Killing in Prison

The sound of footsteps echoed through the silent corridor, growing closer and clearer until they stopped right outside Su Ze's cell.

"As you wished, I've come. Do you have anything to say?"

Zhao Lingxiao's voice came from outside the cell. He peered through the small window in the door, but couldn't see Su Ze.

Su Ze was currently crouched in the corner by the cell door, precisely in Zhao Lingxiao's blind spot.

He didn't even glance towards the window. Having absorbed Zhao Lingxiao's memories, he knew Zhao Lingxiao possessed a Tier 2 Marvel—the Head of the Wailing Ones. Making eye contact with it could easily result in death.

Marvels, as they were called, were items imbued with special powers, formed when certain abilities of an evolved lifeform attached themselves to its remains after death.

Tier 2 Marvels corresponded to lifeforms that had evolved twice, reaching the Cocoon Breaking Stage. The Head of the Wailing Ones possessed the ability of mental attack.

A mental attack at the Cocoon Breaking Stage was more than enough to pose a fatal threat to Su Ze.

Su Ze knew Zhao Lingxiao was here to kill him, or rather, he had forced Zhao Lingxiao to come kill him.

If Zhao Lingxiao didn't come to kill him, he wouldn't have the chance to escape.

Su Ze's current body had perfectly replicated all of Zhao Lingxiao's skills. Although Zhao Lingxiao hadn't completed his first evolution, he had consumed two vials of extract, granting him two skills.

However, both skills were Tier 1, and even at their strongest, their power was limited. Neither could kill Su Ze through the thick cell door. Therefore, Su Ze knew Zhao Lingxiao would have to rely on external means to kill him.

The Head of the Wailing Ones was a prime candidate, and Su Ze suspected Zhao Lingxiao had other tricks up his sleeve.

Just as Su Ze predicted, Zhao Lingxiao stood at the cell door, one hand gripping the skull of some unknown animal. The eye sockets of the skull were pointed directly at the small window. If Su Ze's face appeared in the window, he would inevitably make eye contact with the skull and suffer the mental attack from this Tier 2 Marvel.

However, Zhao Lingxiao failed to notice a pale face appear in the small window of the cell behind him, nor the pair of blood-red eyes staring at him from the adjacent cell.

Seeing that Su Ze wasn't showing himself, Zhao Lingxiao spoke again, "You forced me to come here, but you won't speak or show yourself. What exactly do you want?"

With his other hand, he slowly reached into his pocket, where a small glass vial containing yellow compressed poison gas was kept.

Given Zhao Lingxiao's ruthless nature, he wouldn't let himself be put in a passive position. He had a backup plan this time: the deadly gas. If the Head of the Wailing Ones failed to kill Su Ze, he would deploy the poison.

In such a confined cell, poisoning would be a guaranteed kill!

However, poisoning would create too much of a commotion. Not only would it leave traces, but if the gas spread to other cells, it could kill other inmates.

Zhao Lingxiao, of course, didn't care about the lives of other inmates. But when his father, Zhao Yuanyi, communicated with the warden of Pebble Prison, he had only mentioned wanting to send his son a meal and had promised many benefits in exchange for this visit.

Otherwise, Pebble Prison strictly prohibited visits.

To avoid leaving any evidence of breaking the rules by allowing a visit, the warden of Pebble Prison had ordered his subordinates to replace the surveillance footage.

Therefore, Zhao Lingxiao was hesitant to use poison, fearing that if too many inmates died, it would be difficult to manage the situation.

Killing only Su Ze could be covered up, claiming he committed suicide out of guilt. If too many inmates died, even the warden would have trouble explaining it to his superiors.

Zhao Lingxiao's patience was slowly eroding. His father had only secured him fifteen minutes for this visit. If Su Ze didn't show himself soon, he would have no choice but to resort to poison. He absolutely could not allow Su Ze to live until morning.

At this moment, Su Ze finally spoke. He knew that if he continued to stall, Zhao Lingxiao would undoubtedly have more tricks up his sleeve.

"I just believe that the innocent should be redeemed, and the guilty should be punished."

Zhao Lingxiao chuckled, not surprised by Su Ze's words. Just as he had guessed, Su Ze's threat to make him come here was nothing more than a deathbed struggle, a plea for help.

However, what puzzled him was that Su Ze's speech was somewhat slurred. Zhao Lingxiao didn't think much of it.

"You want to live, and I have a way." Zhao Lingxiao's voice was laced with temptation. "Come closer, and I'll explain it to you in detail."

"Okay."

Su Ze lowered his gaze, puffed out his cheeks, something unseen held in his mouth, and slowly moved his body towards the small window of the cell.

At this moment, Zhao Lingxiao pushed aside the cover of the small window and moved the Head of the Wailing Ones back slightly, lest Su Ze discover it.

Su Ze's gaze remained fixed on the ground. When he was only one step away from the small window, he even closed his eyes.

He sniffed and detected a pungent perfume wafting from the small window. He found it strange, as, to his knowledge, Zhao Lingxiao didn't usually wear perfume.

Su Ze didn't have time to ponder this. He suddenly lunged towards the small window and spat a small mouthful of blood out of his mouth, beyond the window.

Simultaneously, he seemed to hear a shrill wail echo in his mind, causing him uncontrollable fear and a chilling sensation throughout his body, leaving him mentally disoriented.

Even with his eyes closed, when Su Ze faced the Head of the Wailing Ones, he was still attacked by the Tier 2 Marvel. However, closing his eyes greatly weakened the attack's intensity.

On the other side, the mouthful of blood Su Ze spat out instantly condensed into a blood arrow in mid-air, shooting towards Zhao Lingxiao's throat.

This was the Vampire's ability to control blood, transforming it into a weapon for a fatal surprise attack on Zhao Lingxiao.

As soon as Su Ze had realized Zhao Lingxiao was coming, he had bitten his own lip and held a small amount of blood in his mouth.

Zhao Lingxiao was caught completely off guard and had no time to react. In a hasty retreat, he was struck in the face by the blood arrow. It pierced through his mask and directly entered his brain through his nose.

Instantly, blood gushed from Zhao Lingxiao's face like a fountain.

Zhao Lingxiao collapsed with a thud, and the Head of the Wailing Ones rolled from his grasp.

Su Ze gasped for air, breaking free from the attack of the Head of the Wailing Ones. Apart from a slightly pale complexion, he was unharmed.

However, the mental attack from earlier seemed to have triggered another chain in his memories. Many sealed memories surged forth, greatly shocking Su Ze!

Su Ze knew that his memories had been blocked for a month. He had only unlocked a small portion before, but now, all his other memories had been unlocked under the mental attack of the Head of the Wailing Ones. It was a blessing in disguise.

No wonder the father and son from the Zhao family blocked my memories for this past month... Su Ze's brow furrowed unconsciously. Even with a cursory glance at these memories, Su Ze felt they were troublesome and complicated.

"I'll sort through these memories later. The priority now is to escape."

Su Ze glanced out the small window and saw Zhao Lingxiao lying on the ground, undeniably dead.

However, all the blood he had shed had vanished without a trace, not even a stain left on his clothes.

Blood continued to fly out from Zhao Lingxiao's body towards the vampire's cell, and Su Ze could hear the vampire groaning with satisfaction from next door.

Needless to say, the vampire was consuming all that blood.

Su Ze suddenly felt a sweetness in his mouth. The wound he had inflicted on his own lip was now bleeding faster, and this blood flew out of his mouth, also heading towards the adjacent cell.

The vampire chuckled, "Thanks for your escape plan. But your part in the plan is finished, and now you can die obediently!"