Exile

The Western Pacific was calm and bright, bathed in warm sunlight.

Amid the azure waves, a warship sailed toward an island.

"Number HA99674748, Gaoxin?"

"Mm..."

"Stand in the designated position!"

A short-haired young man in prison clothes was ushered onto the warship's deck by soldiers, moving like a walking corpse.

Together with more than three hundred prisoners, he stood in line and watched the tropical island draw ever closer in the distance, trembling slightly.

Is this how it ends?

His pupils quivered. Beneath his fear was rage, and he had bitten his lips until they bled.

Why? He had clearly done nothing, yet he was being exiled to Sin Prison Island for ten years.

"Forget ten years... Can I even survive one year on this island?"

"I'm afraid I'll never get out again."

Gaoxin muttered, his heart shrouded in gloom. He knew it would be far too difficult.

The island ahead had dense forests, beautiful beaches, and flocks of birds. It looked like an unpolluted paradise.

Yet none of the prisoners on deck had any interest in admiring the scenery. Their faces looked as grim as if they were marching to their deaths.

A prisoner beside Gaoxin had legs that would not stop shaking. His face was filled with despair as he cursed, "Damn AI, damn artificial stupidity! Why the hell was I sentenced to exile on Sin Prison Island? I only committed a robbery..."

"Wuwuwu, at least you robbed someone. I only stole a little money, and they sent me here..." Another voice broke into tears, as though carrying endless grievances.

Gaoxin looked over and found that some prisoners had even wet themselves. A rank smell spread across the deck.

"Who the hell pissed themselves? Useless!" A hoarse-voiced man in front barked in dissatisfaction.

The prisoner who had wet himself trembled. "Fine, you serious criminals got exiled, but why me... Why?"

The hoarse man said coldly, "Who cares what you did? As long as you've been sentenced and can't afford prison fees, you'll be sent to this island... There are so many criminals these days. How could the authorities afford to keep them all? Heh heh, they can't wait to toss people onto the island and let them fend for themselves."

Several prisoners immediately went pale.

They began talking over one another. "Wasn't it just something people said? They're really enforcing it... How can they do this? Sending ordinary people here is basically sentencing them to death!"

"Exactly... Being exiled here is worse than getting the death penalty."

"Yeah. Ordinary people like me will be slaves the moment we get on the island. How are we supposed to endure ten years?"

At that, the hoarse man gave a strange laugh. "Heh heh, you're still thinking of enduring it? Ten years? What does the sentence even mean? No one has ever been released from the island after serving their term."

The prisoners around him jolted.

No one had ever completed their sentence and been released? Many prisoners could hardly believe their ears.

They had all heard a little about the horrors of Sin Prison Island. It was a place without laws, where the most vicious criminals from around the world gathered. Powerful Radiation Users and Cyborgs were everywhere. Even if they killed other prisoners on the island, no prison guards would stop them.

That was because, aside from the nearby navy, there supposedly were no prison guards at all.

The island was essentially a massive open-air prison established to cut costs.

It covered more than ten thousand square kilometers. Prisoners could move about freely as long as they did not leave the island and endanger society outside.

The prisoners could do whatever they wanted on the island. Anyone could guess that it was paradise for the strong and hell for the weak, a chaotic kingdom unto itself.

It had once held only powerful Radiation Users or especially vicious criminals. Everyone had applauded then; no matter how brutal it was, it had nothing to do with ordinary people. It was simply a disguised form of the death penalty.

But now even ordinary criminals were being exiled here. Wasn't that just giving the powerful criminals an advantage?

Gaoxin stared hard at the man. "You're making that up, right? That's just some online conspiracy theory. Sin Prison Island has existed for over twenty years. Someone must have gotten out."

Some prisoners also looked over hopefully, wishing it was nonsense. After all, if not a single person had ever left alive, that was simply too despairing.

However, the hoarse man turned around and narrowed his eyes. "Conspiracy theory? Heh. Have you ever heard of anyone leaving?"

Gaoxin fell silent and shook his head. He had not. Sin Prison Island had been around for over twenty years; if anyone had completed their sentence and been released, it would certainly have made the news.

The hoarse man continued, "That's exactly it. The weak don't live long enough to finish their terms, while the strong don't want to leave..."

"If you have what it takes to rule the island, wouldn't that be more comfortable than living outside?"

As he spoke, he glanced at the tag on Gaoxin's chest. "Oh... You're a Glass Person. Then never mind."

There was something cruel in his smile, and his eyes were full of mockery.

Gaoxin's expression stiffened. He did not want to say anything more to the man. One look was enough to tell that he was a vicious criminal.

Besides, the tag on the chest of his blue-and-white prison uniform bore the name Xia Heng, along with a large embossed letter R.

He was a Radiation User... someone whose genes had recombined after receiving an excessive amount of radiation during the nuclear war.

Would a full-scale nuclear war wipe out humanity? The answer was no.

Humanity had proven through world war that even if every nuclear weapon on Earth were launched and the world was plunged into chaos, more than half of humanity would survive—around five billion people.

Remote rural areas and even some small county towns had not been affected by the nuclear blasts.

Many people had barely felt that the nuclear war had anything to do with them before the war ended...

However, the true cost was the radioactive material that continued to spread through the wind and water afterward.

During postwar reconstruction, the five billion survivors gradually absorbed massive amounts of radiation. Radiation sickness became the most common affliction after the war.

Some people absorbed nuclear radiation beyond the safety threshold, causing all their DNA to break apart.

Those who had been overexposed to radiation were almost impossible to treat. Their cells could no longer regenerate. Even with every available medical method, death could only be delayed, and they would ultimately die after prolonged torment.

Fortunately, the global government established after the war gathered humanity's foremost life scientists and, working with AI, invented a Gene Protectant.

After the drug became widespread, those suffering Gene Collapse underwent Gene Recombination. Thus were born Radiation Users capable of adapting to nuclear radiation, with greatly enhanced physical abilities.

After that, more and more people deliberately became Radiation Users. Thirty years after the war, there were already one billion Radiation Users worldwide, accounting for twenty percent of the population.

Ninety-nine percent of them were N-Type Radiation Users, the most common adaptation level.

The hoarse-voiced man before him belonged to the higher R-Class, a rare type of Radiation User.

How rare was that? Among this batch of prisoners, Gaoxin looked around and spotted only one other R-Class Radiation User at the edge of the line, a man named Mo Qiong.

Other than them, there were no R-Class Radiation Users, let alone anyone stronger.

"Ugh..." Gaoxin lowered his head. The tag on his own chest only bore his name and identification number.

This kind of prison uniform represented a normal Homo sapiens who had not undergone radiation mutation, colloquially known as a Glass Person.

There had been many cases in society where Radiation Users accidentally injured ordinary people. Gaoxin had seen plenty of news reports, such as "Man gets overly excited while shaking hands with former classmate, causing comminuted fracture in classmate's palm," "Man paralyzed from the waist down on his wedding night," and "Woman hugs boyfriend, causing his ribs to pierce his heart."

As incidents like these increased, Radiation Users gradually came to believe that ordinary people were far too easily injured in everyday interactions with them, so they mockingly called them Glass People.

There was reproductive isolation even between different types of Radiation Users, let alone between them and ordinary people. Physiologically, they were already different species.

It would have been great if I were a Radiation User too.

Those people can easily train themselves into having extraordinary physical abilities, exceptional senses, and even all kinds of astonishing powers. They're practically another species.

The Gene Protectant made by AI has a one-hundred-percent success rate. As long as you expose yourself to radioactive material until your genes collapse, then inject a dose, anyone can become a Radiation User.

But that stuff is damn expensive now. I missed the golden era of my parents' generation, when the medicine was handed out for free...

If... if I'd known I would be exiled here, I would've stolen or robbed for a dose if I had to.

Gaoxin muttered inwardly, secretly filled with regret.

But then he froze, grinding his teeth as indignation surged inside him. No, this isn't my fault. I was framed. I shouldn't be here at all!

Thinking of this, Gaoxin looked around unwillingly.

Sin Prison Island was already close, looming larger and larger in his vision. Once he set foot on it, no one would answer even if he cried to heaven.

From the time of his arrest through his trial, he had constantly insisted that he was innocent, but it had done no good.

But he was still on the warship transporting prisoners. Perhaps this was his last chance to plead his case and clear his name.

"Officer! Officer! I was framed!"

"How could I dare kill someone? I didn't even know that person!"

"I'm innocent! I'm really innocent! Don't send me to Sin Prison Island!"

A man suddenly began shouting, pleading with one of the naval guards nearby.

Gaoxin was stunned. Had others been framed too?

He was still wondering how to make his appeal when someone beat him to it—and even broke out of the prisoner line.

Bang!

A naval soldier stepped forward and kicked him. The man who had cried innocence was instantly sent flying.

He clutched his leg, trembling and wailing, unable to get up for a long time.

Then a white-uniformed officer walked over and said, "All of you, line up along the red lines on the deck!"

The prisoner who had been kicked over clutched his thigh. "Officer, my leg is broken!"

"I'll say it one more time. Glass Person, return to the line." The white-uniformed officer's gaze was ice-cold.

The prisoner with the broken leg wailed as he cried that he had been framed, but he still obediently returned to the line, struggling to crawl back to his original position.

The other prisoners instantly fell silent, not daring to make even the slightest sound.

Gaoxin lowered his head bitterly as well. He had no idea how many times he had pleaded innocence. If it had been of any use, he would not have ended up here.

His earlier thoughts had only been a final flicker of hope, but the fate of that man with the broken leg made him completely give up.

Whoosh! At that moment, a figure suddenly darted out, rushing at a sailor in a lightning-fast blur.

Someone had actually tried to escape while everyone's attention was on the man with the broken leg!

Pfft! The sailor was knocked unconscious in an instant. Before he had even fully fallen, the rifle in his hand had landed in the attacker's grasp.

Ratatatat!

His marksmanship was exceptional. He swept bullets toward sailors all across the warship in one fluid motion.

Accurate and swift, he directly shot the guns from every sailor's hands. Those soldiers were standing in different places and at different heights!

"I'm off." He chuckled and leaped into the sea, intending to leave in style.

The change had happened too quickly. Most people had not even reacted, and some had not yet turned to look.

But the white-uniformed officer had looked over. Not only that, his eyes flashed with electricity.

Literally. A scorching laser shot from his right eye and struck the fugitive squarely in the chest.

Boom! Only then did the muffled impact ring out. The target's chest exploded, and his body fell straight backward.

By the time everyone turned their attention over, smoke was already rising from the prisoner's chest. His flesh had split apart into charred black ruin, and the people around him could smell the burning.

Gaoxin saw that the dead man was Mo Qiong, the R-Class Radiation User.

"Ah..." The prisoners cried out in horror.

The moment they began to stir, the sailors around them immediately picked up their guns.

However, all the guns had been damaged. Mo Qiong had accurately destroyed dozens of weapons at the scene.

Even so, no one dared move rashly or attempt to flee.

They could only watch as the white-uniformed officer calmly walked to the corpse.

Part of his right eye was slightly scorched black. What had looked like a lifelike eyeball was now completely exposed as an electronic eye, glimmering with a dark red light.

"Damn it, it gets this dry every time I use it."

The officer pulled out something resembling a spray bottle and a forehead thermometer. Cursing under his breath, he raised his head, pried open his eye socket with one hand, and aimed the device at his right eye with the other, pressing it repeatedly as though applying eye drops.

After a while, when he moved the spray bottle away, the electronic eye with its slight charred ash was no longer visible. All that could be seen was an eyeball no different from a normal person's.

"He's a Cyborg..." Only then did Gaoxin recognize the officer's identity. He was a half-machine human with a Prosthetic Body modification, but the coating on his prosthetics was so high-quality that he looked no different from an ordinary person.

It had been too fast. Who could dodge a laser? With little more than a glance, he had killed a clearly powerful Radiation User prisoner.

Gaoxin did not know their exact power difference, but there was no doubting the officer's strength.

At the same time, the officer's indifference chilled Gaoxin's heart. He had killed a man with a glance, yet only cared whether his eye was dry.

He was clearly used to it. And if that was the case, how little must the real criminals on the island care about life?

The moment they had been sentenced to exile on Sin Prison Island, their lives had already become worthless.

"I am Major Adams, captain of this prisoner transport warship. I know some of you are still harboring foolish thoughts..."

After fixing his eye, Major Adams continued surveying the prisoners and lectured, "Every month when I transport prisoners, I have to deal with this once or twice."

"I advise you to give up those thoughts early and behave yourselves."

As he spoke, Adams kicked Mo Qiong's corpse into the sea. The man had said he was leaving, but a single laser had sent him on his way.

"I really don't want to kill people, especially not an R-Class Radiation User. What a waste. He was the strongest one here. He should've waited until he got ashore to die."

"We're almost there. What was the rush? Once you reach the island, you're no longer my problem, yet you insist on opposing me. What were you thinking?"

Major Adams spoke with genuine regret, as though he had suffered a great loss, leaving everyone confused.

But no one dared speak. For a while, the deck was utterly silent.

Adams curled his lip and ordered the soldiers, "Speed up. The sooner we deliver them, the sooner we're done."

The ship immediately accelerated. A few minutes later, the warship arrived within a few hundred meters of the island.

There was no harbor here. Exiles had always simply been dumped somewhere along the coast. Though the water in this area was not shallow, the warship could not get any closer.

Adams pointed at the sea. "All right. Jump in one by one according to your order in line."

"What?" Many prisoners erupted in protest. They were just going to find a spot by the island and throw them into the sea?

"Officer, it's still so far away. Do we just jump in and swim over?"

"Please, I can't swim."

"Me too, Officer. My leg is broken. How am I supposed to swim?"

Several prisoners could not help begging, especially the man with the broken leg. His face had gone white. In his condition, there was no way he could swim several hundred meters.

However, Adams merely repeated himself, ignoring their pleas entirely.

Splash!

A prisoner who knew better said nothing more. The first man in line took off his shirt and jumped in.

The people behind him followed helplessly. One after another, they lined up and entered the sea like dumplings dropping into a pot.

"Officer, my leg really is broken. Could you let me stay on the ship until I recover, then send me to the island?"

"I promise I'll go obediently then. Really, I promise!"

The man with the broken leg begged through sobs, but his words only made the major slightly raise a hand.

At the same time, a group of soldiers carrying freshly armed rifles emerged from the cabin and raised their weapons.

There was no doubt that if they refused, they would truly be shot dead!

Splash! Gaoxin had no time to watch anyone else. When his turn came, he did not look back. Facing the vast sea, he leaped straight into the water.

Though there was no strong wind, the waves were still rough. Gaoxin fixed his eyes on the direction and swam toward Sin Prison Island with all his strength.

Behind him, more splashes rang out, along with cries for help.

Clearly, the man with the broken leg had still jumped down, but his miserable cries made Gaoxin unable to resist looking back.

Yet he could no longer see the man, and the cries had vanished as well, as though everything had been swallowed by the waves.

That man was probably not going to survive.

Gaoxin did not pause in the slightest. He swam even faster, though he could not help feeling a sense of sorrow for another's misfortune.

The man had claimed to be someone wronged just like him. He had merely cried out about the injustice, yet before he had even set foot on the island, he had already drowned by the shore.

How could Gaoxin possibly feel good about that? He felt even more uneasy about everything he was about to face.

P.S.: Sorry. Farewell, Black Emperor.