Chapter 58: Chapter 58 Interception_1
Meiruki led the way, pulling Avansa down the corridors of the prison at a brisk pace, with Ophelia and Daili close behind.
"To think there’s not a single guard in sight, this seems too easy." Ophelia kept a wary eye on their surroundings.
"The medical room was the first to have trouble, with the riot team concentrating there, so naturally, it’s smooth sailing for us." A hint of pride laced Meiruki’s voice.
"Where are we headed to now?" asked Daili, who had just hopped on this jailbreak bandwagon, "You can tell me now, right?"
"To the corner of the corridor on the west side of the negotiation area, we’re going there to intercept the warden," Meiruki answered.
"How can you be sure he’ll be there?" Daili questioned, "He usually wanders around the prison at will."
"We had Asenna go ahead to find him, pretending she had intelligence to provide, luring him to the negotiation room. Now that there’s trouble in the medical room, he’ll definitely head there with Asenna. We just need to wait by the path he must take, like rabbits waiting for a fallen tree." Ophelia explained, her crimson eyes glittering with excitement.
The person who had captured her was Aiden, and the man responsible for her prison cell since she had been incarcerated was also Aiden.
From the heretical inquisition to Rose Iron Prison, she, a noble vampire princess, had lived under that man’s oppression for so many years. Today, she would finally vent her pent-up rage.
She would cleanse all the humiliations she had suffered over the years with that man’s blood!
"Asenna has been swayed by you as well..." Daili mused, "It looks like the warden’s days are numbered."
"Hmph, he may be strong, but he can’t possibly survive being attacked by so many," Ophelia sneered coldly.
"After we kill him, are we going to rescue anyone from the medical room?" Daili pressed.
"There’s no need. The warden has the key and the magical artifacts to break the barriers. Once we kill him, we can simply walk out through the main gate. Why bother taking a detour?" Meiruki responded, "The riot team is probably crowded in the medical room by now, no need to clash with them. The heretical inquisition is not far from here. If we delay, even joining forces won’t get us far."
Meiruki was well aware that even if she joined forces with the four capable witches beside her, breaking through the prison’s riot forces would take time.
Moreover, if they were too slow, and the inquisition’s elite forces and cavalry pursued them, they would be doomed.
Abandoning the riffraff they had arranged in the medical room, including the twin assassins she herself had thrown into prison, was clearly the best choice.
Avansa looked at Meiruki with some surprise upon hearing this: "Are we abandoning them?"
She, of course, knew that the twins were currently in the medical room, as she was the one who had thrashed her "sisters" and sent them there to recover.
She understood the sisters must have been commanded by their "mother" to enter this perilous prison, that their "mother" had plotted meticulously to lead her out of this place.
But now, the "mother" callously used them as pawns to discard, as casually as tossing away a crumpled piece of paper.
Meiruki turned back and looked at her impassively: "You’ve changed a bit in two years, as you never used to question Mother’s decisions before."
Avansa subconsciously dodged Meiruki’s gaze, indeed puzzled by Meiruki’s insistence on taking her away while leaving the twins behind, but she didn’t have the courage to question her face to face.
Meiruki turned back and stared at her for a few seconds, her expression suddenly softening.
"Don’t worry, Vannie, you’re different from them. You are Mother’s most outstanding child, and Mother would never abandon you," Meiruki said with a smile.
"More like the most outstanding tool, right? Even someone as cold-blooded as you wouldn’t easily give up such a useful killing instrument, would you?" A deep male voice unexpectedly rang out.
Meiruki stopped in her tracks. At the cross-section of the corridor ahead, Aiden appeared, leaning on his cane, followed by the Necromancer Asenna.
"The corridors of the prison are not for strolling," Aiden said, his gaze burning into Meiruki.
"Good evening, Warden," Meiruki greeted Aiden cheerfully, just as she had when she casually met Aiden on the prison yard before.
"Good evening, prisoner 3340..." Aiden greeted back expressionlessly, "Or should I still call you the witch Meiruki?"
"You already know my identity." Meiruki laughed, the atmosphere as harmonious as if she were hosting a tea party.
"The sisters you sent here intentionally got injured to get into the infirmary, they caused trouble in the infirmary along with drug-addled inmates; I would be foolish not to think that this prison’s drug circulation was masterminded by you, the ’ant queen’," Aiden said slowly. "The files of the Heresy Tribunal say that the children raised by the witch Meiruki have all undergone long-term drug-related transformations, suggesting that Meiruki is proficient in pharmacology and the study of Magic Potions. Indeed, your reputation is well-deserved."
"You are indeed very smart," Meiruki acknowledged with a nod.
"No, I am still not smart enough. If I were, I should have realized it when those twins got high on drugs and went to the infirmary to investigate. Then, I could have caught you earlier and handed you over to the Heresy Tribunal," Aiden said with a self-deprecating laugh. "Come to think of it, if it weren’t for the accidental discovery of contraband during Succubus Phyllis’s search, I probably wouldn’t have suspected you right away."
In the process of playing cat and mouse with the inmates, as a guard, one is generally passive; as long as the inmates don’t cause trouble first, they can’t proactively seek out trouble with them.
Just like with this riot, the guards could only suppress the inmates once the riot had started.
Aiden was not some omniscient detective, but rather an experienced prison guard. All he could do was set up preventative measures as early as possible, but Meiruki didn’t give him that time.
He had just intercepted the drugs and hadn’t yet managed to identify the other party when she decisively accelerated the plan for the riot.
It had to be said that this woman was indeed ruthless, and her unexpected preemptive move proved effective.
"Your aim is to break out of prison and take Avansa with you..." Aiden glanced over the people present, "And Ophelia has been swayed by you too."
Ophelia sneered back at him.
Upon seeing Ophelia, Aiden didn’t show much surprise, but when he saw the witch standing at the back, he still slightly furrowed his brows: "Daili, what are you doing there?"
"Just as you see, Warden," Daili cast a seductive glance at him, "I’ve simply made a wise choice."
