Chapter 83: Choose the Army?

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Choose the Army?

"So, what was your original plan?"

Master Chang asked Xiang Yi this question after getting a general understanding of his Spiritual Ability.

Xiang Yi thought about his plans from the past few days and said, "My original plan? I was going to lie low for a while, earn some money to get a legal identity, and figure out how to buy a ship ticket and skip town. If I couldn’t get an ID, I was even willing to try stowing away."

"The prison doesn’t seem to dare put an official bounty on me, so I figured I could just run far away, hide from the company, and things would blow over after some time."

"But as it turns out... it’s not that simple."

"It’s definitely not that simple," Master Chang said. "The ports on our planet have been slowly closing. Forget stowing away, they wouldn’t let an alien rat slip through."

Xiang Yi had already learned this information from the robot, but he suddenly remembered that Master Chang had just mentioned having a friend help investigate his situation.

’Could this friend be someone from the government?’

So Xiang Yi asked, "What kind of trouble has the Planet Government run into that they have to seal the ports?"

Master Chang hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "It’s hard to say."

"You’ll probably find out in time. The bottom line is, you can’t leave this planet right now."

"I see..."

To avoid any misunderstanding, Master Chang added, "It’s the same for everyone. Just go online and see if there are any tickets for interstellar voyages available lately. You’ll see what I mean."

It seemed Master Chang didn’t want to talk much about government affairs, but his words seemed to imply he did indeed have connections with government officials.

Master Chang’s friendly attitude toward him could be taken as an indirect sign that the government’s stance was at least neutral.

Xiang Yi had actually been wondering why there was no news from the government. He had clearly left some irremovable traces on the spaceship; they would have surely found him if they investigated the crash site.

As it turned out, something must have happened that made them swamped with work, leaving them with no time to bother with a small fry like him.

In that case, his plans could indeed shift toward settling here for the long term, at least until the ports reopened.

And it just so happened that besides Ning Ye, he now seemed to have a new option...

Master Chang’s earlier question about Xiang Yi’s plans had clearly been for a reason.

Seeing that Xiang Yi seemed to have mulled over his previous answer enough, he said, "Let me tell you about your situation."

"You might not realize this, but a charge of ’crimes against humanity’ isn’t just handed out lightly. You must have been implicated in something."

"I was implicated?"

Xiang Yi frowned, because his current memories contained nothing related to this.

His earliest memory was of being taken to that Asteroid Prison on a ship.

"I don’t remember, but I guess it doesn’t matter."

"Anyway, I can’t confront the prison head-on right now. I just need to find a way to escape to a place the company can’t find me."

Xiang Yi was a transmigrator. He hadn’t fully acquired the memories of this world’s Xiang Yi, only scattered fragments.

He felt no sense of belonging to this identity. To him, abandoning it and starting over in some corner of the universe was no big deal at all.

"You can’t escape."

Master Chang’s tone was grave, as if he was afraid Xiang Yi wouldn’t grasp his meaning.

"That prison may just be an Asteroid Prison, but the Iron Shell Company behind it is no small firm limited to a Star System or a Core Star System Group. It’s a corporation that spans Star Realms, with the power to operate on the scale of Star Zones and entire Star Realms."

"Simply running away will get you nowhere. You have to find a way to clear your name. You must find a way to fight back."

"I can’t escape?"

"You can’t even break the lockdown imposed by the Planet Government of this small planet in a Border Star Realm. What makes you think you can escape the Iron Shell Company’s pursuit?"

Xiang Yi had to admit Master Chang had a point.

If he had a choice, he would also choose to fight back.

Just as he had told himself before, constantly hiding would only lead to being cornered until he was dead.

He had to be proactive and find a path to survival in the narrowest of openings.

But he couldn’t find an opportunity. He couldn’t even get to the prison’s warden, let alone find out who was so determined to frame him for crimes against humanity and have him killed.

’What else could he do?’

All he could think of was to first find an opportunity to escape the pursuit. Only then could he consider whether to fight back or to disappear completely, beyond the Iron Shell Company’s reach.

Xiang Yi could feel Master Chang’s concern, but he couldn’t help but think that fighting back seemed even more difficult.

"How do I fight back?"

"You’re a Spiritual Ability User. Once you become so powerful that no one dares to hunt you, it’ll be the company’s turn to be terrified."

"Or, you could find a way to investigate your own case, uncover the truth, and get evidence. Wouldn’t the charges against you collapse on their own then?"

"If that ’crimes against humanity’ charge is lifted from you, then someone else will have to take it."

Hearing this, Xiang Yi couldn’t help but say, "That doesn’t sound like something I can do right now, or even anytime soon."

"It is indeed extremely difficult, but you have another option."

After all his build-up, Master Chang finally revealed his true purpose.

"I can provide you with a safe environment for the time being. And then... I can help you contact the military and get you into the same army I served in."

"When I retired, I was on good terms with a few old comrades who later got promoted. As long as they look at your file and see that your background is clean—don’t worry about minor issues, they’ll probably overlook them for my sake."

"With your skills, you won’t starve in the army, at the very least. And you won’t have to worry about being wanted anymore."

"You’re a Spiritual Ability User," Master Chang emphasized again. "One day you’ll become powerful. You need a safe environment to grow."

He was being completely serious with Xiang Yi.

The Spiritual Power Xiang Yi had just displayed made Master Chang genuinely consider mentoring him.

He didn’t want to see Xiang Yi waste his best years on the run from some unknown enemy.

He didn’t want to see Xiang Yi waste time that should have been spent learning new skills and improving himself.

He wanted to give Xiang Yi a chance to join the military and serve humanity.

"The military, huh..."

This was an idea that had never occurred to Xiang Yi before.

After all, he was technically a criminal. His biggest fear was running into law enforcement agencies like the police.

The military stood above all other instruments of force. And under the Human Federation Military Government, the military’s status was even more elevated.

Yet here was Master Chang, dead serious, talking about sending him into the military.

It was truly hard to believe.

Xiang Yi was already seriously considering the first two paths Master Chang had mentioned. As for the military...