Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 409 Behind the Iron Curtain
"Ahhh-"

The eerie howl lasted for a full five or six seconds before gradually subsiding amidst the pale faces of the crowd.

Only echoes remained, drifting in and out of the dim, empty hall, sending chills down one's spine.

"what happened?"

Ricky frowned and said in a low voice, "Report!"

The swords of calamity all turned their heads, their nerves taut as they searched for the source of the screams.

A dozen torches were raised high, illuminating the surroundings. The group of people were like adventurers exploring new lands, nervously wary of the unfamiliar unknown.

Thales, still shaken, withdrew from Hell Senses: he saw nothing but dust in the darkness, an old stone table, and a cell filled with skeletons.

The orders were relayed from the main hall to the heavily guarded stone steps.

"No," came the panting voice of mercenary Sonny after a long pause.

"They weren't one of our people, but the subsequent repercussions were all normal."

Ricky's doubts deepened.

On the other side, Qianzi whispered a few words to a subordinate who had appeared out of nowhere. Watching the subordinate retreat back into the darkness, he solemnly raised his head:
"It wasn't us either."

"It's something else."

Ricky turned to Samir, casting an inquiring glance at the former Star Noble.

Samir seemed to have discovered something. He observed the iron plaque next to the Iron Curtain with slight surprise, then looked at a hanging ring next to the plaque: "So this is..."

But at this moment.

“Wuwu——”

That heart-wrenching scream, like the wailing of ghosts, came eerily from the darkness once more!

Everyone's hearts tightened again!
This time, the terrifying "ghostly screams" were accompanied by an unbearable, piercing scratching sound: "Hiss—hiss—"

Almost everyone subconsciously frowned deeply, and some even covered their ears.

"What the hell!"

Russell's face contorted: "What the hell!"

Amidst the unpleasant noise, Ricky gripped his sword hilt tightly, forcing himself to suppress his emotions as he asked Samir, "Do you think this has anything to do with the Alchemy Tower?"

"Waaaaah—hiss—"

Thales gritted his teeth, feeling incredibly tense from the sound.

It's like, like the sound of fingernails scraping across a blackboard in a past life's memory...

Thinking of this, he suddenly paused.

Scraping the blackboard?
At this moment, Samir, who had been deep in thought, suddenly spoke:
"I know what this is!"

Samir turned around, his face lighting up with joy, like a lost traveler in the desert who had found water:

"That's...that's the sound of fingernails scratching on rough metal!"

Samir touched the metal curtain and exclaimed excitedly, "It's coming from behind here!"

Everyone was shocked!
Countless eyes turned to that strange iron curtain.

Thales looked at the iron plaque beside the Iron Curtain, entering a state of hellish sensory awareness:

Angelo, male, born in 622 in the territory of Vora.

He was imprisoned in 653 for the following crimes: murder, robbery, theft, murder of a nobleman, and unlawful assembly.

[Judgment Judge: Johnny Brennan, Emerald City Judge]

[Guardian: Viscount Sonna Kevindir of Archsea City.]

[Guard: Baron Garrett Luhmann of the Baki Camp.]

Imprisoned in 653...

Thales frowned slightly.

There is another name on the metal plate:
Fowler, male, born in 613 in a certain place in the Eastern Continent.

He was imprisoned in 653 for smuggling, theft, and tax evasion.

[Judgment Judge: Johnny Brennan, Emerald City Judge]

[Guardian: Viscount Sonna Kevindir of Archsea City.]

[Guard: Baron Garrett Luhmann of the Baki Camp.]

Ricky suddenly realized something. He looked at the Iron Curtain, then at the metal plaque beside it, and a look of surprise appeared on his face: "So, the prisoner mentioned on the plaque, the lone bandit, he... he's still alive?"

The painful screams and scratching sounds gradually subsided, turning into low, drawn-out tones.

"Woo-"

This time, Thales recognized it: it was someone's sobbing, the tone changing after passing through the thick iron plate.

All eyes were focused on the iron curtain and what was behind it.

“I understand,” Samir said, walking to the center of the Iron Curtain in everyone’s sight, looking around the special room shrouded in the Iron Curtain in the firelight.

"This is the mechanism of the Black Prison. I don't know if it was originally part of the Alchemy Tower or was modified by the Star People later."

“The cells we saw before were full of skeletons, but those were all empty. These, with their iron curtains, are the cells with ‘occupants,’” Samir stared intently at the hanging rings on the wall, his voice slightly heavy.
"This hanging ring is the switch that controls this iron curtain."

Behind the Iron Curtain, the distorted sobs continued faintly.

Listening to Samir's words, Thales looked around the hall with complicated emotions, his gaze sweeping over the thick dust and over the seemingly unremarkable, yet unique, craftsmanship that may be a thousand years old.

“Bellety—a veteran in the Royal Guard, was appointed Chief Punisher after Sacel’s promotion. He was responsible for escorting royal prisoners to the Bone Prison. He told me many years ago that the criminals in the Black Prison suffer from both the pain of death and the pain of survival. I never understood until today.”

Samir's hand gently traced the ring, dust settling on it, his voice ethereal:

“The living prisoners were locked up, and the Iron Curtain was raised, shutting them out of the light and the hall; and the supplies dropped down from the holes in the ground would only fall behind the Iron Curtain, into these prisons where there were still living people.”

He looked around incredulously at the other empty cells, his gaze sweeping over the withered skeletons behind the bars.

"On one hand, it portrays the despair of being isolated from the world; on the other hand, it offers hope for survival."

"Two kinds of suffering."

Samir stared blankly, his face looking quite unpleasant.

Everyone fell silent.

Former Baron Russell, standing to one side, looked grave: "Why doesn't this prisoner behind the Iron Curtain speak or cry for help? He just screams and scratches?"

Chisel shrugged and didn't say anything.

The one who answered him was Josh, who had been freed by the sword of calamity.

"Because he can't do it."

Josh shook his head, which surprised Russell slightly.

"It's like practicing swordsmanship; if you don't practice for a day, you'll become rusty."

"I've said it before, when you've spent too long in a lonely cell, isolated from the world, longer than expected..." The calamity sword, just released from the prison of bones, looked at everyone, and those whose gaze swept over them felt a chill in their hearts:
"Believe me, what you've lost is far more than just time and freedom."

Thales stared at the cell behind the iron curtain, feeling the air grow even colder.

“This is insane,” Clay said, his eyes fixed on the iron curtain, watching for any movement behind it. “The Prison of Bones, what… does this place want people to die, or to live?”

No one answered.

Only faint sobs could be heard.

Do you want people to die, or do you want them to live?
Thales stared at the heavy iron curtain, lost in thought.

A few seconds later, the chisel sighed: "Or perhaps neither."

Ricky twitched the corner of his mouth, interrupting the tense conversation:
"I think we're on the right track."

He turned around.

"keep going."

The swords of calamity moved in response to his movements.

"Are we just going to leave like this, ignoring the prisoner behind us?" Russell frowned, looking at the heavy iron curtain.

The chisel shook its head and smiled disdainfully:
Why should we interfere?

With mixed feelings, everyone turned around at the same time.

Thales glanced one last time at the heavy iron curtain, his heart heavy.

The firelight receded into the darkness and disappeared from the hall.

Leaving behind the iron curtain and increasingly painful, desolate sobs.

Their journey continues, but the recent discovery has clearly invigorated the Blade of Calamity, who already had a target in mind.

Soon, they descended step by step, passing through increasingly larger halls, each containing more and more cells—from nine, ten, to a dozen, then twenty…

What made Thales uneasy was that more than one of these cells was shrouded in an iron curtain.

That is to say...

“We’ve found a way,” Samir said, frowning as he looked at yet another iron curtain before him, then at the sign on it, after countless layers of buildings.
"The real dark cells are all below the tenth floor."

Clay nodded, ignoring the frantic banging behind the black curtain.

"It seems that's correct."

Ricky straightened up from the iron plaque on the other side that listed the prisoners' information.

[Tak Pong, male, born in 630 in Sodala City.]

He was imprisoned in 661 for robbery and inciting rebellion.

[Judgment by: High King Kael'thas Star]

[Guard: Baron Honorary, Klaus Chatham.]

[Warden: Baron of Baki Camp, Roman Williams.]

Thales looked at the iron plaques with a heavy heart.

Apart from the lone bandit at the beginning, they descended layer by layer, and along the way, they saw prisons where real people were being held.

Without exception, these cells were all shrouded behind heavy iron curtains—some were filled only with painful cries, while others rarely revealed a human cry for help…

There was only deathly silence.

In these prisons, according to the vague iron plaques and Samir's account, there were duchesses who murdered their husbands and children, great pirates who privately plundered merchant ships without permission, disillusioned nobles who rebelled on their own, and blood relatives who avenged themselves by killing thirty-four people in one night.

But Ricky ignored the prisoners and continued on his way.

The further down they go, the more serious and terrifying, complex and difficult to understand, and unpredictable the crimes of the most serious offenders become.

Thales walked through layer after layer, through cell after cell, through iron curtain after iron curtain. Among the prisoners, he saw outlaws who robbed military supplies and rescued the people during the bloody war, and he also saw generals who killed their incompetent superiors in the war, then led their troops to kill the enemy and finally win.

There were even nobles who were generous, kind, virtuous, and selfless in helping the suffering, and who enjoyed high prestige.

Why was he locked up?

Clay, the swordsman from the North, stood in the cell holding the nobleman and his men, frowning at the iron curtain and plaque: "According to you, he is generous, kind, philanthropic, and highly respected—is that wrong?"

“Of course it’s wrong,” Russell said coldly, standing to the side.

"Because his ancestors were granted a fiefdom by a prince and were close relatives of the royal family who inherited the bloodline of the Radiant Star."

“In the eyes of modern kings, this is called ‘ambitious and scheming’.”

"Have I ever told you that from the Iron Thorn Empress Dowager to Sumer I, from Erica to the Red King, the history of the Stars is never short of bloody power struggles?"

Thales' heart skipped a beat, and he glanced at the fast rope on the other side out of the corner of his eye.

Samir paused slightly, gave a soft hum, and continued forward. Along the way, they passed countless prisons behind iron curtains, encountered a huge embezzler who had both rendered great service and committed great crimes to the kingdom; a temple priest who preached the unity of gods and the concept of mortal destiny; and a historian who insisted on going back to the era of the Red King and reopening forbidden cases.

“And this guy, I remember him. He was a scholar who wrote a few books and got thrown in,” Qianzi said, looking at a cell and laughing.

"It seems he's been imprisoned with a nobleman who instigated a private feud, for what appears to be thirty years..."

Upon hearing this, Thales couldn't help but speak up:
"Scholar? Why?"

Samir came up from behind and said coldly, "Because he wrote a book."

"Insisting that civil rights are superior to royal rights, and that popular mandate is superior to divine mandate."

Thales was slightly taken aback and then fell silent.

"Your grandfather was quite merciful, sparing his life and only throwing him here."

Samir's gaze made Thales quite uneasy.

“These people, each with an incredibly complex, mysterious, and legendary story, could keep a bard writing for three days and three nights straight, filled with ecstasy,” Samir said, glancing at the iron-curtained cells before him with a meaningful look.

"Often, the kingdom cannot determine their life or death based solely on existing laws and crimes."

Thales frowned slightly: "So, you mean, the Prison of Bones is..."

But Samir only interrupted him, saying quietly:
"Now, they are locked behind these iron curtains, waiting for time to kill them."

Samir kept his eyes fixed on Thales, his gaze sharp and intense, filled with unspeakable emotions.

This made the uneasy Thales unable to look away.

"I was thinking, if we released these serious criminals who are somewhat suspicious and kept them in our hands, would it be beneficial to the Star Kingdom..." Russell rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“That’s not our goal,” Ricky interrupted him curtly.
"As our guest, you don't need to go to all this trouble."

Russell scoffed in dissatisfaction.

In the darkness, the chisel coughed, drawing everyone's attention.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Chisel said, squinting.

"The top few floors are empty cells filled with dried-up skeletons."

“And now,” he turned around, looking at the scene behind the several empty cells:
"The empty cell in front of us is full of mummies, some of which still have a faint smell."

Ricky's expression shifted.

"what do you mean……"

“Either these are prisoners who have been dead for a few years,” the man with the chisel said sternly.
"Or, we're already deep underground, where even the decomposition of corpses is much slower."

Extremely deep underground.

Thales's spirits sank to rock bottom.

The man slowly revealed his intentions: "Respected Crassus, if we continue searching aimlessly like this, are you sure we can still return to the surface and evacuate safely within the time limit?"

Ricky, his expression unchanged, raised the torch:
"How long have we been walking?"

Clay, standing to the side, quietly replied, "It's been more than half an hour. We've gone down a full eighteen floors."

Ricky remained silent and looked at Samir.

Samir shook his head, his eyes still resolute: "It should be soon."

"We must find him to have the answer."

Ricky was silent for a moment, then nodded solemnly.

So the group turned around again, searching for an unknown target.

Chisel smiled helplessly, realizing that his reminder had no effect.

“This place is too big; they won’t be able to find it,” Russell scoffed and followed.

“Yes, it’s huge, but what surprised me most was that, although the air was a bit stuffy and the smell was a bit unpleasant,” Chip said to Russell beside him.
"But I don't feel any difficulty breathing."

"Look at this building, the Imprisonment Research Institute, isn't it?"

Looking around, Chip sighed to Russell, who was growing increasingly impatient, "Those people back then, those so-called mages, they must have been incredibly powerful."

Thales' heart skipped a beat.

He saw Ricky walking ahead, discussing something with Samir.

“Yes,” Thales said casually as he walked over to the chisel, giving a sincere sigh.
“I think so too. Such a large building is buried deep underground, and its preservation, layout, and ventilation have all been done meticulously.”

Chisel glanced at Thales with considerable surprise.

This was the first time His Highness the Prince had spoken to him on his own initiative.

Thales smiled and said, "My father mentioned the Bone Prison to me. According to him, the mages are truly amazing beings, capable of surprising you at any moment."

Surprise.

Sure enough, the next second, Thales saw that the chisel's expression changed.

Their search did not last long.

Soon, they went down another floor and arrived at a hall they had never seen before.

The same dust and ash covered the ground, the same ruins, the same massive stone pillars. Thales looked around and saw nearly thirty cells.

Five of them were completely enclosed by thick iron curtains, with no visible fences or prisoners behind them.

Samir stood in front of one of the cells and raised a torch.

In that instant, Thales clearly heard Samir's breath suddenly tremble in the quiet darkness.

The torch in his hand flickered.

“That’s right,” Samir’s voice trembled slightly.
"This is...our goal."

The group, who had been feeling exhausted, suddenly perked up. Ricky strode forward and examined each metal plaque with a serious expression.

Thales entered his hellish senses, straining to see the iron plaque clearly.

Quill Barney Jr., male, born in 631 in Everstar City.

He was imprisoned in 661 AD on charges of treason.

[Judgment by: High King Kael'thas Star]

[Warden: Cyril Falkenhaus, Lord of the Wasteland City and Duke Guardian of the Western Wasteland]

[Warden: Bob Cullen, Lord of Huigang City and Duke Guardian of the East Sea]

[Guardian: Lord of Emerald City, Duke Lenster Kevindir, Guardian of the South Bank]

[Warden: Lord of Coldhold, Duke Val Arend, Warden of the North]

[Warden: Lord of Heroic Fortress, Earl Lewis Bozdorf]

[Warden: Chief Intelligence Officer, Lord Morat Hansen]

[Guard: Lord Arakka Mu, Honorary Lord.]

[Guardian: Lord Honor Roman Williams]

[Guard: Sonia Sathere.]

Quill Barney Jr.

Who is this?
Seeing the metal plaque, the date of imprisonment, and the unusual names of the convict and the detainee, Thales's doubts deepened.

So many guards, some of high status, others with exceptional skills…

and also.

His crime was...

Collaborate with the enemy?

“Wow,” a voice rang out from the side, seemingly understanding, “This is, that little Barney…”

Samir took a deep breath, knocked on one of the iron curtains, and tried to pull the ring next to the cell, but found it wouldn't budge.

He looked slightly disappointed and turned back in front of the last iron plaque:

Is there a way to open the Iron Curtain?

"Five cells...all of them!"

Ricky laughed.

He took out the long, thin "key" again and walked to the stone pillar in the center of the hall.

The dust was blown away, revealing the emblem of the Alchemy Tower in the firelight.

Ricky inserted the key into the central hole as before, waited for it to pop up, and nodded to Samir.

Samir took a deep breath and gestured to the others.

The five men walked together to the five cells, placed their hands on the dusty rings, and pulled hard.

"Kara."

Five unpleasant mechanical clicks sounded.

next second.

Rumble…

As the friction sound rang out, the torches in the hall all flickered!
Suddenly, a lot of dust fell at the junction of the five iron curtains and the ceiling.

Rumble…

A scraping sound came from inside.

Soon, Thales noticed a gap between the Iron Curtain and the ceiling, through which metal bars were visible.

It also revealed the darkness that lay behind it.

decline.

Thales thought to himself: The Iron Curtain is descending.

He couldn't help but clench his fists.

Rumble…

Gradually, the Iron Curtain descended at an increasingly greater rate, producing an unpleasant scraping sound.

The firelight illuminated the metal railings that were exposed after the Iron Curtain fell.

Compared to the empty cells, these bars were clearly untouched by dust, reflecting a smooth metallic sheen.

Rumble…

But the firelight only illuminated a small part of the cell; behind the bars remained complete darkness.
A foul odor emanated from behind the iron curtain.

But no one paid any attention; they were focused and expectantly watching the five iron curtains descend upon the cells.

Rumble…

Finally, the Iron Curtain lowered further and lower until it completely disappeared below the ground, becoming almost invisible.

thump.

With a muffled thud, Thales knew: the Iron Curtain had been fully opened.

A patch of darkness was revealed.

The monthly pass price has increased quite a bit, three hundred overnight, and it seems like it will soon reach five hundred. I'm a little nervous.

Could it really be a double update?



(End of this chapter)