Master of Kaidan
Chapter 85: Conspiring an Escape Under Everyone’s Watch

Chapter 85: Chapter 85: Conspiring an Escape Under Everyone’s Watch

Kebid was a mercenary living in the Sword and Magic World. After mistakenly annihilating a young Black Dragon he thought was a giant bat during a mission to steal livestock from villagers, he ended up in Infinite City and became a "Null."

During his years as a Null, his story wasn’t particularly remarkable—it was nothing more than the tale of a cleansed, helpless soul gradually understanding the world in the midst of daily crises, slowly transforming into an opportunistic scavenger.

Until his fighting spirit was ignited, he planned to risk it all again, only to be captured by the deceitful people of the real world.

The sensation of having one’s long-lost zeal dampened by a sudden splash of cold water—a desire to challenge once more, only to be immediately quenched—was a brutal blow for anyone.

Squatting in prison, Kebid wasn’t particularly in a rush. His many years as a Scavenger had allowed him to amass a significant amount of "Identity," enough to sustain him for several months without much trouble.

All he needed was an opportunity.

While it was said that Nuls in Infinite City became "ordinary people," in reality, there were differences. After much exploration, he realized, "It’s not that the powers from the original world have become ineffective, but rather, these powers require ’Identity’ as fuel to operate."

This was no different from the Pseudo Artifacts abandoned in the junkyard.

Although questioning the authenticity of his original world, and even his own existence, after he discovered this fact because of how Pseudo Artifacts were termed, his longing to live led him to dismiss these philosophical doubts—regardless of whether his past self was real, his future self would surely become real by becoming a Kaidan!

However, unleashing Fighting Spirit consumed a substantial amount of "Identity," especially when used in the Real World—the cost was multiplied by a thousand. Even with his maximum effort, his accumulated years might only support a few minutes of combat.

Every person who passed through the door had a natural sense of their anchor to it, and it was this sense that allowed him to clearly determine his distance from the door, which was not something that could be covered in a matter of minutes.

Having seen the despicable weapons of the real-world people, he also clearly understood that if he was surrounded, his burst of power wouldn’t be enough to break through.

So even though the real-world people beat him, stripped him naked, and seized his illusion, he endured it, waiting for a moment of opportunity that might come at any time.

Like those unlucky ones before him, dragged out for interrogation or execution.

But whether his luck was good or bad, he hadn’t been chosen yet, which made him somewhat anxious.

After all, the passage of time meant that his ability to unleash Fighting Spirit was diminishing.

"Click, click..." Leaning against the wall, Kebid suddenly seemed to hear something. However, he didn’t react outwardly; instead, he pretended to be restless, pacing around the cell and carefully searching for the source of the noise.

As someone also considering how to escape, he’d been observing things these past few days, including from the narrow window and standing at the cell door to check out the surroundings. Of course, these actions had led to a few beatings, but that didn’t really matter—it made his simple pacing seem less conspicuous now.

Before long, following the faint sound, he arrived at his bunk. He nonchalantly lay on the bed; the bunks in the prison slipped through the walls, meaning every two cells actually shared a bunk, so he guessed it must be the person next door trying to communicate something to him.

However, how could two people who didn’t understand each other’s language communicate through a wall?

As Kebid listened to the noises from where the bed connected with the wall and used the action of turning over as a cover, he tentatively tapped lightly a few times.

Indeed, a faint voice came through from the other side.

"Don’t make a noise, I have the ability to quickly master most languages, you can pretend to vent and shout out what you want to say."

Although the voice was soft, under Kebid’s concentrated listening, it was clearly caught as if it were a whisper. He squinted his eyes, then suddenly sprang up from the bed, like losing his temper, imitating the almost vanishing emptiness around him, and began to shout frantically:

"What do you want with me?"

"Interested in escaping?" The voice remained soft, but it was full of power in Kebid’s ears.

He didn’t change his position, but continued pounding on the walls as he shouted:

"What’s your plan?"

"I’ll teach you some other non-lingual languages, you shout them out loudly to communicate with those ’nothings’, and everyone can discuss an escape plan. Using the advantage of not needing sleep, make your move around 3 am when the real-world people are most tired. Then everyone rushes out together, and whether you can survive depends on your own abilities."

While maintaining his hysterical roaring, Kebid pondered for a moment, then added in his language amidst the shouting:

"Haven’t you already cooperated with those outsiders?"

"They want to monopolize my power, and I need ’Identity’."

The succinct words were full of persuasive power, a kind of helplessness only the nothings could understand.

Kebid thought for a moment and felt this was worth the gamble. He dared not go out for fear of being targeted, but as long as someone shared the gunfire, he was confident in breaking through with the power of Fighting Spirit.

With some luck, he might even earn some ’Identity’ by killing those prison guards.

As for others, we aren’t close!

Kebid wasn’t particularly worried about Feng Xue betraying him, or rather, at this point, betrayal didn’t matter much; his death wouldn’t benefit Feng Xue at all, and even without betrayal, he would disappear after a while anyway.

Both outcomes lead to death, but he preferred to take a chance rather than counting down his days.

This thought was evidently not unique to Kebid; or rather, if they hadn’t reached this level of resolve, those nothings wouldn’t dare venture through that door.

They were all Scavengers, hyenas, daring to cross into the wastelands toward the destruction dumps. How could they possibly lack the skills necessary?

As Kebid continued to mimic Feng Xue’s pronunciation, shouting out in the cell, echoing shouts responded intermittently.

No one was worried about snitches because, as it had proven, aside from the initiator of the escape, no one could communicate with the prison guards.

Considering the initiator betraying them, it was indeed a concern. But when considering the "motive", they realized that this worry was somewhat unnecessary; after all, they preferred to take the chance rather than slowly waiting to die in prison, especially for those nothings who were already slightly lacking in reserves; this was their only opportunity.

Thus, the loudest secret escape plan in history commenced at this moment.

Among the many ghostly howls of the nothings, only Feng Xue sat quietly on her bed, flipping through a Flame End dictionary, while emitting murmurs masked by the howling...