The Highest Bounty

After logging out of the Virtual Arena, Gu Ding felt heavy in his head. Without taking off his clothes, he dove under his blankets and fell asleep within seconds.

When Gu Ding woke up, he felt refreshed. "How long have I slept?"

"You"ve slept a total of 25 hours. While you were sleeping, something happened." Neptune stopped abruptly as if thinking of how to break the news.

"From your tone of voice, this doesn"t sound like good news?" Gu Ding frowned.

"There are two pieces of good news," Neptune replied. "First of all, your Spirit has increased from 9.8 to 11 after this extended bout in the Virtual Arena. Secondly, someone from the Virtual Arena sent you a present. I"ve already accepted it for you. It"s a suit of Black Iron grade Combat Armor. You should be receiving it soon."

"Black Iron Combat Armor?!" Gu Ding was surprised when he heard that. "I"m guessing it"s a gift from that mysterious woman."

Combat Armor is a product of an ancient mechanical civilization. Its main components are the skeletal cells of genebeasts and a type of memory liquid alloy that can dissolve in its wearer"s bloodstream.

Combat Armor is unlike heavy, unwieldy body armor. Combat Armor is a lot more flexible, and except for some special types, it was skintight and would not affect the stances of a martial arts pract.i.tioner.

Black Iron Combat Armor was the lowest grade of Combat Armor one could find. Even so, a set of Black Iron Combat Armor would still cost up to a hundred million Star Credits on the open market. It was also incredibly rare to come by, even if you had the money for it.

Wearing Combat Armor had three advantages. Firstly, Combat Armor is dormant in the wearer"s body and can be summoned at will at any time. Secondly, it will upgrade according to the Gene Level of its host. Thirdly, it will repair itself if it becomes damaged in battle. Those are the three reasons why Combat Armor is so desirable.

Just as Neptune finished talking about the Combat Armor, the doorbell to Gu Ding"s house rang.

"Good day, delivery for Gu Ding. Please sign here!" A golden delivery robot was standing at the door. Behind it was a white box.

Gu Ding held a finger on the receipt panel and left his fingerprint there, then the robot handed to him the white box. "Wis.h.i.+ng you a happy life. Goodbye!" It bowed.

Gu Ding closed the door and added a few padlocks to it. Only then he retrieved the item from the white box.

It was a clear gla.s.s syringe, in it contained a black liquid with a metallic gleam. On the syringe was a circular barcode.

Gu Ding scanned the barcode with Neptune"s screen. The product information was immediately displayed.

Item: Combat Armor

Grade: Black Iron

Usage instructions: Insert the syringe into a vein. After nouris.h.i.+ng with red blood cells for 72 hours, the Combat Armor may be summoned at will on the user"s body.

"A Black Iron grade Combat Armor can increase the user"s attack and defense by two-fold. That is quite a big leap in power for your Ultimate Arts. Also, Combat Armor is upgradable. Now your Black Iron grade armor increases your attack and defense by two-fold. A set of Bronze grade Combat Armor would increase it by five-fold, Silver grade by ten-fold, and Gold grade by fifty-fold. There are no side effects to worry about. The faster you inject this into your body, the faster you can equip it." Neptune reminded him.

Gu Ding nodded. He injected the needle into the vein on the back of his hand. As the metallic liquid entered his body, he felt a cold liquid mix with his blood and course up to his arm.

In a few seconds, the injection was complete. He did not feel any unease. This meant that his body had extremely good compatibility with the Combat Armor.

50% of the people who used Combat Armor had signs of rejection on their first time injecting it into their veins. Another 15% of people do not have a compatible body type and would immediately reject the liquid from their bodies.

"Your compatibility is very high. I think you should be able to wear the armor on your skin within ten hours." Neptune was very intimate with Gu Ding"s body conditions.

"Shouldn"t it take 72 hours?" Gu Ding was a little surprised. He did not know much about Combat Armors, considering that its price and availability were out of reach of normal civilians. He saw in the instructions that it took 72 hours for his blood to nourish the armor and thought that applied to everyone.

"That"s just the average. Some people would take a longer time, and some would be faster," Neptune explained. "Judging by how the liquid is fusing with your body, ten hours should be enough."

"You can just say that I have an amazing body type." Gu Ding smiled. "So, those are the two pieces of good news. What about the bad news?"

"Auntie Roastbeef sent you a message while you were asleep. She said that Rose Tavern is temporarily closed for business, and you need not go to work in the next few days. She will pay your wages the next time you go to work." Neptune was silent after reporting this information to him.

"That doesn"t sound like bad news?" Gu Ding propped his chin and thought deeply. "Did she say any reason why she"s temporarily closing her business, and when will she reopen?"

"She didn"t say that." Neptune"s tone of voice was heavy. "After sending the message, Rose Tavern shut down their connection to the external network. I thought that there"s something fishy going on so I hacked into the internal network of the tavern. I discovered some bad news through the security cameras.

"The Federation Government has been recently cracking down on the Red Light District. You should know about that," Neptune continued, "Because of this, many s.p.a.ce pirates are arrested. This included a pirate named Cain."

"Uncle Cain?" Gu Ding immediately knew who Neptune was talking about. Cain was a s.p.a.ce pirate with a 300 million bounty to his head. Rumors had it that he used to be part of Auntie Roastbeef"s crew. After the crew disbanded, he gathered his crew and sailed the open seas. Even so, he returned to Rose Tavern every two or three years to catch up with Auntie Roastbeef. "Uncle Cain is a powerful fighter. How was he arrested?"

"They threatened Cain with Auntie Roastbeef. If he tried to resist arrest or escape, they will put Auntie Roastbeef on the wanted list again and they will shut down Rose Tavern." Neptune finally divulged the real reason behind the bad news. "Because of that, Cain voluntarily put on the star core collar and was led away."

"Star core collar?" Gu Ding was shocked.

The star core collar was a powerful electromagnetic restraint. Once a person wore the collar on their neck, the powerful electromagnetic pulses would block all communication between the brain and the rest of their body. A person wearing the star core collar could only feel the presence of their head and nothing from the neck down. One would be helpless once they wore it.

"Looking at the normal procedure, after Cain is arrested, he should be imprisoned in the Cerulean branch of Skyriver Prison, or perhaps in the Skyriver Prison Headquarters for an appropriate number of years. However, Pearson, the deputy chief warden from the Headquarters has an old grudge with Cain. He blamed this recent theft on Cain and sentenced him to execution. He will be attending the execution himself." Neptune continued," I"m also guessing with the information that I know, that Pearson was the one who threatened Cain."

"That b.a.s.t.a.r.d! There"s someone so despicable in the Federation Government!" Gu Ding cursed. Gu Ding had only met with Uncle Cain several times, though he had always brought him a gift whenever he visited. Uncle Cain had treated him like one of his own crew members.

"The news about Cain"s execution was announced yesterday. Auntie Roastbeef and the others have been plotting a rescue mission ever since they caught wind of it. They plan to rescue Cain and escape from Cerule or even the Skyriver Sector. Rose Tavern will never reopen again." Neptune finally finished recounting the events. This was unprecedented bad news for Gu Ding.

Gu Ding clenched his fist then loosened it, and repeated this for a few times. Only then, he asked, "Neptune, do you know where the other members of Uncle Cain"s crew are?"

"Before Cain was arrested, one of his conditions was that his crew members were spared. His request was granted. They are now gathered at the starport discussing a plan."

"Neptune, can your Skeleton Key unlock the different doors in Skyriver Prison and the star core collar or other restraints?" Gu Ding thought for a short while, and soon he seemed to have an idea.

"Skyriver Prison is only a level-two security prison. All prisons of level three security and below are considered basic security. They do not pose any problem for me at all." Neptune could somewhat guess what Gu Ding was thinking. "However, to prevent Skynet from detecting me, it"s best if you could connect me at a prison network terminal."

"I know. I have a feeling that I"ll soon be wanted by the Federation Government." Gu Ding smiled.