Chapter 183 - Life Bracelet
Slavery was one of humanity’s oldest trade, and the underground slave trade did not disappear in the technologically advanced Pan-Human Alliance territory. On the contrary, it was becoming a growing trend.
In the insectoid territory, which was in fair proximity to the Pan-Human Alliance, plenty of insectoid aristocrats or plutocrats would take pride in keeping human females in captivity. The Na’vi people also had a similar custom, except that they were a matriarchal race, so they preferred human males.
Driven by the profits to be had, many slave traders took the risk and expanded their business all across the universe, exchanging for minerals and creations needed by the Pan-Human Alliance from all the other territories.
Humans would instinctively pursue their own freedom, and plenty of human slaves would attempt to escape from their sad lot in life time and again. Such actions drew great dissatisfaction from slave owners, which was why a product called the Life Bracelet was born.
Xia Fei sat across Harris, his hand holding onto a shiny silver bracelet. Harris could feel cold sweat trickling down his back. As a scientist, he was of course aware of just how terrifying and evil this life bracelet was.
The corner of his mouth curled as Xia Fei waved the life bracelet in his hand, softly saying, “This is my condition: Wear this and you will be born anew. I’ll do everything I can to support your scientific research, providing you with all the conveniences you need. Even if you wish to begin human experiments, I will satisfy it, too.”
Xia Fei’s smile was sinister, like that of a venomous snake, while offering the forbidden fruit.
Phantom was helplessly shaking his head from the sidelines. As a killer, Phantom was of course not some man of honor, yet even he felt that Xia Fei was being far too immoral.
Soon, the bracelet gave off a light glow, and Harris officially became Xia Fei’s property. From this day onward, regardless of the place and time, he could only listen to Xia Fei’s orders until the day he died.
…
Early the next morning, the retrofitting of the Tomahawk began in earnest.
Xia Fei was brought to the logistics department of Scarlet Volcano Military Base, where all the equipment and manpower he needed had all been delivered to him.
Xia Fei was disappointed for quite some time when he took that sparse list of goods. The equipment on the list was old and worn from use. Xia Fei had been too used to getting quality products that he was momentarily stunned on what he should do. He originally thought that no matter how scarce the supplies in this military base was, they should at least still have two new battlecruiser-tier warp engines.
He did not expect for the list to only have four battlecruiser engines, and all of them only had fifty years or less of service life left, with the oldest having been in use for 133 years. Just the number of major repairs it had undergone was in the dozens; going into the supergravity zone with such an engine was essentially courting death.
The one in charge of the logistics was a chubby man by the name of Piker. His face made him look very reprehensible, but after Xia Fei handed out his little gifts of cash, tea leaves, fruits, and candies, that chubby cheeks of his finally cracked a smile. Anyone would be tempted when benefits were dangled before them, not to mention that they were in the impoverished Death Trio Star Region, where there were plenty of goods that even money could not buy.
After searching on the computer for a long time, Piker spoke in a low voice. “We have two recently decommissioned battlecruisers that have yet to be dismantled. Why don’t you take a look and see if there’s anything you may need?”
Xia Fei stared at the screen for some time but was still quite dissatisfied. “I want the two Gaian engines, those reactors, and this combat-grade, gravity-control system.”
Yawei had already informed Piker that Xia Fei’s every request was to be fulfilled, and the only reason he had been giving Xia Fei such a hard look was that he wanted to line his pockets a bit. Since Xia Fei had very readily done just that, Piker did not shilly-shally. With a quick swipe, the two engines were soon in Xia Fei’s hands.
Actually, this could not be helped. It was already rare to find a warship that had two engines installed, so Xia Fei was nuts to try and install three engines to the Tomahawk.
He needed sufficient propulsion power when flying in the supergravity zone, but he also had to avoid taxing the engine to the point it overheated and became damaged. The engines provided by the Scarlet Volcano Military Base were simply too old, unable to guarantee that they would become problematic during the journey. This was why Xia Fei could only go for a triple-engine system to split the load.
A triple-engine system also meant that there would be an increased load to the power system. The gravity-control system was also necessary, since the gravitational pull in the supergravity zone was shockingly powerful. Warships needed to have even more powerful gravity-control systems to ensure that the internal gravity of the ship could be maintained. This was why Xia Fei had opted to fit the Tomahawk with a combat-grade gravity-control system.
Xia Fei very generously paid the mechanics who were helping him with the work, pulling out a thousand White Dews for them to restore their energy and ensure that they could complete the tasks at hand in time.
*Whoosh!*
The Tomahawk took to space once more with the triple-engine system, dual reactors, and the combat-grade gravity-control system.
His destination was Black Abyss’s supergravity zone.