"Aaaaahhhhh —"
The strange wails lasted for five to six seconds before they slowly weakened under the pale faces of the group.
Only the echoes were left. They floated in the dark and empty hall. They were faintly discernible and sent chills down their spines.
"What's wrong?"
Ricky frowned and shouted softly, "Report!"
The Disaster Swords turned their heads in unison and searched for the source of the wails with tense nerves.
More than ten torches were raised high to illuminate the area. The group of people were like adventurers exploring a wasteland. They were nervous and wary of the unfamiliar unknown.
Thales withdrew his hell's senses while still in shock. He saw nothing but dust in the darkness, an old stone table, and a cell full of skeletons.
The order was passed down layer by layer, from the great hall to the heavily guarded stone steps.
"No." After a while, Shawn the mercenary's panting voice came from behind them.
"It's not one of us. The report later said that everything is normal."
The doubt on Ricky's face grew deeper.
On the other side, Stake whispered a few words to a subordinate who had appeared at some point in time. He watched the latter retreat into the darkness again before he raised his head solemnly.
"It's not us either.
It's something else. "
Ricky turned to Samel and cast an inquiring gaze at the former Constellatiate noble.
Samel seemed to have discovered something. He observed the iron plate beside the iron curtain with slight surprise, then looked at the hanging ring beside the iron plate. "So this is …"
But at that moment …
"Aaaaahhhh —"
The heart-wrenching scream that sounded like a Phantom Wail came faintly from the darkness again!
Everyone's hearts tensed up again!
This time, the terrifying "wail" was accompanied by a piercing and unbearable scratching sound. "Screech … Screech …"
Almost everyone subconsciously furrowed their eyebrows. Some even covered their ears.
"Damn it!"
Lasalle's face contorted. "What the hell?!"
In the unpleasant noise, Ricky held his sword hilt tightly. He suppressed his emotions and asked Samel, "Do you think this is related to the Alchemy Tower?"
"Aaaaahhh — Screech …"
Thales gritted his teeth. He felt that the sound made him incredibly nervous.
'It's just like the sound of fingernails scratching the blackboard in my previous life …'
When he thought of this, he suddenly froze.
'Scratching the blackboard?'
At that moment, Samel, who had been thinking hard, suddenly spoke.
"I know what this is!"
Samel turned his head around, and joy appeared on his face. He looked like a lost person who had found a source of water in the desert.
"This, this is the sound of fingernails scratching on rough metal!"
Samel touched the metal Iron Curtain and said excitedly, "It's coming from behind here!"
Everyone was shocked!
Countless pairs of eyes looked at the strange Iron Curtain.
Thales looked at the iron plate beside the iron curtain and activated hell's senses.
[Angelo, male, born in Walla Hill in 622.]
[Imprisoned in 653. Crimes: Murder, robbery, theft, murder of nobles, unlawful assembly.]
[Adjudicator: Judge Johnny Brennan of Emerald City]
[Warden: Viscount Sona Covendier of Arch Sea City.]
[Warden: Baron Garrett Luhmann of Blade Fangs Camp.]
Imprisoned in the year 653 …
Thales furrowed his brows slightly.
There was another name on the iron plate:
[Fowler, male, born in 613 somewhere in the Eastern Continent.]
[Imprisoned in 653. Crimes: smuggling, theft, tax evasion.]
[Adjudicator: Judge Johnny Brennan of Emerald City]
[Warden: Viscount Sona Covendier of Arch Sea City.]
[Warden: Baron Garrett Luhmann of Blade Fangs Camp]
[Note: Died in 672.]
He looked at the iron curtain, and then at the iron plate beside it. Surprise appeared on his face. "So, the prisoner mentioned on the plate, the lone thief, he … he's still alive?"
The pained wails and scratching sounds gradually weakened, turning into a low drawn-out sound.
"Sob …"
This time, Thales recognized it. It was a person's sobbing, and its pitch changed after it passed through the thick iron plate.
Everyone's gazes were focused on the iron curtain and the thing behind it.
"I understand now." Samel walked to the center of the iron curtain under everyone's gaze. He sized up the special room shrouded by the iron curtain under the firelight.
"This is the mechanism of Black Prison. I don't know if it was originally in the Alchemy Tower, or if it was modified by the Constellatiates later on.
"The cells we saw earlier were filled with skeletons, but those were actually empty cells. And these, these cells with Iron Curtains, are the cells with 'occupants'." Samel stared at the hanging rings on the wall carefully. His voice was slightly grave.
"This hanging ring is the switch that controls this iron curtain."
Behind the iron curtain, the deformed sobbing sounds continued faintly.
As he listened to Samel's words, Thales surveyed everything in the hall with complicated emotions. His gaze swept past the thick layer of dust, and the seemingly inconspicuous but unique workmanship that might have been made a thousand years ago.
"Beldin, a veteran of the Royal Guards, and the chief penal officer who succeeded Zakriel after he was promoted. He was in charge of escorting the royal family's criminals to the Prison of Bones. He told me many years ago that the criminals in Black Prison suffer from the pain of death and survival. I never understood it, and I only understood it today."
Samel's hand gently stroked the hanging ring, and a layer of dust fell on it. His voice was ethereal.
"When the living prisoners are locked inside, the iron curtain rises, isolating them from the light and the hall. The supplies that are dropped from the holes on the ground will only fall behind the iron curtain, into the prisons where there are still living people."
He looked around at the other empty cells in disbelief. His gaze swept past the dried skeletons behind the bars.
"On one hand, it exaggerates the despair of being isolated from the world, and on the other hand, it gives them the hope of prolonging their lives.
"Two kinds of pain," Samel said in a daze.
Samel said in a daze. His expression was ugly.
The group fell silent.
The former Baron Lasalle's expression was solemn. "Why doesn't this prisoner behind the iron curtain speak or call for help? Why does he only scream and scratch?"
Stake arched his shoulders, but did not speak.
The person who answered him was Josef, who was rescued by the Disaster Swords.
"Because he can't do it."
Josef shook his head, causing Lasalle to be slightly stunned.
"It's just like practicing with a sword. If you don't practice for a day, you'll get rusty.
"I've said it before. When you stay in a lonely prison that is isolated from the world and has no one else for too long, so long that it exceeds your expectations …" The Disaster Swordsman, who had just been released from the Prison of Bones, looked at everyone. The people who were swept by his gaze felt a chill in their hearts.
"Believe me, what you lose is not just time and freedom."
Thales stared at the prison behind the iron curtain. He felt that the air here had become much colder.
"What the hell." Klein stared at the iron curtain with a burning gaze, paying attention to the movements behind it. "The Prison of Bones. Does this place want people to die or live?"
No one answered.
There was only the faint sound of sobbing.
'Does it want people to die or live?'
Thales stared at the heavy iron curtain with a heavy heart.
A few seconds later, Stake sighed. "Or neither."
Ricky twitched the corner of his lips and interrupted the depressing conversation.
"I think we're on the right path."
He turned around.
"Let's move forward."
The Disaster Swords moved along with him.
"Are we just going to leave and ignore the prisoner behind us?" Lasalle stared at the heavy iron curtain with a frown.
Stake shook his head and smiled disdainfully.
"Why should we care?"
With indescribable emotions in their hearts, everyone turned around.
Thales cast one last glance at the heavy iron curtain. His heart was heavy.
The light from the fire left the hall in the darkness.
Only the iron curtain behind them was left, along with the increasingly painful and desolate sobs.
Their journey continued. But it was clear that the discovery just now made the Disaster Swords, who already had a target in mind, feel a lot more excited.
Soon, they walked down step by step. The halls they passed became bigger, and the number of prison cells in each hall increased. From nine, ten, to a dozen, then twenty …
What made Thales uneasy was that more than one of these prison cells was shrouded by an iron curtain.
'In other words …'
"We found the way." Samel looked at another iron curtain in front of him with a frown. He looked at the sign on it and said, "The real Black Prison is all below the tenth level.
The real Black Prison is all below the tenth level. "
Klein nodded and ignored the crazy slapping sounds behind the black curtain.
"Looks like that's the case."
Ricky straightened his back from the other iron sign with the prisoner's profile written on it.
[Tucker Peng, male, born in Zodra in the year 630.
[Imprisoned in Year 661. Crime: Robbery, Rebellion.
[Adjudicator: Supreme King Kessel Jadestar.
[Warden: Honorary Baron, Claus Chatham.
[Warden: Baron of Blade Fangs Camp, Roman Williams.]
Thales looked at these iron signs with a depressed heart.
Aside from the lone bandit at the beginning, they walked down the levels. Along the way, they saw cells where real living people were imprisoned everywhere.
Without exception, these cells were all shrouded by heavy iron curtains. Some were filled with cries of pain, and some could barely make out one or two human cries for help …
There was only dead silence.
According to the vague iron signs and Samel's words, in these cells, there were female dukes who murdered their husbands and children, great pirates who plundered merchant ships without permission, frustrated nobles who rebelled on their own, and blood avengers who killed thirty-four people in one night.
But Ricky did not care about these prisoners. He just continued walking.
And the further down they went, the more serious and terrifying the crimes of the serious criminals became. They became more complicated, difficult to understand, and treacherous.
Thales walked through layer after layer, past cell after cell, and layer after layer of iron curtains. Among the prisoners, he saw the heroes of the forest who plundered military resources and saved the people during the war of the Bloody Year. He also saw the generals who killed incompetent superiors in the war, led their troops to kill the enemy, and won in the end.
There were even great nobles who were generous, kind, noble, and had a high reputation who helped the suffering without asking for anything.
"Why did you lock him up?"
The Northland swordsman Klein stood in the cell where the noble and his subordinates were imprisoned. He frowned as he looked at the iron curtains and iron signs. "According to what you said, he is generous, kind, charitable, and has an outstanding reputation. Is this also wrong?"
"Of course it is wrong," Lasalle said coldly as he stood by the side.
"Because his ancestor was enfeoffed by a prince, and he is a close relative of the royal family who inherited the Jadestar bloodline.
"In the eyes of the current king, this is called 'ambitious and scheming'.
"Did I tell you that from Empress Dowager Iron Spike to Sumer the First, from Erica to the Red King, there is no lack of bloody power struggles in the history of Constellation?"
A thought appeared in Thales' mind. He glanced at Quick Rope from the corner of his eye.
Beside him, Samel paused for a moment. He snorted softly and continued forward.
Along the way, they passed by countless prisons with iron curtains. They met embezzlers who had made great contributions to the kingdom, but also made great mistakes; temple priests who preached the theory of the unity of the gods and the theory of mortal destiny; historians who insisted on going back to the era of the Red King and reopening old taboos.
"And this person. I remember him. This is a scholar who was thrown in after he wrote a few books." Stake looked at a cell and smiled.
"He seems to have been locked up with a noble who started a private war, and he seems to have been locked up for thirty years …"
When he heard this, Thales could not help but speak.
"Scholar? Why? "
Samel walked up from behind and said coldly, "Because he wrote a book.
He insisted that civil rights are higher than royal power, and that the teachings of the people are higher than the teachings of the gods. "
Thales was momentarily stunned. He was immediately speechless.
"Your grandfather did not take his life. He only threw him in here. He is considered very merciful, Your Highness."
Samel's gaze made Thales feel rather uneasy.
"The stories of these people are incredibly complicated, mysterious, and legendary. It is enough to make bards write about them for three days and three nights without rest while they are in ecstasy." There was a strange look in Samel's eyes as he stared at the iron curtained prisons in front of him. There was an underlying meaning in his words.
"Most of the time, the kingdom cannot determine their life and death based on the existing laws and crimes alone."
Thales frowned quietly. "So, you mean, the Prison of Bones is —"
But Samel only interrupted him and said quietly,
"Now, they are sealed behind these iron curtains, waiting for time to kill them."
Samel continued to stare at Thales. His eyes were fierce and full of indescribable emotions.
The anxious Thales had no choice but to avert his gaze.
"I'm thinking, if we release these somewhat strange felons and hold them in our hands, will we be able to …" Lasalle rubbed his chin and seemed to be deep in thought.
"That is not our goal," Ricky interrupted him coldly.
"As our guest, you do not have to do anything unnecessary."
Lasalle snorted in dissatisfaction.
In the darkness, Stake coughed and attracted everyone's attention.
Stake narrowed his eyes and said, "I don't know if all of you have noticed.
The empty cells on the top few floors are filled with dried up skeletons.
"And now …" He turned around and looked at the scene behind the empty cells.
"The empty cells in front of us are filled with dried corpses. Some of them even have a faint smell."
Ricky's expression changed.
"You mean …"
"Either these are prisoners who have been dead for a few years." Stake's expression was stern.
"Or, we are already very deep underground. Here, even the decay of corpses is much slower."
'Very deep underground.'
Thales' heart sank to the bottom.
Stake slowly revealed his intentions. "Honorable Crassus, if we continue to search aimlessly, are you sure we can return to the surface and safely evacuate within the time limit?"
Ricky's expression did not change. He raised the torch.
"How long have we been walking?"
Klein answered quietly by the side, "More than half an hour. We went down eighteen floors."
Ricky did not speak and looked at Samel.
Samel shook his head. The determination in his eyes remained. "It should be soon.
We must find him to have an answer. "
Ricky was silent for a while, then nodded solemnly.
So the group turned around again to search for an unknown target.
Stake smiled helplessly. He found that his reminder did not work.
"This place is too big. They won't be able to find us." Lasalle snorted coldly and followed them.
"Yes, it's too big. But what surprised me the most is that even though the air is a little stuffy and the smell is a little unpleasant," Stake said to Lasalle, who was beside him.
"But I don't find it difficult to breathe.
"Look at this building. It's the Confinement Research Institute, right?"
Stake looked around and sighed at Lasalle, who was gradually becoming impatient. "The people at that time, the so-called wizards, they must have been very powerful."
Thales thought of something.
He saw Ricky and Samel discussing something while walking in front of him.
"Yes." Thales walked to Stake's side as if nothing had happened. He sighed with sincerity.
"I think so too. Such a large building is buried deep underground. The preservation, layout, and ventilation are all done meticulously."
Stake glanced at Thales in surprise.
This was the first time the prince took the initiative to speak to him.
Thales smiled and said, "My father told me about the Prison of Bones. According to him, wizards are really amazing existences. They can surprise you at all times."
'Surprise.'
Sure enough, in the next second, Thales saw Stake's expression change.
Their search did not last for long.
Soon, they went down one floor and arrived at a hall they had never seen before.
It was the same dust-covered floor, the same ruins, and the same thick stone pillars. Thales looked around and saw nearly thirty prison cells.
Five of them were wrapped in thick iron curtains. The bars and the prisoners behind them could not be seen.
Samel stood in front of one of the cells and raised his torch.
At that moment, Thales clearly heard Samel's sharp intake of breath in the quiet darkness.
The torch in his hand flickered.
"That's right." Samel's voice trembled slightly.
"This is … our target."
The group, who had been mentally exhausted, instantly became alert. Ricky even walked forward quickly and looked at the iron plates with a serious expression.
Thales used hell's senses and tried to see the iron plate clearly.
[Quill Barney Jr., male, born in Eternal Star City in Year 631.
[Imprisoned in Year 661. Crime: Colluding with the enemy.
[Adjudicator: Supreme King Kessel Jadestar.
[Warden: City Master of the Ruins, Guardian Duke of Western Desert, Cyril Fakenhaz.
[Warden: City Master of Splendid Port City, Guardian Duke of Eastern Sea, Bob Cullen.
[Warden: City Master of Jade City, Guardian Duke of South Coast, Leinster Covendier.
[Warden: City Master of Cold Castle, Guardian Duke of Northern Territory, Val Arunde.
[Warden: Suzerain of Brave Souls Fort, Appointed Count Lewis Bozdorf.
[Warden: Suzerain of Wing Fort, Appointed Count Davon Kroma.
[Warden: Chief of Intelligence, Honorary Lord Morat Hansen.
[Warden: Honorary Lord Arracca Murkh.
[Warden: Honorary Lord Roman Williams.
[Warden: Sonia Sasere.]
'Quill Barney Jr.
'Who is this?'
When he saw the iron plate, the time he was imprisoned, and the unusual names of the adjudicator and the warden on it, Thales became even more puzzled.
'There are so many wardens with prominent identities or extraordinary skills …
'And.
'His crime is …
'Colluding with the enemy?'
"Wow." Stake's voice rose from the side. He seemed to have understood something. "This is … that Barney Jr. …"
Samel took a deep breath. He knocked on one of the iron curtains and tried to pull the hanging ring next to the prison cell, but found that it did not budge.
He was slightly disappointed. He turned around in front of the last iron plate.
"Is there a way to open the iron curtains?
Five prison cells … all of them! "
Ricky smiled.
He took out the long 'key' again and walked to the stone pillar in the center of the hall.
The dust was blown away, and the emblem of the Alchemy Tower was revealed under the firelight.
Just like before, Ricky put the key into the round hole in the center. When it protruded, he nodded at Samel.
Samel took a deep breath and gestured to the others.
The five of them walked together to the five prison cells, pressed their hands on the dusty hanging rings, and pulled hard.
* Clack. *
Five unpleasant mechanical sounds rang out.
In the next second …
* Rumble … *
As the sound of friction rose, the torches in the hall swayed in unison!
A lot of dust suddenly fell from where the five iron curtains and the ceiling met.
* Rumble … *
The sound of friction rose.
Soon, Thales noticed that a gap appeared between the iron curtains and the ceiling. Metal bars could be seen in the gap.
It also revealed the darkness behind it.
'It's descending.'
Thales thought, 'The iron curtains are descending.'
He could not help but clench his fists.
* Rumble … *
Gradually, the iron curtains descended more and more, and they let out unpleasant sounds of friction.
The light from the fire shone on the metal bars that were exposed after the iron curtains descended.
Compared to the empty prison cells, these bars were obviously not affected by the dust. They reflected a smooth metallic luster.
* Rumble … *
But the light from the fire only illuminated a small part of the prison cell. It was still dark behind the bars.
An unpleasant smell came from behind the iron curtains.
But the group did not care. They focused their attention and stared at the five prison cells under the iron curtains with great anticipation.
* Rumble … *
Finally, the iron curtains descended lower and lower. In the end, they completely sank into the ground and could hardly be seen.
* Thud. *
As a muffled sound rose, Thales knew that the iron curtains had been completely opened.
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