The Head of the Wailer!
The Vampire and the Sickly One were instantly hit.
The psychic attack from the Tier 2 curio wasn't enough to pose a real threat to Cocoon Stage experts, but it could still affect them for a moment.
The Vampire and the Sickly One both froze in their tracks, a dazed look clouding their eyes.
But these two fiends were strong even among evolvers of the same rank. As everyone knows, the more twisted someone is, the stronger their mental fortitude tends to be. They quickly shook off the effects of the psychic attack and vaguely heard a shout.
"There's a prison break!"
They were very familiar with that voice. It was Su Ze's.
"Fuck, I'm going to tear your skin off inch by inch and make a jigsaw puzzle out of it!"
At this moment, the two of them despised Su Ze with every fiber of their being, wishing they could swallow him whole.
But when they looked up, they only saw Su Ze's speed suddenly explode as he shot away like a lightning bolt. Before leaving, he casually tossed a small glass vial behind him.
The glass vial shattered on the metal floor, and a yellow gas billowed out.
This was the compressed poison gas Su Ze had looted from Zhao Lingxiao's corpse.
All of this sounded complicated, but it happened in the blink of an eye. By the time Su Ze shouted about the prison break and dashed out of the confinement area, the Prison Guard captain on duty finally reacted. His expression changed, and he hurriedly used all his strength to close the main gate.
The Vampire and the Sickly One watched as the half-open gate began to close rapidly. The moonlight pouring in from outside was blotted out bit by bit, just like their hopes of escape. Their eyes looked ready to pop from their sockets, and as if they'd gone insane, they charged recklessly toward the gate.
In that instant, both of them erupted with a speed they had never before achieved in their lives.
'There's still hope!'
A fire danced in their eyes, like drowning men clutching at the last straw.
But just as they entered the range of the yellow gas, their faces flushed red and their breathing grew ragged. Like deflating balloons, they instantly shriveled up and collapsed powerlessly to the ground.
Their skin turned a grotesque bluish-purple. Beneath it, their blood vessels twisted and tangled together like countless earthworms, a horrifying sight.
Even so, their gazes remained locked on the slowly closing gate before them.
Only when the last sliver of moonlight was blocked by the thick metal door did the fire of hope in the eyes of the Vampire and the Sickly One finally extinguish, along with the last of their life force.
The Prison Guard captain let out a sigh of relief only after the gate was completely shut. Through the glass panel, he could see the yellow smoke billowing on the other side, making it impossible to see what had become of the two escaping inmates.
The gate had a first-class seal, so he wasn't worried about the unidentified yellow gas leaking out.
Suddenly, he remembered something and turned around to look for the visitor from the Zhao Family.
He knew the two inmates' escape was definitely connected to the person from the Zhao Family.
But by now, Su Ze was already long gone. After bursting out of the confinement area, he had made a beeline for Pan Shi Prison's main iron gate. He knew that after causing such a commotion, the Pan Shi Prison Guards would definitely not let him leave.
At the same time, he guessed that the Zhao Family wouldn't have trusted Zhao Lingxiao to come alone. There had to be someone waiting to provide support.
He had to use the Zhao Family's power to get away.
Back when he was first devising his escape plan, Su Ze had already been thinking about what to do after getting out of prison.
Unlike the Vampire and the Sickly One, for him, breaking out wasn't just about escaping Pan Shi Prison. It was about escaping his current predicament and, at the very least, being able to live a normal life in this world.
Right now, neither his identity as Zhao Lingxiao nor his identity as a clone was legal. Neither could be brought out into the open.
Without a legal identity or formidable strength, it would be impossible for him to get by in this world. Even if he escaped Pan Shi Prison, he would only be trading a small prison for a larger one.
Su Ze knew very well that only the Zhao Family could help him with this. That was why he had to kill Zhao Lingxiao and take his place!
Just as Su Ze was about to run out of the prison's main gate, the Prison Guard captain decisively gave chase.
A Cocoon Stage expert was countless times faster than Su Ze; he caught up in an instant.
Just as the captain was about to grab Su Ze, he suddenly froze and looked outside the main gate. An iron tower of a man was standing there, though it was unclear when he had arrived.
"A Butterfly Stage!"
A thrice-evolved Butterfly Stage lifeform. Just by standing there, he exerted immense pressure on the Prison Guard captain.
"Stand down," the tower-like man said slowly.
Resentment was written all over the captain's face, but he didn't dare say another word. He silently took a few steps back, watching helplessly as the man led Su Ze away.
'If only the Warden were here, I wouldn't have to be afraid of him!' the Prison Guard captain thought, gritting his teeth.
Normally, the warden of Pan Shi Prison lived in the office area, only going home for holidays. However, last night he had accepted an invitation from Zhao Yuanyi to a banquet. The venue happened to be near his home, so he went home for the night after it ended.
Thinking about it now, this had all been arranged by Zhao Yuanyi.
***
"Mr. Tie." Su Ze mimicked Zhao Lingxiao's tone, addressing the tower-like man before him as he discreetly removed his mask, which now had a hole in it.
The man's name was Zhang Fantie, a Butterfly Stage expert and currently the number one master in the Zhao Family.
In his youth, Zhang Fantie had been exceptionally talented but came from a poor family. Zhao Yuanyi took a liking to him and recruited him into the Zhao Family as a security guard, where he was cultivated and supported.
Zhang Fantie lived up to those expectations, completing his third evolution before the age of forty. He was deeply grateful to Zhao Yuanyi and fiercely loyal.
Zhang Fantie held an extremely high position in the Zhao Family. Even Zhao Lingxiao had to address him as "Mr. Tie."
"Was there an accident?" Zhang Fantie asked, his face expressionless.
Su Ze nodded. "There was a small accident, but thankfully, I was well-prepared and still managed to kill that imposter."
"You're not hurt?"
"No."
Zhang Fantie gave a slight nod and led Su Ze to the side of the road, where a discreet black sedan was parked.
"Get in. The Minister is still waiting for us."
Su Ze got into the back seat, and Zhang Fantie took the driver's seat, starting the car and driving away from the front gate of Pan Shi Prison.
It was around two in the morning. Pan Shi Prison was located in the suburbs, so there wasn't a single person on the road—only their car driving down the wide street.
Zhang Fantie was a good driver, handling the car with both speed and stability. Su Ze gazed out the window at the gradually disappearing Pan Shi Prison, a feeling of relief washing over him.
The prison break could be called a complete success. At least, the outcome was exactly what he had wished for.
Just as he had told Zhao Lingxiao before, he believed the innocent deserved redemption, and the guilty deserved punishment.
And now, the three guilty men were dead in that iron coffin, while he, the innocent one, had successfully escaped to freedom.
From the very beginning, Su Ze had never intended to let the Vampire and the Sickly One out.
Although Su Ze didn't consider himself a noble person, he was unwilling to unleash two perverts upon the world unless absolutely necessary.
'Speaking of which, if it weren't for the compressed poison gas Zhao Lingxiao brought, I might have been able to trap the Vampire and the Sickly One, but I definitely couldn't have killed them...' Su Ze felt a wave of fear as he thought about the yellow gas. 'If Zhao Lingxiao had been reckless and used it on me from the start, I would have had no chance of survival.'
When Su Ze first discovered the yellow compressed poison gas in the vial, he had recognized it. It was most likely a biotoxin harvested from a Tier 3 mutated beast, as yellow corresponded to the color of the Tier 3 evolutionary light.
Tier 3 mutated beasts corresponded to humans who had evolved three times, the Butterfly Stage experts. Toxins from their bodies could pose a fatal threat to Cocoon Stage lifeforms.
'Hm?'
With a casual glance, Su Ze noticed a black bag on the seat next to him.
'Zhao Lingxiao's bag!'