Chapter 138 - Narrative Cage (15)

Chapter 138: Chapter 125: Narrative Cage (15)"On the transport ship, the last female soldier who died was named Angelina, and her daughter Anna is the creator of this drawing."

Li Cheng showed the children’s drawing and said, "It’s not hard to guess what happened next. After retiring with the rank of colonel, Aisha returned to neighboring A-star and adopted Anna, the daughter of her comrade-in-arms Angelina left behind in the world—the last photo lacked the figure of a father, so I surmise Angelina’s husband died quite early."

"The relationship between the adoptive mother and daughter was very good, but an accident occurred along the way."

He took out the newspaper articles titled "A food poisoning case occurred in a school district in A-star" and "Terrorists detonate a nuclear bomb in the city district," and said, "Anna died unnaturally due to some reason, which greatly stimulated Aisha, a once-decorated veteran, pushing her to the extreme. She attacked and detonated a nuclear bomb against some government or organization or individual in neighboring A-star."

"The story line thereafter is relatively simple. She escaped from the Zeluo civilization’s star system, shed her human shell, and in the form of a skeleton, became the interstellar pirate Isaac.

"Not until the end of the Iron Plague War did she return to her homeland to save a small group of Zeluo civilization survivors."

"And then, due to some accident, she was arrested by the Crystal Wall System Residence Committee and locked up in this Narrative Cage."

From the televisions on the four walls, the mechanical voice of the Prison Director came through, "Entirely...correct."

Li Cheng, still showing no change of expression even after confirmation, calmly said, "However, there’s a problem with this hypothesis. Recall the scene on the transport ship; Aisha, or rather Isaac, did not seem to be a veteran with severe PTSD and unstable emotions."

"If her adoptive daughter Anna died accidentally due to food poisoning at school, she should not have resorted to such violent methods to seek revenge.

"There must be some hidden details. Could you clarify my doubts?"

"Hmm?" The Prison Director said lightly with a laugh, "Your information is not missing anything, and with your deductive skills, you could have fully guessed the turn of events. Do you really need me to explain it?"

Li Cheng shook his head, "Guessing is one thing, getting an answer from someone else is another."

"All right then."

The Prison Director, without beating around the bush, straightforwardly said, "In the first room you visited, the flat-shaped creature hiding inside is actually a unique species from A-star, with an insatiable appetite and an extraordinary digestive ability, used by the Zeluo people for waste disposal plants.

"Anna’s backpack fell out of its mouth, which suffices to explain her true cause of death—not from so-called food poisoning, but because she was bullied at school, murdered by affluent classmates, and then thrown into the waste disposal plant to be fed to the creature."

As expected.

Having his suspicions confirmed, Li Cheng nodded. The living space of Zeluo civilization was being continuously eroded by the Iron Plague, so it was certain that the quality of life for its citizens was steadily declining.

Aisha, as a veteran of merit, had the privilege to find a residence in the relatively safe colonial planets to raise Anna, but her treatment was probably just so-so, definitely not privileged enough to compare with the nouveau riche who fattened up during the war.

Regarding minors committing murder and erasing traces... cough, in the real world, juvenile crime is already not rare, and in the more technologically advanced and information-exploded Zeluo civilization, it’s even more normal."

"Another question."

He raised his hand and asked, "Why was Isaac wanted by the Crystal Wall System Residence Committee? Seeing as she saved a shipload of Zeluo civilization refugees, she shouldn’t have committed serious crimes like genocide, right?"

"I don’t know."

"Huh? Aren’t you the Prison Director?"

"Does the Prison Director have to know every detail about each prisoner? Besides, this Narrative Cage is not limited to just this area. There are many people locked up in other areas. It’s impossible to manage it on a personal level, so we have to use automated systems for management. I’m just holding a titular position."

The Prison Director said as if it were self-evident: "As for the charges... Since she’s already become an interstellar pirate, it makes sense to have raided some merchant ships or something like that..."

"Don’t talk about these useless things."

Fed up with listening on the sidelines, Gray Rain finally could not restrain herself and abruptly said, "I just want to know when you will let us leave!"

All of the Prison Director’s eyes simultaneously turned, glancing at Gray Rain, "She doesn’t know?"

Li Cheng shook his head.

"Alright." The Prison Director sighed, "Aisha, Isaac, the nameless prisoner in the bottom right cell, and you, who believe yourself to be Gray Rain, are actually the same person."

"...What?"

"Still don’t understand? You are just one of the ’Life Slices’ that Isaac split off using the Narrative Cage. The real Isaac is actually the nameless prisoner in the bottom right cell who was infected with the iron plague virus."

The Prison Director coldly continued, "When she saw the white rabbit doll, she briefly regained some consciousness, extremely agitated.

That rabbit doll was exactly what Aisha bought for Anna on behalf of her fallen comrade Angelina.

If we look at the different phases of a life, Aisha’s could be divided into .

The nameless prisoner is Isaac Number One, whose life experience is the most complete and who has been imprisoned the longest.

In the continual attempts to escape, her self-consciousness was progressively lost, and by accident, she even got poisoned by the iron plague in one of the engine rooms.

In order to preserve the hope that is Fire, she sliced off a part of herself to create Isaac Number Two. That is, the one in the top left cell, who retained only the memories of her phase as an interstellar pirate."

Gray Rain instinctively tried to deny it, "This can’t be..."

"There’s nothing impossible."

Li Cheng shook his head, "For the nameless prisoner, this was not difficult. First, throughout her extensive pirate career, she mastered the technology of Liquid Metal, capable of splitting herself into physical avatars. Secondly, some of the engine rooms in the Narrative Cage inherently possess the function to segment memories.

After completing this, Isaac Number One became a cripple. And Isaac Number Two, who awoke in the top left cell, believed she was the only self and continued the escape attempt.

However, just like Number One, she couldn’t complete the escape either and was forced to split off a third self half a year ago, which is you."

Looking at the shocked and bewildered Gray Rain, the Prison Director said with a light chuckle, "You have no memories before being imprisoned, right? That’s not because you forgot something in the process of attempting to Escape; it’s because you were never designed to have past memories.

If you think back carefully to the skeleton-shaped Isaac in Engine Room Number Three and add facial muscles, you’ll realize she looks exactly like you."

Am I really just a Life Slice?

Gray Rain subconsciously looked down at her hands, her pupils trembling violently.

"Back to the main point,"

The Prison Director didn’t pause to consider Gray Rain’s mental health and continued, "After Number Two Isaac split you off, she continued her Escape, but unfortunately, she got trapped in Engine Room Number Three, stuck in a state between life and death. Unable to leave or die.

Under these circumstances, hitting the button in the Main Character Effect Room doesn’t count, and once the time is up, the escape attempt is considered a failure, and the entire prison resets.

Unless... you kill her."

There was a hint of mockery in the Prison Director’s tone, "Kill her, and the Main Character Effect Room can finally be released from the state, allowing you to successfully Escape. With the gun in your hand, you should be able to do that."

"Or alternatively, I could simply use this gun to threaten you, and force you to let us go."

Li Cheng was noncommittal and suddenly raised Final Redemption, aiming at the Prison Director.

Swish—

At the same moment,

Hundreds of mechanical eyes on the Prison Director’s body lit up all at once with the trademark of Pishuai, countless lasers ready to fire, also aiming at Li Cheng, "You can try. Let’s see which is quicker, your gun or my lasers."