Zhou Lin

December 4, morning.

Accompanied by prison guards, Lieutenant Colonel Slikova and two of her subordinates walked out of the gate of the Ninth Prison.

Her escort mission ends here.

What she didn't know at the time was that an uninvited guest had followed them out of the prison and boarded the return shuttle...

The trip after that can be said to be very smooth.

After reuniting with the other two shuttles outside the wall of the abyss, the lieutenant colonel and the others first drove southeast along the Pripyat River and quickly entered the Dnieper River Basin; on this wider river, they Then he started the "water sprint" mode of the shuttle and moved forward at full speed. In less than half an hour, he arrived at the city of Vishgorod on the north shore of Kiev.

At the local supply point, they refueled the shuttle and replaced the amphibious module with a flight module. Then, they took off directly and continued sailing south.

By noon, the shuttle had arrived over Sevastopol (a port city located on the southwest coast of the Crimean Peninsula).

What I must complain about is that in the 23rd century of this parallel universe, a journey like this, which is nearly 800 kilometers in total (only the straight-line distance is 780 kilometers, but the actual journey is farther than the waterway, so it is farther), the military Fang only needs three small conventional vehicles to complete the trip in about two hours; however, the civil transportation situation is still at the level of the early 21st century...

Due to various reasons (mainly population density, traffic pressure and geological problems), there are still many areas on the earth in this era that have not even built subways; those three-dimensional urban transportation networks depicted in science fiction movies or novels...are simply useless. No chance; suspended cars, stepped overpasses, capsule cabins, vacuum transmission pipelines, portals... not even the military has all these technologies, because some of them are really inferior in practicality, so they are given to them during the research and development stage. Dead.

Back to business...

In the afternoon, when Lilia stepped off the shuttle, she was already in a military facility built underwater.

This place, called the "Heart of the Black Sea", is one of the largest inland sea submarine bases established by the Federation Army.

Zi Lin made it clear to Lilia from the beginning that sneaking into this base and stealing something was the main condition for Zi Lin to assist her in escaping from prison; and with Lilia's character, she naturally agreed without much thought - compared to Since she was slowly rotting away in prison, she would rather risk her life to give it a try.

Furthermore, Lilia also thinks this is fair and normal... To rescue a person from a place like the Nine Hells and to instruct her on how to use her powers, there must be some conditions. It would be strange if there are no conditions. .

"First of all, I have to thank you for not trying to escape before the shuttle arrived." Before Lilia could finish observing the surroundings, a message from Zi Lin appeared on the paper.

"Nonsense, as long as I talk to myself in my heart, you will hear me. Can I escape?" Lilia is also very realistic and does not tell the other party false words. "Besides... I discovered during the process of escaping, You can use a certain method to guide the prison guards' actions, which means... once you fall out with me, you can sell me out in minutes... I have no choice but to keep my promise."

"It's great that you understand." Zi Lin didn't mince words and replied directly, "Then please don't waste your time and continue to the next step."

After answering this sentence, he sent several very precise instructions in succession, directing Lilia's infiltration operation in the "Heart of the Black Sea".

Lilia had no choice but to follow Zi Lin's instructions. After going around in a long circle and guided by a series of chain events, she finally succeeded in arriving at a very high-security location in the base. inside the room.

"What exactly do you want me to steal? The launch key for nuclear weapons?" Lilia couldn't help but feel doubtful as she recalled the various guards she saw along the way.

"Absolutely." Unexpectedly, Zi Lin actually replied, "I really want you to find a 'key', and that 'key' is indeed used to unlock something dangerous."

Just as his words appeared, Lilia had already walked to the center of the room; here, there was a metal stand, and above the stand was a square glass cover. Inside the cover was something - a person who had stopped moving. pocket watch.

"The 'key' you are talking about is this pocket watch?" Lilia looked at the watch for a few seconds and asked in her mind.

"Its name is 'The Moment of the Underworld'." Zi Lin replied, "Now, please read the following content carefully——

"There is undoubtedly a reason why the room you are in only has a large number of security forces deployed outside, but there is not even a single person or surveillance probe inside.

"The 'Moment of the Underworld' is not a simple 'object', it is sentient; it exerts some kind of influence on the person who 'observes it'...whether the person is looking at it with the naked eye or a surveillance camera .

"However, you are an exception. As long as you put yourself in a state of 'nothing', you can be immune to this effect."

At this point in his text, Lilia suddenly spoke in her mind and interrupted: "Son of Zi, tell the truth... the causes and consequences of my being imprisoned in the Nine Prisons... could they all be designed by you?"

Zilin was silent for a few seconds and replied: "Since you have seen through it, I will no longer hide it. That's right, that night, from the moment you were accosted, I was the one who led the whole thing. There are people behind the scenes, and everything that happens after that is all for the purpose of pushing you into the Nine Hells."

"So..." Lilia took over the other person's words in her heart and said, "I have been busy for a long time, so it turns out that I want to regain the freedom that I lost because of you."

"Providing 'chips' for our transactions is just one of the reasons why I sent you to the Nine Prisons." Zi Lin continued, "The second is to familiarize you with the routes in and out of the Nine Prisons, as well as the conditions in the prison. Some situations; and the third..."

"You don't need to say it, I have already guessed it..." Lilia thought to herself, "All the 'factors' that brought me to 'come here at this moment' are not coincidences - the prisoners who were sent to prison this morning, The time of escorting her, the number of escorts, the destination of the shuttle's return...all these threads that weave the 'rope' of the incident are also under your control."

"You... are much smarter than I expected." Zi Lin's answer was equivalent to acquiescing to the other party's statement.

"Humph, that's an honor." Lilia said with a sneer, "It's just because I witnessed your method of 'manipulating people' and then 'manipulating things' in this half-day, so I figured out a lot of things. …”

She paused and then continued: "For example, I just practiced my superpower to the level where I can stably eliminate my own sense of existence. Within three days, I had this 'opportunity not to be missed, it will never come again' jailbreak operation." , now it seems...this is definitely what you planned according to the days.

"For another example, this thing called 'Moment of the Underworld' in front of me can only be stolen by me. Can this be a coincidence? How did you find me? How did you know that there is an ability user like me in the Nine Hells? How do I know about superpowers that even I don’t know about?

"With a little more scrutiny, you can come to an obvious conclusion - I was calculated by you from the beginning."

After reading what Lilia said in his heart, Zi Lin chuckled, and continued his last sentence, thinking: "But, why is a smart person like you so impulsive when encountering unexpected events? If you could have handled it in a more calm way that night, the process of me framing you and imprisoning you might not have been so smooth."

"Oh, I'm really sorry to disappoint you." Lilia replied indifferently, "But don't worry, I will definitely try to control my emotions when we meet."

She said that, but her real thought was obviously... as soon as they met, she would chop Zi Lin into thousands of pieces and use them to build a wall.

"Don't worry, I will definitely let you see me, so you don't have to be so anxious." Zi Lin replied, "Let's talk about the situation at hand..." He brought the topic back to business, " Although there are no people and no probes in this room, this shelf is equipped with a pressure sensing device..."

"Is it the kind where the alarm bell goes off as soon as I pick up something?" Lilia continued, "That's just right. When the alarm bell rings, I'll take advantage of the chaos and run away, and then I can just go to the hangar and get one that I can return to. With a small device on the surface, I could successfully escape.”

There is nothing wrong with her idea, because this is not a maze-like Nine Hells (although the military base is also very large, there are signs and maps everywhere), nor is it like the Nine Hells that will activate a bunch of " "Inward" defense weapons, and automatically block almost all safe entrances and exits according to the alarm level... Therefore, it is not difficult to slip away from the heart of the Black Sea by relying on the ability of "nothing".

only……

"It's a pity." Zi Lin's reply immediately poured cold water on Lilia. "This pressure sensing device will not only trigger an alarm, but also activate a set of special air pumps hidden in the wall. These pumps can be used at twelve Drain all the air in this room within seconds, and then your blood vessels and eyeballs will..."

"...It's going to come out. Okay, okay, I understand. Tell me what you have in mind." Lilia finished the part that Zi Lin hadn't read yet and asked.

"Take off your clothes first." Zi Lin replied.

"Huh?" When Lilia said "huh", she instinctively looked around, "What are you doing? Can you see me?"

"You took off your clothes when I could see you?" Zi Lin teased.

"That depends on the situation... If you have enough banknotes on hand, I can give you a lap dance." Lilia's pornographic accent is also spoken out. After all, she is a pioneer of hard-core feminism, and she is in the strip club. It’s not like I’ve never been there before, and I still went there to spend money…

Zi Lin was a little overwhelmed: "OK, OK, we can talk about this when we meet in person." He tried hard to bring the topic back again, "Let's talk about clothes... I asked you to talk as much as possible before I need to grab a few pieces of clothing, besides keeping them warm in the snow, they have another purpose here.”

"I knew you were not so kind as to care about my health." Lilia took off her coat as she responded.

"Yes, I'm not that kind." Zi Lin had no intention of continuing to argue with her, so as not to fall into an endless rhythm, "Now, please take off four pieces of clothing."

Since Lilia had taken all the civilian clothes of the prison guard, when she came out, she had put on several cardigans, three pairs of pants, and two jackets, one thin and one thick, outside her prison uniform... This made her Her whole body was wrapped up like a ball; not to mention taking off four pieces now, including pants, she could take off eight pieces.

"Okay." Lilia reported in her mind after taking off two coats and two woolen sweaters.

"Hmm." Zi Lin groaned, then added, "As a woman, you should have noticed a long time ago that all the prison guard's clothes, inside and outside, are all from the same brand."

"What do you mean? What does 'As a woman, I should have noticed'? Can't a woman not know the brand of the clothes she is wearing?" Lilia was already quite angry, and Zi Lin went up One sentence even touched her nerves.

"Did you notice it?" Zi Lin asked.

"Tch...it has nothing to do with gender. As a person with keen observation, I noticed..." Lilia replied.

"Okay~ So... as a very observant person, you should have discovered that each piece of this brand's clothes has an oval, slightly protruding LOGO; the surface of the LOGO is made of plastic It's made, and metal is mixed inside to increase weight and texture..." Zi Lin said halfway.

Lilia understood again: "The weight of the four LOGOs is equal to the weight of the pocket watch in front of me?"

Knowing what he meant, Zi Lin said directly: "Please use the knife you just got from the soldier, and cut them off from the clothes along the edge of the LOGO plates... Try to be more precise when doing it, although the induction The device also allows for errors, but too much remaining fabric will still cause..."

"I know, just wait." Lilia responded impatiently and started the operation.

In less than ten minutes, she successfully removed the four LOGOs and held them in her hands.

"Don't forget to erase the fingerprints on the LOGO first, and...after the exchange is completed, you have to put those four clothes back on, and you can't leave them at the scene." Before taking the last step, Zi Lin had not yet Forgot to remind her of these details.

"I'm thinking..." Lilia said, "Compared to this kind of life-threatening operation, is it wiser to 'ignore your instructions and turn around and run away'?"

"You don't have to think about it. I can tell you clearly that the latter has a higher success rate." Zi Lin replied, "Anyway, we have made our words clear now, so I might as well say it directly... If you give up the action, turn around and run away, I will definitely let you go; because if your whereabouts are exposed in a place like this, you will most likely be shot dead on the spot, and I... need you alive."

"Then, after I escape, you will set me up again, go around in circles, use coercion and inducement...and then bring me back here and do the same thing again...right?" Lilia asked.

"Yes." Zi Lin was also unambiguous and admitted immediately.

The next second, Lilia cursed "Fake" in her heart, and then she obediently opened the glass cover in front of her, grabbed the four LOGOs cut from the clothes with her right hand, and gently used two fingers with her left hand. Clip that pocket watch.

One pump, one release... Her exchange took less than 0.5 seconds, and the result was...