Zhou Yi took another look at Kunming Station.

This was, so far, the smallest architectural lifeform he'd ever seen.

But the intelligence and communication abilities it displayed were undeniably the strongest.

Kunming Station said that this was related to its function.

As a satellite receiving station, it continuously acquired various kinds of information provided by the satellites in high altitude, with a dedicated direct channel, allowing it to absorb external information in a way far exceeding its peers... Years of accumulation of such information had shaped its powerful cognition.

Zhou Yi suspected that it was the brain trust here.

Although facing the pressure from Star Axis, this place would surely shine and enter a period of rapid development as long as it held on.

Recruiting other architectural lifeforms was impossible, but making good karma was also good.

Zhou Yi gained a lot from this visit, but his companion, Qin Xie, looked disappointed.

"But there's no Flying Star reaction here either; the Star Measuring Device didn't even light up."

He held a small, square metal block in his hand and stuck it to the concrete surface of Kunming Station, resembling a doctor making a diagnosis.

"The Flying Star is indeed not here."

Qin Xie packed up his device and gave up completely.

Zhou Yi thought, of course.

The two Flying Stars that had previously come here were in the sky, acting as Kunming Station's far-seeing eyes, and the third Flying Star was still in prison.

Zhou Yi patted the young man's shoulder, "Failure is an integral part of life throughout; such is life."

He was about to offer comfort and make an excuse to leave to find Big Buddha and Li Mo.

But Qin Xie crossed his arms over his chest and mused, "No Big Buddha, no Rotating Garden, no Shadow Building, so it must be with the Forbidden Weapon Alien. Otherwise, other places would definitely have been scanned..."

His eyes suddenly lit up, and he turned to Zhou Yi, "Mr. Zhou, we'll know if we go in."

"..."

Zhou Yi wanted to refuse.

After all, people of his era were quite resistant to the idea of going to prison.

But Qin Xie said with a smile, "If you come to the Forbidden Weapon Relics, it would be a shame not to experience the famous Forbidden Weapon Alien."

"I've also heard that the Forbidden Weapon Alien has a very special mechanism inside that can help with 'Break Seed'. That's also why there are so many Bounty Knights around the Forbidden Weapon Relics; they are not there just for the Flying Star..."

Break Seed?

Zhou Yi asked Red Kestrel what this was.

The drone explained, "Combat species inherently have a structural limit, and once it's reached, no further changes can be made. Restructuring is necessary for second-stage growth advancement, that is, Break Seed."

"Extreme clashes between similar combat species repeatedly damage and tear their own structures. During the repair process, there's a certain probability of initiating reconstruction and further enhancing existing abilities."

"There's a high risk involved because intense clashes may easily lead to a life-or-death situation."

"The reconstruction period is known as crack seed. By adding elements, the Break Seed can be completed. The combat species is like a seed breaking out of its shell, entering a new stage of growth."

Zhou Yi was invigorated by the explanation.

He had always been bothered that his combat species, the long-necked crocodile, was subpar in other aspects, but "Alert" was very useful, and he hadn't found a better replacement.

Now he didn't need to consider changing combat species anymore.

As long as he tempered the crack seed, he could enhance "Alert."

All he had to do was continue evolving and growing along this path.

Zhou Yi looked at Qin Xie, "What exactly is the mechanism?"

"Sparing."

Qin Xie said seriously, "Being captured and taken into the Forbidden Weapon Alien, everyone will be forcibly locked in a narrow enclosed space, and then an Energy Body that matches their own abilities will appear and engage in continuous combat with the captive. After death, it will revive, clashing at least three times a day until one side's energy runs out."

"This is a way to consume the captive's energy. But from another angle, it's also a natural cradle for kickstarting a crack seed. Combatting oneself can fully exert their power, and even if defeated, it does not lead to death but causes energy to disperse faster. During the day, one can still replenish by absorbing the Death Light."

"However, aside from that, there's a fine of 200 Light Seeds to be paid, like an entrance ticket."

"How about it? Do you want to join me?"

Zhou Yi thought he definitely had to see this for himself.

He hadn't expected the prison to serve the purpose of a training room.

"How do we go?"

"That's simple; we just need to fight each other."

Qin Xie said, "Just committing violent attacks against others here will trigger the Forbidden Weapon Alien, and then we will be captured. But according to the Bounty Knights, the duration of incarceration relates to the severity of the injury inflicted; the shortest stay can be one day. We just need to be careful with our fight, we should be able to get out in a day or two."

Zhou Yi thought he was right.

A minor altercation wouldn't result in long incarceration.

"Then let's punch each other a couple of times, just to draw some blood," Qin Xie suggested. "My enhancer is my heart, so I recover quickly, and you should have even less of a problem."

Zhou Yi nodded, and then his Stretching Fist hit Qin Xie's face. Blood flowed from the young man's nose, and he looked stunned.

The other party came to his senses and threw a punch back.

But to Zhou Yi, this was nothing.

The two had only begun their skirmish when Zhou Yi felt his body surrounded by a bright light, and his surroundings changed, bringing him to a small dark room.

He looked around.

The room was small, with just a stone step where one could sit or lie down, a toilet, and that was all. The sanitary conditions were actually decent, with no foul smell.

On the wall of the dark room was a glowing countdown timer.

359:59:35

From right to left were seconds, minutes, hours... meaning he was to stay here a total of 15 days.

What happened to one or two days?

Zhou Yi was shocked.

I didn't even hit that hard; why do I have to stay in jail this long?

He placed his hand on the wall.

Energy input.

Consciousness frequency activation.

"Mei State Prison, why do I have to stay so long?"

A cold, emotionless voice rang in his mind: "Those who beat or injure others multiple times, or beat or injure multiple people at once, shall be detained for no less than 10 days but no more than 15 days and fined between 500 and 1000 Light Seeds."

"Prisoner 433, you committed a crime knowing the law, thus you will be punished to the full extent, detained for 15 days and fined 1000 Light Seeds. Detention is now in progress, and the fine will be executed before leaving. All your belongings have been placed in a specific area, and will be returned to their owner upon departure."

"..."

Zhou Yi was speechless.

That guy, Qin Xie, was so weak in the fight, taking several punches from him before returning one, which was also weak and powerless.

"What a shitty ship captain, with such little strength and still commanding a warship!"

This led to the situation appearing as if he was the only one beating him up.

Everything had gone smoothly before, but it was on this prison day-trip that he had bled heavily.

However, since things had already reached this point, regret was meaningless.

Zhou Yi decided to make the most of this place.

He asked again, "How many prisoners are there here currently?"

"That's none of your business. Just focus on your rehabilitation, inmate 433."

The prison's attitude was cold and hard.

Zhou Yi still wanted to ask a couple more questions.

Suddenly, the countdown on the wall turned red.

This made Zhou Yi feel a sense of foreboding.

Another Zhou Yi gradually materialized in the room.

Without a word, the figure charged at him, swinging a fist—his punch curved around Zhou Yi's blocking forearm and struck his right rib.

-33

The damage was completely blocked by the defense.

Zhou Yi struck back with his fist, but the other seemed utterly unconcerned.

At the same time, he realized that the energy within his body was continuously decreasing. This other self wasn't created from thin air; it was an opponent shaped by the prison using his own energy.

Zhou Yi now understood the prison's maintenance mechanism.

This sort of self-confrontation could consume a great deal of energy and aggressive desires, keeping one's emotions stable, similar to the labor kept in the old-time prisons.

However, since he had spent 1000 Light Seeds for the crack seed, he had to give it his all.

Zhou Yi engaged in a fight with himself.

The fight lasted for an hour before the other dispersed into smoke.

Zhou Yi sat on a nearby stone platform, panting slightly and resting.

Fighting with oneself felt very peculiar.

At the start, he held back a bit, but as he got carried away, he stopped caring. They both clinched each other's fists and slammed them into each other's faces—with fervor in the scene, but in reality, neither side was breaking through the defense.

Just a pure waste of energy.

Now, Zhou Yi's energy was down to just over 1300 points, not even half of his peak strength.

Most of it was sucked away by that energy body.

Zhou Yi leaned against the wall and closed his eyes to rest for a while.

About two hours later, a light door suddenly appeared on the small dark room, seemingly leading outside.

Zhou Yi tried walking through the light door and found himself on a street.

Other life forms began to emerge around him.

The majority were Guangna Species, mainly Red Monsters and thorny birds, followed by some Sea Horse Shooters that walked like penguins, as well as illusion fish floating in midair. There were also some species he hadn't seen before, large and small, but they all behaved well here.

There were only one or two humans in sight.

At the end of the street was a sports field where other prisoners were heading towards with practiced ease.

Zhou Yi instantly realized it was time for outdoor air and exercise.

On the sports field, he caught sight of Qin Xie.

But Qin Xie made a shushing gesture at him and pointed not far away.

Following his pointer, Zhou Yi spotted a very peculiar life form. Its body bathed in golden light, the details of its figure obscured, its levitating stature seemed somewhat holy.

Under the [Alert] viewpoint, the creature shone with red light—it was a B-level life form.

"I've never seen a Condenser before," Qin Xie spoke in a lowered voice, "I didn't expect this place to be able to contain one."

"What's a Condenser?"

Zhou Yi asked him.

That couldn't be helped. In prison, he was unable to contact the outside Red Kestrel, not knowing if it was due to the prison's own mechanisms or if some other building life form was interfering from outside.

"The Condenser is an evolution of the Light Absorption Monster," Qin Xie explained. "It can absorb large amounts of Death Light very efficiently and then compress and store it, basically a humanoid storage of Light Seeds."

"But it's also very powerful, recorded in the Dead Sea Atlas as one of the fastest Guangna Species. It can not only create shields and cannons but also summon a large number of Light Absorption Monsters to merge into its body..."

"The Condenser rarely interacts with the outside world, a very mysterious life form. The Seventh Fleet encountered one 23 years ago, but it was just a fleeting moment, like a beam of light."

He looked at the human-shaped torch Condenser with great interest.

Zhou Yi asked him, "How long is your sentence?"

"Just a day, aren't you?"

"..."

Upon learning the length of Zhou Yi's imprisonment, Qin Xie was somewhat astonished, then burst into hearty laughter, "That's the dilemma of the strong. The rules tend to protect us, the weaker ones... Don't worry, just treat it as a life experience. In the past, you certainly didn't experience anything like this."

Zhou Yi didn't really care, "Did you find the Flying Star?"

"..."

Now the other's smile stiffened.

"It seems there's no way out. I asked some of the human enhancers here and a few of the Guangna Species, and they said they haven't seen the Flying Star around here. Even if it is here, it's probably untouchable anyway. It looks like this attempt has indeed failed."

Qin Xie's smile turned bitter, "Just like you said, failure is always a part of life. I'll wait for you outside Jade City after we get out. Oh, there's someone I know over there... I'll go have a chat."

Zhou Yi nodded.

Although the Flying Star was imprisoned, if it didn't come out, then it certainly wouldn't be found.

Zhou Yi surveyed his surroundings and noticed there were quite a few B-level life forms here, as many as four radiating red light.

Thinking about it.

The strength of Mei State Prison must be above B-level.

His gaze suddenly fixed on a corner of the field, behind a dual pole was a Bone Man.

The Bone Man had its hands behind its head, legs crossed at the ankles, basking in the sun.

It looked unremarkable.

However, under the [Alert] viewpoint, this Bone Man did not exist; instead, his view turned into a blood-red world that was overwhelming.

But when he looked at the other prisoners, everything was normal.

Only when facing the Bone Man with crossed legs did that blood-red anomaly appear.

Zhou Yi pondered in his heart.

He could observe B-level life forms, yet he couldn't observe this Bone Man.

Could it be an A-level life form?

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