For Zhan Pingchuan and Lance, their way back had disappeared, leaving only an unknown path ahead that they had no choice but to follow.
But for Dream Witch and the others, Zhan Pingchuan, Lance, and Lily had entered the corridor and never returned. They only heard intense machine gun fire, then fierce guards came running back out of the corridor while those three completely vanished.
Having teammates disappear one after another during such a major life event as a jailbreak was truly hair-raising.
Fulunla’s scalp tingled. After using talismans to eliminate three guards, she asked nervously, “Where are our young master and young madam?”
Dream Witch took a deep breath. “My brother and brother-in-law have probably run into some trouble.”
Ling Qi said urgently, “What do we do? Should we charge in and take a look?”
Oliver gazed at the dark dot at the corridor’s end, his emerald pupils full of worry. He took a step forward and said softly, “No, they’re definitely not there anymore. That spatial-type Awakened has started making his moves.”
With two unexplained disappearances now, he naturally thought of that person.
In fact, he’d never actually seen what that person looked like. That person didn’t seem to be one of the prison’s authorities—they kept him hidden in some corner of the prison, his ability only coming into play during emergencies.
Clearly, Popov’s disappearance was also his handiwork.
“Fortunately, that person’s ability isn’t lethal—he can only alter spatial structure and dimensions,” Oliver added.
Mudeli gripped the railing, breathing heavily. “Yes, everyone calm down. Don’t forget, those two are the least likely to be in danger. Right now we should still aim for the second level and rush up as quickly as possible.”
They couldn’t keep waiting on the same floor. Rather than let the endless stream of guards overwhelm them, it was better to take the initiative.
But Oliver shook his head. “We can’t blindly charge upward anymore. Now we can’t be sure we’re actually going up, and we can’t be sure that when we reach the second level, Lucas will still be there.”
In their perception, they’d charged up to the fifth floor in one go. At this pace, it seemed like they could reach their destination if they just persisted a little longer.
But this perception was particularly terrifying now, because eyes could deceive—what you see isn’t necessarily real.
Wu Peng stared in shock. “Then… what do we do?”
Fata pulled a radio from an Omega guard’s pocket and shouted into it, “Hey, are White Pharaoh and Son-in-law there? Where are you now?”
Perhaps the frequency was wrong—Fata couldn’t get a reply from Zhan Pingchuan. The radio was full of guards’ chaotic voices.
“Squad 7801, immediately resupply rare lead ore weapons!”
“Four Black Lantern Society members have separated! Employ divide-and-conquer tactics!”
“White Pharaoh confirmed on scene!”
“All departments attention, new Black Lantern Society member codename Son-in-law, new Black Lantern Society member codename Son-in-law…”
“Damn!” Fata vented his frustration by smashing the radio on the ground.
The spirits Abaddon had released also floated back at this moment. Within their limited range of activity, they hadn’t found any trace of Popov.
Abaddon hung his big head, shaking it gloomily, and casually grabbed a guard by the face and slammed him to the ground.
The situation had reached an impasse, but the attacks didn’t stop because of their confusion.
“We! Need! To! Make! A! Decision! Fast!”
Kuhn rapidly threw playing cards, controlling one guard with each word he spoke. But his stamina was nearly at its limit—he’d never consumed so many pheromones in such a short time. His glands ached like never before.
After killing the guards within the cards, Kuhn recalled them to his palm, panting heavily. “Fata, my pheromones are already—”
Before he could finish, sharp pain sliced across his wrist. The cards flew up like snowflakes, scattered everywhere. Spraying blood splattered on the card faces, leaving mottled, glaring stains.
Kuhn’s pupils trembled as he stared in disbelief at his severed wrist. His palm had fallen to the ground, the cut at his wrist clean and horrifying—you could clearly see the severed bone and torn tendons.
“Kuhn!” Ling Qi’s voice cracked, his eyes bloodshot. He lunged forward, picking up Kuhn’s palm while activating his recovery ability to reattach it.
Just then, a barely perceptible snipping sound cut through the air, carrying powerful ability energy straight toward Ling Qi’s nape.
Dream Witch and Oliver simultaneously sensed the S-level aura. Dream Witch’s face changed drastically. “Watch out!”
Light golden radiance flickered between Oliver’s fingers as his plant-type second-tier ability [Vine Proliferation] immediately activated!
The moment flexible vines firmly blocked behind Ling Qi, an invisible force severed three branches.
The branches fell to the ground, turning into faint blood drops.
In this frozen prison with no plants for Oliver to command, he could only use his own blood to form vines for battle. So when the vines were destroyed, he correspondingly suffered some damage.
As a B-level, Ling Qi hadn’t sensed the attack behind him at all. Only after Oliver’s clash with the enemy ended did he belatedly turn around, seeing the severed vines and feeling fortunate to have survived.
“Look!” Wu Peng shouted.
Across the circular well, about a hundred meters away, stood three white-robed figures.
These three were almost the same height, same build, even their faces visible within the white robes were identical, as if they’d been split from one person.
They stood in a line, expressionless, staring at everyone with sinister yellow eyes.
The middle one held a violin against his neck, his right hand gripping an ebony bow. Horrifyingly, the violin’s strings were blood red, as if blood had congealed on them.
The left one held something like a trumpet, his fingers on the valve pistons. With one press, the trumpet instantly turned waxy white.
The right one wasn’t holding an instrument—he gripped scissors in both hands, these scissors seemingly fused with his flesh. His bones and blood vessels had merged into the black iron of the scissors.
Kuhn supported his newly reattached wrist, struggling to stand. His lips were pale as he stared coldly at the right white robe.
He could feel that his wrist had just been cut clean off by those scissors.
Dream Witch gently blew away the coffee-colored hair clinging to her red lips, her heart inevitably sinking.
This wasn’t her first time seeing these white-robed figures. Previously in the Tasman Pirate Nation, at Chen Shun’an’s private residence near Wonderland Trench, she’d seen a strange white robe.
They called him the Messenger.
Later that messenger died in an underground city—killed by Lance’s ultimate move.
Sure enough, behind Selarl was the Federation government. That messenger was from the Federation.
Dream Witch stepped to the front of the team, squinting slightly as she reached up to tie back her wavy hair.
“This isn’t good—these are three S-levels.”
The Federation government had more S-level Awakened reserves than they’d imagined, while their team now only had two S-levels. As a plant-type, Oliver was naturally disadvantaged in this barren frozen wasteland.
Everyone tensed like facing a great enemy, silently clenching their fists, while the three white robes across from them raised their arms in unison.
Almost simultaneously, both sides unleashed their abilities!
Abaddon’s army of spirits formed a wall of beasts, blocking attacks from surrounding guards. Fata activated the toxic molecules in his body, turning them into purple mist that surged toward the three white robes.
But the left white robe raised his waxy trumpet, puffed out his chest, filled his cheeks, and blew hard!
A transparent bubble floated out from the trumpet, growing larger as it drifted. In just seconds, it expanded tenfold, engulfing the purple mist with devastating force and continuing to float toward the Black Lantern Society members.
Fata withdrew his hand, shivering. “What is that thing!”
Wu Peng quickly summoned lightning to strike the transparent bubble, but the lightning slid smoothly off it, deflected to strike the stone wall below.
The wall cracked deeply, while the bubble remained unharmed, still growing.
Fulunla’s scalp tingled. “It’s getting bigger and bigger—it’s going to swallow us!”
No one knew what would happen if the bubble touched them, but one thing was clear: if Wu Peng’s lightning couldn’t break the bubble, other A-levels had even less chance against it.
“Run!” Mudeli roared.
Everyone immediately scattered in all directions to avoid another separation incident. Abaddon preemptively placed a spirit beside each teammate.
The bubble arrived in a blink. Kuhn’s hem was accidentally touched by it, but Abaddon yanked him away just in time, saving him from disaster.
The unconscious Omega guard on the ground wasn’t so lucky—he was completely engulfed by the bubble. The movement probably woke him from unconsciousness. He slowly opened his eyes, staring outside in confusion.
“Holy shit!” Fulunla screamed.
The guard wrapped in the bubble had his eye sockets cave in, his hair fall out, his skin seemingly melt and drip down, becoming a pool of blood that instantly turned to evaporating mist and disappeared.
Kuhn looked down at his clothing hem—likewise, where the bubble had touched, it had first liquefied, then vaporized, until it evaporated into the air.
The reason Fata’s poison mist remained was because it was already gaseous—there was nothing to change.
Though the left white robe’s ability was ineffective against Fata’s poison gas, Fata couldn’t make the mist reach the white robes.
But the giant bubble was just an appetizer. The middle white robe let out a cold laugh, raising his bow to the strings and launching into a frantic “RUSH E.” The song’s tempo grew faster and faster, each rising and falling note transforming into powerful attacks that rained down overwhelmingly.
Bang bang bang!
The prison’s stairway walls were pounded with deep craters. Debris fell as the ground shook violently. Guards caught in the barrage either had their heads crushed or their lower bodies severed. The area around the central well became a hellscape filled with agonized screams and mangled corpses.
“Lord Messenger!”
“Help! No—”
This indiscriminate attack terrified the guards. They forgot about Black Lantern Society entirely, desperately fleeing down the corridors.
Fulunla’s calf was struck by a sonic wave, instantly suffering a compound fracture with her ankle twisted grotesquely.
“Ahhhhhhh!” She screamed in agony, collapsing to the ground.
Before she could recover from the excruciating pain, the next note was already coming. She stared wide-eyed, her flaxen braids hanging meekly as if waiting for the approaching death.
“Little Fu!” Mudeli was scared out of his wits. Just as he turned to carry Fulunla away, a snipping sound rang out in the distance. Scissors closed, and Mudeli’s body separated at the pelvis.
He stared down in shock as his upper torso toppled backward.
Did it hurt?
It should have, but why couldn’t he feel anything?
Perhaps he was dying.
Sigh, too bad he couldn’t save Fulunla.
“No! No no no!!!” Ling Qi’s eyes blazed with fury as he wailed in anguish. Regardless of everything, he poured out all his recovery pheromones, covering the severed Mudeli and stunned Fulunla.
“Watch out!” Fata screamed.
The snipping sound came again, this time aimed at Ling Qi’s head.
Even the most powerful recovery Awakened couldn’t bring back the dead—death was truly final.
Ling Qi had completely lost emotional control, forgetting his own situation entirely. He had only one belief: save Mudeli and Fulunla.
At the critical moment, several vines wrapped around them, swiftly pulling them into the corridor and dodging the fatal strike.
Dream Witch shouted sternly, “Anyone with elemental pheromones, drink them now!”
Only elemental Awakened could make their bodies incorporeal, and without physical form, they wouldn’t fear such attacks.
Everyone snapped awake, hurriedly gulping down pheromones looted from guards. Wind and fire abilities were most common—though not strong in attack, they could temporarily preserve life.
Dream Witch used [Bewitch] to desperately control the left Omega white robe. His bubbles stopped forming, but his will continued resisting her.
After all, he was S-level—not so easily controlled.
As for the middle and right white robes, Dream Witch was powerless.
For a moment, Black Lantern Society was severely wounded and in complete disarray, while oral pheromones only lasted five minutes.
This meant that after five minutes, they’d again be lambs for slaughter. They’d relive the same carnage, and people would die from delayed treatment.
Oliver looked at Ling Qi kneeling on the ground with tears streaming down his face, at Fulunla with her shattered leg and pale complexion, then at Mudeli whose body was separated and life hanging by a thread.
Ling Qi was releasing his pheromones in shock. Fata had to pry open his mouth and force in a power pill to prevent permanent gland damage.
Fulunla was clearly terrified—no one could face death calmly. She’d truly almost died just now.
Mudeli was too severely injured, blood pooling everywhere, with no telling when he’d wake up.
Wu Peng fell into deep self-blame, cursing himself for failing to protect Mudeli and Fulunla, for his ability being utterly useless now.
Abaddon’s spirits continued fighting the guards while his arm kept bleeding, his forearm visibly twisted and deformed.
He’d clearly been hit by a sonic attack and probably had compound fractures, but knowing Mudeli’s condition was most critical, he silently endured without telling anyone.
Fata frantically synthesized pills, feeding medicine to everyone, not even having time to process his own emotions.
Dream Witch still stood in front of everyone, battling the white robes. Fortunately, the barrier Zhan Pingchuan had left blocked all attacks for her.
Oliver’s eyes were stung by these scenes.
He truly despised killing and bloodshed.
He’d sunk in a massive conspiracy for eighteen years, already mentally and physically exhausted, wanting only to quietly die and become plant nutrients.
But unexpectedly, he’d gained friends, comrades to fight alongside, battle companions he could entrust his life to.
He was warmed, accepted, healed, and needed again.
He’d rediscovered life’s meaning—every cell in his body was regenerating and healing.
He treasured them, couldn’t bear to lose them. He wanted to live with them.
If that was the case, why not kill?
Oliver slowly raised his eyes. His emerald pupils were no longer like a calm, gentle pool—the current rushed swift as a waterfall, stirring up pure golden light.
He walked alone out of the corridor as countless vines sprouted around him. Surging, powerful S-level pheromones bloomed like fireworks throughout the entire well.
He raised his right hand, golden radiance flickering in his palm. The golden light became several threads, flowing like water toward the three white robes.
Plant-type S-level Awakened fourth-tier ability [Conjugation]!
Binding his life with others’, or others’ with each other—sharing life and death, jointly resisting harm. Its judgment superseded any S-level first, second, or third-tier abilities.
—
**
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152