202: Chapter 206 The prison is not a cell, but a recruitment warehouse.

The Exile Fortress came to a halt behind a dark red nebula.

Thrusters had been throttled to their minimum. The outer camouflage membrane redeployed over the hull, blending the massive black fortress into the deep space dust. The main control room was silent, with only a few sub-screens still lit, casting layers of cold white light.

Li Cang leaned back in the command chair, motionless.

In the center of the main screen, the Fog Ring No. 9 Customs mainframe had been dismantled into hundreds of pages of accounts. Whitelists, gray ledgers, escort records, anonymous funding, and outer ring sealing orders scrolled down one after another.

The truly valuable thing wasn't the taxes.

It was whose eyes the customs helped cover, whose wind they blocked, and which people and goods they hid that were never meant to see the light of day.

Li Cang flipped through them rapidly.

His finger paused occasionally before continuing to scroll down.

These accounts were dirty.

Many funds had no destination. Many transport manifests only had the first half, with no endpoint. Many whitelists didn't use public routes at all, instead utilizing hidden transit lines that could only be opened from within the Federation.

Until a serial number jumped out.

[Frost Prison No. 4].

Li Cang's hand stopped.

The next second, the entire page of data was magnified. Related information automatically expanded around the screen. Prison layouts, escort chains, sample classifications, garrison organizations, hidden line permissions, and whitelist coverage layers surfaced one by one, peeling back the outer shell of that prison planet like skinning an animal.

He watched for two minutes before speaking.

"This place isn't a prison."

The sub-control Servitor standing by on standby looked up but made no sound.

Li Cang magnified the page again, pointing at the gray area in the very center.

"A prison only needs cells; it doesn't need three layers of isolation circles, it doesn't need an independent sample bank, and it certainly doesn't need dedicated whitelist lanes for escort teams."

"This isn't for holding people."

"This is for storing inventory."

On the screen, Frost Prison No. 4 slowly rotated.

It was a grayish-white planet. There were no large-scale cities on the surface, nor were there commercial orbital rings. There were only vast arrays of regularly arranged metal shafts, crisscrossing heavy rails, patches of low-slung enclosed facilities, and a ring of black defensive walls spreading across the equator.

Outside the walls was ice.

Inside the walls was steel.

The entire planet looked like a sealed cold storage facility.

Li Cang switched to the thermal map.

Beneath the equator, cluster after cluster of red spots lit up.

Living quarters.

Sample area.

Isolation cell block.

Incineration pits.

And a separately marked whitelist transfer line.

This last one was the most eye-catching.

Because it connected directly to the Federation's Inner Ring.

Li Cang gave a faint smile.

"You lords who preach about order... the things you raise in private are far filthier than the black market."

He closed the main ledger page and switched to the tactical board.

Frost Prison No. 4 was immediately broken down into over a dozen structural layers.

Outer ring defense towers, orbital elevator shafts, surface mecha camps, inner prison main control tower, sample banks, incinerator clusters, underground transport rails, and backup power reactors.

There was plenty that needed smashing.

But there was only one place that truly needed to be taken first—the main control tower.

The main control tower didn't just manage the doors.

It also managed the deletion of files.

Once alerted too quickly, the Warden's first priority would never be calling for help, but rather incinerating samples, clearing records, and blowing up the inner prison blocks to bury the filth along with the evidence.

Therefore, the first step wasn't to attack.

The first step was to sever.

Li Cang clicked on three preset commands, compressing them into a sequence.

"First, cut off peripheral communications."

"Then, seal the surface elevator shafts."

"Finally, lock the sample bank airlocks."

The orders were dispatched simultaneously.

From the belly of the Exile Fortress, four sets of Silent Projectors, long and thin as javelins, slowly extended from behind the armor plating. They were much smaller than drop pods and had no exhaust flames during flight, carrying only a circle of gray light so faint it was nearly invisible.

These weren't weapons.

They were incisions.

The four Silent Projectors fell soundlessly toward the orbital layer of Frost Prison No. 4. The first nailed into the high-altitude communication node, the second smashed through the elevator shaft's main axle transfer segment, the third buried itself into the main control tower's backup circuits, and the fourth struck directly at the whitelist permission antenna above the sample bank.

Four light thuds, almost negligible.

But inside the planet, the lights flickered first.

—

Frost Prison No. 4, Main Control Tower.

Warden Xia Luowei stood before the main console, reviewing today's final batch of transfer lists.

He was a lean, middle-aged man with neatly combed hair and a uniform without a single wrinkle. He wore no rings on his hands and carried no weapons, looking like a quiet administrator.

Those who truly knew him were aware that this kind of person was far more troublesome than those armored military thugs.

He didn't like shouting.

Nor did he like chaos.

So when the yellow warning for "orbital communication delay" first popped up on the sub-screen, he didn't even frown. He simply reached out and dragged the notification to the side, planning to deal with it after finishing the review of this batch of names.

The next second, the elevator shaft permissions went offline simultaneously.

The second after that, the sample bank's whitelist antenna lost response.

The main control hall was silent for two seconds.

Then, everyone started talking at once.

"Outer ring communications are down!"

"The elevator shafts are locked!"

"The main tower's backup circuits have been cut!"

"The sample bank is requesting re-authentication!"

Xia Luowei raised his hand.

The hall fell silent immediately.

He glanced down at the master map, then looked up out the window at the grayish-white prison surface.

No explosions.

No enemy ship alarms.

No distress signals.

Yet problems were surfacing layer by layer.

This indicated that the intruder hadn't wandered in by mistake.

They were aiming for the main tower and the sample bank.

"Seal the external network."

"Cut all non-essential internal permissions."

"Clear the cache of the whitelist escort records."

"Prepare the first-sequence incineration contingency for the sample bank."

He spoke quickly and flatly.

The adjutant beside him turned pale.

"Sir, we haven't confirmed the enemy's scale yet."

Xia Luowei spared him a glance.

"By the time we can actually confirm it, it'll be too late."

The adjutant immediately lowered his head to execute the orders.

But just as the commands were halfway sent, a series of dull booms suddenly echoed from the entire surface security line outside the main control tower.

It wasn't the sound of cannons.

It sounded like something massive had slammed into the ground.

The window panes of the main control hall vibrated slightly. On the grayish-white ground, circles of shockwave dust pushed outward. It wasn't just one. They were falling in clusters.

The adjutant rushed to the window, his voice changing.

"Drop pods! A massive amount of drop pods!"

Xia Luowei finally turned his head.

On the outer ring's gray plains, black drop pods were falling like rain.

They didn't explode upon landing; instead, they slammed violently into the frozen soil and iron rails, creating craters. The edges of the craters cracked. Pod doors popped open. Crowds of black figures began to pour out.

They weren't Federation regular forces.

Nor were they black market mercenaries.

Their forms were twisted, their armor crude, and their gait bizarre, yet their movements carried an unsettling sense of unity.

As the first row charged out, some dragged broken legs as they crawled forward. Those behind them stepped over their backs and continued onward.

Xia Luowei took one look and knew things had gone south.

This wasn't a regular assault team.

These were consumables.

"All outer ring turrets, open fire."

"Deploy the mecha battalion."

"Don't let them get near the base of the walls."

Orders filtered down through the ranks.

Along the outer wall of Frost Prison No. 4, hundreds of automatic turrets turned simultaneously, their muzzles depressing. Sheets of tracer fire swept across the gray plains, shredding the mutant fodder army charging at the front.

But that was only the first wave.

Behind it was a second.

A third.

A fourth.

The black tide of people surged forward from craters, ditches, broken rails, and collapsed slopes. If their legs were blown off, they crawled. If their arms were gone, they gripped their guns with their teeth and pushed forward. Those who died fell, and those behind stepped over them, continuing the charge toward the walls.

The outer mecha battalion began to mobilize.

Over thirty Federation standard heavy mecha stepped through the gates, forming a firing line on the gray plains. Rounds of artillery swept into the sea of people, kicking up massive clouds of blood-mud and shattered armor.

But once the number five hundred thousand was spread out, it wasn't a problem that could be solved by just "killing."

It would become silt.

It would become a wall.

It would become a tide of flesh that blocked all vision and lines of fire.

In the main control hall, the adjutant was already starting to sweat.

"Outer firepower is dropping!"

"The area beneath the turrets is clogged! Continuing to fire will cause friendly casualties!"

"The mecha battalion has lost visibility!"

Xia Luowei stared at the master map, his eyes cold.

Only now did he truly realize that the opponent hadn't come for a hard-fought skirmish before leaving.

They had come to choke the prison to death.

"Abandon the second line."

"Seal the inner gates of the outer wall."

"All high-tier guards, retreat to the main tower."

"Take the sample bank—"

Before he could finish, the entire main control tower suddenly jolted.

It wasn't an artillery strike.

It was as if something had scraped all the way down the tower's outer wall. Immediately following, the half-meter-thick composite wall panel on the right side of the main hall emitted a sharp, scalp-tingling grinding sound.

Vrrrrm—

The sound was long and heavy.

Like an oversized saw cutting its way in.

Xia Luowei's pupils contracted.

"What is that?"

No one answered.

Because the answer was already in their faces.

A red line first cracked across the right wall panel. Then, the entire wall was torn open from the outside as if by a giant hand. Sparks, steel shavings, and scorching white smoke flooded in together.

Behind the breach, a massive steel head slowly rose.

It was a thirty-meter-tall Heavy Knight.

Its hull was painted a dull blackish-green, its surface covered in scratches, weld scars, and blood that hadn't been cleaned off yet. One of its arms was equipped with a multi-barrel heavy cannon, while the other dragged an absurdly long chainsword. That wall-cutting sound from moments ago had been its doing.

The entire main control hall instantly fell silent.

The next second, behind the breach, figures in black heavy armor charged in en masse.

The Astartes had arrived.

They didn't run, they didn't shout, and they didn't bypass anything.

They opened fire the moment they entered.

Bolt Shells first blew the first row of control consoles apart. Before the defending mages could even raise a second layer of shields, chainswords were already slamming into their faces. The warning lights on the walls were smeared with blood, the glass was all shattered, and the control consoles exploded row by row into white fire.

Xia Luowei did not retreat.

He knew retreating was useless.

He simply reached out to grab the master-level incineration button under the corner of the desk.

His fingertips had just touched it.

A Bolt Shell punched through the desk, blowing his entire arm away along with half the table.

He was thrown back, slamming into the rear wall.

Clutching his stump, his face was as white as paper.

Yi Hao walked in from the breached door, his boots stepping over the floor covered in shattered glass and pools of blue blood, stopping in front of him.

Xia Luowei looked up at this black-armored giant who towered so far above him. His throat bobbed, and he actually tried to speak.

"You... are raiding the wrong place."

Yi Hao didn't answer.

He raised his hand, his Power Claw pressing down on the top of Xia Luowei's head and smashing it into the nearby control console. The sound of bone shattering was drowned out by the gunfire, leaving not even an echo.

The main control hall was completely overrun.

Meanwhile, in the command deck of the Exile Fortress, Li Cang's screen had already switched to the deeper parts of the prison.

The sample bank airlocks hadn't fully closed.

The transfer records were still there.

The incineration program was only halfway through its startup.

That was enough.

He sliced open the internal structural diagram, circling the sample bank in red.

"The main tower is taken," Li Cang said. "Now, open the vaults."

"For all high-value targets: inspect first, then sort, then take them."

"Burn the rest."