Star Trace Gate

Chapter 873 Prison Break Reward, Only 1 Clue

Before rescuing No. 79, Ren had already anticipated that if he managed to escape, the three judicial organs would quickly figure out that there was a traitor in the prison. Because the Soul-Breaking Pill was so potent, and the Spirit-Sending Powder so tightly controlled, it was nearly impossible for a death row inmate to escape without outside help.

However, what he didn't expect was that when more than a dozen jailers in the Sky Prison were sacrificed, several areas of the entire Death Prison collapsed, and chaos was everywhere, Master Zhao had already narrowed down the identity of the traitor - the jailer - just by relying on two locations of the incident.

In the entire sky prison, in addition to the guard office where the jailers are located, there are also functional departments such as the kitchen, archives room, miscellaneous room, and messenger room. There are nearly two hundred members in total, and all of them can carry out activities within a certain area of ​​the sky prison.

In other words, even if the Third Hall concluded that there was a traitor secretly assisting No. 79, the scope of investigation would be very large. For example, the kitchen staff might have tampered with the food, or the staff in the general affairs room might have secretly delivered the antidote while preparing the bath tub for the condemned prisoner during the anniversary of the death...

This would take them a long time to find the traitor. Unfortunately, based on the footprints behind the underworld beast sculpture, Master Zhao had already determined that the traitor was most likely the jailer.

This greatly narrowed the scope of the investigation and made Ren Ye's situation extremely dangerous.

Who the hell left those footprints?! Did Number 79 deliberately surge his aura before leaving to help the owner of the footprints hide? ... Little Bad King was filled with doubts and kept making uneasy guesses.

At the entrance to the core room, Sun Michen looked at Master Zhao with a questioning look and asked in a friendly tone, "Nephew, since you have determined that there is a treacherous jailer in the prison, what are your plans for the next step?"

Zhao Haochen thought for a moment, then replied vaguely, "Uncle Sun, I'll inform all the elders of the details of this case when we meet at the clan hall."

The meaning of his words was very clear. He was almost saying directly that there were too many people here and it was not the place to analyze the case. As for the matter of the traitor, it would be better not to make it public for the time being.

Sun Michen nodded with satisfaction and did not ask any further questions.

Little Bad King listened to the conversation between the two and felt a pang of regret. He wanted to hear Mr. Zhao's analysis of the case so that he could handle the investigation more calmly. However, the other party was too cautious and didn't give him, the insider, much chance to "predict"...

"Let's have someone seal off the core room and cell number 79..." Young Master Zhao pondered for a moment. "From now on, the jailers, both day and night, are forbidden from accessing these two places. Uncle Sun, let's hurry to the clan hall and explain the situation to the other elders."

"Yeah." Sun Michen responded, "Let's go."

Ren Ye stood up from the steps, looked at Master Zhao with a smile and asked, "If there is nothing else, I will go home first."

"Okay." Young Master Zhao nodded slightly and said with a smile, "You helped a lot tonight. I'll talk to the day shift warden and have him record you separately in the month-end performance review book to accumulate merit."

Ren also scratched his head: "I'm just showing you the way. This... this isn't really a favor. Hehe, thank you, Mr. Zhao."

"Let's go, let's go out together." After calling out, Master Zhao walked ahead.

The prison corridor was dim. Sun Michen stood with his hands behind his back, looking sideways at Ren Ye. He smiled awkwardly and asked, "How is your aunt doing lately?"

Ren Ye turned his head slightly, and replied with some surprise in his heart: "She...she's fine, what's wrong?"

"Haha, the Yin family suffered a great disaster. The entire clan migrated, and the Alchemy Institute was gone. As a fire controller, I'm afraid she'll also lose her job and struggle to make a living." Sun Michen paused. "She has to take you with her, earning a salary while also ensuring your hidden illness doesn't recur. For a woman living in Falsehood Village... it's really not easy."

Hmm? From what he said, it seemed like he knew my aunt and me very well. Was that why he had that kind smile earlier? After a moment's thought, the Little Bad King didn't hesitate to ask, but simply agreed, "My aunt has indeed worked very hard for me."

"I'll have my daughter invite you and your niece to come to the Sun family for a simple meal in the next two days." Sun Michen said softly, "The Sun family also has some properties in this Xuwang Village. As long as your aunt is willing, it won't be difficult for me to find a decent job for her."

Was this a gesture of goodwill? He seemed to care deeply about us. Could it be that he had some unknown connection with my aunt, or with our "family"? Ren Ye was a little confused, because in the blind man's memory, the head of the Sun family was a very unfamiliar existence. He had no recollection of any interaction between the Sun family and his own family...

However, he did remember his aunt's special instructions after she lost her job. She said, "Someone might come to see me in the next two days. Just block them outside the door and tell them I'm not here..."

This sentence seemed very abrupt when I heard it at that time, but now combined with Sun Michen's invitation, it is not difficult to infer that the person my aunt said was coming to see her was most likely someone from the Sun family.

But from what my aunt said, it seems that she doesn't want to see anyone from the Sun family. Why is that?

Ren was also very confused, vaguely feeling that the Sun family might know about his and his aunt's background, so he decided to try to ask his aunt when he got home to see if he could get anything out of her.

After chatting with Sun Michen for a few words, they went to the ground prison area together.

The Little Bad King bowed slightly to Young Master Zhao and said softly, "My aunt must be very worried when she sees me not returning so late. Brother Zhao, if there is nothing else, I will go back first."

"Okay." Young Master Zhao smiled and nodded, "You can go back."

"Ah."

Ren responded and walked quickly towards home.

The stars and the moon were bright. Zhao Haochen stood in the messy sky prison facing the cold wind. The smile on his cheek gradually disappeared. He stared at Ren Ye's back with deep eyes and watched him disappear into the night.

……

A full hour later, the Little Bad King appeared near the dilapidated temple on the south side of Xuwang Village. This was the meeting place he and the storyteller had agreed on in advance.

In fact, he had arrived a long time ago, but he didn't rush to show up. This was to observe whether there were any followers and whether the village security had become more stringent; secondly, he wanted to secretly observe the dry well next to the dilapidated temple to see if there was anything unusual...

Because he suspected that the storyteller might have found another teammate behind his back, and his motives were unclear, so he was extremely reluctant to meet that person, as this would infinitely increase his risk of being exposed and he might also encounter unknown dangers.

However, after observing carefully for about half an hour, he found that there was nothing unusual near the dry well. Combined with his own secret calculations against the storyteller, he gained a certain degree of confidence and slowly approached the dry well.

For some reason, this night was exceptionally quiet. The wilderness surrounding the ruined temple was devoid of even a ghost. As Ren Ye walked slowly forward, he could even hear the faintest sound of the wind rustling the weeds with uncanny clarity.

In such an environment, his heart gradually calmed down from all the unexpected events and anxieties that occurred during the prison break tonight, and he became more restrained and calm.

Soon, he approached the dry well and called out softly, "Come out! Hurry up!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the dry well fell silent for a few breaths before a little light seeped out, dimly illuminating the darkness and a corner of the well.

"brush!"

A figure emerged, it was the storyteller whose hands were stained with the blood of his colleagues.

When he saw Ren Ye, he revealed an extremely happy expression and said with a smile: "I was able to escape alive, all thanks to your help. I am extremely grateful from the bottom of my heart...!"

"What are you grateful for?!" Ren Ye's face was grim, and he cursed with a national treasure with an empty look in his eyes.

The storyteller was a little confused: "This...where does this even begin? Why are you insulting my mother?!"

"I can humiliate whoever I want, what the hell is it to you?" Ren Ye spoke eloquently again.

The storyteller was stunned by the scolding and said angrily, "We are all cultured people...!"

"Culture!" Ren Ye angrily shouted, "Do you have a brain?! You're escaping from prison, why did you kill so many people? Over a dozen jailers, do you know how big a deal this is? I'm telling you straight up, even the mosquitoes in Xuwang Village have probably received a joint investigation notice to arrest you... Do you think you can just hide here and be done for? What's next?! The four major families are investigating every inch of your territory, how are you going to deal with it?!"

"I've really been screwed by you!"

"Listen to my explanation!"

"I listen to you, Nima!"

"Stop scolding my mother! She deserves respect!" The storyteller was furious and said angrily, "Let's all calm down."

"......!" Ren Ye put his hands on his hips and panted heavily. He didn't mention the clues he had learned in the prison. He just frowned and asked, "Okay, tell me, what happened tonight?!"

"That's it...!" The storyteller organized his words a little, and then recounted to Ren Ye all his experiences and words tonight in detail.

After hearing this, Ren Ye was completely dumbfounded and asked in disbelief, "You, you, you...you said that you encountered a thief in the array's core room tonight, and that the thief was from the Li family, young and fat?!"

"That's right." The storyteller nodded.

"What's his name?!"

"He said his name is Li Xu." The storyteller responded softly.

"Fuck!"

Ren Ye's head buzzed, and he sighed with a look of extreme frustration, "What the hell is going on?! How did Fatty Li get involved in this, and was he even forcibly recruited by you?!"

"Your description is very accurate. I am now completely confident in controlling him." The storyteller smiled confidently.

"What are you holding on to?! Fatty Li may look simple and honest, but he's incredibly brave. His joining us isn't necessarily a good thing!" Ren came to his senses and asked hurriedly, "Does he know you have teammates?!"

"He doesn't know I have teammates." The storyteller smiled and shook his head.

"Oh, that's good...!" Ren also breathed a sigh of relief.

"But he knew that there was a mysterious and powerful leader who had been secretly helping me and was manipulating all events." The storyteller added redundantly.

"……groove!"

Ren Ye was speechless for a long time, then clenched his fists and cursed, "Damn it, you're deliberately trying to trick me, right?! He just got involved accidentally, so why did you tell him that he had help?! You %%@...!"

"He's not a fool." The storyteller shook his head. "Without the help of the traitor, how could I possibly break free from the constraints of the Soul-Severing Pill? Rather than letting him become suspicious and secretly wary of us, it's better to tell him clearly and gain his trust. Besides, I'm talking about a powerful and mysterious leader... Can you please look down at yourself and ask yourself again, are you powerful? Are you mysterious?"

"......!" Ren was left speechless.

"Let me put it this way, even if he guesses that it was the three-headed underworld beast who saved me, he will never guess that it was you, a useless wild dog." The storyteller had a sharp tongue and inadvertently avenged the scolding of his mother.

Ren Ye slowly sat down on the mottled edge of the well, his eyes thoughtful and his brain working rapidly.

First of all, he did not tell the storyteller what clues were found in the sky prison, but he could combine the storyteller's "confession" and the clues found by Zhao Haochen and compare them one by one in his mind.