I won.
One hundred million credits. The string of numbers flashed wildly on my terminal screen like a supernova, nearly searing my retinas.
I won everything.
But something was wrong.
"Jinx," I growled into the empty workshop, my voice hoarse from dehydration. "Report."
"Very, very bad." Jinx's ghostly holographic projection flickered before me, her voice carrying an unprecedented gravity. "The Empire's Seventh, Ninth, and Thirteenth Fleets have completed an orbital blockade of Planet 7. All flight paths have been cut off. Not even a fly could get out."
My heart sank.
"What do they want? Did they back out?" I sneered, my gaze sweeping over the shimmering golden "Heart of the Sun" engine in the center of the workshop—the trophy I'd stripped from Crown Prince Leon's *Archangel*. "Aren't they afraid I'll spill all the Crown Prince's dirty little secrets?"
"No, this isn't the Royal Family's doing," Jinx said urgently. "It's the military—those military aristocrats. You rubbed their faces in the dirt, and now they've gone mad. They're willing to start a small-scale war just to wipe you off this planet."
I tightened my grip on the wrench, the cold metal digging into my knuckles until they ached. I knew it. Those high-and-mighty bastards wouldn't let me off that easily.
"And," Jinx paused, "the Brotherhood and those bookies who lost big have increased the bounty on your head tenfold on the black market. Now every cutthroat on Planet 7 is looking for you. They want to take your head for the reward."
I looked around at my pile of freshly acquired "spoils"—top-tier Imperial mecha parts, now piled up like a mountain of junk.
Right now, these things weren't my ticket to freedom; they were the coffin nails pinning me here.
I had become a prisoner trapped on a mountain of treasure.
"Warning!" Jinx's holographic projection distorted violently, a piercing alarm stabbing at my eardrums. "Something is approaching your location at high speed! It's not the scavengers! It's military-grade dropships! Vex, run!"
Run?
Where could I go?
The entire planet was blockaded. I was like a bug trapped in a glass jar, forced to watch as a hand reached in from the outside.
Screw running.
I took a deep breath, threw down the wrench, and rushed to the "Heart of the Sun" engine. I grabbed a larger industrial wrench and aimed it at the emergency maintenance port on the side of the engine.
"BOOM—!"
With a deafening roar, the roof of my container workshop was brutally torn open by a massive force.Blinding searchlight beams pierced down from above, illuminating the entire workshop as bright as day. A fierce wind, thick with sand and dust, surged inside, making the scattered spare parts clatter against one another.
Squinting, I saw a squad of Royal Guards decked out in black power armor descending from the sky, landing with heavy thuds around the perimeter of my workshop. The dark, gaping muzzles of their pulse rifles were all trained on me.
I could even feel the cold, clinical killing intent as they locked onto their target. If I so much as twitched, I'd be turned into a bloody pulp the next second.
I didn't move.
I simply stood there, my wrench jammed hard against the maintenance port of the "Sun Heart." Through my "Engineer's Eye," I could clearly see the unstable radiance of the internal energy core.
A man in a crisp black uniform and white gloves stepped out from among the guards. He looked refined and scholarly, a professional smile plastered on his face, as if he hadn't come to surround a kidnapper but was arriving for afternoon tea.
His leather shoes stepped across the floor slick with oil and metal shavings, yet they made no sound and remained perfectly spotless.
"Miss Vex," he said, giving me a slight bow with impeccable elegance. "It is an honor to meet you. I am the special envoy of His Majesty the Emperor."
"Envoy?" I sneered, my voice sounding like the grinding of rusted metal. "Are you here to collect my body?"
"No, certainly not." The envoy's smile didn't waver. "I am here to deliver an invitation to you."
He snapped his fingers.
A guard stepped forward holding a silver tray, upon which lay a document crafted from exquisite materials and embossed with a golden Imperial crest.
"An invitation?" I looked at him mockingly. "An invitation to my own funeral?"
"No," the envoy replied, his tone still polite, though his eyes were as cold as blades. "It is an imperial decree. In light of the extraordinary talent you displayed during the Royal Interstellar League, His Majesty has decided to grant you special admission into the Empire's premier institution—the Royal Military Academy."
What?!
My mind went blank for a moment.
The Royal Military Academy?
The place that only admitted the cream of the Imperial nobility, where even the Crown Prince had to sit there and behave?
They wanted *me* to go there?
It was as if I'd heard the funniest joke in the universe. I couldn't help but burst into laughter—a sharp, manic sound that echoed through the mangled workshop.
"Hahahaha! Are you people insane? You want me to go to that nest of pretty-boy nobles? What, do you want me to fix your toilets?"
The smile finally vanished from the envoy's face.
His voice turned as cold as a Siberian gale, devoid of any warmth.
"Miss Vex, I believe you have misunderstood me."
He said slowly, "This is not an option.""This is an order."
My laughter stopped abruptly.
"And if I refuse?" I narrowed my eyes, thrusting the wrench forward. The maintenance port let out a click that set my teeth on edge. Through my 'Engineer's Eye,' I saw the core energy readings begin to skyrocket.
I flashed him a malicious grin. "With this wrench, I can turn this 'Little Sun' into a real sun in three seconds and blow us all to kingdom come. Want to try me?"
A look bordering on pity crossed the envoy's face, as if he were watching a bratty child playing with fire.
"If you refuse," he said, enunciating every word with cruel clarity, "the Empire will execute you on the spot on multiple charges, including 'endangering national security,' 'illegal possession of military materials,' 'attempted terrorist attack,' and 'extortion of a member of the Imperial family.'"
He raised a finger and pointed toward the pitch-black sky.
"The Seventh, Ninth, and Thirteenth Fleets are ready to commence orbital bombardment of this planet at any moment. Believe me, in the face of absolute firepower, your 'Little Sun' won't even make a splash."
It felt as if the blood had been drained from my body in an instant, only to be replaced by shards of ice.
I understood. I fucking understood perfectly.
This wasn't some bullshit "special recruitment."
It was a cage. A gilded cage, displayed before the entire universe, and one I couldn't refuse!
They didn't dare kill me. Because I had just defeated their Crown Prince in front of the entire universe. If I died, everyone would think the Imperial family was retaliating—that they were sore losers. The Empire would lose face completely.
So, they had to keep me "alive."
They wanted to take this monster from the junkyard and lock me in the cage they were most proud of, using their rules and their order to "domesticate" me.
They wanted the whole universe to see how a savage scavenger could be transformed into a "useful" person under the Empire's glorious system.
A gilded cage.
They wanted to keep me as a pet? To take this monster who crawled out of a trash heap and put me in their gilded display case to show off their "mercy" and "greatness" to the universe?
Fuck that.
I could almost picture Leon Valerius's face, twisted with humiliation and spite. He had to be somewhere, watching this with gritted teeth. He wanted to see me walk into the world he knew best, only to be crushed bit by bit by its rules.
What a masterstroke!
I looked at the envoy before me, at the dark muzzles of the rifles surrounding him, and at the three fleets in the sky capable of annihilating a civilization.
Did I even have a choice?
No.
I never had a choice.
From the moment I was born, I never had a choice.Slowly, very slowly, I released the wrench pressed against the engine.
"Fine," I rasped, my mouth twisting into a grin that looked worse than crying. The words were squeezed out of my parched throat. "I'll take the invite."
The envoy's professional smile returned, as if everything was perfectly under control.
"A wise choice, Miss Vex."
He handed me the gold-embossed admission letter.
I took it. The document felt cold and heavy, like a tombstone. My oil-stained fingers left a filthy black smudge on its pristine white cover.
The envoy turned to leave, but as he reached the door, he seemed to remember something and looked back at me with a knowing look.
"By the way, Miss Vex. There are many geniuses at the academy—and many secrets."
A cryptic smile played at the corners of his mouth.
"I hope you find what you 'truly' want there."
With that, he and the Royal Guard vanished into the night sky as abruptly as they had arrived.
I was left alone in my ravaged workshop, clutching the searing invitation that felt like a slave contract.
I looked down at the smudge I'd made, and the cold smirk on my face widened.
A cage?
No.
This is my new hunting ground.
And all of you are my prey.