Hearing the rustling, Xiang Yi hurried toward the exit of the mine tunnel.
After walking about fifty meters, the indicator light on the bracelet on his left wrist suddenly lit up. It seemed to have finally picked up a signal.
As Xiang Yi focused on the bracelet, a panel materialized before his eyes.
["Longke Security" Civilian Basic Model Locator Bracelet]
[Energy Core: "Nanfu" Energy Concentration Ring Battery]
[Signal Module: "Pigeon" Signal Transceiver]
[Control System: "Micro-Honeycomb" Parallel Centralized Control System (Sub-unit)]
[Structural Type: "Longke Security" Civilian Basic Edition Bracelet-form Frame]
[Additional Attachments: Triggered High-Voltage Electroshock Device]
It also displayed lines of data, more concise than the Mining Gun's, but the holographic projection was just as detailed.
Even with three inmates lying on the ground cursing not far behind him, Xiang Yi wasn't worried about giving anything away.
He had noticed from the start that the panel before him emitted a faint blue glow, yet there was no corresponding reflection on the nearby walls.
'This panel must only be visible to me.'
Xiang Yi suddenly glanced back.
He could vaguely make out the three men's pained and resentful expressions in the darkness. There was no trace of surprise or shock.
'That confirms it. No one can see this panel but me.'
Xiang Yi relaxed his focus, dismissed the panel, and turned back toward the nearby engineering elevator.
For now, he had no plans to modify the locator bracelet on his wrist. It was, ironically, his guarantee to remain in the prison "legally."
He even reconnected the Biological Signal Sensing Device he had just disabled on the Mining Gun, restoring it to its original state.
While he was at it, he checked the Mining Gun's panel again to see what other modifications he could perform on its modules.
But he discovered the number of modifications he could make was extremely limited.
The Mining Gun had six modules in total, but the modification lists for four of them were completely empty.
Aside from modifying the Signal Receiver, the only other change he could make was to the lens of the firing module.
After a moment of thought, Xiang Yi more or less understood.
The modifications he could perform on a piece of machinery were apparently based on his own knowledge.
He understood the principles of laser lenses and the methods of signal propagation, but he had no knowledge of modules involving things like fusion reactors or exotic hyper-concentrates.
The recent encounter in the mine tunnel had allowed him to quickly grow accustomed to his power, but truly mastering it would require far more.
'I need more knowledge.'
Xiang Yi managed to catch the last engineering elevator.
With a faint grinding of gears, the elevator began its slow ascent.
He silently estimated the time. 'It should be just before the deadline announced over the broadcast.'
However, as the engineering elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened...
Xiang Yi saw that the door to the decontamination chamber at the tunnel exit was already closed.
His heart tightened. He quickened his pace, rushed to the door of the decontamination chamber, and started pounding on it forcefully.
Through the observation window on the door, he could see a prison guard sitting idly in a chair in the monitoring room adjacent to the chamber.
The guard instinctively turned his head at the sound of the pounding, then turned back, casually glancing at the time on a screen in front of him.
Seeing there was still a minute before the broadcast deadline, he frowned. After a quick look around confirmed that no one else was paying attention, he simply pretended he hadn't heard Xiang Yi's pounding.
"You son of a..."
Xiang Yi cursed inwardly, his pounding turning into hammering fists against the door.
But the guard still didn't react, and the deadline for sealing the mine was fast approaching. Gritting his teeth, Xiang Yi took a gamble and shouted, "I saw a huge mass of Blood Crystal!"
Hearing this, the guard finally stood up. He looked at the door connecting the decontamination chamber to the mine and asked, "Where?"
He still had that couldn't-care-less attitude, but Xiang Yi detected the excitement in his voice.
So, Xiang Yi simply kept his mouth shut. The tension in his chest began to dissipate.
His plan was to get to safety first before reporting that Brother Long and his two men had been consumed by a Blood Crystal. Otherwise, the guard might have just left him to die in the mines.
After all, if people who died in the tunnels were likely to become a large mass of Blood Crystal, then his death would just mean one more. From the guard's perspective, what was there to lose?
Apparently, he had overthought things. The rules in this prison were a bit stricter than he'd imagined.
Meanwhile, outside the chamber, in the passageway leading into the main prison, a few inmates seemed to have noticed the commotion and were gathering around.
The guard didn't shoo them away. Instead, he said to Xiang Yi, "You know the consequences for filing a false report, don't you?"
"I do!"
The guard finally opened the decontamination chamber door, allowing Xiang Yi to get back to safety with only seconds to spare.
Nozzles on the chamber ceiling sprayed a large amount of disinfectant. It stung as it hit his wounds, but the pain was strangely reassuring.
Soon, the spray stopped, and the door leading into the main prison opened.
The guard walked in, electric baton in hand. He pointed to Xiang Yi's limbs, his eyes full of amusement. "What happened here?"
"Scraped them on some rocks by accident."
"Hah." The guard sneered. "And your gear?"
"It was destroyed. All I have left is this gun."
Seeing no issues with Xiang Yi's answers, the guard casually pointed to a corner of the room where two neat rows of Mining Guns were stored.
"Put it over there. Someone will be by to collect them later."
Xiang Yi obediently placed the Mining Gun in the designated spot and, as instructed by the guard, sat on a chair in the chamber to wait.
Soon, a doctor carrying a medical kit hurried from the main prison into the decontamination chamber to see Xiang Yi.
He tore off the makeshift bandages Xiang Yi had made from his prison uniform. Using a device that looked like a stapler, he quickly closed the wounds, applied a cooling salve, and wrapped them in clean bandages.
After confirming Xiang Yi had no other injuries, the doctor simply pushed his way through the crowd of inmates gathered outside the chamber and left.
But the inmates who had gathered outside didn't leave. Their gazes, fixed on Xiang Yi, were filled with nothing but jealousy and undisguised malice.
Amidst the jumble of voices, Xiang Yi heard the names of Brother Long, Brother Kun, and their accomplice mentioned several times. It seemed many people knew what had gone down in the mine tunnel today, they just hadn't guessed the final outcome.
After a few more minutes under the burning stares of the surrounding inmates, six people in protective suits arrived at the decontamination chamber. They carried various instruments Xiang Yi had never seen before and pushed a large metal crate on a trolley. The crate was about five feet wide and eight feet tall. Following behind them were four guards, presumably for protection.
The stares from the crowd grew noticeably more intense.
Xiang Yi ignored the stares, got up, and followed the guard to meet the new arrivals.
Peering at them through the visors of their protective suits, Xiang Yi realized he recognized them. They were the people in white lab coats he occasionally saw around the prison.
They looked like scientists or researchers.
The leader of the lab coats was a scruffy, middle-aged man with rough stubble and a messy head of hair.
He quickly dismissed the guard who was trying to take credit, then turned to Xiang Yi. "You said you saw a large mass of Blood Crystal, right?"
Xiang Yi nodded. "There should be three large masses of Blood Crystal."
"Oh?"
The leader pushed up his glasses and gestured to the people behind him.
After two of them left to prepare two more metal crates at his command, he said, "Let's head down. Time is of the essence. Don't lead us astray."
The leader's last sentence was directed at Xiang Yi.
He didn't state the consequences of leading them astray, but they were sure to be unpleasant.