I Just Wanted to Be a Galactic Hunter—Why Am I on the Wanted List? Chapter 16: Doing Wrong for the Sake of It

"Mr. Loren, I just finished a delivery. Need a lift back?" Tyrone asked in a good mood.

He'd been lucky today; his deliveries went smoothly and no clients had given him trouble.

After finishing his run, on a whim he decided to wander near the Wild Dog Gang's area.

He figured he might catch so excitent.

Unexpectedly, the fighting got so loud that explosions echoed through the gang's base, and he didn't dare get close.

He could only stop his truck at a distance.

Just after Tyrone parked for a mont, Loren happened to walk out of the battlefield.

The timing was perfect.

It was as if the two of them had arranged it.

"Bad timing for , I have to go to the Upper District to take care of sothing," Loren told him, revealing where he was headed.

Hearing that, Tyrone slid back into the driver's seat.

Gripping the wheel with both hands, he stuck his head out the window and bellowed at Loren:

"No problem, I'm free for the rest of the day."

"So, Mr. Loren, wherever you're heading, it's on my way!"

A smile crept up at the corner of Loren's mouth.

"Tyrone, I think the revolver I gave you was the best thing I've done so far."

Loren climbed into the armored pickup and drove toward Clear Mine City's Upper District.

The Upper District was the polar opposite of the Lower District.

Its existence symbolized the planet's safety, wealth, dignity, and civil side.

Its origin, however, was dramatic.

Ever since the Federation had discovered the Spirit Stone Deposits on this resource planet and stripped them dry,

the Federation Council had rcilessly abandoned the miners on this world.

The infamous "Settlent Decree" was issued openly.

Under the decree, countless migrant miners were granted permanent residency on this planet by the Federation.

They called it an honor: after decades of Federation developnt, this resource planet had been transford into a livable world.

This settlent decree was the Federation's reward to many contributors.

When the miners learned they had been abandoned,

they stord Clear Mine City in rage and seized it.

Unfortunately, the place was already empty.

Officials from the Federation's Departnt of Energy had all withdrawn.

In the end, these miners with no other choice were forced to settle down in Clear Mine City.

One thing the Federation did not lie about: this depleted resource planet had indeed been developed to be habitable.

Aside from being devoid of any minerals, the planet had almost no flaws.

But that was also its greatest flaw: in the interstellar age, Spirit Stones equaled everything!

Without Spirit Stones, every upward avenue was cut off.

There was no way to cultivate, and no way to use high-end technology.

In the end, these miners with nowhere to turn embarked on a tumultuous path of self-rescue.

Prohibited goods and smuggling beca their lifeline.

With the end of the old era and the arrival of a new age,

and under the force of ti,

Resource Planet 17

had beco a notorious gray planet and a hub for fencing stolen goods in the Dusk Star Domain.

At the sa ti,

over ti,

the planet's main city—Clear Mine City—naturally split into the Upper and Lower Districts.

The Lower District was mainly made up of the poorer miners and their descendants.

It was, of course, also a hotbed of the Gray Zone.

The Upper District's residents were initially composed of managerial staff and wealthier miners.

Later, at so people's suggestion,

they nominally ford a governnt and pledged allegiance to the Federation, becoming part of it.

In reality, every person in the Upper District was deeply tied to Gray Zone business.

This planet had already been rotten to the core the mont the Federation abandoned it.

Those left behind, whoever they were, had lost the ans to rise.

They could only sink.

As ti went on, anyone with even a little status or ability on this world tried every trick to squeeze into this place.

That resulted in the Upper District becoming what it is today:

glittering on the outside, yet the rotting core of the planet.

In fact, elsewhere Resource Planet 17 was also called the "Rotten Planet."

Loren was heading to a place in Clear Mine City's Upper District.

His ultimate destination was the Interstellar Hunter Association branch set up in the Upper District.

The things exposed by the Wild Dog Gang made Loren realize there was a powerful force behind that gang.

He planned to probe for information within the Interstellar Hunter Association.

He also wanted to look into leads about the missing people from the slums.

Ms. Thia's husband was among them.

The Interstellar Hunter Association was a behemoth spanning multiple star systems, one of the Federation's important components.

As the association's branch on this "Rotten Planet," it was also one of the strongest forces here.

That ant this Interstellar Hunter branch might hold the clues Loren needed.

After all, Loren himself was technically a mber of the association; he had the authority.

Although his reputation was questionable, he was still one of its mbers and could gather intelligence from within.

Loren sat in the car, staring out the window, thinking to himself.

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Soon,

an imposing armored pickup pulled up at the gates of the Upper District.

This fully ard pickup could only co this far.

The Upper District strictly regulated weapons.

To drive in, you had to strip all heavy weapons off the vehicle.

Tyrone, who lived off transporting contraband, naturally refused such an arrangent.

So he could only drop Loren off here.

"Tyrone, this is fine. Drop here."

Loren stepped down and looked up at the Upper District gate, deep in thought.

"Mr. Loren, I wish you all the best." Tyrone stuck his head out the window and gave Loren a nod of farewell.

The armored pickup vanished through the Upper District gate.

After watching Tyrone's truck leave, Loren set off toward the gate.

The gate to the Upper District was nothing special or grand, just ordinary.

It was a gate of moderate size, flanked by guards.

The guards were ford from the city's law enforcent team.

Yes, even at the rotten core of the planet, there was a law enforcent squad.

But what exactly that squad consisted of was easy to imagine.

They extorted, set up checkpoints to shake people down, blackmailed, and committed every evil deed.

Seeing Loren approach the gate,

the guards on both sides intended to step forward, ask a few questions, and maybe extort this obvious Lower District resident.

But just as they were about to move toward Loren, a superior's voice crackled through their communicator, stopping them.

"Let him into the city. Don't do anything else."

The guards at the gate froze, halted in place, and cold sweat imdiately broke out across their backs.

They had almost provoked soone they shouldn't have!

There were very few people who could make their superior say sothing like that!