Chapter 516: The Mission Difficulty Is a Bit High (Two-in-One)

Yan Jing opened his eyes.

The sight before him was completely different from what he had imagined.

The system stated that his drop location was the highest-level core zone in the working area.

He had pictured pure white walls and ceilings right out of a sci-fi movie and massive machinery brimming with futuristic technology. Accompanied by a spatial fluctuation, he would appear inside a tank of nutrient fluid, or perhaps between two rings bridging dimensions.

But the place in front of him looked like a study.

A large bookcase, twice the height of a person, stood against the wall with books neatly stacked on its shelves. The wooden floor looked freshly swept; aside from some dust in the joints, everything gleamed.

A tall figure wearing a black robe sat behind the desk, his face obscured. His arms rested on the surface, and his exposed hands were so pale that every vein beneath the skin was visible.

"What's your name?"

The figure spoke. He didn't sound very old, perhaps in his thirties or forties.

"Yan Jing."

Yan Jing looked at the system prompt before him.

[Please choose your faction as soon as possible.]

[Warden Faction]

[Rebellion Faction]

[Choose another person's faction: Please envision the character's name in your mind. If there are duplicate names, you will be provided with more detailed options.] "My name is Mu Tian."

The figure didn't stand up, remaining seated as he spoke.

"I am your employer this time."

"What Tier are you at now?"

"Seventh Rank." Yan Jing lowered his gaze beneath the desk and noticed that the figure's feet weren't touching the ground; his black robe hovered in the air.

Hearing Yan Jing's Tier, the figure clearly froze for a moment.

A few seconds later, he said in a deep voice, "There is no point in lying to me."

"Or have you already decided to betray me this quickly?"

As he spoke, the black robe around the figure suddenly fluttered. Pitch-black like a shadow, it rapidly stretched out, covering more than half the room and enveloping Yan Jing within.

Yan Jing felt as though a needle was lightly pricking every inch of his skin, bringing bursts of stinging pain.

Clearly, just as the gathered information suggested, he was not the first human summoned by this warden.

Furthermore, the warden had used methods to force the mission details out of the previous humans.

Facing the warden's threat, Yan Jing wore a smile.

"Do you think my Tier is too low?"

"If you believe Tier represents everything, then pretend I never asked."

Showing weakness was useless.

If the other party wanted to strike, he would have done so immediately after speaking.

Since he hadn't attacked right away, it meant he still had misgivings.

The entire Great Prison knew that the man across from him was currently in a very bad situation.

After a few seconds of silence, Mu Tian chuckled.

"You've got some guts."

He pulled back the hood of his robe, revealing his true face.

It had to be said, it was a very handsome face. His brows and eyes carried a heroic spirit, and his gaze was deep. Time hadn't left many wrinkles; it had only graced this face with just the right amount of maturity.

Yan Jing looked at the man's monolidded eyes, marveling inwardly at how similar this father and son truly were.

It was no wonder that the moment Ning Wei put on the black robe, everyone recognized his blood relation to the man in front of him.

"This is the Great Prison, the largest prison in the entire Inner World, and I am its warden."

Mu Tian stood up and drifted in front of Yan Jing, towering a full head taller than him.

"Right now, this prison is in a bit of trouble, and I want to solve it."

Yan Jing raised his head, met those eyes, and smiled.

"What do you need me to do?"

"I need a little time to resolve this trouble," Mu Tian said.

"The criminals are kicking up a massive fuss right now, but honestly, I'm not worried about those guys."

"However, I am worried about problems arising among my own people. Do you understand what I mean?"

Yan Jing nodded.

"You want me to find the mole."

Mu Tian nodded in return.

"I've summoned other humans before. I know you can choose your faction."

"But I don't care."

"Because no matter which faction you choose, you can't possibly belong to the mole's faction on my side—as long as you don't leave this room within half an hour." Hearing this, Yan Jing laughed.

"You really are well-informed."

Since there was no way to leave the room, and the faction choice had to be made within half an hour...

If a human had just entered the Great Prison and hadn't even met anyone else, they naturally wouldn't be able to make any choice other than rebelling or not rebelling. And judging from Mu Tian's implication, choosing to rebel likely meant joining the criminals' faction.

Yan Jing looked at the system options before him.

"I choose you."

Yan Jing made his choice.

The third option.

"Wen Xu"

[You have made your choice.]

[The mission has been assigned.]

[You have chosen a mysteriously identified entity from a third faction. You now receive the following missions:]

[Mission 1: Expand the Territory]

[That entity does not have very strong subordinates under him. Please help him conquer the Desolate Forest area. Once the conquest is complete, this mission will be considered finished.] [Mission 2: Uncover the Truth]

[That entity currently intends to rescue a woman named Wen Qiao, but this woman clearly holds some unknown secrets.] [During Stage A, your mission is to investigate this woman's true thoughts and discover what kind of role she wishes to play in this Great Prison crisis.]

[Mission 3: Roleplay]

[Please earnestly play your role as a spy and help that great warden find the biggest mole inside the Great Prison.]

So hard.

Yan Jing's expression remained calm, but inwardly, he couldn't help complaining.

If anyone else had to take on these missions, it would be downright suicidal.

First of all, the Desolate Forest, Wen Qiao... quietly figuring out these details would be incredibly difficult, let alone doing so while simultaneously helping the warden in front of him catch a mole.

"Mission one: help you catch the mole."

Yan Jing spoke lightly, "Mission two: help you deal with your father-son relationship."

"These are my missions."

Mu Tian, who had been half-believing and half-doubting, noticeably twitched his face when he heard Yan Jing mention the second mission.

Stage A would have two missions. That matched.

The other party also knew about the father-son relationship.

The doubts in his heart mostly dissipated.

"Once you've stayed for a full half hour, you may leave."

Although they had mostly dissipated, they hadn't vanished completely.

He chose the safest method.

"Sure."

Yan Jing nodded.

With that said, the two plunged into a long silence.

Yan Jing walked over to the wall to inspect the room, while Mu Tian sat back in his chair to inspect Yan Jing.

Several minutes later, Mu Tian was the first to speak.

"Don't you have anything to ask? Don't you humans always gather information after coming in?"

"If I asked about finding the mole, you probably wouldn't know either. If you did, you wouldn't be looking for me." Yan Jing kept looking at the wall.

"As for the second mission, I saw your face twitch when I mentioned it just now. The mission prompt says the two of you have an average relationship. I'm afraid you might hit me if I say the wrong thing."

Yan Jing turned his head and smiled at Mu Tian.

"I can't beat you in a fight."

Hearing this, Mu Tian fell silent once more.

He interlocked his fingers and buried his face behind his hands, making it hard to see his changing expressions.

Yan Jing ignored him, continuing to study a painting hanging on the wall.

In the painting was a woman wearing black gauze, her expression looking sorrowful.

The woman was fairly good-looking in an objective sense.

It was just that her brows and eyes drooped downward, making the entire painting feel somewhat unsettling.

This conveyed emotion pierced right through the canvas, directly affecting the viewer and making one wonder what had happened when this piece was painted. Just as Yan Jing was studying it closely, Mu Tian's voice sounded from behind him.

"I'm actually not even sure if that's my son."

Yan Jing turned to look at Mu Tian.

"Now you can be sure. The system says he is."

"Heh."

Mu Tian let out a cold laugh.

"You humans always think your so-called system is reliable. That's just because you're too weak."

"You can't see the truth of this world clearly, so you end up this naive."

Yan Jing raised an eyebrow.

"Then tell me, what is this system?"

"I cannot say." Mu Tian dropped his smile.

"But if you ever meet a Tenth Tier existence on your human side, you can ask him if he's still using this so-called system."

"Is that so." Yan Jing nodded.

"Well, since you don't want to talk about the system, let's go back to our previous topic."

"You could do a paternity test. If it's inconvenient for you, you can give me your blood and your son's blood, and I'll help out. That technology is very mature in the Surface World."

Mu Tian's expression was cold.

"There is no way my genes will match his."

Now it was Yan Jing's turn to be stunned.

"His genes mutated?"

"I am the one who mutated," Mu Tian said coldly.

"To be precise, anyone who absorbs Divinity will mutate."

"Divinity won't create a god out of thin air. It will slowly change everything about you, bit by bit, until you become a god."

Yan Jing's face filled with sympathy.

"It seems gods are quite pitiful. They can't even tell if they've been cuckolded."

These were somewhat offensive words. Looking at it from a certain angle, Yan Jing was effectively hinting that Mu Tian had been cuckolded.

But Mu Tian held back and didn't lose his temper.

"Regardless, when you're doing your missions this time, help me test whether he really is my son."

"If he is, come and tell me."

"Alright."

After that was said, silence fell over the room once more.

It wasn't until the thirty minutes were up that Mu Tian withdrew the dense shadows covering the room.

"Go. I've arranged for two people to accompany you."

"They are both candidates of the Great Prison. You can call on them for help if anything comes up."

"Go all out. You represent my will now."

"Thanks." Yan Jing walked to the door when Mu Tian spoke up again.

"I suspect one of them is the mole."

"Understood."

Yan Jing nodded.

"Nice painting."

With that said, he pushed the door open and walked out.

Outside was a long corridor. At the end of the corridor, there was another door.

Pushing that door open, Yan Jing saw two people waiting outside.

The woman was tall, with white hair and black skin, boasting an impressive figure.

The man wore a hoodie and a face mask. A patch of a tattoo peeked out on his neck, and his style was edgy.

They saw Yan Jing walk out.

The two turned around.

"Ai Qing."

The woman spoke indifferently.

"His name is Tan Yan. We will assist you with your upcoming affairs."

"Yan Jing."

Yan Jing smiled.

"I am the chief commander of this operation. Did he tell you what this operation is about?"

Hearing this, both of them frowned.

He truly hadn't told them the details of this operation; he only told the two of them to assist.

"The Great Purge."

Yan Jing smiled.

"We're going to slaughter everyone who opposes the warden."

"This is the number one priority of this operation. Do you understand?"

Ai Qing furrowed her brows.

"He explicitly stated that you do not have permission to leave the Great Prison."

Quite cautious of him.

Yan Jing chuckled.

"So we'll start rooting them out from inside the Great Prison first."

"Whoever opposes the warden gets killed."

"No one inside the Great Prison would oppose the warden," Ai Qing said, her face as cold as frost.

She felt that Yan Jing was deliberately trying to be mystifying.

"Is that so?"

Yan Jing pulled open the door behind him.

"But the great warden says there are people opposing him right now."

"Do you want to go ask and see if I'm lying to you?"

Both of their gazes darkened.

No one dared to go ask him.

But if no one went to ask, it meant they currently had no way to verify the truth of Yan Jing's words.

Taking it a step further, they wouldn't be able to verify anything Yan Jing did.

That effectively meant Yan Jing could do whatever he wanted.

"Don't think you can just do as you please."

Ai Qing said coldly, "In the Great Prison's working area, his eyes are everywhere."

Yan Jing smiled.

"Like I said, you can go ask him."

Tan Yan spoke up.

"So what do you want us to do?"

"We can't exactly interrogate everyone one by one."

"No one would admit to it like that."

"Of course no one would admit to it." Yan Jing wore a smile.

"But we can distinguish truth from lies."

"You should have staff members capable of detecting lies, right?"

The two exchanged a look.

"Are there many of them?"

Yan Jing looked at them with a smile.

"There are three in total,"

Tan Yan said deeply, "They are in charge of interrogation work."

"Give me their addresses."

Yan Jing beckoned.

"Addresses."

"I'll go find them," Tan Yan said.

"You aren't familiar with the Great Prison, or we can go together."

"I never said I was going to look for them. Give me the addresses."

Yan Jing stated.

Unable to dissuade Yan Jing, Tan Yan copied down the three addresses with a cold stare and handed them over.

Yan Jing pocketed the addresses. A chubby little hand reached into his pocket and took them away.

"Alright, you guys go find them."

Yan Jing instructed.

"A collective interrogation will be held tomorrow. The official reason will be a basic ideological cognition screening to prevent ideological errors."

The two exchanged another glance, entirely failing to understand what Yan Jing was trying to do.

He collected the addresses but wasn't going to look for them personally.

Although thoroughly confused, the two still took their leave.

Afterward, Yan Jing asked someone for directions to his assigned room and headed back there.

He pulled the covers over his head and went straight to sleep.

Except for a trip to the bathroom midway through, he never left the room again.

In the middle of the night, he was woken by a knock on his door.

It was Ai Qing knocking.

"Two things."

Ai Qing's voice was still cold, but it carried an imperceptible trace of schadenfreude.

"First, right in the middle of the night, all three staff members in charge of interrogation died."

"You now have one more thing to investigate: finding the murderer."

"Second, he is looking for you."

"He probably feels that you've done too good a job and is extremely satisfied with your work, so he wants to commend you."

Hearing this, Yan Jing nodded.

"Thanks."

He then walked out the door.