Scott Harris furrowed his brows tightly as he swiped open the message and glanced at its contents:

　　My sharp-tongued executive actually didn’t curse back—truly surprising.

　　Dear, not getting your reply, I’m getting a bit bored.

　　——Eric Bennett-Young

　　Scott Harris: "..." What kind of lunatic waits 27 years just to say, "Why didn’t you reply to me"?!

　　But that’s not even the worst part—the real problem is... Eric Bennett-Young is starting to feel bored.

　　Every time Eric Bennett-Young gets bored, a bunch of officials in the Security Tower want to slit their throats and hang themselves.

Chapter 3: Uninvited Guest

　　Scott Harris's face darkened, but he quickly regained his composure. He suddenly smiled and typed a line on the communicator: If you’re really bored, I suggest you play with yourself for a while, or with the controller still attached to your arm.

　　That was a pretty provocative thing to say.

　　As everyone knows, the space prison is full of humanoid walking missiles—none of them are easy to control.

　　Even though the entire prison system is virtually airtight, as solid as a fortress, and exiled far beyond the star system, still, no one can guarantee those missiles won’t find a chance to break out.

　　So, upon incarceration, each of them had a controller installed on their arm.

　　Taking off the controller is a hundred times harder than breaking out of the space prison.

　　But just as Scott Harris finished typing this cutting remark and was about to send it, the communicator’s screen suddenly flickered and went completely black.

　　Out of power!

　　The message hadn’t even been sent, and this useless piece of junk just had to die at the critical moment!

　　Scott Harris: "..."

　　He could still manage a smile a moment ago, but now he really couldn’t.

　　Mason had no idea why he suddenly stopped, and stared blankly as Scott Harris irritably tugged at his shirt collar, then abruptly quickened his pace.

　　He was tall and long-legged, and aside from the cold sweat beading on his forehead, showed almost no signs of oxygen deprivation. In just a few strides, he left the wobbly-legged Mason and Little Mason far behind.

　　"Hey?! You..." Mason panted, forcing himself to catch up, "Why did you suddenly get... get all anxious again?"

　　Scott Harris didn’t answer, only walked even faster.

　　If he hadn’t added, "Did you have your leg sawed off?" Mason would have suspected Scott Harris was trying to ditch them altogether.

　　The last 50 meters really wasn’t far. With just his own effort, Scott Harris doubled the speed of the whole three-person team. When they stood in front of the villa’s front gate, there were still a full 22 minutes left.

　　But Mason was half dead.

　　Tongue lolling, he slid down the wall, half alive, glaring at the door lock with rooster-fighting eyes, and said, "God, I just remembered—even if we’re here, it’s useless. This door... we can’t open it, it needs an iris scan. A long time ago I... never mind, point is, we need that officer’s iris."

　　Mason gave Scott Harris a once-over, "You look so young—are you a guard here? Doesn’t seem like it. Secretary? Eh, whatever, anyway, we’ll probably have to make another run and drag your officer out of the cryo capsule—"

　　Before he could finish the word "out," Scott Harris was already standing expressionlessly in front of the scanner, pressing the switch.

　　Fortunately, as expected, the villa’s power system was still running for now. The scanner beeped, swept over Scott Harris's iris.

　　There was a click from inside the gate, and it slowly opened.

　　Mason: "What the...?"

　　"If you want to stand here until you die, I have no objection, but please, don’t block the door and waste power." Scott Harris strode straight down the path into the yard.

　　Mason stood there, mouth agape, then reflexively stepped aside, dragging Little Mason to hurry after him.

　　The gate automatically closed behind them, locking with an electronic sound, and then all was quiet.

　　But the yard itself wasn’t exactly quiet. There was a constant, low humming sound—not annoying, but never stopping.

　　The sound came from a metal cylinder in the corner.

　　The cylinder was about as tall as a person, with a ring of circular holes at the top emitting a glowing blue light. Countless fine metal needles stuck out from the holes, bristling like a hedgehog.

　　It looked almost comical, yet it could be called the greatest invention in the planet’s thousand-year history.

　　Though only a simple metal pillar was visible above ground, below it was a complexly designed, massive material reservoir. In the midst of landslides and earthquakes, it could emit a protective field, wrapping everything within its range.

　　It was thanks to this device that the planet wasn’t completely destroyed in the sudden explosion, but instead broke into countless fragments, scattering into space under the immense impact—just like this black pine forest and the villa, now wanderers in the vast sea of stars.

　　Who knows when it will end.

　　"That’s the Dragon Pillar?" Mason looked at the metal pillar with awe and wonder. "I’ve never seen it activated before..."

　　Maybe the glowing blue light was too enticing, because as he spoke, he couldn’t help but reach out, subconsciously moving toward it.