The Feeble Healers

"To be honest, I'm the type who can't pee when people are watching. Could you guys turn around?" "Is that so?" Igola strolled over, glanced down, the corner of his mouth curling upward as he let out a soft chuckle. "I see. No wonder." Yaxiu retreated into a stall, cursing under his breath. Langna looked around the room, a puzzled expression on his face. "What's so special about this restroom that it managed to win the favor of the Swindler?" "This restroom is just like any other; there's nothing special about it at all," Igola said, dampening his fingers with tap water to gently wash around his eyes. "What is special is that the restroom can serve as a medium for us to deceive the chip." "As you might know, before coming to prison, I was a contract master in the insurance industry. Of course, my duties weren't limited to signing contracts; sales were part of my job, too. And when selling, I didn't stop at insurance—I had access to all kinds of product channels. Work is work, after all; I was simply working several jobs at once." Yaxiu called out curiously from the stall, "Sounds quite inspiring. So why did you get locked up?" Igola sighed. "Well, speaking of that, I feel I was treated quite unfairly. All I ever did was help clients purchase products they desired, yet I was convicted of fraud under particularly severe circumstances." Langna chimed in, "If I remember correctly, your most glorious feat was convincing a wealthy tycoon to bankrupt himself just to buy a cup of water." "A cup of water? Just ordinary water?" "Water is hardly ordinary. It is an elixir that sustains life, the origin of all living things, the medium of miracles, the mother cradling the sky and the earth..." Yaxiu understood completely now. Igola was the type of powerhouse who would score full marks on an interview challenge like 'Sell me this pen for a thousand dollars.' "All right, there are no prospective clients here. Tone down your sales pitch and tell us how the restroom is going to help us fool the chip." Igola explained, "Among the products I used to represent, there was a vital signs monitoring device. It could pick up the life signals transmitted by miracle chips and analyze the user's current physical condition from various vital signs. The device itself isn't the point. What matters is that while studying its functions, I discovered that miracle chips do not emit life signals continuously. There is an interval. The default frequency is once every six hundred seconds—ten minutes. "The frequency can be adjusted, but the higher the frequency, the greater the demands placed on the receiving device. For instance, the top-tier model I sold could receive signals every five seconds, and even without any markup, the device itself was exorbitantly expensive. "The chip processor in Shattered Lake Prison that collects and analyzes our vital signs is undoubtedly military-grade. Even so, the prison wouldn't squander resources by having our chips transmit signals nonstop. Under the chip's restrictions, escaping Shattered Lake Prison is utterly impossible for us anyway. Even if the transmission interval were set to the maximum, the only consequence would be discovering our sudden deaths a little later. "The only place in the prison that forces us to broadcast continuous life signals should be the arena in the Death Match Club. When we emit a signal indicating unconsciousness or death, the arena immediately restores our attack restrictions, which proves that life signals are monitored there in real time." Yaxiu sensed that this was a vital piece of information, but he still failed to see how it applied. "That's certainly an interesting bit of trivia, but what does it have to do with breaking out?" Igola shot him a look. "Suppose you removed your chip and it stopped sending life signals. How do you think the information processor would interpret your situation? Keep in mind that even corpses emit signals." Yaxiu realized at once. "It would determine that I've removed the chip, and it would immediately alert the prison that an inmate is escaping!" "Exactly. But to break out, removing the chip is an absolute necessity; otherwise, we won't even be able to take a single step off this island." Yaxiu nodded. When they scouted the harbor earlier, they had noticed a yellow line painted along the shore bearing the words: *Please Do Not Cross the Yellow Line*. Even with the polite 'please,' to the inmates it was an impassable boundary. The instant a toe brushed against that yellow line, their bodies would freeze completely, paralyzed. "Therefore, the window between 'removing the chip' and 'the processor realizing we're escaping' is our safest opportunity to act. During that period, we'll be free of all restrictions, yet the prison will not have noticed anything amiss." Igola looked around at them. "That is the time window we must seize! "Deducing this much is already the limit of what I could uncover. As for the transmission frequency, we can only hope it's set to the default ten minutes." Langna said, "That's already impressive. I originally thought you were just playing around, but your performance forces me to admit, Igola, that you've rekindled my hope." Even Ronald nodded repeatedly, his instinct for survival restoring a sliver of his rationality. "As expected of the man I picked. My eye for talent is truly unmatched," Yaxiu praised himself first, then asked, "But what does the men's room have to do with any of this?" Igola curled his lip. "The purpose of a restroom is for excretion, of course. Could it be used for dining? If you possess a preference along those lines, by all means, give us a demonstration." Speaking of the fruits of his years of research, Igola showed a hint of pride. "Now we know we must exploit the gap between chip transmissions, but there is still one problem to solve—how do we know when the last signal was sent? "Death row inmates definitely don't transmit their signals at the exact same moment; that would create far too much instantaneous load on the processor. Therefore, our transmission times are most likely distributed evenly across those ten minutes. If the processor determines we've encountered a special situation, it temporarily adjusts the transmission frequency, and then resets all inmates' frequencies back to the default state past midnight. "And what constitutes a so-called 'special situation' is actually when the processor needs to lift certain restrictions on our permissions, requiring it to acquire our life signals immediately! "Across the entire prison, 'special situations' occur in only three places." Igola raised two fingers. "The first is the Death Match Club. The reason being that when a death match begins, the chip lifts attack restrictions; when the match ends, it restores them. "Those two moments are when the processor interfaces with the chip, meaning the chip must transmit a life signal to the processor right away! Once the death match concludes, the chip naturally reverts to its default frequency, waiting ten minutes before transmitting the combatant's life signal again. "In other words, by deliberately entering a special situation through a venue like the Death Match Club, we can alter the chip's signal frequency and completely control the time window!" Having heard this, even Yaxiu understood completely. He looked around and glanced at the urinals. "So the restroom is the second place?" Igola smiled faintly. "In theory, we could alter the frequency through a death match, but death matches are fights to the death. By comparison, the restroom is far more convenient. "As for why a restroom produces the exact same effect as the arena, that's naturally because... the prison doesn't permit us to relieve ourselves anywhere we please! Hahaha!" Langna froze for a moment, then couldn't help bursting into laughter as well. Because the prison mandated that inmates could only relieve themselves in restrooms, every time a prisoner stepped inside, the central processor actively granted them 'excretion permissions'! Just like the death match arena, this was a special condition! Without that permission, even if you were constipated to the point of bursting, the chip would forcefully seize control of your sphincter to keep it clamped shut, refusing to let a single drop slip out. If you were truly filled to capacity, your only option would be to vomit it out through your mouth. To the prisoners, this was an unspeakable humiliation. That was why veterans like Igola and Langna were laughing so hard they held their bellies—the prison's brutally rigid rule had ended up becoming an accomplice to their escape. How could such a marvelous irony fail to amuse them? Though how much of that laughter was self-mockery, no one could say. "Then where is the third place?" Yaxiu asked. Igola's laughter subsided, and he looked toward Langna. Langna pondered for a moment. "Is it the couples' room?" Just like the restrooms, the couples' rooms temporarily lifted certain restrictions on death row inmates, even granting leeway for attacks—after all, one was entitled to personal preferences in intimacy. However, much like the arena, entering a couples' room required submitting an application, making it far less convenient than a restroom. Furthermore, an application for a couples' room required at least two people. Langna and Ronald were one thing, but could Yaxiu and Igola really be expected to apply for a couples' room together?! Leaning against the wall, Igola said, "Now that you know all the relevant secrets, I will formally explain the escape plan." "Aren't we going to look for a fifth member?" Yaxiu asked. "We're still missing a support specialist responsible for rapid movement and healing." Langna was a Moon Shadow werewolf skilled in direct melee combat and could act as the vanguard; Ronald was proficient with firearms and setting traps, serving as long-range fire support. As for a support who could heal and transport them swiftly, Yaxiu and Igola had spent the past two days searching without success. What, you ask what Yaxiu and Igola were responsible for? Igola managed human resources, while Yaxiu commanded core technology. The two of them certainly weren't going to fight on the front lines! "We've checked everywhere we could. We can't drag this out any longer," Igola said, glancing at him. "Not everything can wait until preparations are flawless. Heading into the fray unprepared is far more common; after all, criminal opportunities are fleeting. Besides, even if we can wait, can you?" It was true. Yaxiu had no reason to believe Professor Xilin on the outside would simply leave him alone to spend the rest of his days peacefully in Shattered Lake Prison. Leaving Shattered Lake a day earlier meant breaking free of Professor Xilin's machinations a day sooner. "The escape plan is simple: sneak aboard a transport ship and leave." Igola dipped his finger in water and sketched a small boat on the mirror. "However, if we want to board safely, we not only need to remove the miracle chips, but we also require legitimate identities. "Interestingly enough, in Shattered Lake Prison, there happens to be a group of people who can leave directly on the transport ships without submitting an application. What's more, they are targets we can disguise ourselves as without drawing anyone's suspicion—" Igola drew a crow mask on the mirror. "The feeble healers."