LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 1288: Cell Talk
For all intents and purposes, Zhen Liu understood that he was now a prisoner at the whims of the "Kaijin Lord".
However, he had also managed to convince his knock-off/rival that he had valuable information tucked away in the back of his skull. The kind of information that had to be coaxed out with sweet words and bribery, as opposed to being extracted through violent means such as torture.
At least, that's what Zhen Liu thought.
This line of thinking was then reinforced as Zhen Liu found himself being physically carried while Lythero and Olstenna were being escorted with their hands bound in aether-sealing cuffs.
Then again, it probably helped that Zhen Liu hid his cultivation so that it appeared that he was servant with no abilities of their own.
Unfortunately, this observation of his was only partially correct.
After being brought to the Mines of Malevolence, and being forced to observe the horrible work conditions that would make even the most jaded safety inspectors blush, the "Kaijin Lord" had ordered his gathered horde to return to their regular duties until later tonight.
However, he also made sure to throw in an additional order that made things clear to Zhen Liu, that this guy was very adept at using the stick more so than the carrot.
Bring our new guests to the holding cells. We can determine their place here in the morning.
"Wait, what? Place? I thought..."
Oh, don't worry, my friend. We just need time to better prepare your quarters. It's been awhile since we had guests.
'Welp, he's clearly lying and it looks like I won't be able to use charm to try and get answers. Brilliant.'
Zhen Liu and his allies then found themselves being deposited in a shared prison cell.
Granted, the word, "prison cell", was doing a lot of heavy lifting.
The cell in question was an artificial cave with a couple of straw mats for comfort, a bucket for bathroom activities and prison bars that had been enhanced with runes to prevent it's occupants from being able to retaliate.
'Huh...these are high quality bars.'
As he and the others were deposited into the cell, Zhen Liu noticed that these bars were rated for imprisoning Aether Kings and below.
Whether that meant the "Kaijin Lord" was paranoid or had prisoners of that level roaming around the place was unknown. All Zhen Liu knew for certain was that trying to use brute force to break the doors wouldn't end well.
Either the occupants wouldn't be able to do jackshit and waste their time in trying to break the damn thing, or they would be able to break it and basically announce to the entire colony that they were attempting to escape to freedom.
Slave wouldn't do anything about it, but the Kaijin guarding the place were more than likely to come after them.
Speaking of guarding Kaijin, though, after the "Kaijin Lord" gave his orders, only two Kaijin were left to escort Zhen Liu, Lythero and Olstenna to their cells.
Unfortunately, neither of them were Arbalest.
The porcupine kaijin was sent off to oversee some other part of the mine, much to Zhen Liu's annoyance.
However, this did present Zhen Liu with an opportunity to do some background preparations so he wasn't too upset about it.
No words were exchanged, no pleasantries or insults were thrown their way. The trio were just dumped into their cell like livestock about to be sold to the slaughter.
On the plus side, once they were dumped into the cell, their cuffs were removed and the trio was given free reign to move and talk. Well, free to talk once the enemy Kaijin had left.
The trio watched the cell's opening front for a few moments, listening and waiting for the kaijin to fully clear the area before talking.
Heavy footsteps echoed in their ears until it gradually faded into silence.
Once everything has gone quiet, Zhen Liu lifted up his hand and presented three fingers in order to count down.
Three.
Two.
One.
Once he had zero fingers up, Zhen Liu was the first to break the silence.
"Alright, coast is clear, now we can—"
SMACK!
^WHAT THE FUCK, MAN?!^ Lythero roared while punching down on Zhen Liu's head. (Un fortunately, the blow did nothing but slightly injure Lythero's hand.
^Alright, I might be able to tank a fully grown elephant charging into me but getting smacked still stings a bit,^ Zhen Liu complained as he rubbed the sore spot on his head. ^Mind elaborating on why you're yelling at me?^
Before answering his friend, Lythero made sure to position himself in front of Zhen Liu before grabbing his shirt.
^I understand that you're a weird motherfucker with plans that seem to defy logic on a good day and are outright insane on every other day.^
^With a high success rate, no less,^ Zhen Liu added on while doing his best to suppress his laughter at Lythero's reaction.
^But why the hell would you want to get into this shitty slave colony as a prisoner?! You could've literally rolled through the front doors, with your Kaijin, like a force of nature and use violence to take this entire place down! Wait...why am I so weirdly heated about this?^
^I could've done that,^ Zhen Liu admitted. ^And it would've been easy. But there are two reasons as to why I went with this Trojan horse method of mine.^
^What the fuck is a Trojan Horse?!^ Lythero asked, understandably enraged and confused.
^A Trojan Horse is a strategy where you offer your enemy a gift of some kind, but include a way to exploit it in order to defeat them through subterfuge. This first known usage of this strategy was a man named Odysseus, who used it to defeat the Kingdom of Troy, hence the name, Trojan Horse,^ Olstenna unexpectedly answered.
Zhen Liu and Lythero both stared at the Aetherii with confusion on their faces, but for very different reasons.
Lythero was just stunned by the information dump, while Zhen Liu was just confused as to why he knew it.
^Why the fuck do you know what that is?^
^I was locked up in your library for months, remember?^ Olstenna answered plainly while picking his ear with a pinky. ^I got bored so I started reading the books that were near my cell. ^Saw something in there about wars fought amongst warriors that didn't have access to aether and thought it was interesting. These humans, whomever they were, were psychotic to fight without using aether. Couldn't help but to respect that.^
^Huh...^
With that little mystery solved though, Zhen Liu and Lythero went back to the topic at hand.
^So...as I was saying...what are your impressions on that dude calling himself "Kaijin Lord"? Good or bad, doesn't matter.^
^Hmmm,^ Lythero paused for a moment as he tried to remember the man's face...only to be overwhelmed by a feeling of [Disgust].
^That he was a hateful and petty individual,^Lytheor answered. ^The kind that would rather slaughter a horse instead of gifting it to someone else or selling it. He's also seems like the type to be hiding something important but I don't know what.^
^Exactly,^ Zhen Liu nodded in agreement to this assessment. ^If I rolled in here with the kaijin, aether and [Chaos] blazing, this asshole would've probably blown the entire place sky high, slaughter everyone inside the mine and destroy whatever gains he was hiding away. In other words, I'd be burning down a forest for farmland without harvesting any fruit. Ya dig?^
^I...somehow understood that analogy, but seriously? You do realize that this guy thinks you're a servant or a peasant at best, right? How are you going to gather intelligence like that?^ Lythero asked, still doubting Zhen Liu's idea.
^Allow me to answer that question, with a question of my own,^ Zhen Liu replied with a hint of cheekiness. ^Are you more likely to confess your sins to a pigeon, a preacher or a parrot?^
^I...what the fuck?^
^Allow me to elucidate,^ Zhen Liu continued, sounding oddly similar to a certain curator spirit. ^Preacher will take your sins and use it against you. Use it as a means to encourage fealty to a church and possibly judge you for your decisions.^
^Oh, that's what you meant,^ Lythero nodded. ^I've seen them before, weird fellows.^
^Now a parrot may listen and understand, but they also have the nasty habit of repeating things at inopportune times,^ Zhen Liu continued. ^A parrot could be a well-meaning friend or an ally though.^
^What are you...oh.^
At this point, Kytheir understood Zhen Liu's meaning, but he still kept quiet.
^Now a pigeon...a pigeon doesn't care, can't use whatever information you told them Ina ny meaningful way and is always ignored by those around them...like a servant or a slave,^ Zhen Liu said with the most devious of smiles appearing on his face. ^Why, you could spill your guts to one and they wouldn't care.^
^So I ask again, if you were to confess your sins, would you choose a pigeon, a preacher or a parrot?^