BATTLE FOR STARS

“No,” Lina explained. “The Termination Company is operated directly by the Empire, so handling those things becomes... very convenient.”

There was actually much more Lina didn’t say.

The Termination Company wasn’t created solely for slaves. In the Resk Empire, almost anyone who decided to end their life could go there.

The company would help settle all remaining affairs, evaluate the value of the person’s body and assets, then process everything together afterward.

Put simply, it was a corporation that handled every aspect of a person’s death and inheritance.

As for why many civilians went there too, the reason was simple.

A lot of slaves eventually grew too old to keep earning money for their masters. Without enough funds to buy back their freedom, they were often abandoned by their owners and stripped of their slave status, becoming civilians instead.

So in the end, many civilians also wound up at the Termination Company.

“Then why did your father go there?” Ding Yufei asked. “Wouldn’t his master object?”

If a slave hadn’t bought back their freedom yet and simply went to the Termination Company, their master would obviously lose valuable property.

“In the Resk Empire,” Lina explained patiently, “there are only two ways for a slave to escape slave status.”

“One is buying their freedom.”

“The other is the Termination Company.”

“If a slave has already decided to end their life, then whether the master agrees doesn’t really matter anymore. So imperial law states that if a slave chooses the Termination Company, the master cannot stop them.”

She paused briefly.

“It also means masters sometimes don’t dare push their slaves too far.”

“So you’ve survived these past three years just by doing this?” Belina asked while pointing at the cards and metal disks in Little Chubby’s hands.

“My father left me quite a bit of money,” Little Chubby replied. “And combined with what I make myself, it’s enough.”

“Next year I’ll turn sixteen. Then I can officially start working proper jobs and earn stable income.”

“Sigh...” Lina looked at him with concern. “That can’t have been easy.”

She knew very well how few opportunities civilians had in the Resk Empire.

Because slave labor was cheap, most low-level jobs were already handled by slaves. They were easier to control too, so factories preferred hiring them instead of civilians.

Of course, some jobs still required civilians—certain maintenance work and administrative tasks essential to keeping the Empire functioning.

But those positions usually went to civilians with connections.

Without money or influence, people like Little Chubby had almost no chance.

And given his circumstances, he probably hadn’t received much formal education over the years. Even if opportunities appeared, many jobs would still be beyond him.

That was why many freed slaves simply continued working for their former masters, doing the same jobs as before—only with better pay and without the master’s special privileges over them.

Some slaves tried to leave for other planets entirely.

But interstellar travel required enormous fees. Leaving wasn’t something people could simply decide to do.

“My dad also left behind another sum of money,” Little Chubby said. “Next year I can give it to his former master, and he’ll help arrange work for me.”

“Your father was incredible,” Lina said sincerely.

She knew that amount of money couldn’t possibly have been small.

Most slaves would rather spend everything enjoying their remaining days than leave it behind for someone else.

“Actually...” Little Chubby lowered his head slightly. “That money was originally supposed to be used for my father to buy back his own freedom.”

“But...”

His voice caught in his throat.

Lina looked visibly surprised.

If the money had originally been intended for freedom, then Little Chubby’s father couldn’t have been very old.

After all, elderly slaves rarely bothered spending huge sums to redeem themselves anymore.

“How old was your father when he went to the Termination Company?” Ding Yufei asked.

He had always assumed slaves only went there when they became extremely old and frail.

Now it seemed that wasn’t true at all.

“My dad...” Little Chubby’s voice grew quieter and quieter. “He was only fifty-eight.”

“What?!”

All three of them were stunned.

Lina was born on Planet Boman herself. She knew fifty-eight was still considered relatively young here.

Even in the Kramic kingdom, average lifespans exceeded three hundred years. Ordinary slaves commonly lived past one hundred.

And for a slave to save redemption money all the way until age fifty-eight, only to suddenly choose the Termination Company...

Something terrible must have happened.

“Why would your father go there at that age?” Lina asked carefully. “Did something happen to him?”

Little Chubby stayed silent for a long time before finally speaking.

Perhaps he simply wasn’t used to sharing these things with others.

But Belina and Lina had treated him with genuine kindness. After years surviving around Underground Levels One and Two, Little Chubby had become very good at judging people.

From the beginning, he had recognized Lina’s gladiator slave insignia. Someone carrying a badge like that stood at the absolute peak among slaves.

And Belina’s VIP wristband was something ordinary visitors could never possess.

His instincts told him these people meant him no harm.

After hesitating for a long while, he finally continued.

“My father was... a labor slave.”

“The work didn’t pay much, but it was stable and relatively easy. After working for thirty years, he was promoted because of his good performance, and his income improved a lot.”

“My father was a very frugal person.”

“Starting around then, he began hoping to have a child someday.”

“It took several years before everything was finally approved, and eventually... I was born.”

“According to his original plan, with his income at the time, he would’ve saved enough money to buy his freedom by his seventies. By then I would’ve already grown up too.”

“But three years ago, there was an accident.”

Little Chubby’s expression dimmed further.

“My father suffered a serious blow to the head. His brain was damaged.”

“After that, his mind would sometimes... spasm.”

“He’d suddenly do strange things nobody could explain.”

“Because of that, he could no longer continue his old work.”

“And no slave owner was willing to hire him anymore.”

“You know what happens... to a slave with no income.”

Lina fell silent.

A slave unable to generate income usually had only one ending left.

Death.

“When my father was still lucid, he calculated everything carefully.”

“He realized the redemption money he’d saved wouldn’t be enough to support us until I became an adult.”

“And he didn’t want us to live like that forever.”

“One day... he finally made his decision.”

“He divided all his money into two parts.”

“One part was left for my living expenses.”

“The other was reserved for his former master so that, once I became an adult, he could help arrange work for me.”

“At that point, I’d still retain civilian status.”

“I wouldn’t need to buy my freedom.”

“And I’d at least have a job to survive with.”

“Then...” Little Chubby lowered his head completely.

“He went to the Termination Company alone.”

Finally, he finished telling his story.

Silence settled over the group.

Ding Yufei found it almost impossible to imagine how a father and a child barely in their teens could sit together discussing death, choices, and the child’s future like that.