Chapter 4 - Chapter: The Truth Behind "Mammoth" and the Prison Tournament

"If you can fix Mammoth, I guarantee no one in Zone T will dare touch you again. But if you're tricking me...""Then I'll die a terrible death, right?""No. You'll suffer something far worse than death."It was past recreation time at the warehouse entrance in the yard. The prisoners had all returned to their cells, leaving only the mecha, Lin Jie, Simon, and the curly-haired young man in the vast open square.Lin Jie was inspecting the mecha, which was named Mammoth. Simon and the curly-haired young man stood by, watching him closely."One good news, one bad news," Lin Jie jumped down from the mecha after a while, walked over to Simon, and wiped the engine oil off his face. "The good news is I definitely have the skills to fix Mammoth. The bad news is, with the current conditions here, I can't fully repair it. Many precision parts can't be made in this shoddy workshop. At most, I can only get it back to basic operational status—but that's far from enough for it to handle intense combat again.""Can't fight anymore..." Simon muttered, then shot a questioning glance at the curly-haired young man.While Simon was powerful in combat, he knew nothing about machinery. He needed to confirm if Lin Jie's words were credible—and the curly-haired young man was the only "expert" he had by his side. The young man's name was Dyson; his naturally curly brown hair had earned him the nickname "Curly."Meeting Simon's gaze, Curly nodded.As the saying goes, "professionals know the tricks, amateurs just watch the show." Even though Lin Jie hadn't actually started repairing yet, Curly could tell from his inspection procedures and techniques that Lin Jie was indeed a mechanic—one more professional than himself."All right. What do you need?" Simon turned back to Lin Jie, even patting him on the shoulder. "As long as you can fix Mammoth, I'll get you anything you want in Zone T— a private cell, good food, even beautiful women. Name it.""No need for women," Lin Jie said. "Just get me some substitute parts for a Private-class mecha. The main control chip, in particular.""I can't do that."Lin Jie: "..."This was the most feared prison bully in Zone T—someone with more authority than the warden in some ways. He could even smuggle women into a male prison block. It wasn't hard to guess he had powerful connections outside the prison. He'd even managed to get a mecha inside this prison... yet he was saying he couldn't get mecha parts?"You don't know what Mammoth is used for?" Instead of answering Lin Jie's confusion, Simon threw a question back at him, eyeing Lin Jie with puzzlement."What else is a mecha used for?" Lin Jie raised an eyebrow.It was like a car—other than driving it, what else could you do with it? And more importantly, what it was used for had nothing to do with whether he could get a chip, right?"So you really don't know." At Lin Jie's reply, Simon suddenly wore a look of novelty, as if he'd encountered something interesting. Lin Jie was even more confused."Boss, let me explain it to him," Curly stepped forward. He glanced at Simon first, and only after Simon nodded did he turn to Lin Jie. "This story is simple in some ways, complicated in others. To make it clear, we have to go back over sixty years..."Curly gestured for Lin Jie to sit down with them, then began his tale. As he spoke, Lin Jie finally understood why there was a combat mecha in the prison.According to Curly, over sixty years ago, the Ninth Prison— which occupied nearly half the planet—was still a strictly run facility. It had complete security systems and powerful armed forces, built specifically to hold the most dangerous criminals arrested by the Karl Star Nation. Not a single person had ever escaped from it. This impressive record once made it the gold standard for prisons in the Karl Star Nation.But the problem lay precisely in this "gold standard."About sixty years ago, the Karl Star Nation captured a special prisoner—a notorious interstellar criminal who had committed numerous major crimes within Karl Star Nation's borders, sparking widespread public outrage.Logically, a criminal like this should have been sentenced to death on the spot, no trial needed. But this prisoner was not just a criminal—he was also a noble from a powerful federation.By comparison, the Karl Star Nation was far weaker. To use an analogy from a familiar worldview: it was like a small, weak country arresting a rogue general from a powerful nation.If they let him go, the public would revolt, and the nation would lose face. If they sentenced him... they didn't dare.Trapped in this dilemma, Karl Star Nation's top officials could only lock the prisoner up temporarily, leaving the problem for future leaders to solve.But where to lock him up?"The Ninth Prison..." Lin Jie answered instinctively upon hearing this.Obviously, as the "model prison" of the Karl Star Nation, the Ninth Prison would have been the top choice for the country's leaders."Smart!" Curly gave Lin Jie a thumbs-up and continued.Once the first "super prisoner" was locked up, it was like opening a floodgate. After that, the Karl Star Nation arrested a "federation noble"-level criminal—someone they dared not punish—every so often. Perhaps out of habit, or perhaps because officials at the time needed political achievements, they never considered secretly releasing these prisoners. Instead, they made high-profile announcements to gain public support, then stuffed all these criminals into the Ninth Prison.The Ninth Prison was thrown into chaos. Its once stable structure was shattered by these "super prisoners," and almost every zone ended up with one or two untouchable prison bullies. Simon was one of them.But this was just the change inside the prison. The situation outside was even more severe.As more and more "super prisoners" were detained by the Karl Star Nation in recent years, the country's politicians suddenly realized: while they gained public support, they were also offending more and more powerful forces.These forces joined hands to pressure Karl Star Nation's politicians, demanding the release of their core members.At first, dealing with one or two forces was manageable. But now, with so many powerful groups acting together, Karl Star Nation's politicians couldn't hold on.So they chose to shift this pressure to the Ninth Prison's warden—Jenna Downs.They ordered Jenna to come up with a solution to respond to these forces, even making her negotiate directly with the leaders of those organizations. Rumor had it that Jenna was almost scared to death at the time."You make her sound so pitiful," Lin Jie glanced secretly at the tall alloy building in the distance. The floor-to-ceiling window was still there, but Jenna was no longer behind it.He could imagine the immense pressure Jenna had faced back then. For a woman in her fifties to withstand something even the nation's rulers avoided— it was nothing short of a miracle."What happened next?""Later, Jenna Downs actually came up with a plan," Curly walked over to Mammoth, tapped its outer armor, and smiled in admiration. "This is the plan. Jenna decided to hold a tournament on the Death Star. Can you believe it? She's a genius..."Curly's voice grew noticeably more excited as he went on.Jenna Downs was just an ordinary person, and at fifty-five, she was in menopause—but there was no denying she was capable and resourceful.As Curly explained, Jenna had created a tournament. The core of the tournament was mecha battles. She had found dozens of Private-class combat mechas on this trash star, had them repaired to ensure they could fight, then numbered each mecha. She gathered all the prison bullies, and they drew lots to claim ownership of the mechas.Finally, the mechas would compete in a flag-capturing battle in a specially built arena. There were no rules—any combat style or tactic was allowed, and even killing was permitted. The only goal was to ensure your mecha held the flag when the match ended.If a mecha won seven flag-capturing battles, or eliminated all other participating mechas, the prison bully who owned that mecha would be set free.The only rule was: mechas were not allowed to use parts sent by outside forces.This rule served two purposes: it accelerated the tournament's pace, eliminating mechas faster and more visibly; and it prevented the powerful forces behind the "super criminals" from sending over 规格 (overpowered) parts that would disrupt the tournament's balance."So Simon is one of those 'super criminals,' Mammoth is his mecha, and you..." Lin Jie turned to Curly. "You're the mecha pilot in charge of driving it?""That's right," Curly shrugged and confirmed. "I specifically stole a senior official's spaceship, but apparently that wasn't a serious enough crime. Our leader spent millions of Star Coins greasing palms to get the Karl Star Nation government to sentence me to a heavy term and lock me up in the Ninth Prison."Lin Jie: "..."