Chapter 9: Freedom!

The dim underground dungeon was silent and oppressive.

It had already been two hours since Chen Chong was taken away.

The other prisoners were dazed and idle, while inside the cage, Lin Kun stood by the gaps in the bars, his gaze nervous as he glanced at the dungeon entrance passage from time to time, as if waiting for something.

“Chen Chong’s body couldn’t have had an accident without any warning.”

Lin Kun’s mind raced rapidly:

“What he just did was most likely for some purpose.”

Although he had exchanged very few words with Chen Chong, Lin Kun could still tell that this young man was vastly different from the other prisoners in the dungeon. The man not only had a strong will but also a meticulous mind, and he had never given up hope of escape. This was evident from the fact that he could deduce the existence of an underground river behind the base based on tiny clues.

Therefore, Lin Kun vaguely felt that Chen Chong’s strange state just now might not have been sudden but premeditated!

“What exactly does he want to do… Could he be trying to use the opportunity while Diris is away to take Katherine hostage!?”

A thought stirred, and Lin Kun vaguely thought of a possibility, yet he couldn’t help but feel shocked by this bold guess.

He knew that all experiment projects had strict procedures. From being escorted to being strapped to the experiment table, the experiment subjects were under strict control the entire time. The escorting guards were all as strong as oxen and fully armed. For an ordinary person, there was almost no chance at all. He really couldn’t figure out how Chen Chong would do it.

Just as Lin Kun was thinking intensely, from the end of the dungeon passage ahead, a rush of hurried footsteps came, mixed with loud curses. Then, about a dozen guards with livid faces stormed into the dungeon, using their pistols to heavily bang on the bars of each cage one by one:

“You pigs! Get up, all of you get up!”

“All of you out! To the laboratory!”

“Your damn luck has come!”

The cage doors were swiftly opened one by one by the guards, and most of the prisoners wore panicked expressions. A few even thought all prisoners were about to be executed and immediately began crying and begging for mercy loudly.

However, upon hearing the guards’ words, Lin Kun felt a sudden jolt, and his heart surged with wild joy!

Clearly, his bold guess just now was not only true but might have become reality!

…

A few minutes passed.

At this moment in the Experiment Hall, all the researchers had been evacuated. Only the dozen or so base guards, led by Johnson, spread out in a fan shape, still aiming their guns at Chen Chong in the corner. The atmosphere was silent and oppressive.

Including Johnson, all the guards looked extremely nervous, with cold sweat faintly visible on their foreheads, staring fixedly at Chen Chong, whose body was hidden behind Katherine’s.

Drip, drip, drip.

In the silent hall, a faint scent of blood drifted, and only the sound of blood dripping onto the floor was clearly audible.

The smell and dripping sound of blood naturally came from Katherine in Chen Chong’s hands.

“Urgh… urgh…”

At this moment, Katherine was still being held by Chen Chong, his hand tightly gripping her neck and lifting her before him. It seemed that due to continuous blood loss, Katherine’s consciousness was gradually weakening, and only meaningless sounds came from her throat.

Johnson’s eye twitched, his face livid. He couldn’t help but say:

“416, we’ve already done what you asked. Can you stop the doctor’s bleeding first? If she dies, you…”

“The beautiful Lady Katherine is not like ordinary people.”

Chen Chong, like a tireless robot, showed no sign of letting up. His low voice sounded:

“Don’t you know? Katherine is also an Awakener. Her vitality is far stronger than that of ordinary people. She won’t die so easily in a short time. But if you keep dawdling, then the outcome is uncertain.”

In reality, although Katherine’s current bloody appearance looked horrifying, only her limbs were disabled, and her vital organs had not suffered any damage. With an Awakener’s vitality, far surpassing that of ordinary people, even with continuous blood loss like this, she could still hold on for at least an hour or two.

But for Chen Chong, Diris, the strongman revered by everyone at this base, might return soon. He had to hurry, or else delays could bring unforeseen trouble.

“Doctor Katherine is an Awakener!?”

The information Chen Chong revealed immediately shocked Johnson and the other guards. They had been stationed at this base for half a year and were completely unaware!

Before they could think further, the sound of numerous footsteps came from outside the hall. Then, they saw a dozen guards escorting over twenty prisoners with terrified and bewildered expressions filing in and entering the hall.

“That’s… Katherine… 416!?”

The prisoners, who had just entered the Experiment Hall with uneasy hearts, saw the standoff in the hall and the figure pointed at by over a dozen pistols in the corner. Their eyes immediately bulged!

Then, each of them realized what had happened, and their hearts surged with wild joy!

They were no fools; seeing this situation, how could they not understand? Clearly, two hours ago in the dungeon, 416 had deliberately faked a seizure, and then, taking the chance while being escorted to the Experiment Hall, he used some unknown method to break free from his restraints and took Katherine hostage, leading to this scene!

The prisoners were excited, their hands trembling uncontrollably, as if they finally saw hope in this endless darkness.

Hidden among the crowd, Lin Kun and the other three prisoners who had conspired earlier exchanged glances, their eyes equally filled with wild joy and surging emotions:

Snatching prey from a tiger’s mouth, taking a chestnut from the fire—so this was his plan!

Quickly counting the number of people, in the corner, Chen Chong nodded with satisfaction:

“Johnson, good. We now have a basis to continue negotiating. Now, have the guards pull back and let them come over!”

The reason he wanted the guards to bring the prisoners was not because Chen Chong was a compassionate saint, but because while he was now using a blind spot to hold Katherine hostage, making Johnson and his men hesitate to act, it also restricted his own movement. Having the other prisoners’ help could naturally solve this problem.

More importantly, if they successfully escaped, and the base guards pursued them, over twenty prisoners could also share most of the pressure for him.

Hearing Chen Chong’s words, Johnson narrowed his eyes and remained unmoved.

Swish, swish, swish!

Behind Johnson, all the guards suddenly turned their guns, over thirty guns pointing at the twenty-plus prisoners who had been brought in, causing the prisoners’ delighted and excited expressions to instantly freeze on their faces!

“Hmm?”

Seeing this from the shadows, Chen Chong’s eyebrows immediately rose, and he let out a grim, fierce laugh:

“Johnson, do you have a brain? You want to use them to threaten me in return? How about we play a game now? You kill one of them, and I’ll stab Katherine once. Let’s see if you kill them all first, or if Katherine kicks the bucket first. How about it, do you dare to play!?”

Filthy, despicable, shameless madman, psycho!

Hearing Chen Chong’s fierce laugh, Johnson’s face twitched violently. He felt an extremely cruel and insane aura rushing towards him, and he immediately abandoned the calculations in his mind, saying coldly:

“416, the people have been brought here, the map has been retrieved. I have complied with your requests. What else do you want before you’re willing to release the doctor?”

In the corner, Chen Chong smiled mysteriously: “You’ve actually already guessed what I want to do, right?”

As expected.

He wants to use the underground river behind the Experiment Area to escape.

Johnson’s heart sank. The other party hadn’t asked for vehicles or other things but instead wanted the other prisoners brought to the Experiment Area. His goal was now perfectly clear.

As the guard captain, Johnson naturally knew that the entire Experimental Base was located inside a massive underground cave, and right behind the Experiment Area flowed an underground river with a considerable volume. The base’s water and electricity sources also came from there.

But he really hadn’t expected that this secret, unknown even to ordinary guards, was not only known by 416, a prisoner, but that 416 had even devised an interlocking escape plan using it and had already mostly succeeded!

“Now, all guards, remove your magazines and hand them over to my fellow inmates!”

Just as Johnson was thinking, Chen Chong had already laughed loudly and put forward his next demand:

“Don’t worry, we’re just taking the bullets to ensure our own safety!”

Chen Chong knew that once they escaped, the base would absolutely not let it go. They would most likely pursue them. This was the perfect opportunity to reduce the guards’ strength to the maximum extent.

Hearing Chen Chong’s words, all the guards’ expressions instantly changed, and they nervously looked towards their captain, Johnson.

Johnson’s expression twisted in silence for a few seconds. He glared fiercely at Chen Chong, then spoke word by word, grinding his teeth:

“Give them!”

The guards looked at each other, hesitating.

Johnson roared: “Do it! Are you afraid of these monkeys that can be blown over by a gust of wind!”

With ugly expressions, the guards complied. One after another, they removed the magazines from their pistols and threw them on the ground.

Chen Chong’s demand was very clever. He did not demand to take away the guards’ firearms, only the bullets, perfectly targeting the upper limit of their psychological tolerance. Taking away the guns would undoubtedly mean the prisoners had the direct ability to threaten their lives, essentially handing their own lives over to these prisoners, who had accumulated who-knows-how-much hatred and resentment. How could the guards possibly be willing to do that?

“This…”

In the hall, the prisoners picked up the magazines the guards threw on the ground as if in a dream. Chen Chong looked around and reminded them coldly:

“I know every guard has at least one spare magazine. Fellow inmates, this concerns your own lives. You’d better check every guard thoroughly and don’t miss any. Otherwise, your negligence will be paid for with your lives!”

All the prisoners, including Lin Kun, immediately shivered and began counting the magazines. Johnson remained silent, and the guards, with livid faces, threw out the magazines they had secretly hidden.

A few minutes later, Lin Kun took the lead. After ensuring the number of guards corresponded to twice the number of magazines and confirming there were no mistakes, he then examined the map the guards had brought over and nodded to Chen Chong, his eyes filled with admiration:

“Chen Chong, no problems.”

Chen Chong took in every movement of everyone in the hall and directed: “Good! Give me the map. Lin Kun, you four come over and form a human wall! Everyone, follow!”

Without any hesitation, Lin Kun and the other three contacted prisoners stepped out and quickly came to the corner, forming a human wall to shield Chen Chong and the Katherine in his hands. The other prisoners, now understanding that Katherine in Chen Chong’s grasp was their greatest bargaining chip for escaping, also spontaneously surged towards Chen Chong’s location, surrounding and protecting Chen Chong, Lin Kun, and the others.

During this process, Johnson’s eyes burned with rage, but he was helpless. He could only watch as over twenty prisoners surged to the other side, forming a human wall and tightly protecting Chen Chong.

“Johnson, rest assured, when we safely leave, I will return Katherine to you!”

Carefully stowing the map away, Chen Chong laughed heartily, took the identity card representing the highest authority from Katherine, and moved towards the passage on the other side of the hall: “Everyone, let’s go!”

There, it led outside the Experiment Area, and it was the only passage leading to the base’s small Hydropower Station!

“Roar!”

“Freedom! Freedom!”

At that moment, shielding Chen Chong, even the most numb and emaciated prisoners raised their arms and shouted, letting out wild, ecstatic roars like beasts.

They were about to welcome the freedom they had dreamed of. Even if they fell in the next moment, being this close to hope, they would die without regret!