Chapter 191: A Series of Unfortunate Events for Dean Lawrence

In the bone-chilling cold of the prison, a brief silence fell between Lance and Adam, who occupied adjacent cells. The only sounds were the occasional drips of freezing water droplets and the low moan of the wind whistling through the narrow corridor.

"What reason would I have to lie to you?" Lance's voice sounded tinged with disappointment.

He was simply frozen so badly that his wrists had gone stiff, making his movements to exit the Shadow Realm sluggish.

Although Adam knew Lance was lying, for a fleeting moment, he wondered if he had misunderstood him. His opponent's acting was incredibly convincing. He sounded genuinely disappointed at being distrusted.

Then again, it might just be a reaction to his plan failing, using that genuine emotion to fuel his already formidable talent for delivery.

After a moment of thought, Adam declared coldly, his conviction absolute, "Lance, I know your specialty is strategy and psychological warfare. There's no such thing as 'underhanded' here. Today, it's all about winning or losing. Trying to trick me with a fake surrender again just makes you look foolish and pathetic."

He wouldn't waste his breath condemning Lance. The rules of this wager had been agreed upon by both sides. In war, all stratagems were fair game, and victory was the only truth. He simply needed to avoid getting drawn into Lance's logic, no matter what the other youth said next.

That was Lance's greatest weakness. If his opponent refused to engage in meaningful communication, none of his tricks would work. As long as Adam stuck to that principle, victory in this wager was certain. He would win, and Lance would lose!

In the neighboring cell, Lance did not reply. He simply walked slowly to the back of his cell and tossed all his stockpiled supplies out through the iron bars.

Hearing the crisp sounds of the items hitting the floor, Adam looked out in bewilderment. Through the bars, he could see the supplies lying in the corridor to the side. It looked as though Lance had truly given up on the game and discarded all his resources!

Adam asked in astonishment, "What are you doing?"

"Just so you don't think I was bluffing, I'm actually leaving. People really ought to have a bit more trust in one another." After that, every sound within Lance's cell abruptly vanished.

Standing behind the iron bars, Adam gazed at the supplies left on the floor, lost in thought. Could it be that he had truly misunderstood Lance? If the other person had genuinely meant well, and he, out of petty suspicion, had refused to believe him... Wouldn't that just make him look small-minded?

***

Meanwhile, at Gela Memorial Plaza, raindrops created ripples across the paved ground, yet the audience's enthusiasm remained undampened. The massive outdoor screen even drew crowds of passing students who stopped and watched.

Holding colorful umbrellas that looked like clusters of blossoms, the crowd watched as rainwater dripped from the tips, creating a crisp sound against the pavement. That sound, however, was nearly drowned out by the clamor of animated discussion filling the plaza.

One person shouted, "That bastard! He's trying to hoodwink Adam again!"

Another cheered, "Don't fall for it, Adam!"

For some reason, it was the students from Ikerite University who were cheering Adam on.

Lance was clearly playing mind games again. His decision to abandon those supplies was undoubtedly a high-stakes gamble. This was a move intended to accelerate the game's pace while creating maximum confusion.

For one, it might prick his opponent's conscience, potentially causing him to withdraw from the Shadow Realm dungeon entirely. In addition, it could mislead his opponent regarding the true extent of his resources.

After all, many who knew Lance well had already guessed his plan. They were sure that Lance had a way to retrieve those supplies from the corridor later!

The sight of Ikerite students cheering for Adam left a few Yaloran students watching in the plaza feeling rather bewildered. Wasn't this supposed to be Ikerite University's home turf?

On the giant outdoor screen, the broadcast continued. Inside the prison cell, Adam grew increasingly conflicted the more he thought about it. His conscience was indeed twinging. He worried he might have misjudged Lance. But before long, his brow smoothed out, and a cold sneer played upon his lips.

Steeling his will, Adam shouted these words with unwavering conviction to Lance in the adjacent cell, "Lance, stop the act. No matter how you try to shake my resolve or what schemes you're plotting, I won't believe a single word you say until this Shadow Realm challenge ends!"

The more Lance tried to communicate, the more suspicious it seemed. By setting aside emotion and relying on pure reason, Adam could sidestep his opponent's traps. After all, Lance was a guy who played nothing but mind games!

***

Something unexpected had just happened.

Gela Plaza, which just moments ago had been filled with the clamor of heated arguments and the din of the crowd under the downpour, seemed to have all noise severed in an instant by some invisible force.

The sounds of raindrops pattering against umbrellas and the ground, along with the chatter and laughter of students, all vanished, leaving behind a heavy, profound silence. No one could utter a single word. Instead, they stared at the giant outdoor screen with various expressions of disbelief.

Aside from the relentless rain, nothing else looked amiss in the surroundings. However, from what the audience could see, Lance had truly vanished.

This meant he had withdrawn from the Shadow Realm dungeon. He had actually conceded.

A student exploded, "Has Lance lost his mind?!"

Another shouted, "How is he going to explain this to Dean Lawrence?!"

The plaza instantly erupted into chaos. The rain intensified, pouring down and splashing against the ground. The earlier silence was completely shattered, replaced by a cacophony of noise.

They had never imagined Lance would raise the stakes so high, only to decisively hit the surrender button! Even those who had predicted Lance wouldn't beat Adam hadn't expected him to lose in this manner.

After a long period of commotion, a student spoke up hesitantly, "Wait a minute... Have you all noticed? Look at how desperately Adam is holding on. His resolve has likely hardened like steel. He's totally convinced Lance is going to play mind games with him to the very end..."

Many students looked up to see Adam on the screen. He was still stubbornly holding out within the dim, frigid confines of the maximum security prison.

From time to time, he would hurl a taunt at the empty cell next to his.

"Lance, there's no need to stifle your voice. Your acting is pathetic!"

"Keep this up, and you'll just look like a fool."

"Your mind games might work on the Saintess of Destruction, but they won't work on someone like me, who stays true to his convictions."

The students in the plaza fell silent once more. Lance had lost with effortless ease, while Adam had won with dramatic intensity. He had been thoroughly deceived by Lance.

He likely wouldn't emerge until he was pushed to his absolute limit. Adam no longer trusted anything at all. If a person wanted to hold out long enough to break the record in this artificial Shadow Realm, the Bone-Chilling Cage of Despair, the torture involved would make that person wish for death.

It was a challenge that pushed the limits of human willpower. Completing it meant, at the very least, spending a few days in the hospital afterward.

It was hard to imagine what state of mind Adam would be in when he finally emerged, only to discover that Lance had actually withdrawn from the competition ages ago. Basically, he would discover he had been pitting his wits against thin air the entire time...

"Wait, it's not that simple..." Students who knew Lance well soon realized something.

Adam was the frog in the well, and the audience was at the lip of the opening, but Lance's scheme wasn't nearly that straightforward.

***

The seven floor atrium of the Learning and Education Hall was a unique space that was enclosed by towering glass walls. Despite the torrential rain pouring down outside, the interior remained bright and luminous.

The outside world had become hazy. Rain constantly washed against the glass, causing the view to blur and clear intermittently.

Senior students from the Sages' College sat quietly in the atrium, their gazes fixed on the massive magical display screen.

When the broadcast showed Lance vanishing from the prison, they could hardly believe that Lance, whom the entire college had placed such high hopes on, had simply conceded defeat to Adam like that!

It wasn't until Lance actually stepped out from the Void Gate of the artificial Shadow Realm while smiling with an air of sheepish embarrassment, as if he had let everyone down due to his own lack of skill, that they understood exactly what was going on.

That smile of his made everything clear. This guy had absolutely done it on purpose!

Theresa hurried over to Lance's side, looking utterly astonished. She blocked him from leaving while asking anxiously, "Why did you concede? What are we going to do now?! Dean Lawrence is coming back tomorrow!"

She had never imagined Lance would lose so decisively!

With his usual calm expression, Lance stopped. He then smiled brightly and glanced back at the screen, where Adam was still suffering inside the prison, before asking Theresa, "Tell me, shouldn't Dean Lawrence go and apologize to Knight Commander Juliana?"

That dark, despair-filled icy cage stood in stark contrast to the warm, bright seventh floor atrium. It was a divide akin to that between hell and heaven. Adam was over there, and Lance was here.

Theresa gazed at the screen, the words catching in her throat. At this point, the outcome of the match didn't really matter.

Even if Lance didn't bring up the wager, the fact that he had tormented Adam to such an extent meant that Dean Lawrence would likely have to go and offer a personal apology to Knight Commander Juliana.

Wait a moment.

Theresa lowered her head and began counting on her fingers. First, Adam would win against Lance, just as third year had hoped. Then, Dean Lawrence would go to apologize because Juliana's student had been tormented terribly in this challenge. Therefore, Knight Commander Juliana would actually receive a sincere apology from Dean Lawrence.

So, the wager Lance had promised to fulfill for Adam would be successfully honored.

Then there was more. According to the prior agreement between Lance and Juliana, the knight commander did agree to the following: "...if you are willing to forgive him, he would like to invite you for a tour of the royal capital, so he can share many important things he has kept in his heart."

Once Juliana accepted the earnest apologies from Lawrence, then the condition of "forgiving Lawrence" would be met, and Lance would then immediately bring up this clause to Juliana, asking her to honor the promise of a date with Dean Lawrence.

At that point, Dean Lawrence would be forced to complete a chain of conditions and then go straight into the date! Furthermore, the straightforward Knight Commander Juliana would certainly never renege on her promise.

As for what she might be thinking while on a date that was essentially forced upon her... Well, that was anyone's guess.

Theresa had to admit that Lance was a genius. He could indeed provide solutions that satisfied everyone's demands, yet he always managed to leave people feeling as though they'd just swallowed a fly. The only reason the guy was still alive was due to his sheer competence in pulling off his slick, slick schemes.

"Oh my... I need to take some time off today. My cat is sick, and I have to take it to the vet." While muttering to herself, Theresa shoved her hands into her pockets and hurried away with her head down.

Time to make a quick exit. She needed to clock out early today. None of this was her business. She just hoped Dean Lawrence would still be in one piece when he returned tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Boss Cat on the ground was gradually grasping the situation, sinking deep into its own feline train of thought. Its cat brain was starting to overload.