Master of Kaidan
Chapter 75: Adventure is for Profit

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Adventure is for Profit

Throughout the entire night, Feng Xue squatted in the corner of the prison reading a book. Although according to the Intelligence gathered by the Gatekeeper tag, after arriving in the Real World, he had become a being of flesh and blood, eating and sleeping were still not essential needs. At least in this quiet night, when even the patrolling Prison Guards seemed listless, he could still faintly hear the chirping and babbling noises.

Although he couldn’t understand them, Feng Xue thought that these were probably the cursing voices of the Infinite beings.

However, Feng Xue was not in the mood to pay attention to these fellow travelers. He quietly flipped through the dictionary, writing down words that might come in handy on scraps of card paper cut to the thickness of a thumb, making small-sized word books commonly seen in anime, then folding the corners of the useless pages, intending to tear them off later for use as the base material for crafting illusions.

As for why not craft now, the answer was simple—this was a Prison, a place where the Infinite beings were confined. Even if there weren’t any before, after their arrival, there must surely be surveillance set up.

Judging from the proficiency of that middle-aged man playing with an intelligent device earlier, the level of technology in this world had likely reached early 21st-century standards. Although he couldn’t hastily conclude that it was the same world as Chen Xiyao’s, it at least indicated that surveillance devices certainly exist.

While crafting an illusion on the spot would help prove his abilities, it also meant taking on risks.

This was the same reason why he didn’t perform the crafting of an illusion in front of that middle-aged man. If he left the impression that "this Infinite being could craft illusions at will," then the surveillance and control he would face afterward might reach an unacceptable level.

Conversely, by presenting complex requirements such as "needing many conditions," "needing materials," "needing a specific time," "needing certain preparations," he could greatly reduce the other party’s vigilance, giving Feng Xue a chance to breathe.

After all, a person who could pull out a bomb at any time and place was fundamentally different in terms of the danger factor from someone who needed a complete chemical system and raw material supply to create a bomb.

...

The night passed quickly, and Feng Xue still felt no hunger, but the swiftly draining Identity was generating a sense of urgency within him.

Five days—this was the deadline he set for himself. If there were no significant changes within five days, or if he couldn’t gather enough Identity from the real people in these prisons, he would initiate a resurrection method, committing suicide directly.

Although the subsequent effects were a bit tricky, as long as the Golden Finger was still with him, he could always make a comeback. It was better than disappearing completely, anyhow.

With this thought, he couldn’t help reaching for his left rib, then immediately restrained his movement.

"Bang bang bang..."

The sound of a baton striking the bars grew louder as it approached. The fat prison guard on the ground let out a series of clearly malicious words. Even though Feng Xue couldn’t understand most of the content, he understood the words that started with an ’f’ and ended with a ’k’.

And as this prison guard passed by, behind him came a pair of fully equipped Bodyguards and a few researchers, dragging along something that didn’t look human anymore. They threw it into the cell where the Infinite being from yesterday had been taken. Then under the pointing of the lab coats, they fired several shots at an Infinite being inside another cage.

Watching the Infinite being carried away on a stretcher like a piglet, a strong feeling of powerlessness spread among the prisoners, but Feng Xue noticed that among those with the lab coats, three had not left.

They came to Feng Xue’s cage, one of them speaking with a very awkward voice:

"Han Meimei first rope, boss sweet between mud."

"God damn Mr. Han Meimei..." Feng Xue grinned, restraining the impulse to spew sarcasm to avoid accidentally summoning salt. He didn’t fuss over the form of address, just stood up, flipped through his own homework flashcards he had made overnight, and pulled out one to show the other person, which bore only a single word—

"Clothes."

The man glanced at Feng Xue, who was stark naked, and immediately understood his request. It seems he too found it strange to walk around the prison with a naked guy, so he spoke a few words to the prison guard.

The prison guard nodded, picked up the intercom and called out, and shortly after, a classic striped prisoner’s uniform—not very well-fitting and with a faint musty smell—was brought to Feng Xue.

"Phew, clothes are truly the treasures of human civilization!"

Feng Xue quickly donned the prison uniform and instantly felt a surge of satisfaction and comfort, but the man’s next actions sent his just-risen good mood plummeting.

"Please, put your hands here, and your feet, stretch out here." The man struggled to read sentences from his own notebook, watching as the prison guard brought handcuffs and shackles. Anyone with half a brain could tell what was about to happen.

Even though Feng Xue showed displeasure on his face, inside he was actually quite happy, even hoping that he would never have to take them off.

It wasn’t that he was into masochism, but because it meant there were two more ’tools’ he could use for reforging.

Having acquired the silver bracelets and twenty-five thousand carat shackles, Feng Xue, who now looked no different from any other young prisoner, finally made his way out of the cell.

The experience of having five kilograms of shackles hanging from one’s feet was utterly different from carrying five kilograms of weight; the strong imbalance made it hard to even take quick steps.

But Feng Xue didn’t really care about these things. After all, he had no intention of trying to escape with these items on. Instead, what concerned him more was the soreness of his ankles from the chafing.

"I heard that high-status big shots get to enjoy the luxury of wrapping their shackles in towels. I should get that not-so-bright guy to arrange a couple for me later."

At this moment, Feng Xue even had the leisure to recall prison-themed movies he had seen before. After all, having come this far, he was unlikely to die anytime soon.

The only thing he had to worry about was the chance of Fran suddenly popping up and blowing him away with a gunshot, and whether or not he could get people to associate him with a certain label within these five days—

Getting a label from a real person was much more difficult than obtaining one from Infinite City because, to Infinite City, it could precisely differentiate every ’nothing’, but real people couldn’t do that. For instance, this time thirty or so ’nothings’ were captured, and Feng Xue was just one of them. Even if the label "prisoner" developed, it would be distributed among the thirty-some ’nothings’, failing to meet the "point-to-point" recognition requirement.

That’s why ’nothings’ often accumulate ’Identity’ quickly through killing. Even though there might be many ’nothings’ who kill, every victim is unique. Even if, to most people, the victim is just a name, as long as they have family and friends, they can provide the ’nothing’ with a "point-to-point" recognition of "the murderer who killed someone," thereby generating a label.

Another reason Feng Xue chose to surrender was to try and see if he could gain a [Craftsman] label from these people.