Chapter 133: Collaborate with Me
Cain smiled with cold composure at the tattooed man speaking to him through the iron door slot of the opposite cell, asking in a light, slightly mocking tone:
"Have you tried escaping from this place before and failed, tattoo man?"
The man rolled his pupils cautiously within their sockets, looking left and right along the corridor to monitor the guards on their daily patrol. He noted only two guards present, still far enough away to permit speaking with Cain more freely without drawing attention.
The prisoner replied in a low, sharp whisper:
"Listen, pal, don’t be fooled by those junior soldiers who look like underfed chicks taking cover behind their firearms!... The danger of this facility doesn’t lie in the human element. There’s a massive grid of advanced security cameras planted throughout this headquarters—more than you’d see in the largest modern shopping mall you’ve ever visited in your entire life!"
Listening to those words, Cain felt an intense urge to laugh in mockery; as far as his magical and spatial abilities were concerned, security cameras were the absolute easiest thing to neutralize and blind in the blink of an eye! Though he knew full well that camera density and efficiency doubled in the ultra-high-security subterranean sectors—the very sectors he intended to reach—he was easily capable of destroying them or faking their video feeds in dozens of magical ways using his energy.
Cain asked with amusement: "So... the grand obstacle to escaping this holding facility boils down to mere surveillance cameras?"
The prisoner eyed him through his dark slot and sneered mercilessly, as though looking at a clueless amateur who failed to grasp where he had been thrown!
"If the problem were limited to cameras alone, you wouldn’t find me rotting in here in the first place! I have my connections and influence on the outside... But the real problem lies in what lurks behind those cameras! Those damned cybernetic robots and automated units lurking around every corner and corridor! The technology in this place is the most cursed, catastrophic nightmare I’ve ever seen in my whole life!"
At that point, Cain grasped precisely what the prisoner was driving at...
The technological and industrial leap humanity had witnessed in recent years was indeed colossal and miraculous. According to what Cain had heard previously, the primary driver behind this sudden evolution stemmed from the transcendent innovations and discoveries introduced by that man—the leader of the "Smile Organization"—who himself possessed immense, extraordinary power by the standards of Earth’s inhabitants.
Yet Cain still found it difficult to comprehend many of that leader’s actions and motives—most notably his bewildering decision to surrender and transfer those advanced technologies directly to the government instead of monopolizing them for himself! That mystery certainly demanded a great deal of time and investigation to unpack.
However, those details were hardly a priority for Cain in this pressing moment...
Regaining his firm tone, Cain asked in a low, direct voice:
"What about news regarding the lower, deeper sectors of this building?... I am specifically asking about the location where ’Darren’—the last prominent leader of the Smile Organization—is being held... Where exactly does he reside?"
Suddenly!... As if that name alone were an electric shock jolting every prisoner awake, Cain found dozens of terrified, shocked eyes staring intensely at him through the various iron door slots of the adjacent cells down the corridor!
Cain felt a profound, bizarre chill at the collective, sudden reaction to that name...
The tattooed prisoner’s voice resonated, trembling with dread:
"Uttering that name is pure suicide!... How did you even end up here while remaining ignorant of the most basic rules?! Don’t you know that pronouncing the names of Smile Organization members and leaders in this headquarters is considered the ultimate taboo and a red line that will guarantee your total destruction?! Pray to your god that the guards didn’t hear what just came out of your mouth!"
Before the prisoner could even finish his warning, Cain noticed that the two patrolling guards, who were far off a moment ago, had dashed with lightning speed to stand directly in front of his cell!
"Shut your mouth!"
The guard shouted furiously, raising his hand to slam the door’s iron slot shut with a harsh, violent clatter, denying Cain any further view of the corridor!
Behind the door, Cain smiled with amused mockery: "Hah... I never imagined the day I’d listen to the word ’shut up’ from a mere regular soldier!"
With a light touch on the latch, Cain confirmed that he couldn’t open the iron slot himself from the inside using standard human methods. Of course, he could easily unleash his magical energy or dimensional powers to shatter the handle and obliterate the door entirely, but that would create premature noise and commotion he had no need for.
In the end, these poor guards genuinely believed they possessed the ability to silence him and sever his communication simply by sliding a small piece of iron shut... and Cain thoroughly enjoyed the sheer confidence they lived in!
{You... can you hear me clearly?}
In the cell opposite Cain...
The tattooed prisoner flinched in absolute horror and shock as he heard that familiar voice reverberating and whispering directly inside his inner eardrum, so crystal clear it felt as though the speaker were standing right beside him inside the locked cell!
The man spun his body around, darting his eyes into every dark corner, yet found no physical source for the voice!
Cold sweat poured from his forehead as he feared he was witnessing the onset of clinical insanity or severe auditory hallucinations!
Terrified, he leaned his head toward the iron slot of the adjacent cell, whispering in a frantic murmur to a neighboring inmate: "Hey!... Did you hear that voice just now, or am I losing my mind?!"
The neighboring inmate stared back through his slot with utter confusion and disdain, his expression confirming he hadn’t heard a single sound!
This only doubled the tattooed prisoner’s terror, causing him to clutch his head with both palms as he neared a total breakdown:
"Am I starting to hallucinate?! But I quit drugs months ago!... This makes no sense at all!"
{No, this is no illusion or hallucination crafted by your mind... You can hear me with complete precision because I am the one who was speaking to you through the door a moment ago! This is called ’Magical Telepathy’... Only you and I can exchange thoughts and converse through it without anyone else detecting us.}
The voice echoed inside his mind with absolute clarity, causing the prisoner to fumble and panic erratically before his cell door.
The nearby guards noticed his suspicious movements and grew wary, casting harsh, scrutinizing looks at him... The man quickly suppressed his agitation, forcing himself to relax cautiously to avoid further suspicion. He backed away with slow steps and sat in the darkest corner of his cell, wringing his mind, completely at a loss for how to respond or speak back to this invisible voice!
Cain continued his mental message in a calm, confident tone that instilled quiet reassurance:
{Do not fear and do not panic... They are entirely incapable of hearing what I say to you or detecting this connection! I can offer you a remarkably lucrative deal... I will guarantee your release from this cage to see the light of day once more, in what will be the ’Grand Escape’—the largest of its kind in the history of this security headquarters!... But in return, I need your direct cooperation with me!}
How would you like Cain and Lucy’s prison break strategy to unfold next as they navigate the subterranean security levels?