That chicken-headed creature spoke to Jia Rong through gritted teeth.

"That’s right, it’s not like we wanted to be some damned bandits. I should really curse to death the policymaker who came up with this crap."

The Pig-headed monsters on the other side agreed with the chicken-headed one so much they couldn’t agree more, and one of them was even more extreme, saying if that policymaker was standing right here, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from killing that person.

In reality, that policymaker was indeed right beside them.

After listening to this group of creatures, Jia Rong was completely stunned.

"How... how could this be? Wasn’t this policy supposed to be a good thing? Let everyone at least have a place to live, and then slowly develop and rebuild, build their new homes... how did it turn into this?"

Jia Rong was a little dazed.

"Heh, what, you don’t even know what’s going on here? Figures. People with good Luck generally manage to get normal residency in other districts. They don’t have any good feelings toward people like us living in the slums. Someone like you probably lives far away from here and has no idea there’s even such a thing as a slum on this planet."

The chicken-headed monster was like divine backup, helpfully supplying Jia Rong with a reason why he wouldn’t know.

"Yeah, he definitely doesn’t know about our side, otherwise he wouldn’t be walking through the kind of place even normal residents don’t dare to step into."

The Monsters suddenly seemed to see the light. They’d originally been wondering why catching Jia Rong had been so ridiculously easy. Normally, any resident who came near their turf would be extremely wary of the Path, since the poor folks here were always grabbing hostages.

"Alright, don’t be too nervous. We know ordinary civilians on this planet don’t have much money. You just need to go see our technician over there, swipe your card on his machine, let us take a portion of your money, and that’ll be it."

"No idea which bastard set up this whole system. We can’t even manage basic living, but the planet’s independent financial card and all the supporting nonsense, that they somehow managed to roll out. I figure that guy’s an idiot with zero actual governance Ability."

When the chicken-headed Monster mentioned the one who set the planet’s policy, his tone was thick with contempt.

After all, anyone could tell that this policymaker did have some knowledge, but it was all on paper. From the very start, he’d drafted a pile of comprehensive policies, yet the basic survival issues hadn’t been dealt with at all.

"Uh..."

Jia Rong felt that everything he’d done before had been completely in vain. He’d been busting his ass trying to get every matter on the planet in order, even thinking that in the future people would say he’d worked himself to death for the cause.

He hadn’t expected this to be the result.

As they approached the slum, all the buildings he saw were either made of dirt or of something like planks of wood—everything constructed from the most ordinary and cheapest materials. Thanks to the power of interstellar Technology, at least they could still block the wind, but on this planet they absolutely counted as the most basic and bottom-tier buildings.

The place they led Jia Rong to was a house that could be considered decent among these structures.

Of course, only relatively decent. Outside the house, a huge heap of junk was piled up: things like busted spaceship hulls, half-dismantled high-tech kids’ toys, and driverless cars, and so on.

"This is the Lord with the best Technology in our area."

A creature that looked like a Dolphin was using mechanical arms to repair something. The chicken-headed Monsters pointed at him and said he was the one with the best repair Technology around here.

Jia Rong glanced back and noticed that the signal jammer on the Pig Monster’s back looked very similar in style to what this Dolphin creature made, so he immediately had a pretty good idea where their Firearms and other tech came from.

But to Jia Rong, this was just an ordinary repairer, nothing remarkable. In a technology-driven World, talents like this were as common as carp crossing the river.

"Oh? Let me see this. You actually brought me a creature that looks like an Earth person. What, he also lives in the outer districts?"

The Dolphin turned his head, saw that Jia Rong looked very much like an Earth person, and couldn’t help being a little surprised. At the same time, there was a hint of thoughtfulness in his eyes.

"That’s right, he’s also a resident from outside. We grabbed him to make him hand over ransom. Mr. Haishan, please have him swipe his card."

The chicken-headed Monster walked up toward the Dolphin.

"You don’t look like just an ordinary resident. Say it—who are you?"

The Dolphin didn’t go along with the chicken-head’s words at all. He just kept a slightly cold face and questioned Jia Rong.

"What? He’s not an ordinary resident?"

"Huh? His strength is only Earth Level, and he’s not ordinary? How’s that possible?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The group of escorts were instantly stunned and suddenly became wary of Jia Rong.

They were afraid Jia Rong was an undercover from the authorities.

"Hehe, that’s right, I’m not some ordinary resident. And I didn’t expect that on this planet, someone has even hidden his own strength so well that I didn’t notice."

Jia Rong finally laughed. This time his laugh was nothing like the timid act he’d put on earlier. It was as if his true nature had been unshackled, and a strange,妖异 aura was suddenly very obvious.

"You must be someone from upstairs, right? What, a little patrol in disguise? Seems your status is pretty high."

When the Dolphin heard Jia Rong say he wasn’t an ordinary creature, his expression froze for a moment, though his hands never stopped moving over the item he was repairing.

"Mm, you’re right, I am from upstairs. Sir... no, perhaps I should be calling you a former high-ranking officer of the Imperial Fleet, correct? Your strength should be Semi-permanent Star Level. To have reached this level, no wonder none of our people detected you. Tell me, what do you plan to do on this planet?"

Jia Rong smiled lightly, seemingly not afraid of this Semi-permanent star being at all, and walked casually over to the Devices he was repairing.

Some of these things were pretty high-end, some were extremely low-end. No matter how he looked, Jia Rong didn’t see anything particularly dangerous, nor did it seem like this place was being set up with some Devices to sabotage anything. Or rather, even if sabotage were done here, it wouldn’t have much impact.

"Hehe, you really are from upstairs, Lord, and you’re not afraid of my strength. Judging from your pressure, your strength should only be at Respect Level, and yet you carry this kind of presence. If it’s not because you have a towering magnanimity, then it’s because you have something to rely on. Fine, Lord, I’ll tell you. I stayed on this planet because I truly don’t want to do anything anymore. I just want to remain here and contribute a little to its development."

"Hm?"

Jia Rong was slightly taken aback when he heard this.

"Perhaps you won’t believe me. As a former high-level of the Imperial Fleet, why would I stay here? In fact, when the Fleet retreated, I really did have a chance to leave with them. But when we passed this planet, I looked down at this world that I myself had once ordered to be ravaged and slaughtered, and suddenly felt awful inside. I felt I had to do something for the people here. Call it atonement if you want, or call it me looking for psychological comfort, whatever. In the end I stayed, and became an ordinary repair Master, planning to spend the rest of my life here."

"But now that you’ve come and found me, I won’t overthink it anymore. Of course, I won’t surrender with my hands tied. Kill me or fight me, that’s up to you."

The Dolphin’s words left the chicken-heads and Pig-headed monsters all stunned. For a moment, they had no idea what to say.

They had always thought this Dolphin with good repair Ability was just that—a decent technician. They never imagined he was actually a Semi-permanent Star Level Strong One. Apparently, he was one of those who didn’t grow huge even after becoming powerful.

And the hostage they’d brought in was also someone with quite a background. Even if he was "only" Respect Level, to them, a Respect Level Strong One was an absolutely terrifying existence.

As the situation grew more and more tense, almost on the verge of erupting—

"Hehehe, I see!"

Jia Rong suddenly laughed.