Footsteps echoed in the silent corridor, growing closer and clearer until they came to an abrupt stop outside Su Ze's cell.
"Just as you wished, I'm here. Anything you want to say?"
Zhao Lingxiao's voice came from outside the cell. He peered through the small window on the door but couldn't see Su Ze.
Su Ze was crouching in the corner by the door, perfectly situated in Zhao Lingxiao's blind spot.
He didn't even glance toward the small window. Possessing Zhao Lingxiao's memories, he knew that Zhao Lingxiao controlled a second-order Curio—the Head of the Wailer. Making eye contact with it would almost certainly mean death.
So-called "Curios" were items with special powers, formed when certain abilities of an evolved lifeform attached to a piece of its remains after death.
A second-order Curio corresponded to a lifeform that had evolved twice, reaching the Cocoon Stage. The Head of the Wailer, in particular, possessed the ability to launch psychic attacks.
A psychic attack on the level of the Cocoon Stage was more than enough to pose a lethal threat to Su Ze.
Su Ze knew Zhao Lingxiao was here to kill him. In a way, he had forced Zhao Lingxiao to come and kill him.
If Zhao Lingxiao didn't come to kill him, he would have no chance to escape.
This body of Su Ze's had completely copied all of Zhao Lingxiao's skills. Although Zhao Lingxiao had yet to complete his first evolution, he had consumed two vials of extract and possessed two skills.
However, both were only first-order skills. No matter how strong, their power was limited; they couldn't kill Su Ze through the thick cell door. Therefore, Su Ze knew that if Zhao Lingxiao wanted to kill him, he would have to rely on an external object.
The Head of the Wailer was an excellent choice. Besides that, Su Ze guessed Zhao Lingxiao had other tricks up his sleeve.
Just as Su Ze had predicted, Zhao Lingxiao stood at the cell door, one hand tightly gripping the skull of some unknown animal. The skull's eye sockets were aimed directly at the small window. The moment Su Ze's face appeared there, he would inevitably meet the skull's gaze and suffer the second-order Curio's psychic attack.
What Zhao Lingxiao failed to notice, however, was a ghastly white face appearing in the small window of the cell behind him, while a pair of blood-red eyes from another adjacent cell stared intently at him.
Seeing that Su Ze wasn't showing his face, Zhao Lingxiao spoke again. "You forced me to come here, but you won't speak or show yourself. What exactly are you trying to do?"
His other hand slowly reached for his pocket, where a small glass vial filled with yellow, compressed poison gas was hidden.
With Zhao Lingxiao's ruthless nature, he would never allow himself to be put on the back foot. He had come with a backup plan: this deadly gas. If the Head of the Wailer failed to kill Su Ze, he would use the poison.
Using poison in this tiny cell, Su Ze's death would be certain!
However, using poison would cause too much of a commotion. Not only would it leave traces, but if the gas spread to other cells, it might kill other criminals as well.
Of course, Zhao Lingxiao didn't care if other criminals lived or died. The problem was, when his father, Zhao Yuanyi, had negotiated with the Pan Shi Prison warden, he had only said he wanted to send his son a hearty meal. It was only by promising many benefits that he had secured this visit.
Otherwise, visits were strictly forbidden at Pan Shi Prison.
To avoid leaving evidence that he had broken the rules by allowing a visit, the Pan Shi Prison warden had ordered his subordinates to replace the surveillance footage.
Thus, Zhao Lingxiao was reluctant to use the poison, fearing that if too many prisoners died, the situation would be difficult to clean up.
Killing only Su Ze could be covered up by claiming he committed suicide out of guilt. But if too many prisoners died, even the warden would have a hard time explaining it to his superiors.
Zhao Lingxiao's patience was wearing thin. His father had only managed to secure him a quarter of an hour for this visit. If Su Ze didn't show his face soon, he would have no choice but to use the poison. He absolutely could not allow Su Ze to live until morning.
Just then, Su Ze finally spoke. He knew that if he dragged this out any longer, Zhao Lingxiao would surely resort to his other methods.
"I just think the innocent should be saved, and the guilty should be punished."
Zhao Lingxiao smiled, not surprised by Su Ze's words. It was just as he'd guessed: Su Ze threatening him to come here was nothing more than a desperate, last-ditch struggle, a plea for help.
What puzzled him, however, was that Su Ze's speech was a bit slurred, but Zhao Lingxiao didn't give it much thought.
"If you want to live, I do have a way," Zhao Lingxiao said, his tone laced with temptation. "Come closer, and I'll tell you the details."
"Alright."
Su Ze lowered his gaze, his cheeks puffed out as if he were holding something in his mouth. He slowly moved his body toward the small window on the cell door.
At that moment, Zhao Lingxiao pushed open the small panel on the window and moved the Head of the Wailer back slightly to prevent Su Ze from spotting it.
But Su Ze kept his eyes fixed on the ground. When he was just a step away from the window, he shut his eyes completely.
He twitched his nose and caught the pungent scent of perfume wafting through the window. 'That's strange,' he thought. 'As far as I know, Zhao Lingxiao doesn't usually wear perfume.'
Su Ze had no time to dwell on it. He abruptly thrust his head toward the window and spat a mouthful of fresh blood out through the opening.
At the same time, he seemed to hear a blood-curdling wail in his mind, sending an uncontrollable wave of fear through him. A chill ran down his spine, and his mind grew hazy.
Even with his eyes closed, facing the Head of the Wailer, he was still hit by the second-order Curio's attack. However, keeping his eyes shut had greatly weakened its intensity.
Meanwhile, as the blood Su Ze had spat flew through the air, it instantly coalesced into a crimson arrow and shot toward Zhao Lingxiao's throat.
This was the vampire's ability to control blood—turning fresh blood into a weapon to launch a deadly surprise attack on Zhao Lingxiao.
Su Ze had bitten his own lip and held a mouthful of blood the moment he realized Zhao Lingxiao was approaching.
Caught completely off guard, Zhao Lingxiao had no time to react. He took a hasty step back, but the blood arrow struck him square in the face. It pierced the mask he was wearing and plunged through his nose directly into his brain.
Instantly, blood gushed from Zhao Lingxiao's face like a fountain.
Zhao Lingxiao collapsed with a THUD, and the Head of the Wailer rolled from his grasp.
Gasping for breath, Su Ze broke free from the Head of the Wailer's attack. Other than a slightly pale face, he was unharmed.
However, that psychic attack seemed to have triggered the chains on his memory again. Many locked memories came flooding back, shaking Su Ze to his core!
Su Ze knew that a month of his memories had been blocked. He had only unlocked a small fragment before, but now, the rest of his memories had been completely unlocked by the Head of the Wailer's psychic attack. It was a blessing in disguise.
'No wonder the Zhao Family father and son wanted to block this month of my memories…' Su Ze's brow furrowed unconsciously. Just a quick browse through these memories was enough for him to sense how thorny and troublesome they were.
'I'll sort through these memories later. The priority right now is to escape.'
Su Ze looked out the small window and saw Zhao Lingxiao lying on the ground, as dead as could be.
However, all the blood that had spilled from him was gone without a trace. Even the stains on his clothes had vanished.
He watched as more blood continued to fly from Zhao Lingxiao's body toward the vampire's cell. Su Ze heard a groan of satisfaction from the next cell over.
Needless to say, the vampire had consumed all the blood.
Suddenly, Su Ze tasted something sweet in his mouth. The wound on his lip, which he had bitten himself, was now bleeding faster. The blood flew from his mouth, heading toward the adjacent cell as well.
The vampire chuckled darkly. "Thanks for your little escape plan, but your part in it is over. Now, you can just lie down and die!"