"Can I request to leave the laboratory?" Chen Dong held Xu Shaoze's corpse as he mustered the courage to ask. "I haven't... seen the outside sky for so long."
"Ah." The Director paused, only sighing without reprimanding Chen Dong. "Haven't we all? If you apply, I certainly won't stop you."
It seemed as he said - he truly valued Chen Dong as a senior staff member.
"But don't forget, our mission is top secret. Leaving would require memory cleansing. This is completely different from consciousness loading - it carries high risks of amnesia, dementia, even death. Do you really want to apply?"
Hearing this, fear flashed through Chen Dong's eyes.
He wasn't afraid of death, but truly feared becoming mentally impaired.
Chen Dong voluntarily shut his mouth, no longer mentioning leaving the laboratory.
Watching Xu Shaoze's corpse being crushed in the freezing chamber, Chen Dong remained silent for a long time before suddenly recalling Xu Shaoze's last words.
"Director, the forced logout malfunction in Experimental Pod 444 - can it be repaired?"
Three months?
Chen Dong could only nod.
Even though Xu Shaoze had clearly warned that his exposure might affect Li Ban, the Director still insisted on waiting three months before attempting forced recall.
All to avoid interrupting Li Ban's mission progress.
The mission took absolute priority.
If Li Ban died in the Witch World now... they could only hope his consciousness could persist in the corpse for three months.
......
Tree-Person A's sudden cold attitude made Li Ban uneasy.
Yet even after the cart resumed moving, the other said nothing.
Li Ban had no choice but to stay alert beside Tree-Person A.
Returning to Death Prison, Tree-Person A went straight inside, though fortunately remembered to return the cat-woman first.
Otherwise Li Ban couldn't possibly move the iron cage alone now.
When Tree-Person A left, Lu - who'd been secretly observing from the water room - immediately rushed over.
"Ban, you're back! How did it go?"
Her expectant expression contrasted with the scrutinizing gaze roaming Li Ban's face.
Fortunately, Li Ban's current pallor from worrying about Ze and Tree-Person A's inexplicable anger matched Lu's expectations.
Originally staring toward Death Prison, Li Ban turned at Lu's call.
"Here's your money back. We never made it to the market today - no chance to buy meat."
When Lu tried refusing, Li Ban forcibly stuffed it into her hand before clutching his stomach. "Stomachache. Need the latrine."
He hurried to the makeshift outhouse by the vegetable plot to relieve himself.
Not rushing out, he pondered the situation.
If Tree-Person A's attitude truly connected to Ze, then Ze had likely been exposed.
Otherwise, no matter what Ze did wrong in the beast-fighting arena, given Tree-Person A's love for spectacles, it shouldn't involve Ban.
But if they truly suspected him as an undercover agent, Li Ban's current strength couldn't possibly resist.
He must never admit being undercover!
Reviewing carefully, since Li Ban entered the Witch World unaware of his mission, he'd done nothing mission-related after arriving at Death Prison.
Even learning combat from the cat-woman was just survival necessity for food delivery tasks.
The unknown was whether Death Prison knew the former jailer had also been undercover.
Li Ban worried deeply.
The former jailer's corpse hanging so long on the gallows likely meant his cover was blown.
If interrogated, Li Ban decided to claim losing his eyes made him desperately seek help, and the corpse said burning it would save him.
Honestly, Li Ban genuinely hadn't done anything mission-related.
He just feared they wouldn't listen to a slave's explanations.
After all, slaves were cheaply replaceable.
If truly trapped, he'd drag Lu down with him.
Lu had considerable skills, poisoned him, and acted suspiciously daily - she was the real suspect!
Standing in the stinking outhouse yielded no foolproof solutions, so Li Ban dejectedly emerged.
Unbeknownst to him, Lu interpreted this as poisoning symptoms.
Her nearly imperceptible smile confirmed her belief the poison worked, so she stopped observing him.
But leaving the outhouse, Tree-Person A immediately took Li Ban away.
Watching Tree-Person A's hurried pace ahead as they proceeded inward past the first level, Li Ban licked dry lips.
"Jailer, what are we doing?"
Tree-Person A glanced back while walking. "Going to the second level."
Death Prison's second level?
New territory unlocked.
Something was definitely happening.
Following Tree-Person A deeper, passing Cell 13 where the cat-woman noticed their haste.
Li Ban didn't even glance her way.
The cat-woman could only frown at their retreating backs.
She'd also seen Tree-Person A's foul mood returning from the grove.
Unsure if this involved Li Ban.
But currently powerless, she rested chin on hand, feeling... unexpectedly concerned.
Li Ban's first time on the second level.
The staircase down had right-angled turns.
Each step was shallow enough to push the iron cage cart down.
Descending, a putrid stench assaulted him - similar to the outhouse but with something extra.
The second level was brighter than the first, with cells closer together.
Peeking inside while passing nearly made Li Ban vomit.
While the first level had two particularly bad prisoners, they seemed normal compared to the second level's inmates.
The second level prisoners... resembled piles of rotting flesh.
Li Ban's glance showed disturbing movement within that flesh.
"Urk..."
Gagging, he averted his eyes to stare only at the right wall.
Passing countless cells, they reached the second level's end.
Unlike the first level's dual paths, here only the white path existed, ending at another downward staircase.
But instead of descending, they entered the final room.
This room had a door - not a cell.
Inside, Li Ban saw torture tools and dried bloodstains everywhere, realizing...
This was the interrogation room.
Would Tree-Person A torture him?
As a modern civilian, Li Ban had never suffered serious injury.
His most painful memory was his heart attack.
He knew he couldn't endure any torture.
But if Tree-Person A asked about his undercover mission...
He literally couldn't answer even if beaten to death!!!
Legs weakening, Li Ban instinctively reached to brace against the wall when an arm suddenly supported his elbow.
Turning, he saw a square-jawed man two heads taller coldly observing him.
"Officer Zhou!" Tree-Person A immediately stood at attention. "This is Ban."