The sightseeing ship arrived at Jerr's harbor three days later.
The first thing Gu Ding did was get off the ship. Noami waved goodbye to him through the window, while Gu Ding replied casually by lifting his hand. Then, Gu Ding rented a hovercar and left the harbor.
“Where would you like to go, sir?”
“To Leoben Prison,” Gu Ding lowered his voice and replied expressionlessly.
Noami called her team members with her communicator after watching Gu Ding leave in the hovercar. “King Kong, I believe all of you are here? Gather at the harbor. I have two missions to hand over to you.”
“Boss lady, you're giving us missions now? Do they have something to do with Gu Ding's crew?” a rough voice was heard over the communicator.
Noami laughed as she replied, “I wish they did, but they just involve the arrest of a few dumb hijackers and a bomb that we need to get rid of.”
“We're on our way!”
On the other side of Jerr, Gu Ding could be seen arriving at Leoben Prison's front gates.
Gu Ding took a look at his surroundings. The walls of the prison were made out of carbide alloy. They had a silver-grey color under the sunlight. No other colors adorned the walls, and they gave off a grim atmosphere. All four corners of the prison were just as Noami had described. Someone was watching each angle, and the security was tight.
Neptune transformed itself into a single strand of hair on Gu Ding's head. Gu Ding put on a random intelligent wrist.w.a.tch on his hand and walked in a straight line toward the main gate.
The first gate Gu Ding approached was for visitor registration. The wrist.w.a.tch on Gu Ding's hand was activated by Neptune, and Gu Ding's fake ident.i.ty was put into the wrist.w.a.tch. All it took was the intelligent wrist.w.a.tch to be scanned for Gu Ding's fake ident.i.ty to be recorded.
'Name: Phillis'
'Gender: Male'
'Age: 21'
'Are You Wanted: No'
The second gate was a security check. Gu Ding removed the intelligent wrist.w.a.tch on his hand. With Neptune's help, he successfully pa.s.sed the security check.
The third gate was a body inspection carried out by the prison guards.
“I'm sorry, you're not allowed to put on your intelligent wrist.w.a.tch when you enter. Our prison has to prevent hacker attacks.” A prison guard reached out his hand after searching Gu Ding's body.
Gu Ding pa.s.sed his intelligent wrist.w.a.tch to him and finally understood the reason why Neptune had gotten him to put on another intelligent wrist.w.a.tch.
The fourth gate was a holographic x-ray examination. Neptune tweaked it a bit to avoid being detected as a fake strand of hair. Otherwise, he would have looked different compared to Gu Ding's real hair under the x-ray.
After pa.s.sing the fourth security examination, Gu Ding was brought to someone else by the prison guard.
“Who will you be visiting?” a woman in gla.s.ses greeted him.
“Perrett.” A strange feeling began to stir within Gu Ding when he said the name. He felt somewhat nervous.
“What is your relationship with the person you are visiting?” the woman in gla.s.ses continued to ask.
“To be exact, we're not related. I grew up listening to legendary stories about him, which is why I am taking the time to visit him since I'm pa.s.sing by Jerr,” Gu Ding did not lie when answering the question.
“Okay. This is the first time I'm hearing such a reason for visiting. Under such circ.u.mstances whereby the visitor is not related to him, it is up to him if he is willing to see you. If he refuses to meet you, then so be it, we can't force him to see you. So, have a seat first while I inform him about your visit,” the woman in gla.s.ses dialed a number as she said this.
“There is a visitor here for 073925. I've forwarded the visitor's information to you. Please check if he is willing to see the visitor.”
“073925, there's a visitor for you!” A dialog box suddenly popped up out of nowhere in a completely white room.
A man with an eyepatch over one eye stood up. Most of his left leg had been replaced with a metallic artificial limb. His right hand was the same.
He lifted his left hand and clicked on the visitor's information.
'Name: Phillis'
'Gender: Male'
'Age: 21'
'Reason For Visit: Grew up listening to legendary stories about Perrett and wanted to take the time to visit him since the visitor is pa.s.sing by Jerr.'
There was a picture of Gu Ding in disguise on the top right-hand corner of the promp.
“I thought an old friend suddenly thought of me while pa.s.sing by this place.” Perrett was a little hesitant. This visitor was obviously a stranger, and he was not fond of interacting with people he did not know because they always had a hidden agenda for trying to get to know him.
“Grew up listening to stories about me? Although it might not be the real reason for his visit, it sounds like an interesting reason to visit me. I've got free time anyway, might as well find out what that young man wants from me.”
After about two minutes, the woman in gla.s.ses nodded at Gu Ding. “He's willing to accept your visit. I'll take you to him now.”
Not long after, someone in a guard's uniform came over to Gu Ding.
Gu Ding was stunned when he saw who it was.
The prison guard had an antagonistic look on his face, and his body was shaped like a ball. He also had very short legs.
“Pearson?! What is he doing here? It's a good thing that he hasn't recognized you. Remember to speak in a low voice and slow down when you talk,” Gu Ding could hear Neptune's voice in his ears.
“Follow me!” Pearson lifted his head to glance at Gu Ding once before turning around, expressionless.
Gu Ding followed him from behind and entered a room. Then, after closing the door, he stood at the entrance of the room. It did not seem like he was planning on leaving.
“I checked the prison name list once more. This guy is Pearson and not someone who merely looks like him. I've also looked into his records. He just immigrated to Faye Cosmic Nation last week. He has a relative in Faye Cosmic Nation who's a viscount and has some form of status here. Additionally, with his resume, it was easy for him to get hired at Leoben Prison. He just pa.s.sed the interview yesterday and this is his first day of work.” Neptune had re-checked the list of employees in the prison and found Pearson's name on it. The last time Neptune looked through the list was three days ago, and Pearson's name was not on it back then.
Perret was soon brought over by another prison guard. After entering the room, that prison guard did not leave as well.
The fully bearded Perret sat opposite Gu Ding. He narrowed his eyes and tried to size Gu Ding up.
“You're much taller, and are a larger person than I thought…” Gu Ding's first few words sounded weird.
“Thanks for the compliment, young man. Eat more food rich in calcium and exercise often. You're only twenty-one years old, there's still room for you to grow.” Perret could vaguely sense that the person's reason for visiting him was true based on his first few words.
“I'm really happy to be able to meet you in person. I've always thought of it as just wishful thinking of mine.” Gu Ding could not help but want to smile widely. However, Neptune suddenly gave him a warning.
“Don't spread that smile on your face!”
His trademark smile was easily recognizable. At the very least, Pearson was unable to detect anything unusual while Gu Ding spoke in a low and slow voice.
“Young man, tell me, what do you want from me?” Perret cut straight to the chase.
“Can I take a look at your eye?” Gu Ding pointed at Perret's eye patch.
Perret nodded graciously and took off his eyepatch. A robotic eyeball was revealed.
“That's so cool!” Gu Ding could not help but exclaim.
“I think so too,” Perret felt that this person seemed to have something in common with him.
“I grew up in a tavern, and I've heard a lot of stories about you from others. Was your eye really poked out by a Rank 10 Gene Body Beastly Iron-feathered Crow? Or was it poked out by a Rank 11 Gene Body Exploding Bird?” Gu Ding could not help but ask.
Perret laughed and shook his head after hearing both versions of the story from Gu Ding. “Wow, when did the rumors become so far-fetched? Who made up those stories? My eye was shot off by a Federal Government gunner not long after my debut. The bullet remained in my brain until it was safely removed after six operations. I was quite close to becoming a vegetable.”
“So, that's the true story?”
Gu Ding asked another question, “What about your right hand? Was your crew being hunted by a Rank 12 Gene Body beast? Did you cut off your arm to feed that huge beast in order to save your companions?”
“That story is even more far-fetched. I did cut off my right arm but not because of the reason you just told me. It was because of gambling. There was a time when I was addicted to gambling and every time I arrived at a planet, the first thing I did was run toward the casino. I wasted a lot of time in casinos. There was once a time when I got too deep into the game and lost my entire s.p.a.ceship to someone else. As a result, many of my crew brothers lost their faith in me and left me, among them was my second-in-command. That night, I cut off my right arm in front of all my brothers and swore that if such a thing were to happen again, I would chop off my head. I've quit gambling ever since then.”
“It still sounds really admirable. What about your left leg?” Gu Ding thought that the story still gave him satisfaction.
“What was the story you heard?” This time, Perrett was the one who was interested in Gu Ding's story.
“I heard that it was bitten off by a powerful gene beast while you were attempting to save a child,” Gu Ding told him the version of the story he had heard at the tavern.
Perrett once again told him the original version of the story of what had happened. “It was because of a child, but it didn't get bitten off by a gene beast. A house near an Interstellar harbor was on fire, and I saw a child trapped by flames in a house. I ran inside to save the child. Unexpectedly, the house collapsed from the high heat. I managed to save the child, but my left leg ended up being trapped by debris. By the time I was saved, I realized that my entire left leg had been burned to a crisp. There was nothing I could do but head to the local hospital and get fitted with an artificial limb.”
Gu Ding smiled. “I think your version of the story is much better. Don't you feel scared and despondent after experiencing all these situations?”
“Of course, I was scared. When I had the bullet removed all those years ago, I was worried that the surgery would fail, and I would end up dying on the operating table when there are still so many things I have not achieved. I was once depressed as well. When my left leg was amputated, I regretted saving that child for a while. It was only later that I finally understood that if I was met with the same situation a second time, I would still make the same choice. Don't you think that we only end up becoming stronger because of all these emotions? It is because of pain and fear that we are motivated to make ourselves stronger. It is because of misery and sadness that we try our hardest to become resilient…”
Gu Ding and Perrett chatted for a long time for more than half an hour. They had to end their conversation under the insistence of the two prison guards.
When it was time to say goodbye to Perrett, Gu Ding smiled widely. “Perrett, I'll definitely visit you again when I have the chance.”
At that moment, upon seeing Gu Ding's smiling face, the look on Pearson's face changed instantly. “You're really Gu Ding!”
