"I... am I dying?"
Lu stared at the black blood she had coughed up, having completely forgotten about framing Li Ban, currying favor with Zhou Gu, or fighting for that menial worker status.
She finally became aware of the abnormality in her body, but it was already too late.
Lu shook her head, genuine tears falling into the pool of blood.
"I haven't gotten my revenge yet, I haven't rescued my mother, I..."
She vomited another mouthful of blood with a "wah" sound.
This time, the black blood actually contained unidentifiable chunks of flesh!
"I..."
Her arms supporting her body suddenly weakened, and she collapsed fully into the blood pool.
Li Ban turned to look at Lu's lifeless eyes, feeling icy cold inside.
He stiffly turned his head back.
Just a virtual world.
He comforted himself this way.
I'm still not ruthless enough.
Just a virtual world...
While Li Ban still needed to regulate his emotions, the jailers and prison guards remained as indifferent as if an ant had died.
Whatever grievances Lu had, whatever hatred, whatever unwillingness...
They couldn't care less.
"The corpse is yours. As for this elementalized tail..."
Tree-Person A's eyes gleamed as he looked at the tail Lu had desperately pulled off before dying.
A slave's corpse was something he got to eat once every month or two.
But this was an elementalized tail, and of a rather unpopular inferior element at that.
Officer Zhou definitely wouldn't want it, so if he didn't, could Tree-Person A eat it?
Tree-Person A was practically drooling.
But Zhou Gu threw the tail Tree-Person A had handed over to Li Ban instead.
Li Ban caught the tail and looked at Zhou Gu in confusion.
"Since you killed Lu, this tail belongs to you now. You can either fuse it to become your own element later or sell it for money. But I warn you - this is an inferior element. Unless absolutely necessary, it's best not to fuse with it."
Such a useful tail element with rat poison was actually an inferior element?
Li Ban's thoughts were diverted as he looked down at the tail in his hand.
Then what grade element were his eyes?
Just as Li Ban was about to ask, Zhou Gu continued: "Did you deliberately create an opportunity for her to kill you? She clearly saw you obtain the eyes yet still ambushed you in secret. Stupid."
"But you, someone with an Identity, actually got forced by a slave into taking such risks to lure the snake out of its hole and kill in self-defense. Not exactly smart either."
Li Ban lowered his head, putting on an obedient expression.
Now he understood that his actions today had indeed been too risky.
He had intentionally let Lu think Zhou Gu had cured his poison. Afraid Li Ban would cultivate in the future and become stronger than her, Lu had urgently tried to eliminate him.
But Li Ban truly wasn't strong enough yet.
Lu's skills exceeded his expectations. If Li Ban hadn't run fast enough during the chase, it might have ended in mutual destruction.
Zhou Gu's attitude was clear - dead subordinates were useless.
If Li Ban had really been killed by Lu today, as long as Lu proved useful to Zhou Gu, he might have taken her in without considering punishing her to avenge Li Ban.
After all, Li Ban currently possessed no irreplaceable value to Zhou Gu.
Li Ban clenched the mimic rat tail in his hand.
For now, he must make himself useful to Zhou Gu.
Only then could he survive better in Death Prison.
Perhaps someday he could trigger some special condition to make that stupid mission assistance system remember its mission content!
"I... I don't know why she was so determined to kill me. I'm not her enemy."
After being lectured by Zhou Gu, Li Ban finally spoke up, putting on an aggrieved and helpless act.
Li Ban now felt he was even more manipulative than Lu had been.
Both Tree-Person A and Zhou Gu laughed.
"Of course it was for the Identity token," Zhou Gu leaned back against the table. "There are only four menial worker Identity tokens in Death Prison. You took the last one. If you don't die, she can't get one."
"When climbing upwards, if you succeed, no one cares what methods you used. If you fail, no one cares about your grievances or unwillingness either."
Zhou Gu took out a folded paper from his robe and tossed it to Li Ban.
"Now that you're a menial worker, you can go out alone. Bring these items back for me from the black and white markets. Just put it on my account."
Li Ban unfolded the paper and saw several types of liquor listed, some requiring one jug, others two.
There was no way he could carry all that alone.
Tree-Person A then said, "There's only one slave left in the tree hole now, which isn't enough. Perfect timing - while you're out, buy three more. I'll have Old Horse wait for you outside the tree hole. Just go straight there."
Li Ban carefully put away the paper, bowed to each of them respectively, then quickly left.
After Li Ban departed, Zhou Gu raised his chin at Tree-Person A. "Follow Li Ban. Observe his every move."
Tree-Person A had originally thought Zhou Gu didn't suspect Li Ban, but it turned out he wanted him followed after all.
But if Zhou Gu suspected Li Ban, why not just kill him directly?
However, since Zhou Gu outranked Tree-Person A by one level, he wouldn't argue over such a small matter and immediately agreed.
Zhou Gu warned, "There's something suspicious about Li Ban - he had contact with Chen Dong. Though he claims Chen Dong just wanted release and asked him to fetch the fire source, there's something odd about it."
"Then why not just kill him?" Tree-Person A ventured.
Zhou Gu shook his head, giving Tree-Person A a sidelong glance. "Plenty of people in Death Prison have secrets. He's got some luck. As long as he's not a mole, he still has use."
Tree-Person A shrank back under Zhou Gu's icy gaze, his earlier thoughts retreating.
"Yes, yes. But... what if he shows other suspicious behavior?"
Zhou Gu stroked his chin. "If he really is problematic, you can have his limbs as reward. Just bring the rest back to me alive."
Tree-Person A's eyes suddenly brightened.
But he didn't dare show his excitement before Zhou Gu, quickly saying, "Understood, Officer Zhou."
After leaving the interrogation room, Tree-Person A hurried toward Death Prison's third level.
Though there was no wind in the passageway, the branches on Tree-Person A's body swayed lightly, as if trembling with excitement.
Meeting Tree-Person B on the third level, Tree-Person B asked curiously, "Why are you so excited?"
Tree-Person A hurriedly composed himself. "Nothing. Officer Zhou assigned me a task. I need to get going."
Tree-Person B stopped Tree-Person A. "You've been getting rather close to Officer Zhou lately."
He lowered his voice. "Don't forget we became jailers because of Officer Zhang."
Tree-Person A said impatiently, "I know that better than you. But when a jailer assigns tasks, can I refuse? Don't worry, I'll report to Officer Zhang."
Only then did Tree-Person B nod and release Tree-Person A.
Watching Tree-Person A's quickly departing back, he still felt puzzled.
"Why is that piece of wood so happy?"
Tree-Person A first went to the stables at Death Prison's other exit to release Old Horse and hitch the carriage. "Go wait for Li Ban at Peach Blossom Tree Hole."
Watching the carriage depart, a shrewd light flashed in Tree-Person A's eyes.
"I thought I'd never get to eat a menial worker, but Officer Zhou is willing to reward me with the limbs."
Limbs capable of cultivating spiritual essence!
Tree-Person A's gaze gradually turned sinister.
Li Ban... better be problematic!
Completely unaware, Li Ban straightened his clothes before leaving the second level. Passing the cat-woman's cell, he took the cleaning tools Lu had left behind.
Lu would never return, so he needed to return the items to the water room for the next cleaning slave to use.
"Congratulations on eliminating a nuisance." The cat-woman didn't need to open her eyes to know it was Li Ban passing by.
Seeing Li Ban return alive didn't surprise her in the slightest.
Without turning around, Li Ban gave a bitter laugh. "Almost crashed and burned too. But the troubles I have... this was just the least significant one removed."