Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 316: Chapter 120: An Evil Record Too Extensive to Be Recorded, Hard to Describe the Infamy of Mr. Well

The words sprawled across the blank sheet of paper in tens of thousands of characters, densely packed and meticulously arranged, taking the prison guards from initial nonchalance to utter shock.

Bai Wu’s criminal record was written with striking clarity and thoroughness, detailing the time, location, and process of each crime.

These experiences didn’t exist, but as someone who had once been at the bottom and reviewed every criminal file, he could seamlessly transfer all that sin onto himself without any dissonance.

After all, it was all made up.

Even Bai Wu felt this wasn’t thrilling enough. If he was to establish an image of a great villain, why not also weave in some of the ruler’s deeds? And so, Bai Wu continued to compound his iniquity.

Beyond the small-scale though wicked acts at the lower levels, he soon had a list of major crimes as well.

Having learned sketching from Yan Jiu for a while, Bai Wu’s writing was impressively fast. Line after line appeared rapidly, and a single sheet was filled in no time.

After finishing, Bai Wu felt somewhat unsatisfied and paused.

The rest of the guards finally took a deep breath—this was their first time seeing someone write a criminal record as if it were a thesis.

At least he had stopped. How many charges could there be?

If these crimes were real, this man theoretically couldn’t be contained by prison. Of course, the guards didn’t pay much attention to this, as there were always those who seemed ferocious but were still imprisoned.

Only pure evil, with no shred of goodness left in their hearts, could escape this place.

Just as the guards were preparing to check the criminal records, thinking all this had finally ended,

Bai Wu suddenly flipped the paper over, crying out "Aha!" with an excited expression.

There was a backside!

In that moment, all the guards in the room had the same thought! Is this kid ever going to stop? How could one person commit so many crimes?

Being imprisoned in Shudu Prison, it indicated Bai Wu at least had some kindness in his heart, though even serial killers might harbor kindness for certain peculiar people or things. freёweɓnovel.com

Yet, it was quite rare to see someone list so many charges; Bai Wu truly was an unprecedented king of crime.

The guards were all scum, but they felt that even if the entirety of Shudu Prison’s guards were combined, they couldn’t match the sins committed by Bai Wu.

Some guards watched on the side, looking at Bai Wu’s criminal record, detailed as if it were a case file, convinced that if not entirely true, at least the term "villain" severely understated what he was.

Bai Wu didn’t stop.

He chose to write with larger characters and quickly finished the backside.

Once again, the guards breathed easier but then heard Bai Wu say:

"Bring me another one!"

Six Eyes’s six eyes were all filled with disbelief. The guard with cow horns let out a mooing cry. As a guard, it actually felt some fear towards a prisoner.

There was no testing mechanism here; the prison itself was the greatest testing mechanism because there had been many "graduates" from this place. Once released from here without "guilt," it meant the person had become heartless and soulless, the epitome of absolute evil.

Bai Wu wasn’t that bad, but the "badness" he exhibited was akin to a biography in the form of a long novel.

Surprise once, surprise twice, after the third surprise, the guards seemed to be bracing for something.

As expected, soon Bai Wu said:

"Another one!"

Fifteen minutes later.

"Another one!"

"Another one!"

...

"Another one!"

After perhaps dozens of repetitions, Bai Wu finally managed to list all his past and present crimes, those from ancient times to the present, committed throughout the High Tower, inside and out, delighting in the disclosure of both his and Evil Fallen’s misdeeds, feeling completely relieved.

Looking at the "record" stacked beside his desk, the prison guards had grown somewhat numb, some showing signs of evil-assessment fatigue.

By procedure, they had to review Bai Wu’s criminal record again, which had become exceedingly tedious by now. Although the handcuffs suppressed some of Bai Wu’s abilities, he still retained much of his Innate Force, allowing his hands to move faster than his mouth, perfectly demonstrating the notion of divine inspiration in writing.

To read out dozens of sheets densely covered with writing on both sides was simply too exhausting. frёewebηovel.cѳm

In the end, Guardsman Six Eyes asked only one question:

"Did you really commit all these crimes by yourself?"

"I listed my main accomplices from line thirty-four on page seven to line twenty-nine on page eight. If you need their criminal records, I’ll need a few more sheets of paper."

"No need, no need, no need!" Six Eyes’ head shook like a bobblehead doll.

Bai Wu was quite pleased with this reaction. Of course, the reason he had listed so many crimes not his own was that Bai Wu knew he most likely wouldn’t have a second chance to be in this interrogation room.

Here, he could observe through his eyes things not visible from the perspective of a prison cell.

He had written down so many sins simply to buy time, to allow himself to observe as meticulously and as long as possible.

The appearance of the guards, their gear, whether there was a camera in the corner of the interrogation room, whether the information provided by the windows outside included a possible escape route, and whether the prison might have some place to store things.

These were all things Bai Wu needed to observe carefully. The information his eyes provided was sometimes abundant, sometimes scant, sometimes biased, but at crucial moments, it never failed him.

Bai Wu aimed to gather as much intel as possible.

The guards were unaware of Bai Wu’s thoughts; they just felt that time was dragging on and wanted to end this crime statement session quickly.

"Do you acknowledge your guilt?"

"Acknowledge in what sense? If by acknowledge you mean confess, then I confess. But if by acknowledge you mean to understand and deeply comprehend the sin, then I believe I have not done well enough. I hope the prison can give me another chance, release me, and I will surely mend my ways and behave with evil intent. In my life, I, Jing Wu, am second to none!"

This guy was awful! The guards all thought at that moment that this kid was definitely talented, a talent entirely different from their own mediocrity.

"What about your motive for the crimes?"

"Are you kidding me? Does crime need a motive? Isn’t it just like any leisure activity, as long as you have the hands for it, you do it whenever you feel like it?"

"Cough cough... Alright, I got it."

Bai Wu always believed that evil driven by desire could be stopped, that it was not purely malevolent, but that evil committed without any desire, just out of instinct because it felt fun, was purely malevolent and unstoppable.

Of course, the latter was hard to find, or rather, it only existed in the realm of novels and comics because there’s always a deeper reason for any action.

However, Bai Wu believed that these guards wouldn’t ponder that deeply.

He also adapted well to prison life, acting as if all the veterans here were geniuses, speaking pleasantly, as if he liked everything about the place.

Finally, Bai Wu’s prison intake process was completed, and in keeping with Shudu Prison’s unique tradition, the guards took Bai Wu’s statement of crimes and escorted him back to his cell.

This was also to let the other inmates know this person’s details.

But in the past, everyone was an unknown, and unless someone brought in a fully written sheet, others wouldn’t know the extent of the crimes committed.

But Bai Wu was different from these minor offenders.

The moment he returned to the prison, he had become the prison’s most dazzling "son," as if he were haloed with holy light.

Watching as prison guards Six Eyes and Bullhorn held a large pile of crime statements rolled into cylindrical shapes, the inmates from each cell plastered their faces against the doors, wanting to observe Bai Wu up close.

No one had ever seen crime statements that required two guards to hold with both arms, how many crimes had been committed?

As for Bai Wu, he had an expression of complete ignorance, occasionally casting friendly glances around him.

These glances were genuinely friendly, after all, in Bai Wu’s view, if his deductions were correct, then these people were all good people.

But after seeing the countless crimes listed behind Bai Wu that couldn’t be fully covered even with bamboo strips, the good people suddenly felt Bai Wu’s friendliness was a bit off.

Bai Wu noticed some of the people were fearful, some silent, some angry, and a few looked at him with admiration.

Those who admired him seemed to be in good spirits.

Whereas the others were mostly like Wen Tai, weakened by hunger and hardship.

These places seemed suspicious, but for now, Bai Wu could only slowly explore within the cell.

Upon returning to the cell and seeing the guards dump the crime statements on Bai Wu’s bed, Wen Tai panicked incessantly.

Even after the guards left, it shrank into the corner and said:

"Don’t come over! Ribbit!"

Bai Wu knew he had now become the prison’s most notorious criminal. However, since he wasn’t let out, it seemed the prison had some mechanism to detect "inner guilt."

It wasn’t simply because he became what people viewed as a villain that the prison would let him leave.

But Eyes did mention release without "crime," and Bai Wu thought he still needed to figure out the prison’s mechanism.

He looked around at the prison’s structure, a toilet, two beds, gray-black bedding, nothing else, the whole room was narrow and cramped, and then asked:

"Don’t be afraid, although I’m not a good person, I won’t hurt you, mainly because you are not worth my effort to hurt. We had a pleasant Q&A session before, and now I still need to ask you some questions. I’ll ask, you answer, and we won’t have any problems. Ok?"

Wen Tai nodded.

"How long will we stay in the cell?"

"Apart from the seven hours of labor in the outer work zone, we’ll be here, ribbit."

Bai Wu nodded, meaning that the vast majority of time was spent in the cell, even discounting sleep.

"Outer work zone? What is that?"

"The prison’s outer courtyard, where we need to till the land, weed, repair works, as well as wash clothes for the guards, clean the hospital area’s hygiene. And clean other vacant rooms, ribbit, in short, there’s a lot of work to do, very tiring, ribbit ribbit."

Wen Tai looked somewhat weakened, the kind that’s hungry and sleepy.

"That’s similar to the miscellaneous tasks in many prisons, but after seven hundred years, construction repairs, farming, weeding, these tasks shouldn’t still be around, logically."

"The land always restores itself the next day, weeds always grow back the next day, the high walls of the outer courtyard always break at the same spots the next day. Ribbit, it’s like everything resets, all the hard work is for nothing, ribbit."

Bai Wu somewhat understood,

The rules were keeping this area as it was seven hundred years ago, and he quickly seized a crucial point.

The consistent breaking points in the outer courtyard high wall. This might be a key to escaping the prison.

"Who does the work of repairing the outer courtyard walls?"

"Everyone’s task is fixed... Hardly ever changes, your task will be informed by the guards tomorrow, ribbit."

To escape, one would need to understand the timing of the high wall resets. Of course, how to move from the enclosed cell area to the outer courtyard high wall area also required time to plan.

Bai Wu intuitively knew he couldn’t pull this off alone, he needed some allies.

Fortunately, Bai Wu had made a high-profile entrance into prison today, already leaving behind an indelible image of a great villain in many people’s minds. This evil image made it easy for him to attract like-minded villains.

"How often do the cell doors open?"

"In the morning... I don’t know the exact time."

"Once the cell doors open, aside from work hours in the external courtyard, does that mean we can move around in the cell block area? Can we visit other cells?"

Wen Tai felt that Bai Wu’s questions were overly detailed, but still nodded and said:

"Yes, Toad. Just don’t provoke those... well, as long as you’re happy, Toad."

Toad originally intended to give Bai Wu some advice, not to wander during the free activity period in the cell block, because it would attract the attention of violent prisoners and might involve him in the struggle between two powers.

But then it thought, "Jing Wu" was the most despicable and evil person of them all and felt that its advice was superfluous.

Although Wen Tai hadn’t said much about itself, in the course of their question and answer, Bai Wu could sense that Wen Tai was timid, a genuine honest person, so he said:

"What did you write in your statement of crime on the day you were incarcerated?"

"Toad... I didn’t commit a crime... I didn’t commit a crime... I just peeped at someone..."

Wen Tai did not continue speaking, and Toad hung its head in shame.

Bai Wu found it somewhat amusing; this guy, who had no charm with the opposite sex, probably fantasized about them and did some... cowardly and sleazy things.

This was certainly sinful, but to be sentenced to death was indeed too harsh.

"I’m very tired... Toad, I really want to sleep... You won’t hit me, will you?"

Bai Wu said:

"Have you been hit by someone?"

"Toad... the prison guards, and the monster in cell thirteen... they bully me."

"Don’t worry, they won’t bully you tomorrow, and I won’t hit you either. Since you’re tired, go and rest."

Wen Tai was somewhat skeptical.

Bai Wu truly hadn’t planned on playing the part of a fierce person, because he couldn’t bring himself to be ruthless to good people. He needed to find a suitable target for his wrongdoing.

He was on the upper bunk, Wen Tai on the lower.

Because Wen Tai was both hungry and tired, it fell asleep quickly.

Bai Wu pondered over the matters of the prison and didn’t fall asleep right away, so he soon heard Wen Tai talking in its sleep.

"I’m so hungry... so tired... Toad... I want to sleep... Toad"

Bai Wu frowned.

"Wen Tai?"

There was no response.

Wen Tai was asleep, but that sleep-talk would resound from time to time.

Bai Wu found this strange. He knew that those who were hungry in their dreams would dream of eating, but he had never encountered someone who was tired in their dreams.

He felt a vague sense of something and closed his eyes, quickly allowing himself to fall asleep.

With that sleep, Bai Wu finally understood another rule of the prison—the secret of "innocent" release.