Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 306 - 225: Invitation

Chapter 306: Chapter 225: Invitation

Duan Mingyuan shouldn’t have been here.

Someone like him would have been more fitting at a star-studded interstellar peace award ceremony, being honored as a special guest with the highest level of the Medal of Peace. But as the saying goes, since he was already here, after expressing their sincerest respects to Duan Mingyuan, the mechanical jailer invited him to stay in the prison for a while.

It seemed to see right through Duan Mingyuan’s heart, taking the initiative to make the invitation.

Meanwhile, the live broadcast room on the official website of the Prison Planet was inundated with dense barrages of comments, mostly criticizing the Flash Flag Corporation and those unscrupulous news media, as well as bringing up the old stories that had to be mentioned between Morgan VII and the butler.

The audience suddenly realized why Flash Flag Corporation’s thunder was loud, but the rain was small. On one hand, they labeled Duan Mingyuan as the number one criminal, while on the other, they turned a blind eye to his actions, not actively sending him through the Corporation or third-party organizations to the Prison Planet to stand trial.

Because the Chamber of Commerce must have understood that once Duan Mingyuan really came here, all rumors would be laid to rest.

There is no fairer judicial institution in the world than the Prison Planet. Just a moment ago, the prison guards had personally issued a good conduct certificate to Duan Mingyuan, and it was the kind that was unprecedented and probably unmatched in the future.

The number given by the Judge is a comprehensive result of good and evil. +∞ signifies that the good deeds Duan Mingyuan had done already far outweighed any crimes he had committed. Moreover, all those crimes were the unilateral statements of the corporation media; it is very likely that Duan Mingyuan had been innocent from the start.

After all, it’s not uncommon to accuse others with trumped-up charges.

However, Duan Mingyuan, who was in the prison at this moment, was unaware of the fervent discussions in the live broadcast room; led by the mechanical jailer, he parted ways with the cosmic pirates. The pirates were sent to a lower floor by elevator, while he was temporarily taken to the dwelling of the human wardens, who would prepare accommodations for Duan Mingyuan.

This prison was operated by both humans and artificial intelligence, but as technology advanced day by day, the workload for humans became less and less until today when they no longer had to deal with the big and small matters. They just needed to stay in the living area, monitor the prisoners through surveillance, maintain the website of the Prison Planet, and then, find some entertainment to spice up life on this desolate planet.

The presence of human wardens had become a symbolic tradition.

It was built by humans, and it should rightly be operated by humans.

When the living area’s gate opened for Duan Mingyuan, he also got a glimpse into the daily lives of the Prison Planet’s wardens.

Near the gate was the gym and the sports field, where an intense internal match was in full swing, while others were sweating profusely on various fitness equipment.

For those wardens who didn’t like sports, there were card rooms, arcades, and libraries. This had become their main job content over the years—to devise more entertainment projects.

They applied to their superiors for funding and, once approved, used all the funds intended for routine maintenance for entertainment.

As for the prisoners in the jail...

In reality, no one cared about their well-being. The wardens believed the artificial intelligence would arrange everything very clearly for the prisoners.

They are tireless machinery. As long as the operational logic is set, they could comfortably step back and let things be.

The mechanical jailer took Duan Mingyuan to the Prison Governor’s room.

In all prison-themed movies, the Prison Governor is always the most imposing and terrifying figure in jail, and considering that the Prison Planet is where the most vicious criminals of the cosmos are detained, Duan Mingyuan subconsciously imagined the Prison Governor to be a truly tough character.

However, the first meeting completely extinguished his imagination of the Prison Governor.

Apparently not expecting a visitor at that time, the Prison Governor was in a state of complete relaxation.

The specific activity of relaxation was studying a magazine with a black stockings and red high heels cover.

Actually, the Prison Governor had prepared some disguise measures, but perhaps due to lack of practice for a long time, after a series of operations he ended up holding two books reversed, pressing the "Prison Rules" underneath while continuing to hold the magazine in his hands.

The Prison Governor watched as Duan Mingyuan entered the door, and until he walked up to his desk, there was no authority in his eyes, instead, his hands were so awkwardly positioned that he didn’t know where to put them.

Reason told him that he should put away the magazine immediately, but if he did that in front of Duan Mingyuan, it would seem like he was trying too hard to cover something up.

"Don’t misunderstand."

After a long silence, the young Prison Governor cleared his throat and explained, "I’m picking out clothes for my wife."

"This is Prison Governor Norton-Kaman, the youngest scion of the Kaman Family. After graduating from the military academy, he was assigned to the Prison Planet and had been in this position for five years. The following is the information about the Prison Governor."

The mechanical prison guard considerately displayed the personal information of the Prison Governor for Duan Mingyuan.

Not only did it have his photo and detailed personal history, it also marked his "single" status in the most conspicuous position.

Another prolonged silence ensued.

Darkness fell before Norton-Kaman’s eyes as he rigidly placed the magazine on the desk and picked up the "Prison Rules" to press it on top.

The only way out now was to act as if nothing had happened.

Then, he changed the subject, "What brings you to me?"

"Prison Governor, we hope to invite Mr. Mingyuan to reside in the prison for a few days in order to help me resolve some questions, and we need your approval for some paperwork."

Duan Mingyuan sharply sensed that the mechanical alarm seemed not to be seeking the Prison Governor’s permission, although it still used polite language, it didn’t seem to intend to leave any room for Norton to refuse.

"I understand, you can go back first, and I’ll personally take him to his accommodations once I’ve completed the paperwork."

Norton nodded and pretended to log into the administrative website’s backend.

Such a situation was rare, even though mechanical prison guards occasionally invite guests who are not on the wanted list to stay, but that was basically about forcibly dragging them into the prison area.

Bringing someone to the residential area to apply for a temporary residence permit was a first.

Artificial intelligence seemed very interested in Duan Mingyuan, but Norton couldn’t be happy about it at all.

Not just because the other party had caught him in his academic research, but also because although he had always been on the Prison Planet, he had heard the name Duan Mingyuan more than once from his family and the company.

This name had recently become widely mentioned, virtually becoming synonymous with trouble.

Norton didn’t care whether Duan Mingyuan was a good person or a bad one, he only knew that wherever Duan Mingyuan went, he would bring trouble.

Big trouble.

Yet he couldn’t refuse the artificial intelligence.

Or rather, on this planet, no one could refuse the demands of artificial intelligence.