Taking Place

Su Ze wasn't flustered. He cursed without restraint, "You idiot, brainless moron!"

"You drain my blood, kill me, but have you thought about how you'll open the door to this Containment Zone?"

The Vampire chuckled, "Didn't you tell us, as long as..."

As he spoke, his voice suddenly faltered, as if he'd hit a snag.

The gate to the Containment Zone was impenetrable and could only be opened from the outside. It required the Guard Captain on duty outside to verify their fingerprint and enter a password.

Moreover, Guard Captains had a habit of observing the situation behind the door before opening it.

Su Ze's original plan was to have the Sickly One control Zhao Lingxiao's corpse to trick their way through the gate. But now, Zhao Lingxiao's face was collapsed, and his blood had been largely drained by the Vampire, leaving him almost mummified. It was clearly impossible to proceed with that plan. This meant one of the three of them would have to impersonate Zhao Lingxiao.

However, neither the Vampire nor the Sickly One matched Zhao Lingxiao's build. Su Ze, on the other hand, was a spitting image of Zhao Lingxiao.

This was all contingent on Su Ze being in normal condition. If the Vampire had drained him dry, he certainly wouldn't be able to fool the Guard Captain.

With this thought, the Vampire immediately stopped drawing Su Ze's blood.

Su Ze didn't want to waste time either. He said in a low voice, "Let's open the cell door first."

In Su Ze's escape plan, killing Zhao Lingxiao was a crucial step because they needed a corpse to press the button that would open the cell door.

The control console for the cell doors was fifty meters away, and they could only rely on the Sickly One's corpse-controlling ability to open the door.

The Sickly One's ability to control corpses came from a rare Third-tier Exotic Beast: the Nether Cat. This black-furred feline exotic beast possessed a peculiar ability: corpses it touched would reanimate and be under its control.

The Sickly One had fortunately acquired this ability after absorbing a vial of Nether Cat extract.

However, this ability required direct contact with the corpse. Clearly, the Sickly One, confined within the cell, couldn't reach Zhao Lingxiao's body on the floor.

Su Ze had already anticipated this. He watched as the Sickly One bit his own finger and extended the injured digit out of the small window.

The Vampire immediately controlled the blood to surge from the Sickly One's wound, forming a bloodline. One end connected to the Sickly One's injury, while the other extended continuously until it touched Zhao Lingxiao's corpse on the floor.

Blood was a part of the Sickly One's body. This counted as contact between the Sickly One and Zhao Lingxiao's corpse. The next moment, the deceased Zhao Lingxiao slowly began to rise from the floor, albeit with somewhat stiff movements.

Success!

The three members of the escape team showed expressions of joy.

They had already obtained the Guard Captain's fingerprints. Now that they had successfully controlled a corpse, all the conditions needed to open the cell door were met.

The Vampire grabbed one of Zhao Lingxiao's fingers. He scraped off the fingerprint with his nail, then reformed the flowing blood into a fingerprint – precisely the Guard Captain's.

Under the Sickly One's control, Zhao Lingxiao's corpse strode with quick but rigid steps towards the prison's control console.

With Zhao Lingxiao's corpse manipulating the console, the cell doors of the Sickly One, Su Ze, and the Vampire opened one after another moments later. The three of them eagerly emerged from their cramped cells.

Su Ze immediately picked up the Head of the Wailing Ones from the floor. The Vampire's eyes flashed with ferocity at the sight, but he didn't act.

The Sickly One controlled Zhao Lingxiao's corpse to walk back to the trio and then released control of it.

Su Ze immediately took over, dragging Zhao Lingxiao's corpse back into his own cell.

Close to Zhao Lingxiao's body, Su Ze could more clearly smell the pungent perfume on him. And beneath that perfume... Su Ze faintly detected a foul odor!

Already corpse odor this quickly?

No!

Su Ze suddenly realized that Zhao Lingxiao's heavy perfume was meant to mask that foul smell!

Could it be due to an indiscreet private life, contracting some illness recently?

Su Ze shook his head, not dwelling on it. He nimbly stripped Zhao Lingxiao of his clothes, then removed his own prison uniform.

He wasn't doing this out of boredom in the cell, but to swap their clothes.

That's right, Su Ze not only intended to wear Zhao Lingxiao's clothes but also to put his own prison uniform on Zhao Lingxiao. He was going to impersonate him!

"Rest in peace. I will inherit your billions for you..."

Su Ze took off Zhao Lingxiao's sunglasses and put them on, casually smoothing Zhao Lingxiao's wide-open, enraged eyes.

While Su Ze was changing in the cell, the Vampire outside the door had a flash of killing intent in his eyes. He made a throat-slitting gesture towards the Sickly One.

His meaning was to strangle Su Ze now and then have the Sickly One control Su Ze's corpse to trick their way through the Containment Zone.

The Sickly One shook his head. The corpse he controlled was stiff compared to a living person and couldn't speak, posing a risk of being discovered. With the escape plan already more than halfway successful, he didn't want to take that risk.

Seeing that the Sickly One disagreed, the Vampire could only give up.

A moment later, they saw Su Ze emerge wearing Zhao Lingxiao's clothes. A flicker of surprise and confusion crossed their eyes. Zhao Lingxiao's outfit fit Su Ze so perfectly, it was as if it were tailor-made for him.

At first glance, they thought Zhao Lingxiao had come back from the dead.

If Zhao Lingxiao hadn't previously covered his face with a mask and sunglasses, who knew what assumptions they would make upon seeing that Zhao Lingxiao and Su Ze had identical faces.

"He looks so alike! There's absolutely no problem fooling the guards!"

The Sickly One and the Vampire gained even more confidence in their successful escape.

Zhao Lingxiao's clothes were still intact, and all bloodstains had been cleaned up by the Vampire. Only the mask had a small hole from the blood arrow, but it wasn't obvious and would be missed unless one looked closely.

"Let's hurry," Su Ze called out, taking the lead towards the Containment Zone gate.

The Vampire and the Sickly One crouched down and followed behind Su Ze.

The two of them had many questions about what happened tonight, but now was clearly not the time to satisfy their curiosity.

The three of them walked forward along the corridor for a while. After a turn and a few more steps, they reached the entrance to the Containment Zone.

The Vampire and the Sickly One both stopped at the turn. If they went any further, the Guard Captain would be able to see them through the transparent glass on the gate.

Both of them hid in the corner, waiting for the gate to open before they charged out.

Su Ze walked forward with steady steps and gently knocked on the gate.

The Guard Captain outside looked inside. He first glanced at Su Ze, then took in the figures behind him, before the sound of him entering a password rang out.

Beep! Beep! Beep...

With each keystroke, Su Ze and the other two grew more tense.

Finally, the sound of the lock cylinder turning echoed, and the gate slowly opened.

The Vampire and the Sickly One, who had been ready for this moment, immediately sprang into action. They leaped up and lunged towards the half-open gate like leopards.

As long as they ran out of this gate, their escape would be largely successful. It was deep in the night, and the only guard outside was in the Cocoon Breaking Stage, which was no match for the two of them.

As for Su Ze, who was currently blocking their path, they paid him no mind.

With their physical condition and explosive power, if Su Ze were to be touched by them, it would be no different than being hit by a speeding car – he'd be dead or crippled.

But so what?

To them, Su Ze now had absolutely no further use.

However, it was at this moment that they saw that Su Ze, with his back to them, had one hand held behind his back. In that palm, he clutched a small skull, its two empty eye sockets facing them.