Chapter 290: Seventy-Fourth Floor, Prison Break (8)
[Overcome the conditions presented and escape. Time remaining: 139 hours 36 minutes.]
After finishing breakfast the next morning, I lay on the bed and focused on the mana gathered near the right side of my chest.
Counting what I had consumed yesterday, I had now consumed four meals’ worth of utensils. Compared to how much mana I had accumulated before entering this floor, it wasn’t much, but it was still enough.
Even though this new collection of mana was located in a different part of me, it operated in the same manner. However, I focused on drawing it out, not for combat, but to gather information. By channeling mana toward my ears, I could pick up sounds in far greater detail.
The path to the interrogation room was the only area I was familiar with at this point. Since I still hadn’t found a guaranteed escape route, I had been eavesdropping on the other prisoners’ conversations.
In fact, the odds of uncovering anything useful were slim, but even if they weren’t, there was still value in hearing whatever I could.
I had only been here for a little over a day. Al Ferhadeen was largely a mystery to me. Even trivial snippets from chatter between the inmates could turn out to be valuable later.
Although...
Most of the conversations were utterly useless. Just a string of self-important bragging about who they were outside, how no one would have dared make eye contact with them, or some vulgar banter about the guards.
That is how surveillance works, though. It is a patience game. Shame I can’t extend my senses any farther.
My mana was still limited. It allowed me to listen all the way up to the stairs at the end of the corridor, but that was the safe limit. I could stretch it farther, yes—but then the current would become too noticeable. In a place full of mana-deprived inmates, even a faint flow could raise suspicion among both guards and prisoners alike.
I would stick within the safe boundary, at least, for now.