The Center of the World

The prison was quiet. Everyone had a hunch that when the bald giant Guo Huzhan entered, he would clash with Li Shutong, so everyone wanted to see what would happen.

At this moment, Guo Huzhan followed everyone's gaze and headed straight for Li Shutong.

He said in a booming voice, "Let's not beat around the bush. I'm here for Forbidden Item ACE-005. Tell me where it's contained in the prison, and I'll take it and leave."

Li Shutong patted the big cat, signaling it to go to the side, and then smiled gently, "You should be polite to your seniors if you don't want to suffer a loss."

Guo Huzhan said dismissively, "Give me Forbidden Item ACE-005, and I'll naturally be more polite to you."

Li Shutong asked curiously, "Why is the Black Spade organization suddenly interested in forbidden items? Judging by your tone, I thought you had joined the Tribunal of Taboos."

Guo Huzhan slowly walked to within five meters of Li Shutong and stopped. "If our Black Spade wants to contend with those behemoths, we cannot afford to miss any assistance. Your Knight Organization shares the same ultimate goal as us, so you should understand our predicament."

Li Shutong smiled, "But why come to Prison No. 18 for this forbidden item first?"

"Rumor has it that the Chen Corporation made an agreement with you. As long as you can contain and suppress it, they will grant you absolute freedom within Prison No. 18. And forbidden items personally contained and suppressed by you, Li Shutong, must be exceptionally powerful," Guo Huzhan said.

"You're mistaken. I haven't made any deals with the Chen Corporation," Li Shutong patiently explained. "Don't make hasty judgments based on hearsay."

Qing Chen listened silently. The last time he saw the words "Tribunal of Taboos" was in He Xiaoxiao's strategy video.

And this Tribunal of Taboos seemed to exist specifically for forbidden items.

He realized that the forbidden item Guo Huzhan mentioned was probably also what he was looking for. This might be the trial mission for his involvement in the struggle for Shadow.

At this moment, Guo Huzhan took another step forward. "Where is ACE-005?"

Li Shutong shook his head. "I know, but I won't tell you."

"Why?" Guo Huzhan took another step. The tattoo-like totems on his body seemed to come alive, twisting and changing wildly.

With a thud, everyone felt the ground tremble slightly as this step landed.

Li Shutong smiled. "No reason. It's just that I quite like ACE-005."

The more than three thousand prisoners began to riot. They had been cooped up in Prison No. 18 for too long. They were constantly monitored by security forces, and the invisible order was like shackles binding everyone. And now... it was the long-awaited chaos.

Thirty-six of the seventy-two metal storms on the steel sky began to rotate rapidly.

The prisoners exclaimed. In the past, it would take at least half an hour of rioting before the metal storms were activated after the mechanical guards lost control of the situation.

But this time was different. They were activated before the riot even began!

At this moment, apart from Li Shutong and Guo Huzhan at the center of the vortex, only Qing Chen looked up at the steel sky with undivided attention.

Amidst the chaos, no one noticed him step back a few paces, then turn and walk in another direction.

In an instant, Guo Huzhan lunged forward and threw a punch. His fist, like a bronze bell, instantly shot towards Li Shutong's face, moving with the speed of thunder.

Following suit were the barrels of the metal storms. Thirty-six cold machines began to spew gunfire, suppressing all prisoners in Prison No. 18 indiscriminately.

Not metal bullets, but rubber bullets.

These thirty-six metal storms were purely for suppression, while the other thirty-six were the real killing machines.

Rubber bullets rained down like a downpour, sending prisoners sprawling.

Guo Huzhan's punch was like thunder, and Prison No. 18 was filled with thunder and rain.

But in the next instant, the punch suddenly stopped. Li Shutong, with a smile, raised his hand in front of him, forcefully halting the roaring punch.

Li Shutong stood in front of Guo Huzhan, unmoving, as stable as a mountain.

He turned to see if Qing Chen was alright, as this young man, unlike them, was just an ordinary person.

But Li Shutong suddenly froze.

Because Qing Chen, two meters behind him, was calmly sitting by the dining table he usually occupied, the place where he played his daily chess endgame puzzles.

The thirty-six metal storms were indiscriminately suppressing the riot in the prison with rubber bullets, their trajectories densely interwoven, yet Qing Chen sat in the blind spot of all the firing lines.

The only blind spot in Prison No. 18.

The heavy rain poured down.

But not a single drop fell on the young man.

It was as if the young man was the center of the world.

The black rain from the steel sky gradually stopped.

Except for Qing Chen, Ye Wan, Guo Huzhan, Li Shutong, and Lin Xiaoxiao, all the prisoners were painfully clutching their heads and lying on the ground.

They were all in pain. Some who were slower to fall were bruised and swollen from the metal storms.

Compared to their disheveled state, Qing Chen, who sat calmly at the dining table, exuded an otherworldly, refined aura.

For some reason, Li Shutong felt that although he had only known this young man for a few days, he liked him more and more.

His disposition and abilities were beyond those of his peers.

Was this the Shadow the Qing Clan would choose?

Thinking of this, he pushed Guo Huzhan's fist away with his palm. This action seemed casual, but Guo Huzhan was sent staggering back five or six meters before he could barely stabilize himself.

Guo Huzhan didn't act rashly again. Instead, he sat down on the spot to adjust his breathing.

From the beginning to the end of this fight, all he had managed to do was make the white training uniform on the other person's body ripple a few times.

There were always rumors in the past that Li Shutong could be considered a Demigod of this era, but the other party had become famous so long ago that young masters like Guo Huzhan had never seen him in person.

This time, the Black Spade organization had sent him to Prison No. 18 to find Forbidden Item ACE-005, and also to see what level Li Shutong's strength had reached.

Now, Guo Huzhan understood that the gap between himself and Li Shutong was still like a chasm.

Li Shutong shifted his gaze from Qing Chen and turned to Guo Huzhan with a smile, "Still want to fight?"

The bald man, whose entire body was covered in totems that had now calmed down, grunted, "No more fighting, no more fighting. I can't win, so why fight? Don't worry, even if you don't say anything, I'll still find Forbidden Item ACE-005."

Qing Chen found the bald man a bit interesting.

He had looked like he was about to fight to the death just moments ago, but now he suddenly conceded.

The man wasn't as fierce as he appeared. After the fight, he had become quite straightforward.

The shift in attitude was quite significant.

However, what Guo Huzhan was thinking was that since Li Shutong knew the location of the forbidden item, he would follow him. What if the other party accidentally let it slip?

"It's fine, take your time looking," Li Shutong nodded indifferently.

He no longer paid attention to Guo Huzhan and walked to Qing Chen's dining table, sitting down opposite him. "Was this position calculated?"

Qing Chen shook his head. "Although my calculation ability is much stronger than ordinary people, I can't handle such massive ballistic calculations yet. I can only guess the general area."

Li Shutong also shook his head. "Guessing the general area isn't enough to support you finding this location so precisely."

"My brief calculations only narrowed it down to 4 areas, and the spot you sit every day just happened to be among these options, so there was no need to calculate further," Qing Chen said calmly.

Qing Chen was gambling by sitting here, but he had gambled correctly.

He had always been good at these types of multiple-choice questions based on probability and judgment.

"The Naming of the Night" has reached ninth place in monthly votes. What surprised me was that I seem to have become the biggest beneficiary of Qidian's rule changes... With new books now eligible for monthly votes, my new book actually reached ninth place with only fifty thousand words...

You guys are amazing!

Thank you all. I'll keep my promise: if it enters the top five, I'll immediately add three more updates! I can't do too many explosive updates during the new book period, but I will definitely do so once it's officially released!

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