That chicken-headed creature spoke to Jia Rong through gritted teeth.
"Thatâs right, itâs not like we wanted to be some damned bandits. I should really curse to death the policymaker who came up with this crap."
The Pig-headed monsters on the other side agreed with the chicken-headed one so much they couldnât agree more, and one of them was even more extreme, saying if that policymaker was standing right here, he wouldnât be able to stop himself from killing that person.
In reality, that policymaker was indeed right beside them.
After listening to this group of creatures, Jia Rong was completely stunned.
"How... how could this be? Wasnât this policy supposed to be a good thing? Let everyone at least have a place to live, and then slowly develop and rebuild, build their new homes... how did it turn into this?"
Jia Rong was a little dazed.
"Heh, what, you donât even know whatâs going on here? Figures. People with good Luck generally manage to get normal residency in other districts. They donât have any good feelings toward people like us living in the slums. Someone like you probably lives far away from here and has no idea thereâs even such a thing as a slum on this planet."
The chicken-headed monster was like divine backup, helpfully supplying Jia Rong with a reason why he wouldnât know.
"Yeah, he definitely doesnât know about our side, otherwise he wouldnât be walking through the kind of place even normal residents donât dare to step into."
The Monsters suddenly seemed to see the light. Theyâd originally been wondering why catching Jia Rong had been so ridiculously easy. Normally, any resident who came near their turf would be extremely wary of the Path, since the poor folks here were always grabbing hostages.
"Alright, donât be too nervous. We know ordinary civilians on this planet donât have much money. You just need to go see our technician over there, swipe your card on his machine, let us take a portion of your money, and thatâll be it."
"No idea which bastard set up this whole system. We canât even manage basic living, but the planetâs independent financial card and all the supporting nonsense, that they somehow managed to roll out. I figure that guyâs an idiot with zero actual governance Ability."
When the chicken-headed Monster mentioned the one who set the planetâs policy, his tone was thick with contempt.
After all, anyone could tell that this policymaker did have some knowledge, but it was all on paper. From the very start, heâd drafted a pile of comprehensive policies, yet the basic survival issues hadnât been dealt with at all.
"Uh..."
Jia Rong felt that everything heâd done before had been completely in vain. Heâd been busting his ass trying to get every matter on the planet in order, even thinking that in the future people would say heâd worked himself to death for the cause.
He hadnât expected this to be the result.
As they approached the slum, all the buildings he saw were either made of dirt or of something like planks of woodâeverything constructed from the most ordinary and cheapest materials. Thanks to the power of interstellar Technology, at least they could still block the wind, but on this planet they absolutely counted as the most basic and bottom-tier buildings.
The place they led Jia Rong to was a house that could be considered decent among these structures.
Of course, only relatively decent. Outside the house, a huge heap of junk was piled up: things like busted spaceship hulls, half-dismantled high-tech kidsâ toys, and driverless cars, and so on.
"This is the Lord with the best Technology in our area."
A creature that looked like a Dolphin was using mechanical arms to repair something. The chicken-headed Monsters pointed at him and said he was the one with the best repair Technology around here.
Jia Rong glanced back and noticed that the signal jammer on the Pig Monsterâs back looked very similar in style to what this Dolphin creature made, so he immediately had a pretty good idea where their Firearms and other tech came from.
But to Jia Rong, this was just an ordinary repairer, nothing remarkable. In a technology-driven World, talents like this were as common as carp crossing the river.
"Oh? Let me see this. You actually brought me a creature that looks like an Earth person. What, he also lives in the outer districts?"
The Dolphin turned his head, saw that Jia Rong looked very much like an Earth person, and couldnât help being a little surprised. At the same time, there was a hint of thoughtfulness in his eyes.
"Thatâs right, heâs also a resident from outside. We grabbed him to make him hand over ransom. Mr. Haishan, please have him swipe his card."
The chicken-headed Monster walked up toward the Dolphin.
"You donât look like just an ordinary resident. Say itâwho are you?"
The Dolphin didnât go along with the chicken-headâs words at all. He just kept a slightly cold face and questioned Jia Rong.
"What? Heâs not an ordinary resident?"
"Huh? His strength is only Earth Level, and heâs not ordinary? Howâs that possible?"
The group of escorts were instantly stunned and suddenly became wary of Jia Rong.
They were afraid Jia Rong was an undercover from the authorities.
"Hehe, thatâs right, Iâm not some ordinary resident. And I didnât expect that on this planet, someone has even hidden his own strength so well that I didnât notice."
Jia Rong finally laughed. This time his laugh was nothing like the timid act heâd put on earlier. It was as if his true nature had been unshackled, and a strange,ćŠćŒ aura was suddenly very obvious.
"You must be someone from upstairs, right? What, a little patrol in disguise? Seems your status is pretty high."
When the Dolphin heard Jia Rong say he wasnât an ordinary creature, his expression froze for a moment, though his hands never stopped moving over the item he was repairing.
"Mm, youâre right, I am from upstairs. Sir... no, perhaps I should be calling you a former high-ranking officer of the Imperial Fleet, correct? Your strength should be Semi-permanent Star Level. To have reached this level, no wonder none of our people detected you. Tell me, what do you plan to do on this planet?"
Jia Rong smiled lightly, seemingly not afraid of this Semi-permanent star being at all, and walked casually over to the Devices he was repairing.
Some of these things were pretty high-end, some were extremely low-end. No matter how he looked, Jia Rong didnât see anything particularly dangerous, nor did it seem like this place was being set up with some Devices to sabotage anything. Or rather, even if sabotage were done here, it wouldnât have much impact.
"Hehe, you really are from upstairs, Lord, and youâre not afraid of my strength. Judging from your pressure, your strength should only be at Respect Level, and yet you carry this kind of presence. If itâs not because you have a towering magnanimity, then itâs because you have something to rely on. Fine, Lord, Iâll tell you. I stayed on this planet because I truly donât want to do anything anymore. I just want to remain here and contribute a little to its development."
"Hm?"
Jia Rong was slightly taken aback when he heard this.
"Perhaps you wonât believe me. As a former high-level of the Imperial Fleet, why would I stay here? In fact, when the Fleet retreated, I really did have a chance to leave with them. But when we passed this planet, I looked down at this world that I myself had once ordered to be ravaged and slaughtered, and suddenly felt awful inside. I felt I had to do something for the people here. Call it atonement if you want, or call it me looking for psychological comfort, whatever. In the end I stayed, and became an ordinary repair Master, planning to spend the rest of my life here."
"But now that youâve come and found me, I wonât overthink it anymore. Of course, I wonât surrender with my hands tied. Kill me or fight me, thatâs up to you."
The Dolphinâs words left the chicken-heads and Pig-headed monsters all stunned. For a moment, they had no idea what to say.
They had always thought this Dolphin with good repair Ability was just thatâa decent technician. They never imagined he was actually a Semi-permanent Star Level Strong One. Apparently, he was one of those who didnât grow huge even after becoming powerful.
And the hostage theyâd brought in was also someone with quite a background. Even if he was "only" Respect Level, to them, a Respect Level Strong One was an absolutely terrifying existence.
As the situation grew more and more tense, almost on the verge of eruptingâ
"Hehehe, I see!"
Jia Rong suddenly laughed.