Chapter 116

Common flush toilets have standing water at the bottom, paired with S- or U-shaped trapways below, effectively blocking foul odors from escaping.

But the toilet in this solitary cell of the Narrative Cage has no standing water; instead, it features a metal mesh filter and a device resembling a vacuum pump.

Given Huiyu's personality, she probably wouldn't go so far as to liquefy limbs and reach into the toilet to fish out coins—her bottom line is still too high.

Li Cheng removed the showerhead from its rack, aimed it at the toilet, and pulled the lever.

A moist airstream immediately shot from the nozzle, growing stronger as the lever turned.

Ding—

A coin was blasted by the airstream, bouncing several times against the toilet's inner wall before finally springing out and landing on the floor.

Its surface bore slight scratches; the front displayed the pattern "80∑," indicating its value, while the reverse showed a brilliant star map of a star system.

"In the interstellar era, the reverse of a 5∑ coin depicts a meteoroid asteroid, while the reverse of an 80∑ coin shows a star system—this should count as a high-denomination currency, yet it can only buy sixteen drinks from a vending machine. Prices really are high, about the same as Tel Aviv."

Li Cheng muttered. Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel, is one of the most expensive cities in the real world; a two-liter bottle of Coca-Cola costs nine new shekels, and a frontline Israel Defense Forces soldier earns three thousand new shekels per month. After a month of fighting on the front lines, one could afford roughly 333 bottles of cola or 100 hamburgers.

He kept spraying with the showerhead, confirming no more coins remained inside the toilet before stopping.

The room held no other clues; this single coin was the only find. Huiyu frowned and asked, "What now?"

"Go to the bottom-right cell."

Li Cheng turned off the showerhead and stepped out of the room, letting Huiyu pry open the door of the bottom-right cell.

The cell door opened; the disheveled figure still sat in the corner, muttering fragmented, incomprehensible words to the wall.

"He's been in this cell since before Isaac was imprisoned. He's tried escaping countless times, until his self-awareness was severely damaged—he can no longer communicate at all. Also, when you see his face, don't be frightened."

Huiyu whispered the warning, her palm transforming into a chain-saw blade. Li Cheng understood, stepped lightly, and slowly approached, circling to the prisoner's side.

Then he saw something grotesque.

The prisoner's entire face was covered in gears and saw blades; large patches of skin had been corroded and coated with chemical plating; both eyes had been replaced with expansion bolts, erasing any trace of his original appearance.

Hinges replaced joints, springs replaced tendons, rods replaced bones, loudspeaker units replaced the throat; upon closer inspection, even his hair consisted of fine steel wires.

He resembled neither a human nor a mechanical lifeform, but more like an art piece that had sat unsold too long and was eventually thrown into a landfill.

Li Cheng lowered his voice and asked Huiyu, "Was he always like this?"

Huiyu whispered back, "His face wasn't much different originally—his other parts are far worse."

It wasn't this bad before—could this prisoner have been infected by the Iron Plague virus?

But that doesn't make sense. The Iron Plague virus is tied to the Zelos civilization and Isaac. If the Narrative Cage's engine room trials are influenced by Isaac, why would this unnamed prisoner, imprisoned long before Isaac, also be infected by the Iron Plague virus?

Li Cheng suppressed his doubts, covered his nose and mouth, and slowed his breathing as he studied the prisoner. Most of his body had been corroded by metal machinery, leaving no trace of his original form. A corner of newspaper peeked out from beneath his buttocks.

The newspaper's content appeared to be a battlefield report.

"Hello?" Li Cheng asked tentatively: "I'm your cellmate. Can you hear me? I'll give you 80∑ for the newspaper under you."

"Heheheha."

The prisoner remained oblivious, grinning foolishly as he raised his hands—entirely composed of metal rods—waving them in midair as if playing with a puppet for an invisible child.

Wait—puppet?

Li Cheng paused. The prisoner's eyes, nose, and ears had all been replaced with metal parts; his brain was filled with gears—he likely couldn't hear him at all.

And according to Isaac, the Iron Plague virus spreads through contact.

He already carried the infection of the Worm Lord's abomination—he had no desire to attract the Iron Plague virus. He immediately ruled out violence and turned to leave the cell.

He inserted the 80∑ coin into the vending machine, pressed the button, and bought a white rabbit toy inside a transparent plastic gift bag.

This rabbit toy had been positioned right after corn juice, priced at 10∑; after purchase, the machine spat out a 70∑ coin with a frozen planet pattern on its reverse.

Li Cheng pocketed the 70∑ coin and noticed that, compared to the crumpled transparent gift bag, the cotton rabbit toy inside was remarkably new. Unfortunately, it bore no manufacturer information, and its interior showed no signs of containing anything unusual.

Returning to the bottom-right cell, Li Cheng put on gloves and carefully placed the rabbit toy into the unnamed prisoner's hands. The prisoner paused, then repeatedly traced the toy's surface, as if confirming its shape.

"Wu… wu… wu… wu…"

Whether crying or laughing, the unnamed prisoner clutched the toy and whimpered, slowly toppling over, hugging it as he lay on his side on the floor.

This position freed up space, revealing the newspaper that had been pinned beneath him.

The article's headline read: 【Navy Special Forces Destroy Key Node of Iron Plague Nest】. The content stated: "A special operations team under the Zelos Navy's Third Fleet infiltrated the Iron Plague-occupied region of Orion C, successfully destroying a Level-3 Iron Plague Nest's factory storing superheavy elements, then safely retreated aboard the Vulture transport ship. This marks the end of a decade-long strategic stalemate since the first Iron Plague Nest appeared on Orion C."

Li Cheng put on gloves, collected the newspaper into his backpack slot, then removed and stored the gloves, stepping out of the cell and leaving the door slightly ajar as he murmured, "Like the previous newspapers, this one also describes the war between the Zelos civilization and the Iron Plague."

"Is there a problem?" Huiyu asked.

"Too coincidental."

Li Cheng said, "To get this newspaper, I had to first earn a coin to buy the rabbit toy. To get the coin, I had to enter the bottom-left cell. To enter the cell, I needed your help. All these steps are tightly linked, like a deliberately designed puzzle. Even gave me an out-of-bounds option."

He drew the 【Last Redemption】 pistol, spun it in a flourish, "This gun's power is immense—it could blast open the cell doors."

In other words, the walkthrough order can be altered; using items prevents serious progression blocks.

For example, I could've used this gun to break open the bottom-left cell, obtained the 80∑ coin, and bought both the 10∑ rabbit toy and the 5∑ corn juice in one go.

With the corn juice, I could've bribed you to pry open the bottom-right cell door and traded the rabbit toy for the newspaper.

Or I could've used this gun to directly attack the vending machine, steal the toy and corn juice, then bribed you—the outcome would be identical.

This design is far too contrived.

"Are you saying the prison authorities want you to escape quickly?"

"Or maybe they want me to die quickly," Li Cheng said casually, arriving before the last two engine rooms.

Reversal, Misdirection, and Protagonist Effect have all been resolved. Only Flashback and Continuity remain.

Since the walkthrough order can be scrambled, the remaining two rooms are indistinguishable—Li Cheng chose the right-side Continuity.

Entering the engine room, he saw only a single red button placed alone on the floor; the room's layout was identical to the 【Misdirection Room】.

"Damn."

His eye twitched. The 【Misdirection Room】 made him believe he was a character in his own manga, nearly aging to death inside. Now this Continuity room looks just like it—what's the point?

It was too late to retreat now; due to the double-door mechanism, the outer wooden door couldn't be opened until the button was pressed.

The two exchanged a glance and reluctantly pressed the red button together.

One second, two seconds.

Time dripped away slowly; the surroundings showed no change—no monstrous creatures leapt out, nor were they transported elsewhere.

"." Guo Yu carefully scanned the area, crouched down, and touched the solid floor, struggling to believe the passage: "What's going on? Why no reaction?"

Li Cheng pulled out his hatchet, prodded the wall to confirm there were no traps. Seeing the wooden door open on its own, he stepped out.

Outside the engine room, everything remained as before—the unnamed prisoner in the lower-right cell still lay where he was, and the time displayed on the vending machine had only advanced two minutes.

"Just one button in the room?" Guo Yu muttered suspiciously. "Could we be trapped in a simulated illusion?"

"Probably not." Li Cheng took the Toy Factory key and the Emergency Escape Card from his backpack slot. These two items were the most mysterious objects on his person—ordinary illusions couldn't replicate them.

He mused: "A hallmark of continuity is breaking narrative coherence by adding ad hoc elements—like suddenly spawning a wall outside a prisoner's line of sight. Just now, the room was completely empty; clearly, something was off. Unless—"

Guo Yu asked: "Unless what?"

"Unless these door signs can be removed." Li Cheng reached for the door sign, prying and twisting it with his hands and the 170 Straight Knife, but after much effort, he couldn't detach a single one.

Failing didn't anger him—it proved something else instead.

He immediately strode toward the final engine room, marked with the sign 【Flashback】.

"Wait!" Guo Yu hurried after him, shoulder-to-shoulder with Li Cheng as they pushed open the wooden door of the Flashback Room, complaining: "Didn't you find some clue and deliberately withhold it? We're partners now—don't hide things, okay?"

"I didn't deliberately hide it—I just have an immature hypothesis."

Li Cheng waited as the metal sliding door ahead opened, saying: "Would a painter sell a half-finished painting? Would a chef serve a half-cooked dish? Would a programmer upload half-written code? Uh, wait—actually, that one might be possible."

"Cough. Anyway, with insufficient clues right now, analyzing it is pointless."

"Tch."

Guo Yu clicked her tongue in annoyance, her eyes filled with anxiety and anticipation.

Pressing the buttons of all five engine rooms leads to successful escape. Four have already been successfully activated; only this final Flashback Room remains.

Though she could no longer recall the specifics of her previous escape attempts, an instinctive feeling told her none had ever gone as smoothly as this.

Li Cheng truly was her lucky star.

Shhh—

As the metal sliding door fully opened, the scene before them shifted abruptly. They now stood aboard a... transport aircraft.

The cabin was spacious—nearly seven meters wide and five meters high, even larger than the real-world Antonov An-225, the largest military transport ever built.

Through the windows, they could see four massive engines, currently cruising through the clouds.

Along both interior walls hung nets loaded with numerous individual soldier weapons and gear.

In the center rested several battered infantry vehicles, their designs steeped in sci-fi futurism, clearly far more advanced than Earth's technology. Behind each vehicle's cargo bay were four sealed lead barrels.

Nearly a hundred soldiers clad in full dark-green powered armor sat on either side; many bore wounds, yet their voices brimmed with excitement.

"I never thought we'd make it out alive!"

"Yeah, that Level-3 Nest had been digging underground for years to accumulate two thousand units of super-heavy element—we wiped it out in one go. And we stole back five barrels."

"When we get back, the Navy Department has to give each of us a half-ton pure gold medal, right? What do you think, Captain?"

Because they sat behind a camouflage rain tarp, the soldiers didn't notice Li Cheng and Guo Yu at first. Guo Yu pressed her hand against Li Cheng's wrist, liquefying her limbs again, reshaping them into the exterior shell of powered armor to avoid detection.

'Level-3 Nest? These soldiers must be the Special Ops team from the Zelo Navy's Third Fleet, mentioned in the newspapers.'

As Li Cheng listened to the soldiers' chatter, he reached out and removed a piece of individual soldier gear from the cabin wall.

These futuristic sci-fi weapons could be handled and inspected in his hands—but when he tried to stow them in his backpack, the text 【Cannot Pick Up】 flashed before him. This indirectly confirmed the scene was an illusion generated by the engine room.

"Fellow soldiers, after this mission, I'm going home to get married!"

A young soldier stood up, pulled out a photo from his chest, and showed it off to his comrades: "Look, this is my fiancée. Pretty, right?"

"You lucky bastard, Jack, did you step in dog shit?" an older veteran laughed and cursed. "But I've also saved enough combat points—this time I'll apply for retirement. My kid's about to be born."

From beneath a powered armor chest plate engraved with "Angelina," a female soldier spoke: "Huh? Roland, your wife's about to give birth? My daughter Anna's birthday is tomorrow—she's been calling nonstop asking if I'll make it back to Proxima A. Damn, I forgot to bring her a gift. Maybe I'll buy her a rabbit plushie when we get back to the station."

"Enough talk—think about dinner! How about some grilled meat tonight?"

The soldiers chatted cheerfully; beside them, Li Cheng's forehead dripped with cold sweat.

'What the hell? Why is everyone here laying down death flags? "After this mission I'm getting married," "My kid's about to be born, applying for retirement," "My daughter's birthday tomorrow, she's calling to ask if I'll come home"—'

Saying things like this is like in Detective Conan saying, "One of us might be the killer! No way we sleep together—I'm going to my own room!"

Or in Jujutsu Kaisen saying, "We're going to win!"—it's just asking for death!

Li Cheng's eyelid twitched as he internally ranted: 'But… Anna? That name appeared before on the children's drawings. Could this female soldier, Angelina, be Anna's mother? And she mentioned a rabbit plushie—'

Boom!

A deafening crash erupted from outside—the right-side engine erupted in thick black smoke, then the left-side engine was also destroyed. The transport's speed plummeted as its four engines became two.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

A barrage of explosions rang out as dozens of steel spikes pierced through the ceiling. As the spikes unfurled like petals, creatures the size of motorcycles—half-mechanical, half-organic—tumbled down into the cabin.

These beasts, like the unnamed prisoner in the lower-right cell of the Narrative Cage, were flesh bodies bristling with saw blades and gears. The moment they landed, they attacked the soldiers inside the cabin.

(End of Chapter)