As it was almost 8 PM when Ash arrived at the restaurant, it was naturally impossible for him to order the limited delicious lalafell. He picked up some meat dishes and sat down to eat.
"How's the post-victory meal?"
Ash looked up to see Valkas sitting across from him with a glass of water.
"To be honest, the leftovers are already a little cold. Besides, you people have already ordered all the lalafell…"
"You can order food, you know. You won 37 contribution points from me. It's not too much to reward yourself with one or two points, right?"
"Huh? Ordering food? Spend contribution points?"
"Don't you know? That's right. You've only been here for two days." Valkas pointed at the menu on the side of the dining hall. "You can order at any time, and you won't be restricted by the dining hall's menu for the day. If you're not free, the dining hall will send food to your dorm—as long as you spend contribution points."
Only then did Ash realize that the menu signboard was for ordering dishes. He had previously thought that it was for the sake of appearances on the dining hall's part—"Leader, look, we provide so many dishes here! We really don't dock the food of criminals!"
The menu seemed to be very cheap at first glance. A combination of any three dishes added up to only one contribution point. For example, the three popular cuisines, "seafood lalafell" + "butter chicken broad noodles" + "foggy spinach quiche" only cost one contribution point. It could basically allow one to enjoy a good meal.
However, every death row criminal only had 50 initial contribution points. Not only would 10 points be automatically deducted every month, points were also a necessary stake to apply for a deathmatch. The lower the contribution points, the closer one was to the front of the judgment sequence, and the more likely they were made to participate in the variety show "Blood Moon Judgment".
Therefore, contribution points not only represented currency in prison, but also the life quota of prisoners. Consuming contribution points was no different from a slow suicide… Perhaps there was a difference, which was that with a slow suicide, at least you didn't know when you would die. By consuming contribution points, however, you could watch your life quota decrease.
"Although there's not much entertainment in prison, you can definitely spend your contribution points if you want to," Valkas said. "Hair care, customized prison clothes, purchase specific toiletries… You can even use contribution points to exchange for a better dormitory with three bedrooms, two living rooms, and even windows. The rent is one contribution point per day."
"One contribution point for a day? That's crazy. Who would stay here?"
"There is someone. Tyger 'The Diamond' has been living in that VIP suite for the past few years. He has more contribution points than he can spend. There are always idiot newbies who send him contribution points. If one contribution point is equivalent to one gold coin, Tyger might be richer in prison than outside."
Ash lifted his eyebrows. "So… we prisoners are only worth 50 gold coins in the evaluation system of the prison?"
"You think it's too little?"
"Is it a lot?"
"Most ordinary people who haven't received higher education won't be able to earn 50 gold coins in their entire life. Even sorcerers who don't do well won't be able to earn 50 gold coins. An annual salary of one gold coin per year is enough to allow one to live a good life in Kaimon City."
At this moment, Ash finally understood the true value of the gold coin in his possession. He also realized how dark this prison was—three meat dishes could cost a year's worth salary! Were the lalafell in this prison PhD graduates?
"All of a sudden, I feel that leftovers are also quite delicious."
Valkas snorted and just stared at Ash quietly.
After eating for a while, Ash finally couldn't help but say, "Mr. Elf, I'm the type of person who can't pee when someone looks at me."
"Shh! Shh!"
"I'm just making an analogy. You don't have to whistle to run with it!"
"I thought young people nowadays like to pee while eating." Valkas smiled before his expression turned cold again. "I'm talking to myself now. Most of it is just nonsense. If you hear something, you'd better pretend you haven't."
Ash was slightly startled.
"Silin Dore is the president of the Elven Racial Rights Association in Kaimon City. Other than that, he is also a member of the Kaimon Council and a university professor. He also has a hidden identity—one of the supporters of the Woodpecker Gang. On the surface, he will oppose members of the parliament from Blood Sage and Lunar Shadow Clans to protect the interests of other races. However, he has secretly made many under-the-table deals with the members of the parliament from the Blood Sage and Lunar Shadow clans. The Woodpecker Gang are his black ops, and he contributed to the ascension of Mayor Fernandes of Kaimon City."
"The Four Pillar Deities Cult has not appeared for many years and has almost disappeared without a trace. There is only a rumor without evidence—eight years ago, in the archaeological excavation of the eastern ruins, it was rumored that some important ceremonial records regarding the Four Pillar Deities Cult were unearthed. In the same year, the eastern ruins encountered a Illusory Realm storm, and most of the archaeological findings were destroyed."
"Professor Silin Doll was the main guidance consultant In the excavation team that was in charge of the eastern ruins."
"Silin is a very patient elf. At least, I've never seen a creature that can surpass him in terms of tolerance. If he wants to someone dead, it means that the person has information that is crucial to him—information which, if leaked, will incur a great loss to him."
Valkas sipped some water to moisten his throat and glanced at Ash.
"Theoretically, most prisoners in prison already have their memories searched. If there really is any information, the Crime Hunting Department will definitely find it… unless someone's memory hasn't been searched."
'I see.'
Although Ash still didn't know his relationship with Professor Silin, he completely understood why Silin wanted to murder him—Silin thought he was holding on to a secret that wasn't revealed yet!
Due to the Four Pillar Deities Cult, the Crime Hunting Department did not dare to search through his memories at all. As such, Ash Heath became the only criminal in the prison who still had secrets!
This was Silin's luck, because Heath did not reveal his information.
It was also Silin's misfortune, because Heath could report him at any time!
To be fair, if Ash really knew about this secret, he would definitely report it to the Crime Hunting Department.
It was not that he was a bad person who liked hurting others to the detriment of himself, just that he was also a bit curious about Silin. He'd like Silin to become close fellow inmates with him. It would be even better if they had a chance for a passionate clash in the deathmatch arena.
However, the problem was that Ash really didn't know about Silin's secret!
He did not even absorb a single drop of the host, Heath's memory!
It was so infuriating. Ash wanted to use Heath's memories to help the Crime Hunting Department bring the bad guys to justice.
After all, there were so many people who broke the law. Why was I the only one caught?!
Unfortunately, he knew nothing.
What was even more infuriating was that others were afraid that he would leak the secret, so they wanted to get rid of him by all means!
But he knew nothing!
This aggrieved feeling was similar to being accused by his teacher of stealing his classmate's stationery despite not having stolen anything, back when he was young.
"Oh, you haven't left yet? You didn't hear me talking to myself, did you?" Valkas stood up and said, "Let's call it a day. I'll ask you for a brainstorming session when I have time."
"Really?"
"Haha, I'm joking. I don't have the time, and you don't have the brains."
"Wait, Valkas." Ash called after him. "Why are you helping me?"
Although Ash felt that Valkas would more or less give him some information because of his defeat, the way he gave information was completely different from what Ash had imagined. Ash had thought that Valkas would throw some harsh words at him, like "I am the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings of Darkness. It's useless even if you defeat me. Our people will find trouble with you soon", and so on.
Ash never expected that Valkas would turn traitor so easily. Did his beating people come with automatic moral correction?
"I'm not helping you."
Valkas shook his head.
"I just wanted to give that bastard Silin some trouble."
Injuring others without benefits to oneself was indeed very reasonable. Ash struck while the iron was hot and asked, "Then do you know if there are any channels in the prison for trading spell spirits? If I can obtain a few sword spell spirits, I will have a chance to cause major trouble for Silin—"
"None of my business."
Ash choked for a moment and decided to take the empathetic route. "By the way, Valkas, you failed to kill me this time and even lost to me. Will you get into any trouble—"
"None of your business."
"Then you at least have to tell me how Silin will deal with me next, right?"
Valkas glanced at him and left a single statement before leaving.
"The next time we meet, you will know what Silin is capable of."
Ash felt that the reason Valkas ended up in jail was definitely related to his foul mouth and his riddler-like attribute.
However, he was at least certain of one thing now: the mastermind behind all of this must be Heath's former university professor, the elven scholar, Silin Dore!
…
…
After dinner, Ash did not continue wandering around the prison. He rushed back to his dormitory and shouted.
"Sword Maiden? Are you there?"
"Yes, but not entirely."
Sword Maiden sat on the bed with her legs crossed. The dark black silk outlined her graceful curves. She rested her chin on her palm and glanced sideways at Ash.
"What is it?"
"You were the one who reminded me during the deathmatch, right?"
Ash stretched out his hand. The "Substitute" Spell Spirit appeared in his palm.
"The chip is still restricting my spell energy output, but why could I activate the Substitution Spell Spirit?"
"Isn't it obvious? You understand the knowledge of the Substitute Spell Spirit, and with suitable conditions, you can directly trigger resonance with the spell spirit. The spell spirit would then automatically act to affect reality. Other death row criminals use this method too if they want to activate spell spirits in prison."
Although Ash had heard of this many times, he still couldn't help but be surprised by this phenomenon: a mature spell spirit could actually cast spells on its own.
"But how did I understand the 'Substitute' Spell Spirit?" Ash was still puzzled. "I didn't learn anything about Substitute Spell Spirits."
"You learned and you understood."
Ash was stunned. He suddenly recalled what Sword Maiden had reminded him.
"Is it because of that sentence? 'If you feel pain, pretend you're someone else. That way, it won't hurt anymore'?"
"That's right." Sword Maiden nodded. "When you understand this sentence, you will naturally understand this spell spirit as well. Ultimately, a spell spirit is a collection of knowledge. When you have a Spell Spirit, even if you don't take the initiative to learn it, the knowledge of the spell spirit will still actively pursue you."
"It's that simple?"
"It's not simple." Sword Maiden shook her head. "Seeing knowledge and understanding knowledge are two different things… You were in extreme danger just now. Your body was riddled with wounds and your consciousness was almost about dissipate. If that wasn't the case, you wouldn't have been able to resonate with the Substitution Spell Spirit. Learning it alone isn't enough. Empathy is a necessary condition to understand the spell spirit."
Ash looked at the Substitution Spell Spirit on his palm and tried to use his consciousness to penetrate into its body.
This time was a little better than the last time. Although he could understand the information feedback of the spirit, he still could not understand its structure. If the spirit was a dish, then last time, he did not even have a sense of taste and could not taste the spirit at all; this time, he could taste the spirit, but he did not know how it was cooked.
"Being able to understand spell spirit is already your limit. As long as it isn't an intrinsic spell spirit you summoned yourself, it's impossible for you to find its hidden Gate of Truth."
Sword Maiden immediately recognized what he was trying to do. "You can only find the Gate of Truth in a spell spirit born from the knowledge you have. Spell spirits you obtained from other channels, no matter how deep your understanding, are ultimately not yours."
"The truth must be pure and perfect. It cannot tolerate any flaws."
The truth was indeed very strict.
Ash retracted his spell spirit and looked at Sword Maiden.
"Why did you disappear for so long?"