Prison Break (4)

Prison Break (4)

Two minutes later.

Li Zu pulled the switch, cutting off the current.

Doctor Quill Arkham, strapped to the electric chair, was already foaming at the mouth, his body convulsing and his eyes rolled back.

"What's going on?"

Li Zu found it strange. "Why is the world exploration progress still at 10%? Doesn't exploring Arkham Asylum count as exploration?"

As he spoke, he flipped the switch back on.

Doctor Quill, who had just been about to breathe a sigh of relief, fell into violent convulsions once more.

Considerately, Li Zu pulled the switch again after one minute.

By then, Doctor Quill Arkham had lost control of his bladder, and the office reeked.

Li Zu waved away the air before his nose in disgust. "Time to break out of prison~"

He took off the police uniform, washed the blood from his face in the electrotherapy room, then changed into the white coat he had brought with him. He strolled out of the electrotherapy room labeled "Psychological Counseling Room."

A small squad of tactical police officers approached from the opposite direction.

Li Zu stepped aside and waited for them to pass.

The officer in front even nodded at him in greeting. Very friendly.

Li Zu leisurely headed toward the elevator.

He pressed the up button.

A few seconds later,

Ding~

The elevator doors, like the bars of a trapped beast's cage, opened. Inside stood a squad of fully armed tactical police officers.

Accompanied by two doctors and a nurse, they were jointly escorting a "patient" whose hands, feet, and even mouth had been restrained, his whole body bound to an iron frame.

The moment he saw Li Zu, he snorted heavily through his nose.

He was visibly agitated.

Clearly, he knew Li Zu.

Li Zu calmly entered the elevator and casually pressed the button for the first floor.

The elevator doors closed.

Buzz, buzz~

The elevator slowly rose.

The atmosphere was oppressive.

People who lived in Arkham Asylum for too long were easily affected by the environment, becoming jumpy and unstable.

"This guy doesn't look very obedient~" Li Zu said carelessly, breaking the silence.

"Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!" The man continued twisting wildly.

But the iron shackles and leather straps demonstrated their impressive toughness, pulling him back against the iron frame.

Unable to break free, he still glared at Li Zu with eyes that seemed ready to spit fire.

"Yeah, catching this bastard cost us quite a bit of time~" one of the heavily armed officers said, half joking and half relieved.

"It's a troublesome time lately~" The nurse beside him hugged her shoulders fearfully. "World War III has been going on for so long. Maybe Atlantis and Themyscira will be fighting their way into Gotham soon!"

Li Zu's pupils flickered, but in the dim elevator, no one noticed the change in his gaze.

"Don't worry!"

Looking at the nurse, Li Zu joked lightly, "If they dare come, I wouldn't mind having Arkham add a few new beds~"

"Hahaha!"

"That's right. Being around this bunch of lunatics every day is what's really dangerous. What's World War III compared to that?"

The atmosphere in the elevator relaxed somewhat.

Only the shackled man continued struggling frantically, as though he wanted to pounce on Li Zu and swallow him alive.

Ding~

The elevator stopped at the first floor.

The elevator doors opened.

At last, Li Zu saw the night sky through the windows.

He also saw the large clock hanging by the entrance, displaying "20:14."

It was still nighttime.

Of course, he also saw the squad of fully armed tactical police officers standing guard outside the elevator.

Li Zu was in no hurry to leave. His gaze turned toward the female nurse from Arkham Asylum.

His eyes swept over her name tag as he smiled gently. "Miss Lisa, may I have the honor of taking you to dinner?"

"Huh?" Nurse Lisa was startled by Li Zu's sudden invitation.

Even the tactical police officers standing outside the elevator, who had been about to step forward and question him, were taken aback by the sudden invitation.

Asking someone out in a madhouse was certainly distinctive.

"I, I..." Nurse Lisa looked embarrassed.

"We'll meet in front of Gotham City Hall. You get off work before eleven, right?"

"Yes, once I'm done dealing with things here, I can..." Nurse Lisa looked hesitant. She had never expected Li Zu to suddenly invite her to dinner.

Her mind was still completely frozen.

Li Zu gave the nurse no chance to refuse. He turned and swaggered out of the elevator.

The elevator doors closed.

"Then, see you tonight~"

Ding!

The moment he stepped out of the elevator, the officers at the entrance surrounded him.

"What's wrong?" Li Zu asked in confusion. "Did something big happen again?"

"One bastard escaped. You know how it is—no matter how solid the iron doors are, they can't hold those bastards!" the Black officer said helplessly.

"We're just conducting a routine inspection. Are you off duty?" The Black officer glanced at Li Zu's name tag and asked, "Doctor Pym?"

"What, I can't leave again today?" Li Zu looked regretful and pointed at the elevator behind him. "I need to go prepare a candlelit dinner an hour or two early~"

The officers, who had already heard the conversation inside the elevator, exchanged glances and nodded.

Li Zu had appeared to chat pleasantly with the doctors in the elevator and had even asked a nurse out. Clearly, they knew him, and their relationship seemed fairly good.

That meant there was no possibility that he was an Arkham escapee.

The Black officer nodded. "Of course. After a simple inspection, you may leave~"

Li Zu had no contraband on him.

"You may leave, but I suggest," the Black officer said with a smile, "don't forget the roses. My first date was ruined because I didn't bring roses~"

"Really? I heard it was because you put on a London accent and the woman couldn't stand it," another officer chimed in teasingly.

"That was the second date!" the Black officer retorted.

"Hahahaha!" The squad of officers burst into cheerful laughter.

Someone else teased, "You really should teach us how you managed to fail more than a dozen dates in a row."

Li Zu strolled out of the lobby.

The wind was cool.

It lifted a corner of his white coat.

"These people are really kind." Li Zu looked up at the night sky. "Looks like it's going to rain~"

He slowly walked down the steps. Seeing a car start up, he jogged over and stopped it. "Hey, buddy, my car broke down. Could you give me a ride for part of the way?"

"Where are you going?" The window rolled down, revealing the face of a middle-aged man with graying temples.

"Gotham City Hall. I have a date there." As Li Zu spoke, he had already taken the passenger seat.

The car owner clearly had not expected someone to have such thick skin, climbing in before he had even agreed.

"Just so happens... I'm headed that way."

After traveling down the long road, the car passed through the heavily guarded gates of Arkham Asylum.

The prison, like some ghostly old castle, was left behind and grew more distant.

Li Zu's tense body relaxed.

He realized that his mental state was sometimes beyond his control, and he often had wild thoughts.

The atmosphere inside the car was somewhat stifling.

Outside the window, more buildings appeared along both sides of the road.

The streetlights also grew brighter.

They were traveling from the outskirts of Arkham toward the city.

"You're new here?" The man in the driver's seat tried to break the silence in the car.

"Mm, yes!" Li Zu nodded.

"What should I call you?" The man leaned over curiously to look at Li Zu's name tag. "I've worked at Arkham for over five years. For a young man like you, the best place to end up definitely isn't here... Pym Colander?"

Screech!!

The car came to an abrupt stop.

The atmosphere in the car, which had only just begun to warm, instantly dropped below freezing.

Li Zu turned and stared at him with dangerous eyes, asking in a chilling voice, "You know Pym Colander, don't you?"

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(End of Chapter)