The Day I Rule Reality Will Be the Day of Your Freedom

The smooth metal door was like a mirror.

A pale smiling face, blood-red markings, and a black fire crown were reflected in it.

A tiny ember flickered.

"Phew..."

Li Fan sat on the floor, leaning against the opposite door. With a cigarette between his lips, he took a deep drag and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

At the same time, he reached up and felt his horns, then his face.

Then he looked at his absurdly long fingers.

What the hell...

Had he become an anomaly?

Now he finally understood why the anomalies locked up here had been so terrified when they saw him.

In this form, he must look just like the former Lord of the Prison of Suppression.

He touched his eyes. A transparent, hard shell covered their pure-black surfaces, allowing him to keep them open forever.

Of course, he didn't even have eyelids.

He'd been in too much of a hurry the last time he'd come here to think of this. It was only after Spider-Legged Monster and Eight-Heads recognized him as the prison lord the moment they saw him that Li Fan thought of it.

He never would have guessed that he looked this terrifying inside the Prison of Suppression.

His appearance made perfect use of the uncanny valley. He was even more unnerving than Eight-Heads.

But right now, all he had was the outer shell. He had none of the former Lord of the Prison of Suppression's power.

Li Fan sighed.

Was his true calling supposed to be acting?

This time, he had to put more effort into the act. Otherwise, if Eight-Heads or the others realized he was a fake, he had no idea how horribly he might die.

It might even be worse than death.

Those monsters had been locked up for hundreds of thousands of years and were still alive.

How much resentment must they have built up?

Fortunately, apart from Eight-Heads, it seemed there were only a handful of living monsters left in the Prison of Suppression. After all, even anomalies couldn't survive for so long.

But, on the other hand, the ones that had survived were all incredibly powerful...

As Li Fan pondered this, a sudden clatter of footsteps came from the darkness in the distance, echoing through the empty prison.

Someone was coming!

He sprang to his feet and tossed his cigarette butt on the ground, stamping it out.

He stood before a door, watching the direction of the footsteps, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.

A flicker of phosphorescent light revealed the newcomers.

At the front was Eight-Heads, with chains piercing his body.

Beside him was a cloud of glowing mist, from within which came faint screams of men and women.

Following behind them was a thing that crawled on all fours, shaped like the Floating Corpse Giant View. It left a trail of corpse fluid wherever it went.

Eight-Heads had come out of his cell again, and he'd brought two things Li Fan couldn't identify!

What the hell were those things!?

When they saw Li Fan standing silently before them, Eight-Heads and the two strange creatures he'd brought immediately prostrated themselves, trembling with fear and too frightened to take another step.

"...Lord of the Prison, Your Excellency, please forgive our rashness... You have been gone for hundreds of thousands of years. We feared you would leave again, and only wished to beg you for a chance to atone, a chance to earn our freedom..."

Eight-Heads spoke in a quavering voice:

"Hundreds of thousands of years have passed. There are only... only three of us left in the prison. Only me, Pestilence, and the Lost One..."

Weren't they pretty free already? They could open doors and wander the halls whenever they wanted!

Li Fan grumbled inwardly, but kept his expression impassive as he said:

"I have returned from the Extreme Abyss and opened a Void Path to the real world. When I become master of reality, the Dream Territory will be fully connected to it."

A big shot like this—and an ancient one, at that—would say "I" as "We," right?

Still, they seemed to communicate by directly interpreting each other's thoughts, so maybe language didn't matter.

Hearing Li Fan's words, Eight-Heads was overjoyed. He lowered himself even further and said:

"We are willing to serve as the prison lord's vanguard! We only ask for a chance to atone!"

Li Fan understood. These three had been locked up in the Prison of Suppression for so long that they were desperate for freedom. They hoped to earn it by working for its lord.

He didn't agree. Instead, he said ominously:

"If you can come and go freely, why not escape?"

The three monsters shuddered and pressed themselves even lower to the ground.

Eight-Heads replied in a trembling voice:

"Eight-Heads wouldn't dare. Eight-Heads wouldn't dare. The prison isn't beneath our feet; it's in our hearts. Once we enter the Prison of Suppression, without the prison lord's permission, we will be prisoners forever."

He did want to escape, but what good would it do to get out of his cell? He couldn't leave the Prison of Suppression.

Besides, everyone knew the Lord of the Prison of Suppression loved to toy with, torment, and brutalize his prisoners. This had to be a trap the prison lord had left behind to torture them.

After a pause, Eight-Heads continued with an expression of utmost loyalty:

"The prison doors are badly worn from age. We ask the prison lord to reinforce them, so that no ignorant prisoner tries to escape."

Li Fan gave a chilling smile.

"Very well. Since your sincerity is clear, I will grant your wish. The day I rule reality will be the day of your freedom. Now, back to your cells."

Eight-Heads and the other two anomalies were overjoyed. They bowed to Li Fan once more, then hurried back into their cells and shut the doors.

They even fastened the peepholes shut, looking every bit like model prisoners. Only a section of chain was left sticking out, making it easier for the prison lord to torment them.

Playing with his lighter, Li Fan walked silently to the three tightly shut cells, his heart pounding.

Reinforce them... How was he supposed to do that?

He didn't have any materials...

Suddenly, he remembered that the first time he'd entered the Prison of Suppression, he'd found a coil of rope under a stone tablet. He hurriedly pulled it out of his pocket.

The black rope was soft and light. He tugged hard, and sure enough, it was sturdy.

He used his lighter to cut off three lengths and tied them tightly around the doors one by one. Only then did Li Fan let out a long breath.

At the same time, he felt a lingering dread.

That was freaking terrifying.

He really looked like some kind of monster.

And there were three terrifying anomalies who'd survived for hundreds of thousands of years. He'd nearly been exposed!

As for that promise about becoming master of reality, he'd just made it up to bluff them.

Those anomalies had lived for hundreds of thousands of years. He'd be lucky to live to a hundred in the real world.

By the time he spent his days doing nothing at the Anomaly Bureau until retirement, then died a natural death surrounded by children and grandchildren, it might have been no more than an instant to those anomalies.

Of course, he'd better avoid the Prison of Suppression as much as possible from now on. He had no idea whether the rope was strong enough. If the anomalies inside got out again and discovered the truth, he'd be completely finished.

It was all the damn Unity Society's fault.

If not for the Unity Society, he wouldn't have had to go back into the Prison of Suppression to investigate the origins of Snake Concubine. Then he wouldn't have run into Eight-Heads and those two things.

Seething with anger, Li Fan grabbed a door and yanked it open. The key tattoo on his palm glimmered, and he turned and stepped inside.

Soft light appeared before him. Li Fan walked out of the restroom and returned to the break room.

Ke Ke and the others had finished their dissections and were resting in the break room.

When Li Fan came out, Zhang Hongbing teased him:

"What took you so long in the bathroom? I didn't even think anyone was in there."

Li Fan hurriedly glanced at himself in the mirror. Seeing his normal human form, he breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

"I ran too hard tonight. My stomach's a bit upset."

Then he left the break room and went outside the office building.

In the distance, a crowd seemed to be gathering in front of the Investigation Department building. He had no idea what mission they were preparing to carry out.

Looking at the brightly lit Anomaly Bureau, Li Fan took out his phone and called his father.

His father answered almost immediately. He seemed not to have expected Li Fan to call directly, and his breathing sounded a little hurried.

In an ordinary tone, Li Fan said:

"Legend of the Dian King is showing at Silver Glow Cinema tonight. I heard it's pretty good, so take everyone at home to see it. If there are any guests, make sure they enjoy themselves."