Chapter 70: A Prison Break at Two-Star Rating: Removing the Transparent Door, Connecting the Rooms, No More Restraint Bracelet, Even Leaving the Prison…

An Ruo shut himself away in his prison room, waiting for judgment.

He had no idea how Ulysses had learned any of this, or how much he actually knew.

Did he know An Ruo had written a novel about him?

Or did he know that every tragedy he had ever suffered originated from An Ruo's novel?

If it was the former, there might still be a chance to survive.

If it was the latter... he was probably GG.

If there were ever a questionnaire titled, "What Would the Villain of Your Novel Do If He Appeared Before You and Learned You Were His Creator?"

An Ruo felt Ulysses would carefully look him over once...

Then calmly strangle him to death before continuing steadfastly down his own path.

He had convictions that belonged solely to him.

Nothing external could shake them.

As for An Ruo...

He would probably die.

Ulysses had promised not to hurt him.

Right after making that promise, he had wrapped a hand around his throat.

An Ruo couldn't gamble his life on that promise.

He began considering escape.

But he couldn't make up his mind.

He liked this place.

Both his living quarters and his job.

He was the kind of person who loved staying home. Once he settled somewhere, he never wanted to move again. Just thinking about moving made him feel exhausted.

The outside world was completely unfamiliar to him.

Compared to it, his tiny nest inside the prison made him feel infinitely safer.

The Military Region Prison had the best security imaginable. It could stop almost anyone.

Everyone except Marshal Ulysses.

Faced with the possibility of losing his life, An Ruo had no choice but to temporarily abandon his little nest.

He spent the entire night planning.

How to use his psychic power to destroy the tracking device inside the restraint bracelet.

How to deceive the surveillance system.

How to get outside...

This wasn't a novel.

This was a real prison break.

Every step required extreme caution.

And once he acted, he couldn't hesitate.

The next morning, An Ruo washed up as usual and waited.

When the little machine bug arrived with breakfast and the door slid open—

His psychic threads instantly severed the power supply to the surveillance camera, creating the appearance of a short circuit.

At the same time, they cut off the little machine bug's power.

He removed the damaged restraint bracelet from his wrist.

Before the door could close again, he slipped out.

Four military female Zergs stood guard in the hallway.

The instant An Ruo moved, he released a psychic suggestion.

【You can't see me.】

【Everything is normal.】

Sure enough, none of the military female Zergs reacted.

An Ruo paused in the silent corridor, feeling momentarily lost before the unknown path ahead.

He had lived in this prison for nearly three months.

Every day consisted of only two destinations—the treatment room and his cell.

He knew almost nothing about the rest of the prison.

Now the true usefulness of psychic power revealed itself.

His psychic threads spread outward.

A complete three-dimensional map of the entire prison formed inside his mind.

Every corridor.

Every intersection.

Exactly how many military female Zergs were standing guard or patrolling around each corner.

Everything became crystal clear.

Choosing a route, An Ruo set off on his unfamiliar journey.

...

The silver-white metal walls reflected cold light.

Every corridor looked exactly the same.

An Ruo's room was very close to the treatment room.

Or rather, that treatment room had been specially built for his room.

It was only ten meters away.

Exit the room, turn left, and you'd arrive.

That was the entirety of his daily commute.

He had never noticed anything before.

Now he realized—

This prison was enormous.

He had been walking for ages and still hadn't covered even a quarter of this floor.

The prison really ought to provide shuttle carts.

Come to think of it...

Didn't these patrolling military female Zergs get tired walking through such a huge place every day?

An Ruo quietly followed behind one patrol squad.

His psychic suggestion prevented [N O V E L I G H T] them from noticing his existence.

He followed them into an elevator.

The elevator itself was spacious.

But with six fully armed military female Zergs, each nearly two meters tall, packed inside...

An Ruo could only squeeze into the narrow gap between them.

His back was practically pressed against the rifle slung over the shoulder of the female Zerg behind him.

Fortunately, under the influence of his psychic suggestion, none of them noticed anything unusual.

And thankfully...

The gun didn't accidentally discharge.

Only after surviving the nerve-wracking elevator ride did he finally breathe easier.

He discovered they had arrived at Basement Level One.

Elevator access was strictly controlled.

Each identity card only allowed access to designated floors.

Since An Ruo couldn't reach the other levels, he simply continued following the patrol outside.

The atmosphere here was noticeably more oppressive.

Even the temperature had dropped.

A chilly air lingered throughout the floor.

The number of patrolling military female Zergs had multiplied several times over.

Every one of them wore a solemn expression.

Their equipment was also significantly more advanced.

While indiscriminately sending psychic suggestions to every military female Zerg he encountered, An Ruo also used his psychic power to edit the surveillance footage.

On his own, he had figured out an even more sophisticated method of tampering with security recordings.

He simply removed the few seconds during which he appeared...

And replaced them with footage from elsewhere.

Suddenly—

Red warning lights flooded the entire basement.

The whole floor was bathed in crimson.

A shrill alarm echoed through the prison.

An Ruo immediately thought his escape had been discovered.

Panicked, he looked around.

Instead, he saw every military female Zerg charging toward one particular prison cell.

That was where the alarm originated.

Faint monstrous shrieks mixed with gunfire and the sounds of violent impacts.

Even the floor trembled beneath his feet.

Multicolored flashes of energy burst endlessly through the corridor.

Another prisoner was escaping?

An Ruo's heart tightened.

He was afraid of getting caught in the fighting.

At the same time, he worried about the safety of the military female Zergs.

He recognized several of them.

They often escorted him to the treatment room.

Although An Ruo was terrible at remembering faces...

He remembered their psychic fluctuations.

"S-rank... riot... broke free..."

"Stop him!"

"The tranquilizer... isn't working..."

"Call for reinforcements!"

An overwhelming sense of danger suddenly surged through him.

An Ruo looked up.

The military female Zergs blocking the prison cell entrance were sent flying.

A gigantic black monster emerged.

Dark golden energy patterns shimmered across its body.

It looked like a mythical creature that had stepped straight out of a fantasy bestiary.

Strange.

Mysterious.

Beautiful.

Deadly.

Its dark crimson eyes locked onto him.

Massive black-and-gold wings spread wide behind its back.

Then it lunged straight toward him.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

An Ruo let out an ear-piercing scream.

...

"S-rank... Number One... riot... Male Zerg..."

The signal was heavily disrupted.

The report coming up from underground was fragmented and difficult to understand.

By the time Uriel rushed to the scene in utter panic...

All he saw were the injured military female Zergs standing in a tense defensive circle.

Opposite them—

The completely insectoid S-rank female Zerg lay on the ground, lowering his head beneath the Male Zerg's hand.

"Good, good... Be good. Don't attack the prison guards. And no licking me. I'm not food..."

The S-rank female Zerg had been trapped in psychic riot for decades.

He had long since lost all rationality.

Yet now he lay beside the Male Zerg like a giant domesticated beast, quietly enjoying the Male Zerg's soothing.

He looked astonishingly well-behaved.

The insectoid female Zerg sensed Uriel's arrival.

His scarlet eyes opened and fixed onto him.

An S-rank female Zerg would never regard an A-rank as an opponent.

To them, A-ranks were no more significant than pebbles lying beside the road.

Only another S-rank could be considered a threat.

Tilting his head slightly, the insectoid female Zerg gently nudged the Male Zerg behind him, shielding him with his body.

Half rising to his feet, he faced Uriel directly.

A deep, intimidating rumble vibrated from within his abdomen as he assumed a combat stance.

"You're not allowed to be fierce. Didn't I already give you psychic soothing?"

An Ruo grabbed the short feather-like fur behind the female Zerg's ear and tugged him back.

The enormous insectoid female Zerg—larger than a transport craft—

Actually had his head pulled aside by the Male Zerg just like that.

Yet even while being dragged back, his eyes continued glaring fiercely at Uriel.

The side of his face facing the Male Zerg remained calm and obedient.

The side facing Uriel bared its fangs viciously.

Uriel: "..."

Even after losing all reason and becoming nothing more than a beast driven by instinct...

A female Zerg still had two completely different faces in front of a Male Zerg.

Seizing the instant the insectoid female Zerg's attention wandered, Uriel charged forward, reaching for the Male Zerg.

The female Zerg reacted instantly, opening his jaws to bite him.

Uriel's half-insectoid wings burst open, blocking the attack.

At the same time, he swept the Male Zerg into his arms.

Pivoting, he kicked off the insectoid female Zerg's body, sending him backward while using the recoil to carry the Male Zerg away from the battlefield.

Everything happened in a single instant.

Uriel handed the Male Zerg to the military female Zergs behind him and ordered quickly,

"Take the Male Zerg away from here!"

The insectoid female Zerg, who had been kicked back, climbed to his feet once again.

Shaking his head, he glared furiously at the opponent who had stolen the Male Zerg away.

Then he launched himself forward once more.

"Move!"

Uriel barked, rushing to intercept him.

An Ruo hurriedly said,

"I can calm him down!"

"Your safety is more important than anything else, Your Lordship. Leave this kind of matter to us female Zergs."

Uriel answered while exchanging blows with the insectoid female Zerg.

He deliberately controlled the distance between them, intercepting every attempt the female Zerg made to charge toward the Male Zerg.

An Ruo was escorted away.

The moment the Male Zerg disappeared...

The insectoid female Zerg's desire to fight noticeably weakened.

Uriel also stopped.

He cautiously called,

"Number One?"

The insectoid female Zerg ignored him.

Instead, he slowly surveyed the prison.

Uriel addressed him by another name.

"General Selerus."

The insectoid female Zerg reacted.

Turning his head, his crimson eyes settled on Uriel.

He seemed to examine him for a moment before losing interest again.

"So... you really are conscious..."

It was unbelievable.

Psychic soothing by a Male Zerg could improve a female Zerg's mental condition.

From twenty points...

To eighty.

Or even higher.

But once a female Zerg had entered a full psychic riot—

Especially one who had remained in that state for decades—

Psychic soothing should have been completely meaningless.

Their psychic score had long since fallen to zero.

Every memory had shattered.

Even their consciousness had deteriorated until only primal instinct remained.

There should have been no saving them.

Yet now...

This female Zerg, imprisoned here since the very first day the prison had been established...

Had regained self-awareness.

The insectoid female Zerg clearly had no interest in listening to Uriel's amazement.

He tapped the ground with one claw.

There was a trace of urgency in the gesture.

A small piece of white fabric lay there.

It had fallen from the Male Zerg's clothing.

Uriel immediately understood.

His expression became rather strange.

"That... belongs to Marshal Ulysses' Male Lord."

Uriel deliberately omitted the word former.

He hoped to remind the General not to start courting someone at random.

The familiar name caused Selerus to lift his gaze.

His crimson eyes carefully examined Uriel, verifying the truth of his words.

He genuinely looked surprised.

He recognized the uniform of a prison psychic soother.

A prison psychic soother was essentially...

"A public Male Zerg."

That hardly matched the identity of the Marshal's Male Lord.

Using one claw, he hooked up the piece of cloth from the floor.

Then he picked it up in his mouth and turned to leave.

Uriel almost couldn't keep a straight face as he followed behind.

"That is your son's Male Lord! You should be able to smell the Marshal's pheromones on him."

There was a trace of them.

But not much.

The insectoid female Zerg flicked his scaled tail.

The meaning was perfectly clear.

If there really was a problem...

Then Ulysses could come and settle it himself.

...

After spending two full star-hours escaping...

An Ruo returned to where he had started.

He discovered that the surveillance camera outside his room had already been repaired.

The transparent cell door had also been replaced.

Now it was an opaque automatic metal door.

His identity authorization had already been registered.

The moment he approached, the door opened automatically.

The furnishings inside remained almost exactly the same as before.

Except...

Two new doorways had appeared.

The empty rooms on both the left and right had been connected to his own room, forming one large living space that had been designated as his personal territory.

An Ruo: "...?"

So...

While he had been "escaping," the prison had taken the opportunity to renovate and expand his home?

The little machine bug had been removed.

His meal had been placed neatly on the table.

The damaged restraint bracelet had also been taken away.

No one even mentioned putting a new restraint bracelet on him.

One of the military female Zerg guards told him that if he still wanted to look around, they would be happy to act as guides.

They had even prepared a shuttle cart for him.

If he wanted to go outside the prison, that was fine too.

They would arrange a transport craft.

An Ruo: "..."

He instantly lost all interest in escaping.

Removing the transparent door.

Connecting the rooms.

No longer requiring a restraint bracelet.

Even being allowed to leave the prison.

These were clearly not decisions Uriel had the authority to make.

They could only have come from the Marshal.

So...

What was even the point of escaping anymore?