Chapter 002: The Violent Offender

New Phoenix City is located in the coastal area of Longzhou, a well-known tourist city in the Federation.

 

Although the Federation claims to have entered the interstellar era, there is only one habitable planet. Other planets within reach are all within the Blue Star system, including the front-line battlefields and a few mining planets collectively known as the Perplexing Exoplanets.

 

Due to its large population, the Blue Star has no shortage of tourists, and people living here can enjoy a high level of happiness.

 

But Ji Xinghe was not happy at all. He had become a true loner.

 

"Sir, why are you here?"

Inside the detention center in New Phoenix City, Ji Xinghe heard the question from the person next to him, but he didn't want to answer or look at anyone else. He sat there silently like a statue.

 

In his hazy gaze, the image of his son, Ji Chenxing, emerged briefly, only to be replaced by a red blur—a head full of red hair.

 

A young man with a red explosion of hair appeared in front of Ji Xinghe, full of arrogance.

 

"Hey, old man, I called you 'sir,' and you're really acting like one. Did you come here to scam or steal something? Let me tell you, I got in here by street racing. After disabling the autopilot program, it only took me thirteen minutes to complete the New Phoenix City ring road. People in the streets call me the Thirteen of New Phoenix. Not the thirteenth in rank, but thirteen minutes flat."

 

The phenomenon of hierarchy in prison had not disappeared with the advent of the Federation era, nor had the colorful-haired youths who liked to dye their hair, nor the people who carried the weight and protected the peace of the Blue Star with their lives.

 

Ji Xinghe couldn't understand. Was his son's sacrifice to protect people like this? A young man who indulged in street racing and disabled the autopilot program on cars, playing with manual driving, which had been obsolete for decades, risking accidents?

 

Artificial intelligence programs could calculate the routes of billions of vehicles, but they couldn't calculate the complexities of human hearts.

 

Before, Ji Xinghe might have said a few words, but now he didn't want to say anything. Whether this scum would go to jail for illegal street racing, whether he would get into an accident and die, whether he would kill innocent people—none of it mattered anymore.

 

Nothing mattered. The only important thing he couldn't do anymore.

 

"Hey, old man, can you at least make a sound? Look at me, say something..."

 

New Phoenix's Thirteen was carefree, and being alone in a two-person cell was too boring. Ji Xinghe's indifferent expression and gaze, which had remained silent the whole time, finally made Thirteen feel embarrassed.

 

He took a step forward, preparing to push. Thirteen didn't want to use much force, afraid of causing serious harm to the old man, but as his right hand reached out to touch Ji Xinghe's shoulder, he felt like his hand was caught in a vice.

 

Then a tremendous force struck, and a shadow covered his vision—the sudden rise of Ji Xinghe.

 

Only then did Thirteen realize that this old man was really tall. His height of 1.9 meters wasn't obvious when he was sitting, perhaps because he seemed spiritless and hunched over, and he hadn't had a proper meal in seven or eight days, so he looked emaciated.

 

"Hey..."

 

"I'm sorry..."

 

Two consecutive apologies, Thirteen wanted to apologize without hesitation, but it was too late. A strange spirit suddenly burst from Ji Xinghe, like a starved beast suddenly finding prey.

 

Thirteen felt the force from his right hand was irresistible. It was just Ji Xinghe's left hand, and Thirteen's right elbow obediently rested on Ji Xinghe's shoulder. A sharp pain surged in his chest as he collided with Ji Xinghe's body, and then his feet left the ground uncontrollably.

 

His vision flipped.

 

With a thud, Thirteen ended up hanging on the wall of the cell, his head hitting the chair Ji Xinghe had just been sitting on, like a painting hung upside down.

 

Whether he looked like a painting or not, Thirteen didn't know. All he knew was that he had been thrown by an old man, and he felt like he was about to die. His right arm and wrist hurt badly, his chest hurt, his back hurt, and his head hurt from hitting the chair.

 

Was he about to die, like when he was in a car accident?

 

"Help, help, the old man is hitting people, he's going to kill someone."

 

As Thirteen, who had fallen from the wall, curled up and shouted, the alarm in the cell had already sounded. The surveillance cameras with motion detection had detected the situation in the cell, and when the detention center personnel rushed in, they saw Ji Xinghe, tall and expressionless, standing in the center of the cell, while Thirteen remained curled up in the corner on the chair.

 

Seeing someone coming, Thirteen, as if finding support, jumped up excitedly.

 

"He hit me, this old man hit me, he's a violent offender, send him to prison, this place isn't suitable for him. He..."

 

Thirteen's hysterical voice suddenly stopped, as if a duck with its neck pinched, because he saw Ji Xinghe's indifferent gaze.

 

The sound of the iron door of the cell opening rang out, and the personnel from the detention center rushed in cautiously, looking at Ji Xinghe.

 

"Hands up, then hands on your head, squat down against the wall."

 

Ji Xinghe took a deep breath to calm his emotions, then obediently followed the instructions.

 

Thirteen, seeing this scene, once again became arrogant, but as he tried to stand up, he was restrained by the detention center personnel.

 

"And you, stay down honestly."

 

"Bro, I got beaten up, this old man hit me."

 

"You're 19, and he's 65. He hit you?"

 

"So what if he's 65? Are you looking down on 65-year-old men? This old man can beat the four of you, believe it or not."

 

"Shut up."

 

Thirteen didn't want to shut up. To prove what he had just said, he directly asked Ji Xinghe.

 

"Old man, can you really fight four of them alone?"

 

Ji Xinghe didn't want to respond, but he thought that this scene might be seen by some people, increasing his hope of completing the only important thing for him, so he spoke up.

 

"Not just four, I can handle ten."

 

"See, I told you he can really fight. He's 65 and still very strong."

 

Thirteen, excited, stood up again but was pressed down by the detention center personnel.

 

"Also, you stay down honestly."

 

"Bro, I got beaten up by this old man. He's a violent offender. Give him a sentence, officer, he's a danger to society."

 

Thirteen, who recklessly street raced, for the first time felt that being a danger to society was not good, and deserved a sentence.