New Phoenix City, located in the coastal region of the Dragon Continent on the federation's Azure Star, is a relatively well-known tourist city.
Although the federation now claims to have entered the Interstellar Era, in reality, there is only one habitable planet.
The other planets that can be landed on are all in the Azure Star's system, including the Dazzling Confusion Alien Planet, which is a frontline battlefield, and a few Mining Stars.
Therefore, Azure Star has a large population, and renowned tourist cities like New Phoenix City always have a constant stream of visitors. The people living here enjoy a high happiness index.
However, Ji Xinghe is not at all happy because he has become a true loner.
"Dude, why are you in here in the first place?"
Inside the New Phoenix City detention center, Ji Xinghe heard someone asking him, but he didn't want to answer or look at anyone else. He sat silently like a statue.
Slightly blurry vision, his son Ji Chenxing's appearance just emerged only to be replaced by a burst of red color, like a head full of red dyed hair.
A young man with a red explosion-style haircut appeared dissatisfied in front of Ji Xinghe, bossing around.
"Hey, old man, you're acting like a bigshot when I call you 'dude', I'm talking to you. Were you sent here for fraud or theft? Let me tell you, I got in here for car racing, I hacked the self-driving program and finished the New Phoenix City roundabout in thirteen minutes. They call me the Gentleman of New Phoenix. Not the number thirteen in ranking but thirteen-minute thirteen."
The phenomenon of status hierarchy in the prison has not disappeared with the advent of the federation era. Young people who like to dye their hair in various colors also have not disappeared as humans entered the Interstellar Era.
What also did not disappear were those who carry a heavy load, working hard to keep Azure Star safe.
Ji Xinghe was somewhat puzzled. Was his son's sacrifice for protecting such people? A youngster instead of studying, learns to race cars, even hacks into the auxiliary driving program which all cars now have, plays with manual driving which was phased out decades ago. Car accidents are prone to happen this way.
An Artificial Intelligence program can calculate billions of driving routes, but it cannot calculate the complexity of human hearts.
Ji Xinghe would have said something before, but now he doesn't want to say a word. It doesn't matter now whether this red-haired bastard will go to jail for illegal racing, or whether he will get into a car accident and kill himself, or even harm innocent people.
Nothing is important now, the only important thing he can't do anymore.
"Hey, old man, can you make a sound? Look at me... like this, even a grunt will do."
The Gentleman of New Phoenix has an erratic personality. It's too boring in the two-person cell and Ji Xinghe's constant indifferent expressions and silence finally made him feel disrespected.
He took a step forward intending to push, not using much strength as he feared to harm Ji Xinghe, but just as his right hand was about to touch Ji Xinghe's shoulder, he felt as if his hand was clamped by pliers.
Next, a great force attacked him, along with a black shadow covering his field of vision. It was Ji Xinghe, who suddenly stood up.
It was not until this moment that Gentleman of New Phoenix realized this old man was tall, with a height of about 1.90 meters, which was not noticeable when he was sitting. Maybe it was because this old man seemed to have no energy, his back hunched and he hadn't had a proper meal in a week, making him look frail.
"Hey-"
"I made a mistake-"
He wanted to apologize immediately, but it was too late. A sudden burst of energy exploded from Ji Xinghe's body, like a starving beast that had just spotted prey.
Gentleman of New Phoenix only felt an irresistible force coming from his right hand, and that was just Ji Xinghe's left hand. His right arm obediently landed on Ji Xinghe's shoulder, an intense pain shot through his chest from colliding with Ji Xinghe's body, then his feet left the ground uncontrollably.
His world spun.
With a dull thud, Gentleman of New Phoenix found himself hanging upside down on the cell wall, his head hitting the wall-mounted chair where Ji Xinghe had just been sitting, as if a painting had been hung up upside down.
Gentleman of New Phoenix didn't know if he looked like a hung-up painting. All he knew was that he had just been flipped over by an old man. He felt as if his right hand, wrist, chest, back, and injured head were about to break. It hurt so badly.
Just like when I was in a car accident, am I going to die?
"Help, help, the old man's beating me, he wants to kill me."
When the Gentleman of New Phoenix, who had been thrown off the wall, curled up and cried out, the alarm in the cell had already sounded. The surveillance camera with dynamic monitoring functions had detected the situation in the cell. When the detention center staff rushed in, they saw the tall figure of Ji Xinghe standing expressionlessly in the middle of the cell, and Gentleman of New Phoenix was still curled up on the chair in the corner of the wall.
Seeing that there were people coming, Gentleman of New Phoenix jumped up excitedly as if he had found backup.
"He hit me, this old man hit me, he is a violent thug, send him to prison, the detention center is not suitable for him. He..."
Gentleman of New Phoenix's hysterical voice suddenly halted, like a duck whose throat was being squeezed, because he saw the indifferent look in Ji Xinghe's eyes.
A click sounded, and the iron door of the cell was opened. The people from the detention center rushed in and cautiously eyed Ji Xinghe.
"Raise your hands, then cross your hands on your head and squat down, lean against the wall."
Ji Xinghe took a deep breath to calm his emotions and obediently followed the instructions.
Seeing this, Gentleman of New Phoenix had a triumphant look on his face again, but as soon as he started bouncing around, he was held down by the people of the detention center.
"You too, squat down."
"Brother, I was the one who got beaten, this old man beat me."
"You're 19, he's 65, he beat you?"
"What's wrong with being 65? You look down on 65-year-old old men, don't you? I bet this old man could take on four of you."
"Shut your mouth."
Gentleman of New Phoenix didn't want to shut up. As if to prove what he had just said, he directly asked Ji Xinghe.
"Old man, tell me, can you take on four of them by yourself?"
Ji Xinghe didn't initially want to respond, but he thought that this scene might be witnessed by some people. It might increase the hope of him accomplishing what was important to him, so he responded.
"Not just four, I can take on ten."
"See, I wasn't lying right? He really can fight, even at 65 he can fight."
Gentleman of New Phoenix stood up excitedly again but was pushed down again to squat with his hands on his head, but he kept on talking, "Wait, ten? Four was already impressive, but ten, are you bragging? I'm seriously asking you, answer me honestly, the more truthful you are the lighter your punishment, get it?"
"It's ten."
When Ji Xinghe answered, he had already been handcuffed, as had Gentleman of New Phoenix. Both of them stood up under the watchful eye of the guards.
Recalling how he was quickly taken down and the pain he still felt on his body, Gentleman of New Phoenix somewhat believed him and stuttered, "Old man, what kind of kung fu do you practice?"
Ji Xinghe paused slightly.
"Wing Chun."
"Damn, you're 65 and you're not practicing Tai Chi for health, but Wing Chun? You really are a dangerous and violent thug. Sentencing, officer, sentence him, if he gets out he will be a menace to society."
The reckless Gentleman of New Phoenix who jeopardized society by street racing, for the first time felt that endangering society was not a good thing and that one should be sentenced.