Chapter 19: Secrets, Section 7

When Madaro found Black Hair, he was exercising.
In his words, it was called adaptive recovery training.
In a small room of just ten square meters, dozens of steel columns as thick as bowl mouths protruded from the floor, walls, and ceiling. Black Hair moved through these columns. They were arranged extremely densely and irregularly, with the smallest gap between two columns being less than fifteen centimeters. In such an environment, it would be difficult for an ordinary person to even walk back and forth, let alone move quickly.
But in Black Hair’s eyes, it was completely different.
His rapidly moving figure emitted a screeching sound as it cut through the air. After an hour of continuous movement, his speed had transformed from cautious steps to something as fast as the wind—so fast that even the wind couldn’t keep up. With each movement, he would pass through the gaps between dozens of columns, tracing a huge invisible “S” shape. When encountering the most densely packed areas of columns, he would exhale instantly, flattening his body to pierce through in a flash. As time went on, drops of sweat flew into the air, hitting the walls with audible thuds.
“Click…” The door opened.
“Hah!!” At the same time, Black Hair let out a low growl, his swiftly moving figure instantly spinning 360 degrees in midair. His left hand, fingers together like a knife, slashed through the columns around him!!
“Dang dang dang dang…” The sounds of metal colliding rang in succession. As Black Hair spun like a windmill, the seven columns around him were instantly split in half around their middles. His ultra-fast fingers not only severed them instantly but also imparted terrifying kinetic energy. The seven column ends flew everywhere, crashing into the surrounding walls with deafening metal collisions. Visibly, deep dents appeared where those columns had hit the walls after falling to the ground.
“I said… there’s no need to welcome me like this…” A trembling voice came through. Black Hair looked up and saw the figure of the prisoner leader, Madaro. At that moment, the face on his life-support device was twisted in horror. A thick column end was deeply embedded in the door frame above his head.
Smiling lightly, Black Hair wasn’t embarrassed. He simply stopped what he was doing. His rapidly moving, blurred figure instantly solidified, and he slowly stepped out of the array of columns.
“Please forgive me. I didn’t know you were coming in.”

“I know. I know…” Madaro’s voice was still trembling, clearly filled with fear. “But your body is just too tough. These steel columns are made of alloy—using our tools alone would take half a day. Is your body sharper than a drill?”
“Not really. I just have enough speed,” Blackhair said modestly. Perhaps not wanting to continue the topic, he seemed somewhat cold. Madaro immediately noticed this and cleverly changed the subject.
“Ah, Blackhair. I’ve found your subordinates.”
“Oh!? How are they? How many!?” As expected, Blackhair’s attitude changed instantly, becoming anxious.
To be honest, though Blackhair always appeared cold and indifferent, as if no one could reach his heart, he really cared about his companions and subordinates. This time, because of his carelessness, they had all gotten trapped together. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t sorry. So what he hoped most for was to hear that they were safe.
However, even he knew what his subordinates were like in battle. If any of them were captured unharmed, it would be a joke. So he was a bit scared now.
Scared of hearing bad news about his companions from Madaro’s mouth.
Finding Blackhair’s nervousness strange, Madaro glanced at him first before slowly speaking.
“They’re in good condition, aside from being weak. There are 267 of them, locked up in the western section of the ninth floor. The charge is prison break.”
Spilling out all the information he had just received at once, Madaro suddenly smiled. “You know well that Black Prison classifies danger levels by floor. Being locked in the ninth floor should be enough to comfort you. Your subordinates are truly excellent—all of them are great guys.”
“If possible, I wouldn’t want to be comforted. Because that means it’s even harder to rescue them.” Blackhair let out a long sigh, his face showing relief.
Thankfully, the loss among his subordinates wasn’t too great. Out of a group of 300, 267 remained. Although losing 33 people saddened Blackhair, it was still a great relief—most of his subordinates had survived.
Seeing his expression, Madaro was clearly stunned.

You must know that in this world, if there’s anything considered the least valuable, it’s undoubtedly human life. Due to long-term exploration of the cosmic realm, human power has expanded unprecedentedly, with countless exotic races as numerous as the stars in the sky. The number of living beings has become almost overwhelming, and as a result, the value of life has greatly diminished. It can be said that unless one is a high-ranking official, ordinary soldiers or commoners are worth less than a piece of crystal ore. In slave markets, as long as you have money, you can easily buy hundreds or even thousands of slaves.

Such a situation naturally leads to leaders ignoring their subordinates. Take the Pirate Alliance, for example—crew members are nothing but symbols in the eyes of their leaders. If they’re lost, new ones can be bought. All the rewards and benefits go to the leaders, while it’s the ones at the front who risk their lives. This has become common even in prisoner organizations like Madaro’s. Suddenly seeing Black Hair show such concern for his subordinates, for some reason, this old man, accustomed to countless major battles, felt a chill in his heart and an indescribable emotion surge within him.

“Hehe…” He tried to cover his embarrassment with a dry laugh. Madaro suddenly shook his head. “Don’t worry, Mr. Black Hair. Bone Guards aren’t as difficult to deal with as you think. Although I have to admit their combat strength is terrifying, aside from that, their intelligence is quite poor. I can’t say much else, but if we need to bring some people out of the Black Prison, my subordinates definitely won’t disappoint you. How could those guys whose minds are filled with bone understand the abilities of the subspace?”

After a pause, a dry laugh appeared on Madaro’s aged face. “On the other hand, I think, Mr. Black Hair, if you can’t give us a perfect explanation, it will be very unfavorable for us to continue cooperating…”

“Hm!?” Black Hair frowned, his gaze turning icy.

This tone… this attitude… What does he mean? Has the hidden danger of our hasty cooperation already manifested so quickly? For a moment, Black Hair couldn’t figure out Madaro’s true thoughts and could only maintain his cold demeanor on the surface.

Seeing his expression, Madaro could only sigh inwardly. It seems this young man is really hard to deal with. He’ll have to speak plainly.

“Your purpose, Mr. Black Hair. I need to know why you came to Black Prison. Since the charge is prison break, you must be after something. A person? Or something else? Please forgive my boldness, but it’s very important to me. If you can’t give me a clear answer, it will be hard for me to link our fates with yours. What do you think?”
“That’s right, exactly.” Hearing Madaro’s question, Black Hair finally relaxed. He nodded heavily, with a cold smile in his heart.
As expected, these guys aren’t easy to deal with. He thought they wouldn’t make things clear so quickly. But since that’s the case, there’s nothing left to hide. Both they and he must make a choice.
“I understand, Leader Madaro. Since you’re so eager to know, let me tell you a story. I hope it won’t bore you.” Black Hair smiled faintly and stepped forward.
Time passed slowly, and before he knew it, over two hours had gone by. In another room on the warship, Black Hair leaned lazily against the headboard, holding a glass of plain water in his hand.
Black Prison was still a prison, and the food restrictions were extremely strict. Not to mention alcohol—there wasn’t even a drop of drink to be found. Black Hair could only make do with plain water. Across from him, Madaro was completely silent, as if he were a wooden statue. After a long while, he finally let out a deep sigh.
“Is this your purpose for coming to Black Prison?”
“That’s right. It’s that simple. I came to Black Prison for you!” Black Hair nodded cheerfully and drank the water in his glass in one gulp.
“Really… incredible…” Madaro murmured, shaking his head. His face, reflected in the life support device, was filled with shock.
Although he had long guessed that Black Hair’s background was unusual and thought he might own a few planets at most, he still underestimated this man. An entire star system… what a vast territory—nearly a hundred warships, and even an ally in the form of an armed planet! With such a powerful force, yet he still risked everything for these prisoners trapped at the bottom of Black Prison. Black Hair’s actions exceeded Madaro’s imagination and left him deeply shaken.

Speaking of which, although these prisoners had long had plans to escape, they never managed to come up with a perfect plan for what to do after succeeding. After all, their identity as prisoners—even in this highly developed universe—could not be changed. No one, nor any force, dared to openly take them in without fearing retaliation from the Bone Guardians. This undoubtedly gave Madaro a lot of headaches. He even considered leading the prisoners to colonize a new planet. But the arrival of the black-haired man changed everything. If the prisoners could truly be under his protection, even the Bone Guardians would have to give up. After all, this young man was someone who had fought against interstellar fleets… Unconsciously, Madaro had already come to accept the black-haired man. As he thought about it, he stood up, intending to give him a clear answer. Just then, a shrill alarm sound suddenly rang out inside the warship!!