"Was it the Saints again?"
"Oh, right! Was that Investigation Team member also with the Saints?"
The Doctor adjusted his monocle.
"If he was with the Saints too, we Prison Wardens might as well disband right here!"
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the communicator.
The Doctor continued.
"Although that Enzo wasn't with the Saints, he was a vampire!"
"That's already an established fact. It seems some serious problems have arisen within our Prison Wardens!"
The Doctor's gaze was like a sharp blade.
"An investigation into U01 Containment Facility has already been launched. We should have results in the next few days!"
"When the time comes, the Standing Management Council will convene a Round Table Conference to announce the results!"
The Doctor said quietly.
"Will I need to cooperate in any way at the Round Table Conference?"
The sound of fingers tapping on a desk came through the communicator again.
"We had some unpleasantness with them while vying for Sequence 097!"
"They'll probably target you at the meeting. Play it by ear!"
"But we absolutely cannot let them have Sequence 09!"
Hearing this, the Doctor merely replied calmly.
"I know what to say!"
"Captain! Are we really going to visit that guy?"
"Can I sit this one out?"
Sly looked at Dart with some hesitation.
Before Dart could speak, Liuguang gave a cold snort.
"What are you afraid of? You think he'll eat you?"
Sly nodded and said in wholehearted agreement.
"That's exactly what I'm afraid of!"
Liuguang was somewhat speechless.
"He saved our lives. Shouldn't we go thank him?"
"Besides, other than being a little terrifying..."
As he spoke, Liuguang himself began having second thoughts.
He thought for a long time but still couldn't figure out how to describe Lu Xiao.
Dart said gravely.
"Stop overthinking it. Sequence 292 bears humans no ill will!"
Then he looked at Liuguang.
"Especially you. You could say 292 saved you three times!"
Once had been at the Prison Doctor's place. Because Lu Xiao had captured him and brought him back, the Prison Doctor had removed the Ghost-Faced Moth parasitizing his body.
Then there had been the incident with Enzo, the Investigation Team member, as well as Lu Xiao subduing the String Puppet at the Villa's Manor.
The entire Cityfire Squad could be said to owe Lu Xiao their lives twice over.
Xiao Yu curled her lip.
"You two grown men are acting like such little girls!"
"Mr. Lu is actually quite nice!"
"Of course, it would be even better if he didn't act so eerily!"
Without realizing it, Xiao Yu had already become a little fangirl of Lu Xiao's.
As they talked, they arrived at the door to Lu Xiao's containment room.
Dart raised his hand and pressed the doorbell.
The door soon opened, and Lu Xiao appeared before them, looking utterly dispirited.
He looked up at the squad members, his dead-fish eyes making their skin crawl.
In the end, Dart said gravely.
"Salute!"
At his command, the squad members instantly stood at attention, then clenched their right fists and pressed them palm-down over their hearts.
Lu Xiao was somewhat baffled.
But he didn't dwell on it and instead sat back down on the bed.
The Omniscient Mirror's words had affected him deeply.
According to the Prison Doctor's diagnosis, the curse would turn him into a puddle of rotten flesh with no thoughts, only instincts.
Faced with that outcome, Lu Xiao was a little rattled.
Between becoming a puddle of rotten flesh and dying outright, death was still easier to accept.
Lu Xiao trusted the Prison Doctor, but he had never doubted the Omniscient Mirror either.
Now he was torn.
I still have a year. Should I trade with the Omniscient Mirror for the answer or not?
At that moment, his resolve wavered somewhat.
Seeing this, Xiao Yu moved closer.
"Mr. Lu Xiao, is something troubling you?"
Lu Xiao nodded.
"My friend, the Prison Doctor, told me I only have a year!"
"After a year, I'll turn into a puddle of rotten flesh with no thoughts, only instincts!"
Everyone present froze at his words.
"This came out of nowhere, huh?"
Sly remarked.
Dart smacked Sly on the back of the head.
Realizing that this clearly wasn't the time to be a wise guy, Sly shut his mouth.
"Is there any way to fix it, then?"
Xiao Yu asked worriedly.
Lu Xiao nodded.
"The Omniscient Mirror knows how to fix it! It's just that the price for the answer is a teensy billion times too high!"
Xiao Yu asked curiously, "What price?"
"Sacrificing the entire Present World!"
Lu Xiao's words were like a stone falling into water, sending out ripple after ripple.
Sly stammered.
"Buddy... so you like cracking jokes too?"
Liuguang narrowed his eyes.
"So, Mr. Lu Xiao, do you want to trade for the answer?"
Lu Xiao shook his head.
"I don't know!"
"Mostly, I just can't really accept that outcome!"
"If it were just death, I wouldn't care!"
"After living in the Dark Prison for three years, I've actually long been no different from a dead man!"
These were Lu Xiao's heartfelt words.
His dead-fish eyes seemed filled with lifelessness.
Xiao Yu said sadly.
"How could this happen?"
Although she didn't know what Lu Xiao had experienced in the Dark Prison, he had finally managed to return to the human world.
Yet reality had played such a cruel joke on him.
Liuguang said very seriously.
"Mr. Lu Xiao, first of all, I'm very grateful that you saved me three times!"
"But I can't approve of the state you're in now!"
"You just said yourself that you still have a year!"
"Why not spend that remaining year shining and giving something to the world?"
As he spoke, his voice grew impassioned.
"Do you know why my code name is Liuguang?"
Lu Xiao shook his head.
"Sorry, I'm not interested!"
Lu Xiao's blunt response left Liuguang rather choked up, but he continued anyway.
"If the world falls into darkness, humanity needs light!"
"I'm willing to be that light illuminating the world, even if I'm only a fleeting streak of light!"
His impassioned declaration stirred the blood.
But Lu Xiao's confusion wasn't something these few words could dispel.
He looked up and gave Liuguang an indifferent glance without saying a word.
Seeing this, Dart felt a headache coming on too.
He knew more than Liuguang and the others. What worried him was Lu Xiao's choice.
If Lu Xiao chose to trade for the answer, or even showed an inclination toward it, the Prison Wardens would absolutely eliminate him.
Although Lu Xiao was powerful, it wouldn't be difficult for the Prison Wardens to eliminate him if they wanted to.
Right now, he didn't want Lu Xiao to meet an end like that.
It wasn't fair to Lu Xiao.
He scratched the back of his head, where it felt a little itchy.
"Mr. Lu Xiao, have you asked the Prison Doctor for his opinion?"
At Dart's words, Lu Xiao abruptly raised his head.
Seeing this, Dart continued.
"It's clear that you're lost right now and need a wise person to guide you!"
"I think the Prison Doctor would be quite willing to be that wise person!"
Before you continue