Robbery

The seats were arranged in a row of three. Dias sat to Xilin's right, while a boy about his age sat to Xilin's left.

After sitting down, the boy squirmed around in his seat for a while, seeming rather anxious. When he noticed Xilin frowning slightly, he tugged at the corner of his mouth and said, "Hey, don't be nervous. The passenger ships departing from planet X-C100 all follow carefully calculated flight paths. They're nothing like ships from other planets—their safety ratings are dozens of times higher. The chance of encountering abnormal magnetic fields is less than 0.01%, and the odds of running into Interstellar Bandits are even lower. Besides, flights from X-C100 are protected by Special Law..."

Listening to the boy's rambling, which sounded mostly like he was trying to reassure himself, Xilin caught the slight upward curl of Dias's lips and couldn't help thinking the guy looked a little too pleased with himself.

Once the passenger ship entered Warp Flight, the conversations gradually died down. The passengers had to devote more of their attention to suppressing the discomfort caused by the journey, while Xilin closed his eyes, reclined his seat, pulled up the blanket, and went to sleep.

Watching Xilin, Dias couldn't help finding it amusing. The kid was sleeping soundly—he must be used to this. His physical and mental resilience were both impressive.

What Dias didn't know was that this was actually Xilin's first time sleeping during Warp Flight. Even so, every hair on Xilin's body remained alert to his surroundings, especially to hostile intent. The slightest trace of it would wake him.

But Xilin hadn't been asleep for long when a sudden jolt woke him.

"Electromagnetic Interference and the Obstacle Field have affected the steering controls, and the Pulse Drive isn't functioning properly either. The Operating System won't hold out for long under these conditions. The passenger ship is dropping out of Warp Flight." Dias calmly analyzed the situation. "I'd guess someone's deliberately interfering with us. If I'm right, we've run into Interstellar Bandits."

At the mention of "Electromagnetic Interference and the Obstacle Field," the boy beside Xilin turned deathly pale. Dias's later words—"Interstellar Bandits"—were more than he could take, and the poor kid promptly fainted.

Dias hadn't spoken loudly, so only the three of them nearby could hear him. The other passengers were making their own guesses, but they all had one thing in common: fear.

Another violent jolt shook the ship. After a crackle of static, a deep, arrogant voice rang throughout the passenger ship.

"Sorry, dear passengers, but we'll be taking over this ship for the time being. If you don't want to die, stay quietly in your seats. The guns we're holding don't negotiate. Oh, and one more thing: I don't like noise. Anyone who screams will get to keep company with the chunks of rock floating in space."

Interstellar Bandits!

The passenger cabin filled with hurried, anxious breathing and sobs.

Xilin considered the situation. If these bandits had dared to hijack a passenger ship from planet X-C100, they must have planned carefully. They'd evaded the Security Team patrols and taken down all the ship's guards in a short time, without any major struggle or explosions. That was enough to make it nine times out of ten that they had accomplices aboard. And thanks to the Special Law protecting passenger ships traveling between planets, anyone who wantonly killed passengers would be relentlessly hunted down by the military. Judging by the bandits' tone, they probably weren't planning to kill anyone aboard for now. The guards had likely only been incapacitated temporarily, too. Still, nothing was certain. They were bandits, after all. Who knew if they might take a dislike to someone and put a bullet in him?

Xilin glanced at Dias, who was lounging beside him with one leg crossed and idly swinging it. He figured this whole thing definitely had something to do with the guy. Great, now he was caught in the crossfire. Still, more than anything, Xilin was curious about what this A-Class Genotype guy was up to.

Before long, more than a dozen bandits wearing grotesque masks and carrying guns came in. They walked straight up to Dias, pointing more than a dozen guns at him.

"Get up. You're coming with us!"

Dias cooperated readily, spreading his arms and opening his hands to show he had no intention of resisting.

"Oh, right." Dias had already taken a couple of steps when he turned back to Xilin. "Hey, buddy, keep an eye on my food for me. I haven't eaten much of that box of Compressed Tortillas."

Xilin's eyebrow twitched. Damn it, were they close or something? What did he care if Dias hadn't finished his tortillas? And who'd be bored enough to steal his half-eaten food, complete with obvious bite marks, in a situation like this? He was clearly trying to drag Xilin into this!...

Sure enough, the bandit leading the group pointed his gun at Xilin. "Take him too!"

Xilin had no doubt that Dias's eyes behind his sunglasses were gleaming with foxlike amusement.

The other passengers in the cabin hardly dared breathe, afraid the bandits might turn their attention to them.

With more than a dozen guns trained on them, Xilin and Dias were taken to the Main Control Room. The captain and helmsmen lay unconscious in a corner, tossed there. Just as Xilin had expected, the bandits hadn't killed them. What would happen next was anyone's guess.

"Boss, we've brought them."

The man sitting in the captain's chair swiveled around, idly handling a gun. He wore a mask too, but rather than looking at Xilin, he stared straight at Dias. "Where is it?"

They had already searched all the luggage stored in the cargo hold, but hadn't found what they were looking for.

Dias didn't pretend not to understand. "I have it on me."

The man's hand paused as he toyed with the gun. "Take it out."

Nearly twenty guns were pointed at Dias. If he made the slightest suspicious move, they'd shoot.

Dias shrugged. "I'll give it to you, but be careful not to let those guns go off. If I die, you won't get your hands on it."

As he spoke, Dias shook his arm. A silver ring slid down to his wrist. He touched something on it, and the slender ring turned into a bracelet three centimeters wide.

A Subspace Product! And a remarkably high-quality one, too. That little ring alone was worth far, far more than the passenger ship!

The bandits knew what they were looking at. Even with their masks on, Xilin could tell their eyes were gleaming greedily.

Dias took out a large black case. Xilin had seen it in the dining hall. He hadn't imagined that the case Dias had been openly carrying around was the bandits' target. Xilin had no doubt it was valuable, but Dias was being way too conspicuous!

He'd done it on purpose. There was no way he hadn't!

Every muscle in Xilin's body tensed, ready for action. Dias was a crafty bastard; there was no way he'd give in that easily.

Dias pulled out the case and tossed it straight to the man in the captain's chair. Just as the man was about to catch it, every light in the control room went out.

Damn, he really had made his move!

Just before the lights went out, Xilin saw a point on Dias's bracelet flash. At the same time, a strange Interference Wave swept through the room. Most people wouldn't have noticed it, but the chip inside Xilin reacted. He immediately sprang into action and dodged.

Sure enough, darkness was followed by a volley of gunfire and blazing bolts of light.

Dias had made his move!

Xilin didn't need night-vision lenses. His eyes adapted on their own: rod cells grew across his retinas, and his pupils expanded to cover ninety percent of the surface of his eyeballs. The flash from a single Laser Gun firing was enough for Xilin to see the entire control room clearly, let alone the volley of shots from all those guns. To him, it was as if someone had switched on a floodlight.

Dias truly lived up to his A-Class Genotype. His movements were decisive, his strikes precise, and every blow landed. Without even using a weapon, he took down most of the bandits in the span of a single breath. He didn't kill them outright, only incapacitated them.

Xilin didn't think Dias was showing mercy. Through a Hunter's eyes, living bandits were worth more than dead ones.

One bandit pulled out a backup light source, but even with the room lit, they could barely track Dias's movements. He was too fast for them to get a shot lined up. The bandits had clearly never imagined the whole control room would go dark, either; they hadn't brought infrared goggles or scanning electronic lenses.

The whole thing took less than ten seconds. The bandits had been utterly routed—the difference in strength was obvious.

The last bandit was clever. He grabbed an unconscious crew member and held him in front of himself as a hostage. But before he could say a word, there was a sharp crack from his throat. He was the only one of the bandits in the control room who died.

"I hate it when people threaten me." Dias's voice was perfectly calm, as if he were stating a simple fact everyone already knew.

Once everything was over, all the lights came back on, and the control room was bright again. Xilin's eyes returned to normal.

Without even glancing at Xilin, who was standing nearby, Dias fiddled with several control panels.

A large screen unfolded. Intersecting coordinate lines raced across it, then locked onto several fast-moving points: bandits who had been patrolling elsewhere in the passenger cabins and fled when they realized things were going badly.

Once the targets were locked on, Dias didn't hesitate to fire the Photon Torpedoes installed on the passenger ship. Xilin's mouth twitched. Using the passenger ship's Photon Torpedoes required entering several layers of passwords, didn't it? Had this guy really cracked them that quickly?

Flashes of explosions burst one after another like fireworks. The bandits' fighters were blown to pieces.

"Yeah!" Dias hummed a little tune and danced a few steps. After picking up the case from the floor and putting it away, he came over to Xilin. "The Security Team will be here in a minute. Hey, Xilin, not to criticize you, but when you heard about the Interstellar Bandits, you should've looked panicked. When you saw their guns, you should've been terrified, not calmly expressionless. The passenger ship's surveillance cameras record every passenger's expression and every move. Acting like you did makes it obvious you're hiding something, and the Security Team will take you back for a very thorough interrogation." Dias put special emphasis on "very thorough."

Xilin shot Dias a sidelong glance. "So? You deliberately sat next to me to drag me into this mess, didn't you?"

Dias chuckled and didn't deny it.

"After a bandit attack, the Passenger Transport Company and the Security Team will pay the passengers compensation. If you're willing to injure yourself, they'll pay even more."

Xilin neither confirmed nor denied it.