Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior was visibly stunned. A host of eyes suddenly popped open on the shadow. “Or,” Xu Qing continued calmly, “is it possible those words were being spoken to some other entity that I just didn’t notice...? You see, Sir Inkwell has always addressed me as ‘exalted Jailer.’ However, in the portion just now, he used the simpler address ‘exalted one.’ It’s a somewhat obvious discrepancy, and yet strangely, I never noticed it.” Xu Qing’s eyes were as cold as ice. “And now I’m wondering how many inmates are actually housed in D-132.”8

Eyes narrowing, he searched his memory.0

“First, the cloud troll. Second, the human woman. Third, the Rockdevil. Thirteenth—” Xu Qing suddenly stopped talking. “Wait, what about the fourth? Who’s the fourth?”20

His pupils slowly constricted.1

To the side, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior opened his mouth to speak, only to find himself dumbstruck. He couldn’t think of the answer. Then he started trembling, and a look of terror appeared in his eyes.1

The shadow was similarly in a daze.0

“And who’s the fifth?” Xu Qing continued. “More precisely, who are the fourth through thirteenth? And how come I can’t remember who they are?” Taking out the jade slip with the information about the inmates, he checked the roster, and sure enough, there were fourteen inmates. And yet, he simply couldn’t remember the nine in the middle. It was extremely bizarre.8

Even after carefully reading through the jade slip, he...1