Chapter 44: 43 Time Jar

43 Time Jar

Beneath the Stone Chamber was a row of prison cells. The cells were partitioned into small compartments by iron bars, narrow and chaotic.

The Judge had led the jailers outside to deal with them, so there were no dead bodies inside the cells, but the people in the cells were not much different from the dead; most were lifeless, covered in wounds, and the stench was even more unbearable.

When the Judge entered, some prisoners reacted, but they merely crouched in the corners, slightly propping up their bodies to stare at the two with bloodshot eyes; no one took the initiative to speak or recognize the Judge as if he were a savior.

From the beginning to the end, Tang Zhao forced himself to look intently, observing every corner from top to bottom, but he found nothing.

Finally, the two reached the end, and the Judge asked, "Nothing?"

Tang Zhao shook his head, and the Judge said, "Then clear the place, and search again."

Before Tang Zhao could react, a commotion immediately broke out in the cells. Compared to Tang Zhao, those half-dead people could quickly understand the meaning of "clear the place."

At this moment, Tang Zhao suddenly said, "Let's go look upstairs."

The Judge went, "Hm?" and Tang Zhao explained, "I discovered a clue earlier but didn't confirm it. Since there's nothing below, the possibility is greater upstairs."

The Judge said, "Very well."

The two returned to the original Stone Chamber; the blood on the ground had dried, and many spiders were crawling about.

Compared to the fist-sized, ferocious Black Spiders outside, the spiders here were only the size of a finger, yet they were numerous, crawling all over the floor, possessing a unique, hair-raising quality.

They were crawling out of the overturned Time Jars. The jars were like insect nests, with groups of spiders constantly crawling out, dripping with a sauce-colored liquid.

Tang Zhao resisted the urge to look at them, his gaze fixed on the place in his memory.

After a long while, he carefully chose his words: "Senior Judge, the person you are looking for is a person, right?"

The Judge said, "That is correct."

Tang Zhao said, "If I were to say... that person is not exactly... a person, would you be disappointed?"

The Judge paused for a moment and said, "If you have any clues, just say them."

Tang Zhao reached out and pointed: "Why don't you look at that?"

He was pointing at a Time Jar stacked by the wall.

It was stacked by the wall just like the other jars, its glaze gray and showing cracks, the seal old; it was clearly there for some time.

Without a doubt, it was a pottery jar, fired from earth, but considering the various circumstances here, it would not be unreasonable to say it was a person, or had once been a person.

The Judge stepped forward to examine it for a long time, remaining silent, and Tang Zhao did not speak either, feeling somewhat anxious in his heart.

He was not speaking nonsense; he had felt some anomaly in the prison earlier, but he hadn't been wearing his Glasses, so it wasn't so clear at a glance. Plus, the visual impact of the things here was too great, so he hadn't specifically distinguished the source of that anomaly.

Only after finding nothing in the prison did he return to re-examine this place.

That anomaly was right on this jar.

This kind of anomaly was not light; except under the perspective of the Glasses, in the world he saw himself, only Qi and the Rune Formula itself had light, and Art Tools looked like nothing from the outside. It was an anomaly like the one he felt when he first saw the Longevity Lock that had become an Art Tool, or rather, a shock to his Spirit.

It was just that after practicing the Spirit Bird's Spirit-Viewing Diagram, his Spirit was much stronger, so that shock was like ripples on a calm lake—visible but having no impact, certainly not enough to make him faint directly as it had before.

He didn't know if this sense of anomaly had anything to do with finding the person, but the Judge wanted him to distinguish it, so he could only find this one abnormality; whether it was the right one or not, this was all he had. If he were to put on his Glasses, he might be able to see other information, but it was unnecessary; the Judge didn't come to him knowing he had Glasses, and information that could only be discovered through the Glasses might not be what the Judge was looking for, and besides, it would arouse suspicion.

But even if he found it, the result seemed grim; the Judge was looking for a living person, which certainly couldn't be achieved now, and who knew how he would react?

After a long time, the Judge said, "Are you sure?"

Tang Zhao said, "To the best of my ability, this is all there is."

The Judge said, "Good." He moved the jars aside layer by layer, pulled out the one at the very back, and weighed it in his hand.

Tang Zhao was afraid he would open it on the spot, and the scene inside would be too gruesome to imagine, but fortunately, the Judge didn't act, saying, "I'm going down for a moment, you wait here."

Tang Zhao suddenly said, "Mr. Judge, I want to take that person down from the rack."

The Judge was walking down to the prison and said without looking back, "You may. Use Internal Energy to massage the Qi Sea to undo the acupoints."

Tang Zhao turned to take down the bloody person hanging there; when he cut the hanging rope with a dagger, the person was still under the acupoint seal and had no reaction. Tang Zhao felt his courage had grown much larger tonight, and he could look directly at such wounds, though he still felt uncomfortable in his heart.

After cutting the rope clean in a few quick strokes, the person's eyes were still wide open, filled with both fear and expectation. Tang Zhao comforted him: "Once I undo the acupoints, you can get out. When the time comes, go home, and be careful not to fall into others' hands again." Having said that, he massaged the Qi Sea with Internal Energy a few times, and the person's body trembled slightly; it seemed to have an effect.

The person moved his lips, seemingly wanting to say "thank you." Tang Zhao said, "Shopkeeper Liu, I heard you didn't use to deal in human trafficking. Although they say you aren't a good person either, I want to thank you."

Liu Qiguang's gaze was vacant, then he blinked, and besides the unease, a bit of vitality appeared. He stammered, "My... my daughter... was taken by traffickers... I hate..."

Tang Zhao suddenly understood; only by experiencing it can one empathize. Just like when he swore in the ruined temple to treat the poor well in the future, he said solemnly, "No matter what, I still want to thank you. You have suffered a lot this time; if you can get out alive, I hope you can treat more people well."

After saying this, he stood up and went to the entrance of the prison. He didn't go down, but heard the Judge's voice echoing in the prison:

"You don't need to care who I am. Getting a glimmer of survival today has nothing to do with me; it is destiny, it is meant to be in your fate. If you don't take what Heaven gives, you will suffer the consequences. The daggers are given to you, the Thunder Fire Pill is placed here, and the jailers are gone. With these convenient conditions, let alone one villa, even the Heavenly Prison could be escaped. If you still can't escape, it means you are fated to die; dying here is just dying late, and living all these years was just a gift."

"I will also tell you, there is chaos in the Black Spider Villa tonight, and they are too busy to care for themselves; one step out is freedom. If you happen to set a fire on the way, you can vent your anger. How it turns out depends on yourselves. Remember, there is only one chance."

Footsteps sounded, the Judge came out, picked up the Time Jar, and said, "Let's go."

The two hurriedly left the prison, and behind them, there was silence. Tang Zhao knew that according to the Judge's arrangement, something big would definitely happen behind them; the Black Spider Villa was already chaotic enough, and adding this would make it even more chaotic. He felt conflicted; for a moment, he felt the Black Spider Villa had treated him well and couldn't bear for them to suffer this disaster, but on the other hand, he felt that such a terrifying and cruel place deserved to be destroyed.

At this time, the Judge carried Tang Zhao with one hand and the Time Jar with the other, leaping across the rooftops, saying, "Pleasure working with you, let me send you back. Where do you live?"

Hearing "pleasure working with you," Tang Zhao realized that the only useful thing he had done all night was to add to the chaos of the Black Spider Villa, and he didn't know which side he was on. Things had reached this point, and he dared not tell anyone, so he could only say, "Back to... the Grape Courtyard, that's the courtyard behind."

Under his guidance, the two successfully arrived at the Grape Courtyard. The Judge put him down and gave him a string of things, saying, "This is for you, don't say I didn't give you any benefits."

In the darkness, Tang Zhao couldn't see clearly what it was for a moment. He touched it with his hand and felt something was wrong. He brought it to his eyes to look closely, his wrist shaking, and he said, "Centipedes? Insects again!"

After days of being tossed about, he was almost traumatized by insects; holding them in his hand gave him goosebumps, and he almost wanted to throw them away.

The Judge said, "You can throw them away if you want. These are Sun Sheng's; I think they are good things, so I'm borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha—do with them as you please. See you if fate allows—" As he spoke, he fled into the distance.

Tang Zhao thought: Let's not meet again. He took advantage of the night to slip back into his room and collapsed onto the bed.

There seemed to be noisy, chaotic sounds coming from far away in his ears. He wanted to think carefully about what happened tonight, but he fell asleep before he could even start thinking.