Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 692: Chapter 570: Misunderstandings and Intuition (Thanks to yangersun for another Alliance Leader_1)

When less than one-tenth of the Buried Sacred Place had been reclaimed, a fissure leading to darkness emerged once again on Huai Shi’s chest. His entire being reverted to the previous ’Hollow’ State.

His body was filled with darkness.

And beneath the thin blanket, his right hand unfolded, silently revealing a pitch-black feather.

From the distant Dream Cage, a gift from the Iron Crystal Throne had arrived.

Under the heavy seals, this was the limit of what the Buried Sacred Place could transmit—a Source Feather weighing less than 0.1 grams.

On Huai Shi’s fingertips, the feather seemed misty and unreal, covered with a layer of luminescence, looking so translucent.

It was not Huai Shi’s Source Material Transformation, but Alchemy from the Iron Crystal Throne.

The Rotten Dream Poison was extracted from within the Dream Cage, then refined using Source Studies and Curse Study into a tiny seed, and embedded into the Crow of the Yin Soul’s feather.

A ’Seed of Bubble Shadow’ woven by the master technician himself.

To ensure the successful transmission from the Buried Sacred Place, the essential nature of the feather could not be altered, nor could the feather be plucked during the process. Thus, the intricate techniques of Living Alchemy were employed, taking into account both durability and ease of use.

This profound expertise in both Source Studies and Curse Study left Huai Shi in awe.

Now, a light feather appeared out of nowhere within the cage.

It became the weight that could tip the scales, reversing the situation!

Huai Shi smiled and clenched his fist.

The grey-black feather disintegrated at his fingertips, turning into fine mists, and silently dissipated into the air.

In silence, Huai Shi slightly lifted his eyes, listening to the distant sounds of the guards’ patrols, discerning their distance and characteristics.

”Excuse me, could you turn on the air conditioning?”

As the Guard walked to the door, Huai Shi suddenly spoke.

He raised his hand to tug at his collar, smiling at the familiar Guard, ”It’s a bit stuffy, can’t catch my breath, don’t you think?”

About half an hour later, a Guard changing shifts stepped out of the elevator, hastily heading upstairs. He was stopped at the checkpoint.

”Hey, don’t forget to swipe your card.” The outer guard lifted his eyes from a Sudoku game and reminded the anxious-looking Guard, ”You seem a bit pale.”

”Sorry, feeling a little under the weather.”

The Guard held up behind the checkpoint managed a stiff smile.

Indeed, he was flushed yet ashen, as if he’d lost too much blood. Despite the low temperature of the air conditioning, sweat was visible on his forehead.

His card swiping was very rigid.

After distractedly passing the authentication, the man hurried off.

The outer guard glanced at him curiously, wondering what had happened. He took a brief look at the monitor below and checked the situation via the walkie-talkie. After finding everything normal, he lost interest and resumed his Sudoku game.

Meanwhile, the Guard who had passed the checkpoint moved with stiff, quick steps. He navigated through multiple doors and security checks, heading straight up, and quickly squeezed into another elevator that hadn’t closed.

He didn’t even acknowledge the concerned gazes from others in the elevator, kept his head down, and pressed the button for the second floor.

The elevator doors closed slowly.

It was about to ascend when it suddenly stopped and stayed put.

The doors opened again.

The Guard’s hurried expression revealed a flash of anger, but upon seeing the person entering, he quickly lowered his head.

The newcomer was a golden-haired, blue-eyed Teenage Girl.

Lizard Eckmok.

After nodding to her colleagues, she pressed the button for the basement floor and turned to greet the Guard, ”Heading home early today, Jo?”

It was as if he paused for a second before realizing she was talking to him.

The Guard nodded and forced a smile.

A trace of sweat appeared on the back of his neck. It felt... somewhat odd.

The elevator doors closed slowly, ascended quickly, and opened once more.

Liz stepped out into the corridor, encountering her assistant waiting there. After exchanging a few words, they walked forward, but Liz’s stride suddenly froze.

Something’s off!

”What’s wrong?” the assistant asked.

Liz didn’t respond, but an ominous conjecture rose within her, and her expression grew increasingly grave.

Inside the elevator, I was close enough to hear Jo’s heartbeat... unnaturally fast. That, combined with his delayed response and his subconsciously tensed body...

And those fleeting gazes in the elevator that seemed to be cast towards my back...

For a moment, I wondered if I was being oversensitive.

But when I considered Jo’s position and that prisoner in the jail—the one with an abnormally high-risk level—an increasingly unsettling premonition gripped me.

”Something’s not right,” she murmured softly, then turned abruptly and dashed back the way she came.

The assistant couldn’t even catch up, ”Where are you going?”

”To prevent the situation from getting worse!”

Liz sprinted at full speed. Simultaneously, she ordered everyone via internal communication to urgently search for Jo, while she herself headed straight for the prison section on the fourth underground level.

Thinking about what might have happened, her expression grew increasingly grim.

Not caring about the astonished looks from others, she drew the Stone Tooth Sword and sped through the hallway with the speed of a Sublimator!

Hopefully, I’m not too late...

In less than a minute, she had stormed into the deepest part of the underground prison, her Stone Tooth Sword radiating intense light. But as the elevator doors slowly opened, she didn’t see the horrific scene she had anticipated.

Everything was normal.

Six idle Guards were holding coffee cups and chatting. At her entrance, their expressions turned to astonishment, and they quickly set down their cups and stood to attention.

”Where’s Jo?” Liz asked. ”Where is he?”

”He just left.”

”And what about Huai Shi?” Liz’s eyes widened as she saw a Guard pointing towards the direction of the cage.

From there, a low and gentle voice was speaking.

”...So, sometimes you become overly irritable and want to use violence because you feel someone is invading your safe zone. Your aggressive behavior is essentially an overprotective instinct, stemming from a magnified sense of insecurity.”

That very calm and friendly voice continued, ”Including this time, the conflict with the Sublimators of Ivy Vine was due to a misunderstanding being amplified, leading to this incident.

You need to frequently examine yourself, Bona, indulging in violence won’t change your situation; it’ll only increase your drinking problem.”

Faintly, a helpless voice, sniffling as if choking back sobs, said, ”I know, Mr. Huai Shi, but sometimes I can’t control myself. I also don’t know what to do.”

”Do you remember what I told you?”

That kind voice sighed, ”You can’t drown yourself in those shallow and irresponsible stimuli of sex, alcohol, and drugs anymore, Bona. You need a regular and normal life, a hobby that can help you calm down and empty your mind. Did those books on classical music help after you read them?”

”They did help, they certainly did.”

Next to Huai Shi, the Eye of Nightmare, a man covered in muscles and tattoos and incredibly burly, was wiping his tears and crying like a child, ”Last night I dreamt of my brother... back when he was still alive and I wasn’t like this... I can’t remember the last time I dreamt of him. I remember we talked a lot, and after waking up, I felt much calmer.”

”That’s good, Bona, you’re changing, aren’t you?” Inside the cell, Huai Shi smiled, filled with immense relief. ”You’re slowly becoming better.”

Noticing Liz’s approach, their conversation momentarily paused.

Then, Huai Shi saw grim-faced Liz and her Stone Tooth Sword, his eyebrows raising involuntarily, ”Miss Liz, have you finally decided to come and kill me with that thing?”

”Cut the crap, Huai Shi.” Liz looked at Huai Shi indifferently, ”What exactly are you up to?”

”What do you mean by that?”

Huai Shi spread his hands in confusion, ”I’m locked up, what can I possibly do?”

”You think you can fool anyone with this illusion!”

A murderous intent flashed in Liz’s eyes as she violently ripped the cell door open, reaching out to shatter what she thought was Huai Shi’s shadow. But the moment she made contact, her expression suddenly froze.

And Huai Shi was thrown against the wall, sliding down slowly to the ground.

Spewing out a mouthful of fresh blood, his breathing was faint as spider silk.

This wasn’t an illusion.

It was real?

Liz couldn’t believe it.

Meanwhile, outside the door, a Sublimator from Ivy Vine rushed to her side and reported in a low voice, ”We’ve caught Jo. He’s in the infirmary; didn’t resist much. After verification, it’s definitely him and not someone else in disguise. There are also no traces of hypnosis or command influence in his consciousness.”

In other words, everything was normal.

Liz stood there, dumbfounded.

In the silence, Huai Shi lay on the ground, struggling to lift his neck to look at her.

As if guessing something, his expression became incredibly odd.

”Hey, Miss Liz...”

Holding back a laugh, he asked curiously, ”You don’t really think that Jo is me in disguise, do you?”

Liz’s grim expression said it all.

Ignoring him, she turned her head and asked, ”Why did Jo rush to the infirmary?”

”Prescriptions.”

The reply came from Huai Shi.

He propped himself up, leaning against the wall, his expression turning scornful, ”Miss Liz, Jo was diagnosed with the initial stage of claustrophobia five days ago. Because of this condition, he’s submitted a transfer report. Tomorrow he’s moving to the surface area; today was his last day working here... Why don’t you know your colleagues better than I do? Or do you think even this is somehow related to me?”

Claustrophobia.

Liz was shocked for a long time, only to realize that if this was the reason, then everything made perfect sense, and she was simply overreacting.

Yet, looking at the man in front of me, I still feel something isn’t quite right.

Even without a shred of logic, I still feel this must have something to do with the man before me.

”What are you staring at?”

Huai Shi smirked. ”Could I have made him develop claustrophobia? How long have I been here? If I were really that powerful, why wouldn’t I just use my words to drive you all to schizophrenia? Or better yet, have you worship me as the Savior? At least that would dispel the unfounded prejudices some people harbor against me.”

”Search him.”

In a brief silence, Liz gave the order, deciding to follow her intuition.