Volume 3, Chapter 57 – The Runaway Boy

Tens of minutes ago, in the East District of Sky Dome City, within Marquis Coveport’s mansion, there was a special secret inside a somewhat eerie room that commoners knew nothing about. Below the dilapidated two-story wooden house on the surface was actually a vast underground prison.

At this moment, a blood-curdling scream echoed from within.

“Aaaaaah!!”

Inside the dark and damp cell, accompanied by the hysterical wails of a thirteen-year-old red-haired girl and under the terrified gazes of a dozen children, countless golden spikes ruthlessly pierced the young girl’s body. In the next moment, a large amount of strange liquid flowed through the golden spikes and poured continuously into the girl’s body. As the liquid entered, the girl’s expression grew increasingly distorted and hideous, reflecting the horrifying pain she was enduring. Tears mixed with blood began to stream from the corners of her eyes.

However, no matter how piteously the girl cried out, the surrounding white-robed experimenters did not show a hint of sympathy, silently watching as the girl was consumed by agony.

As time passed, the girl’s cries grew faint, and her life force was nearly exhausted.

Yet her pain did not end but rather intensified. The girl no longer had the strength to cry out or beg for mercy, and the light of hope had vanished from her eyes, leaving them dull. Clearly, after the preceding torture, her spirit had collapsed.

In the next instant, after an experimenter chanted an incantation, a white magic circle was suddenly traced beneath the girl. Along with the surging of the magic circle and the flickering of white light, and under the watchful eyes of everyone present, the girl’s body gradually collapsed, melted, and decomposed into spots of white light.

When the white-robed mage waved his hand again, these lights seemed to receive a summons, spiraling and rapidly gathering in the mage’s palm. They condensed and stabilized, finally transforming into a white gemstone overflowing with dense soul power.

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“Heh, the purity is quite good.”

Studying the ‘result’ in his hand, the white-robed mage slowly revealed a satisfied smile. It was a bright smile, but at this moment, it appeared incredibly eerie and gloomy, enough to make one’s skin crawl.

The dozens of children imprisoned in the surrounding cages felt this especially strongly. Having seen a companion who had just been encouraging and comforting them in the cell die such a miserable death before their eyes, the children fell silent, swallowed by fear and despair. Most of the children with weaker mental fortitude could not help but hold their heads and weep. A few of the more timid ones had even fainted from fright on the spot.

For a time, the children’s cries and pleas for mercy echoed incessantly within the dungeon.

Among these children was a boy of about twelve years old whose expression was completely different from the others. He did not cry uncontrollably but instead silently observed his companions, the white-robed mages outside the cages, and each of the jailers. It was not that the boy was not saddened by his companion’s death, but rather that he had become numb.

The boy was relatively mature for his age. Based on his observations over the past few days, he clearly recognized how inhumane these white-robed mages were and that they would never care about their pleas. No matter how much he cried, the other party would not let him go and would eventually turn him into a ‘Sour Crystal’. Therefore, rather than wasting time crying, it was better to spend his energy studying how to escape and how to find and lead his sister, Aishe, away from this living hell.

This inconspicuous boy sitting silently in the corner of the cell was named Ed Shimuwen. He was originally the eldest son of the Count Shimuwen family and had lived a carefree life with his sister Aishe, but the previous emperor supported by his family had suddenly died. As supporters of the previous emperor, the Count Shimuwen family was soon arrested on charges of ‘attempted rebellion’, and his father was executed. Ed did not know the status of his other family members. He only knew that he and his sister were imprisoned in this dungeon. Many other children from destroyed families and purchased slaves were also imprisoned here with them.

Watching his companions being turned into ‘Soul Crystals’ by those mages every day, Ed made up his mind that he had to escape this place. Although hope was slim, Ed did not give up and tried his best every day to look for a chance to escape.

Today, heaven seemed to respond to his efforts. At this moment, while everyone’s attention was focused on the gemstone in the white-robed mage’s hand, Ed discovered to his shock that the lock on the cell door behind him was… was not locked?!

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‘This…?! Is this for real? I’m not dreaming, am I?’ Ed could not help but think.

Did they forget to lock it when they grabbed someone just now? Was it because they were just children that the security wasn’t that thorough? Countless questions surfaced in Ed’s mind, but he didn’t intend to dwell on them now. Even if it was a trap, he had to try for the sake of his life!

Thus, while no one was paying attention, Ed escaped the iron cage with ease and crept toward the stairs! A moment later, with a heart full of anxiety, Ed was shocked to find that he had actually succeeded. He had just left the third basement level of the dungeon like that.

The entire process was so easy it was mind-boggling. Even Ed himself wondered if he was dreaming. It was only after pinching his thigh several times that Ed confirmed he was not dreaming. This was all real.

“I can?! I can escape!” Ed encouraged himself at this moment.

However, the boy did not leave the dungeon immediately but tried to find his sister, who was imprisoned on another floor. As an older brother, Ed wanted to save his sister and escape together no matter what. The children on his sister’s side were younger, so the guards might be even more lax. If his good luck continued, perhaps there was a chance to escape this hell with his sister?

Ed thought this in his head. Unfortunately, his ‘good luck’ seemed to have run out. Just as he was about to look for his sister, a shout from behind made Ed tremble all over.

“You! Brat! How did you get out!”

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The moment he heard the shout, Ed realized he had been discovered. Without time to save his sister, Ed took off running! After all, if he got out, he might be able to gather his family’s former subordinates to save her, but if he was caught as well, the only ending waiting for the siblings was death.

Supported by fear and the desire to survive, Ed fled for his life toward the exit. Upon hearing the shout, the mages and jailers in the dungeon immediately showed serious and angry expressions, rushing out with weapons to drag Ed back. Ed knew that his strength was weak and he certainly could not outrun those jailers, so being caught was only a matter of time.

But Ed had no energy to worry about such things. He just kept running with all his might, running and running.

However, during his flight, Ed was stunned to find that he seemed to be favored by the God of Luck. People who could have easily caught him would suddenly faint or die on the spot due to some mysterious accident just as they were about to grab him.

For example, the jailer who was about to catch him just now accidentally stepped on a banana slice, fell directly into a nearby latrine, and never seemed to resurface. Such things didn’t happen just once, but over and over again.

Those casting spells mispronounced their incantations and blew themselves up. Those firing arrows shot their own teammates down. Those who tried to fly ahead to block him were snatched away by out-of-control spirit beasts within the Marquis Mansion. Those who closed the iron gates to stop him failed to catch him but blocked the other jailers instead. Someone preparing to shout for reinforcements was crushed to death when a nearby building suddenly collapsed.

Fortunately, Ed did not have the energy to pay attention to these things, otherwise the little boy might have started questioning his life.

After dozens of jailers had mysteriously collapsed, Ed successfully escaped the Marquis Mansion through a dog hole in the corner of the wall. He ran toward the commercial street, thinking that with the massive crowds there, a child like him could lose the pursuers from the Marquis Mansion as long as he made it inside.

Just as he thought this, a bullet struck him, ruthlessly piercing his shoulder.

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“Aaaaaah!!”

Along with the spray of blood, the intense pain made Ed let out a hysterical cry of agony. He fell directly to the ground, the severe pain nearly making him lose consciousness. But at the thought that if he fainted, he would completely lose hope and both he and his sister would be turned into ‘Soul Crystals’, Ed endured the pain and forced his exhausted body to crawl up and continue fleeing.

Several jailers holding sharp blades drew closer to the escaping child. However, just as Ed was about to be caught, a beautiful black-haired silhouette entered his field of vision. At this moment, regardless of whether she had the ability to help him, he ran toward the black-haired girl as if clutching at a final straw, shouting with all his might.

“Help! Someone is trying to kill me! Save me!! Please, help me…”

As he spoke, due to excessive blood loss, Ed’s body had reached its limit. After shouting his last words, the boy’s legs went soft, and he collapsed toward the ground uncontrollably.

‘It’s… it’s over. I have… no strength left.’

Just as Ed was in the depths of despair, a slender, delicate hand reached out, catching Ed and pulling him into a warm embrace. Then, a gentle and beautiful voice slowly reached Ed’s ears, causing a glimmer of light to return to the eyes of the nearly hopeless boy.

“It’s alright, don’t be afraid…”