Common flush toilets, with a water storage at the bottom matched with an S or U-shaped trap below, effectively prevent the escape of foul odors.
However, the toilet in the solitary cell of the Narrative Cage does not store water at the bottom; it has been replaced by a metal filter and a device similar to a vacuum pump.
Given Gray Rain’s character, she probably couldn’t stoop to liquefying her limbs, reaching into the toilet to fish out coins—her bottom line is still too high.
Li Cheng took the showerhead off the rack, aimed it at the toilet, and pulled the lever.
A moist airstream immediately sprayed out, growing stronger as he turned the lever.
A coin was struck by the airflow, bouncing a few times off the inner walls of the toilet, and finally popped out, falling to the floor.
Its surface slightly scratched, the front bore the emblem of 80∑, indicating its denomination, while the back depicted a brilliant star chart of a certain star system.
"As a currency of the Interstellar Era, the reverse side of the 5∑ coin features a meteorite asteroid, while the 80∑ coin displays a star system; it should be considered a rather high denomination. Still, it can only buy you 16 bottles of drinks from the vending machine. Looking at it this way, prices are indeed steep, almost as much as in Tel Aviv."
Li Cheng casually commented. Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel, is one of the cities in the real world with the highest cost of living, where a 2L bottle of Coca-Cola costs 9 new shekels, and a frontline soldier of the Israel Defense Forces earns a monthly salary of 3000 new shekels. After a month of fighting for life and death at the front, it’s barely enough to buy 333 bottles of Coca-Cola, or 100 hamburgers.
He continued to rinse with the showerhead, stopping only after confirming there were no more coins in the toilet.
With no other clues in the room, this coin was all they obtained. Gray Rain frowned and asked, "What now?"
"Go to the cell in the bottom right corner."
Li Cheng turned off the showerhead, stepped out of the room, and had Gray Rain help pry open the door of the bottom right corner cell.
As the cell door opened, the disheveled figure was still sitting in the corner of the room, mumbling disjointed, incomprehensible words to the wall.
"At least before Isaac was locked up here, this guy had been in the cell. He must have tried to escape many times, causing severe damage to his self-awareness, making him completely uncommunicative. Also, don’t get scared when you see his face later."
Gray Rain quietly warned, her palm morphing into the shape of a Chain Saw Sword, and Li Cheng understood, treading lightly as he approached the prisoner from the side.
Then he saw a rather grotesque scene.
The prisoner’s entire face was covered with gears, saw blades, vast expanses of skin eroded and covered by chemical plating, with both eyes replaced by swelling bolts, leaving no trace of his original appearance.
Hinges in place of joints, springs instead of fascia, rods replacing bones, horn units replacing the throat—upon closer observation, even the hair was made of fine steel wires. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs novel⸺fire.net
Neither human nor Mechanical Life, it resembled an art piece long unsold and finally discarded in a junkyard.
Li Cheng whispered to Gray Rain, "Did he always look ?"
Gray Rain replied in a low voice, "The face is the same, but the rest is worse."
It wasn’t this bad originally—could it mean this prisoner is infected with the so-called mechanical virus?
That’s not right, the mechanical virus is related to the Zeluo civilization and Isaac. If the engine room challenge of the Narrative Cage is influenced by Isaac, why would a nameless prisoner, locked up before Isaac, also be infected with the mechanical virus?
Li Cheng suppressed his doubts, covered his nose and mouth to slow his breathing, and studied the prisoner carefully. His body was mostly overrun by mechanical components, his original form indiscernible. A corner of a newspaper peeked from under his buttocks.
The content on the newspaper seemed to be a war report.
"Hello?" Li Cheng ventured, "I’m your cellmate, can you hear me speaking? I’ll give you 80∑ in exchange for the newspaper beneath you, how about that?"
The prisoner, oblivious, laughed foolishly, lifting his entirely metallic-linked hands, gesturing back and forth in the air as if playing with puppets with some non-existent child.
Wait a minute, puppets?
Li Cheng paused. The prisoner’s eyes, nose, and ears were replaced with metal parts, and his brain filled with gears—he probably couldn’t hear him speaking.
And according to Isaac, the mechanical virus could spread through contact...
Already troubled enough with carrying the infection of Insect Lord Demon, Li Cheng didn’t want to mess with the so-called mechanical virus and immediately ruled out the violent option, stepping out of the cell.
He inserted the 80∑ coin into the vending machine, pressed a button, and bought a white rabbit plush toy in a transparent plastic gift bag.
This rabbit plushie, originally placed just behind the corn juice, was priced at 10∑. After the purchase, the vending machine also spat out a 70∑ coin. The reverse side showed a frozen planet pattern.
Li Cheng pocketed the 70∑ coin and noticed that compared to the crumpled transparent gift bag, the cotton rabbit plushie inside looked much newer. Unfortunately, it lacked any information such as the place of production, and the inside of the rabbit did not seem to contain any foreign objects.
Returning to the bottom right corner cell, Li Cheng put on gloves and gingerly placed the rabbit plushie into the hands of the nameless prisoner, who paused for a moment, feeling the surface of the plushie as if to ascertain its shape.
Whether crying or laughing, the nameless prisoner hugged the plushie and whimpered, slowly tilting over, clutching the plushie and laying sideways on the ground.
This fall created space, allowing the newspaper under him to see the light of day again.
The article’s title [Navy Special Combat Team Destroys Key Node of Mechanical Virus Nest], content: "A special combat team under the Third Fleet of the Zeluo Navy infiltrated the mechanical virus-occupied zone on Orion C, successfully destroying the factory storing superheavy elements in the Third Level mechanical virus nest and safely retreated aboard the Vulture transport ship. This marks the end of the decade-long strategic stalemate since the appearance of the mechanical virus nest on Orion C."