Year 135 of the New Calendar, western Pacific Ocean, Saing Island.
A new batch of prisoners had been transported to the island. A total of two hundred prisoners lined up to disembark, filing down the gangway from the warship to the shore.
"Hey! You F-rank weakling, move faster, or I'll beat you up!"
"Yes, yes, you go first. You go first."
The fat man behind Xie Qi shoved him, but instead of getting angry, Xie Qi hurriedly stepped aside.
Seeing Xie Qi make way, the fat man swaggered past him. Several vicious-looking prisoners behind the fat man followed without a word.
As one burly man with tattooed arms passed him, he spat to the side, then reached out, tore off Xie Qi's badge, and threw it on the ground. As he walked away, he deliberately stepped on it.
Despite the man's provocation, Xie Qi remained silent, a smile on his face and his eyes narrowed to slits.
As he watched the man's retreating back, he recalled how he had come to this place.
Not long ago, Xie Qi had just come out of a gaming establishment he owned. Before he could get into his car, his head had spun, and in the blink of an eye, he had found himself aboard a warship on the Pacific Ocean.
At first, he thought he had been kidnapped by a rival force. He had been through it so many times that he couldn't be bothered to wonder why they had kidnapped him.
But when he tried to go out and find a chance to escape, he realized something wasn't right.
For one thing, this wasn't his body. Not only were the calluses from years of holding a gun missing from his hands, but he had hardly any muscle, and his skin was frighteningly pale.
For another, the warship had smart devices that didn't match the current level of technology. Things like AI robots were everywhere, as if he had transmigrated into a sci-fi movie.
After days of analysis and observation, Xie Qi realized he was no longer in his original world.
The fortune he had spent half his life building had vanished overnight, and this body had even ended up in prison.
At the thought, Xie Qi smiled even more happily.
Only after everyone behind him had passed did he slowly crouch down, wipe the badge on the ground with his hand, and pin it back on.
[This batch of newbies doesn't look like much. Wonder how many will survive.]
[Hey, you know what? This F-rank guy is pretty good-looking. Hope he lasts a while.]
[Who's this lovestruck fool? A weakling is a weakling. On Prisoner Island strength is everything. What good are looks?]
[Did that get under your skin? Are you too ugly to stand seeing a handsome guy?]
[&3%# Fuck!...]
A few scattered bullet comments floated above the heads of the people disembarking, but the people below acted as though they couldn't see them, lining up in several rows under the AI Navigator's guidance.
They were prisoners transported by warship. For violating the New Human Code, they had been sentenced to exile by the AI Judge and sent to an isolated island in the Atlantic Ocean.
Although the outside world had named the island after that ocean, those in the know privately called it Prisoner Island.
It covered more than twenty thousand square kilometers and was surrounded by sea, with forests and swamps spread across it. Apart from the five prisons built by the government, the rest of the island looked completely uninhabitable.
"Ah! I don't want to stay here! Why... I only stole a little money. Why did they exile me here?"
After coming ashore and truly realizing the fate that awaited him, a prisoner who looked as frail as Xie Qi suddenly broke down, clutching his head and screaming.
"You at least stole something. I was brought here just because I didn't throw my trash in a roadside bin! Has anyone been treated more unfairly than me?" Hearing him, a tall, thin man also started complaining.
"Ahhh!!!"
Once one person started breaking down, the others were swept up in it too.
A group of people whose badges listed their danger levels as E or F surrounded the AI Navigator, all talking at once about the injustices they had suffered and clamoring to file another request for public prosecution.
The tall, thin man standing beside Xie Qi was the one who had just said he had only failed to put his trash in a bin. His badge showed his danger level was F, the same as Xie Qi's.
Seeing the others surround the navigator, the man looked resentful as well. Noticing that Xie Qi was staying out of it, he struck up a conversation. "What did you get in for? I see you're F-rank too. I bet you were wronged as well, right?"
"Me?"
Xie Qi tilted his head as though trying to remember. "I don't remember, but I'm a law-abiding citizen. I pay taxes to the country every year."
"Huh?" The tall man looked utterly confused, and even the bullet comments were speechless at the scene.
[Is this guy an idiot? He doesn't even know how he got in?]
[Paying taxes? With what these paupers earn, would they even have to pay taxes? Aren't they all living off the taxes we pay?]
[This happens every time new people arrive. I'm sick of watching it. If it weren't for the coins you get for checking in when newbies arrive, I wouldn't bother watching.]
[+1. Let's just guess who'll die first. I'm betting ten coins on this Xie Qi guy!]
[The tall guy beside him looks like he's up to no good. Who on Prisoner Island isn't a vicious criminal? The AI Judge has never made a wrong ruling. I don't believe a word he says.]
A voting tally suddenly appeared beside the bullet comments, with Xie Qi's name far in the lead.
But still, no one could see the bullet comments appearing above their heads. The tall man said nothing more to Xie Qi, merely looking him up and down.
As if he hadn't noticed anything strange in the atmosphere, Xie Qi kept smiling at the noisy crowd. His black prison uniform outlined his slender figure, and his sleeves were rolled up neatly, exposing a pair of deathly pale hands.
By now, it wasn't just the E- and F-ranks causing trouble. Even the D-rank fat man who had told Xie Qi to make way and the C-rank man with tattooed arms rolled up their sleeves and stepped forward. They took advantage of the fact that the navigator was a lone AI and hadn't appeared to be equipped with weapons during the journey, so they weren't afraid it would suddenly attack.
The AI Navigator was a humanoid machine with a silver-white body. It didn't look like a human, and instead of legs, it had a tracked base.
To prevent ethical issues, the government had passed a law ten years ago restricting the appearance of AI robots, expressly forbidding robots other than companion robots from having a greater than 50 percent resemblance to humans.
The AI Navigator naturally fell within the scope of that law. Although it was equipped with level-two intelligence, its primary duty was maritime navigation, with an emphasis on direction recognition and security, so it hadn't been loaded with any extra emotional analysis modules.
The AI Navigator was well experienced with scenes like this and showed no emotional fluctuation whatsoever.
It first scanned everyone present with its eyes, then retrieved past data from its internal database. In a cold, metallic male voice, it said, "Codename SV017. Second navigation mission obstructed. Scan detected 57 obstructing factors. Initiating removal procedure. All persons other than the obstructing factors, please move clear to avoid accidental injury."
"One-minute countdown."
The voice was like a bucket of cold water poured over everyone's heads.
Dozens of robots slid down from the warship behind them one after another and surrounded the crowd. Their arms had all transformed into long-barreled guns aimed directly at them.
[Hahaha! Look at those idiots. Stunned, aren't they? Do they think Prisoner Island is somewhere they can come and go as they please?]
[Ah, they just haven't faced the facts. Anyway, I've got my sunflower seed-flavored nutrient solution ready. Front-row seats!]
[The person above is so poor, still drinking nutrient solution. Not like me—I'm eating real sunflower seeds [image]]
[Holy shit! A big shot in the front row! Could you spare this humble one a few hundred coins?]
The bullet comments were jubilant, while gloom and misery reigned below.
The people who hadn't spoken up earlier hurriedly dispersed. Some even went into the sea, afraid they might get caught in the crossfire.
The 56 people left in place also felt a chill run through them. Only now did they understand their situation, but someone still protested shakily, "We just wanted to fight for our legitimate rights. How is that obstruction?"
The navigator continued, "One person has yet to step out. Ten seconds remaining. Ten, nine, eight, seven..."
One person was shaking uncontrollably with fear. Hearing the countdown, he braced himself under the AI Navigator's golden gaze and shouted toward the crowd, "Hey! Which little bastard still doesn't dare come out? Are you trying to get us all killed?"
"Yeah, get out here! You're the ones who caused this in the first place!"
"Which son of a bitch is it? When you come out, I'll punch you to death!"
Xie Qi listened to their crude shouts, his mind seemingly miles away.
The tall man had been standing beside him the whole time, but he was no longer as calm as before, his whole body trembling.
Xie Qi came back to his senses and suddenly felt a powerful shove against his back, sending him falling forward.
"Don't blame me. Now that you're here, you should know this is your fate!"