After venturing into the upper echelon, the overseer's robe granted Jiang Lu access permissions.
This meant he didn't have to drag his feet back anymore.
Having agreed on a time to meet, Jiang Lu returned to the overseer's hall with a heavy heart.
When the Ghostface Fox and the others noticed that Jiang Lu hadn't returned for a while, they went looking for him, only to find that neither the lower ward nor the archive room bore his presence; they were nearly driven to madness with worry.
"You're finally back!"
The Ghostface Fox let out a long sigh of relief.
The tension within Heavy Cannon finally eased up as well.
Jiang Lu looked around and asked, "Where's Heavy Cannon?"
"He went nearby to look for you and hasn't come back yet."
"Ah, he was looking for me?" Jiang Lu suddenly felt flattered.
Just then, a heavy voice came from the entrance, "You're finally back!"
Turning around, Jiang Lu saw Heavy Cannon and nodded, "Just missed each other."
"We were about to die of anxiety." Heavy Cannon finally released the weight off his heart and flopped onto the sofa.
"No," Jiang Lu was a bit confused, "Didn't you guys get the prompt about my successful redemption? I thought you all had it."
"We did," the Ghostface Fox said with a complex expression, "That's why we were worried."
Now, Jiang Lu was even more puzzled.
Heavy Cannon explained, "Indeed, we were very surprised and pleased when the good news of your side arrived, but since you didn't return, we started thinking about looking for you.
When we reached the archive room and didn't find you there, we sensed something was wrong.
Then, the Ghostface Fox suddenly discovered that in addition to the cabinet shelves holding the prisoners' files, there was another set of shelves holding the Black Tower information that had been tampered with.
We found that one of the documents was about the records of archives being checked in and out; almost every entry showed a prisoner being incarcerated and the next second, being sent to heaven."
So we suspected that you had discovered this anomaly and used it to experiment on yourself to successfully complete the redemption."
Even though the last entry you created didn't have any inmate checked in, with your whereabouts unknown, we became worried..."
With self-deprecating laughter, the Ghostface Fox said, "I should have realized earlier. This morning, when Heavy Cannon mentioned that the inmate had murderous intentions towards him, I had a bad feeling, which only became clear after re-entering the archive room and discovering the traces you left."
Jiang Lu felt it was incredible.
What exactly had he done to give them such a misunderstanding, making them think he was such a selfless and benevolent person?
"I did make a discovery, but it certainly wasn't to that extent..."
"So what exactly did you do?"
They were all very curious about how Jiang Lu had managed to successfully achieve redemption.
"About that..." Jiang Lu was somewhat reluctant to reminisce, but since everyone was asking...
"I just want to confirm, none of you are under eighteen years old, right?"
The three of them were startled and puzzled but still shook their heads.
"That guy was a masochist. I insulted him while whipping him, making him ecstatically ascend to heaven," Jiang Lu said earnestly.
After hearing his response, the three of them looked at each other in disbelief, and the air fell into a brief silence.
"Never mind," the Ghostface Fox tried to smooth things over for him, "If Jiang doesn't want to talk about it, we won't pry. As long as we can successfully navigate this Spirit Realm, that's what matters. It seems we've already succeeded for the most part now."
I'm not making it up; it's the truth...
Jiang Lu felt a wave of exhaustion inside.
These days, no one believes the truth anymore.
Forget it, can't be bothered to explain...
"However, the regrettable part is," the Ghostface Fox said with some concern, "although what we discovered is most likely true, when I first looked at the panel, the mission target didn't update with your completed redemption, which means that's not the key."
After a pause, his tone became heavier, "Now, I suspect that we can only unravel the secrets of the Black Tower by entering the upper level, but it remains unknown how we can overcome the obstacle of the messenger... sigh."
Before Jiang Lu's return, they had discussed for a long time but still had no clues.
This bad news left them without much joy, even in the face of Jiang Lu's success.
"Uh... seriously?" Jiang Lu looked puzzled, "But mine updated though."
"Updated what?" they asked.
"The mission goal. My second task has already appeared."
Heavy Cannon reopened the panel with suspicion, followed by his ecstasy.
"It really updated!"
Ghostface Fox looked at the panel and turned to Jiang Lu with shock, "There was nothing two hours ago, what did you do?"
The three of them had been searching for Jiang Lu all along, not daring to do anything extra. So, the only possibility was that Jiang Lu had discovered something during this time.
"Ah, nothing much, just asked around a bit."
"Who?" Ghostface Fox asked, "A messenger?"
Jiang Lu shook his head and said nonchalantly, "No, I asked the God of Redemption directly."
"..."
After a brief pause.
"Who?! Who did you say?!" Ghostface Fox and Heavy Cannon exclaimed in unison, and although Liudao didn't make a sound, his eyes were wide with astonishment.
In their view, "Infinite Prison" was purely a puzzle-solving Spirit Realm, and messengers, those NPCs, were considered unbeatable. That's why they were so troubled about how to avoid the messengers and find the secrets of the black tower.
Just dealing with the messengers was already pressure enough for them.
Little did they know that while they were contemplating messengers, Jiang Lu had already made contact with a higher-dimensional existence revered by the messengers.
The shock and deflation they felt were undoubtedly immense.
"The God of Redemption, huh." Jiang Lu, banking on his unimpressive teammates not being able to achieve redemption, lied without batting an eyelid, "I got the opportunity to meet the God of Redemption after completing the redemption, and I was directly teleported to the upper level.
She saw something special in me and wanted to promote me, but I always remembered our original purpose for coming here, so I refused.
Of course, she didn't want to let go of a talent like me, so she started to appeal to my emotions and told me the secrets of this black tower..."
Jiang Lu retold the story Yixina had told him, emphasizing the key points so everyone could understand what was going on.
After listening, Ghostface Fox had an epiphany, "No wonder the parrot at the entrance of the archives kept repeating that phrase... repentance and salvation. It's not about repentance and redemption as two separate words, but when the former wardens found this point at the end, they deeply regretted redeeming those prisoners, right?"
"?" Jiang Lu turned into a sweating bean, "That's close enough, isn't it? What's the point in overinterpreting?"
"Are those sixteen Exorcists still alive..." Liudao murmured.
"Not only are they alive, but they are also inside the black tower. I suspect that this Spirit Realm is quite special. It seems that everyone enters the same place, only the timelines differ. This also explains why the task background specifically mentioned that we are the seventh batch of wardens and the issue of time flow speed."
Every time he brought it up, Jiang Lu got angry. Who would have thought it would turn out this way?
Pushing the panel was like mourning a death, having to complete the first task before getting the second one. Now, there's an extra page on the household registration book. How can he be an unbeatable orphan in the future?
Sigh... Bonds... Sigh... Marriage...
The sudden good news and enormous amount of information confused even Ghostface Fox for a moment.
After a while, he finally sighed, "If that's the case, these Exorcists have probably been here for many years. Given the time rate of 1:1000, the ones trapped here from the very start have almost been stuck for ten years..."
"Damn, I'm so jealous. They've basically lived ten more years," Jiang Lu grumbled.
Liudao silently looked at Jiang Lu, his face seemingly asking, "Are you serious?"
At that moment, Ghostface Fox suddenly asked,
"You just said that you're going to meet the God of Redemption tonight to discuss rescuing the Exorcists?"
Jiang Lu nodded, "Yeah."
Upon hearing this, Ghostface Fox seemed to have made a decision and took out a Gold Coin from his inventory, handing it to Jiang Lu.
He said with a wry smile, "We're technically a team, yet you've done everything on your own. I feel truly ashamed.
You don't have any life-saving items, right? I don't have anything valuable on me; I'll give this to you.
Though you said the God of Redemption has taken a liking to you, she is still an inscrutable existence. Just in case, even if you're safe this time, if something unexpected happens when you enter the Spirit Realm alone in the future, you'll have this to save your life."
Heavy Cannon and Liudao, even as they purposefully looked away from the resurrection coin, couldn't hide the envy in their eyes.
Ghostface Fox's act was surprising, yet within expectations.
So, they each took out a significant item they had to offer Jiang Lu as a thank-you for his solo efforts in carrying the team.
Jiang Lu's eyes gleamed with excitement, yet he feigned modesty, waving his hands in refusal.
"Oh my, how could I accept this?"
After several polite refusals, he graciously accepted everything as if carried by the current.
Having gained an advantage, he still had to sell some cuteness.
"But you know, since the God of Redemption is at the top of the food chain in this Spirit Realm, negotiating with her indeed involves great risks and is extremely exhausting. So, I'll accept your kindness with gratitude, ha."