The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2705 Escape

2705. Escape

Clang! The heavy iron bars slammed shut in front of Karl-Kestis, followed by a whoosh as more than a dozen blood-red laser beams shot out, sealing the gap in the bars.

Carl Kestis slumped to the ground, staring at the fence in front of him.

"Hmm, 17 alloy bars, 13 laser beams—even a power outage would prevent anyone inside from getting out. How thoughtful!" Carl-Kestis immediately counted the number of iron bars, then realized he had nothing to do…

The cell was completely empty, except for a bed that was integrated into the wall and a toilet in the corner.

Carl Kestys collapsed instantly, falling back onto the hard bed and staring at the ceiling.

He still didn't dare to make up his mind to resist.

At the last moment, he sealed the item inside the floorboards and then surrendered.

After all, the man's voice that night was too eerie. He had been living in the Kingdom of Dawn for ten years, and if nothing unexpected happened, he planned to continue living there. There was no reason for him to give up everything for a strange memory device and a strange mysterious person.

More importantly, he still believed in the Dawn Kingdom's justice system. At least from the news and cases he had encountered so far, the Dawn Kingdom's laws, while strict, generally ensured equality for all.

Of course, there are privileged classes, namely the top figures in those mega-corporations. But even so, those people don't go too far; the laws they break are mostly related to illegal experiments.

Carl-Kestis believed he was at most innocent of any wrongdoing, since he genuinely knew nothing about it. Besides, it was all too common for salvage and recycling companies like theirs to occasionally find military gadgets and then secretly sell them.

Most of the time, even if someone gets caught, it's just a token fine. Given the current strength of the Dawn Kingdom's fleet, they generally won't have any particularly crucial wreckage salvaged.

However, he remained cautious and did not hand over the memory device. He was still somewhat worried that if Tang Xiao obtained something from it, it could make this Sith Lord even more powerful.

Regardless, preventing a Sith Lord from becoming stronger is something he, as a Jedi, should do... even if it was in the past.

Carl Kestis wasn't worried about the floor grid he designed being discovered. It was actually a Jedi lock, with an extremely ingenious structure that could only be opened from the inside. And because of the different forces applied, even if it was opened repeatedly, no clues would be visible from the outside.

The floor tiles are made of a special material that can block Force detection. He recovered it from an ETA-2 fighter jet during a salvage operation in the Yago-Dur system. It was likely a fighter jet piloted by a dark cultist of some Galactic Empire, and this was what that cultist used to store his secret items.

However, the dark cultist was killed in the battle, and the storage compartment was opened, clearly used at the last moment, but still could not escape his fate. In the end, this small compartment was obtained by Cal-Kestis, who then modified it into his own secret storage compartment.

Therefore, unless one carefully explores the area bit by bit using the Force, it is absolutely impossible to find that grid.

After a while, several sheriffs came over with combat robots, handcuffed Carl-Kestis, and took him to another interrogation room.

He was locked to the table and waited for a full ten minutes before the sound of high heels came from outside the door.

A tall woman with a baby face walked in and sat down opposite Karl. She looked Karl up and down for a moment, then smiled coldly and said, "Alright kid, I won't waste any more words with you. Hand over the memory you got from the core mainframe yesterday, and you can go home."

Carl-Kestis said very sincerely, "I already told you, I put that thing in the drawer of my desk, and then your people came over and asked me about it, and even came in and scanned it but found nothing. Then when I checked again, it was gone!"

The woman sighed, then suddenly slammed her hand on the table and shouted, "Do you even believe this nonsense yourself? What do you mean you disappeared?!"

Carl-Cestis said innocently, "I'm not lying to you! If I really wanted to lie, I could just make up any excuse... but the thing is, it's really gone! I put it in the drawer and haven't touched it since!"

The woman gave a cold laugh and said, "Fine, it seems you're planning to resist to the end, is that it?"

“I really don’t have it… that thing is just gone, I really don’t know what to say! I don’t know what happened… I can’t open it, what’s the use of keeping it?” Carl-Kastice said.

The woman frowned, scrutinizing Karl-Cestis's every move, even noticing the subtle movements of his facial muscles, but she found nothing amiss.

Carl Kestis was well-prepared; his prepared explanation, seemingly absurd, was actually designed to avoid making mistakes. A simple, absurd lie is clearly less likely to contain flaws than a sophisticated, realistic one.

Because you need to fabricate a new lie for every detail to make it believable, it's better to say nothing at all. There were indeed mysterious figures appearing that night, and the police clearly knew someone had infiltrated; they were making arrests.

Therefore, his set of lies actually has a certain internal logic.

Moreover, he secretly used the Force to control his micro-expressions, making his expressions appear as natural as possible.

Cal Kestis had also discovered that the woman before him was a Force Sensor, and very close to a Force Sensitive. However, this level was far from enough to expose him.

Sure enough, the woman also began to doubt this explanation. She stood up and walked out, and did not return for a full ten minutes, obviously to consult her superiors.

However, when she returned, her expression was even colder. She didn't even bother to sit down, and coldly said to Karl, "Since you're not going to say anything, then you can continue living here. I hope you're happy."

After saying that, he turned around and tried to leave.

“Hey! According to the law, you can only detain me for a maximum of 24 standard hours!!” Carl-Kestis shouted.

The woman turned her head, gave a cold smile, and retorted, "The law? You mean, the rules and regulations that we set up? Heh."

As expected, Carl Kestis was imprisoned here for the next two whole days, and given very little food, only a small piece of bread and a cup of water each day. Not only that, but his cell was kept brightly lit for long periods of time, making it impossible for him to sleep.

The woman in the middle came back to interrogate him again, but Carl-Kastice still insisted on his version of events. Finally, she had no choice but to disappear. A day later, the situation suddenly changed.

A young girl arrived at the police station; to be precise, she was a beautiful Elru girl. She had beautiful, multicolored feathers on her head, exquisitely delicate features, and a pale complexion that made her appear even more human.

Aside from their feathers and skin color, the Airu people are basically no different from humans in appearance.

Therefore, even by human standards, this girl is a very beautiful woman.

Logically speaking, since the planet Anagi was once occupied by the Elru, it wouldn't be surprising to see an Elru here. Including in the past few days at the Sheriff's Office, Karl has seen several Elru, both sheriffs and prisoners.

However, the moment Carl-Kestis saw the girl, he felt a sudden surge of tension.

This girl is a Force-sensitive individual! And she's definitely one of the most powerful ones!

Cal Kestis was extremely careful to conceal his Force abilities, trying his best to remain undetected. The girl approached Cal and said coldly, "Alright, come with me."

Her voice is very pleasant to hear, like she's singing.

"Where to?" Carl-Kestis became wary.

"Let's go to your house," the girl replied matter-of-factly.

“I have nothing in my house,” Carl Caseis replied coldly.

"Let's go." The girl was too lazy to say more, she just waved her hand, and two B-2 super combat robots that were always on standby came up and grabbed Karl's shoulders on the left and right.

Carl was put into a police car, while the girl boarded a sleek, luxurious-looking shuttle next to her, clearly indicating that she was of high status.

There are many people who can travel in luxury spaceships; you can see them everywhere. But those who can travel in luxury spaceships and freely enter and exit the police station, issuing orders, are definitely big shots.

Back at his apartment building, Carl found it sealed off. As he climbed the stairs, he was horrified to discover that his apartment had been completely emptied! All the furniture was gone, leaving only a bare, empty room!
Karl's heart skipped a beat; he immediately sensed something was wrong! He began to observe his surroundings, secretly calculating whether he could escape by force.

However, the result was disheartening.

Not only was there a faint buzzing sound in mid-air indicating that at least two Banshee fighters were present, but there were also two B-2 super combat robots that grabbed his shoulders, four other B-2s standing nearby, and dozens of B-1 combat robots constantly patrolling the apartment building.

There were more than 20 sheriffs on site, as well as five or six secret agents dressed in black.

Moreover, that Elu girl's power is unfathomable!
“Talia,” the girl suddenly said.

"Huh?" Carl-Kestis didn't react at first.

“Talia, that’s my name,” she repeated.

“Uh… should I say it’s nice to meet you?” Karl-Kestis gave a wry smile. He didn’t know the name, but he could guess that this girl most likely belonged to the Twilight Covenant.

An extremely mysterious Force organization belonging to the Kingdom of Dawn, directly under the command of King Tang Xiao of Dawn.

Talia didn't continue the conversation, but went straight to where Carl-Kestis had placed the bed. The moment Carl saw where she stood, he knew something was terribly wrong!
She found the secret compartment!

Karl knew he had underestimated the Dawn Kingdom's determination! They had truly emptied their house and sent a powerful Force-sensitive individual to search for every clue, inch by inch!

Talia lightly stamped her foot and said calmly, "Could you help me open this? I'm worried that if I use any other method, I might damage what's inside."

"You brought me here just for this?" Carl-Kestis clenched his teeth to keep himself from trembling; he was starting to panic.

“Otherwise?” Talia retorted matter-of-factly.

“I…” Karl was speechless for a moment.

The sound of high heels came again, and the tall, baby-faced woman from before walked over, staring coldly at Karl. "Hand over the items intact, and you'll get a bonus, then everything will remain the same. You go back to scavenging trash, and we'll continue to protect your safety."

“I…” For a moment, Karl-Cestis almost agreed.

However, at this moment, the tragedy of the Palancy Planet space city resurfaced in his mind. His gaze sharpened, and he said, word by word, "This thing must not fall into the hands of the Angel of Death!"

“Are you a Jedi?” Talia asked. “Generally, only Jedi Knights would address His Majesty as the Angel of Death. It is a pseudonym that His Majesty used in the past, and Jedi Knights are very reluctant to mention the title of a Sith Lord.”

"Don't you know about the massacre on Planet Palancy? This thing is extremely dangerous! If Tang Xiao gets his hands on it, the Milky Way will be even more devastated!!" Karl-Kestis roared angrily.

However, he saw Talia's indifferent expression, and his heart sank.

"Enough! Kid! I don't want to play games with you anymore! Hand over the stuff! Otherwise, I'll really have to use torture!" The baby-faced woman suddenly became angry. She made a move to slap him, but stopped at the last moment.

However, before Karl could say anything, something unexpected happened!

Suddenly, a deafening roar erupted! The Banshee fighter jet, which had been hovering in mid-air in stealth mode, exploded in a ball of fire and plummeted to the ground in a swirling motion!
All the surrounding combat robots turned around and looked at the sky with a whoosh, raising their weapons at the same time, with a reaction speed of less than 0.5 seconds!
A clearly modified shuttle hurtled towards them at high speed, its three blast cannons firing wildly. Boom! Boom! Boom! Another explosion followed, and another Banshee fighter was shot down!
This shuttle was able to lock onto the Banshee fighter jet while it was in stealth mode!
At that moment, Talia drew her lightsaber and leaped into the air!