Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 290 - 109. White Ring and Black Sun (Part 1)

Chapter 290: 109. White Ring and Black Sun (Part 1)

Ding-ling-ling—

The warden of Shiratori Town Prison, Little Sawasumi Taro, was somewhat surprised. It was unusual for people to call here. If it was a family visit, they would normally call the front desk, not his office directly.

Without a second thought, he knew it must be the "higher-ups" calling, so he didn’t dare neglect it and hastily answered the phone, "Hey, Shiratori Town Prison, this is Little Ze."

"SCIA (Sky Ring Intelligence Agency), how is the situation at the prison?"

The voice on the other end was hurried, not even bothering with polite language, but upon hearing the identity of the caller, Little Ze didn’t dare take offense and quickly replied:

"Ah, so it’s the SCIA, my apologies. The situation here at the prison is very good, the prisoners are obedient, and under the long-term cold temperatures, they have no chance of rioting; they’re even scrambling to do labor every day."

However, the SCIA agent couldn’t care less about his compliments and self-praise about his management and just coldly dropped a line:

"We’ve received information that Red Squad personnel are beginning to gather; I suggest you prepare yourselves as they may attempt a jailbreak."

"Eh, for real? A jailbreak? That’s no small matter."

Little Sawasumi Taro said this out loud, but he didn’t take it too seriously:

"That being said, they wouldn’t be that foolish, right? My prison is a fortress built with old-era architecture, impregnable. Not even 10 kilometers away, there’s a combined battalion. How could the Red Squad think to attack us with their forces of less than 2,000 people?"

"The 107th Combined Battalion was redeployed for a military operation, that’s all I can say."

After saying this, the caller hung up, apparently with more pressing matters to deal with.

"Hello, what do you mean redeployed? Military operation? Are they going to war with Red Arrow?"

The warden shouted for a while, but the line had already been disconnected. Frustrated, he hung up and the more he thought about it, the more he felt uneasy.

Given the ranking of Shiratori Town Prison, it should be comparable to Elf Island of the Frost Plated, but the latter is of critical national importance, with a high level of secrecy, and its warden is a high-ranking national official. In contrast, he was just an ordinary civil servant who had to watch the face of the finance minister for funding to expand the prison.

Now, even the intelligence folks were stepping on his head with such arrogant attitudes, which made Little Sawasumi Taro very displeased, causing him not to take the threat mentioned by the caller seriously.

What a joke, with key Red Squad figure Gretto Yegg imprisoned here, even without the support of the combined battalion, this prison was still a formidable fortress. Even if cut off from water and power, they had at least half a year’s supply of ammunition and materials, and if necessary, they could even deploy the prisoners as a punishment squad to fight to the death.

Besides, the Red Squad’s military achievements were mediocre at best and without Gretto, relying solely on that former pilot called Narrow Space Mirror made them unthreatening.

"Just a bunch of ragtag soldiers, no cause for concern."

Little Sawasumi Taro’s disdain was justified; on one hand, the Red Squad’s anti-war campaign had failed, and on the other, being in a remote mountainous suburb, he was naturally unaware that the SCIA was overwhelmed with the chaos at the Nine Dragons Gathering.

It would be odd for someone to sense anything amiss under these circumstances.

"Calm down, sir. People from the SCIA are always so full of themselves; it’s not surprising," the secretary also heartily agreed: "Besides, with the manpower of Red Squad, how could they possibly be a match for us?"

"Exactly." Little Sawasumi Taro muttered, arms crossed: "The SCIA is making a mountain out of a molehill. Could something big have happened? But it shouldn’t be, it’s time for the Nine Dragons Gathering, the focal point of all countries should be at Qiong’anjing, with the entire nation on high alert. How dare Red Squad make a move now?"

"Speaking of which," Little Sawasumi Taro thought and offhandedly mentioned: "How is that Gretto Yegg doing?"

The secretary said: "He is cooperating well with meals, rest, and labor, even chatting and playing cards with the other prisoners. He seems to be quite enjoying himself."

Little Sawasumi Taro stroked his chin:

"...Really strange. Just those swill and sorghum bread—still, he, a Proximity Gamma Tier warrior, toils for ten hours a day yet doesn’t collapse from lack of energy."

"Perhaps it’s a special constitution—but since he’s starving like this, he shouldn’t have the strength to resist anymore."

"I still don’t think it’s safe."

Deep down, Little Sawasumi Taro was well aware that it was highly unlikely for an external assault to breach the prison. Therefore, it was worthwhile to be concerned about a potential uprising within the prison.

Especially with the many self-proclaimed progressive warriors they were detaining.

"Why don’t we do this," the secretary pondered, coming up with an idea: "It’s almost noon now; I’ll have the kitchen prepare some food with trace amounts of toxins for them. They certainly won’t be able to resist at this point."

"But you can’t poison them to death," Little Sawasumi Taro reminded: "We live in a society governed by law now, and if a prisoner dies, we’ll have our funds cut. Plus, what about the disruption to factory production? Think it through."

"Leave it to me," the secretary smiled: "This is medicine from the Houjo Clan; there won’t be any issues. It’ll just weaken them, not kill them."

"Once the tiger’s teeth are pulled, it still has to jump through hoops. Remember, every single prisoner is an important asset to our prison; we must take good care of them."

"Yes."

——————————

"Is she still not coming out?"

The dim sunlight fell through the cracks, casting a long shadow of the Narrow Space Mirror on the ground, a silhouette unrecognizable as human.

"Ever since she came back from the Outer World, she’s been locking herself up in her room. At this point in the story, shouldn’t she be making speeches and rousing the masses?"

The Narrow Space Mirror raised a hand, pressing against their face where veins bulged, the veins faintly revealing a deep silver color that flashed by with each breath. Black crow feathers grew out of the shoulders and slowly fell.

"Big Sister is not that kind of person, she’s bad with words, doesn’t know how to make speeches. That’s the sort of thing Gretto Yegg does—Big Sister just takes care of beating people up; she doesn’t usually talk much. Once we rescue big brother Gretto, she’ll naturally start talking more often."

—Whispers, soft calls, murmurs.

The Narrow Space Mirror collapsed on the ground, their pupils constantly contracting and spinning. Their body underwent continuous changes, muscles swelling and then deflating, rapidly dehydrating and then swelling up again. After several repetitions, the spine began to continuously generate new blood, blood that was imbued with formidable strength and spirituality.

She had thought that awakening a special ability after being infected by Ersha was the most painful experience, but the current sensations of mutation and separation were hundreds of times more horrifying.

A voice as intimate as a mother’s, causing one to let go of all thoughts and guard, eager to be embraced, and a massive amount of information that shouldn’t exist in this world imprinted deeply in the recesses of her mind.

Countless people looked at her, smiling, their eyes reflecting not the Narrow Space Mirror nor a human but a standing crow with a mysterious wing. Just the sight of it provoked the word ’Thief’ to surge from within.

People told her, give up this ludicrous reality. It’s time to embrace the true society.

She should give up... she couldn’t take it anymore, the reality and that secret existence weaving into visibility; her perceptions and concepts were continuously being destroyed and remodelled.

Death, famine, war, plague, discrimination, bias, disparities, class, poverty, ignorance, shortsightedness, suffering, hatred, envy.

All the sins committed by the Azure Star People and all the negative phenomena that existed were clearly displayed before her by that societal being, a strong negative emotion and pessimism rising within her. The greater her disgust for reality, the stronger that society’s attraction to her became.

The Narrow Space Mirror couldn’t imagine what kind of person could avoid despairing at this world.

This damn world is just too rotten.

On one side, people starve because they can’t afford food; on the other, people are pouring milk down the drain. One side dies in cold, damp trenches; on the other, people recite poems of romanticized nature in warm palaces. One side has child laborers whose legs are hacked off by machinery; on the other, people complain that modern folks aren’t working hard enough.

Those with higher education think only of emigrating and fleeing, while illiterate farmers and workers delusionally dream of a prosperous nation.

Fuck this reality.

That entity known as society didn’t say a single tempting word, it just showed her a glimpse of reality without exaggeration or embellishment, and it was enough to make her fall apart.

She didn’t want to get up anymore, just to stop here, never to fight again.

Leaning against the wall, the Narrow Space Mirror’s silver blood in her arteries became more turbulent, and her consciousness slowly succumbed.

————————

"I refuse to be commanded by the gentry to fight against the poor of another country."

The image of Gretto Yegg holding a calico cat still loomed before her eyes. He gently stroked the injured cat, dispersing light dust of life force from within him, tenderly healing the pitiable creature.

"Winning a war, the glory goes to the gentry and the corporations. All that’s left for poor people like us are fresh blood and scars."

His gaze was so tender, as warm as fire. His tone, however, was colder than deep water and it wrapped around his resolute heart:

"Losing a war, it’s still people like us who die. We’re labeled butchers by the enemy, cowards by our own nation."

The boy of the past was shaped by fire and deep water, eventually becoming a steel warrior.

"I don’t want you or me to become such monsters."

Bang!

When the People of Sky Ring suppressed the anti-war civilians, he simply picked up the shield and without hesitation moved against the crowd, placing his flesh and blood in front of the tanks:

"Stand behind me, and you won’t get hurt again."

...

"Gretto, you’re such an idiot, incurably so."

The Narrow Space Mirror covered her eyes, gently shaking her neck. From the throes of dying struggles, she slowly stood up straight.

"But smart people will never be your friends. The intelligent always look down on us, the stinking rats of the sewers."