Prison Break

"This guy...!?" The prisoners in the room all backed away, staring at Claude Moriarty in front of them.

"Oh, don't be afraid, my fellow countrymen," Claude said, raising his hands and laughing. "I'm not here to harm you; on the contrary, I'm here to help you. I need your strength to defeat Yinglong."

With that, Claude extended his hand to the crowd before him. "Come, let's defeat that legendary man together!"

"Tsk, save your breath." At this moment, Ivan suddenly spoke up, "You think we haven't tried?"

As he spoke, he turned to the crowd around him. "Look here, look! This is where the world's most vicious criminals are gathered, but what can you do?! Even if we all attacked him together, we wouldn't be a match for him!"

"For now," Claude said with a slight smile.

Ivan asked, somewhat puzzled, "What?"

"We're not his match for now," Claude said with a smile. "I've found a way to improve your strength. Once you're stronger, you can defeat Yinglong together."

"Tell me first." At this moment, Danny Wu stepped forward and circled around Claude. "How will you improve?"

"To become Mutator." Claude didn't mince words and said it directly.

"Madman..." Oliver spat irritably. "Even putting aside whether you can actually succeed, do you think I'd want to become that kind of ugly monster!?"

"That's your choice," Claude said with a smile. "You can choose to live here like a dog for the rest of your life, forever trembling in Yinglong's shadow, or you can choose to leave with me, abandon your human identity to gain greater power, and then defeat Yinglong with me. I won't force you; I'm only here to offer you a 'choice'."

"But can it really succeed?" Liu Yufei asked doubtfully, "Turn the Mutant into Mutator?"

"With Amanda's Superpower, we can," Claude said confidently, pressing his hand to his chest.

"Who is Amanda?" Zhang Shan asked, puzzled.

"It's another personality within me," Claude replied, then coaxed, "Think about it, ordinary humans can become so strong after becoming Mutator, and you... have LV2 or LV3 physiques, so your physiques will probably become even stronger after mutation, right? Moreover, I believe your Superpower will also improve along with the mutation."

With that, Claude excitedly opened his arms to the crowd before him. "You! You will be the masters of this new world where the strong prey on the weak! Those who wish to defeat Yinglong and join the new world I have created, grasp my hand!"

"You fucking... are you involved in a pyramid scheme?" Ivan asked through gritted teeth. "Get lost! I have no interest in this stuff. I don't want to become an ugly, disgusting Mutator. Don't blame me for not warning you, you've already been caught on camera here, Yinglong will be here to deal with you soon. If I were you, I'd start running away right now."

"Oh, no," Claude said calmly with a smile, "Mr. Yinglong is busy with other things right now, he can't come."

As he spoke, Claude looked around. "Does anyone want to join? Is there anyone willing to abandon their humanity to defeat Mr. Yinglong? You're the villains; without any courage and decisiveness, how can you possibly stand against a hero like Mr. Yinglong?"

The people present remained unresponsive, still weighing their options. After all, the idea sounded terrifying. Even if it succeeded, the process would be irreversible. Once Mutator was formed, there would be no chance to revert back, and becoming Mutator would mean losing many of the joys of being "human."

But then, someone grasped Claude's hand.

"I do," Jin Shaokang said through gritted teeth.

"Oh?" Claude raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Are you sure? Once you become Mutator, you can't turn back, you know?"

"Just like you said," Jin Shaokang sneered, "The opponent is the strongest hero. If you don't become the strongest villain, how can you fight against him? Paying this price is only to be expected."

"Ah, not bad." Claude's face was full of a twisted smile. "I like you very much."

Then, Claude turned to the others present. "Anyone else? Hurry up! I reckon Mr. Yinglong is almost done dealing with things. I can only give you one more minute to consider."

With Jin Shaokang taking the lead, the prisoners present looked at each other, their expressions showing a restless eagerness.

"Before that, there's a problem." Liu Yufei stepped forward and raised his right hand to show the Oathmark. "What do we do with this? With this, none of us can leave here."

"Don't worry about that, I have my own way of handling it," Claude said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, the restless Mutant began to take action.

"I'll join," Liu Yufei replied decisively. Following him were Danny Wu, Zhang Shan, Tamura Toshio, Julius, and others. About ten people in total chose to Claude.

"You bunch of useless trash!" Liu Yufei glanced at Wasagu, Anna, and Kabal, his former companions who hadn't come along, and cursed, "Are you going to live your whole lives in Yinglong's shadow? Never able to hold your heads high in front of him?!"

"But," Oliver said coldly, arms crossed, "He has never asked us to bow down to him."

"Tsk..." Liu Yufei frowned and spat out a sentence with disgust, "A tamed wolf eventually becomes a dog."

"It wasn't the Yinglong that tamed me, but the life here," Ivan sneered. "What's wrong with living here? The people of this country are friendly and welcoming, and life is easy. What were we pursuing when we were mercenaries? Wasn't this the kind of life we were after? Now that we've achieved it, why should we cause trouble?"

Liu Yufei was speechless for a moment before finally replying, "I will defeat Yinglong and reclaim what I have lost..."

"I'm afraid you'll lose even the last bit you have..." Johnny Ryden replied casually, lounging in the sun. "Anyone who thinks they can defeat Yinglong by becoming Mutator is really stupid... But then again, only someone this stupid would agree to this madman's invitation."

"What did you say?!" Julius was furious. "Want to taste my Demon Spear?"

"Everyone has their own ambitions, and I won't force anyone. But time is running out. If no one else joins, I'll have to leave," Claude asked with a smile. After a moment of silence, Claude nodded. "Very good..."

Then, Claude tapped his head. "Wade, it's your turn."

Claude's expression shifted, becoming anxious and uneasy. He glanced at the crowd, and a huge shadow emerged from behind him, transforming into a gaping maw. Wade then opened his mouth and bit down hard, with a "crunch."

The dark figure opened its mouth and bit down, and the Oathmark in the hands of everyone present vanished in the next moment.

Not only those who joined Claude, but even the Oathmark of other prisoners have disappeared.

Wade scoffed and said, "All done, time to make a substitution."

Wade's expression changed, and he became Claude again. He adjusted his hat, then extended his hand to the other Mutant had joined him, and smiled, "Alright, you're free. Whether you stay here or leave is up to you. We're all villains, so consider this my 'special service' for you."

After saying that, Claude tipped his hat to the Mutant behind him who hadn't joined him. "Next time we meet, I won't consider you all my comrades, okay? Well then... Adios."

A shadowy figure flashed, and Claude led the group that had joined him away from the scene.

The remaining prisoners looked at the vanished Oathmark in their hands and fell silent.

"Who the hell wants to stay here!? Freedom, city, beautiful women, here I come!" Morrison from Australia accelerated and rushed out of the prison.

But he had only just jumped into the air when he was punched down.

"Nobody's fucking leaving here, you better behave yourself..." Oliver pointed his thumb downwards, "We two brothers are cooperating with the Special Response Department right now, you try to escape? Perfect, let me earn some credit so I can get out of here sooner."

At that time, the Mutant at the scene split into two factions. The first group thrown into prison chose to stay and prevent other prisoners from escaping, while those who were later transferred from abroad all wanted to leave.

A clear dividing line had formed between the two sides, and a battle was imminent...

Meanwhile, on the Y Country's side, Xiao He had stopped fighting and was trying to resolve the situation using other methods.

Since Raphael's abilities did not originate from himself, Xiao He deduced that Raphael was just an ordinary person, so he couldn't bring Xiao He much improvement. It was necessary to change the name of the archangel behind him, or to provide him with the name of the real Mutant had given him that archangel.

Otherwise, Xiao He's attacks wouldn't reach the archangel behind him, and Raphael would be constantly resurrected by the archangel.

Most importantly, a large number of civilians were drawn to their fight. If the fight continued, the opponent's abilities would not harm the civilians, but his own abilities would.

Therefore, it's time to achieve our goals through other means; violence cannot solve all problems.

"Listen up, everyone!" Xiao He raised his hand, then picked up a microphone from the ground. "Think about it, the person in front of you..."

"He's Mutator!" Raphael corrected him.

"This creature before you!" Xiao He corrected him impatiently, "Is he really the 'demon' this charlatan is talking about? Maybe, maybe not. From a religious perspective, you don't know. But what you do know is that he has been doing good deeds, even though he was born looking like a monster."

He drew everyone's attention, which eased Xiao He somewhat. He continued, "Leo Tolstoy said that the most difficult yet happiest thing is to love life while suffering innocent pain yourself. The creature before you is suffering just that kind of innocent pain, yet he still loves this world and every life!"

As he spoke, Xiao He questioned the people present, "Tell me, if it were you, could you bear such pain?! Could you love this world like this? If such strong humanity doesn't count as human, then what are you?! You know very well that he is more human than anyone else, yet you allow religion and Mutator to be used as excuses, choosing to conform! You did not execute a Mutator, but your own humanity!"

After saying all this, Xiao He silently gave himself a thumbs up: I fucking said it so well, everyone will definitely be convinced by me.

"Nonsense!" "Solicitation of reason!" "He's Mutator, he admitted it himself!" "Can you guarantee he won't be Dominance desire and hurt someone one day!?" the crowd shouted in unison.

"...I'm angry." A vein throbbed on Xiao He's forehead. "What's going on?! Why does the other protagonists' talk-no-jutsu work so well, but it doesn't work on me?! Is it because I don't have the Uzumaki Clan's bloodline?!"

"Um, Old Xiao, I think what you said is pretty good..." Ye Wanqing replied in the earpiece.

"Oh, my darling is still the best." Xiao He smiled with satisfaction, then his face darkened, and he clenched his fist, saying, "Alright, let's try to persuade them using the methods I'm good at. Might makes right."

"But how are you going to defeat Raphael?" Ye Wanqing asked worriedly.

"Let's give that crazy woman the chance to try out the ability she provided..." Xiao He muttered to himself, then thought back to that woman, Makina.

Makina's Superpower is "Deus ex Machina," which allows her to choose a god's protection when she encounters difficulties.

Therefore, what she triggered for Xiao He was an ability to attack both "gods" and "vessels".

The best thing about this ability is that it can only attack the vessel and the deity on the vessel; it is ineffective against ordinary people.

"Come on, whoever gave you that archangel, I'm going to kill it." Xiao He spat, then charged towards Raphael, a black flame igniting in his left hand, quickly condensing into a black fireball. Xiao He then hurled the fireball at the archangel on Raphael's body.

Black flames erupted, and the archangel behind Raphael let out a scream as one of his wings was burned off.

"No!" Raphael roared angrily, looking at Xiao He in fear and asking, "What have you done!?"

"Oh, so you're panicking now?" Xiao He said irritably. "Damn it, I told you everything before and you pretended not to hear me, and now you're panicking all of a sudden? Fists are still the most effective!"

Xiao He raised his left hand, gathering black flames. Since the archangel would heal Raphael, the vessel he was in, the white flames from his right hand, which were meant to harm the vessel, were useless. He only needed to attack with his left hand.

"Darling!" At that moment, Cui Man shouted into the earpiece, "The situation has changed! Claude has appeared in the Mutant Prison!"

"What!?" Xiao He was stunned on the spot, and an ominous premonition rose in his heart: ever since Claude kidnapped the prisoners from the ordinary prison, this guy seemed to have been planning today.

If ordinary people can become so powerful after turning into Mutator, what would happen if Mutant became Mutator?

"Tsk... you can never guess what this madman is up to!" Xiao He cursed angrily, then replied in the earpiece, "I understand, I'll finish the fight right away and go back to deal with that guy."

After speaking, Xiao He raised his left hand, and black flames erupted from his hand, growing stronger and stronger until they gradually transformed into a huge fireball with a diameter of ten meters.

"Go to hell, you old charlatan!" Xiao He said irritably, throwing the fireball in his hand.

Black flames erupted, engulfing an area of several hundred meters in radius.

But when the black flames dissipated, no one was injured, and not even a single rubble was broken.

However, Raphael disappeared from the scene, presumably escaping in some way.

"Let's go." Xiao He said, turning to the wounded Eric behind him and pulling him off the cross. Then, their figures blurred, and the next moment Xiao He brought Eric back to the prison, which was now in complete disarray.

Yinglong's sudden appearance stunned the prisoners present.

"Go and rest for a bit." Xiao He tossed Eric aside and then looked around.

Claude is no longer present, and the Mutant prisoners have formed two factions that are fighting each other.

Xiao He remained silent for a moment, then looked at the hands of the Mutant at the scene; the Oathmark had disappeared.

By this point, he already had a general idea of what was happening in the prison. It seemed that one group of people wanted to escape, while another group chose to stop them.

The inmates he frequently interacted with, who were among the first to be thrown into prison, were now all covered in wounds.

"You've worked hard," Xiao He said to Oliver and the others, then clenched his fist and turned to the prisoners who had been transferred from abroad. "Leave the rest to me."

As he spoke, Xiao He crossed his arms. "You are all death row inmates from various countries. I have given you a chance to reform yourselves here. If you surrender obediently now and voluntarily return to prison, I can forgive today's riot. But if you remain obstinate, then don't blame me for being ruthless."

However, after a moment of silence, a group of prisoners suddenly pounced on Xiao He, while the remaining clever ones took advantage of Xiao He distraction to prepare to escape from the prison.

However, a crystal wall formed by Psychokinesis appeared outside the prison, surrounding the entire prison and blocking escape routes. The prisoners who were trying to escape had no choice but to turn around and join the battle.

The first wave of prisoners who rushed forward unleashed their Superpower at Xiao He, and the dust kicked up by the impact swallowed up Xiao He's figure.

"Tsk, these stupid newbies..." Saeed sighed, sitting to the side. "They're obviously rookies who haven't been beaten up by Yinglong. They dare to challenge the warden here? Are they looking for death..."

After the smoke cleared, Xiao He was unharmed and walked slowly toward the prisoners. Then he threw a punch at the air in front of him, but a prisoner suddenly teleported in front of him and took the punch with his head.

With a deafening crash, the prisoner was slammed into the ground. Immediately, Xiao He charged towards the prisoners in front of him, like a lion charging into a flock of sheep, instantly scattering their formation.

Xiao He snapped his fingers to stop time, then sprinted forward while punching the frozen prisoners.

Time stopped and was lifted; five people collapsed on the spot with a "whoosh!" To the prisoners, it appeared as if Xiao He's figure had suddenly vanished and reappeared behind them, leaving five unconscious.

"Drink!" A prisoner's left hand transformed into a giant claw, sweeping across Xiao He's back without even tearing Xiao He suit. Xiao He raised his index finger at him, and a Soul Chains connected to his chest, then quickly spread to five people nearby. Finally, Xiao He delivered a chop to the prisoner's neck.

"Ugh!" The five prisoners groaned and fell to the ground.

In the blink of an eye, about ten prisoners were subdued. The remaining ten or so prisoners, the more timid ones, were so frightened they wet themselves. They knelt down on the spot, raised their hands in surrender: "Stop, stop hitting us!" "We surrender!"

They were actually quite relieved: thank goodness they hadn't followed that madman Claude. Otherwise, even if they became Mutator, so what? Could they defeat this man? Could anyone really defeat this man?

Looking at the prisoners who were raising their hands in surrender, Xiao He sneered, "Oh, so you're thinking of surrendering now? I already gave you a chance to surrender. You didn't seize it before, but now that you're surrendering, you won't be treated the same! Just take your beating!"

After saying that, Xiao He rushed into the crowd and beat them severely, causing screams to erupt everywhere.

"That's awful..." Anna turned her face away with a hint of pity. "We got beaten up like that back then too."

"Could you please stop reminding me of that painful past?" Saraqi muttered softly. "I still have nightmares about it occasionally."

"So," Johnny Raden retracted his Clone, "Only a fool would think that becoming Mutator would allow him to defeat Yinglong. There are some 'uncontrollable forces' in this world, Yinglong is one of them."

After beating up all the prisoners who were trying to escape, Xiao He pressed his earpiece and said, "Sister Man, the prison riot has been quelled. Let's take a headcount of the prisoners first."

"A few guys escaped..." Oliver said, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"It's alright, I'll bring them back," Xiao He replied, then looked at the crowd in front of him and laughed.

"What the hell are you laughing at?" Ivan asked irritably.

"I'm thinking, I really haven't taken care of you all for nothing," Xiao He said with a mischievous smile.

"You call that 'taking care'?" Kabal frowned. "You just beat us over and over again! We're all traumatized!"

"Who said that? You were the ones who hit me, I was just defending myself," Xiao He replied. "I was helping you correct your flawed thinking."

"Corporal punishment-style education..." Anna muttered under her breath, a little resentful, but dared not say the rest aloud.

"Think about it, who else in this world would give you so many opportunities like I do?" Xiao He joked, then raised his hand to the people present and shared the power he had previously Erosion from the Mutator with them. Oliver and the others' injuries slowly healed.

"Tsk, as annoying as ever..." Ivan muttered, looking at the disappearing wounds on his body.

"But Liu Yufei and Danny Wu both left with that madman..." Wasagu sighed. "Is it really worth it to transform into Mutator monster for something like this?"

"It's not worth it," Xiao He shook his head. "Because even then, they can't win. It's all in vain."

At this point, Xiao He turned to the crowd before him and said seriously, "And let me also warn you, don't do anything so foolish again. Even if you become Mutator, or even gods, you still won't be able to defeat me."

This was Xiao He's honest opinion: as long as these guys in the prison still used the name "Lin Tiannan," they would never be able to beat him. The same went for the prisoners who left with Claude. Although their original names no longer represented them after the mutation, there was such a thing as "prisoner numbers" in this prison, which had nothing to do with their names.

In other words, even if the prisoners who left with Claude became Mutator, they were still "Lin Tiannan 0XX". No matter what they gave up, it was all in vain; they could never defeat him.

"That's a bit infuriating." "Hmm..." "Well, it's the truth." Oliver and the others discussed in hushed tones.

Next, the Special Response Department sent people to recount the prisoners in the prison, to confirm which prisoners were taken away by Claude and which escaped when their Oathmark expired, and then renewed their Oathmark.

The final conclusion was that Claude took away thirteen Mutant prisoners, and six of them escaped. However, they all had tracking devices inside their bodies, so Xiao He could quickly apprehend them.

Meanwhile, in the Mutator's lair in Wyoming State.

"Are you ready? The moment of your rebirth has arrived." Claude extended his hand to the man in front of him and smiled.

Jin Shaokang looked at Claude, then simply reached out and shook his hand.

Claude's expression changed, and then he transformed into Amanda.

"Hmph, let me see what your deepest desires are..." Amanda looked closely into Jin Shaokang's eyes and laughed. "Oh, look at you, that twisted desire. You don't just want to be someone's shadow, you want to be the 'shadow,' right? To become a shadow, to blend into the darkness... Come on, let me unleash your primal desires, let me fulfill your wishes..."

As Amanda whispered, Jin Shaokang's expression began to turn ferocious, and the veins on his body throbbed wildly. After a while, black light began to emanate from his body, and his body began to expand along with the black light. His bones and muscles emitted mournful cries, and the black light turned into black mist that enveloped him.

In the end, he transformed into a giant over three meters tall, shrouded in darkness, his form obscured.

"Hoo..." Jin Shaokang clenched his fist, looking at his hand shrouded in darkness, and let out a relaxed laugh, "Ah, this feeling... Finally, I've achieved my wish and become a shadow..."