Good News and Bad News

Exiting the Virtual Arena, Gu Ding's mental energy consumption had reached its limit. Fortunately, Gu Ding's winning streak was maintained. After doing those two terrifying things to Gu Ding, that scary woman voluntarily conceded.

The mental exhaustion made Gu Ding's head feel heavy after exiting the arena. Without even taking off his clothes, he burrowed directly into the covers and fell into a deep sleep within seconds.

Waking up, Gu Ding felt refreshed. "How long did I sleep?"

"You slept for 25 hours. Some things happened while you were sleeping." Sea Emperor's voice paused, seemingly thinking about how to summarize.

"From your tone, it doesn't sound like good news, does it?" Gu Ding frowned slightly.

"There are two pieces of good news," Sea Emperor finally spoke. "First, your mental energy has increased due to the consumption in the arena, from the original 9.8 to 11 points. Second, someone sent you something in the arena. I've already accepted it for you. It's a Black Iron Armed, and it should be delivered soon."

"Black Iron Armed?!" Gu Ding was a little surprised. "It must be from that inexplicable woman."

Armed were a late-stage product of ancient mecha civilization. The main materials came from the bones of Gene Beasts and a type of liquid memory alloy that could fuse with blood. Unlike the bulkiness of mechas, Armed were more flexible. Except for some special Armed, full-body Armed generally fit snugly like clothing and did not affect the martial artist's performance at all.

Black Iron Armed were the lowest grade of Armed. Even so, in today's market, one of these things costs at least hundreds of millions of Star Coins. And they were priceless, nowhere to buy even if you wanted to.

Armed had two main selling points: First, they were hidden inside the user's body and could be summoned for use at any time; second, they could be upgraded with the host's gene strength; third, they could automatically repair themselves after being damaged. These three characteristics were the biggest reasons why buyers flocked to them.

Just as the Armed were mentioned, the doorbell rang.

"Hello, your package has arrived, please check!" A courier robot with a metallic sheen stood at the door, carrying a white box on its back.

Gu Ding pressed his fingerprint on the signature page. The robot handed him the box, then bowed slightly, "Have a pleasant life, goodbye!"

Closing the door and adding a few locks, Gu Ding turned around and took out the item from the box.

It was a transparent glass injection container. Inside the container was a black liquid with a metallic sheen, and a graphic code was printed on the outside of the container.

Gu Ding scanned the code with Sea Emperor's screen, and the item information quickly popped up.

[Item: Full Body Armed]

[Grade: Black Iron]

[Instructions for Use: Intravenous injection into the body. After being nurtured by red blood cells for about 72 hours, it can condense and form outside the body.]

"Black Iron grade Armed can double the user's attack and defense. Coupled with the amplification of Limitless Body Technique, it's quite impressive. Moreover, Armed are upgradeable. Black Iron grade doubles, Bronze grade increases by 5 times, Silver grade by 10 times, and Gold grade by 50 times. The sooner you inject it, the sooner you can use it," Sea Emperor reminded.

Gu Ding nodded and inserted the needle of the injection container into the vein on the back of his hand. As the Armed automatically injected, Gu Ding felt a cool liquid slowly entering his blood, moving up his arm. In just a few seconds, the injection was complete, with almost no abnormal feeling, indicating that Gu Ding's body had a good adaptation to this set of Armed. In fact, about 50% of people experience a certain degree of rejection when injecting Armed for the first time, and about 15% of people are naturally unable to fuse with Armed and will automatically expel the Armed from their bodies.

"Your fusion rate is very high. It's estimated that it won't take 10 hours to condense the Armed outside your body," Sea Emperor was very familiar with Gu Ding's physical condition.

"Doesn't it take 72 hours?" Gu Ding asked in surprise. After all, Armed were not something ordinary people could afford, and in the civilian network, not much relevant information was revealed. Gu Ding only saw that the instructions for use said 72 hours, so he thought everyone needed 72 hours of nurturing.

"72 hours is the normal average fusion time. Some people with special physiques are slower than this, and some are faster," Sea Emperor explained. "Your genes have a high fusion rate with Armed. Based on the current fusion rate, 10 hours is enough."

"Just tell me my physique is amazing," Gu Ding grinned proudly. "You said there were two pieces of good news just now, so there should be bad news, right?"

"Aunt 'Rose' sent you a message while you were sleeping, saying that Rose Tavern is temporarily closed recently, and you don't need to go there these few days. She will pay you according to your work," Sea Emperor said these words, appearing somewhat silent.

"This doesn't count as bad news, does it?" Gu Ding pondered for a moment, resting his chin on his hand. "Did she say why it's temporarily closed and when it will reopen?"

"She didn't say any of that," Sea Emperor's tone was slightly heavy. "After sending you the message, Rose Tavern's external network was closed. I felt something was unusual, so I probed into the tavern's internal network and heard some bad news through the cameras."

"You know about the Federal Government's recent cleanup of the Red Light District," Sea Emperor continued. "Because of this, many space pirates have been arrested, including a guy named Kane."

"Uncle Kane?!" Gu Ding knew who it was as soon as he heard the name. Kane was a space pirate with a bounty of over 300 million Star Coins. It was said that he was a member of Aunt 'Rose''s crew before. After Aunt 'Rose' retired, he chose to create his own Pirate Crew and continue to drift. But almost every two or three years, he would come to Rose Tavern to catch up with Aunt 'Rose' and the others. "Uncle Kane is very powerful, how could he be arrested?"

"It's because someone is threatening Aunt Rose and the others with Kane. If he resists or refuses to be arrested, Aunt Rose and the others will be wanted again, and the Rose Tavern will be completely shut down." Sea Emperor finally revealed the reason. "Because of this, Kane let them put on the Star Core Collars and was taken away."

"Star Core Collars?!" Gu Ding was startled when he heard this.

Star Core Collars are powerful electromagnetic restraint devices. Once fastened around the neck, they generate electromagnetic waves that completely sever communication between the brain's nerves and the body. A person wearing a Star Core Collar can only feel the existence of their head; below the neck, they have no sensation and are unable to exert any control. It can be said that once this thing is worn, one can only be at the mercy of others.

"According to standard procedure, after Kane is arrested, he should be imprisoned in the Tianhe Prison Hai Lan Branch or the Tianhe Prison Headquarters and sentenced to a corresponding term of imprisonment. However, there is a deputy warden at the Tianhe Prison Headquarters named Prisson who has an old grudge with Kane. Taking advantage of this theft incident, he demanded that Kane be executed, and he will be present to watch the execution," Sea Emperor continued. "Based on the information I have gathered, I know that the person who secretly threatened Kane is also this guy named Prisson."

"Damn it, there's actually such a sinister person in the Federal Government!" Gu Ding couldn't help but curse. Although he hadn't met Uncle Kane many times, every time he came to the Rose Tavern, he would bring him many gifts and treat him as a member of the Rose Pirate Crew from back then.

"The news that Kane is about to be executed was made public yesterday. After Aunt Rose and the others received this news, they have been preparing for a rescue. They plan to leave Deep Sea Star, and even the Tianhe Star Region, after rescuing Kane. The Rose Tavern will definitely not reopen," Sea Emperor finally finished recounting the events. This was indeed unprecedented bad news for Gu Ding.

Gu Ding clenched and unclenched his fists several times before finally asking, "Sea Emperor, do you know where the other members of Uncle Kane's pirate crew are?"

"Before Kane was arrested, he requested that the safety of the other members of his pirate crew be guaranteed, and this request was granted. Now all his members are free and gathered at the spaceport discussing countermeasures."

"Sea Emperor, can the Universal Key's function now open the cell doors on various levels of Tianhe Prison and restraint devices like the Star Core Collars?" Gu Ding pondered for a moment, and after a while, he seemed to have an idea.

"The Tianhe Prison Headquarters is only a two-star prison. For me, three-star and below are considered primary authority, and there will be no difficulty in cracking them," Sea Emperor seemed to have guessed Gu Ding's thoughts. "However, to avoid being noticed by Heaven, it would be best if I could access a prison network port."

"I understand. I have a feeling that I will soon be wanted by the Federal Government," Gu Ding grinned.