Sir! Don't close the net!

Theresa Prison is a morbidly humorous ecosystem called Hell, built by powerful figures. Once they become the subjects of observation, they have no choice but to struggle forever in this Theresa Prison.

The supplies they received in the first place were already meager, and if they were divided up, they would be even less. Now, there's an additional expense: paying tribute to the King in Yellow.

Therefore, Gajek doesn't intend to share the precious supplies from the outside world with those who don't even have the courage to come along. Anyway, everyone is no longer the same species, inside and out. Even if some prisoners die without receiving alms, Gajek won't feel any guilt.

In Teresa Prison, death was a normal thing.

Even more fortunately, those who would have come up to question why they didn't get their share of supplies were all dead long ago.

As they passed Sif's cell, Gajek paused briefly, took a small package from his stomach, threw it into the cell, and continued forward without looking back.

Gajek wasn't sympathizing with Sif. In fact, Gajek thought Sif, who couldn't even leave the cell, was a huge burden. But such a burden would attract Simon's attention. As long as Sif had supplies, Simon wouldn't doubt that he hadn't distributed them fairly. Then, the remaining supplies would have to be distributed according to Simon's physical condition.

Gajek didn't care about Simon, but Simon was the biggest guarantee for his current livelihood. He had to ensure that Simon's body could withstand the increasingly greedy demands of Mamaka and his ilk, and then he would receive his hard-earned money.

Gajek stopped in front of his cell, but instead of immediately returning to his own, he nervously peered into the Yellow King's cell. The offerings placed in front of the cell had all disappeared.

Gajek was very confident in his rationality. If he saw the King in Yellow taking away the offerings, he would probably go crazy on the spot. He knew the victim from last night quite well. He was a rather bold guy, and the scream he made clearly meant that he had seen something extremely terrifying.

Gajek was somewhat unwilling. Trading with a dangerous and greedy guy like Mamaka could at least get some supplies from the outside world, but paying tribute to the King in Yellow offered no benefits at all, and there was even the risk of being frightened into madness and dying tragically if the King in Yellow came to visit him.

After much hesitation, Gajek gave up on the idea of ​​asking the King in Yellow to get rid of Mamaka.

For prisoners of their caliber, all they need to do is try their best to survive and pray that they won't be affected.

As night fell, all the prisoners hurriedly ran back to their cells. Li Yili, who had been watching the window all day, pulled her yellow raincoat tighter, opened her cell door at the perfect moment, and deliberately raised her hand towards Gajek's cell door just as the clock stopped at 11:59.

With a mere touch of the prison door, the Iron Maiden appeared behind Li Yili in an extremely unrestrained yet terrifying manner.

Unexpectedly, Gajek was so frightened by this turn of events that he collapsed to the ground.

He now finally understood why the prisoner had screamed in terror; if he hadn't been caught off guard, he would have screamed even louder.

Is this a warning?

Gajek couldn't help but think of his own speculations about the King in Yellow during the day, and his resentment towards the King in Yellow for taking tributes but doing nothing for them.

Of course, Gajek was overthinking it. Li Yili didn't have mind-reading abilities, and she didn't even know who lived next door. Her deliberately reaching out towards Gajek's cell door was purely to test Iron Maiden's principles of action, and incidentally, to take advantage of Iron Maiden's existence to exert her influence.

Yesterday, that poor gentleman seemed to regard the Iron Maiden as part of the King in Yellow, which is quite normal; if he were in his shoes, he would have thought the same.

"We must make the most of this opportunity..."

Li Yili didn't notice that she had unconsciously murmured to herself, nor did she notice that a viscous liquid had seeped through her yellow raincoat, and that eyes were slowly opening from within the liquid.

Chapter Nine: The King in Yellow Wants to Maintain His Mystery

Even if you look directly at it, you cannot see its shape; even if you hear it, you cannot understand its meaning.

But life does not stand still. Those who stand still in the face of fear will be ruthlessly eliminated, and the vast majority of prisoners in Theresa's prison, where the doors are unlocked, are not among those who will be eliminated.

Li Yili wasn't naive enough to think that the fear brought by the Iron Maiden could subdue everyone in Teresa Prison. There would always be prisoners who couldn't resist testing him. He only had a few minutes of free time when the Iron Maiden appeared. During the day, he could only stay in his small cell. If even one prisoner came to test him, he would be dead.

The Iron Maiden he relied on looked quite frightening and aggressive, but the rare beast prisoners looked even more terrifying.

Most importantly, he had no idea how strong those prisoners were or whether they had any special abilities; there were too many unknown dangers.

The prisoners here don't seem like ordinary people, nor are they simply chosen ones; they seem to be somewhere in between, rational contaminants.

Li Yili was too lazy to think about whether this was the so-called correct way, and even if she did think about it, she wouldn't come to any answer.

Even more bizarrely, he couldn't try to team up with the prisoners here.

When gathering intelligence online, other prisoners must not see his face or hear his voice; ideally, they should not even make eye contact.

He had to rack his brains to create new fears to intimidate the prisoners.

With her free time ending a second before it was over, Li Yili returned to her cell and sat on the ground with her back to the cell door.

It's great that I can't sleep; I have plenty of time to think.

Li Yili sighed inwardly.

He had figured out some of the patterns in the Iron Maiden's operating principles.

First of all, even if you stand directly in front of the Iron Maiden, she will not attack immediately. This is something that prisoners will usually find out within two or three days, since there will always be prisoners who can't resist the urge to test her if she doesn't attack.

However, because of his intervention, which added the unpredictable element of the Iron Maiden surrounding the King in Yellow, the prisoners here chose to continue to observe. As for the poor man who died tragically before... although I really wanted to say that the poor man would buy him a lot of time, unfortunately, in all these days, his movement range has not exceeded the third layer of the prison, and he can only scare the prisoners in this area.

The vast majority of prisoners have never even experienced the cutscene of the King in Yellow standing in front of the cell door watching them.

At most, they can hold out for two more days before prisoners start testing them.

The Iron Maiden doesn't attack at the slightest sound; instead, she infiltrates step by step. Only a high-pitched scream like that poor gentleman's will trigger her powerful attack.

This matter will most likely be revealed soon.

There must be a prisoner who has the ability to launch attacks silently. He himself was almost killed by the Iron Maiden, so he can't expect the Iron Maiden to protect him, at least not while he's wandering around outside.

If any arrogant prisoner dared to test his skills against the King in Yellow, he would likely meet his end. (69.493.6135)

Li Yili couldn't help but exhale, turning her head to look at the wall beside her. Behind the thick wall were a sponge man and a mud man. Although she was successfully frightened by them, she knew that if they really fought, he would most likely be killed. So she absolutely couldn't reveal any weakness.

Li Yili looked down at her empty hands and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Li Yili spent the night in distress. The first rays of sunlight in the morning obscured some of the starlight, but Li Yili did not move and continued to think. For Li Yili, there was no free time in Teresa Prison except for those few most dangerous minutes.

"clang--"

The heavy chime made Li Yili's head buzz. His floor had good lighting and ventilation and was also closest to the clock on the top floor, so the sound was like a direct hit to his head.

Li Yili covered her head and looked up nervously.

During the many days he was in Teresa Prison, the bell at the top of the prison never rang, except for the day he entered.

Have new prisoners arrived?

But this bell sounded different from the one he heard the first time he came; it was clearer and more urgent.

Soon, the sound of noisy footsteps moving in one direction, and the fleeting figure of his good neighbor SpongeMan, gave him the answer.

It's time to gather.

Li Yili raised her hand and rubbed her temples, trying hard to flip through her past memories, searching for information about Teresa Prison.

In the past, Valhae Rae complained about Hagen's high customs duties, saying that Hagen was just the city with the most temples.

He didn't pay attention at the time, but now that he thinks about it... it's really an ambiguous statement that the city with the most temples is the one with the most temples. Temples represent wealth and vitality, and all cities are built around temples. If there really was an area with more temples than Hagen, it would have developed into a huge city long ago.

Since no such large city has emerged, it means that the area is very delicate, so delicate that it is impossible to build a city belonging to any one faction. However, no faction can ignore the benefits of having more temples than Hagen.

After all, resources like the "Legacy of the Ancient Gods" hold an unparalleled attraction for life forms in this world.

The final result was naturally to divide it up.

"Ha... Public Prison Teresa..."

Thinking about it carefully, aren't there a bit too many strangely shaped people here?

What could cause such a mutation in a living organism?

Nature is the legacy of the ancient gods.

Labor reform is like the shadow of prison; wherever there is a prison, there is labor reform.

After all, "labor reform" is a term that capitalists love second only to "internship".

With a constant supply of cheap labor, even if the laborers are not treated as human beings and are used and exploited at will, no one will sympathize with the prisoners. The public will not care how much benefit labor reform can bring, and there is also the good reputation of disciplining prisoners and reforming them.

Excavating temples is a very dangerous activity, especially now that the corners of temples are no longer safe.

But a prisoner's life doesn't matter, especially when a prisoner becomes a freak that's no different from a living pollutant. No matter how dangerous it is, the targets set by the authorities must be met.

“This is…an opportunity,” Li Yili said, pinching the bridge of her nose with some hesitation.

First of all, the King in Yellow certainly can't be summoned and immediately mingled with the other prisoners, much less be allowed to go down into the mines like a miner, but...

He could only get his chance if he entered the temple.

Li Yili lifted her yellow raincoat, rubbed her forehead, and sighed deeply.

Sif, who was carefully eating her bread, shuddered. The shadow that was gradually spreading in front of her made her tremble, and she subconsciously recalled the terrible memory of the King in Yellow appearing at the door of her cell.

Does the King in Yellow move during the day?

Sif shakily raised her head, but standing in front of the cell door was not the yellow shadow of the Iron Maiden being followed by the monster hound, but an unfamiliar young man.

"I am a new jailer."

Chapter Ten: The King in Yellow is no good, Li Yili is.

Li Yili has made specific observations on this.

Although the cell doors were not locked, the guards still patrolled regularly. Of course, the guards' patrols were not very serious, and it would be an exaggeration to say that they were just going through the motions. They would walk around for a while and then leave. They didn't even have a uniform. But they had one feature that made them instantly recognizable as the guards in charge of this prison.

They are all human beings.

[Humans] who manage a group of absurd prisoners.

So, is it possible that he could impersonate a prison guard in front of prisoners?

The plant girl's panicked expression gave Li Yili the answer.

This is feasible, and they don't remember what he, the King in Yellow, looks like.

"Yes, I'm sorry..." Sif paused for a moment, then handed the bread in her hand to Li Yili with trembling hands.

"Tsk—"

"Alas--"

Thinking that Li Yili was dissatisfied with this level of sincerity, Sif trembled, dropped the bread in her hand, and raised her hands to cover her head, not daring to move.

Li Yili reached out her hand towards Sif, but ultimately turned and walked down the stairs without saying a word.

Sif carefully lowered her hand, but there was no one in front of the cell door.

Sif shrank her neck and bent down with difficulty to reach the dirty bread on the ground.

The empty cell confirmed Li Yili's guess: the bell just now was a call to arms. However, as she went down, she heard whispers, which became more and more chaotic as she went down. Finally, she even saw a group of strange-looking things huddled together, laughing gleefully in one direction.

Li Yili made no attempt to conceal her footsteps as she walked down the stairs.

Upon hearing Li Yili's footsteps, the strangely shaped prisoners all turned their heads. After seeing Li Yili, they all made disappointed and disdainful noises and pretended to move back to their cells.

"Are there really such incompetent prison guards?"

"Never mind that, let's just hide."