Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (48 page)

It took Gloria three weeks to
get into prison Listan. Titainein helped her a lot. She found out that Tizuee
had a prisoner due to be delivered to prison Listan. The she pulled some string
and had Gloria replace the prisoner Yawon, a serial killer who committed dozens
of crimes on different planets. Gloria knew Listan had all kinds of security
measurements, so she had to use something new to disguise herself. Upon her
request, Titainein gave Gloria a prototype body-transforming device. Titainein
warned Gloria that she didn’t knew what kind of side effect the device would
have on Glycan’s body, but Gloria didn’t care.

When
Gloria saw Jason the next day after she got into the prison, she was so
thrilled that she almost slipped out the truth. Now she needed to get close to
Jason and told him the truth when it was appropriate.

After
swinging the sledgehammer for a whole day, she was exhausted, her arms and back
sore, her legs heavy. She joined Jason and Geuinm and said, “Hi, guys, can I
have a seat here?”

“You can
sit anywhere you want.” Geuinm said casually.

‘Thanks.
I am Yawon.” Gloria said happily as she sat next to Jason.

“Geuinm.”

“You are
from family G.” Gloria said cautiously.

“It is
tough to get more obvious than that.” Geuinm said with a grin.

“Do you
know General Gien?” Gloria asked.

Geuinm
suddenly put down his spoon and froze there. After several seconds, he said,
“It’s been a while since I heard his name last time.”

“What’s
the story?” Jason asked curiously.

Geuinm
paused for a second and said, “I somehow have this feeling that you two know
each other for a while.”

“What
are you talking about?” Jason said with a confused look.

Gloria
lowered her head and focused on her dinner. After several minutes, she asked,
“So Jason, how is your day?”

“What
about you? Fresh fish.” Jason said ironically.

“As bad
as yours. I guess.” Gloria replied with a provocative tone. They stared at each
other.

Just at
this moment, Shopper and Eiteuoo came to Jason and acknowledged him politely.

“Hey,
Jason, we just learned the odd for your next game. It is 10 to 1. You see a situation
like this is not good for business. Well, you are a smart man. You know what I
mean. Anyway, the point is if you lose the next one, just for this time, you
can make a lot of money.” Eiteuoo said earnestly.

“Do I
look I care?” Jason said coldly.

“Man,
you are good. We all see that. But if you think about it, do you really want to
travel to another prison and fight some guy there?” Shopper wheezed into
Jason’s ear.

“You
know what I am thinking?” Jason said kindly.

“I am
listening.” Shopper said excitedly.

“I am
thinking punching through your belly and pulling out your intestines and
wrapping it around your neck and strangling you to death.” Jason said with a
big grin.

Shopper
backed off right away. He remembered what Jason did to that Uainanese.

“Hey,
man, we are just talking. You can simply say no. Remember you need to buy stuff
from Shopper.” Eiteuoo said quietly.

“If you
don’t want to make money from me, I am fine with that.” Jason said in
deference.

Shopper
rolled his eyes at Jason, but didn’t say anything.

Eiteuoo
walked to Gloria and shouted, “Hey, yo, Tizuee, if you say a word of what you
just heard. We will cut your legs, make them into sausages and feed them to
you. You hear?”

Gloria
kept a cold face.

Both
Shopper and Etieuoo gave Jason a cold smile and left.

“They
like you.” Jason said in a funny voice.

“Thank
you. I somehow can see that.” Gloria said angrily.

“What do
you say? Geuinm.” Jason asked politely as he took out a candy and handed to the
sloth on Geuinm’s shoulder.

“I guess
all those killing start to take a toll on you.” Geuinm said.

“Not
really. This is just me.” Jason said easily.

“Yea, I
forgot how long I know you. You are right. But Shopper had a point. Do you want
to fight in another prison every three months? You need to think about that.”
Geuinm said sincerely.

“I
understand Shopper’s point, but I don’t like losers.” Jason said firmly.

Gloria
knew exactly what Jason meant. She knew him so well. She smiled at Jason and
said, “You can quit. You know.”

“What do
you care? Fresh fish.”

“Why are
you so mean?”

Jason
thought for a second and said, “I am just a mean Human and you know the good
news?”

“No.”

“You
don’t need to like me!” Jason said firmly.

Gloria
stood up, took her dinner plate and walked away angrily.

Geuinm
flashed a reluctant smile and said, “Jason, you don’t have to fight everyone.
As a matter of fact, you can’t survive if you do that.”

Jason
gazed at Geuinm with respect and said, “I will be nice next time.”

“I hope
there is a next time.” Geuinm said as he peeked at Yawon.

After meeting with Cateon, Mark
did some research on prison Listan. Originally he planned to impersonate a
guard, but he needed to wait another three months for the next guards’
rotation. He couldn’t wait that long. Then he found out second class species
sent a maintenance team to Listan every two months and the next one would be in
two weeks. He decided to catch on this ride. After he finished preparing
everything, he still got one week left.

There
was something else bothered him like a tiny splinter in the flesh. He still
didn’t understand why Cateon William got involved in all these. Driven by
curiosity, Mark decided to find out what was really going on with Cateon.

Right
now he was hiding in a rental car, monitoring Cateon’s residence. It was a
villa in a neighborhood designated for Human high rank officers. Mark had been
doing this for the past three days and just while he was thinking tonight would
be another cold and quiet night, he saw a shadow flying quietly out of the
neighborhood. Mark knew it was a stealth hover. He used to pilot one of those.
He started his car and took it off the ground, following the hover in the
distance.

The
hover headed to the suburb area. After 20 minutes, it landed near a deserted
station, one of the earliest stations Human built on the planet. Mark saw
Cateon get out of the hover and walk into the station. He parked the car and
crept into the station from the other side.

Inside
the station, the air was heavy and dense and everything was covered by a thick
layer of dust. Mark tread lightly and cautiously, his hand holding a pistol.
After about 10 minutes, he heard some voices and it sounded like three or four
people. Following the voices, Mark reached a short corridor opening to a hall. The
voices was coming from the other side. He slowly moved to the end of the
corridor and peeked over the rusty jamb. There were four figures standing in
the middle of a dining hall. With the help of starlight that passed through the
broken window on the roof, Mark could see Cateon William and Treton London
clearly, but only caught the backs of the other two figures. One was taller
than the other one.

Mark
didn’t hear the whole conversation, but he did catch several words such as
Hylocan, president and Human fleet. Judging from the voice, Mark believed that
the short figure was Lreque. Mark watched Treton and Cateon nod at the tall
figure and leave. Then the tall figure turned around. Mark caught a glimpse and
immediately recognized that face. It was Liutein. He was so surprised that he
almost fell on the ground. The noise alerted Liutein and he glanced back in
Mark’s direction.

Mark
held his breath and stayed still. Liutein walked slowly towards the corridor,
followed by Lreque. Mark saw Liutein coming towards him. He aimed his gun at
Liutein and slowly backed away.

All of
sudden, Liutein dashed at Mark’s direction, his clothes transforming into an
armor suit.

“Bang!
Bang! Bang!” Mark fired his gun at Liutein as he ran away. Two bullets dented
Liutein’s chest armor.

Bearing
the pain on his chest, Liutein continued forward and quickly caught up with
Mark. He leaped into the air and hit Mark on the shoulder. The blow knocked
Mark on the ground. He swiftly turned around and blasted the pistol at Liutein.

“Bang!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Liutein
dodged into a nearby room. Mark kept firing at the doorway as he stood up.
While he was reaching into his pocket for a grenade, he ran out of ammo.
Liutein darted out of the room and sprinted at Mark, a dagger popping out of
his right fist. Mark hauled out the grenade and removed the safety. He held it
right in front of his chest.

Liutein
suddenly stopped, standing a meter away from Mark.

It was
much darker in this room and Mark could barely see Liutein’s face, so he
couldn’t really know whether Liutein was afraid or not. He slowly stepped back.

All of a
sudden, Liutein scooted forward and grabbed Mark’s hand that was holding the
grenade. He swung the dagger at Mark’s forearm. Mark immediately dropped the
grenade on the ground. Liutein quickly disengaged. Mark ran for his life.

“Boom!”
The grenade exploded, leaving a big hole on the ground.

Mark
escaped the shrapnel, but the shock wave knocked him over the ground. He
struggled to stand on his feet, his head spinning and his ears ringing.

“Tramp!
Tramp! Tramp!” The heavy footstep was coming closer and closer.

Mark
didn’t have time to think but ran like crazy to the car. He didn’t dare to look
back. Soon he darted out of the facility, rushed to the car and jumped in it.
As the car left the ground, he saw Liutein emerge from the door. He drove the
car away immediately, disappearing into the dark night.

Klaycon kept a close eye on
Gloria after that unhappy altercation, but nothing happened, so he thought
Gloria was just bluffing. Then one day Gloria disappeared from training center.
Klaycon was shocked and quickly had his friends check every corner in the
training center. They even scouted the second class species area. After
learning Gloria was not in the training center, Klaycon sent Nissen and Zier to
Sylareon and the two talked with Gloria’s parents, but they didn’t get any clue
where Gloria could be. Then Klaycon realized that Gloria might not be bluffing.
He immediately contacted the warden of prison Listan, but there was no female
Glycan prisoner arriving recently. He knew Gloria wouldn’t that stupid, so he
decided to go to the prison himself to check it out.

Twenty-two
hours later, Klaycon landed on prison Listan in a combat vessel. Warden Wy
itetn welcomed Klaycon at the landing zone. He put on a big grin on his chubby
face and said, “Welcome, welcome. Klaycon, it is so nice to see you in person.”

“Nice to
meet you.” Klaycon said in disgust.

“I heard
that your father General Kalan was promoted into the Joint Commanders of Staff.
How nice! Please send him my regards and let him know as a member of guardian
fleets we are always at his service.” Wy itetn said in a flattering way.

“Well,
now you have the opportunity to serve.” Klaycon acted like a boss.

“Oh,
absolutely. Would you like to have something to eat first? It must be a very
long flight.”

“No. How
many prisoners you got for the past month?” Klaycon asked hastily.

“I don’t
have the number in my hand right now. But I can find it out right away.” Wy
itetn said as he winked at Hwoei.

“Good.”
Klaycon.

They
left the landing zone on an airborne platform and headed to Wy itetn’s office.
When they arrived, Hwoei came to them and said that the prison received 14
prisoners for the past month. Klaycon asked the warden to bring those 14
prisoners to him right away. He couldn’t wait to find out whether Gloria was
among them or not.

When
guards grabbed Gloria from the working site, she was worried that they found
out her real identity. She soon joined other 13 prisoners and arrived at a
small room with glass wall on one side. Now Gloria knew this was definitely for
a lineup screening. She was wondering what she did gave her away.

The 14
prisoners lined up facing the glass wall. Klaycon was on the other side of the
wall. The first glimpse didn’t yield any hint. He then studied each one of them
carefully and patiently. But after 40 minutes, he still couldn’t figure out
which one was Gloria. He motioned warden to dismiss the group.

Gloria
had no idea what that was about. During the dinner time, She noticed that the
number of drones cycling above Jason were more than usual. She had no idea that
Klaycon was watching Jason through the drones right now. The warden Wy itetn
was standing aside Klaycon. He handed Klaycon a drink and said, “There is
something about this Human right?”

“Why is
that?” Klaycon asked coldly and ignored the drink. He was more interested in
whom Jason was talking to. He believed if Gloria was here, she must have made
the contact.

“At
least, I don’t know why he is locked up here?”

“Really?”
Klaycon was a little surprised.

“Yes. He
is a good fighter. If you are interested, he have a fight this weekend. Two
days from now.” Wy itetn said respectfully.

“I will
think about it.” Klaycon said casually.

“If you
tell me what you are looking for, I might be able to help.”

“I like
to speak to this Human.”

“Right
away.”

Twenty
minutes later, Jason walked into the room, his hands and feet cuffed by heavy
and solid steel.

Jason
recognized Klaycon at the first sight. He was surprised to see Klaycon here.
They stared at each other in disgust for a while.

“Where
is Gloria?” Klaycon asked directly.

Jason
let out a long sigh and said, “You can’t even look after a girl.”

“I know
she came here to save you. Tell me which prisoner is Gloria. I will say
something nice for you and you can live an easy life here.” Klaycon said with a
straight face.

“Even if
I knew, you think I will tell you?” Jason said ironically.

“If you
somehow count on her to save your ass, you can give up right now. You will stay
here until you die.” Klaycon said angrily.

Jason
knew Klaycon was right and he just didn’t want to think about it. Right now, he
was also wondering what could happen to Gloria.

“OK. You
want to do it in a hard way.” Klaycon said coldly, his uniform transforming
into an armor suit.

“Clank.”
A dagger popped out of Klaycon’s right fist, glowing in blue.

“You are
going to die here anyway. I will make it quick.” Klaycon said hastily.

“Thank
you.” Jason said calmly.

Klaycon
was shocked at Jason’s reaction. He was expecting something aggressive and
tough. But now Jason was standing in front of him leisurely as if he was
talking about someone else’s life.

Klaycon
lowered his body a bit, ready to launch. Just at this moment, Wy itetn ran to
Klaycon and wheezed, “Klaycon, sir, this is a very bad idea.”

Klaycon
pushed Wy itetn away as he aimed the dagger at Jason’s head.

“Take
care of her.” Jason said sincerely.

Klaycon
suddenly stopped. He felt like every word was echoing in his head. He paused
there for several seconds and shouted, “Take him away!”

Several
guards escorted Jason out of the room.

Klaycon
thrusted the dagger at the wall. The love between Gloria and Jason made him
angry and jealous and he knew even if he killed Jason, he couldn’t destroy this
love. Later Klaycon left Listan in disappointment.