The Highest Bounty

Chapter 1: My Name is Gu Ding

10

“This is the planet Cerule. It is a 4.5-billion-year-old planet with a radius of 6378.2 kilometers. The name of the planet comes from its cerulean waters that cover 71% of its surface, with the remaining 29% being dry land. It rotates about its axis once approximately every 24 hours, and around its star – Sol – every 365.25 days. It has one satellite named Luna, which rotates around Cerule once every 27.32 days…”

Linna played the video clip introducing the planet Cerule. Her eyes swept over the children in her class and noticed that a pair of eyes were fixed on her. She followed the gaze and identified the owner of the pair of eyes.

The child had a head of short, cropped black hair, and his irides were of the same shade of black. His build was gaunt compared to the other students of his age. There was a hint of suspicion in his eyes, and he was not looking at the hologram behind her, but rather on herself. This made her frown slightly.

Linna had always been confident of her disguises. In her entire career of mimicry, an introverted, taciturn Planetology teacher had been the most boring character she had ever disguised. She frowned. If not that this woman’s boyfriend was a courier of the Federation, she would not have even bothered with putting on a disguise of a woman that did not allow her breasts to breathe freely.

Lucky for her, the cargo was already in hand and the mission was a complete success. She could leave this backwater planet without leaving a trace after this class.

She was annoyed by the boy’s gaze. ‘Did he notice anything?’

While thinking of that, she lowered her head and looked at the teaching panel in front of her. Tapping the boy’s seat number on the screen, she brought up his personal information.

Name: Gu Ding

Gender: Male

Age: 15

Gene Level: Level one

Special abilities: Unawakened

Cell Index: 10

Spirit: 9.8

Battle Prowess: B+

Mental Cognition: A

Noteworthy Incidents: As the student representative in the induction ceremony, he proclaimed in front of the academy that “he wants to be the man with the highest bounty in the entire universe.”

Comments:

Strengths: Possesses extraordinary mental cognition and battle prowess.

Weaknesses: Stubborn. Unwilling to be disciplined.

Linna was taken aback after reading the boy’s information. ‘He shouldn’t be able to look through my disguise if he doesn’t have any detection abilities. A Gene Level 1 adult usually only had a Cell Index of 1, though it’s not unusual for someone to reach the Level 1 limit of 10 points. But his spirit is so high. That’s not something attainable with just mere training… And he even openly admitted that he wanted to be a space pirate in a Military Academy owned by the Federation. That’s interesting…’

Her lips curled upward, and she had the idea of teasing him. ‘Student Gu Ding, can you tell us what is the proportion of the native population on Cerule?’

Gu Ding looked shocked at first, though soon after, he coolly stood from his seat and answered, “Cerulean natives number about 340 million and comprise about 18.1% of Cerule’s entire population.”

Linna peeked at the answer on her teaching panel, then continued her questioning. “The second question. Other than Cerulean natives, how many immigrant species exist on Cerule?”

“There are 117 immigrant species on the official record, and their total population count is 1.53 billion,” Gu Ding answered without hesitation.

Linna peeked at the numbers again and found that he was entirely correct. She narrowed her eyes and thought for a moment, and continued asking, “Please briefly outline the events that caused the sharp decline in native population on Cerule.”

This topic was an incident that happened before the New Era. It was considered a dark chapter in the history of the planet and mentioning it was still considered a taboo topic. Even the textbooks were vague about what happened. It was evident that Linna wanted to embarrass Gu Ding.

Gu Ding raised an eyebrow and continued answering. “Year 7842359 of the Federation Era, or in other words, the Year 2112 of the Common Era on Cerule. A meteor carrying an unknown deadly strain of virus crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. The virus proliferated incredibly quickly and killed off many living creatures on the planet. Not only was the virus deadly, it was even capable of controlling dead hosts to attack living beings. In eight years, its native human population shrunk from 7 billion to 300 million. The survival rate of other species of animals was less than 0.1 percent. The Galactic Federation mobilized its troops to preserve the human civilization on Cerule and removed all traces of the virus in seven months. After undergoing a complete overhaul in its governmental structure, the planet was officially inducted as a member of the Federation, and its name was changed from ‘Earth’ to ‘Cerule’…”

Embarrassment flashed on Linna’s face. She shifted her gaze to the golden-haired boy to the left who was slumped on the table and looked like he was falling asleep. She peeked at the teaching panel that displayed the names of the students again. “You may sit down, Student Gu Ding. Student Reid, please answer this question…”

The day’s classes were soon over. Gu Ding was about to leave his seat, but Reid stopped him.

“Hey, did you notice that Teacher Ellie is acting a little different today?” Reid said with a low voice.

“It’s not quite the same. What about it?” Gu Ding did notice there was something different too.

“I’m guessing that the woman who conducted our lesson just now was a phony,” Reid raised an eyebrow.

“A phony?!” Gu Ding was shocked. His intuition told him that Teacher Ellie was different, though he knew that Reid’s deductions were often backed with solid proof.

“This woman made a lot of minor mistakes. First of all, she used her left hand to tap on her teaching panel, which indicated that she is a lefty. She seemed like she noticed something afterward and switched to her right hand. Everyone knows that Teacher Ellie is a righty.

“Next, Her last question for you is considered a taboo topic in Planetology. It is a topic explicitly banned by the Federation Government to be included in textbooks, and teachers are heavily discouraged to discuss the topic. Teacher Ellie looks like the kind of person who would not touch this topic with a ten-foot pole.

“So far, those are the two biggest mistakes. Of course, there are many minor flaws in her disguise as well. For example, she did not know our names, and she also did not know the answers to the two questions posed to you. That’s why she lowered her head to peek at our seating arrangement and the teaching guides. In the half-hour class, her total speaking time was less than seven minutes. The real Teacher Ellie’s speaking time is usually about eighteen minutes. Should I continue?”

“I’m going off.” Gu Ding was busy tidying his backpack and did not pay attention to Reid’s deductions.

“Don’t you want to know where the real Teacher Ellie went? Or who this woman is? Or what was her objective of disguising as Teacher Ellie?” Reid was still in the mood to be a detective.

“This means that Teacher Ellie has already been offed, and her corpse is only the business of the Federation Army. As for the real identity of that woman, it’s also the business of the Federation Army. I’m heading off to work at Auntie Roastbeef. So long, chatterbox!” Go Ding interjected.

“Hey, I’m not finished yet! The chances of Teacher Ellie being killed off is about 91%, which means that there’s still a 9% chance that she’s still alive! And there’s an above 60% chance that the real identity of this woman is…” Reid shouted angrily, then spewed a bunch of numbers to boast his incredible powers of calculation and deduction.

Gu Ding ‘escaped’ from school and rode on his hoverbike toward the west of the city.

The west of the city was a backward, chaotic place. Piles of garbage emanated a vomit-inducing odor, and sirens rang day in and day out. This was the haven of criminals and the root of all the city’s evil.

There was a nickname to this part of the city: The Red Light District. In other cities, the Red Light District usually referred to as an area with a concentration of brothels, but this was different. The red light was a sign of warning, and so the Red Light District referred to the continuous din of sirens in the area.

Many space pirates made this lawless region their temporary home. Cerule was a newly developed planet, though the number of pirates that set foot on it grew every day. Gu Ding was raised in this district since he was born, and as far as he could remember, the Red Light District had been a wonderland for space pirates from all over the galaxy.

Gu Ding slowed down as he spotted the ‘Rose Tavern’ signboard not too far ahead. He accidentally glanced into a window to his left and noticed a silhouette that seemed familiar.

“Oh? Why is she in the Red Light District?” Gu Ding started to feel suspicious.

The silhouette disappeared in a flash. He hesitated for a while, then curiosity overcame him and he sneaked in after her.