Forbidden Item ACE-005

"The Forbidden Item ACE-005... You already gave it to me?" Qing Chen's tone was a mixture of doubt and surprise.

If someone gave me something as important as Forbidden Item, how could I not have noticed?

However, Li Shutong never lied to Qing Chen.

At this moment, the hovercar had already passed over Prison No. 18 and landed lightly on the wilderness.

Li Shutong led Qing Chen on foot toward the secret entrance to the prison's cold storage. The two walked one after the other in the narrow passageway, which was also inlaid with tritium lamps.

If all goes well, those tritium lamps can keep burning for 20 years or even longer.

Li Shutong walked ahead and said to himself, "I really did give you ACE-005, and I've been waiting for you to ask me for it so I could surprise you. It's just that you're too stubborn and haven't asked yet. So, strictly speaking, I'm the first elder to give you Forbidden Item. Next time you go to Forbidden Zone No. 002, remember to tell those old guys so they don't think I'm stingy."

Qing Chen followed behind in a daze, thinking to himself, "Does this have to be compared?"

He walked behind Li Shutong, searching his memories, trying to list all the things Li Shutong had given him, and then analyzing which one was the Forbidden Item ACE-005.

The long corridor was somewhat dimly lit, and Qing Chen was lost in thought.

However, Li Shutong, who was walking ahead, laughed and said, "Don't think too much about it. Now is not the time for you to guess riddles. When you won my chess game before, I said that I could make a request after winning a game. But then you asked Liu Dezhu for the gene serum. Later, you gave me the sheet music for classical music, and I said I owed you another request. Actually, at that time, I was just seeing if you would ask me for Forbidden Item. If you did, I would have given it to you."

Qing Chen was stunned for a moment.

Li Shutong laughed and said, "I didn't expect you to be so stubborn, still holding onto that opportunity until now."

Qing Chen said in a low voice, "Back then, I certainly wanted to have a Forbidden Item like other Time Walker. This thing could allow me to travel between the two worlds, and it would indeed be of great help to the Outer World. But that's yours, Master, and I really didn't think about asking for it. Besides, I already have the Puppet Master, which is quite good. Of course... if you're planning to force it on me, that's not impossible."

Li Shutong remarked with emotion, "I've been busy all this time trying to restore your youthful spirit, and it seems my efforts haven't been in vain."

As he spoke, Li Shutong turned to look at Qing Chen.

In the dimly lit passageway, Qing Chen noticed that his master had a strange red Cat Face Mask on his face.

All the answers became clear, and he asked, "Master, is the Forbidden Item ACE-005 the Big Cat beside you? So, Master, you can change your appearance at will because of it?"

So, the Forbidden Item ACE-005 is that Big Cat!

Qing Chen clearly remembered that after the Cat Face Mask appeared, the Big Cat that often dozed off on the table suddenly disappeared, and the two had never appeared at the same time.

A living creature transformed into a mask—only Forbidden Item from the Inner World could accomplish something like that.

Moreover, Li Shutong had indeed given him this item, but he later returned the mask to him!

Qing Chen thought about how he had possessed Forbidden Item a long, long time ago, and his emotions became somewhat complicated.

"Master, how did you obtain this Forbidden Item?" Qing Chen asked.

"It was a gift from a friend," Li Shutong said matter-of-factly.

"A female friend?" Qing Chen asked, puzzled.

"Why are you being so gossipy?" Li Shutong asked, puzzled.

"If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too," Qing Chen calmly replied. "I can't understand who else, besides you, Master, and the will of those ancestors in Forbidden Zone No. 002, would be so generous as to give away Forbidden Item."

Li Shutong laughed confidently, "ACE-005 is the most suitable Forbidden Item for knights, so it's only right to give it to them. Because knight Breathing Technique can change one's voice, and the Forbidden Item ACE-005 can change one's appearance, this kind of Forbidden Item should naturally be in the hands of us knights. And most importantly, it's very cute when it transforms into Big Cat."

Qing Chen hesitated for two seconds before asking, "Are you serious about the second reason?"

"Of course I'm serious," Li Shutong said. "Maine Coon are known as gentle giants, very Forbidden Item don't shed! You've probably never owned a cat, so you don't know how rare it is to own a cat that doesn't shed!"

"Alright," Qing Chen said, "It's up to you."

At this moment, Li Shutong took off the Cat Face Mask and placed it in Qing Chen's hand. "From now on, it's yours."

Qing Chen silently looked at the Cat Face Mask in his hand. "Master, how many years has it been in your possession?"

"18 years," Li Shutong said with some emotion, "Back then, my master used it to do a lot of wicked things. But then again, being able to transform into someone else's appearance at any time is really a great thing. It can be called an essential artifact for framing others and for home and travel."

Qing Chen was speechless. He could even imagine what his master had done with this Forbidden Item, ACE-005!

"Master, what are its containment conditions?" Qing Chen asked.

"Dripping blood is the first step," Li Shutong, grasping Qing Chen's wrist and then plucking two strands of Qing Chen's hair with his other hand.

As true energy was poured into the hair, the two strands of hair that were originally soft immediately became as straight as needles.

"Master, why pull out two?" Qing Chen asked in confusion.

Li Shutong calmly replied, "Your hair is too thick; I plucked too much."

Qing Chen: "..."

As he spoke, he threw away a single hair, leaving only one, and lightly sliced it across Qing Chen's wrist. Immediately, deep red blood dripped down his wrist and onto the mask, seeping in bit by bit.

"The second step is to call its name," Li Shutong said with a smile. "Do you remember its name?"

Qing Chen frowned. He quickly searched his memory but found that he didn't know the name of that Big Cat at all!

If it were someone else, they might think they had a memory problem, since the Big Cat appeared so many times, how could no one have called its name?

However, Qing Chen was quite certain: even Lin Xiaoxiao and Ye Wan had never mentioned Big Cat's name, so perhaps neither of them knew what Big Cat's name was.

"Master, what is it called?" Qing Chen asked.

"Dafu," Li Shutong said with a smile, "Whoever knows its name can become its master. That's the containment condition for 005. Now the blood in the Cat Face Mask has been replaced with yours. You just need to call out its name to become its master."

"Dafu..." Qing Chen murmured, "Who came up with this name? It's so down-to-earth."

The next moment, the Cat Face Mask seemed to sense Qing Chen's call and transformed in the blink of an eye into a huge Maine Coon over a meter long, lying on Qing Chen's arms with a bewildered expression.

It shook its fluffy fur, then meowed at Li Shutong. Qing Chen understood its meaning perfectly. "You old bastard, you've given me to your apprentice?!"

Li Shutong smiled and said to Qing Chen, "Put on the mask, we're going back to prison. Remember, don't tell anyone its name, otherwise it won't be of any use to others even if they get it."

Qing Chen asked, "Does nobody in this world know its name?"

"Yes, I've deleted all the recorded information," Li Shutong said. "And the people who knew about it have also been deleted."

Qing Chen thought to himself that this was the first time he had ever felt that the word "delete" had such a fierce meaning. With a thought, Da Fu shrank back into a Cat Face Mask.

This time, when Qing Chen wore it on his face again, the Cat Face Mask was no longer a rigid and cold object.

Li Shutong said, "Try changing your appearance. It will be difficult the first time... Never mind, you try it first."

He wanted to say that the reason why it is difficult to use it for the first time is that although you know what you want to look like, you may not remember all the details of the other person's appearance.

Therefore, most of the time, disguising oneself requires comparing photos little by little to gradually achieve a 90% accuracy rate.

However, Li Shutong knew that his student was a little different. People with photographic memory don't need to compare photos at all; everything is already in the other person's mind.

Qing Chen pondered who he should impersonate. He first transformed into Lin Xiaoxiao's appearance, even mimicking her voice with Breathing Technique, saying, "Master, is this correct?"

"This Forbidden Item ACE-005 is really suitable for you," Li Shutong said with emotion. "Every time I change my face, I have to compare it with the photo for half an hour. With this thing in your hands, the face is changed in the blink of an eye. Even I can hardly tell the difference between the real and the fake."

Qing Chen then changed his face to Ye Wan's, but while his face could be changed, his physique was far less robust and tall than Ye Wan's, making him look rather strange.

It seems I'll need to find someone with a similar body type when I want to get a face transplant in the future.

"By the way, Master, what level is this Forbidden Item ACE-005?" Qing Chen asked. "Does it have a second stage form?"

"Logically, it should be Rank A, since the extraordinary individual who extracted it is Rank A," Li Shutong said. "But I still haven't figured out what its second-stage form looks like. In fact, the best explorations among Forbidden Item are those that require sacrifice. For example, Dafu's containment conditions are a bit strange, which can be very confusing because you don't know which direction to start."

At that moment, Qing Chen suddenly remembered something. "Master, how many people are in the Spade Organization?"

"The ones with real serial numbers, from Black Spade A to Black Spade 2, total 13 people," Li Shutong replied. "These are the core members of Spades. There are hundreds more on the periphery, but the ones with true superhuman strength should be these 13 people, with varying levels of strength."

"Are there any Spade members with a similar build to me?"

"There really is one."

Now Qing Chen knew what he should look like. "Do you have a photo of this person?"

"Yes," Li Shutong smiled mysteriously, "I'll have Lin Xiaoxiao to you when we get back to Prison No. 18."

The two continued deeper into the passageway, Qing Chen asked, "By the way, Master, are those students in any danger during their demonstration?"

"No," Li Shutong replied, "There will be people protecting them."