Chapter 263: Chapter 263: The Nature of This Game is Good People's Utter Defeat

Xie Antong: ......

She remained silent. After experiencing so many masks, she still found this communication extremely difficult to accept.

But she could clearly sense that the other party must have undergone something underground that they couldn't share with her.

Her current information was too limited - she only had superficial data from her All-Seeing Eye to analyze the essence.

The possible secrets underground were only being faced by "Sin," who apparently couldn't tell her for some reason.

Yet she had to command on the surface, where players seemed to regard her as an expert awaiting her orders, while the prisoners currently had little will of their own.

The time limit of Sound of Falling Snow was almost up.

Unable to break through the walls, she felt much of their current work was futile.

Taking a deep breath and looking at the chaotic crowd before her - she had actually harbored doubts for a while - she asked:

Lu Ce: ......

Damn. This woman was being perceptive at the worst possible time.

Instead of answering directly, he seemed to change the subject:

"What you're doing now is actually the most crucial part of the prison break."

"Remember the Cutter's plan? It was actually quite good."

Xie Antong recalled and understood his meaning.

Just as the Cutter had said before - some would create a major distraction on the surface (essentially sacrificing themselves) while others dug tunnels.

That absurd plan now seemed to have fully materialized.

Except now, everyone on the surface was sacrificing themselves to create the distraction.

While the tunnel was this green passageway, with only Lu Ce inside.

"These goblin-like creatures are endless. Though Know-it-All tried his best to act, he still had to fight seriously."

"In that case... our people will probably all die."

Lu Ce's voice instantly turned icy, as if it had never held any warmth:

"I already said - let them die then."

"Listen to me."

For these last three words, he changed his tone, using his own will to suppress the aggressive jealousy as much as possible.

Xie Antong closed her eyes, hesitating. She wasn't sure whether "Sin" truly had some unspoken difficulty or was simply treating lives like grass.

She nodded silently without responding.

Finally she just said: "The warden asked me to contact you again. He said to continue what you were doing before."

"Mhm."

Lu Ce had already carved another path through the goblin army to reach the end, staring directly at where all the pipes terminated in that black cross-section.

He began violently tearing at them, trying to sever all the pipes in this prison.

Since each tear from his body directly drained massive amounts of his vitality, he was essentially using his own body as a medium to destroy the enemy's design.

And now he still had to spare effort to "organize" the three brains.

He speculated that only by doing this could they regain some rationality to go easy on Xie Antong's group outside.

Otherwise, if those three were fully controlled and joined the battle, the surface team would be instantly doomed.

This placed an excessive burden on him - organizing enemy brains amidst thousands while also destroying their pipes.

He didn't dare use the Black Knight in this scenario, fearing its AI might be recognized as the simplest lifeform.

If the enemy took it, that would be disastrous.

After consuming his massive stockpile of recovery potions, Lu Ce decided to try something riskier.

When the pipes fused into his body, he stopped rushing to pull them out!

He'd just leave them embedded - it didn't hurt anyway - planning to destroy them all at once later while downing a high-grade potion.

So now he looked like some escaped bioweapon experiment, hundreds of pipes protruding from his body as he fought through green creatures.

"Haha, seems your time is running out."

"Remember, every second you have is bought with lives from outside~"

"Wouldn't want you to actually get everyone killed, would we?"

The voice of Life didn't seem angry anymore, just teasing.

But then Lu Ce laughed and retorted:

"You keep using these tricks - makes me think you're not actually that strong. All show, no substance?"

"Would a true powerhouse resort to such tricks? Don't lie - I've figured it out."

The voice paused as if glitching, then asked:

"Figured what out?"

Lu Ce briefly cleared a space around himself. "Want me to tell you?"

"Forgot to mention - in my current state, my memory's excellent. I remember many things."

"That warden really went through trouble - he'd brainwashed himself long ago trying to send messages outside, but no one understood. Not even you noticed anything odd."

"He once told me: 'The living cannot leave this place.'"

"What do you think that means?"

[Life]: ......

"You didn't find it strange, right? Just thought it emphasized the prison's impenetrability - that escapees get killed."

"But there's another interpretation, isn't there?"

"That the living can't leave... because everyone here is already dead!"

"They've died already. Like you told me - didn't you realize you'd already self-destructed?"

"That story about helping abductees but getting discovered and suffering? That was actually you dying, wasn't it?"

"Your 'second life' - let me guess - did you steal some authority from something like the Grim Reaper to drag those who should've died here for your use?"

After Lu Ce finished, the other side remained terrifyingly silent.

"Hahahaha!" Lu Ce burst into laughter, knowing he was right.

"The prison break - it's about letting those who should've died finally die!"

"You came here trying to awaken my conscience to save people?"

"But the prison's hints have always been obvious, haven't they?"

"The nature of this game is good people's utter defeat!"