Dormitory 2708, Rose District, Federal Military Academy.
It had been a month and a half since the start of the semester, yet Bed No. 5 in Dorm 2708 remained empty, that bed had once belonged to Jiang Yue.
Military academies have their own strict rules, and the school tried to ensure that every dormitory was fully occupied to avoid wasting resources.
Instructor Fu Yan mentioned that their dorm had a bed vacant for too long. Since Jiang Yue had already been expelled, they wanted to transfer a student into that dorm.
All the residents of the dorm were Alphas—alert, competitive beings—and it took a long time to build trust among them. Any new Alpha entering the dorm would inevitably face indifference and exclusion.
Everyone was well aware of this, but the people in Dorm 2708 had extraordinary backgrounds. No one knew how many students were eager to get into this dorm and establish connections with them.
Xiang Sui represented powerful military connections; Bai Wang and Jiang Sen represented strong ties in the business world; Xi Boyu’s background was mysterious, but those with keen instincts sensed a political influence about him.
Befriend these five in Dorm 2708 meant gaining access to connections across the military, political, and business spheres. Many cadets quickly realized this and, one by one, jostled eagerly to get into Dorm 2708.
The people in Dorm 2708 understood the intentions of others better than anyone. Born to be the center of attention, they were constantly surrounded by those seeking something from them, so genuine friendships were rare, most relationships were just for show.
Becoming close friends with Jiang Yue was purely accidental. It was rare for them to find someone so genuine, someone who had no ulterior motives. Strangely enough, despite being a highly capable Alpha, Jiang Yue had little ambition or desire for personal gain.
Over time, her roommates came to see her as extremely lazy, lazy when it came to managing social relationships. If others didn’t make the first move to approach her, she absolutely wouldn’t approach them.
She was also fiercely proud. Even when she was so broke that she had to eat the sticky “love meal” in the cafeteria, she refused to borrow money from her roommates, even though the amount was trivial to them.
Moreover, Jiang Yue’s combat abilities were off the charts. Though her temperament could be a bit fierce at times, she was generally quite gentle. Having such a strong friend was incredibly satisfying.
Instructor Fu Yan had consulted the five roommates, but after receiving their strong objections, no new student was transferred into the dorm.
A thin layer of dust had already settled on Jiang Yue’s study desk. Xi Boyu took a small handheld vacuum and cleaned it all up.
The vacuum whirred as Jiang Sen pushed open the dorm door and walked in. He carried a bag of oranges and stood in front of Jiang Yue’s bed, his tone tinged with melancholy: “Since Jiang Yue left, the dorm feels emptier than before.”
Xi Boyu turned off the vacuum and said softly, “She’ll come back.”
“How could she come back? Her psychic body was destroyed, she has a criminal record, and she won’t pass the political review. Even if everything settles and we try to get her back, she can only live as an ordinary person.”
Jiang Sen sighed. “Falling from being a genius to living an ordinary life… spending her whole life in mediocrity. Do you think someone like Jiang Yue would accept that?”
Xi Boyu paused, staring for a long moment before finally saying, “I can help her reinvent herself into a star admired by all. She won’t need immense combat power, nor extraordinary mental strength, and yet people will still flock around her, she’ll always stand at the very top.”
Jiang Sen rubbed his forehead, feeling exasperated. “Come on, you want someone like her to become a performer who just entertains others? Plaster colorful chicken feathers on the tail of an eagle for people to gawk at, do you really think she would accept that?”
Xi Boyu was silent for a while, and after a moment, he finally said to Jiang Sen, “You’ve stayed at the top for too long; you’ve never experienced what it’s like to be at the bottom.”
Jiang Sen didn’t reply. He looked at the stack of books on Jiang Yue’s desk, the same ones they had organized as review material last semester.
Beneath the papers was another pile of books, each tagged with small silvery-gold labels that read: To Read.
“The books she borrowed are due. I’ll return them,” Jiang Sen said.
Xi Boyu glanced at the Consciousness Projection book on the desk and replied, “Leave it here. I’ve already extended the borrowing period.”
Seeing his forlorn expression, Jiang Sen tried to comfort him. “Sigh, Jiang Yue isn’t the delicate type. She grew up in the slums and has long adapted to the law of the jungle. She’s nothing like us, pampered people.”
“Besides,” he continued, “I’ve already arranged things in advance. She’ll be placed in the East District prison. You know, the East District doesn’t make inmates mine. Even though her psychic body is gone, her combat abilities remain intact. She won’t be easily bullied, maybe she could even become a leader in there for a while.”
During the conversation, Bai Wang, Xiang Sui, and Kuri pushed open the dorm door and walked in. Xiang Sui took off his jacket, cursing as he spoke. “Damn it, we’re only freshmen, and the course load is already this insane! I haven’t even finished the hours in the holo-simulation chamber yet. That virtual fighter nearly beat me until my guts almost spilled out. If Jiang Yue were here, who knows how much she’d be sighing over this.”
A few days ago, he had taken a leave of absence and missed six hours of combat practice in the holochamber.
Mentioning Jiang Yue, Bai Wang couldn’t help but sigh. “I hope Jiang Yue’s doing okay on Garbage Planet. With her combat abilities, no one in the East District can bully her. I’ve put a lot of money on her account, things in the prison are a bit expensive, but she can eat well for years without a problem.”
He glanced at Jiang Sen. “Cash is always useful. And thanks to you, Jiang Sen, for using your connections. In a chaotic place like Garbage Planet, having no money really doesn’t work.”
Jiang Sen said, “Our family used to do business with the Osenburgs. Back then the Federation hadn’t yet classified white crystal as contraband, we used to import it from Osenburg in large quantities as ornamental pieces.”
Kuri piped up, “The Osenburgs control half of the white‑crystal mine. That stuff can be used as jewelry and as medicine, but they say it has powerful side effects.”
He tossed his red hair, then felt his wrist. “I once had a mechanical watch set with a white crystal. After white crystal was banned, the inspectors confiscated that watch, though it probably still circulates on the black market.”
Bai Wang added, “White crystal’s very popular among mercenaries. It’s the kind of thing that can really kill, turn people into nothing but flesh and bone.”
Xi Boyu shook his head. “White crystal shouldn’t be used to prolong life except in absolute necessity. It’s extremely dangerous, and the consequences are unimaginable.”
East District Prison, Garbage Planet, 1 a.m.
The water room was completely silent, and Jiang Yue could hear her own rapid breathing clearly.
“So this thing didn’t completely die? What do you mean by that?”
Jiang Yue looked at Zhang San, her eyes full of caution, and continued, “Why are you telling me this? I don’t think our relationship is close enough for you to share such things. Besides, what do any of these things have to do with my body?”
Zhang San said, “After we ingest white crystal, our bodies all show these symptoms. But you don’t show any abnormality at all, so I suspect your body may have undergone a second modification.”
Jiang Yue replied, “I was once parasitized by Zerg species. Some people consider me a perfect host.”
Zhang San chuckled. “Apologies, if I weren’t a perfect host myself, I might actually believe what you’re saying.”
Jiang Yue’s eyes flickered as she asked him, “If you’re so capable, why were you exiled to Garbage Planet?”
Zhang San sneered, “So you’re not capable? Then why were you exiled to Garbage Planet too?”
“Think about it, none of the criminals here survive for long. If you’re still alive in two years, what will the others think? There’s no order here on Garbage Planet. If you’re not careful, someone might drag you to a lab and slice you up for experiments.”
Jiang Yue glanced at the door of the water room and said, “I don’t have time to play games with you. Get straight to the point, my patience is very limited.”
Zhang San paused for a moment, then leaned closer to Jiang Yue and said slowly, “Have you considered escaping from prison?”
“Escaping?”
“Are you crazy? This place is a fortress, you think you can just dig a hole and crawl out?”
Zhang San said, “People die here every day. Criminals’ bodies are dumped at the mass grave outside the prison. We can feign death and slip onto the trucks that haul the corpses, that’s our only chance to get out.”
Jiang Yue frowned. “A mass grave? Piling up bodies and leaving them , aren’t they afraid of an outbreak?”
Zhang San gave a short laugh. “You don’t get it, do you? Those people on Garbage Planet would love to suck your marrow dry, why wouldn’t they make use of corpses?”
Jiang Yue asked, puzzled, “What could they possibly do with the bodies?”
Zhang San’s expression was mocking. “You’ve used blastozyme on Beta Star, right? That stuff is in such high demand, have you ever wondered where the black market gets all those Blue-Eyed Millipede eggs?”
Jiang Yue understood. Garbage Planet didn’t even spare the dead, they actually used corpses to hatch the eggs of Blue-Eyed Millipedes.
“Nearly 50% of the black market’s millipede eggs come from Garbage Planet.”
A swarm of Blue-Eyed Millipede laying eggs on countless corpses, just imagining the scene made Jiang Yue nauseated. She stared at Zhang San as if he were insane. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Even if you’re a perfect host and can digest Blue-Eyed Millipede eggs, the human body has limits. One or two, maybe, but more than that? How do you expect anyone to withstand it?”
She was utterly speechless. “Even if you can withstand it, how do you expect to survive under the legs of a Blue-Eyed Millipede? Those things can grow up to fifty meters long! Don’t tell me you plan to fight it one-on-one.”
Zhang San’s expression turned manic. “To ensure the eggs hatch, the Blue-Eyed Millipede spares the people it injects with eggs. We might actually be able to escape!”
Jiang Yue said, “Why should I trust you? Risk my life with you?”
Zhang San grew even more agitated. “Do you want to trust the First Prison? You have no idea what it means to have a body that absorbs white crystal with zero side effects!”
“Do you know how many high-ranking officials have ingested white crystal to prolong their lives? Do you know how much effort they spend trying to slow the progression of their illnesses?”
“If anyone discovers your anomaly, you can’t even imagine how many people would go insane over it. I guarantee that one day you’ll end up on their dissection table. Your body will be cut into countless pieces, turned into precious specimens. Only your bones will remain, injected with all sorts of drugs for medical research, spending your entire life on the table, never seeing the light of day.”
Damn!
Jiang Yue muttered a curse in her mind.
Seeing her waver slightly, Zhang San began to lay out his plan in detail. “We can fake our deaths. As long as we get out of this prison, anything is possible.”
Jiang Yue thought for a moment before saying, “How are we supposed to fake our deaths? In this place, we can’t use chemical or physical methods; what, are we supposed to actually die?”
Zhang San wagged a finger at her. “What do you think this place is?”
“This is the First Prison, not a nursing home. You don’t really believe they’ll let you lie safely in your cell until the day you die, do you?”
“When you can no longer work, when you’ve completely lost your ability to labor, you’re already a dead man. They’ll toss you onto the corpse transport truck like a slab of dried meat. No one cares whether you’re actually dead or alive.”
“So we don’t need to rack our brains figuring out how to fake death. We just need to look like we’re on the verge of dying.”
Jiang Yue glanced at the gaunt, hollow‑cheeked Zhang San and said dryly, “Looking half-dead should be pretty easy for you. What about me?”
Though she was skinny and pale now, she still didn’t look the least bit close to dying.
Zhang San rubbed his chin and said, “You’re not some divine body. Just keep absorbing white crystal until your skin starts to crack. Don’t tell me you can keep taking in that stuff endlessly without any side effects.”
Sorry , there really were no side effects.
Because this body consumed energy at an incredible rate, the amount of white crystal Jiang Yue absorbed was easily hundreds of times greater than the others.
And as everyone knows, the fattest pig is always the one slaughtered at New Year.
If she hadn’t been deliberately restraining herself, avoiding drawing attention by keeping her body from looking too strong and healthy, she could have drained the entire vein of white crystal dry.
Seeing the hesitation on Jiang Yue’s face, Zhang San pressed on, “Don’t hesitate, time’s not on our side. Garbage Planet has too many disgusting places, and this is only the beginning. If you really don’t want to do it my way, then lose weight fast. Stop absorbing white crystal energy. When you’re nothing but skin and bones, barely breathing, no one will suspect a thing.”
That plan actually sounded feasible.
Although she trusted her dormmates would do everything they could to get her out of prison, time was running short. If anyone discovered her abnormal condition before that happened, she really would die in there.
So, Jiang Yue began a grueling starvation regimen.
She stopped absorbing white crystal energy through her eyes, and within just a week, she had grown alarmingly thin.
Her appearance was terrifying, nothing more than a walking skeleton.
No one suspected a thing. She and Zhang San lay motionless on their beds, while the other inmates, shaken by the sight, murmured in pity and dread, “It’s over for them, useless now! Who knows, maybe we’ll be next!”
The two of them remained still. Jiang Yue secretly sipped a bit of water midway to keep up her strength. On the second day of their “deaths,” two inmates, under orders from the prison guards, came to carry their bodies away.
Jiang Yue was hoisted onto the shoulders of an inmate and carried out of the prison building. Overhead, the sky was heavy with pale gray clouds, pressing down in thick, rolling masses. A swirl of chemically tinged wind swept past, and raindrops began to fall.
The inmate carrying Jiang Yue cursed at the damned weather and broke into a quick run.
He reached a deep blue cargo truck, its bed already filled with people; some dead, some barely clinging to life.
With a careless toss, he threw Jiang Yue into the truck like a sack of grain.
Jiang Yue landed in a daze with a loud thud, and Zhang San was thrown in right after her.
As the cargo truck started moving, the two exchanged deadpan glances before flipping over to shield themselves from the acidic rain falling from above.
Damn it! Not even in a million calculations did they expect acid rain today, what a disastrous start.
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Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152