However, he had no ability to manage Heroes’ Prison at the moment. The Book of Heroes served only to summon the entrance to the prison; it did not unlock the cells. To open the cells, he would need to personally go to the golden Stone Chamber inside and grasp those fluttering keys.
Huang Yi placed the Book of Heroes into his storage ring and logged out of The Second World.
Half an hour later, after finishing his dinner, Huang Yi logged back into The Second World.
Next, he was going to meet the legendary Mr. Huang Sha.
"Dear Instakill, congratulations on completing the Rare Quest. You will now be able to choose a powerful Rare Race and Rare Class. Since you are a Golden Ring user, you will receive an additional mysterious gift, which will be personally given to you by a mysterious figure. Would you like to receive this gift immediately?" After re-logging, Huang Yi had left Heroes’ Prison and was floating in the high skies. The one speaking with him was still that adorable Guiding Spirit.
"Yes."
"Great! I will now teleport you to your destination." With that, the Little Elf stretched out a small hand and gently patted Huang Yi’s shoulder.
Immediately, Huang Yi plummeted at high speed towards a certain area of the continent below, like a dazzling star crashing into the serene land.
Nobody knew what his arrival would bring to this continent.
...
After a long while, Huang Yi finally landed on the ground.
In front of him lay a courtyard enclosed by white walls, with a round archway in the center. Carved on the gateway were four ancient, weathered characters, already partly damaged by the rain and covered with moss, but still recognizable—Courtyard of the Pantheons.
Huang Yi stepped forward and passed through the archway.
Inside was a courtyard filled with the chirping of birds and the fragrance of flowers, with clear springs, artificial hills, lush trees, and blooming flowers creating a pleasant scenery. The air was fresh with the essence of nature, and taking a deep breath brought an instant, cool sensation that contrasted sharply with the foul stench of Heroes’ Prison.
Next to the central fountain of the courtyard was a stone table where a middle-aged man sat leisurely playing chess.
Huang Yi’s gaze settled on him.
The man was clad in a white robe, sitting quietly, emanating a sense of simplicity and unpretentiousness, resembling one who might have been living in seclusion deep in the mountains, untouched by the clamor of the city.
Yet, Huang Yi kept staring at his eyes. They were very unusual, not at all what you would expect of a man in his forties. His eyes were filled with the vicissitudes of life, ancient wisdom, and endless stories, resembling those of someone in his eighties or nineties. This indicated that in the real world, the man should be an elderly person who had merely adopted the virtual image of a middle-aged man in The Second World.
"I’ve always been curious, how could the top criminal of Rose Prison enter The Second World?" Just then, the middle-aged man placed down a chess piece and spoke slowly.
The air suddenly became stagnant; this middle-aged man had bluntly pierced through Huang Yi’s biggest secret!
Huang Yi and his accomplices outside the prison had devised a plan for a long time, sacrificing many lives to complete it, yet they couldn’t fool the wise eyes of this middle-aged man.
"Because the desire for freedom can never be locked away," Huang Yi said calmly, as if he had anticipated that the middle-aged man would know his secret.
As the middle-aged man continued to play chess, without lifting his head, he recited a piece of information, "Huang Yi, in 2119, you shocked the world by assassinating Beino Kang, the Chairman of the World Federation. It was the most severe case since the establishment of the World Federation seven years ago. Later, you were sentenced to life imprisonment and locked up in Rose Prison." He looked up at Huang Yi, "Do you deserve freedom?"
"Absolutely." Huang Yi stepped forward, arguing as he walked, "Ten years ago, the Pacific Ocean witnessed an unprecedented nuclear leak, causing the death of a billion people, chaos around the globe, and then Era Corporation stepped in to form the World Federation, responsible for maintaining world order. After stabilization, Beino Kang and his cronies started their shady dealings behind closed doors, sacrificing global interests for their own benefits. Anyone who dared to resist was assassinated one by one, until one day, his evil hands reached out to us. Couldn’t we resist?"
"Then why didn’t you make your case during the judgment?" the middle-aged man asked.
"I did make my case, but the trial from start to finish was manipulated by the remnants behind Beino Kang, no matter what I said, it made no difference. Do you understand that feeling? You have the truth in your hands and want to tell the world, but the moment you open your mouth, you are drowned out by the cursing of the world. Those who can hear you don’t believe you, and those who do believe are the murderers."
After hearing Huang Yi’s words, the middle-aged man furrowed his brows, as if he was hearing this news for the first time.
Taking a deep breath, Huang Yi continued, "Now, countless people are still being deceived by the facade of the World Federation, while those of us who know the truth are brutally suppressed, either killed in secret or locked away in this isolated prison. But in the future, there will only be more and more people who suffer my fate, prisons will be built one after another, and eventually, the entire world will become a prison."
With that, Huang Yi concluded, "The World Federation has no reason to exist anymore! It’s just a special product from the extraordinary time of the Pacific nuclear leak, whose sole purpose was to maintain order in the world. Once order was established, it became a cancer on this world, only suppressing the world’s freedom, turning this world into a feudal empire, no different from a prison. To achieve true freedom, we must change the world and eradicate the Federation!"
The venue fell silent for a moment as the middle-aged man continued to ponder.
The only sounds were the chirping of birds, crisp and melodious, full of life.
"Has the World Federation really become so unbearable? If what you say is true, then perhaps they really have no reason to exist," said the middle-aged man after a long silence, "but I still need to investigate. I have been secluded for too long and am out of touch with the outside world."
"I believe you will make the right choice," Huang Yi said with a slight smile, "because you are Mr. Huang Sha."
"Just call me Blood Song!" The middle-aged man’s eyes flashed with a reminiscent look, "That was the name I used in the Virtual World when I was about your age. I remember that time fondly." Having said that, he handed a card to Huang Yi.
Huang Yi extended his hand to take the card and looked at it; the card simply read "Blood Song," and nothing else, seemingly just an ordinary card.
But this was something given by Mr. Huang Sha, it must be extraordinary.