Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 694: Chapter 572 It Got Heatstroke _1

Liz’s intuition was not wrong. All of this was Huai Shi’s doing, including deliberately provoking Old Jo’s fear of confined spaces with subtle language, knowing his condition beforehand, and causing him to fall into an abnormal state.

It was a test before the jailbreak. Huai Shi originally wanted to see how vigilant the Ivy League was against him, a prisoner. But he didn’t expect to hit the jackpot—in every sense of the word.

To have Liz, such a big fish, bite on the first try was purely accidental. It’s unclear if his luck was good or bad.

If his luck was good, then perhaps no one noticed Old Jo’s odd behavior. If his luck was lousy, and people like Michel and Pant Delong found out, those old foxes would never be so rash. Instead, they would cautiously investigate, quietly raise Huai Shi’s security level, and prepare a pitfall for him well in advance. Even if they weren’t sure that it was Huai Shi’s doing, they would have prepared the pit, making it inevitable for him to fall in eventually.

In fact, Huai Shi had already heard the whispers of being sent back to the Current Circumstances... He was not the slightest bit flustered about this.

According to the agreement between the Iron Crystal Throne and the Ivy League to limit the scale of the war, no one could enter the Town of Dusk, only leave—both sides had already sealed this piece of Hell using their respective methods.

Even if Huai Shi got out, he wouldn’t be able to come back in. But what about those escorting Huai Shi? Given Huai Shi’s dangerousness, sending any Tom, Dick, or Harry would be akin to giving him presents. If they couldn’t suppress Huai Shi with absolute power, it was pretty much a free gift.

If they could suppress Huai Shi with their strength... then Huai Shi would also win. Trading one for one was not a bad deal. He resolved to remain as meek as a lamb during the transport, determined to drag one of their high-level combatants along for a ’happy’ return home together.

But after all the waiting and the daily promises of ”leaving soon” and ”almost there,” no one came to escort Huai Shi to the boat. Being stood up even for his deportation was truly unbelievable.

Therefore, attracting Liz’s vigilance, in a way, was truly a good thing for Huai Shi.

A woman with sharp intuition, a warrior who always maintained alertness and fury towards him, someone who seemed so proud and arrogant but was actually quite childish at heart...

It almost caused a twinge of guilt to use such a person. Luckily, Huai Shi lacked such sentiments. He was nothing but a cold and merciless Negative Energy Producer with an added taunting function.

If Liz truly heeded Huai Shi’s advice and carefully thought about ’the details on the ground,’ she would have remembered—it was Huai Shi who personally diagnosed Old Jo’s claustrophobia during their first meeting in the prison! At that point, it should have been clear to anyone that there was an issue. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen... Truly a pity.

After provoking Old Jo’s fear of confined spaces with words and suggestions, Huai Shi quietly began preparing for his escape. As he started ’counseling’ the prisoner next door, he had already awakened the Seed of Bubble Shadow within the crow’s feathers. He then planted it within himself, effectively cursing himself.

By the time Liz arrived, Huai Shi was already in an altered state of consciousness, barely able to differentiate reality from fantasy, as if heavily intoxicated and injected with an anesthetic.

He had to thank Liz for that punch, allowing him a moment of clarity.

The Rotten Dream Poison spread through his consciousness, but it couldn’t dissolve him into nightmares and illusions. He had merged with the Sinister Remnants during his own advancement, giving him an extremely high resistance to the Rotten Dream Poison. Where does a snake’s venom poison itself?

Subsequently, the Rotten Dream Poison spread from his consciousness. A seed quietly sprouted, quickly camouflaging itself as part of Huai Shi’s body and infiltrating the seals and curses afflicting him.

The Ivy League’s inspections and body searches were thorough, of course, but without an Alchemist specializing in curse studies analyzing it in a lab, how could Rotten Dream Poison be so easily identified? Otherwise, Rotten Dream itself would have been too pathetic in death, right? At best, they might notice signs of lack of sleep and a disorderly dispersal of Source Substance.

As the two conversed, the Seed of Bubble Shadow had taken root in Huai Shi’s body, completed the initial stage of development, formed an outline, and began a second wave of diffusion. Having infiltrated the seals and curses, it spread towards their other end...

A curse is often bilateral. Unless one employs various contrivances and Mystic Rituals as stepping stones, or uses Puppets and straw men as substitutes, the curse itself becomes a bridge linking both sides. Half the Blood Kiss had perished due to the counterattack of the Rotten Dream Debris.

After infecting Huai Shi, the host, the Rotten Dream Poison proceeded to disperse through the local network formed by the curse, heading towards that Alchemist still researching in the workshop...

By the time Liz left, the Alchemist had already been quietly trapped in a vivid Dreamland, unable to break free.

The seals and curses, no longer maintained by their caster, silently collapsed. With the way cleared, Huai Shi’s Stigma and Soul returned to his body in a torrent, making him whole again and restoring him to his full power. The small amount of sedative in his system was overwhelmed by higher-level toxins in less time than it took to yawn. Hardly comparable even to the carbon dioxide in soda.

By that time, the Rotten Dream Poison, spread by the Seed of Bubble Shadow, instantly returned under Huai Shi’s control from its rampant, chaotic growth. From germination and growth, it advanced to the Third Stage: maturation. A dream solidified into reality.

Although it was slowly withering and decaying, before its end, it could still bring Huai Shi a considerable amount of convenience.

First, it created an illusion. The illusion enveloped the prison cell where Huai Shi was held.

Beyond creating the scene of Huai Shi lying motionless on the bed, he did not add anything else. Instead, he intentionally disturbed the image, leaving behind a slight flaw. When the Ivy League later broke the illusion, they would naturally regard everything recorded on surveillance as false images that Huai Shi had fabricated.

From unlocking to this point, a total of five seconds had passed.

Immediately after, the consciousness of all the guards was tricked by the rapidly spreading dreamy haze, making them believe that Liz was still there arguing with Huai Shi.

Huai Shi raised his hand and pressed it on the shackles at his wrists and neck. He carefully altered the metal components within the explosives using the Hand of Confinement, reducing their destructiveness after detonation, to avoid an accidental slip leading to an instantaneous explosion if anything went wrong.

Next, a Soloist’s Stigma split off an Afterimage. Under Huai Shi’s control, the solid outline stood before him, while Huai Shi lay down on the bed and covered himself with a blanket.

He lifted his hand, pointing at the Afterimage in front of him. The Afterimage also lifted its hand, pointing back at Huai Shi.

The moment the two fingers touched, Shadow Burial Activate, and their positions were perfectly switched.

In an instant, all of Huai Shi’s shackles and fetters had been transferred to the Afterimage. Within its translucent outline, Huai Shi even found six small trackers! He was aware of two of them, but there were four he hadn’t noticed at all, which seemed to have been implanted in his veins, bones, and muscles while he was unconscious.

All of these were left behind when Huai Shi’s body underwent Source Materialization, inherited entirely by the Afterimage.

Shaking off the last restraints. By this point, half a minute had elapsed.

Next came the most dangerous part of the entire plan: the actual prison escape.

The Rotten Dream Poison enshrouded Huai Shi, making his body seem to change slowly; after shrinking three centimeters, his long hair gradually turned golden, his face swiftly morphed into Liz’s appearance. Thanks to Huai Shi’s recent thorough observation of her, shoulder width, height, and all other data were absolutely precise...

And so, with head held high and chest out, containing restrained fury, Huai Shi walked out of the prison’s gate.

He lifted his hand and dissolved the guards’ illusion, bringing them back to reality, seamlessly continuing the argument that had seemed to conclude within the illusion.

”Don’t give that son of a bitch any food tonight!” ’Liz’ ordered, turning back fiercely to scold Huai Shi in the cage, ”So you’re just a bit better-looking, huh? When you come to your senses, you’ll know what happens when you cross me!”

After speaking, ’she’ departed with her head held high, amidst Huai Shi’s feigned, desperate pleas to be her willing slave.

Along the way, ’she’ also stopped by a restroom, washed her face, and took the elevator, moving on to the next part of his plan.

The whole process of the jailbreak actually completely overturned Huai Shi’s previous plan. It was sparked by a sudden inspiration from Huai Shi.

In fact, such an action was still too rash; there was no need to leave behind such traces and evidence. If he had looked for another opportunity, he might not have alerted the Ivy League to the abnormality.

But for sure, it wouldn’t have been so easy to recover his weapons and equipment. Escaping here empty-handed would have been the real loss.

Let alone Beelzebub, just the wise man’s survival pack, a Divine Artifact of that caliber, doesn’t exist elsewhere in the world. Where else could you just have the Ivy League’s storeroom doors open for you, weapons and equipment up for grabs? All for free.

After taking off his prison uniform and quickly dressing in all his gear, Huai Shi rubbed his hands together and cast a covetous glance over the other items in the warehouse...

Astronomical Society limited Source Substance supply for 60 people, big blue bottles, nice stuff, pity it’s out of stock...

The top-quality Silver Blood Potion·Ancient Blood, for ten people—nice stuff. Looks like it’s damaged, but I’ll take it.

Yikes! Holy Grace? A resurrection Potion! This thing is too bulky; it shouldn’t take up space here. Give it to me!

This dagger looks good, at least an A-level Border Relic. I’ll take it first, maybe give it to Little Nineteen... This ring looks familiar; I think I’ve seen it in the relic catalog. It can enhance perception and intimidation ability. Hmm, the flaws are minor. Mine now! And this set of Armor, and this little shield, and these boots—the color matches Yuan Yuan quite well, and the size is right. What a coincidence...

Sheesh, there’s actually a two-square-meter large crystal tree heart? I’ll chop it up and pack it first. Later I’ll ask Uncle Fang to make a new cutting board.

Acting on the principle of never leaving empty-handed, Huai Shi took out all the random stuff in his backpack and then stuffed it back full to the brim. As for those smelly socks and dirty clothes he had taken out, seeing the racks empty didn’t look nice, so Huai Shi arranged them there.

To give is to receive. This wave, the Ivy League is not at a loss!

It’s just a pity that the more valuable items were all in another deep storeroom that Liz didn’t have the clearance to enter, and there was no chance to find it quickly. Otherwise, he could have hit another jackpot...

Having swiftly swept through a bunch of strategic materials, Huai Shi also left them two Source Bombs and Incendiary Bombs, all set on timers. Then, with the unconscious Guardian in hand, Huai Shi left as if riding the wind.

Closing the hefty vault door carefully, he casually stuffed the unfortunate Guardian into a corner of the laboratory.

Success!

But when Huai Shi, wearing Liz’s face, walked out of the laboratory, the subordinates who had been waiting outside approached, their faces showing suppressed anger. Their barely concealed fury startled Huai Shi; he thought he might have given himself away.

”We’ve found Huai Shi’s trail!” the subordinate said through clenched teeth.

”Hmm?”

Huai Shi was taken aback, then immediately contained his nervousness, showing an irritated expression, ”Where did that son of a bitch hide?”

The subordinate hesitated for a long time, not saying a word.