Chapter 435: Father (2)
Agolo Prison City was an enormous fortress made of steel located in the Agolo Alliance Garrison Planet, one of the seven planets under the New Phylen Alliance. It was used to imprison political criminals, war criminals, treason criminals, and other criminals from the members of the alliance. Sylvia’s father, Langley, was imprisoned here.
The New Phylen Alliance was a small civilization alliance in the Rain Star System of the Colton Star Cluster in the Shattered Star Ring. In the sea of planets, there were countless political alliances like this. Usually, a civilization alliance only existed within a certain area. Most of them were formed when one civilization in the area decided to develop peacefully, hence forming an alliance.
The New Phylen Alliance had eight members, all small galactic civilizations in between planet level and star system level. These civilizations had once been nations on the same planet called Phylen. After Planet Phylen’s technology reached a level that allowed them to enter space, these nations could not come to an agreement. Since there were disputes, they decided to split up peacefully. There were so many resources in the universe waiting to be discovered, so there was no need to be inflexible. Therefore, the strongest nation stayed on their mother planet, and the other nations took migration spaceships and migrated to other planets. In the end, they all developed into different civilizations.
In terms of fundamentals, these civilizations all had the same roots. Their technology and culture were very similar. Hence, after many years of separation, they came together once again, forming the New Phylen Alliance. This was the strongest force in the Rain Star System.
In Han Xiao’s previous life, there were discussions about implementing a similar system on Earth. Since Earth could not be united, maybe this was a good idea. Of course, this was very idealistic, and problems regarding limited resources were always complicated. Furthermore, it was still unknown whether Earth could even develop to a point where they could enter outer space. Fortunately, the Great Mechanic Han did not have to care about this problem anymore.
Langley had originally been a high ranked army officer of a nation, almost a warlock that had a land of his own. His life was good, and he was paid handsomely too. However, one day, he suddenly used his influence to provoke the army, recruiting quite a number of people in secret and gathering a group of rebels, looking like they wanted to form a nation on their own. He called it an uprising, but in reality, they were doing immoral things. They built a very firm stronghold and fought with their old superiors for many years. In the end, they were demolished by a group of galactic mercenaries who fell from the sky and penetrated straight into their headquarters. The Black Star Mercenary Group was one of these mercenaries that accepted the hiring invitation from Purple Gold Army. There was a total of seven mercenary groups that worked together to complete this mission.
This time, Han Xiao was piloting Rainbow Conch spaceship and arrived at New Phylen Alliance’s territory. He had sent a request earlier, and the alliance always welcomed mercenaries who had worked with them before. Thus, they agreed to his request of questioning the prisoner.
The spaceship landed on the pier of Agolo Alliance Garrison Planet, took the land transport, and headed toward Prison City. Han Xiao only brought a few people along for this trip—Aroshia, the tied-up Sylvia, and a few players including Bun-Hit-Dog. The rest were waiting on the spaceship. This trip was just to let Sylvia see her father, so there was no need to bring a lot of people.
“Wh—why are you doing this?”
In the stably moving Hovering Battle Vehicle, Sylvia was feeling complicated. A few days ago, when she failed the assassination, she had thought that she was going to die for sure. But to her disbelief, not only did Han Xiao not kill her, he even brought her to see her father. In the rare times that she was awake along the journey, she had been questioning if this was a dream. Without approval from the alliance, she would never be able to enter the heavily guarded Agolo Prison City. She had thought that she would never see her father again. Sylvia could not understand why Han Xiao was helping her.
“To let you know that your hatred is meaningless and how unworthy it is for you to give your life for him. Also, to let your father know about your death. I really want to see his expression when he realizes that his lies killed his own daughter. Killing people and destroying their spirit is my favorite.”
Han Xiao shrugged. He could not be bothered with Sylvia’s furious expression and opened up the interface.
After he let Sylvia live, a new mission [Lies] was triggered. Its requirement was to let Sylvia know the so-called ‘truth’. The reward was not too bad, 540,000 experience. There was no need to search for the truth—he just had to ask her father.
In Sylvia’s character background in Han Xiao’s previous life, her father was blasted into pieces by the mercenaries, but now, he had been captured alive by Han Xiao. That hiring mission had given a greater reward for capturing him alive, so he had let Langley live, which made things much easier now.
Agolo Prison City was enormous and magnificent. There was a lot of guards, and many snipers were positioned at high locations. The searchlight illuminated the night and made it look like the day. They entered the prison successfully, and a warden came to welcome them.
“Black Star, I’ve heard a lot about you.” This warden had a beard and was very straight forward. He shook Han Xiao’s hand firmly and laughed passionately. “My friend Barny serves in the 37th Field Army. He took part in the Langley Stronghold Eradication Operation and fought alongside the mercenaries. He witnessed how powerful you are and always mentions you to me. I’m stuck in this silent Prison City every day, and finally, I’m meeting someone as renowned as you.”
“You’re too kind.” Han Xiao maintained a slight smile and chatted casually as they followed the warden forward.
Very soon, they stopped before the metal gate of a single-person cell.
The distance was only one door away; Sylvia was very excited and almost wanted to immediately rush in to see her father. However, Han Xiao grabbed her shoulder, making her unable to move. “Mr. Warden, I want to see Langley alone first.”
“No problem.” The warden nodded.
“What do you want to do with my father‽”
Sylvia was like an angry kitten with flames in her eyes. She bit down with all her might on Han Xiao’s hand, but not only was she unable to hurt Han Xiao, she was giddy from the shock deflected by Han Xiao’s arm. A ‘-13’ deflected damage appeared above her head, while the word ‘Immune’ appeared above Han Xiao.
“What do I want to do to him? That’s a good question. I don’t want him to look so good when he sees you, best to have lost an eyeball or an ear.”
Han Xiao curled his lips and walked into the cell alone. The metal gate closed after him and blocked Sylvia’s furious screams.
The light in the room was very dim. The cell was divided into two areas by a cage heated by electricity, and inside the cage was the actual cell. Langley leaned on the black wall covered in moss and dirt. There was stubble all over his face, and his eyes had no focus. He was much older and more decrepit than before.
When Langley heard a sound, he thought it was the guard, so he turned and looked over subconsciously, but what he saw was his nightmare that he could never forget. His expression became terrified, and he jumped up instantly. “It’s you! Why are you here‽”
“You’re very afraid of me?” Han Xiao walked to the cage with an expressionless face. “Shouldn’t you thank me? If it was the other mercenaries that got to you, they wouldn’t even have wasted their energy to pick up your corpse. Do you think you would be standing here with your full body like you are right now?”
Although there was a cage between them, Langley did not feel safe at all. He moved back hastily, and his back bumped into the wall. He swallowed his saliva anxiously, and the pain in his knees was becoming stronger. He could still vividly remember what happened—a group of armored mercenaries fell from the sky, killed his army like cutting through vegetables, and advanced into the heart of his stronghold. The mercenary that stood before him now waved his hands and summoned around a hundred cannons in an instant. At least a thousand people were killed by this person alone. He slaughtered his way through, marched up to him, and fired two bullets through his knees—that pain was almost suffocating.
Langley still had to depend on the nerves implanted into his knees to stand up.
“Cut the nonsense, I’m here for you,” Han Xiao said coldly. “Your daughter Sylvia. I don’t know what lies you told her, but she believed whatever bullsh*t you said and feels that you’re a great man and a liberator of the people. She wanted to avenge you and tried to assassinate me…”
“What!”
Langley face changed instantly. He pounced at the railings and grabbed onto the heated cage, not caring about the high temperature burning through his hands and the burnt smell that came out of it. His face could almost touch Han Xiao’s face, filled with anxiety and rage.
“Wha—what did you do to her‽”
“What else?” Han Xiao let out a sigh and said, “Of course I killed her. I shot her from below her jaw through his head, opening a hole at the back of her head. Her brain juice and blood splashed all over the wall. One of my subordinates thought she’s quite pretty, so he’s planning to skin her face and make it into a specimen for display.”
Langley almost fainted. His daughter was his only motivation for staying alive. His expression became twisted, as rage, regret, heartache, desperation, and hatred flashed past one after another. He growled like a beast approaching its death, and even his fear of Han Xiao was completely forgotten.
“I will kill you! I will definitely kill you!!!”
Han Xiao looked at the furious Langley calmly, and when his throat became hoarse from the screaming and could only stare at him while breathing heavily, Han Xiao said slowly, “Okay, enough jokes. Your daughter is outside the gate. I captured her. I brought her here just to see you.”
Langley froze and could not react to it. He felt extremely weak from the emotional rollercoaster. He collapsed onto the floor, pointed his trembling finger at Han Xiao, but could not speak a word.
Han Xiao squatted, looked Langley in the eye, and said, “You’re a smart person. Whether I kill your daughter or not depends on you.”
Langley’s expression changed many times. He lowered his head and kept silent.
“Speak, I don’t have the patience to wait for you to consider.” Han Xiao knocked the metal cage impatiently.
“I’m not a good person… but you’re eviler than me.” Langley’s eyes were filled with complicated emotions. He said with a hoarse voice, “I will do it. I will tell her everything about me. I was a high-level spy for another force from the start. I was controlled by someone else, and everything I did was to overturn the rules built by the New Phylen Alliance. I will tell her that I have been lying to her. I’m not who she thinks I am. I’m just a despicable traitor, an evil man who destroyed thousands of families for his own benefit. I will destroy the image she has for me and make her feel… completely disappointed… in me, her father…”
“You know what to do.” Han Xiao stood up.
Langley looked at Han Xiao and said, “This way, will you let my daughter go?”
Han Xiao did not bother to reply, he turned to walk toward the door and left him with one last reminder. “Anyway, if I do not like the result after the conversation, I will make what I said earlier a reality… This is the one and only chance I’m giving you.”
He opened the door and left the cell. He immediately saw Sylvia’s anxious face. She was staring at him with rage but could not control herself from glancing at the gap of the door.
“Go in, you have ten minutes.”
Han Xiao waved his hand and told Aroshia to let Sylvia go. Sylvia rushed into the cell and could not wait to see her father.
After closing the door, the warden turned on the surveillance footage and monitored Sylvia’s conversation with Langley. Sylvia’s change in her expression could be clearly seen.
She turned from anxious to stunned, then shocked, then there was an intense argument. They could even faintly hear Sylvia’s out of control howling through the thick metal door. In the end, tears gushed out from her eyes.
…
_____________________
[Lies] completed.
You have received 540,000 Experience.
_____________________
“It’s ten minutes.”
The warden opened the gate and brought Sylvia out.
She looked like she had lost her soul. Her eyes were out of focus, and there were still tear marks on her face. She lost all motivations and was like a walking corpse. Her energy from ten minutes ago was nowhere to be found. The strong belief that she had been holding onto had collapsed.
Only then did she know that the great image of her father in her heart was completely built from lies. She had been lied to for more than ten years. He was not a great man; everything he did was despicable, and he deserved every bit of suffering that he had now. Even without the mercenaries interfering, he would have been defeated by the army sooner or later. If not for Black Star, her father would not even have been alive.
Her world had collapsed. The warm and bright childhood images in her memories all felt different.
Everything was a lie!
She felt like her heart was being penetrated by a thousand bullets.
She could not even digest this information in a short time. Her vision started spinning, and all the sound became distant and faint like she was isolated from the world.
Plop.
Sylvia collapsed onto the ground and fainted.
Through the slowly closing gap of the door, Han Xiao looked at Langley for the last time.
This rebel leader looked like he was decades older, but his face was very calm. It even had a tint of… relief.
Han Xiao shook his head, grabbed Sylvia by her back collar, and placed this kid over his shoulder like a sack.
“Congratulations on growing up.”
