Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 329: Chapter 133: The Jailbreak Manifesto of Breaking Free from Shackles

Just an hour ago, Lin Rui arrived at the scene, seemingly inheriting the Masked Strange Person’s tradition of getting lost.

Once in Shudu, the Masked Strange Person was delayed on his way to Baichuan City because a passerby gave him the wrong directions.

And now, Lin Rui, returning from Baichuan to Shudu, experienced the same misadventure.

Fortunately, this time... with the help of Bai Wu, who possessed half of the script, Lin Rui finally made it in time.

When two identical masks from different time-spaces came close, they did not create the paradox often spoken of in theories about space-time.

The presence of two Masked Strange Persons simultaneously caused confusion for the judge and the doctor. They had both encountered the real Masked Strange Person and knew that seven hundred years ago, that troublesome figure had many followers and imitators.

But seven hundred years later, an imitator brazen enough to attack a prison for a jailbreak was certainly hardcore.

Bai Wu already knew that everything he did in the phone booth was changing causality, but what he did not realize was that every change to causality comes at a price.

The price was not to be paid by him, but by the owner of the phone booth—Jing Liu.

He didn’t know how significant the gift brought by Jing Liu was, because the strength of people like Gu Hailin was still within Bai Wu’s expectations, but so far, Lin Rui had yet to reveal his power.

"I’m going to rescue them, can you hold them both off?"

Bai Wu was still worried, since the adversaries were not just the doctor, but also a black-robed judge.

"The one who wields life and death, he doesn’t belong here. As a Semi-Evil Fallen, he has great potential, and his control over souls will be extremely tricky. The grievances between you will not end here because it won’t truly die unless on Huangquan Island. But at least your little friend can expel him. Oh, and try not to let him play the flute.

Nine-level mutation, perfect Mutation Entries: Death Worship, Requiem, Wandering Spirits Leading, Nether River Ferrying, Soul Stitching."

All five perfect Mutation Entries related to death.

Lin Rui gave an OK gesture:

"Senior, don’t worry. Leave all the fighting to me. Just focus on the rescue!"

"Don’t be careless, especially do not let the opponent play the flute."

Lin Rui snapped his fingers, and in that instant, golden light bloomed like an instantly blossoming flower, dazzling and blinding, filling the entire second level of the prison.

When Bai Wu snapped out of it, Lin Rui, the judge, and the doctor had already vanished elsewhere.

The power within Lin Rui was miraculous; Bai Wu didn’t ponder it further. He took out the pseudo-original sin weapon, which no longer had uses left but was still incredibly sharp, and cut off the shackles binding Colt and the others.

"Sorry, I’m a bit late."

The flute sound ceased, the doctor stopped inflicting pain on the souls, and the agony of the four leaders was instantly alleviated.

Colt remained silent; his gun barrels were blocked. Yuan Ye cried silently, apparently, the hallucinations evoked by the flute music had left her feeling helpless.

Lu Yan wanted to curse out loud, but having recently witnessed his former comrades, who he had driven away with his scolding, meet tragic ends, he ultimately didn’t let loose the curse. Both of his mouths said together:

"You’re not late, thanks!"

Surprisingly, among them, Qian Yixin was the least disheveled. He suffered a lot of pain, but money had dispelled his confusion:

"How is it not late? Look at these injuries. You’re going to have to add some compensation, right?"

Bai Wu smiled:

"I will give you all a satisfactory outcome. But we’re short on time, we need to get out of here, and rescue those on the first level."

"If I wasn’t unable to fight... I wouldn’t be leaving like this! Damn, I really want to stuff the doctor’s head up his ass..." Lu Yan began to incessantly rail against the doctor.

Colt seemed eager to express something too, and once his handcuffs were removed, he straightened his head:

"Da Da! Da Da Da Da Da!"

"The bottom... He says we have to go to the bottom level, we have to unlock the handcuffs of all our comrades down there!"

The four had suffered tremendous torments both physically and mentally, and even the robust constitution of the Evil Fallen couldn’t recover immediately, making their speech weak and feeble.

Bai Wu looked towards Yan Zizai. Yan Zizai was bleeding from all seven orifices and was barely breathing, but a smile spread across his face.

As soon as the handcuffs broke, he whispered:

"I can’t move. Take me to the bottom level... Bai Wu."

Compared to the other Evil Fallen, Yan Zizai, as a human, was more severely injured and had been tormented for a longer period. Bai Wu helped Yan Zizai up. Although he possessed the powerful Innate Force, the intensive pain and the torturous hours had left Yan Zizai unable to recover immediately.

"You don’t want to go back like this either?"

"Of course not... Just take me to the bottom level first... I would only slow you down with the state I’m in now!"

Bai Wu sensed the determination in Yan Zizai’s words, nodded slightly, and did not activate the Return Roulette, starting to head towards the bottom level of the prison block. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

Colt, Yuan Ye, and the other two followed behind Bai Wu.

Yan Zizai was very tired; he often wanted to fall into a deep sleep, yet feared that once he slept, he would never wake up again.

At the moment, he was forcefully resisting fatigue, thinking about some matters which were very important to him, and asked softly,

"Bai Wu, how is Jiu... doing?"

"She’s getting married, to Captain Qin. If I calculate the time, probably the day after tomorrow?"

"That’s not acceptable... I do not agree!"

"With the couple being so well-matched, do you, a mere tool, have the right to object?"

Before Yan Zizai could get angry enough to initiate Bipolar Transposition on himself, Bai Wu added with a smile,

"If anyone is to object, it’s me, and I also don’t agree."

Yan Zizai really wanted to beat up Bai Wu, but he was too weak right now.

Before Bai Wu arrived, Yan Zizai had contemplated the possibility of being rescued. Although he had never held out hope, humans in dire straits cannot help but fantasize about breaking through their predicament.

If he could choose, he would rather the person who came to save him be Gu Qingyu, Bai Xiaoyu, Xie Xingzhi, or even Liu Hu, that idiot.

"Thanks... You’re not a morally corrupt person, Bai Wu."

Bai Wu was unaccustomed to seeing this usually imposing figure look so frail, like a thread of air, and he hastened his steps.

The prison guards on the bottom level had just been entangled in golden energy and seemed to have been abandoned by time, frozen still.

However, as Lin Rui moved the doctor and the judge somewhere else, the prison guards were able to move again.

Six Eyes was stepping on Wen Tai’s toad head. Despite the strange occurrence just now, these prison guards were generally hard-hearted, simply regarding it as a few prison officials conducting experiments.

"It’s not every day that we get the chance to beat them like this, don’t stop now!"

To become a prison guard, one had to be far from "void of humanity." In fact, they not only lacked humanity but also possessed a perverted desire to torture.

After the brief interruption, Six Eyes and the other guards became frenzied again, and their batons once again fell on the prisoners’ heads.

Neither the eyes pleading for mercy nor those filled with anger and hate could stimulate their violent urges.

Wen Tai’s desperate croaking for mercy was ineffective and, because of its residence in the escapee’s cell and its cowardly, honest nature, it was especially targeted.

Six Eyes raised the baton, preparing to smash it down fiercely.

Wen Tai’s eyes widened in terror, and it couldn’t move a muscle.

But just when Wen Tai thought the baton was about to smash down on its head, Wen Tai suddenly found that the prison guard had disappeared.

In Six Eyes’ place stood a man with a flawless appearance, a blow more crushing than the baton.

As Wen Tai, insulted by countless women as ’toad’, due to its ugliness, already found average humans unattainable, the man in front of it

was exuding an unparalleled elegance despite the blood on his seven apertures.

"Gulp! Is this an illusion, gulp! I’m in so much pain, gulp, why am I so ugly and he’s so handsome, gulp!"

Wen Tai’s mentality exploded.

The man who appeared before Wen Tai was startled. What’s with this Evil Fallen? He had saved it, so why did it look so despairing?

Naturally, this was Yan Zizai.

Just as Six Eyes was about to continue assaulting Wen Tai, Yan Zizai initiated two Bipolar Transpositions in an instant, one for life energy and one for position

While the pain and fatigue in his mind did not disappear, Yan Zizai now had the strength to fight once more, as if he had returned to being that powerful head of the surveillance group.

And Six Eyes ended up next to Bai Wu.

Bai Wu showed Six Eyes a kind smile,

"I am an honest person; when I say escape, I escape, when I say jailbreak, I jailbreak, and I also said I would kill you, right?" freёwebnovel.com

Six Eyes’ pupils shrank, and the baton in its hand clattered to the ground.

This scene was somewhat similar to the time Bai Wu had subdued it in the prison cafeteria, only this time, the outcome was much more severe than that in the cafeteria.

The bronze axe swung, and Six Eyes felt only a brief flash of severe pain.

Then Six Eyes saw the scenes in all six of its eyes... start to spin and turn upside down. Finally, with a gurgling sound, the head fell to the ground, and the scenes in the six eyes were frozen forever.

Meanwhile, Yan Zizai began to crazily initiate Bipolar Transposition.

As one prison guard fell, Colt felt his body rejuvenate as if it was brand new.

Another prison guard fell, and Lu Yan’s desire to speak exploded; he wanted to catch someone and scold them for three days and nights.

Yet another guard went down, and Qian Yixin twisted his neck and said, "Good work. That’s a favor worth fifty thousand."

After the last guard Bullhead fell, Yuan Ye’s golden hair fluttered without the wind, and the Lion’s Domain activated instantly.

They exchanged "life values" with one another, then swapped again with the guards, a process that happened so swiftly that the few guards, having felt extreme physical pain, hadn’t even realized what was going on.

Talent Sequence twenty, Bipolar Transposition. At this moment Bai Wu realized, it wasn’t that his cooperation with Yan Zizai was good, but that Yan Zizai himself, with such a Sequence, was simply too powerful.

With the constraints of the handcuffs gone, the now-free Yan Zizai already had the power to challenge the prison.

"Since evil prevails here, does that mean those who have become prisoners are the good?" Yan Zizai asked.

Bai Wu looked at the prisoners and shook his head:

"The world isn’t just about good and evil; most of the time, people live in between the two. However, they all have redeeming value."

Yan Zizai fell silent for a few seconds, then nodded.

Bai Wu looked at Yuan Ye and Colt:

"Let’s unlock the shackles of the other prisoners first."

The leaders nodded, and Yan Zizai joined in the effort. With each unlocked handcuff, the energy fluctuations in the prison grew more terrifying.

The strength of these prisoners was far greater than that of the guards. Yan Zizai knew that Wu Jiu and Bai Wu had their own perspective on Evil Fallen, but he still found it strange.

Bai Wu seemed particularly passionate about rescuing these Evil Fallen.

Yuan Ye and Colt noticed it too.

"You actually could have taken your friends and left by now; we can handle things from here."

"Is that so? But I don’t like doing things halfway, especially when I don’t like owing favors that I can’t repay. A good deed should be done to the end, delivering Buddha to the west."

"What does that mean?"

Yuan Ye looked puzzled at Bai Wu. Bai Wu wasn’t particularly interested in the other Evil Fallen, but he valued the four leaders of the two factions highly. As for these Evil Fallen, there were quite a few talented individuals, but Bai Wu hadn’t really had a chance to seriously interact with them and was unsure if he could persuade them.

More and more shackles were broken, more and more fetters fell to the ground, and the Warden was already blocking the inevitable escape route, but Bai Wu knew that this jailbreak was an unstoppable force—no one could prevent it.

He looked at each joyous face as they regained their freedom; these faces were also expressing gratitude towards Bai Wu.

Perhaps the events of today were too dreamlike, making the entire prison somewhat quiet.

Yan Zizai always felt that something big was going to happen here, and his premonition was quickly confirmed when Bai Wu, indeed, made what could be called a startling statement in front of him.

In the silent prison, all the Evil Fallen looked at Bai Wu, and Yuan Ye said:

"All the fetters have been removed, and now we just need to break out of the prison. Bai Wu... do you have anything you want to say?"

Bai Wu’s gaze swept over the crowd of Evil Fallen, he smiled, and eventually nodded:

"Everyone will be going their separate ways, and after leaving the prison area, you’ll all return to your respective original areas, if you wish. Our acquaintance was brief, but for me, this journey in prison was quite a nice trip. It’s just that there are some regrets."

"I can feel that you seem very happy, and you really seem to be very happy, but to be honest, I don’t know what you are celebrating."

His words, like parting advice, suddenly took a turn. The Evil Fallen looked at Bai Wu with some confusion.

Bai Wu glanced at Colt:

"Is it that someone you wanted to protect before has come back to life? Is it that the world that would lead to the death of countless people has been completely destroyed?"

Then he turned his gaze to Qian Yixin:

"Or have you already earned enough money to afford the ideal world in your heart?"

He next looked at Lu Yan and Yuan Ye:

"Or have your hearts found peace? Or perhaps you have already found the things you wanted to find even after traveling the entire world? Probably not, right? Leaving prison is certainly good, but won’t the days after leaving still be a form of imprisonment?"

"Being confined to a certain place by this world itself, is that freedom?"

Bai Wu’s eyes met Lu Yan’s; Lu Yan looked straight at Bai Wu, wanting to speak but hesitating.

Yuan Ye, perplexed, asked:

"What do you mean? What exactly are you trying to say?"

Bai Wu didn’t respond to Yuan Ye; instead, he turned to look at the inmates:

"I believe that all waiting in this world should have meaning. I came here with my companion, and my companion was happy. He said to me, ’Predecessor, to hold on to one’s true self for seven hundred years unchanged is indeed something to be proud of. Saving these people, who can be proud, will make me very happy.’"

Seven hundred years unchanged, holding on to one’s true self—these words made Yan Zizai think of Bai Xiaoyu. He seemed to have a faint understanding of what Bai Wu intended to do.

"Although this prison is not harmonious, there are factions here and many forces at play, in my eyes, everyone here is trying to live on with their humanity, with what they want to protect."

Clearly praising, Bai Wu’s words carried mockery and anger:

"But so-called protection, obsessions... they cannot be obtained by simply waiting. Just because you refuse to let go doesn’t mean you have already made an effort."

"Did you gain the freedom to pursue your obsessions after leaving the prison? What a joke! Look at yourselves in a mirror, neither human nor ghost! You are no longer human! You are monsters known as Evil Fallen, cursed and imprisoned by this world!"

"So what are you happy about? It’s just changing places to continue imprisoning yourselves. Do you really think, without persecution, you can maintain your humanity? Don’t overestimate yourselves, don’t misunderstand who your real enemies are, and certainly don’t underestimate this world’s malice toward you!"

"Or is it that what you want is a life of resigned acceptance? The despair and humiliation of seven hundred years ago, the loneliness and unwillingness of the past seven centuries, is that just a mask you wear on your faces? If that’s the case, then you can leave the prison, go back to your own prisons where you serve as wardens, and start your lives over!"

The sharp turn in his speech, filled with pointed questions and mockery, made the Evil Fallen disoriented for a moment. After a brief shock, expressions of outrage appeared on their faces.

Lu Yan glared at Bai Wu, his voice resonating:

"Damn it all! We know what you’re saying! But we have been pushed by this world to become what we are, what can we do? As you said, we are no longer human! We can never leave the regions that bind us. Seven hundred years ago, we were not the elite, we did not ascend that tower! But what can we do!

Do you think we wanted to become these monsters? Has this world ever given us a choice to remain human or become ghosts?"

Lu Yan’s roar echoed through the prison cells, reverberating loudly as his eyes, red with anger, stared at Bai Wu.

Even in his emotional agitation, he rushed towards Bai Wu, grabbed his clothes:

"We clearly did no evil, yet like the lowest of criminals, we are imprisoned in our own regions. There are so many things we still want to do, yet for the seemingly endless remainder of our lives, we can only pray that time doesn’t erase those deeply engraved memories and obsessions! Kid, do you think we want this? Do you think we don’t want to resist?"

"Let this damn dog of a world know! It’s not that we don’t want to search, don’t want to protect, and it’s not that we haven’t thought about resisting! It’s that this damn world has never given us a chance!!"

His last words of angry desperation left Lu Yan’s voice somewhat hoarse.

Every Evil Fallen, desperately trying to live, seemed to find their own grievances and resentment in Lu Yan’s roar.

It was then that Yan Zizai realized, living outside the tower was not something to be envied.

Humans envied the Evil Fallen for living outside the tower, seeing the real sky, but humans did not know that there are many Evil Fallen who have retained their humanity, who envy the lives of humans.

Bai Wu looked into Lu Yan’s eyes, then swept his gaze over the rest of the Evil Fallen, his expression suddenly shifting from disdain and mockery to one of joy:

"Good, this is the look I wanted to see!"

"This is the spirit someone who holds true to themselves should have towards this world! I now believe that you are the people I need, the people necessary for the refuge."

"I apologize for the harsh words just now, but that was not my intention. I just wanted to see your determination."

The tone changed once again and amidst the haze, the Evil Fallen heard the words ’refuge.’

Yuan Ye wore an imperceptible smile, Lu Yan blinked,

The ever-composed Qian Yixin had guessed that it was likely a coordinated act between Lu Yan and Bai Wu.

These two guys, both possessed talents capable of breaking through defenses with words.

Especially since the emotions of both were also in place, the seemingly argumentative dialogue was actually meant to provoke the emotions of the Evil Fallen, causing all of them to be filled with an unrest that was hard to calm.

Seven hundred years ago, they fought hard to live, partly out of defiance against death, and partly in the hope that one day, they could fulfill the obsessions in their hearts.

The world indeed never gave them a chance, they were imprisoned in their own regions, lonely, looking off into the distance and beyond, helplessly standing guard.

But for seven hundred years, not for a single second had they ever abandoned the tenacity within their hearts.

Qian Yixin felt the same.

He guessed Bai Wu’s ultimate goal, and knew those words were utilitarian, but he was invigorated as he hadn’t been in a long time.

"Even if I have to spend everything I have, even if I’m impoverished forever, I still want to fight against this twisted world."

This was Qian Yixin’s current thought. It was also the thought of countless Evil Fallen.

"Our journey has not ended yet. I will not force anyone of you, I just want to give you all a choice."

At this moment, Bai Wu finally extended the formal invitation from the refuge:

"Come with me to the refuge, all of you, and let’s take back everything that this twisted world owes us!"