Footsteps echoed through the silent corridor, drawing closer and clearer until they abruptly stopped outside Su Ze's cell.
"As you wished, I'm here. What did you want to say?"
Zhao Lingxiao's voice came from outside the cell. He peered through the small window in the door, but did not see Su Ze.
Su Ze was crouching in the corner beside the cell door, perfectly positioned in Zhao Lingxiao's blind spot.
He did not so much as glance toward the window. With Zhao Lingxiao's memories, he knew Zhao Lingxiao possessed a Tier 2 Marvel—the Head of the Wailing Ones. If he made eye contact with it, he could very well die.
So-called marvels were items with special powers, formed when certain abilities possessed by evolved lifeforms in life became attached to a piece of their remains after death.
Tier 2 Marvels corresponded to lifeforms in the Cocoon Breaking Stage that had evolved twice, and the Head of the Wailing Ones possessed the ability to launch mental attacks.
A mental attack at the Cocoon Breaking Stage was already enough to pose a fatal threat to Su Ze.
Su Ze knew Zhao Lingxiao had come to kill him. Or rather, he had forced Zhao Lingxiao to come and kill him.
If Zhao Lingxiao did not come to kill him, he would have no chance of escaping prison.
This body of Su Ze's had completely copied the skills Zhao Lingxiao possessed. Although Zhao Lingxiao had yet to complete his first evolution, he had taken two tubes of extracts and possessed two skills.
However, both were Tier 1 skills. No matter how powerful they were, their strength was limited; neither could kill Su Ze through the thick cell door. Therefore, Su Ze knew that if Zhao Lingxiao wanted to kill him, he could only rely on external means.
The Head of the Wailing Ones was an excellent choice. Besides that, Zhao Lingxiao had likely prepared other methods as well.
Just as Su Ze had expected, Zhao Lingxiao stood at the cell door, tightly gripping the skull of some unknown animal in one hand. The skull's eye sockets were aimed directly at the small window. The moment Su Ze's face appeared there, he would inevitably meet the skull's gaze and suffer the mental attack of this Tier 2 Marvel.
What Zhao Lingxiao had not noticed, however, was that a deathly pale face had appeared at the small window of the cell behind him, while a pair of blood-red eyes from the neighboring cell stared intently at him.
Seeing that Su Ze still refused to show himself, Zhao Lingxiao spoke again. "You forced me to come here, yet you neither speak nor show yourself. What exactly are you trying to do?"
His other hand slowly reached toward his pocket, where there was a small glass vial containing compressed yellow poisonous gas.
Given Zhao Lingxiao's ruthless nature, he naturally would not allow himself to fall into a passive position. He had made a second preparation for this visit: this highly toxic gas. If the Head of the Wailing Ones failed to kill Su Ze, he would use the poison gas.
Releasing poison in such a cramped cell would guarantee Su Ze's death!
The trouble was that poisoning would cause too much commotion. Not only would it leave traces, but if the gas spread into other cells, it might kill other prisoners as well.
Zhao Lingxiao naturally did not care whether the other prisoners lived or died. However, when his father, Zhao Yuanyi, had spoken with the Pebble Prison Warden, he had merely claimed that he wanted to bring his son a hearty meal and promised many benefits in exchange for this visitation opportunity.
Otherwise, Pebble Prison prohibited visits.
To avoid leaving evidence that he had broken the rules by allowing a visitor in, the Pebble Prison Warden had ordered his subordinates to replace the surveillance footage.
Therefore, Zhao Lingxiao was reluctant to use poison as well. He feared that if too many prisoners died, the aftermath would be difficult to handle.
If only Su Ze died, it could still be covered up by claiming he had committed suicide out of guilt. If too many prisoners died, even the warden would have trouble explaining it to his superiors.
Zhao Lingxiao's patience was gradually running out. His father had only secured him a quarter of an hour for this visit. If Su Ze still refused to show himself, he could only choose to use the poison. He absolutely could not allow Su Ze to survive until morning.
Su Ze finally spoke as well. He knew full well that if he continued stalling, Zhao Lingxiao would certainly have more tricks up his sleeve.
"I only believe that the innocent should receive redemption, while the guilty should receive punishment."
Zhao Lingxiao smiled, unsurprised by Su Ze's words. Just as he had guessed, Su Ze had threatened him into coming here only as a final struggle before death, hoping to beg him for help.
What puzzled him was that Su Ze's speech sounded somewhat unclear, but Zhao Lingxiao did not think much of it.
"You want to live? I do have a way." Zhao Lingxiao's tone was bewitching. "Come closer, and I'll explain it to you."
"Alright."
Su Ze lowered his gaze. His cheeks were puffed out as if he had something in his mouth, and he slowly moved toward the small window in the cell door.
Zhao Lingxiao pushed open the cover over the small window and shifted the Head of the Wailing Ones in his hand slightly behind him to prevent Su Ze from noticing it.
Su Ze kept his eyes fixed on the ground. When he was only one step away from the window, he closed his eyes outright.
He wrinkled his nose and caught the pungent scent of perfume drifting in through the window. He found it somewhat strange; as far as he knew, Zhao Lingxiao did not usually wear perfume.
Su Ze had no time to think about it. He suddenly thrust his head toward the window and spat out a small mouthful of blood through it.
At the same time, he seemed to hear a shrill wail ring out in his mind. An uncontrollable fear seized him, sending chills through his entire body and leaving his mind somewhat dazed.
Even with his eyes closed, Su Ze was still attacked by the Tier 2 Marvel when he faced the Head of the Wailing Ones head-on. Closing his eyes merely greatly weakened the strength of its attack.
Meanwhile, the mouthful of blood Su Ze had spat out instantly condensed into a bloody arrow while still in midair, shooting toward Zhao Lingxiao's throat.
This was precisely the Vampire's ability to control blood—turning blood into a weapon and launching a fatal sneak attack against Zhao Lingxiao.
The moment Su Ze had discovered Zhao Lingxiao approaching, he had bitten open his own lip and held a small mouthful of blood in his mouth.
Zhao Lingxiao was completely unprepared and had no time to react. He hastily took a step back, but the bloody arrow struck him squarely in the face, pierced his mask, and drove directly into his brain through his nose.
For a moment, blood gushed from Zhao Lingxiao's face like a fountain.
Zhao Lingxiao fell with a bang, and the Head of the Wailing Ones rolled from his hand.
Su Ze panted heavily and broke free from the Head of the Wailing Ones' attack. Other than looking slightly pale, he was unharmed.
However, that mental attack seemed to have stirred the chains of memory in his mind once more. A great deal of sealed memory surged forth, greatly shocking Su Ze!
Su Ze knew that one month of his memories had been blocked. Previously, he had unlocked only a short segment, but now all the rest had been unlocked by the Head of the Wailing Ones' mental attack. It was a blessing in disguise.
No wonder the Zhao father and son had blocked my memories of that month... Su Ze's brows unconsciously knitted together. Even after only a cursory look through those memories, he could already sense how thorny and troublesome they were.
"I'll sort through those memories later. Escaping first is the priority."
Su Ze looked out through the small window and saw Zhao Lingxiao lying on the ground, dead beyond any doubt.
Yet all the blood he had spilled had vanished without a trace. Even the stains on his clothes were gone.
Blood was still continuously flying out of Zhao Lingxiao's body toward the Vampire's cell, and Su Ze heard the Vampire's satisfied moans coming from next door.
There was no need to say it—the Vampire had consumed all that blood.
Su Ze suddenly tasted sweetness in his mouth. The wound he had bitten into his lip was now bleeding faster, and that blood flew from his mouth toward the neighboring cell as well.
The Vampire chuckled. "Thanks for your Escape Plan, but your part in it has already wrapped filming. Now you can obediently go die!"
Before you continue