Crying, wailing…
Countless strange sounds had been ringing ceaselessly in Leilin's ears ever since he set foot in the passage.
And the secret that
"I always felt that the last expedition wasn't as simple as it seemed…"
Leilin kept watch on both sides of the path while his mind turned over other matters.
"The last expedition into the Quicksand Secret Realm — Robin was far too eager, and his knowledge of that secret realm was far more than what any informant could have brought out. In fact, I suspect he already knew what was inside the Quicksand Castle from the very beginning, and he went there specifically for that thing…"
And after seeing today's mural, Leilin felt even more certain of his judgment.
"Robin's family clearly inherited something, and they may even have connections to the Quicksand Organization…"
After the long passage came two rows of small cells resembling prison blocks.
The walls of these cells were covered with complex magic runes, and Leilin even recognized quite a few of the formulae — they were practically identical to the restraint chambers in his own
"So many restraint cells!" Leilin stared at the seemingly endless rows of rooms and the faint silhouettes visible through the bars. "How many people does he intend to lock up?"
Leilin thought for a moment and walked up to one of the cells.
"Foreign presence detected! Immediate alert! Initiate destruction protocol!"
The moment Leilin dispelled the Shadow Concealment on his body, a deep male voice boomed to life. This was the formation spirit that managed the area — a being similar to a tower spirit.
"Chip!" Leilin said calmly.
"Detected spiritual power interface. Forcing override!" The Chip's voice was the same as always — mechanical, utterly devoid of emotion.
But the male voice on the other end immediately wavered, turning hoarse with alarm.
"Foreign spiritual power intrusion detected! Code One alert!"
"Defenses breached! Engaging secondary firewall protocols! Alarm synchronized! Activating self-destruct sequence!"
"Foreign spiritual power infiltrating central formation spirit! Alert! Alert!"
"Initiating immediate self-destruct! Countdown three, two… Alert cancelled! All clear! Intercepting outbound spiritual power signals! Confirming no intelligence leak!"
The formation spirit's voice was first frantic and hoarse, then sputtering and disjointed. By the end, amid a burst of flashing lights, it went quiet — only to resume in the distinctive mechanical tone of the Chip.
This level of intelligence didn't stand a chance. Against the Chip, being hacked was only a matter of time.
And now, the manager of this place had changed from the formation spirit to Leilin's Chip.
With control of the system in hand, this entire facility had become Leilin's private garden — even Robin outside was kept in the dark.
As Leilin's strength continued to grow, the role the Chip played only expanded further, reaching the point where it could be projected outward to seize control of a formation spirit entirely.
Of course, today was partly a matter of luck — he had managed to deal with the formation spirit quickly. Otherwise, most formation spirits would self-destruct immediately, or worse, alert their master outside, leaving Leilin with nothing to show for his efforts.
What was more, Robin's formation spirit was relatively low-grade. If it had been a core formation spirit laid down by a Morning Star Wizard, the Chip would not have been able to crack it so easily.
But right now, this place answered to Leilin.
"Open the observation window on Restraint Cell 0023!" At Leilin's command, a cascade of white light immediately streamed down into the cell before him, chasing away the gloom.
The prisoner appeared before Leilin's eyes.
"Hmm?!" Leilin's pupils contracted sharply. "I've seen this person…"
Standing before him was a warlock — more precisely, a Komoin giant snake warlock.
The recognition between bloodlines could never be wrong. The warlock looked wretched: nearly naked save for a ragged linen cloth wrapped around his body, with grievous wounds gouged across other parts.
Flesh buds squirmed across the wounds, slowly knitting them back together — a sight that was more nauseating than anything.
"N-no more, please… You demon…"
A hoarse murmur escaped the warlock's lips.
"I'm not Robin!" Leilin gave a slight cough and spoke.
"…" The warlock inside the restraint cell raised his head, revealing an eerily handsome face. The moment he saw Leilin, a spark of hope blazed to life in his otherwise ashen eyes.
"Save… save me! Please, save me, Lord Leilin!"
He clawed his way toward the front of the cell like a drowning man grasping at his last straw. Only then did Leilin notice that the warlock's legs were entirely missing — he had been crippled.
While it would have been possible to regenerate lost limbs through regeneration magic or sacred potions, Robin was clearly not the sort to show such mercy.
"Tell me what happened. Why are you here?" Leilin's face was grim, his voice low and heavy.
This warlock was, unmistakably, a member of one of the families that had rebelled — the same families Robin had publicly announced the extermination of. This man should have been on the death roster long ago, yet here he was, imprisoned.
"It was Robin! After he broke through our family, he captured me — my wife, my children — and dragged us all here! He… he's a demon…"
The warlock's words came out in a jumbled rush, as though the trauma had shattered his composure.
"My lord! My lord! I beg you, take me away!" He wept until his voice gave out, tears streaming down his face.
Watching this scene, Leilin shook his head in silent dismay. While the advancement of a warlock was greatly eased by bloodline assistance, a warlock with such weak willpower was truly rare.
High-level wizards all possessed tenacious spiritual power — even in the face of great upheaval, they could quickly compose themselves.
It seemed this warlock had endured some particular horror here that had driven him half-mad.
"Tell me — what exactly did he do?"
Two beams of solid light shot from Leilin's eyes, freezing the warlock mid-sentence.
"He… he… waaah…"
The warlock hugged his body tight, curling into as small a ball as possible, trembling without cease.
"He… he actually ate my Guilin! Heavens, she was only seven years old…"
"And Hugo, Ron…" He kept rattling off names, his eyes glazed and distant, before finally clutching his head in both hands, clearly unwilling to remember any more.
"Complete personality change, imprisonment, rumors of cannibalism, and the appearance of the
Leilin let out a long breath. The pieces were falling into place in his mind, forming a complete chain of reasoning.
"Truly…" He didn't even know what to say. The other man's determination to pursue power had twisted into something pathological.
Leilin did not consider himself a good person, either, but even he could not bring himself to do something on this level.
"Ding! Underground laboratory fully scanned! Total prisoners: 341, of which Komoin giant snake warlocks number 34, third-rank warlocks number 22…"
The Chip had finished compiling the general information and relayed it to Leilin.
"Setting everything else aside, just having this place exposed would be the end of Robin…"
Leilin pressed deeper inside. The restraint cells on both sides held all manner of warlocks, most with missing limbs or other deformities. He even spotted several elders from Robin's own family.
It appeared that all those elders who had "disappeared" had in fact been captured by Robin and secretly locked away in this place.
When they saw Leilin, these warlocks went wild — some burst into tears, others roared at him to punish Robin's crimes. Even those elders from Robin's own family had eyes full of vengeful hatred; they had clearly abandoned Robin long ago.
"Most of these warlocks must be from the families Robin supposedly exterminated…"
Leilin sighed. Who would have thought Robin would dare risk something on this scale — secretly capturing every one of his enemies and locking them all away here?
Looking at their faces, Leilin felt that dying on the battlefield might well have been a kinder fate.
Though deeply sympathetic, Leilin did not immediately order the Chip to lower the restraint cells' defenses and release these poor souls.
After all, there were still many prisoners here, and releasing them all at once would instantly plunge the place into chaos.
Moreover, Leilin had much left to do, and he could not afford to let Robin find out.
"The core restraint cell! Who's inside?" At the end of the passage stood a single enormous containment chamber. A cage of blood-red lightning crackled with the occasional spark, binding a wizard firmly within.
"No data found in formation spirit records. Designated as Top Secret!" the Chip reported.
"Who are you?"
Standing beside the cage, Leilin peered curiously at the figure inside.
As the most heavily guarded prisoner in this entire underground prison, the person's identity was sure to be no small matter.
Hearing Leilin's voice, the prisoner slowly raised his head — and Leilin's pupils contracted in an instant, cold sweat beading across his body.
"Ro… Robin?!"
The face within the cage was one of extreme, almost unsettling beauty, yet terribly gaunt, as though every trace of flesh had been stripped away. The prisoner managed a faint smile and spoke Leilin's name without hesitation.
"Leilin. You've come."
"What exactly is going on? Who is that 'Robin' outside?" Leilin's face was dark.
From this Robin, he sensed an utterly familiar fluctuation of aura, and that sunny smile was something Leilin could never forget.
When they had entered the Phosphor Swamp, it was this very Robin who had stood at the gates of the Ouroboros Ring headquarters, greeting Leilin with that same smile.
"You should have guessed by now!" Robin was extremely weak now, barely able to finish a single sentence before needing to pause.
Virtually all of his muscles had wasted away, leaving nothing but skin draped over bone.
Had it not been for the face — still barely recognizable — Leilin would have believed he was looking at nothing more than a skeleton.