Chapter 259: Chapter 259: Everything About You Belongs to [Life]

Xie Antong fell silent for a moment. Indeed, the game's objective had always been prison escape.

Meanwhile, Lu Ce's voice came through again.

"However, this information of yours has made me consider many things. If that's the case, then everything seems to make sense..."

While fiddling with the three brains in his hands, Lu Ce began piecing things together.

Earlier, he had already spotted inconsistencies in the prison's regulations.

The rules clearly stated "feed at least one per day," yet the prison guards and warden had strictly adhered to feeding exactly one per day.

It seemed this modification to the rules was their collective effort.

Time and again, they had struggled against the thoughts controlling them, ultimately choosing this compliant option.

Something had tried to brainwash them, yet they had retained their true selves while brainwashing themselves.

Having figured it out, Lu Ce couldn't help clicking his tongue in irritation.

So after all this, he was actually the biggest bastard here?

Heh, not that it mattered.

"What I mean is, right now..." Xie Antong's voice grew solemn. "If those three aren't our enemies, and are even helping us to some extent..."

"Then what exactly is this game's primary adversary?"

Lu Ce surveyed his surroundings—the seemingly endless swarm of goblins, the sprawling underground pipes, the prisoners nailed and tortured against the walls.

The clusters of green tubes rooted into the walls, stretching toward the distant black barrier at the end...

"I think I might know what we're up against," Lu Ce muttered to himself.

"Outside, you've already fought those things shrouded in black robes, right?"

"Yes," Xie Antong replied.

"Underneath their robes... it's some kind of revolting green creature."

"Not very tall. The previous black-robed figures were just two of these things stacked together."

"Green... like goblins."

Xie Antong gave a rough description as prisoners began clashing directly with the goblins, green and red blood splattering across the battlefield.

"But now I don't know... if those three aren't the enemy..."

"What should we be doing?"

Watching the trio practically self-harm to create opportunities for the prisoners, Xie Antong found it hard to accept.

This was pure psychological warfare! Accustomed to direct conflict and life-or-death struggles, she hadn't expected such self-sacrificial assistance in this game.

"Did you forget to take your meds today? Brain not working?!" Lu Ce didn't hold back, immediately snapping at her.

"It's a prison break! What you're doing outside is breaking out! Why the hell do you care about anyone else's survival?"

"Everyone has their own battlefield. Their lives are their own problem. Even if I'm using them, that's their damn fault. In this game, nobody gets to be self-righteous."

"If you can't shed that outdated morality, then go give yourself another injection. What, can't afford the meds anymore?"

The rapid-fire tirade from the other end of the headset left Xie Antong momentarily speechless.

Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself and surveyed the chaotic battlefield around her.

Everyone was charging madly—destroying, fighting, dying. As the central commander, the pressure was unlike anything she'd experienced before.

She'd never borne responsibility for an entire battle's outcome, for so many direct deaths.

It was like someone with zero war experience suddenly becoming an officer—every order determining countless lives lost. Despite having abilities beyond normal humans, she lacked the mental fortitude to match.

She almost wondered if she'd develop post-traumatic stress disorder after this game.

Steeling herself, she began treating life-and-death before her as inconsequential, embracing cold-blooded efficiency. Using the final moments of Sound of Falling Snow's effect, she commanded everyone to tear down the walls!

If the prison break's enemy wasn't those three, then it was the prison itself preventing their escape.

From above, the crowd resembled arrowhead-shaped torrents charging toward areas Xie Antong suspected might lead outside.

Only suspected!

Her guesses required testing with human lives—psychological pressure she had no idea how to ignore.

She was starting to doubt whether there were even enough prisoners to die for this...

And if deaths mounted, they might lose control entirely, descending into riots and mutiny.

Their current fearlessness largely relied on Charge Horn's mental influence.

Finally, a physically-enhanced player reached a wall near a drainage outlet. Lifting a two-meter tower shield, he charged at the wall like a battering ram.

BOOM!

With a deafening crash, the player was sent flying backward, screaming as his arm clearly fractured.

The previously destructible prison walls suddenly became impervious here.

The wall remained completely intact—not even a crack—only denting slightly before the dent began slowly repairing itself.

The seemingly brick-and-stone wall actually possessed some form of elasticity.

Other players and prisoners noticed the anomaly, their eyes lighting up as they collectively charged to topple this unusual barrier.

The next instant, dozens of thin tubes shot out from the wall like water snakes, piercing into nearby combatants!

Those impaled immediately went limp, their bodies failing.

Xie Antong's eyebrows shot up. She immediately relayed this to "Sin," certain he'd seen things underground they hadn't.

Lu Ce abruptly looked up, cleared the surrounding goblins, and leaped to tear at the tubes connecting each wall-mounted prisoner and stretching into the distance.

These were tubes even Hell's Roar couldn't sever.

Yet when Lu Ce pulled, they snapped easily—only to immediately pierce into his palm.

Or rather, it didn't even appear as penetration. The elastic tubes resembled thick blood vessels, as if they'd grown naturally from Lu Ce's body!

A voice began echoing melodiously through the green underground passageway, an ethereal sound from ancient times:

"Everything about you belongs to [Life]."