"If there's no enemy, why were you two putting on that little double-act?"
Boothill pulled the bullet out of his revolver—the one that had somehow been loaded without anyone noticing—and holstered the gun.
"We were fishing," Lin Yi said calmly.
"Just not here."
He looked toward the stars.
Toward Space City.
Boothill narrowed his eyes.
"Damn… if you're putting on a show, that means there's an audience."
"I didn't ruin your plan, did I?"
"It's fine," Lin Yi replied.
"She's already seen what she wanted to see."
"And what I wanted her to see."
"Our current conversation doesn't matter. She can't see it, and she can't hear it."
He tapped the table thoughtfully.
"When dealing with a genius, the best method is exploiting their arrogance and curiosity."
"Even if they know there's a trap… they'll jump in willingly."
Lin Yi continued tapping the table as he thought.
Where exactly did I touch the so-called "boundary of knowledge"…
…enough to make Polka Kakamond intervene?
After a moment he looked back at Boothill.
"You've got things to do too."
"Let's part ways here."
"Next time we meet, I'll buy you another drink."
Boothill grinned.
"Works for me."
"That bastard Oswaldo finally exposed his location."
"I'm gonna love him to death with one bullet."
He spun his revolver once more, removed the last bullet, and slid the gun back into its holster.
Then he turned back briefly.
"If you run into trouble—call."
"I'll come running."
Lin Yi paused when he saw Boothill remove the last bullet.
Then he smiled faintly.
"The ship's already full of corpses."
"No survivors."
"Let's move."
"Finish the transport and get paid."
"Yes, Captain!"
On a heavily armed vessel—
Dongfang Qiqing examined her current appearance with curiosity.
She now looked like an ordinary middle-aged woman.
Her hands and feet were bound with magnetic cuffs.
An electric shock collar circled her neck.
Faintly visible was a Company slave identification code.
But despite the worn appearance, her eyes remained lively.
Among the group of slaves around her, she looked suspiciously alert.
Lin Yi sighed.
"Stop playing."
"I didn't hack their database earlier."
"Actually… never mind."
"If you want to play, go ahead."
"I'll forge an identity for you."
Lin Yi stood nearby.
Yet no one noticed him.
Using the Mirage Ring, he had completely erased his presence instead of changing appearance.
His thumb ring—the auxiliary computing unit—quietly manipulated data streams.
Within seconds, the system records were rewritten.
"Let me out!"
"I'm not a slave!"
"I want to see your leader!"
"I've given him credits before!"
A well-dressed young man shouted from beside the metal door, pounding on it desperately.
A pirate guard laughed.
"What are you yelling for?"
"See that product code on your neck?"
"You're a slave now."
"And yeah—you paid money."
"But someone paid our boss more to deal with you."
"Even if you escape, it's useless."
"You're now registered in the Company's system as legal slave property."
"Run all you want—we'll find you."
"And if you don't behave…"
He pressed a button on his remote.
Electric sparks flashed.
The young man collapsed screaming.
The pirate leader didn't even glance down.
"Move the new ones inside."
"Apply slave codes."
"Register them in the database."
"Send the data to 'Big Rat'."
Another pirate hesitated.
"Boss… should we check if any of them have powerful backgrounds first? Like usual?"
"Check what?"
"Waste of time."
"If they had connections, would they be traveling on some cheap outdated junk ship?"
Dongfang Qiqing looked stunned.
"…Mr. Lin Yi."
"How do they have those devices?"
"Those systems should only exist within the Interstellar Peace Tribunal."
"Only the worst criminals are branded as slaves and forced into dangerous labor to repay their crimes."
"Every use of those devices must be reported to Company headquarters."
"Let alone theft or leakage."
Lin Yi answered calmly.
"Simple."
"There are parasites inside the Company."
"With a faction that large, corruption is inevitable."
"I heard rumors from Argenti before…"
"But I still didn't expect their guts to be this big."
He paused.
"Still… slave prices are extremely low."
"Even so, they refuse to pay."
"They rob ships for money, then enslave people too."
"I can't understand it."
"Is the extra profit really worth the additional risk?"
He shrugged.
"Biological diversity."
"Even geniuses can't explain it."
Qiqing clenched her fists.
"This is outrageous."
"I'll send a message to my family immediately."
"We'll audit all internal records."
Lin Yi shook his head.
"Don't."
"If it happened once, it's happened elsewhere."
"If you act now, you'll only alert them."
"That gives the real culprits time to clean up."
He glanced at her.
"…Can you guarantee no one in your own family is benefiting from this?"
Qiqing froze.
"Wait."
Lin Yi continued calmly.
"Besides… I'll handle it."
"But not yet."
"And not so simply."
"I plan to drag a few more people into the water first."
"For now we just watch."
"Let's see the rest of their process."
The slave-transport pirate ship soon landed on a southern peninsula of Kasbelinyat VIII.
Lin Yi suddenly muttered—
"Zhuixing…?"
Then he remembered.
"…Right. She's not here."
Dongfang Qiqing stepped closer.
"Did you need something, sir?"
She restored her original appearance.
With the Mirage Ring's concealment, no one around them could perceive either of them.
"I just wanted to ask Zhuixing where this place is exactly."
"She usually handles information gathering."
Qiqing nodded.
"I understand."
"For the time being, I'll take over Zhuixing's duties."
She quickly checked the information Zhuixing had previously compiled.
"Sir."
"Kasbelinyat VIII currently has three factions occupying the planet."
"The war intensity is intentionally kept relatively low."
"The largest force is the local government army."
"They've received significant interstellar aid and funding from the IPC."
"On paper, they have the strength to wipe out the other two factions."
"But they haven't."
"Instead, all three factions are conducting armed slave wars."
"Whether they're incapable… or hiding something… is unclear."
She continued.
"The second faction is the expansion force of the infamous warlord Iimaniqa."
"They're trying to conquer nearby weaker territories."
"But their main base recently encountered trouble."
"They can't abandon this region either, so the conflict has stalled."
"And the third faction…"
"Are the survivors of Autran."
"Their civilization was destroyed by a Stellaron."
"That happened one Amber Era ago."
"Even when a civilization dies…"
"Some survivors always remain."
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