Chapter 82#

“Three—two—one—”

Fu Yucheng counted down silently in his heart and pressed his left hand against the scanner on the inside of the prison door.

This massive Magic Cube Prison consisted of twenty-six 3-meter by 3-meter cubes. Every few hours, the cubes would slowly shift.

To enter from the outside, one needed to use an AI to adjust the cubes’ positions, align the inner door of Cell 1 with the outer door of the corridor, and then scan a palm print to open it, similar to the inner and outer doors of an elevator.

Over ten years ago, Fu Yucheng had lived here for nine months. During that time, he had recorded every movement time and direction based on the subtle vibrations when the cubes moved.

Later, after arriving on Earth, he used this data—following a long period of reflection and calculation—to discover that every nine days and five hours, during the movement process, the inner door of Cell 1 would align with the outer corridor door for approximately eight seconds.

The alignment of the inner and outer doors was the first condition for opening the cell door.

The second condition was the palm print of an authorized person.

Previously, as the Regent Crown Prince, Fu Yucheng naturally held the highest authority in the Royal Prison. These privileges were later revoked by Bai Mo.

However, Fu Yucheng had always been a deeply calculating person. When initially recording his palm prints, he had recorded two sets—in addition to the official authorization of his right hand, he had secretly recorded his left palm print as well.

This fact was known only to him.

Fu Yucheng pressed his left hand against the scanner and held his breath.

This half-second of waiting was almost longer than a century.

With a faint “swish,” the prison door slid open gently.

Fu Yucheng’s heart leapt with joy, and he quickly stepped out at a brisk pace.

Cell 1 was of the highest security level; every time it opened, Bai Mo would receive a notification. And it would take Bai Mo only fifteen minutes to rush here from the White Rose Palace.

Fu Yucheng knew he didn’t have much time. Daring not to delay in the slightest, he quickly arrived outside the duty room at the other end of the corridor, pressed himself against the wall beside the door, and tapped lightly on it.

“Xiao Wu?” The prison guard in the duty room clearly hadn’t considered that someone could escape from such a high-security cell.

Thinking it was a colleague looking for him, the guard lazily stood up and opened the door, only to feel a sharp pain in the back of his neck before collapsing limply.

Fu Yucheng dragged the unconscious guard into the duty room, used the guard’s palm print to unlock the safe, and began a rapid search.

Before long, he picked up two small silver chips—the unlocking chips for the mental power suppressor.

Fu Yucheng identified them and inserted one into the slot at the back of the suppressor around his neck.

With a “clang,” the ring-shaped suppressor fell to the floor.

Fu Yucheng closed his eyes, feeling waves of soft mental power gently washing through his mind. That comfortable and pleasant sensation made him let out an involuntary sigh of relief.

Then, Fu Yucheng looked up at the clock on the wall—20:35, six minutes had passed since he left Cell 1.

It would take fifteen minutes for Bai Mo to arrive; he had at most nine minutes left.

Logically speaking, in just nine minutes, there was absolutely no way Fu Yucheng could escape from under the nose of a Super-S class controller and through the encirclement of numerous armed guards.

But he had already thought of a way to cope.

Fu Yucheng picked up a protective mask and quickly went up two floors via the stairs—the entire Royal Prison was located underground, with special cells near the bottom and regular cells near the top.

Reaching the floor for regular cells, he thought for a moment and then walked toward Cell 49—this was the most secure of the regular cells, equipped with thorough interrogation equipment. It was very likely that Bai Mo had imprisoned Lu Xing here.

“Boom!” With a loud thud, Fu Yucheng kicked open the cell door.

Lu Xing looked up sharply, staring at the person before him in stunned disbelief, and blurted out: “A-Cheng?”

Fu Yucheng grabbed him fiercely and, without a word, inserted the unlocking chip into the suppressor around his neck.

The suppressor fell to the floor with a “clang.” Lu Xing stared at him blankly, his expression as if he were dreaming: “You… why are you here? You’re here to save me?”

Fu Yucheng didn’t bother explaining and said straightforwardly: “Lu Xing, do me a favor, and I’ll guarantee your life.”

Lu Xing seemed somewhat confused: “What exactly is going on? Bai Mo moved my cell and said you were locked up by him, that you two already…”

Fu Yucheng interrupted him directly: “Enough, I don’t have time for nonsense! Put on this protective mask, release a strand of mental power, and escape through the side door. Delay as much time as possible.”

“You’re not here to save me? You… you want me to help draw away the pursuers?” Lu Xing finally understood, his expression gradually turning cold, “That’s right, my mental power was transplanted from yours. If they sense this mental power, they will naturally chase me. You really are… deeply scheming. But why should I help you?”

Fu Yucheng stared at him: “Lu Xing, you should be very clear that Bai Mo hates you to the bone… think for yourself, what is his current status and how will he deal with you? I know him too well. As long as you’re willing to help me, I’ll teach you a way to make him spare you.”

Lu Xing stared at him: “Let’s hear it.”

…

After listening to Fu Yucheng, Lu Xing couldn’t help a cold sneer: “You really haven’t changed a bit, capable of utilizing anything… especially other people’s feelings for you.”

By now, the sound of hurried footsteps came from the floor above.

Seeing Lu Xing still being entangled and unclear, Fu Yucheng grew anxious: “Enough with the nonsense, are you going to help me with this or not? Be quick about it, one way or the other.”

Lu Xing stared at him and suddenly gave an ambiguous smile: “Actually, I’ve reached this point already, so as for saving my life… I don’t care that much.”

Fu Yucheng glared at him: “Then what do you want?”

Lu Xing looked at him for a moment, then suddenly leaned in and lightly pressed against those pale lips.

This sudden stolen kiss lasted only a second. Before Fu Yucheng could react, Lu Xing had already put on the gray protective mask and whispered: “I’ve already collected the reward. Let’s go.”

He turned and walked toward the door.

Fu Yucheng snapped back to reality, glanced at the camera in the corner of the ceiling, cursed inwardly, but had no time to dwell on it. He could only follow him out the door.

The two had been comrades-in-arms for many years; even though they had eventually turned against each other, some residual tacit understanding remained. They gestured to each other and then moved silently in two different directions, one to the left and one to the right.

The Royal Prison of the Central Empire was massive in scale, with intricate and complex paths and a total of three exits: a main gate, a side door, and a logistics supply channel.

Lu Xing slowly released a strand of mental power and headed toward the side door.

Fu Yucheng, without hesitation, ran toward the logistics supply channel.

Once out of this channel, there was a civilian spacecraft base not far behind the prison… Everything was perfectly planned.

…

Bai Mo fiercely grabbed the prison guard’s collar, his pale, cold face almost distorted: “Where are they? Where are they?!”

The tall and sturdy guard shook like a little chick, trembling as he tapped the large screen on the wall several times to pull up the surveillance video.

Bai Mo stared intently at the light blue screen, unconsciously gritting his teeth.

He saw Fu Yucheng walk out, knock out the guard, open the safe with the guard’s palm print, take out the chip to unlock the suppressor… then, the person went to the floor for regular cells and rescued Lu Xing.

They said a few words and then kissed quite naturally.

Afterward, they stepped out of the cell, exchanged a glance, and without needing a word, expertly gestured to each other before leaving in separate directions.

Bai Mo stared fixedly at those eye-searing images, feeling a burst of cold and then a burst of heat in his heart… that bone-deep chill and boiling jealousy almost tore his entire being apart.

He clenched his fists desperately, veins bulging on the back of his white hands. Blood slowly seeped from his palms, yet he didn’t even feel it.

That person… he had been acting all along, lying to him all along…

No wonder, no wonder during these few days he had been so compliant, coaxing him… even taking the initiative…

Had he been taking the initiative while looking at him mockingly, thinking he was a complete fool? That as long as he was given a bit of sweetness, he would forget everything and just wag his tail around him?

In fact, he had already made plans long ago, and he even found someone to help… he found that Lu Xing.

He was going to abandon him again.

“Creeeeeak…” With a scalp-tingling sound, the giant surveillance screen was slowly covered in a thick layer of frost, and then with a “crash,” it shattered into a floor full of pieces.

Bai Mo turned abruptly and roared in a low, furious voice: “You bunch of useless trash, what are you standing there for?! Go after them!!”

A team leader said tremblingly: “We’re already in pursuit. The mental power tracker shows that the Crown Prince… no, Prisoner Number 1 is attempting to escape through the side door. All four of our teams have converged to surround him.”

Bai Mo kicked him fiercely to the ground: “You bunch of idiots! Who is Fu Yucheng? Would he let you catch him so openly? The person at the side door is Lu Xing! Fu Yucheng is using a diversion! You’ve all been played by him!!”

The crowd looked at each other in panic, all trembling, not knowing what to do.

A guard captain bit the bullet and spoke: “The mental power tracker shows that the mental power field at the side door is precisely the mental power field of Prisoner Number 1, Fu Yucheng…”

Bai Mo ignored him entirely, his teeth clenched tightly, his sculpture-like face almost looking sinister.

Then, he closed his eyes forcefully.

A violent, furious Super-S class mental power field surged like a tsunami, instantly flooding the entire massive Royal Prison.

You want to escape… you lied to me again…

You even dared to find that Lu Xing… and you two even…

You, you simply…

Am I… too good to you?

Or is it that you simply have no heart.

…

Fu Yucheng did his best to control his mental power, not daring to let even a hint leak. As long as he didn’t use mental power, Bai Mo wouldn’t be able to sense him.

He weaved through the paths and arrived at the logistics storage area for miscellaneous items, then turned another corner and walked into a dim corridor.

Soon, he would be out.

Then, he would go to Titan and settle everything.

As for Bai Mo… he would compensate him, with the rest of his life.

Lost in thought, Fu Yucheng suddenly halted his steps.

At the end of the corridor was a heavy and old metal circular door, tightly closed.

This metal circular door was usually not closed, but recently Bai Mo had strengthened prison security, and the door had been shut.

Fu Yucheng walked to the door and fumbled around for a bit. He quickly determined that this was an old-fashioned password door, not a palm-print sensor door.

He blanked for a moment, his heart both anxious and annoyed. If he used mental power to break the door by force, Bai Mo would sense it immediately, and the probability of being caught back was almost 100%.

But what else could be done?

Fu Yucheng was almost at his wit’s end.

He hesitated for a moment, then heard bursts of shouting and footsteps from the nearby corridor—a large group of armed guards was already searching in this direction.

Extremely anxious, Fu Yucheng stared fixedly at the heavy password door and tentatively touched the touch screen.

Two green spaces appeared on the touch screen: the first for “Name” and the second for “Password.”

Name? Password? He furrowed his brows tightly, racking his brain.

For an unimportant logistics passage like this, all official guards within the establishment should have authority. The name was likely a real name, while the password was a personal setting and would not be uniform.

Fu Yucheng reflected for a moment, then suddenly recalled something.

Over ten years ago, before he underwent the transplant surgery, Lu Xing had sent a special police captain to bring him a cup of mint ice cream.

That special police captain, what was his name?

Guo… Guo Changan? Guo Changkang? No… Guo Changjian.

Fu Yucheng licked his lips and quickly typed the three characters “Guo Changjian” into the name field.

The green cursor flickered and moved to the password field, prompting for an 8-digit numerical password.

Password… He remembered Guo Changjian was very honest; the password he used was likely not very fancy. Such an eight-digit password was in all likelihood either his own birthday or the birthday of his wife or children.

Fu Yucheng tried hard to remember. Back then, he had seen the red string of the person’s birth year on their wrist and had chatted with them for a bit.

How did the conversation go?

“Captain Guo, this is your birth year? Thirty-six?”

“Just turned on Friday.”

That’s it.

Fu Yucheng’s eyes brightened slightly. He clearly remembered that the day Lu Xing sent him ice cream and forced him to accept the transplant surgery was Monday, December 10, 2384.

And the previous Friday of that day was December 7—Guo Changjian’s birthday.

Guo Changjian was thirty-six years old; counting back thirty-six years, his date of birth… was December 7, 2358.

Fu Yucheng quickly typed the number “23581207” into the password field.

“Beep—” A piercing noise sounded, and the password field turned red, displaying “Password incorrect, you have one more chance.”

Fu Yucheng blanked for a moment, his throat parched with nervousness.

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

Password incorrect. Why? Perhaps Guo Changjian’s password was his wife’s or children’s birthday?

But Guo Changjian had become a guard captain at thirty-six. It was difficult to earn credit and slow to promote in the guard system; one usually accrued seniority. So, when Guo Changjian first began his service, he must have been very young. Late marriage was common in the ecological zones, so he likely wasn’t married then… and this access password must be set when one first begins service.

What password would Guo Changjian use?

Fu Yucheng closed his eyes and thought back carefully. Guo Changjian had a red string for his birth year on his wrist, indicating he came from a very traditional Chinese family.

Then his birthday… that’s it, the lunar calendar.

Fu Yucheng’s mind rapidly calculated: December 7, 2358, was the lunar calendar’s… October 24th.

He took a deep breath, confirmed again that he hadn’t miscalculated, and then without further hesitation, carefully typed in the password digit by digit.

The heavy password door opened silently.