Chapter 24: Center of the Universe
The prison fell silent. Everyone could guess that with Li Shutong and Luo Huchan together, hell could easily break loose, so the prisoners were excited to see what could potentially go down.
Seeing everyone's anticipating glance, Luo Huchan faces Li Shutong and begins walking towards him.
With a loud and clear voice, he says, "I'll get straight to the point: I've come here for the Forbidden Item ACE-005. Tell me where it is right now, and I will leave without causing trouble."
Li Shutong patted on the large cat to tell it to move away, then smiled and said, "At the very least, shouldn't you show some respect to an elder?"
Guo Huchan appeared to not hear him, "Give me the Forbidden Item ACE-005, and naturally, I will be respectful. "
Li Shutong was curious, "How come the Black Spades are interested in Forbidden Items now? I almost thought that you joined the Taboo Tribunal. "
Guo Huchan stopped when he was about five meters away from Li Shutong, "We, the Black Spades, want to fight against those giants, so it would only make sense if we get all the resources we can. You Knights share the same path as us, so you must know this the best. "
Li Shutong laughed, "But when come for this one specifically? It's locked in Prison 18 for a reason. "
"They said the Chen Family made a deal with you that as long as you could control this forbidden item, you can get absolute freedom inside Prison 18, and anything that requires your personal attention must be something worth obtaining," said Guo Huchan.
"Well, that must be a false rumor. I never made any deals with the Chen Family," said Li Shutong slowly, "Don't be fooled by the words of others. "
Qing Chen stayed by the side and listened patiently. The last time he heard the phrase Taboo Tribunal was in He Xiaoxiao's video.
This Taboo Tribunal seemed to be designed for forbidden items.
He also realized that the forbidden item that Guo Huchan said must also be the one that he supposed was supposed to find for the Shadow competition.
As Qing Chen was thinking, Guo Huchan took a step forward, "Where is ACE-005? "
Li Shutong shook his head, "Although I know where it is, I cannot tell."
"Why?" Guo Huchan took another threatening step forward, and the black lines on his skin started shifting, forming various patterns.
Each step he took shook the floor, and all the prisoners surrounding them could feel the ground shake.
Li Shutong smiled, "Because I like ACE-005, no other reason. "
The three thousand or so prisoners started moving. They have been trapped for too long in Prison 18, and with all the guards controlling them all day, the rules in the prison were like an invisible chain. Now,... they felt the time was ripe to cause some trouble.
Attached to the ceiling, out of the 72 machine guns forming the Metal Storm, 36 of them started warming up.
Some prisoners started yelling. Usually, during times of chaos, it would take at least half an hour before Metal Storm's activation.
But this time, it was different. They hadn't even got started and it was already getting ready!
This time, the guns were aimed at Li Shutong and Luo Huchan. Only Qing Chen was carefully observing the status of the ceiling.
In the chaos, he started walking toward a specific place.
Instantly, Guo Huchan took a quick step and threw out a punch. The bell-like punch smashed into Li Shutong like a giant thunderstorm.
As he moved, the 36 guns of the Metal Storm fired all at once, shooting at everyone in Prison 18.
The bullets were not metal, but rubber instead.
These initial 36 guns served the purpose to warn the prisoners and were not intended to do lethal damage.
The other 36 were the real deal.
With the rubber bullets pouring down like a rainstorm, the prisoners were all beaten to the ground.
Along with Guo Huchan's continuous attacks, Prison 18 was a total mess.
But before long, the fist stopped in mid-air. Li Shutong smiled as he stiffly grabbed onto the first and stopped the attack with pure force.
Li Shutong stood in front of Guo Huchan motionlessly, much like a giant mountain.
He turned his head trying to see if Qing Chen was hurt because he knew that Qing Chen was just an ordinary kid, nothing compared to the prisoners here.
But when he saw Qing Chen, Li Shutong was shocked.
Because Qing Chen was right behind him, calmly sitting in the seat he usually used for chess, just a few meters behind him.
Of the 36 guns in the prison, the Metal Storm formed a net of bullets, covering every corner of the prison except for the spot that Qing Chen was sitting on right now.
The 36 guns of the Metal Storm strategically formed a net of bullets, not one corner of the prison was safe. Or so it seemed.
Qing Chen was in the only blind spot in Prison 18.
The bullets were like raindrops.
But none got the boy wet.
The boy was the center of the universe.
......
The guns on the ceiling stopped.
Except for Qing Chen, Ye Wan, Li Shutong, and Lin Xiaoxiao, everyone else was covering their head on the floor in pain.
Everyone could feel the pain in every piece of muscle in their bodies, and some who got down a little slower were heavily bruised by the rubber bullets.
Compared to these people beaten half to death, Qing Chen at the table seemed to be an extraordinary god from outside this world.
For some reason, Li Shutong felt that he liked this kid more and more, even though they had only met for a few days.
The mind and abilities of this teenager were something rare to be found in people of his age.
Is this the future Shadow of the Qing Family?
When will I find a successor this talented?
Thinking of this, he pushed away Guo Huchan's fist. This casual action forced Guo Huchan to backpedal more than 10 steps before he could catch himself.
Guo Huchan did not dare to be reckless again, and he sat on the floor to regain his energy.
The battle, from start to finish, he only managed to get his opponent out of the seat.
It was said that he was like the demigod of the world, but it had been a long time since this person appeared in the public's view. So long that younger generation pros, like Guo Huchan, hadn't ever witnessed the true powers of the one named Li Shutong.
So, this time that Black Spades arranged for him to come to Prison 18 was not only to find Forbidden Item ACE-005 but also to find out how powerful Li Shutong has gotten over the years.
Only now did Guo Huchan understand, his power was still far from comparable to that of Li Shutong.
Li Shutong's eyes looked away from Qing Chen and turned to Guo Huchan. He said while smiling, "Want to continue? "
The bald man whose lines on his body returned to normal replied with a deep and unconvinced tone, "Forget it, I can't win with a fight anyway. But don't you worry though, I'm going to find the location of ACE-005, whether you tell me or not. "
Qing Chen found this bald man a bit interesting...
Just a moment ago, he was fighting like it was life or death, but now he chickens out, just like that?
He looked a lot more powerful than he actually was, and after the fight, he was all by himself.
This was quite a difference.
However, Guo Huchan was thinking that since Li Shutong knew where the forbidden item was, all he needed to do was to stick around. There was still a chance that Li Shutong would accidentally leak it one day while chatting, right?
"Don't worry, take your time," said Li Shutong as if it was nothing of a big deal.
He stopped caring about Guo Huchan but turned to Qing Chen, "Were you able to calculate the paths of the bullets yourself? "
Qing Chen shook his head and said, "I can't calculate much faster than an ordinary person, and for now, I can't handle complex calculations like bullet paths, but I can still make some guesses through the process of elimination. "
Li Shutong shook his head, "If it was just a guess, you would not be able to find this spot so precisely."
"I was able to pinpoint 4 general areas, and the spot you usually sat in coincidentally was here, so I don't think I needed to calculate any further than that," said Qing Chen calmly.
Qing Chen was making a bet, and he won.
He was good at these types of problems, those multiple-choice problems based on logic and probability.
......