Chapter 247
The old man standing in the middle of the room and chained to the floor stared at Tiffany and I unblinking for a brief moment.
“Free me,” he repeated in a low, monotone voice. “Come on… let me out.”
Tiffany looked a bit uncertain, taking a step back. “You were imprisoned by the antecedents. Doesn’t that mean you’re a criminal?”
“A mistake!” A flicker of anger crossed his face, twisting his features into something monstrous. “I was wrongfully imprisoned!”
He seemed to notice Tiffany grabbing my arm and taking a terrified step back. Just as quickly as his anger appeared, it vanished, replaced by a chillingly calm facade. He smoothed his ragged tunic and offered a disarming smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
” This is a mistake that I have already paid for long enough, don’t you think? The Antecedents are dust. Why should an innocent man continue to pay for the crimes of people who no longer even exist?”
Tiffany looked at him uncertainly, but I couldn’t help but think about his words. Weirdly, I kind of understood him. These ruins had been here for countless centuries. Just how long had this person been trapped here, waiting for anyone to come along and rescue him? It reminded me of my own introduction to this world, my self-imposed purgatory in that pond. Then again, I had to grow to fit the pond, and I had chosen to remain there for years, while this man had no freedom. It had to be hell. I couldn’t imagine him going through it and being stable, no matter how high his evolutionary level.
When Tiffany realized I wasn’t going to speak, she continued to address him. “We’re just looking for a way out of this ruin.”
The old man’s smile widened, and his grin looked more predatory than reassuring. “Ah, an escape! A simple request for one of my talents. I know the pathways of this place better than anyone. I can send you to the surface, to the very spot you desire. All you have to do is break this chain.”
He rattled the thick metal cuff attached to his leg for emphasis.
I finally couldn’t help but speak up. “If you’re so strong, why can’t you remove the chain yourself?”
He hissed in irritation, a sound like air escaping a punctured lung. “Do you think I wouldn’t have broken the chain if I wanted to?” He took a deep, shuddering breath, forcing the disconcerting smile back on his face. “The chains are naturally enchanted. They are designed to be unbreakable by the one who wears them. They bind not just my body, but my access to outside energy. They are… strangling me. Someone from the outside should be able to break what I cannot. As long as you can provide a strong enough attack, the chains will break.”
Tiffany seemed to be lost in thought, so I decided to probe him for more information. It was interesting to me to see this man. Just how powerful did he have to be to survive in this prison for all of these years? There wasn’t even food or water, which meant he could survive on something else, much like me.
“We’re looking for treasures as well,” I told him, causing Tiffany to shoot me an unhappy look. “Why else would we enter this dangerous place if not for opportunities?”
“Opportunities?” The old man tilted his head thoughtfully. “No… no opportunities. This is a prison. A place of death. There are no treasures here, only cells. Most are empty now. Oh, and don’t think you can loot the corpses of power antecedents. The other prisoners within have all long since turned to dust, thanks to the restrictive nature of the chains; not even their body parts can be claimed as a prize. This place is a tomb, not a vault.”
I couldn’t help but stare at him for another moment. He didn’t appear to be lying, but that was only because he showed nothing physiologically, but that didn’t mean much to me. The concept of lie detection wasn’t really scientific in the first place. The thing we knew as the lie detector test was pseudoscience masquerading as real science, much like dowsing rods or homeopathic medicine.
The core idea was that lying was a stressful act, and stress produced involuntary physiological reactions, such as an increased heart rate, faster breathing, or sweaty palms. In essence, someone was hooked up to a machine and their physiological conditions were measured. They were asked a series of questions truthfully or falsely. Then, upon establishing what their baseline of being honest and lying looks like, unknown questions were asked, and a similar physiological reaction resulted in either false, true, or inconclusive.
The real success of such a test lies in anxiety. In short, the test only worked if you believed it worked. However, a particular nervous person might fail it when they shouldn’t, and a sociopath would be able to pass it without issue. Thus, it was more a tool of intimidation, used to obtain confirmation bias. Still, my senses were heightened enough that I could hear faster breathing and notice changes in heartbeat, especially in a room as quiet as this one.
Yet, when it came to this prisoner, his physiology didn’t change at all. Not just when he answered questions, but when he grew angry, or when he smiled, nothing changed. He was completely calm. It was a bit unnerving. As I was dwelling on this, I noticed Tiffany staring at me questioningly. I realized she wanted me to make the decision. She had liked taking the lead back in the mansion. When did she suddenly start deferring to me?
“Go on,” I shrugged. “Give it a try. Release him.”
I already knew it wouldn’t work. I had already examined the chain, and the power it would take to break it was something someone like Tiffany couldn’t handle. She hesitated for only a moment before drawing a slender, elegant-looking dagger. The blade hummed with a faint energy as she channeled her mana into it. With a sharp cry, she struck the chain with all her might. There was a flash of light and a deafening clang that reverberated through the chamber, but when the light faded, the chain remained unblemished, not even a single mark marring its dark surface.
“Useless! Absolutely useless!” the old man roared, his calm face twisting as his eyes burned with contempt. “I place my hopes in a child with a toy!”
Tiffany flinched back, his words clearly hitting her. She looked taken aback, a flicker of hurt in her eyes before she masked it with a stoic frown.
“Well, that’s tough luck,” I said, grabbing a stunned Tiffany and turning away as if to leave. “We’ll just have to continue on our own.”
“W-Wait!” the old man hissed in panic, his vitriolic expression immediately hidden again, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to grow angry. I’ve just been trapped for so long. I know… I know where you can find a weapon. A tool that can break this chain.”
I stopped and slowly turned back to him. “I thought you just said there were no treasures.”
His face twisted into an ugly grimace. “There is no treasury, you fool! But the prison stored the personal belongings of the prisoners. Confiscated items. One of them… one of them is mine. A tool of my own design. With it, I can break this chain myself.”
“And why should we give you such a treasure?” I asked, pretending I was hesitating.
“Because you couldn’t use it even if you wanted to!” he snapped before taking another breath. “It’s far beyond your capabilities. You are children playing with forces you can’t comprehend. If you tried to wield it, you would only destroy yourselves. Your only chance of getting out of here is to help me escape. It’s your only choice. Just… bring me my device, and I’ll owe you a favor.”
“Promise us you’ll send us to the surface once you’re free,” I demanded.
“I swear it on my name,” he said, his voice growing solemn as he crossed his fingers over his heart.
I slowly nodded, and he gave us the directions to the storage lockup. It was a few floors down, but the layout of the prison seemed pretty basic.
“Remember, do not enter, touch, or even look at any of the other cells.” He explained. “Although the inhabitants are all gone, many of the cells have powerful restrictions. You could be killed in an instant if you trigger the wrong one.”
“Alright.” I nodded, but as we turned to the exit he indicated, he spoke again.
“And touch nothing but the device! Everything else there belongs to other powerful convicts. Nothing there is safe for you to use!”
I gave a single nod before continuing out of the chamber. His burning gaze followed us until we rounded a corner and were out of sight. We walked in silence for a few minutes, the only sound being our footsteps on the cold metal floor.
Tiffany finally spoke, her voice low and filled with doubt. “Are we really going to do what he says? I don’t trust him at all.”
“We are,” I nodded.
She frowned, her brow furrowed in confusion. “But why?”
“Because it’s an opportunity,” I responded, but noticing her expression, I continued. “For what it’s worth, I don’t trust him either.”
Her eyes widened slightly at my admission. “Then why are we risking our lives to get him his weapon?”
“Because whether he’s telling the truth or not, there’s a storage lockup filled with the confiscated belongings of powerful, dangerous prisoners,” I explained, a slow smile spreading across my face. “Even if he’s lying about his own little toy, I’m willing to bet there are other treasures in there just waiting for a new owner.”
At least, I believed that much.
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