Chapter 94: Crisis!
“Gerard Wessminster, the three-winged Sanctum swordsman and Blood Mad Hunter…”
Ashe hid in the corner of the restaurant, observing the confident white-haired hunter with doubt and apprehension.
He was no longer a newbie who had just crossed over into this world. Naturally, he knew that this white-haired hunter, who had made his crossing over experience awful, held an important position in this city.
Single wing silver, double wing gold, triple wing sanctum, quadruple wing legend.
Under the starry sky, legendary mages were the pinnacle, the top echelon of all forces, the limits of individual combat power. The triple wings sanctums were the pillars, often taking charge of important matters when legendary mages were engrossed in researching arcane arts and exploring the virtual world. Generally speaking, they held the greatest secular power and represented the highest level of conventional combat power.
This also showed that the Four Pillars cult Ashe thought Hesk had created was not just some amateur troupe. For the City of Caimon to send out Gerard, the Heresy Court’s star hunter, it was enough to prove Hesk was a high value target that could be used as a ‘political achievement’.
Compared to his status, Gerard’s strength was even more despairing. The hypothetical enemy in their original plan was a double wing mage level Blood Mad Hunter, but now a sudden appearance of a triple wing Sanctum, Gerard alone was enough to wipe out Ashe and his gang.
If the original plan had a 30% chance of success, now it was practically doomed. The transport ship could not return to Caimon City within 10 minutes, and the prison would definitely discover their jailbreak within 10 minutes – hijacking the transport ship was part of the plan, they could not avoid fighting the Blood Mad Hunter.
Ashe sighed, “Since it’s him, giving up on the plan is inevitable. We’re just too unlucky.”
“No, it’s not just bad luck.” Igor brought him to the Shattered Lake pier, “Look.”
Ashe looked at the bullet-shaped ship completely covered up, “The shape of this ship… is very streamlined!”
“This is no ordinary ship.” Igor said, “This is a mobile prison…they’re just about to board now.”
In Ashe’s astonished gaze, the death row prisoners lined up near the pier, under the hunters’ watch, arrogantly crossed the yellow line and embarked the transport ship, leaving Shattered Lake Prison.
The prison’s famous “Black Beast” Took, before boarding the ship, suddenly turned back and shook his fist at the prison, laughing loudly, “Hahaha, old me is finally leaving this sh*thole!”
The other death row prisoners looked at them enviously, but that yellow line drawn on the ground was an uncrossable chasm. They could only watch helplessly as others left while they themselves were not even allowed to get close.
“They’re volunteers!” Ashe finally remembered the recent call for volunteers, “The ship is here to transport them!”
“That’s the flaw in our plan!” Igor couldn’t help but bite his finger, “Because this kind of thing is so rare, I didn’t take it into account at all! So the ship that came this time is not an ordinary transport ship, but a ‘Pig Cage’!”
“Pig Cage?” This was the first time Ashe had heard of such a bizarre ship name.
“This ship will not return to Caimon City, but will head east along Shattered Lake directly to the Lakeside Warzone east of Caimon!” There was frustration on Igor’s face, “I should have thought of it earlier. Even if the mayor used benefits to persuade the orderly organizations in the council, they still wouldn’t allow death row criminals to return to the city districts, the risks are too great!”
“If the news leaked that death row criminals escaped trial, it would surely cause large-scale public opinion fermentation. The entire council would suffer!”
“So the only destination for those volunteers is the Lakeside Warzone responsible for suppressing the Abyss!”
Ashe watched the last volunteer enter the cabin and said, “So if we get on the ship too, it’d be like walking right into a trap, escaping from the prison to the Lakeside Warzone full of powerhouses?”
Although Ashe still didn’t have a thorough understanding of the Blood Moon Kingdom, just piecing together the keywords ‘suppressing the Abyss,’ ‘Warzone,’ he could guess with his toes that it would not be a water park.
“No, we don’t even have a chance to get on the ship.” Igor shook his head, “There are also processors inside the ship that will automatically detect any living being coming on board. The moment unauthorized people like us get on the ship, alarms will sound all over the ship and our locations will be marked!”
Ashe was puzzled, “Hold on, doesn’t that mean your plan had no chance of success from the start! If every ship has this kind of security system, we’d never be able to leave Shattered Lake Prison by ship—”
“No, only special purpose ships like the ‘Pig Cage’ would be equipped with processors. Most other means of transport do not have security systems.”
“Huh? Why? Are those processors for security checks expensive?”
“One, they are valueable. These processors are artificially crafted by mages and must be made manually. Two, detecting other’s chips without authorized permission is a serious illegal act.”
Ashe blinked, looking confused for a moment.
He touched the back of his neck and asked, “Outside, checking chips is against the rules?”
“Yes, absolutely.” Igor looked at him strangely, “This kind of violation of privacy is a very serious crime.”
Although Ashe also understood there must be many differences between inside and outside the prison, hearing that “the outside world is a country that highly respects privacy,” Ashe still felt Igor was messing with him.
A place that implanted controlling chips in people since young age, can check memories, abolished family institutions and had completely socialized upbringing, even turning capital punishment into a variety show, would it really respect privacy more than this prison that makes him poop in shackles!?
He gave up discussing this matter and asked, “Then how can this ship called the ‘Pig Cage’ check every uploaders’ chips?”
“Because the ‘Pig Cage’ is a punishing tool prepared for warriors.” Igor explained, “The ‘Waterways Abyss’ suppressed by the Lakeside Warzone requires people to be sent to explore the deep layers periodically.”
“But the deeper one goes into the Waterways Abyss, the easier it is for mages to have mental breakdowns, all kinds of situations like losing sanity, self-harm, running away can occur.”
“Since almost no one is willing to take on this task, the warzone makes mistaken warriors who are being punished board the ‘Pig Cage’. Many rules are added to their chips, allowing the ship’s processor to control them from self-harm, escaping, killing each other. Meanwhile, the processor is also responsible for detecting life forms on the ship. If any monsters sneak into the cabins, it will alert the warriors to clean them out.”
“When they complete the task and return, their crimes will be erased and they can start with a clean slate.”
“Even if the warzone feels it’s going overboard to transport death row criminals, Mayor Fernand Snow would surely still require them to dispatch a ‘Pig Cage’!”
Igor gritted his teeth, “I knew exactly what kind of person Fernand Snow is… He would definitely personally oversee matters concerning his future… Every detail would be arranged to the highest standard!”
Ashe respectfully said: “You even fooled the mayor?”
“Investigated the plan but gave up due to the miniscule success rate and great risks.” Igor murmured, “If I knew I’d eventually end up imprisoned, I’d definitely have given it a try – the most powerful figure I’ve scammed so far is just a councilor after all.”
People scam for money, you scam for achievement points…
Although Ashe didn’t quite understand what mayor, warzone, abyss meant, he could still tell from Igor’s implication: “So you mean every part of our plan now has unsolvable problems?”
“Just for this time.” Igor said, “The next blood moon tribunal is on the 1st next month. If we’re still going ahead with the plan, it can only be scheduled for the 11th next month. But judging from Professor Sylin’s energy, I highly suspect you might get selected for the tribunal on the 1st—”
Suddenly!
A light screen popped up in front of Ashe!
“Good afternoon everyone, this is Shattered Lake Prison Administration, I’m prison guard Nago McMillan.” Nago in the light screen said, “Here to announce two notices.”
“First, there will be an extra Blood Moon Tribunal this month on the 27th, the list of names to be tried will be announced on the morning of the 27th.”
“Second, to set up the tribunal scene for the 27th, the Blood Mad Hunters need to stay overnight in the prison. We hope everyone will cooperate well with the Hunters’ work. Any enthusiastic people who assist the Hunters will receive contribution rewards of varying amounts.”
When the light screen closed automatically, Ashe had not yet recovered from the shock.
An extra Blood Moon Tribunal added?
The Hunters staying overnight?
“Generally speaking, this extra tribunal that was just added should be prepared for those political criminals who have just entered prison.” Igor slowly said, “But I would not be surprised if your name gets selected for the tribunal as well.”
Ashe’s expression turned ugly, “It can’t be that vicious right?”
“When you think things are about to turn bad, it will definitely become even worse than you imagined.” Igor said, “This is the only profound lesson I taught my clients after scamming for so many years.”
“I know you often represent society to beat up rich people, no need to keep emphasizing your achievements to me.” Ashe said irritably, “At worst my name gets selected for the 25th tribunal, how could things get any worse?”
Just then, Ashe suddenly felt the light around him dim, as if a tall figure behind him was blocking the light.
“Ashe Heath, were you watching the ship to the outside world because you want to escape prison?”
Igor discreetly slipped away to the side.
Ashe turned around, took a step back, and forced out a smile to the newcomer: “Of course, which youngster in prison doesn’t want to escape?”
“That’s not necessarily true. Villains can also repent, scumbags can also change their wrongs. Giving you the right despair is the meaning of the Blood Moon Tribunal.”
Gerard looked down condescendingly at Ashe, he glanced at Igor and said lightly: “Found a new friend? As expected of a devout follower favored by the Four Evil Gods, I highly doubt that if you stay here long, you’d turn the entire prison into a hotbed for evil gods.”
“I’m going to take a nap, Captain Gerard if you want to chat you can talk to Igor Bukin here, he’s very good with investments and finances, I’m sure you can gain something—”
“Wait, Ashe Heath.” Gerard stopped him, “The prison ordered you guys to assist the Hunters right? I need you to assist me.”
Ashe had a bad feeling: “How to assist? You see I can’t lift my arms nor legs, just a useless titanium alloy scrap, usually only eating or sleeping, afraid I can’t meet your requirements—”
“That’s great, you just happen to meet my requirements.” Gerard snapped his fingers: “Here’s the thing – because there are too many prisoners, there are no extra dorms for us Hunters who came to help. As the team captain, I of course gave the singles to my team members, so I’ll have to squeeze in with the prisoners.”
Ashe sucked in a breath, “Sorry, I don’t know any flowers in this prison, can’t introduce you any. Why not consult Igor over there—”
“No need for that.”
The Hunter held down Ashe’s shoulder, the crimson pupils full of mocking laughter: “Ashe Heath, I don’t think you’d mind squeezing for a night with me right?”
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