Since it was already nearly eight in the evening by the time he reached the dining hall, Yaxiu naturally failed to order the limited Lalafell delicacies. He grabbed a few random meat dishes and sat down to wolf them down.
"Does victory food taste good?"
Yaxiu looked up to see Valkas sitting down across from him, holding a glass of water.
"To be honest, these leftovers are already a bit cold, and all the Lalafell was ordered before I got here..."
"You can order off the menu. You took thirty-seven contribution points off me; spending one or two to treat yourself wouldn't be excessive, would it?"
"Huh? Ordering? Spending contribution points?"
"You didn't know? Well, makes sense—you've only been here a couple of days." Valkas pointed to a menu signboard on one side of the dining hall. "You can order food at any time, completely unrestricted by the dining hall's daily offerings. Outside of free recreation hours, they'll even deliver to your dorm room—provided you spend contribution points."
Only then did Yaxiu realize that the menu board was an à la carte order list. Previously, he had assumed it was just a showpiece for the dining hall's image—*Look, leaders, see how many dishes we offer! We truly haven't skimped on the inmates' rations!*
At a glance, ordering seemed dirt cheap: any three dishes combined cost only one contribution point. For example, three popular items like "Seafood Lalafell" + "Creamy Chicken Fettuccine" + "Mist Spinach Quiche" only required one contribution point in total, enough for a truly delicious feast.
Yet every death row inmate started with only fifty contribution points, with ten automatically deducted every month, not to mention that points were the collateral for initiating death matches. And the fewer points one had, the higher up the trial sequence one moved, making it far easier to get called up for the live variety broadcast show, the Blood Moon Trial.
Therefore, in this prison, contribution points were not merely circulating currency; they represented an inmate's life quota. Burning through contribution points was no different from chronic suicide... Or perhaps there was a difference: with chronic suicide, you at least didn't know exactly when you'd die, whereas spending contribution points meant watching your life quota steadily tick down before your eyes.
"Though there isn't much entertainment to be found in prison, if you want to spend contribution points, you can definitely find ways to do it," Valkas said. "Hair styling, tailor-made prison uniforms, purchasing specific toiletries... You can even spend points to upgrade to a better dorm. A three-bedroom, two-living-room suite with windows runs for one contribution point a day."
"One contribution point a day? That's insane. Who in their right mind would live there?"
"There is someone. 'Diamond' Taige has been living in that VIP suite for years. He has more contribution points than he could ever spend—there's always some foolish newcomer handing points over to him. If one point equates to one gold coin, Taige in prison might actually be wealthier than he was on the outside."
Yaxiu raised an eyebrow. "In other words... in this prison's evaluation system, we inmates are worth a mere fifty gold coins?"
"You think that's low?"
"Is it a lot?"
"Most ordinary people without a higher education won't earn fifty gold coins in their entire lives, and sorcerers on the bottom rungs can't either. An annual salary of one gold coin is enough to live quite comfortably in Kaimeng City."
Only now did Yaxiu finally grasp the true value of the gold coin in his pocket, and just how ruthlessly exorbitant this prison was—three meat dishes cost a person a full year's wages! Was the Lalafell in there holding a doctorate degree or something?
"Suddenly, these leftovers smell pretty good to me."
Valkas gave a soft snort and simply watched Yaxiu in silence.
After eating for a while, Yaxiu finally couldn't help saying, "Mr. Elf, I'm the type who can't pee when someone's watching."
"Psssshh—psssshh—"
"I was making a metaphor! You don't need to whistle along to egg me on!"
"I thought the youngsters nowadays liked peeing while eating." Valkas smirked briefly, then his face went cold again. "What I'm about to say is just talking to myself—mostly wild ravings. If you overhear it, you'd best act like you heard nothing."
Yaxiu paused slightly.
"Besides serving as the president of the Kaimeng City Elven Race Rights Defense Association, a member of the Kaimeng Council, and a university professor, Shilin Dole has a hidden identity: one of the backers behind the Woodpecker Gang. On the surface, he stands up for other races against councilors of the Blood Saint and Moon Shadow clans, but behind closed doors, he has long engaged in backroom deals with them. The Woodpecker Gang serves as his black gloves, and he even played a part in helping Kaimeng City's mayor, Financier, rise to power.
"The Four Pillar Gods cult has not surfaced for years and had practically vanished without a trace, save for one unsubstantiated rumor: eight years ago, during the archaeological excavation of the Eastern Ruins, rumors claimed that several important ritual grimoires of the Four Pillar Gods cult were unearthed. That same year, the Eastern Ruins were struck by a Void Realm storm, and most of the archaeological findings were destroyed.
"In the excavation team leading the archaeological work at the Eastern Ruins back then, Professor Shilin Dole was the chief advisory consultant.
"Shilin is an exceptionally patient elf; I've never seen any creature surpass him when it comes to biding his time. If he wants someone dead, it means that person possesses critical intelligence regarding him, which would cause him immense loss should it ever leak."
Valkas took a sip of water to wet his throat and glanced at Yaxiu.
"Theoretically, most death row inmates entering prison have had their memories thoroughly searched. If there really were any intelligence, the Sin Hunting Hall would certainly have uncovered it... unless someone's memories were never combed through."
*So that's how it is.*
Though Yaxiu still didn't know what his connection to this Professor Shilin was, he completely understood why Shilin was doing everything possible to have him murdered: he thought Yaxiu held secrets that had yet to leak!
Because of the Four Pillar Gods cult, the Sin Hunting Hall hadn't dared search his memories at all. Consequently, Yaxiu Heath had become the only inmate in the entire prison who still harbored secrets!
This was Shilin's good fortune, because Heath hadn't leaked his secrets;
It was also Shilin's misfortune, because Heath could report him at any moment!
To be fair, if Yaxiu actually knew such secrets, he would report Shilin to the Sin Hunting Hall without hesitation.
Not that he was some malicious villain who hurt others for no personal gain, but he was curious about Shilin and wanted to become close cellmates with him. And if they got the chance to have a passionate clash in the death match arena, even better.
The problem was—Yaxiu really didn't know any of Shilin's secrets!
He hadn't absorbed a single drop of the original owner Heath's memories!
It was maddening. Yaxiu wanted nothing more than to use Heath's memories to help the Sin Hunting Hall bring all those villains to justice.
After all, with so many people breaking the law, why was he the only one caught in the net?!
Unfortunately, he didn't know a thing.
What was even more infuriating was that someone was terrified he would leak secrets and was moving heaven and earth to eliminate him!
When he knew absolutely nothing!
It felt just as suffocating as being falsely accused by a teacher of stealing a classmate's stationery as a kid when you hadn't taken a thing.
"Oh? You haven't left yet? You didn't hear my talking to myself, did you?" Valkas stood up and said, "Let's leave it at that for today. When I have time, I'll find you for a brainstorming session."
"Really?"
"Haha, just kidding. As if I had the time, and as if you had a brain."
"Wait, Valkas." Yaxiu called him back. "Why are you helping me?"
Though Yaxiu figured Valkas might pass him some information after losing, the delivery was completely different from what he had imagined. He had thought Valkas would come over to drop some clichéd parting threat, like "I'm only the weakest of the Four Dark Heavenly Kings; defeating me is useless, our people will come for you soon," or something along those lines.
He hadn't expected Valkas to turn coat so cleanly. Did beating people up automatically come with a moral recalibration effect?
"I'm not helping you."
Valkas shook his head.
"I just want to cause that bastard Shilin some trouble."
Spite at personal expense was indeed an eminently reasonable motive. Striking while the iron was hot, Yaxiu asked, "Then do you know if there's any channel in the prison to trade sorcery spirits? If I can get a few swordsmanship spirits, I might have a chance to cause Shilin some serious trouble—"
"None of my fucking business."
Choked by the rebuff, Yaxiu decided to take the caring approach. "Right, Valkas, since you failed to kill me and even lost, won't you be in trouble—"
"None of your fucking business."
"Then you at least have to tell me how Shilin plans to deal with me next, right?"
Valkas glanced at him, dropped one last remark, and walked straight off.
"The next time we meet, you'll see Shilin's methods for yourself."
Yaxiu felt that Valkas ending up in prison in the first place had everything to do with his foul mouth and tendency to speak in riddles.
Still, he could be certain of at least one thing now: the mastermind behind all of this was definitely Heath's former university professor, the elven scholar Shilin Dole!
......
...
After finishing his meal, Yaxiu didn't linger in the prison. Hurrying back to his dorm room, he called out immediately:
"Sword Princess? Are you there?"
"I am, but also not entirely."
The Sword Princess sat on the bed with her legs crossed, deep black stockings outlining her alluring curves. Resting her chin on her palm, she eyed Yaxiu from the corner of her vision.
"Something the matter?"
"You were the one who reminded me during the death match earlier, wasn't it?"
Yaxiu held out his hand, and the "Substitute" sorcery spirit, rubbing its belly in deep slumber, appeared on his palm.
"The chip is still restricting my sorcery power output, so how was I able to activate the Substitute spirit?"
"Isn't it obvious? You understood the knowledge of the Substitute sorcery spirit, and under the right conditions, you triggered a resonance with it, causing it to spontaneously act and affect reality. That's the exact same method other death row inmates use to activate sorcery spirits in this prison."
Though Yaxiu had heard about it multiple times, he still couldn't help marveling at the phenomenon: mature sorcery spirits could truly cast magic on their own.
"But how did I understand the 'Substitute' spirit?" Yaxiu was still puzzled. "I never studied any knowledge about it."
"You learned it, and you understood it."
Yaxiu was taken aback, suddenly recalling the words Sword Princess had used to guide him.
"Because of that line? 'If it hurts, just treat yourself as someone else, and it won't hurt anymore'?"
"Precisely." The Sword Princess nodded. "When you understood those words, you naturally understood the sorcery spirit. In essence, a sorcery spirit is a collection of knowledge. Once you possess one, even if you don't actively study it, its knowledge will actively pursue you."
"It's that simple?"
"It isn't simple at all." The Sword Princess shook her head. "Reading knowledge and truly comprehending it are two entirely different things... If you hadn't been in extreme danger just now, your body battered and broken, your consciousness nearly fading, you wouldn't have been able to resonate with the Substitute spirit. Merely learning is not enough; empathetic experience is a prerequisite for truly understanding a sorcery spirit."
Yaxiu looked at the Substitute sorcery spirit in his palm, attempting to delve into its interior with his consciousness.
This time was slightly better than the last; Yaxiu could read the flow of information fed back by the spirit, but he still couldn't decipher its structure. If a sorcery spirit were a dish, last time Yaxiu hadn't even possessed a sense of taste, utterly unable to tell how it tasted; this time, he could taste the flavor, but had no idea how it was prepared.
"Being able to understand it is already your limit. So long as it isn't a natal sorcery spirit you summoned yourself, you will never find the Gate of Truth hidden within it."
The Sword Princess saw right through what he was trying to do. "Only with a sorcery spirit born from the knowledge you personally possess can you find its Gate of Truth. For a spirit acquired from other channels, no matter how deeply you understand it, it is ultimately not yours.
"Truth must be pure and flawless; it tolerates not the slightest imperfection."
*Truth really is strict.*
Yaxiu recalled the sorcery spirit and looked at the Sword Princess.
"Where did you disappear to for half the day?"
Chapter 38