In the evening, when the aurora appeared again in the sky, Vance planned to stop and rest. He pressed the cigarette butt against the steering wheel and opened the gate connected the cab and the rest room. He jumped down and a sound rang out in the dark rest room. “Sleep first. We will arrive at the base after driving for a day and a half.”

An Zhe also came to the gate. In order to have an open view, the location of the cab was very high. In addition, to save room for the storage compartment, the rest of the vehicle was in a low position. The height difference between the cab and rest area was more than one metre high.

He stood there with a bit of hesitation. After a brief three seconds, Vance seemed to see the hesitation. “You sit there first.”

An Zhe sat at the edge, his legs dangling. Then Vance reached out and held his upper body, helping him down. An Zhe landed safely and steadily. “Thank you.”

“It’s fine.” Vance smiled, his voice revealed a slow gentleness. “My brother was afraid of heights and I often helped him like this. He’s around the same age as you.”

In an effort to explore the law of human communication, An Zhe tentatively asked, “He also went with you to the wild?”

“Yes,” Vance replied. “We used to be together.”

“He isn’t here this time?”

“He died. Two months ago, he was killed by a judge at the gate of the base.”

Judge. An Zhe heard this word for the third time. The first time was An Ze, trying to dissuade him from going to the human base, saying, “You can’t escape the eyes of the judges.”

The second time was Anthony, who didn’t want An Zhe to join the team. He said, “We aren’t judges and can’t confirm he is 100% human.”

In addition, it seemed to be a term that appeared frequently in An Ze’s memories. Thus, An Zhe repeated, “…Judge?”

“You don’t know?” Vance’s voice became high with surprise. “Where the hell did you come from?”

An Zhe whispered, “I didn’t deal with people before.”

“I can see it.” Vance unscrewed a knob on the wall of the car and a dim white light turned on at the top of the wall, barely illuminating the small space. He took dry food out of a grid on the wall. An Zhe also took out food and water from his backpack and sat down opposite Vance.

He heard Vance say, “The base has a system called the Judges Act. There is an organization that belongs to the military and it has a very high standing. It is called the Trial Court. Members of the court are judges. They are usually on duty at the gate of the base and they all have a license to kill people. Killing won’t violate the law.”