Crushing his brain.
The entire process was incredibly swift. By the time the Viper Clan corpse hit the ground, the other prisoners had only just come to their senses, staring at Jiang Xiao in fear.
"Since you're so unwilling to have any intelligence, I'll help you get rid of your brain."
Jiang Xiao spoke calmly. In the year he had spent aboard the Doran, he had learned more than just knowledge. He had also learned how to slaughter aliens without any psychological burden!
He, Jiang Xiao, was an extreme xenophobe!
Glancing around, Jiang Xiao raised both hands to signal surrender.
Seeing this, the three rapidly approaching security machines holstered their weapons, immediately restrained him, and escorted him away.
As long as they didn't "attack the police," killing another prisoner would at most count as a violent altercation. It wouldn't increase their sentence. Besides, the Frontier Prison Star and the death penalty were in the same league. It was unlikely their punishment could be increased any further.
Before leaving, Jiang Xiao looked at the dozen or so silent alien prisoners and grinned.
"See you on the Frontier Prison Star."
Once Jiang Xiao had been escorted back to his room and the door closed, his cold expression immediately fell apart.
He bared his teeth and shook his hand.
"Damn, why are their bones so hard? It hurts like hell."
Then he smiled again and eagerly opened his panel.
Killed Ordinary Viper Thug · Obtained 50 Experience Points (20% alien Experience Points bonus)
He hadn't expected the most absurd monster-killing and leveling feature to remain completely intact. What a pleasant surprise!
And killing aliens actually granted a 20% experience bonus. Wasn't that practically free?
Jiang Xiao gradually grew excited.
"Frontier Prison Star, heh heh heh heh heh! Get ready to welcome the arrival of the gaming world's great god!"
The Azure Security Soldier passing outside the door shuddered.
What a healthy laugh.
Chapter 3: Landing Battle Royale
Eight Interstellar Days passed in what seemed like an instant on a cosmic scale.
The transport ship emerged from the star gate at the Alliance Starport and quickly docked at an approach platform.
The enormous hatch opened. Jiang Xiao walked down the stairs with a bewildered expression. Without any restraints or shackles, he simply left the transport ship.
"?"
Looking at the vast, empty platform, Jiang Xiao was somewhat confused. He turned his head, and an enormous yellow-brown planet entered his view!
KL-21 Frontier Prison, with a diameter of 30,188 kilometers. It had no oceans, only vast quantities of underground water resources.
"Its surface area is roughly five times that of Earth, and its gravity is about twice as strong. An Ordinary Human would probably have a hard time even moving here." Jiang Xiao recalled the information he had found online, sighing inwardly.
Of course, aside from a lawbreaker like him, any Ordinary Human capable of reaching this place through "normal channels" probably wasn't "ordinary" at all.
Twice Earth's gravity shouldn't be a problem. After all, this was—
the Frontier Prison Star!
A special exile planet established by the Interstellar Alliance at the frontier of the galaxy. Usually transformed from massive rocky planets or Secondary Life Planets, it imprisoned criminals, thugs, and political prisoners from all over the galaxy!
Only criminals who had violated the most severe laws of Intermediate Civilizations were eligible to be imprisoned on a Frontier Prison Star.
They symbolized more than just a prison!
#Warning! All criminals lingering in the first-level platform area must immediately follow the red markers to the deployment zone. Continued loitering will result in immediate execution!#
The harsh mechanical voice echoed across the empty area. Jiang Xiao felt puzzled, but followed the indicated direction.
That's strange. Weren't we supposed to spend a few days in the starport's prison area and wait until thirty thousand prisoners had gathered before being deployed? Am I in the final batch?
Following the directions, Jiang Xiao entered a massive lift platform area. More than a hundred other prisoners were there besides him.
The enormous platform rapidly descended, and an oppressive aura surged toward them!
As the platform's descent gradually slowed, Jiang Xiao's eyes sharpened.
A vast, dim platform at least several thousand meters in diameter suddenly came into view, packed with countless shifting figures.
The stuffy heat, mixed with countless odors, wafted over and made Jiang Xiao frown slightly.
The furious curses and roars around him formed a chaotic symphony echoing through the deployment zone. Frenzied, enraged, ferocious, indifferent... It was as if every negative emotion in the galaxy had gathered here, twisted into chaos.
For some reason, Jiang Xiao felt inexplicably excited.
This was great. They were all walking Experience Points!
Of course, he wasn't stupid. He couldn't possibly cause trouble here. With so many aliens around, one careless move and he'd become Jiang Xiao sauce~
He had just crouched down in a corner when, before he could observe in secret, the harsh mechanical voice rang out again, instantly drowning out the other noises.
#Enter the red circles immediately. One prisoner per red circle. Violators will be executed on the spot! Enter the red circles immediately. Violators will be executed on the spot!# #...#
As the mechanical voice roared, countless small red circles appeared across the ground.
Without hesitation, Jiang Xiao decisively stepped into the red circle beside him.
The tens of thousands of other prisoners did the same. Even when two prisoners reached for the same red circle, no conflict erupted. The one who arrived second simply went to find another red circle.
Criminals weren't idiots. They knew very well whether the starport overseeing this Prison Star would actually kill them.
Or rather, if they hadn't been more valuable alive on the Prison Star, they would have died long ago.
Only after every prisoner had entered a red circle did a voice finally appear.
It was no longer mechanical, but a hoarse voice brimming with fanaticism.
"Everyone! Welcome to the Frontier Star!! The playground of bastards, the home of thugs, the galaxy's highest-quality garbage dump!!
"I'm sure you'll love it here!
"However, before you can enter, you'll have to undergo a trial. I call this trial—advertisement time!
"You worthless trash will be deployed into the Old Capital Ruins of the Prison Star. The local 'residents' will use Individual Equipment from small and medium-sized military-industrial and weapons companies to hunt you down.
"Of course, you'll have weapons too. They'll descend randomly into the Old Capital Ruins in the form of airdrop pods!
"You'll pass the trial only if you survive for ten days or make it out of the Old Capital!"
"Hahahaha! That's right, this is a weapons advertising event sponsored by the Prison Star's backers!!
"There are more than forty-six thousand prisoners being deployed this time, while there are more than twelve thousand native Hunters. Under our control, their proportion of Source Energy users is roughly the same as yours."
"Friendly reminder: Besides the Hunters, there are also native monsters and rampaging machines. Meanwhile, both weapons and individual strength are capped at Tier 2 Elite~
"Now, let's begin advertisement time!!"
The tens of thousands of prisoners had only just reacted when the red circles beneath their feet abruptly turned blue, and a glass-like translucent material rapidly emerged.
Jiang Xiao's vision was obscured. Then, a sudden sensation of weightlessness struck him!
It was plummeting at extreme speed!
"Holy crap?!"
The intense feeling of weightlessness lasted for roughly five minutes. Then, as a parachute-like membrane unfolded, the capsule-like Landing Pod rapidly slowed down.
The Landing Pod crashed into the ground with a boom. Its translucent shell rapidly degraded and dissipated, leaving behind only a small device resembling a cellphone.
"Damn, couldn't you give us any time to prepare?"
Jiang Xiao moved his legs, which had gone numb from the impact, and casually picked up the small device.
Handheld Terminal: A shoddy product with one-way information reception and limited radar functionality
Seeing no danger warning, Jiang Xiao stuffed it into his pants pocket.
He looked around.
The place was desolate and dilapidated, filled with broken walls and a few precariously swaying buildings. Most striking of all were the claw marks stretching more than ten meters across one of the buildings. It was difficult to imagine what had left them behind.
After staring for a moment, Jiang Xiao withdrew his gaze.
"Personal Panel."
Player: Jiang Xiao Level: Tier 1 Ordinary (Evolution Progress: 2.5%) Innate Ability: None Source Energy Affinity: Extremely Weak (Idle Training Speed: 1/hour per Experience Point) Source Energy Intensity: 11 (59/100) Spirit Energy Intensity: 1 (No ability, locked)
Eight days had passed. Adding the 50 Experience Points he had obtained from killing the Viper Clan member, his Source Energy Intensity had smoothly surpassed ten points, entering the Tier 1 range.
Even relying solely on his strength and bone density, he would have no trouble wrestling an elephant!
And if he used Source Energy to temporarily enhance his physical functions...
Jiang Xiao sensed the faint warm current within his body. His eyes narrowed slightly as he clenched his fist and gathered the warm current.
He threw a straight punch!
Looking at the cracked reinforced-concrete wall, he wore an astonished expression.
"If this were a fantasy martial arts world, Source Energy Intensity from 1 to 10 could probably be divided into two early-stage levels. Skin Tempering and Bone Forging and all that..."
He glanced at it. The other functions of the Endless Starry Sky system were still loading, so Jiang Xiao closed the panel.
He already had a plan.
Before you continue