Chapter 118 - Narrative Cage (Part 2)

Chapter 118: Chapter 112 Narrative Cage (Part 2)Hey hey hey, what’s the big idea here?

Li Cheng couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat on his forehead.

The so-called Script Task inevitably involves playing a role. After players are teleported to Otherworld, they are often assigned the identity of a native NPC. The killing field also intervenes in time, preventing other NPCs from noticing anything unusual.

But...what’s with the "Li Cheng" written on this prison uniform?

System notifications timely rang in his ear, Li Cheng’s expression turned solemn, listening intently.

"Um?" His eyes twitched. Why are smuggling and illegal fundraising listed alongside organized terror attacks and racial extermination? Could it be that the P2P model has spread from Earth across the universe?

Do aliens play with finance too?

And what exactly is the Multi-Dimensional Crystal Wall System Residence Committee, how did these two words get grouped together?

The task briefing ends here, just a few paragraphs, yet it reveals a massive amount of information.

"Again with the Crystal Wall System, and the Three Pillars Gods, why make it so high and mighty.

If I remember correctly, my current level is only Lv8, what merit or capability do I have to be listed alongside warlords and Planet Devourers, eh?" Sёarᴄh the Nôvelƒire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Li Cheng painfully rubbed his temples, and once again looked around the ten square meter cell, "Also, how is this ordinary cell supposed to hold those gods..."

The time limit and punishment for the first phase of the task are none, which is not a good thing. It either implies that failing to escape in time could be very bad, or it suggests being locked up until death if not escaping.

He turned around, sitting along the edge of the bed, looking down at the handcuffs.

These handcuffs are not much different from the common designs of the 21st century, using a chain structure and double locks—the initial state of the handcuffs and after being locked is a single lock, after being locked again the latch closes, and at this point, it cannot be opened with a wire or similar tool, it must be unlocked with a key.

Li Cheng tried to struggle, but even with his current Strength, the handcuffs did not budge.

"Now I really am Lao Cheng. Luckily, I’m quite handsome, and even in prison clothes, I look like a pure inmate-style male god."

He muttered standing up, first looked in the mirror to confirm that the reflection was indeed himself, then paced to the corner of the room where the door was.

The door was two meters high, made of alloy, without an inside handle, just a keyhole. Above the keyhole was a chained flap.

The flap could be tilted, and after being lowered, it revealed a short and wide crack, presumably used for delivering meals.

Through the crack, one could see a fairly spacious gray-white space outside. The cell was about fifty meters or so away from the wall at the end of the space. On both ends of the wall, there were corridors, but due to the angle, their destinations were not visible.

"Is anyone there?"

Li Cheng shouted through the crack, "Hello, Ohayo, Bonjour? An innocent person is locked up here, hello, are there any prison guards? Can anyone hear me?

The faucet is leaking and flooding the floor, the light bulb is broken, and the wires have fallen into the water sparking dangerously. If no one comes, I’m going to be electrocuted!"

The sound echoed in the space, with no response.

He was clear-headed about this; escaping from the solitary cell was just the first stage of his task. It was likely that the system would later assign him tasks like escaping from the Narrative Cage, which would surely cause a huge commotion.

Therefore, he might as well figure out the operational rules of the prison now, such as whether there are prison guards and their patrol timings.

Li Cheng yelled for a while but received no feedback.

Just as he was about to take further actions, a cold mechanical voice, not sounding human, came from the neighboring cell, "...stop shouting. There are no prison guards here."

Hmm? Are there other people detained in this prison?

Li Cheng perked up and loudly asked, "May I know who you are..."

The voice coldly said, "Before you ask someone’s identity, you should introduce yourself first. Isn’t that a social etiquette of your humans?"

Your humans? So the voice is not, or does not consider itself, human?

Li Cheng paused briefly, thought quickly about his approach, and then proudly declared with a laugh, "Haha, I am known for not changing my name nor altering my roots, resenting neither Heaven nor Earth, supporting the heavens with white jade pillars and sustaining the sea with purple gold beams, saving catastrophes and uplifting what is about to fall; I am the second-in-command under the supreme Chancellor Shiff Palpatine, known as the Black Lord, the Dark Lord, Sith Lord Darth Vader."

After finishing his spiel, Li Cheng held his breath and focused, waiting for the reaction from the cell next door—this wasn’t just his bad taste in humor acting up; since the Narrative Cage housed such high-profile criminals like warlords, interstellar pirate leaders, and Evil Gods, he surely couldn’t reveal his real identity, right?

Others’ crimes include genocide, slaughtering billions, burning cultural relics, and misusing planet-destroying weapons to harm the universe.

He, an ordinary high school student, guilty of—using VPN to access foreign websites, annoying a police worker (meaning petting a sniffing dog) during a subway ride.

It would be too embarrassing to admit that!

After listening to this impressive but mysterious introduction, the voice from the right side cell was silent for a while, and then slowly said, "No matter who you are, once you’re in this prison, don’t think about escaping. Their strength is far beyond your imagination."

"They refer to the designers of this prison?"

Li Cheng’s eyes lit up, and he lowered his voice, "Don’t look down on me for ending up here, in the outside world, I was quite the name.

What do you say we team up? You tell me what you know about this prison, and I help us escape."

"Heh."

The cellmate on the right scoffed dismissively, or perhaps despondently, "The previous inmate in your cell said the same thing. You should try to escape from your own solitary cell first."

"Okay."

Li Cheng wasted no time, rested his right thumb on the door frame’s ledge, and pressed down hard with the weight of his upper body.

Crack!

With a crisp sound, his thumb dislocated, and he repeated the process with his left hand.

The cellmate from the right listened to the sound, "Thumb dislocation trick? The mighty Dark Lord knows this too?"

"Yes, learned it while dating my significant other." Li Cheng grinned heartily, successfully freeing himself from the handcuffs.