The Longest Road Among All the Shortcuts

Lin Xiaoxiao was a quick-witted man, but he wasn't too shrewd.

When he returned to the dining hall but kept mum about the results of his earlier interrogation, Qing Chen already had an answer in his heart.

Because there was no such thing as information they couldn't divulge. The Otherworld would find out about the transmigrators eventually.

Unless… The result of the interrogation included a secret that involved someone at the scene.

Qing Chen wondered, how would the people in the Otherworld regard the Surface World?

Leaving other people aside, Li Shutong was a high-ranking person who wielded immense power. How could a person like him allow things to go out of control?

Hence, no matter how much favor Qing Chen had accumulated to this point, it wasn't worth a mention in front of a high-ranking person.

Qing Chen wasn't certain that Li Shutong would kill him either, but he had to plan for the worst-case scenario.

Since Li Shutong was also an extremely clever person, he understood right away when Lin Xiaoxiao didn't say a word.

"Xiaoxiao, escort our Spades friend somewhere else," Li Shutong instructed.

"I'm not going anywhere." Guo Huchan suddenly realized that there could be a tremendous secret.

However, Ye Wan suddenly spread out the invisible force field, encompassing Li Shutong and Qing Chen within.

Guo Huchan, who wanted to eavesdrop, was caught off-guard and knocked backward by the force field, which made him stumble.

By the time the bald head wanted to rush back, he realized that Ye Wan and Lin Xiaoxiao were already obstructing his way.

Lin Xiaoxiao said with a smile, "Don't move forward anymore if you want to continue staying here and look for the forbidden object ACE-005."

"Fine, I won't listen!" Guo Huchan responded angrily.

At the same moment, Li Shutong looked at Qing Chen calmly and asked, "So, when you got Lu Guangyi to interrogate the new inmates for the past few days, it was because you were looking for them, right?"

After thinking, Qing Chen replied, "That's right."

"You're calmer than I expected," Li Shutong said ruefully. "I was hardly at your level when I was your age."

"I'm not calm. It's just that there's no use being flustered," Qing Chen replied.

"Even though Xiaoxiao hasn't updated me on the interrogation results, I know it must be a tremendous secret." Li Shutong continued, "I've always been ruthless in the face of uncontrollable things. Have you ever considered that you might not live past tomorrow?"

"I have." Qing Chen lifted his head and watched everything in his surroundings.

The novel steel-domed roof, the black Metal Storm with a sheen, the robot prison guards scattered around the prison and standing blankly with their guns.

Moreover, there were prisoners who were smiling mischievously and newcomers who were hobbling and grimacing.

Qing Chen wasn't sure if he could continue watching these things, so he wanted to take another look at them.

Suddenly, he lowered his head and said to Li Shutong with a smile, "The past few days of interaction have been pretty pleasant. If possible, I actually hope for us to be reacquainted with each other."

"You won the chess match against me on the first day, so I still owe you a request. You can bring up anything you'd like to ask now," said Li Shutong.

Qing Chen thought about it for a moment and asked, "Could you play 'Bidding Farewell' again?"

"You will not exchange it for your own life?" Li Shutong laughed.

"There's no need to exchange it for my life, and I won't either," Qing Chen replied.

"Alright. I've always liked your boldness. Consider this tune a gift to you. About that request, you can bring it up any time." Li Shutong then got Ye Wan to bring him his harmonica.

Bidding Farewell was like a tune Qing Chen dedicated to himself. The melodious music allowed the prison's atmosphere to turn a little more tranquil.

"Thank you," Qing Chen said.

Thereafter, he returned to his prison cell alone and lay on the ice-cold bed, waiting in silence.

Bit by bit, time passed.

From daytime until night.

Qing Chen could hear the prison broadcast reminding all prisoners to line up for their return to the cells. Then, one after the other, the alloy doors shut and the sound of hydraulics concluded a day of No. 18 Prison's clamor.

Isolating everything.

In the next moment, the entire prison fell into complete darkness.

Then, the alloy door to Qing Chen's prison cell opened once more.

In the dark, someone slipped a black hood on him and brought him to an unknown place.

After a few minutes, the two people who were supporting him left him somewhere and subsequently departed.

The sound of hydraulics went off once again. As though something was closed and isolated.

At this moment, Qing Chen lay in the dark in silence. He didn't even get up to check where he was at.

Here, there was only the sound of his breathing. The only light was from the countdown that only he could see, but it wasn't able to illuminate anything.

The time passed slowly and heavily.

Qing Chen was aware of the type of reaction a person would have when they were kept in a sealed and dark environment.

When you didn't know where you were at and couldn't interact with anyone, that loneliness and fear would consume a person whole.

And they would lose the concept of time.

Not having time was the scariest.

In fact, many people wouldn't be able to make it past 24 hours. There was an experiment that rewarded $1,000,000 if a person could stay there for five days, but no one could walk away with those million dollars.

The fortune was indeed tempting, but 99% of the people would slip before the 72-hour mark.

However…

Perhaps Li Shutong and his companions hadn't anticipated that Qing Chen was never afraid of being solitary.

Loneliness had been accompanying him ever since his parents divorced.

Qing Chen knew well that dehydration would be his greatest enemy.

Return countdown 146:09:02.

The time on his arm could help him in calculating the time.

The first day.

Qing Chen slowed his breathing frequency and started recalling movies in his mind. First, he watched The Shawshank Redemption and then Papillon; they were all about prison breaks and faith.

Those were some of the movies he had memorized in his head, and he didn't need any equipment to replay them.

However, because he didn't have water to drink, the demand for food and water confused the neurons. He started feeling tired.

Return countdown 122:09:02.

On the second day.

After sleeping, Qing Chen replayed eight movies in his head.

He stayed lying on the floor silently, and with his eyes closed, he enjoyed the darkness.

Hunger and thirst invaded, but he remained unmoved, as though he had forsaken his external sensory organs.

Return countdown 98:09:02.

On the third day.

Hunger burned his willpower and ate away his concentration.

This time, Qing Chen watched 12 movies and didn't sleep for a single minute.

Moreover, he had to endure torture caused by the loss of fluid in his body. Because of it, his body ran hot and cold, and his skin dried.

As a result, his memory started declining; the movies in his mind turned into flickering slides.

The memories of the old era added radiance and beauty to each other.

Qing Chen couldn't sleep.

Return countdown 74:09:02.

On the fourth day.

Qing Chen's hunger subsided. After opening his eyes, he only stared at the endless nothingness and darkness. It wasn't clear what he was thinking about.

He hadn't looked at the time for a long while now, as though looking at it became something meaningless too.

Until now, Qing Chen had not spoken a word from start to end nor let out a cry.

In the darkness, the world remained silent.

He didn't calculate how long he hadn't slept, but it didn't seem too important.

Qing Chen used his silence to fight against the silence and darkness of the world.

...

It was a dusky night at No. 18 Prison. The light within the fort turned into a glimmer.

Even the drones on the hive seemed to have fallen fast asleep.

In the reading zone, Li Shutong sat at the end of a long table and relaxed with his eyes closed. To the side, Lin Xiaoxiao took a glance at the time and spoke up, "Boss, it's been four days."

"Mm." Li Shutong nodded.

A soft sound of smacking against the door rang from a distance. Lu Guangyi was swearing behind a certain door intermittently, "Li Shutong, where did you lock up my boss? I, Lu Guangyi, will not let you off the hook. The Qing Clan won't either."

Lu Guangyi had realized that something was amiss since the first day of Qing Chen's disappearance. He had then caused a huge scene in No. 18 Prison and nearly triggered the second wave of Metal Storm.

Hence, while Qing Chen disappeared for four days, Lu Guangyi was also locked in his room for four days.

It was only until the fourth day that Lu Guangyi calmed down a notch.

Lin Xiaoxiao ignored Lu Guangyi's verbal abuse and continued talking, "Boss, in the four days Qing Chen has been there, he hasn't spoken a word nor shown any signs of breaking down."

"He's exceptionally intelligent. From the first day, he already slowed down his breathing to prevent fluid loss. It's not surprising that he can last four days," Li Shutong said.

"Even then, only a few people could last four days without making a sound. It somehow doesn't feel like he is receiving a punishment. Rather, it's like he is waiting. But he has had nothing to drink for four days now. He will die if this goes on." Lin Xiaoxiao was anxious. "Boss, you cherish a capable person. Let's let him off the hook."

Lin Xiaoxiao, who couldn't stand Qing Chen's lofty character originally, turned to plea for leniency for him instead.

Because he understood what Qing Chen was currently going through.

After some thought, Li Shutong said, "Change to waterboarding."

"Boss, he's currently dehydrated and going to drink at the sight of water subconsciously. He will die that way." Lin Xiaoxiao panicked.

Waterboarding. The victim would have their face covered with a cloth and then have water poured over it.

Waterboarding was like a one-way valve. The water would rush in continuously, but the cloth prevented you from spitting it out. Hence, you could only take a single breath. Even if you held your breath, you would still feel the sensation of oxygen being sucked away like a vacuum.

Lin Xiaoxiao knew very well that even normal people wouldn't be able to withstand waterboarding, let alone Qing Chen, who had been dehydrated over the past four days.

At the moment the waterboarding started, a severely dehydrated person would drink it like a starved man.

However, the water that poured through the cloth would not only flow into Qing Chen's stomach to quench the thirst but also pour into his lungs, destroying his last chance of survival.

Li Shutong, however, seemed to have decided about being callous.

"Life and death depends on his own choice. How can he walk my path if he has never witnessed actual death?" Li Shutong asked calmly.

...

Return countdown 50:09:02.

On the fifth day.

Someone opened the door to the dark room, and Qing Chen was motionless when someone brought him out.

After that, they placed him on a chair and covered his face with a thick cloth.

The ice-cold water then splashed onto the cloth, blocking all air and chances of survival. 

Qing Chen sat quietly on the chair without moving an inch and pursed his lips.

He struggled against his urge to drink the water, not allowing himself to be destroyed by the temptation in front of him.

At the side, Lin Xiaoxiao and Ye Wan exchanged looks. They didn't expect Qing Chen to be able to maintain his clear-headed determination even at this point. At this moment, he knew what he was facing and was using his last bit of willpower to get a chance at survival.

Qing Chen felt the water flowing in from his nostrils and filling up his body.

He felt as though he was having a dream.

In the dream, someone's hand held his hand when he was younger. That palm was warm and soft.

In the park.

It was as though there was warm seawater underneath the sunlight, wrapping his entire body. The golden rays were slowly rolling over.

The woman who was holding his hand suddenly asked without turning her head, "Little Chen, your father has someone else outside and doesn't want us anymore."

"Mum, I want to eat candied hawthorn." The young Qing Chen opened his mouth and mumbled to the woman in front of him.

The woman turned back and watched him blankly for a long time. "Alright, Mum will buy candied hawthorn for you."

The rims of the woman's eyes were red as she went to get candied hawthorn for him. "Little Chen, stay here and eat the candied hawthorn. Mum is going to go to the restroom."

But the woman didn't return after she left.

Qing Chen waited from noon to sunset.

He started crying, but it was no use.

Someone helped him get the police, but Qing Chen refused to leave with them. He believed that his mother would still return.

It was night when the woman came back. She hugged him and cried bitterly.

The young Qing Chen just thought she had lost her way and only found him then.

However, during the waterboarding, Qing Chen's brain gradually sobered up. Ah, so it turned out that this wasn't the first time he was abandoned.

It seemed that his strange ability in recollection also started from that moment.

But it wasn't a good thing to have a memory that was too good, because then he could remember every type of suffering.

Clearly.

Qing Chen could feel the lack of oxygen in his brain and his twitching limbs. Water was pouring into his lungs, but he remained seated like a statue.

There was no struggle and no begging.

In the darkness, someone said, "Come along with Mum."

Qing Chen replied softly, "There's no need, Mum."

In the dark, the voice said again, "Come along with Mum."

Qing Chen's voice became more resolute. "There's no need. I said, there's no need, Mum."

In that instant, someone removed the wet cloth from his face.

The dusky light rays appeared somewhat dazzling at that moment. Vaguely, he could make out Lin Xiaoxiao anxiously patting his back.

Li Shutong stood quietly in front of him and asked, "Why didn't you beg at all? I still owe you a request."

Qing Chen met the dazzling light and looked at him stubbornly. He coughed out all the water in his windpipe and then stated firmly, "Because you guys don't need someone weak."

At a certain point, Li Shutong suddenly remembered how Qing Chen looked when they played chess for the first time. He was also brave and fierce without retreat, stubborn. Like a lone wolf in the wild.

He knew that this was the person he was looking for.

Li Shutong asked again, "Can you forget everything I've done to you today?"

"I can't," replied Qing Chen. "But I don't mind."

"Very honest, very good." Li Shutong turned and headed out of the interrogation room. "I'll train you from tomorrow onward. I will guide you to walk the longest road among all the shortcuts of this world."