Lin Yi suddenly speaking behind him didn't scare Argenti at all.
Instead—
It terrified the maintenance workers repairing the ship.
"G-GHOST!!!"
"IT'S A GHOST!!!"
Lin Yi: "…"
"I've never died before."
"No experience."
"Next time I'll hold a press conference first and announce I'm still alive."
Lin Yi muttered through gritted teeth.
After calming the shaken workers, Lin Yi and Argenti went to the lounge area to talk.
Naturally—
Lin Yi had already upgraded the maintenance package for the Idrila's Rare Vessel to the maximum.
Argenti's objections were completely ignored.
"A Knight of Beauty shouldn't exactly be short on money."
Lin Yi asked casually.
"So why are you suddenly being so stingy?"
"Did you actually crash into someone and have to pay compensation?"
Even though Lin Yi kept teasing him about rear-ending ships—
Argenti remained elegant and composed.
He lifted his coffee cup and took a refined sip.
"It's a long story."
"While traveling, I once passed through Casbellinyat-VIII."
"I originally intended to spread the name of Beauty."
"But instead I found the planet consumed by war."
"Two warlords were fighting for profit."
"Their conflict destroyed the peaceful lives of the ordinary people there."
Argenti lowered his head slightly.
Looking somewhat ashamed.
"What shames me is this."
"Even after learning about these injustices…"
"I could not stop the war."
"I could not prevent innocent people from being dragged into it."
"All I could do…"
"…was help the refugees as best as I could."
"Why would you feel guilty?"
Lin Yi spoke gently.
"You already did everything you could."
"The ones who should feel ashamed are those warlords."
"Actually… never mind."
"I doubt they feel shame at all."
Lin Yi tried to ease Argenti's self-blame.
Encouraging him not to carry responsibility for things beyond his control.
"So you spent all your money turning it into supplies to help them?"
Lin Yi nodded.
"That sounds exactly like you."
"A righteous and kind classical knight."
Then his tone changed.
Becoming firm and decisive.
"But when facing situations like that…"
"The best solution is simple."
"If you can't solve the problem—"
"Then eliminate the people creating the problem."
"It's crude."
"But effective."
Lin Yi himself wasn't sure if he could be considered a good person.
For the sake of experiments—
He had done many things that society would consider immoral.
The IPC even had bounty notices under some of his aliases.
But when faced with suffering—
He would still help where he could.
Giving people a chance to change their fate.
Though only a chance.
Whether they seized it or not was their responsibility.
Since he heard about this from a friend—
It might be worth visiting that planet himself.
Lin Yi was that kind of person.
Someone who followed sudden impulses.
There was another reason too.
The planet's name sounded strangely familiar.
A sense of déjà vu.
Normally, that shouldn't happen.
The Key of Insight prevented such memory confusion.
So there was only one explanation—
It came from the accident that caused Lin Yi to lose part of his memories before transmigrating.
Because of that incident—
Lin Yi held deep hostility toward the Garden of Recollection.
They ranked second on his personal list of most hated factions.
Even though most of the Memokeepers themselves were innocent.
As the saying goes:
Endure something for a moment and it only makes you angrier.
Take a step back and it feels even more unfair.
Lin Yi's wandering thoughts had already begun imagining:
attacking Sanjian Shan Jian Tiansabotaging the Garden of Recollection
Of course—
That was just a passing thought.
He couldn't make decisions based on a whim.
Now curious, Lin Yi continued asking Argenti questions.
"Slave armies?"
"Those warlords are insane."
"They actually arm slaves and use them as cannon fodder?"
"Aren't they afraid of rebellion?"
"Wait—what?"
"They're eating intelligent lifeforms?"
"That's a universal taboo!"
"And they still dare to do it?"
"Wow."
"War profiteering and expanding conflict…"
"That fits my stereotype of Oswaldo perfectly."
"Interstellar pirates?"
"What do they have to do with this?"
"Slave ships?!"
"Wait—so it's basically triangular trade?"
"That's how the warlords get their slaves?"
"This is outrageous!"
The sheer number of immoral acts left Lin Yi stunned.
His worldview expanded a little.
Apparently human morality could sink even lower than he imagined.
In the Star Rail game story, players mostly saw the brighter side of the universe.
But if one examined the background lore—
The galaxy was full of horrors.
Star Rail was only slightly safer than Lovecraftian universes.
Living in it was still extremely difficult.
History alone contained endless disasters:
The Twilight WarTwo Machine CalamitiesOne Swarm DisasterAnd eventually the War of the Aeons
That didn't even include catastrophes caused by Aeons themselves.
Or disasters created by the Genius Society.
Even during relatively peaceful times:
The Antimatter Legion roamed everywhereAbundance followers wandered across the galaxyremnants of the Anti-Organic Equation remained activehidden anti-organic viruses might still exist
Then there were natural disasters:
uncontrolled Abundance growthsunstable Stellaronsstray Hunt arrows destroying worldsthe creeping influence of Nihility
And of course—
Human disasters.
pirates who turned to crime to survivewarlords who fought for territoryarms dealers who profited from war
Then there was the IPC.
And wandering demons.
And countless dangerous creatures—
Some natural.
Some artificially created.
And most dangerous of all—
The fanatics of various Paths.
The IPC handbook titled:
"Interstellar Survival Guide."
The word survival wasn't exaggerated.
The IPC wasn't exactly benevolent.
But they genuinely did work to maintain stability across the universe.
When there were no disasters—
The IPC could become the biggest disaster.
But when real crises appeared—
The IPC was often the most reliable force available.
They had cleaned up countless messes caused by Path fanatics.
Lin Yi's mood gradually turned serious.
Was this really how a highly advanced interstellar civilization should behave?
Even in Stellaris, the moral baseline wasn't this low.
Lin Yi had known that slavery existed in this universe.
The IPC never disappointed when it came to being morally questionable.
When he first learned about it—
He wanted to change things.
But at that time—
He lacked the power.
And as years passed—
Those thoughts faded.
After all—
The suffering of slaves felt distant.
Abstract.
Research consumed his life.
He had long forgotten those ideals.
But hearing Argenti's story reminded him again.
Humanity's habit of devouring its own kind had never truly changed.
Still—
A civilization with such advanced productivity should not require slavery.
Something was fundamentally wrong.
This needed to change.
When capital controls almost the entire universe…
Maybe this outcome was inevitable.
For a moment—
Lin Yi thought he saw a distant red banner shining across time and space.
Or perhaps it was just an illusion.
He shook the unrealistic thought away.
The IPC was too powerful.
Without intervention from an Aeon—
Defeating them was nearly impossible.
Even if someone succeeded—
What would come next?
(Author's note: Some readers may already guess who will appear after the IPC arc from the chapter title. I'll try to weave some game lore events into the story.)