The Highest Bounty

“There is nothing wrong with your review. You"re free to leave.”

Gu Ding pushed the door open after hearing this. He knew that he should leave the planet as soon as possible because the longer he stayed, the more likely his ident.i.ty would end up being exposed.

Gu Ding walked briskly along the corridor toward the exit.

He was less than twenty meters away from the door when a figure suddenly stopped in front of him.

It was a tall man who was more than two meters in height. He looked about forty years old and had a tough-looking face. He was wearing a different uniform than the other prison guards. He had a white cloak that fluttered in the wind on his back. Gu Ding could vaguely read the word on it that said, “Warden”.

The man had to be the superintendent of Leoben Prison, Thorso.

Thorso was a legend in Faye Cosmic Nation. At one thousand and three hundred years old–according to the lifespan of a Rank-13 Gene Body which was two thousand and five hundred years–he was still in the prime of his life. Nevertheless, he had already managed to make his mark in prison at the age of twenty.

There were many stories about him. However, the most impressive one was the incident when he was first appointed Leoben"s Deputy Warden. He was only a Rank-12 Gene Body at that time, and a fugitive had successfully broken through to become a demi-powerhouse. The warden at that time was killed by the demiG.o.d. Hence, Thorso fought the fugitive in the prison alone for fifteen minutes until reinforcements arrived. Later on, when his body was examined, it was discovered that he did not have a single bone left, and all his internal organs had s.h.i.+fted. The only thing he had left was his heart. He had managed to hold on with his willpower until reinforcements arrived.

The moment Neptune saw his name while looking through the prison register, he wanted Gu Ding to give up.

Gu Ding was well aware of the horror of the man in front of him.

Thorso held out his large hand to Gu Ding which contained an intelligent wrist.w.a.tch. “You forgot something.”

Gu Ding looked at Thorso for a moment before walking over to him.

Just as Gu Ding was about to retrieve the wrist.w.a.tch from Thorso"s hand, the latter suddenly closed his fist. “Gu Ding, do you really think you can leave Jerr so easily?”

Gu Ding stopped in his tracks. Standing less than a meter away from Thorso, Gu Ding looked up at him. “You"ve got the wrong person.”

“Your disguise is so perfect that even after we traced it back to more than one hundred and seventy generations of ancestors and relatives, we still couldn"t find anything. Being able to hack data to such an extent, I"m having some doubts that you"re human. Nevertheless, even though data is perfect, you have a fatal flaw–you"re not nervous enough. Throughout this whole thing, you never once showed any feelings of uneasiness; even during the interrogation. The only reason why you weren"t nervous was that you knew the prison wouldn"t be able to catch you.” Thorso deduced.

“A lack of tension can also be the result of pathological reasons, such as a lack of adrenaline or mental illnesses that block such emotions. Maybe you"re like me, you were born with great psychological quality. Therefore, you don"t get nervous very easily. Isn"t it rather presumptuous of you to infer my ident.i.ty from that alone?” Gu Ding retorted.

“You"re from Dragon Soar Cosmic Nation. If you aren"t, you wouldn"t have visited Perrett. You grew up hearing stories about Perrett. The only place that tells stories about Interstellar Pirates is a tavern, just like Rose tavern, where you grew up in. Not to mention, you appeared at about the same time Gu Ding arrived on this planet. Furthermore, when Perrett saw you, he called out that you were Gu Ding. Are you going to tell me that it was all just a coincidence?”

“Although Dragon Soar Cosmic Nation is not as big as Faye Cosmic Nation, it"s at the very least a Cosmic Nation with a population of over one hundred trillion people. No one has ever counted the number of taverns, but surely, there are too many to count. Is my time of arrival a coincidence? I"m not the only one visiting Jerr today, am I? I saw more than three hundred people on my cruise s.h.i.+p alone. As for your fat, ugly colleague, he"s clearly having a nervous breakdown. It"s possible that he would"ve called anyone Gu Ding,” Gu Ding refuted all of Thorso"s arguments.

“No matter how much you deny it, it won"t change the fact that you are Gu Ding.” Thorso was still certain of Gu Ding"s ident.i.ty.

“If you"re so sure, come and get me.” Gu Ding spread out his hands.

“I"d love to, but I can"t.” Thorso shook his head at Gu Ding"s words. “If you"ve been to a military academy, you know very well that a prison functions differently from the Army. A prison functions to hold and manage those sentenced to imprisonment by the federal court. I am the manager of this prison, and my powers do not extend beyond that. In short, I can"t attack someone who hasn"t been sentenced to prison by the federal court. When Federation Law was written, it defined the roles of each department. I respect Federation Law, so I will not trespa.s.s beyond my authority.”

“In that case, give me back my wrist.w.a.tch. I"m in a hurry.” Gu Ding held out his hand.

“You can"t escape.” Thorso chose to open his fist and let Gu Ding take the wrist.w.a.tch from his hand and walk past him.

“Arresting you may be outside my remit, but it"s within the Army"s remit,” Thorso said and dialed a number. “Woodred, this is Thorso. I"ve found Gu Ding. He"s walking out of our prison gates alone. Also, he"s disguised as someone else. I"ll send you a photo. He could disguise himself as someone else, so my advice would be to lock down the port.”

Gu Ding, who had just reached the door, paused for a moment before lightly saying a word, “Unlock!”

At once, the sirens of the prison began to blare. All the prisoners" chains in Leoben Prison were instantly unlocked, and the doors of each cell were opened.

Thorso, who witnessed what happened, turned to look at Gu Ding coldly. “Now, you"ve really succeeded in provoking me.”

“You provoked me first!” Gu Ding glanced at Thorso over his shoulder before pus.h.i.+ng the door open with his left hand. He darted out.

All of a sudden, a silver chain shot out of the prison gates as it was headed toward Gu Ding.

Gu Ding knew that the attack had come from Thorso and immediately ducked. He had seen Bart"s attacks before and knew that chained weapons were very troublesome to deal with once one was entangled in them. Furthermore, the one attacking him this time was a Peak Rank-13 powerhouse that had combat effectiveness comparable to a demiG.o.d.

However, Gu Ding soon discovered that no matter how he fled, it was in vain. The chain seemed to have eyes of its own as it matched his speed without any trouble.

Gu Ding"s tried his best and activated Ultimate Arts Level 10. He performed eight consecutive Silent Steps; slightly changing his direction with each of them. Even so, the chain still managed to wrap itself around his left ankle.

The moment Gu Ding realized that the chain had wrapped itself around his ankles, he knew that things were bad. A force immediately came from the other end of the chain as it pulled his body back. His emaciated body struck hard against the prison gates, and he fell into the prison corridor with it.

Gu Ding slowly got up while wiping away the blood that was spilling from his mouth with the back of his hand. His eyes rested coldly on Thorso who was nearby. “Is this what you call respect for the Federation Law and not trespa.s.sing beyond your authority?” Gu Ding asked with a hint of sarcasm.

“Before this, you were just an ordinary visitor. Even though I knew your true ident.i.ty, I didn"t attack you. However, you just launched a serious attack on our prison system, causing many prisoners to escape from custody. Whether or not those prisoners escape, your behavior falls under the category of a prison break. Such a crime falls within the purview of my authority,” Thorso explained. “You can rest a.s.sured that once I catch you, I won"t throw you straight into prison. I"ll turn you over to the Army, and you"ll be tried in federal court. Once the trial is over, I will apply for your transfer to Leoben Prison.”

“You mean you"ll have me for sure?” Gu Ding was aware that his opponent this time was unusually strong. Nevertheless, he was not a man who made compromises so easily. Hence, Gu Ding decided to give it his all.

“I covered the chain with my Righteous Force. Once entangled by it, it"s impossible for you to break free…” As Thorso spoke, he was surprised to see the chain around Gu Ding"s ankles beginning to loosen. It was Neptune"s unlock function taking effect.

Thorso was stunned by this scene. Nevertheless, the moment he came to his senses, he guessed that Gu Ding had a special ability to break free.

Gu Ding knew that it would not be easy for him to escape. Although Neptune could unlock the chains, Gu Ding could not catch up with Thorso"s speed. Even if he activated Ultimate Arts Level 11, he would only have combat effectiveness and speed close to a Rank-12 gene body. Not to mention, Thorso was a real Peak Rank-13 powerhouse. Gu Ding"s only chance was to wait until the prisoners with high bounties broke free and arrived. Then, he would have a chance to slip away when those prisoners distracted the warden.

Thorso was different from the Army, who, whenever they encountered Gu Ding, would attack him regardless of life or death. Thorso was different in the sense that he was not going to kill him. The justice of the law was more important to him than anything else. He wanted to catch Gu Ding so that he could take him to federal court.

Gu Ding was also well aware of Thorso ideas. Since he could not escape by himself, he simply attacked. Gu Ding activated Ultimate Arts Level 10 as well as Rage Attack at the same time and charged at Thorso.

“Oh, it"s so busy here…” Someone"s voice was suddenly heard from a distance and interrupted their fight.