Chapter 41

【The news broadcast only mentioned heavy prisoners, but the intercepted message I got had a wanted order attached to it.】

【Image】

Ji Fu opened the image, and in the photo, Wei Lan had dark blue hair, a pale face, and eyes that looked cold and stern, unlike the youth she remembered.

Apart from that, the most striking thing was the highest-level wanted order issued by the Alliance. Because it was an internal order, it didn’t come with a reward, but its urgency was still the highest.

【The message was intercepted from several high-level individuals in the Huang family. The instructions stated that all resources should be mobilized to capture the person as soon as possible. There was no mention of how Wei Lan escaped or what the current situation is.】

After Qin Chu Yue sent out this message, she paused for a moment and then continued, 【So, apart from the wanted order, there is no additional information.】

【So, there is a possibility that this message is just a staged play orchestrated by the Alliance itself.】

The situation with the Li family has been going on for so long, and the Alliance has been unable to find the mastermind behind it, and they are also at a loss regarding the massacre. It’s not impossible for them to resort to desperate measures and use Wei Lan’s news to lure them out.

【But if this message is true, then Wei Lan’s situation is probably not good.】

They need to make a decision quickly.

Three years ago, after being imprisoned, everything they had was destroyed. This includes Ji Fu’s Yun Fang tools, the black mechas, everything Qin Chu Yue carried, and the mechas Ji Fu made for Wei Lan using Yun Fang.

After searching an empty space, the light brain was taken for dissection, which is why there has been a rapid development of unmanned drone mechs in recent years.

Essentially, the core technology originated from the light brain confiscated from Ji Fu.

But because of this, all three of them lost contact with each other.

She was kept in an ordinary cell because her danger level was not high, and after being rescued by Ji Fu, she naturally reunited.

The situation with Wei Lan was more complicated. If he escaped, he would also be unable to know their current situation, let alone contact them.

If he did escape, he would inevitably be injured, and they didn’t know to what extent.

They had to make a decision quickly.

Qin Chu Yue didn’t send any more messages to Ji Fu. She returned to the interface and checked the wanted notice again.

While Ji Fu was in training, she had always been at the Huang family, and with Ji Fu’s system in hand, it was very easy to infiltrate the internal network of the Huang family.

That’s how she was able to intercept the message so quickly.

She was still judging the authenticity of the message when the light brain rang, and it was a message from Ji Fu.

She said: “[Use the system of the slaughterhouse to release a message].”

She had been stationed at the Interstellar Academy for a long time, and everything about the slaughterhouse was Qin Chu Yue’s responsibility.

Qin Chu Yue hesitated and asked: “[What message?]”

Five minutes later, something was directly sent over.

At the same time, the person who received the news of Wei Lan’s escape was Fang Yanli.

Cheng Hao, who was following behind him, looked very grim. Looking at the internal news of the Alliance, he couldn’t believe it and said, “Wei Lan escaped?”

Three years ago, after the group from Yun Chi was captured and returned, Fang Yanli had to temporarily leave his post for recuperation due to serious injuries.

The Alliance took over three heavy criminals.

But after watching over them for three years, one inexplicably died and two escaped.

If the person standing in front of him wasn’t Fang Yanli, Cheng Hao would probably have already cursed out loud.

Did the people of the Alliance know how much effort it took to capture the group from Yun Chi?

The current status of Yun Chi was unknown, not to mention Wei Lan. Before Fang Yanli fell into a coma due to his serious injuries, he instructed them to monitor Wei Lan closely.

But because of the intervention of the Si family’s high-level members, who directly negotiated with the head of the Fang family, and with Fang Yanli absent, they couldn’t resist and had to hand over the monitoring rights of Wei Lan.

Unexpectedly, after the efforts of the Si family for so many years, they still couldn’t convince Wei Lan, and he managed to escape!

Cheng Hao felt extremely angry. When he looked up, he saw Fang Yanli staring coldly at the light brain, silent.

He was slightly stunned, not knowing what Fang Yanli meant by this. Just as he was about to ask, the door of the office was pushed open.

The highest-ranking core member who entered looked tense and said directly, “Executive, there’s movement at the slaughterhouse.”

After the incident with the Li family, the slaughterhouse had been diving for months, and it was unexpected that they would suddenly emerge today.

Cheng Hao’s heart jumped. He asked hurriedly, “What have they done now?”

The person who entered the room had a heavy expression. “The slaughterhouse… has publicly released the core medical technology of the Li family to everyone in the interstellar.”

As soon as these words came out, the entire office fell silent.

Li Zhihui died at the hands of a professional killer. Who hired the killer was still unknown.

After his death, it was unclear whether the other party used this matter to negotiate with the slaughterhouse for benefits.

The core technology of the Li family was also collected when the Alliance dealt with the other members of the Li family. However, after high-level discussions, it was not made public.

Nor did the slaughterhouse.

In the eyes of many people, it was tacitly assumed that the slaughterhouse would keep this to themselves.

After all, anyone with common sense could see the huge benefits behind this.

It could make the Li family one of the top four, or it could directly elevate any family.

But no one expected that the slaughterhouse would choose to make it public to everyone in the interstellar.

And…

No need to pay money, no need for a password.

The slaughterhouse directly hung this core technology openly on their website.

All interstellar citizens who could access the internet could download this core technology into their light brains and permanently store it.

The office remained silent for a long time, and even Cheng Hao was silent.

They all understood the value of this thing, and the clearer the value, the more shocking it was.

And the shock was not just for them, but for every interstellar person who received the news.

On the Star Network, the forums of the three major military academies, and all platforms where voices could be heard, people were amazed by this event.

Since entering the Interstellar Academy, Zhou Lu Hai opened the school forum for the first time.

Because the three major military academies formed their own local area networks, and the students were in the most passionate stage of their lives, the school forum was more straightforward than outsiders.

In the rapidly scrolling messages, he saw a sentence: “[Some people wear golden helmets and armor, yet turn a deaf ear to the sorrowful cries around them.]”

“[While others, dressed in rags, still use flesh and body to build fortresses, shielding others from wind and rain.]”

Seeing this sentence, Tan Xi, who also saw it, held the light brain in his hand, his eyes flashing intensely.

But whoever it was, perhaps they would never forget this day.

After a long silence, Fang Yanli suddenly spoke up, “Download a document and let Wen Fang analyze the hidden information inside as soon as possible.”

Cheng Hao, as if waking from a dream, asked, “What information needs to be analyzed?”

This package of core technology documents was very large, and it involved a lot of content. Just talking about analyzing the information, they didn’t know how long it would take.

But Fang Yanli’s voice was cold as he said, “Addresses, contact information, anything related to personal information.”

Cheng Hao was slightly stunned but suddenly realized.

Right, the slaughterhouse could choose any time to publicize this thing, but they chose today.

If there was anything special about today, it was… Wei Lan’s escape.

“So, the person behind the slaughterhouse is really Qin Chu Yue.”

Whether or not there was still Yun Chi, whose fate was unknown, was unknown, but the one transmitting information in this way must be Wei Lan’s former companion.

Fang Yanli’s eyes were deep as he asked, “Where is Ji Fu now?”

“…She’s at the Interstellar Academy. She just arrived fifteen minutes ago by starship and was confirmed by the Interstellar Academy’s equipment. It’s her in person.”

Cheng Hao frowned, “The information transmitted by the slaughterhouse in this way should be Qin Chu Yue’s.”

He never thought that Ji Fu, currently possessing an A-level talent, would be from Yun Chi.

Even if Ji Fu really was from Yun Chi, at this critical moment, she would definitely let Wei Lan go to find Qin Chu Yue first.

Qin Chu Yue had hidden for so long, which meant that the place she was hiding was safe enough.

Where Ji Fu was, was the Interstellar Academy.

Fang Yanli remained noncommittal and only said, “Screen the information first.”

Regardless of what methods they planned to use, they would show some signs in the information.

Meanwhile, chaos reigned at the interstellar prison.

The core staff managing the prison were all particularly anxious.

Wei Lan had indeed escaped.

However, it wasn’t yesterday evening, but three days ago.

Yes, three days ago, he had escaped from the heavily guarded top level of the prison, and the prison administrators had been frantically searching for three days.

He had suffered very serious injuries before escaping. According to reason, he shouldn’t have been able to run far. They couldn’t explain this to the Si family or the Alliance’s high-ranking officials, and they wanted to find Wei Lan, who was in critical condition, as soon as possible.

But for three days straight, they had searched nearly every inch of land near the interstellar prison, yet still couldn’t find a trace of him.

Seeing that they couldn’t hide it anymore, they finally reported the escape to their superiors.

The instructions given by the superiors were also very clear.

Wei Lan was seriously injured and couldn’t have gone far. Everything he had before entering prison had been destroyed. As long as no one helped him, finding him would only be a matter of time.

So, the warrant issued was intentionally vague, aiming to prevent Wei Lan’s companions from knowing about his escape and contacting him.

They all knew that once Wei Lan was rescued, it wouldn’t be easy to catch him again.

The interstellar space was just too vast, with countless planets and asteroids, and hundreds of billions of citizens. For a normal person without injuries, hiding wasn’t difficult.

Now, all they could do was buy time, mobilize more manpower, and find Wei Lan as quickly and discreetly as possible.

For this reason, each planetary dispatch order emphasized the need to conceal the identity of the fugitive.

But even after the warrant had been out for almost a day, they still hadn’t found him.

The core staff of the prison were overwhelmed with worry about this matter. However, when they remembered what had happened three days ago, they couldn’t help but feel nervous.

Before this, Wei Lan had been imprisoned in the highest security level for nearly two years, and no one had expected him to suddenly escape.

They had no idea, but the Si family was even more unaware.

For various reasons, the Si family had been very anxious lately. They were eager to have Wei Lan return to the Si family.

Facing them, however, Wei Lan refused to even lift his head.

In their desperation, someone in the Si family came up with a plan.

Wei Lan was locked in a black cell, and all his nutritional supplements came from nutrient bottles.

Before the people from the Si family acted, he did see a message from Ji Fu on the connected nutrient bottle.

She asked him to wait for her, so he patiently waited.

Until he noticed that there was something wrong with the nutrient solution they were giving him.

Because of the black cell, the nutrient solution Wei Lan used was all injectable.

To force him to submit, the Si family was very stingy with the dosage.

To prevent him from escaping, a nutrient bottle could last for nearly a month and keep him in a state of physical exhaustion, while continuously subjecting him to electric shocks and the torment of the black sea water, in order to weaken his willpower.

But if this method worked, after so long, Wei Lan would have already submitted.

After nearly two years of no results, it was clear that this approach was ineffective.

What was even more terrifying was that the doctor in charge of monitoring Wei Lan’s physical condition said that for some reason, Wei Lan’s mental state had been particularly strong in recent months.

With his already extremely high talent, under such strong mental conditions, his body showed a tendency to self-heal even under multiple torments.

This was good news for the Si family, but it also meant that controlling Wei Lan would be even more difficult.

So, they started to mix small doses of hallucinogens into Wei Lan’s nutrient solution.

The dosage was precisely calculated so that slowly, Wei Lan would become dull and mentally scattered.

Under the long-term numbness of hallucinogens, his actions would become extremely slow.

As long as he couldn’t act to kill again, it would be the Si family’s opportunity.

The Si family sent people from the research institute to personally go over and planned to use external force to implant a memory chip into Wei Lan.

This was the best way they could think of to control Wei Lan.

If they made him completely mentally deranged, then he would lose his effectiveness. However, as long as his thoughts remained normal, it would be difficult for the Si family to control him.

But with a specially implanted memory chip, it would be different.

In the carefully prepared memories they had for him, there would be no Yun Chi, no Wei Lan of the past; there would only be a pride of the Si family.

Born into a top-tier family, with extremely high talent, loving and harmonious parents, and an engaged fiancee from a similar background.

As long as the memory chip could be implanted in his brain, all his memories from then on would be completely overwritten by the chip. With this trust in the Si family, there was no fear of him losing control.

Everything was ready.

The memory chip had been tested multiple times, adjusting numerous details, and was in a state close to perfection. It wouldn’t easily arouse his suspicion about the implanted memories.

On the day of the implantation, people from the Si family even came over in person, intending to witness the chip being buried in Wei Lan’s mind.

However, all the changes occurred on that day.

The dosage they used was very small, and they were absolutely cautious.

Unfortunately, none of them were Wei Lan himself.

From the first day his mind inexplicably felt heavy, he knew someone had tampered with his nutrient bottle.

He just didn’t know the purpose of giving him hallucinogens.

On the day of the implantation, he sat quietly.

When he heard they planned to use a chip to control his entire being, no one noticed the look in his eyes.

They judged that he was currently in a state of mental distraction based on the instruments attached to him and his current state, then they opened the double-secured black cell again.

Letting the person who was to implant the chip and the assistant in.

The Si family had considered transferring Wei Lan outside before implanting the chip.

But considering that he might lose control during the transfer, and that the top level of this interstellar prison was currently the safest and most heavily guarded place, they were certain Wei Lan couldn’t escape.

The person from the Si family even entered the glass room and monitored the chip implantation through surveillance equipment.

They wanted to ensure that the chip was truly placed in Wei Lan’s brain.

The transplant surgery couldn’t be disturbed, so the high-voltage current that had always been connected to Wei Lan’s body was shut down.

But they still didn’t remove his shackles, fearing that he might suddenly wake up in the middle of it.

They were cautious and prepared, but they never imagined that Wei Lan would wake up.

And not only wake up, but he also directly seized the scalpel from the doctor performing the surgery and killed the doctor and the assistant in one blow.

Then, he used that scalpel to remove the shackles from his hands and feet.

Under the shocked gaze of the entire prison, he broke open the door of the black cell, rushed into the glass room, and killed seven people, including the person in charge from the Si family.

That night, the entire interstellar prison was filled with long alarms.

The S-level mechs stationed outside the top level, along with three star-level mechs guarding, intercepted Wei Lan.

But Wei Lan only had one S-level mech that he had seized.

The mech belonged to the guard who had been torturing and paralyzing him with high-voltage currents for a long time. After losing control of the mech due to the current, he took it away.

It was well known that mechs were closely linked to a person’s talent.

The guard, in a semi-conscious state, even if his mech could be used, had lost most of its power.

The control of transformation and strength would also be greatly reduced.

However, Wei Lan used this worn-out mech to go on a rampage, breaking the shackles in the black cell, and killing twelve S-level mechs and one star-level mech along the way.

At that time, he was already in a state of extreme mental distraction, his mind numb.

Yet he could still control the mech to kill, and even broke out of the top level of this interstellar prison built on the black sea.

Being trapped between two star-level mechs and unable to avoid being surrounded, Wei Lan controlled the mech and jumped directly into the black sea.

Before plunging into the sea, he fired one last shot.

So the people of the interstellar prison were convinced that even if Wei Lan was still alive now, he was in a critical condition.

Even… he was very likely to have already been buried in the black sea.

But they didn’t dare to be too sure. Especially after three days of salvage, the wreckage of the mech Wei Lan had driven was salvaged, yet Wei Lan himself was still not found, they were completely panicked.

Wei Lan had been tortured in the black sea for nearly two years, developing resistance.

He dared to jump directly into the black sea, but others didn’t dare to jump into that vast expanse of black sea to find him.

Three days had passed, and batches of salvage crews had been replaced one after another.

Yet Wei Lan escaped on the first day he fell into the sea. He endured for a day and a night amidst the echoing alarms, then, after waking up, he changed into the uniform of a guard in the guard rest area, covering his deep blue hair.

In a critical state, using the identity of a guard, he escaped from the star system where the interstellar prison was located.

The Union had turned the star system where the interstellar prison was located upside down, so no one could have imagined that Wei Lan, wearing that guard uniform, had gone to the imperial star.

The imperial star, the capital star system of the interstellar era.

He crushed the energy stone, relied on the materials in the energy stone to survive, and hovered around the imperial star for two days.

It wasn’t until the energy stone was about to be exhausted that he slumped in the crisscrossing alleys of the imperial star. When he lifted his head, he saw the rolling screen installed on the highest building of the Union Headquarters in the distance suddenly display a forced information popup.

It was a message from an organization called the “Slaughterhouse”.

With just two seconds of looking, he knew she was conveying a message to him.

At that moment, his eyelids were so heavy that they were almost unable to open, and at one point, he even felt the sensation of his heart stopping abruptly.

But there was only one thought in his mind.

That she was waiting for him.

He rose from the depths of the dark and damp alley.

Looking at the constantly swirling information not far away, he chuckled.

The child who had been secretly watching him from the doorstep every day since he appeared here was puzzled by his reaction.

He was almost dying, so how could he still laugh?

Because he remembered the only happy time in his life, which was by her side, with her eating ice cream and smiling as she said to him.

If she ever discovered her talent one day, the first thing she would do is blow up the gates of those schools.

He asked her which one she would blow up first.

She said, the Interstellar Academy.

So, she was at the Interstellar Academy, he was sure of it.

The next morning, after the child woke up, he quietly got up to see that strange big brother.

She leaned against the door crack, still hesitating whether to give that big brother a bottle of nutrient solution.

But when she looked up, the alley mouth was empty, and the big brother who looked like he was dying was gone.

At this moment, inside the Interstellar Academy.

Ji Fu didn’t spend much time from leaving to coming back.

Even after returning to the academy, she went to the laboratory as usual.

The laboratory was quiet, with no one there.

So no one knew that she was here, covering the entire surveillance of the Interstellar Academy with her own system.

She sat quietly in the laboratory all day until the night fell.

As dusk approached, the last shuttle to the Interstellar Academy also stopped.

Ji Fu got up and closed the door of the laboratory.

Before the joint exam, the academy gave all students a holiday, and many people went home for vacation, leaving few people in the academy.

She crossed the woods and arrived at the academy’s infirmary.

At this time, except for her, who used to come here when she was unwell, there was no one else who would appear here.

Ji Fu opened the door of the infirmary, inside it was pitch-black and empty, with no one in sight.

She turned around and closed the door.

When the last ray of moonlight was shut out, in the dense night, someone hugged her from behind.

He rested his chin on her shoulder, his voice hoarse to the extreme, he said, “I miss you so much.”

After more than a thousand days, countless changes, he was covered in wounds, and with the last breath, he rushed to her, only saying these four words.