopper. Eiteuoo and other six guys ran to Jason. Shopper dodged aside, but Jason didn’t go after him. Instead he ran along the working site the size of a football field. At the beginning all the nine guys could kept up with Jason, but slowly some of them began to lag behind. Then Jason stopped and attacked the guy closest to him and then ran again. He repeated this process again and again until only three of them left. Now Jason didn’t need to run anymore, he faced Eiteuoo, Shopper and a Zontean. The three were breathing heavily, their faces covered in sweat. Jason was tired too, but he didn’t take a break. He ran to Eiteuoo and flung the hammer at Shopper. Eiteuoo stumbled back, but too slow to block Jason’s kick. Shopper ducked Jason’s hammer and threw his hammer at Jason. It hit Jason on his back. Jason slumped on the ground. Just at this moment, the Zontean swung a hammer at Jason. The pain on the back slowed Jason down, but he caught the hammer on his hands just before it crashed his chest. His hands hurt like hell.
Eiteuoo quickly got up and picked up a hammer. He charged at Jason screaming.
The Zontean was pushing the hammer down and Jason couldn’t move at this moment. Just as he watched Eiteuoo run to him with a hammer aiming at his head, Eitueoo suddenly fell on the ground. Then Jason saw Yawon kick the Zontean on the head. The Zontean fell into coma. Jason quickly pushed himself up and stood beside Yawon.
“Hey, new guy, this is none of your business.” Shopper said angrily.
“Now it is.” Yawon said firmly as he winked at Jason.
“Thanks, man!” Jason said gratefully.
“You are welcome!” Yawon said.
Just at this moment, Hwoei flew an airborne platform into the working site. He was surprised to see Jason was still standing on his feet. Driven by the anger, he quickly hauled out his sidearm and fired at Jason. Jason jumped into the well on the ground. Yawon followed right behind Jason.
Chapter 142
The well was designed for dumping valueless rocks. It had an inclined shaft and went deep into the facility. It took Jason and Yawon a while to slide to the bottom.
It was cold and dark. Yawon slowly stood up and caught Jason lying still near the wall. He quickly ran to Jason and said, “Jason, are you alright?”
“Yes, I am fine. Just want to rest a little bit.” Jason said tiredly.
“Good, good!” Yawon said excitedly.
“Why did you save me?” Jason asked.
“I am not sure. That is not important right now. We are trapped here and we need to get out.” Yawon said seriously.
“Who tell you we need to get out?” Jason said with a mysterious smile.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know about you. I am going to get out of this prison and this is the best chance.” Jason said firmly.
“That is my man!” Yawon said happily and hugged Jason.
Jason pushed Yawon away harshly and said, “What the fuck is that! Don’t touch me!”
“Sorry, sorry, I was so excited.” Yawon said quickly.
As they started to search for way out, they heard the low frequency humming sound.
“Drones are coming!” Yawon said in a worried tone.
“Yea.”
“Clank! Clank! Clank!” Some heavy metal sound echoed in the shaft. Then the humming sound started to go away. Jason felt the ground beneath him started to shake. He ran to the wall and shouted, “Hold on to the wall. They are dumping the waste!” He grabbed a big screw on the wall. Yawon dashed to Jason and held on to a handle.
All of a sudden, the ground sunk and everything flew out. The wind was so strong that Jason could barely hold on to the screw. He could see Yawon losing his grip on the handle.
“I can’t hold it anymore.” Yawon shouted desperately.
“Don’t act like a girl!” Jason shouted.
“I am…”
Just at this moment, Yawon went off the handle. But Jason caught him on his wrist.
“Grab the wall.” Jason shouted in pain.
The wind started to dwindle and then four outlets opened on the wall and air blew into the shaft.
“Get into the vent.” Jason said as he climbed upwards in a hurry. He knew the pressure equalization wouldn’t last long. Yawon followed right behind Jason and they both got into the vent at the last minute before it closed.
They ran along the shaft and found a maintenance robots checking the tubings. They got on the robot and reached the maintenance center where robots got charged. Jason knew they had left the prison section and now they only needed to get into the hangar. He walked to a big robot and got onto its back. The robot looked like a truck. Jason quickly removed the back shell. He then took out several batteries.
“What are you doing?” Yawon asked.
“We can get around like this. We will hide in this robot and get to the hangar.”
“That is brilliant.”
“Don’t just stand there. Come help.”
While they were making room in the robot, Yawon asked, “What are you going to do after you get out of here?”
“Well, the first thing, I will call my girlfriend. She will be worried to death right now.” Jason said tiredly.
Yawon looked into Jason’s eyes and smiled happily.
“What?” Jason asked in confusion.
“Oh, nothing. It’s just I thought you were cold-blooded. Now I feel different.”
“I am cold blooded. You are right about that.” Jason said coldly.
“OK. I heard that you got into some trouble with Hylocan. Does that have something to do with the Hylocan queen?”
“Well. Rumors are everywhere these days. I guess that is true.” Jason said.
“Do you love her?” Yawon suddenly became very serious.
“We are not having this conversation. This is ridiculous. Why are you asking something like this? Jason said in disgust.
“I mean we are all guessing you and the Hylocan queen had a love affair.”
“Why you gossip like a girl? I can’t believe this!” Jason said angrily. .
Together they soon made enough room at the back of the robot and hid there. They drove the robot out of the maintenance center and headed to the hangar.
Chapter 143
The warden soon learned that Jason went missing. He was surprised that this would happen under the Hwoei’s watch. He quickly ordered the sweep of the entire facility. He knew if Jason wanted to leave Listan, he had to get on one of the vessels in the hangar. He had his men cripple every vessel. Then he removed all the guards from the hangar and only left several drones there.
Jason waited patiently until the midnight. Then he and Yawon drove the robot into the hangar without any problem. The moment he saw those vessels, he was so excited that he screamed out like a kid. He quickly parked the robot to the closest vessel. But before he went out, he noticed something weird. There were only several drones in the entire hangar the size of 10 football fields.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s get out of here.” Yawon said hastily.
“Something is wrong. I can feel it.” Jason said in a heavy voice.
“Come on. We are this close. They can’t stop us now. We just need to get on the vessel and we will be out of here in seconds.” Yawon said as he pointed at the vessel meters away.
Jason couldn’t explain how much he wanted to get out of this prison, but he knew the warden was not that stupid.
“What are you thinking? Come on. We gotta go. This is the only way out.” Yawon said quickly.
“I know and they know. This is a trap.” Jason said calmly.
Yawon fell into silence.Jason maneuvered the robot out of the hangar and said, “We have to surrender.”
“What? Are you kidding me? I can’t believe this.” Yawon shouted angrily.
Jason didn’t want to explain anything to Yawon. Even for him, this was already a very difficult decision.
“You don’t need to follow me. Do whatever you want
. You still can drive to hangar.” Jason said coldly and then got out of the robot. He walked slowly on the corridor with his hands above his head. Yawon screamed desperately and then followed Jason.
Soon patrol guards found these two and took them to the warden.
After hearing how the guards captured these two prisoners, Wy smiled at Jason and asked, “So why not just go to the hangar and leave here?”
“I never thought about it.” Jason said calmly.
“Oh, really, I am so moved.” Wy itetn said ironically.
“Some prisoners were attacking me and we barely survived. Then Hwoei shot me with his sidearm and I had to jump into the well. We barely survived from being sucked into the space.” Jason said as he glanced over at Hwoei.
Wy itetn turned to Hwoei and stared at him.
“Sir, that was bullshit. I was watching the working site and no one was attacking this Human. I promise you.”
“Alright.” Wy itetn said easily.
“If I really planned to escape, why would I surrender without even trying one of the vessels in the hangar?”
“Because you know you can’t survive the asteroid belt.” Wy itetn said.
“Did you check my training record in Guardian Fleet? If you did, you will know that won’t stop me.” Jason said confidently.
“You know what? I will look into it.” Wy itetn said easily. He had guards escort Jason and Yawon back to their cells.
Chapter 144
Mark knew nobody would believe the ousted Glycan king Liutein was hiding in the Human colony and even he found it ridiculous. He didn’t have the time to dig out what was going on, because he was dying to get Jason out of Listan.
It was the second day since Mark arrived with the team at Listan. The majority of the maintenance team were engineers from different second class species. Originally there were three Humans in the team, but Treton London pulled some string and put Mark in the team. Even though they were not prisoners, guards and flying drones kept an eye on them all the time.