Chapter 27 A Horrifying Experience: The Isolated Island Prison

Ling Yuanshan paused, "I hid in the guard room across the street. That guard room is empty at night, and hardly anyone goes in during the day; it's basically just for show. But since that female employee has disappeared..."

No, it shouldn't be "missing," it should be "disappeared."

The female employee disappeared right under Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang's noses, so the repairman could very well have the same problem. They'll find out when they go to check it out at dawn.

This matter lingered in Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang's minds. They were unsure whether it was part of the copy rules, and if so, what the underlying logic was.

But since they were currently on someone else's turf, they didn't want to waste any more time, so the two continued upstairs.

Based on his observations over the past few days, Ling Yuanshan obtained several pieces of information.

I. The municipal building has a total of sixty-seven floors.

Second, the first twenty floors are used to handle residents' daily affairs, including cleaning, old area cleanup, police station registration, etc.

Third, starting from the 21st floor, the glass is privacy glass. I don't know what technology was used, but the glass, which should be visible when the lights are on at night, still makes it impossible to see inside clearly at night.

Fourth, city express delivery orders never include orders from floors above the 21st floor, including food delivery, express delivery, and documents.

Because the city hall is heavily guarded, we were able to obtain these four pieces of information. Fortunately, these four pieces of information revealed a very clear signal: the area starting from the 21st floor is the secret area of ​​the City of Innocence, which is not open to non-core personnel. There should be very important information inside.

Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang didn't take the elevator, fearing they would be discovered. The only security cameras in the stairwell were at the entrances and exits. They carefully made their way to the twentieth floor, but when they turned the corner, they found that the staircase leading to the twenty-first floor was blocked by a horizontal wall.

Or, to put it another way, the area below the 20th floor is a staircase, but on the 21st floor, it's just an ordinary floor that you can walk on; the staircase is in another place.

"There's no road, what should we do?" Wu Wangwang asked.

"Let's check if the elevator only has 20 floors. If that doesn't work, we'll have to find a way to climb up." Ling Yuanshan remained relatively calm; this kind of thing wasn't uncommon in dungeons.

The two left the stairwell and found themselves right outside the elevator area. There happened to be an elevator on the twentieth floor, but when they went in, they were very disappointed – the elevator only showed up to the twentieth floor.

After seeing the floor, the two pretended to go down to the 18th floor and then went to the stairwell next door.

In the quiet stairwell, Ling Yuanshan's expression was somewhat grim: "It seems that the passage between the 20th and 21st floors has been directly cut off, making the space above the 21st floor completely independent. Trying to go up might trigger the rules of death, but if we don't go up, we won't be able to find any clues."

Wu Wangwang thought for a moment and said, "I've worked on construction sites before. If you want floors that are completely isolated from each other, you have to start from a certain floor and use only external supports. But if that's the case, once the exterior decoration is completed, you can't go inside to do the decoration. Does that mean the whole thing is just a bare shell?"

“No, there’s another possibility. When the exterior decoration was completed, some workers were left to live in the area above the 21st floor. All the materials were transported in through the top floor. After they finished the interior decoration of the floors, they left after the roof was sealed. In this way, there would only be one internal passageway in the building.” Ling Yuanshan quickly thought of another entrance.

Unless the area from the 21st to the 67th floor is completely sealed off, there must be an entrance if people need to enter or exit. Based on the current situation, the entrance should be the rooftop.

Wu Wangwang didn't refute, but she felt something was off: "Humans can't fly, so how do they get up there?"

Ling Yuanshan was taken aback: "That's right. Although the residents of the City of Innocence love to kill monsters, they are still ordinary people at heart. They will faint if they are hit in the head, and they will die if they fall. We haven't seen an airport or anything like that yet, so how do we get up there?"

The two fell into deep thought. Just as Wu Wangwang was considering whether to climb up and take a look, Ling Yuanshan said hesitantly, "Could it be... that it flew over from the prison? There's an airstrip over the prison port."

When he arrived, Ling Yuanshan carefully observed the surrounding environment. Upon entering the dungeon, he immediately memorized all the details of the environment. This had almost become his instinct. If he hadn't been so meticulous, he wouldn't have been able to survive the dungeon time and time again.

The only place Ling Yuanshan can think of where he can take off by plane is the small airport near the port, where a helicopter is still parked.

But obviously they're all inside, so there's no way to go out and find a plane to get to the top floor. Besides, once you leave the City of Innocence, you're in prison. The prison guards are clearly buffed by the dungeon, making it hard for them to escape. If they get caught, they'll be locked up again, and then they'll have to come back to the City of Innocence the next day, like a vicious cycle.

Unless there are leads or it is absolutely necessary, it is better not to go back to prison under the current circumstances.

The hallway was stuffy. The windows were all sealed off, and despite the use of glass and ample light, it still felt rather stuffy.

Wu Wangwang glanced out the window. The building across the street was equally tall, and from her angle, she could see people working busily inside, just like in real life.

Every time I see scenes from Innocence, it feels like I've returned to modern society, not like I'm in a prison on an isolated island.

Suddenly, Wu Wangwang found useful information in the original owner's memories: "Young Master, have you ever heard of a profession like high-rise cleaner?"

The original owner had considered doing it for the money, but they only wanted experienced men. Wu Wangwang was too young and weak, so they didn't dare let her go to the upper levels. Once she was up there, hanging in the air, anyone with a heart problem could have a heart attack and die suddenly. They didn't dare hire anyone who didn't look healthy.

Ling Yuanshan hadn't seen this before, so he shook his head: "What's wrong?"

"This kind of job involves being lowered down from a height by ropes and working on high floors. Do you think the people of the City of Innocence would hire such a repairman if this building needed maintenance?" Wu Wangwang asked, pointing to the information printed on Ling Yuanshan's chest.

If they need to go up, it means they can go up the building and continue to fish in troubled waters. Once they get to the upper floors, it won't matter if they are locked up for a while. They can just break the glass and come out after they find the key information.

If it is not required, it means that there are no living people in the area above the 21st floor, or that no matter what happens, the people of the City of Innocence do not have the authority or ability to go up there.

Ling Yuanshan patted Wu Wangwang's shoulder happily and led her downstairs. They needed to avoid being noticed and couldn't leave the building openly at night, so they climbed out of the first-floor toilet window. Fortunately, both of them were very familiar with this method and quickly left the municipal building.

After leaving, Ling Yuanshan led Wu Wangwang around the neighborhood, seemingly looking for a suitable spot. Wu Wangwang remained silent, following him around.

Finally, Ling Yuanshan stopped on the rooftop of a nearby residential building. This distance was already on the edge of the city center, and he could see the monster crawling around on the other side of the building.

Ling Yuanshan estimated the distance and suddenly a red bow appeared in his hand. The red color looked like it had been soaked in blood, without any patterns. The design was simple; if it weren't for the color, it would have been an ordinary practice bow.

Then Ling Yuanshan aimed at the municipal building and drew the bowstring. As the bowstring tightened, an arrow emitting an eerie red light slowly appeared. When it had completely solidified, Ling Yuanshan released the bowstring, and the arrow flew out with a whoosh, piercing through the entire building on the forty-sixth floor.

"It's done!" Ling Yuanshan said happily. He saw that all the glass on the 46th floor had shattered under the attack of the arrows, revealing the dark floors inside.

Seeing the scene before him, Wu Wangwang asked, "Why didn't you use this to shoot through the twenty-first floor during the day? We could have just climbed up."

Ling Yuanshan said helplessly, "The items are all limited, and they are not entirely beneficial to the players. This bow is called Blood Continent. It is a reward from the Mirage dungeon. Its shooting range must be more than 500 meters, and the target cannot be a precise object. It must have the edge-of-the-mirage attribute."

No wonder Ling Yuanshan kept walking further and further away from the municipal building, constantly observing its location. He must have been calculating the distance, making sure that even when the distance was right, he couldn't let himself shoot at anything.

"Then how did you attack the building?" Wu Wangwang didn't think the building was an illusion.

“I’ll give it a try. If it’s a real thing, the arrow can’t be condensed. You can only use a matching arrow. But there’s only one arrow. It can be used to attack a specific thing.” Ling Yuanshan said, taking out an old red arrow. It looked like the last one left by its owner, and its purpose was suicide.

Upon hearing this, Wu Wangwang looked at the building again: "In other words, there is something like a mirage inside the building."

As soon as she finished speaking, Wu Wangwang suddenly opened her eyes wide. She shoved Ling Yuanshan's shoulder and pointed at the municipal building: "Young Master, look!"

Ling Yuanshan also turned his head and saw that the 46th floor, where the glass had been smashed, was pitch black, but something was falling out continuously. It was too far away, and it was nighttime, with no lights to illuminate the scene, so he couldn't see clearly, but he was certain that something was falling from the building.

"Let's go take a look." Ling Yuanshan didn't hesitate and, before things got urgent, led Wu Wangwang back.

As they got closer, without even going downstairs, they could see clearly that the things falling from the forty-sixth floor were actually one after another intangible black shadows.

The falling object was too strange; after running for a while, the two stopped. After a moment of silence, Ling Yuanshan asked with difficulty, "What was that?"

Wu Wangwang sensed it and realized that the thing was neither a ghost nor a monster. It was pitch black and not entirely human-shaped. By her personal standards, it was more like a manifestation of a thought.

Simply put, if a person's thoughts are particularly specific and fanatical, those thoughts may take form. People have given these things many names, such as demonic possession, nightmares, and evil thoughts.

Whether such things are aggressive depends on the initial settings given by the people who created them. Some people just want to create an object to keep them company, so a friend that others cannot see appears. But some people want to commit murder or go crazy, but they can't do it themselves, so they create such things to do it for them.

Given that this was deep inside the prison, Wu Wangwang was more inclined to believe the latter.

The prisoners were used to a life where human life was treated like dirt, and it was impossible for them to change. Even if they could kill monsters on the street at will, they still could not extinguish the desire in their hearts to torture and kill their own kind.

Just like Chu Ping's question: A murderer who has killed someone cannot resist the temptation to make the other person disappear if he is unhappy.

The dark shadows fell from the sky, their purpose unknown. Ling Yuanshan dared not approach any further. The municipal building was in chaos due to the attack, so he quickly led Wu Wangwang to a more distant place and tried to go to a higher place so that they could observe the situation and avoid the scattered dark shadows.

Climbing back to the rooftop of a residential building, Ling Yuanshan gazed into the distance. With such an accident, the night in the City of Innocence was bound to be anything but peaceful; he might just stumble upon some information.

The building they were on wasn't very tall, but the buildings in the City of Innocence gradually increase in height. In other words, the building height increases proportionally from the low-rise old town to the municipal building. They were right near the city center, and although their view was blocked by the buildings in the city center, they could still see in other directions more than enough.

The commotion caused by breaking into the municipal building was not small. Ling Yuanshan also tried to spot other players or prisoners in the City of Innocence, whose clothes were easy to recognize.

Strangely, despite the commotion, apart from the wandering shadows, not a single player or NPC in the building came out.

Although the city hall staff were in a panic, they did not go out onto the street, but instead ran around inside the building.

Ling Yuanshan withdrew his gaze: "Wu Wangwang, don't you feel like something's off?"

Wu Wangwang nodded: "They will definitely not go out on the streets at night."

Even though they've infiltrated the heart of the regime, no one has been sent out to investigate. The police, who are usually visible during the day, are nowhere to be seen. The so-called peaceful city has finally torn off its mask at night.

At this moment, the shadowy figures finally slowly crawled out of the city center area and began to encounter the monsters on the street. Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang were both lying on the upper floor watching.

Monsters occasionally enter the building, just like the monsters in the prison, constantly fiddling with the locks, trying to get in, even at the cost of breaking off all their fingers.

However, the once terrifying monsters showed no reaction to the shadow, allowing it to cover them completely. The shadow did not discriminate; it would devour and cover any monster it encountered.

Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang watched nervously, calculating the time.

About five minutes after the shadow covered the monster, the shadow stood up twisted like the monster, and you could almost hear the sound of bones twisting from a distance.

As it twisted, the dark figure slowly stood up like a human, transforming into a completely black human. Then, the blackness gradually faded, and it actually turned into a normal human, with hair, skin, facial features, and limbs—everything was there except for the lack of clothing. They were no different from humans.

"A miraculous transformation!" Wu Wangwang exclaimed softly.

This was just the beginning. The shadowy figure on the 46th floor kept falling, seemingly endlessly. But the number of people in the City of Innocence was increasing. They had become like normal humans and began searching for clothes, food, and shelter on the streets.

The number of monsters on the streets was already very large. Even though pedestrians kept killing them during the day, the number only decreased a little. At night, the monsters would return from who-knows-where and fill the streets. The number was still not small. Now, all these monsters have turned into people. Suddenly, the entire city is filled with dense crowds of people. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it is a sea of ​​people.

Ling Yuanshan whispered to Wu Wangwang, "Do you think they're even human in the City of Innocence? If they are, with such a large number, there must be criminals among them."

Before Wu Wangwang could even ponder this question, explosions and flashes of light began to emanate from afar. Upon closer inspection, they discovered that the monsters formed from shadowy figures were directly attacking the city's residents, smashing doors to prevent entry, or prying locks, and driving away those inside.

Every day, monsters practiced their skills, and the native inhabitants were not to be outdone. They picked up knives and slashed at the shadowy figures. The entire City of Innocence was instantly transformed into a living hell, with scattered flesh and blood covering the clean streets and the abandoned old town of Vision.

Ling Yuanshan shrugged: "Alright, now it's even harder to tell who the criminal is."

Despite the events unfolding in the City of Innocence, the outer prisons remained completely indifferent, allowing the flames of war to rage in the City of Innocence for an entire night.

In the first half of the night, Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang were still able to watch the play on the rooftop. As the war spread, they had to retreat to the old city, where they finally encountered the escaped prisoners.

There was only one other person, holding a kitchen knife. He was a prisoner whose gender was indiscernible, with short hair, tall stature, and an unfamiliar face.

Wu Wangwang spotted the other person first. She noticed the prison uniform the other person was wearing and wanted to warn Ling Yuanshan, but the other person noticed her.

The prisoners finally noticed that Wu Wangwang's clothes were different from Ling Yuanshan's, but Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang were too easy to recognize, one being a serious offender in District 1 and the other a special offender in District 21.

"You guys were the ones who caused this, weren't you?" the other party asked as they caught up.

Ling Yuanshan glanced at the other party but didn't answer. He couldn't even tell if it was male or female, so he no longer trusted any human-sized creatures in this instance.

The prisoner wasn't angry; he simply asked, "I'm a player. How did you manage to take off your prison uniforms?"

Upon hearing this, Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang both stopped abruptly, ceasing their running and staring at the prisoner in astonishment.

The prisoner had his number and name embroidered on his chest: He Ju, number 0034.

Ling Yuanshan's face was grim: "I bought it in the city. It's hard to move around while wearing prison clothes."

He Ju sneered: "Impossible. Who doesn't know that it's hard to move around in prison clothes? The other players and I who stayed behind have tried, and no matter what we do, we can't fit into this city. The biggest problem is our clothes; we just can't take them off."

Each time they tried to change, they could take off the clothes, but as soon as they put the clothes back on, the prison uniform would be put back on top of them, as if they were bound to the clothes. The number and name followed the prisoner closely and could not be shaken off at all.

Since they couldn't get rid of this prison uniform, some people discussed whether they should try to stake out Ling Yuanshan, who had committed the most serious crimes, every day. Tying up one of him would be equivalent to tying up several prisoners from other districts.

While fleeing, Heju didn't actually notice who was in front of her. They looked like residents fleeing a disaster. It wasn't until Wu Wangwang stared straight at her that she realized Wu Wangwang was special in this instance. She seemed to be a newcomer being protected by Ling Yuanshan, but there was something about her that made people feel scared to face her alone. It was hard to explain, but it might be the intuition of a player who had been through many instances.

He Ju then noticed Ling Yuanshan, who was pulling Wu Wangwang along. After recognizing them, she was shocked to find that they had changed their clothes and couldn't help but ask him about it.

Ling Yuanshan needed information. He felt that he and Wu Wangwang had triggered a certain rule, but it wasn't a killer rule, so they could still survive. Perhaps they didn't have much time left, so he had to find the key information.

“We do have our methods, and I can tell you about them, but you have to tell us what you know,” Ling Yuanshan replied coldly.

The explosions were getting closer, but He Ju didn't hesitate and kept running forward: "Okay, at times like this, cooperation is better than going it alone. Let's find a safe place first."

The three of them ran all the way, managing to leave the chaotic fighting behind. He Ju ran until he reached the vicinity of the city wall before stopping. He was very cautious and gestured to Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang to check a nearby house. After confirming that there was nothing inside, he closed the doors and windows.

He Ju never let go of the knife in her hand. She pulled up a chair and sat down, not caring whether it was dirty or not: "You came in together, didn't you? A double suicide?"

Ling Yuanshan shielded Wu Wangwang behind him, not sitting down, remaining constantly on guard: "This isn't important, is it?"

"It's important. I need to make sure you're not tied together. To be honest, in a dungeon like this, couples might turn on each other faster than strangers. If you didn't come here to commit suicide together, I'll have to be more careful," He Ju said calmly.

Upon hearing this, Ling Yuanshan turned around and exchanged a glance with Wu Wangwang. He said, "Don't worry about it. We'll make our own judgment."

Seeing that the two insisted, Heju was too lazy to remind them anymore. She glanced back at the crack in the door to make sure they hadn't attacked yet, and said, "I'm a prisoner who hasn't left since the first day I came in. I tried to find clues here, but even after meeting other prisoners at the police station, I didn't find any useful information."

Later, Heju collaborated with other prisoners, considering the two options provided by the police station: either find the criminals in the city or capture the other prisoners to claim the reward.

No one wants to add to their own criminal record, so one player suggested a solution: Why don't we just make the residents of the City of Innocence commit crimes?

They are players, with a bunch of items at their disposal. Besides, they've been through so many dungeons, many of which involve murder cases. They could just pick one, pin it on a resident, and frame them as a criminal, wouldn't that be easy?

The method is a bit underhanded, but for players, it's just a game. No matter how realistic it is, it's still a game. They want to complete the game and continue playing. Who cares about human rights when it comes to game data?

They quickly selected a simple yet challenging dungeon storyline, provided by a female player. She said the dungeon was about infidelity; the man cheated on his wife with three women, but one day, he died in his daughter's room.

The dungeon requires finding the real killer of the man while protecting his wife and daughter. If something happens to the wife and daughter, a player will be randomly chosen to take their place. The female players are practically paid with their own lives. In the end, they find out that this is a dungeon with multiple killers, and the wife and daughter they were protecting are also among the killers.

Each time the players find a clue, their wives and daughters discover it and then team up with other murderers to kill them, making it seem as if the wives and daughters were harmed and the players were forced to die in their place.

Everyone connected to the man, even a passerby, contributed to his death; everyone in this instance is a murderer.

The good thing about this instance is that there are enough murderers, so the prisoners can divide the kills among themselves, each capturing one, without having to fight over them.

However, on the day the plan was to be carried out, the resident who was murdered by the players disappeared. The body vanished almost instantly, and none of the players saw how it disappeared.

Furthermore, the residents chosen as the murderers suddenly transformed into monsters the moment they stepped out of their houses. They struggled in terror, trying to return to the houses, but to no avail, and were casually chopped into pieces by passing residents.

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Author's Note: [End of Chapter]

Wu Wangwang: No wonder every monster wants to get in! [shrug]

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I've finally finished a chapter! My sleep schedule has been off lately, with my days and nights reversed. I'm having insomnia at night and can't wake up during the day, so I can't guarantee an update at midnight, but I'll still write at least 6,000 words every day to earn my little red flower (a reward for not writing more). Don't worry, everyone! [Please][Please]

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Thank you for watching, and I hope you enjoyed the article.

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