# Chapter 9: Trap
The third level of the madhouse's underground prison, the gravity crystal layer descended, sealing the cell. The Deceiver·Bisiwo inside looked dazed, still not understanding what had happened.
After several guards adjusted the cell's mechanisms, they activated the one-way ventilation valve, signifying that the Deceiver·Bisiwo's life in the madhouse had officially begun.
Escorted to the third underground level alongside the Deceiver·Bisiwo was the Female Demon. Having completed her transaction, she was in noticeably good spirits. Being confined to this cell for nearly a decade without being able to leave, now having two hours per week to move around in the surface courtyard was already a significant improvement. Moreover, this made her escape plan more convenient.
Indeed, whether it was the Female Demon, the Lion King, the Raging Shark, or the Mind Master, none of them had ever abandoned the thought of escaping. Otherwise, they couldn't withstand the endless solitude within their cells. As for Hatred, that fellow was rather special; he didn't seem to want to leave at all, instead finding the place quite comfortable.
Hatred had been sentenced to over a million years of imprisonment, which was unlikely to be fully carried out. The probability of the Alliance existing for over a million years was too low. It was more likely that when the Alliance fell, the new faction would continue to imprison Hatred, and so it would go on.
In the end, it would most likely become: the changing of factions flowed like water, but the constant was that Hatred remained imprisoned. Thinking about it, as long as it wasn't a cult-like faction, they would all lock up this destructive, powerful fellow.
After confirming there were no omissions, the several guards walked out. The madhouse's armed personnel consisted of three parts: security guards, orderlies, and wardens.
The security guards were responsible for the main entrance, surrounding walls, and watchtowers. Their individual strength wasn't very high, but they excelled at collective combat and had rich experience in dealing with attacks from other organizations. Don't think the madhouse was a peaceful place; the Dark God Cult had attacked here multiple times, which was why the iron-blooded heavy cannons were mounted on the courtyard watchtowers.
Compared to the security guards' expertise in collective combat, the orderlies were all skilled in one-on-one fights. They were usually responsible for taking care of those with supernatural mental illnesses, as well as escorting dangerous criminals from all over the Alliance to the madhouse.
Finally, there were the wardens. Their workplace was on the first to third levels of the underground prison. Once the criminals were escorted here, they were handed over to their care.
After the wardens left, the Deceiver·Bisiwo in his cell still looked absent-minded. He sat on the not-so-soft bed, staring blankly at the dozens of centimeters thick gravity crystal layer in front of him.
The Deceiver·Bisiwo didn't know what being locked up in the Twilight Madhouse meant. In fact, he had never even heard of this madhouse before. This was normal; those who knew about the madhouse's particularity were either people from the underworld or the middle and upper echelons of the Alliance. Someone like the Deceiver·Bisiwo, a fraudster, wouldn't have access to such information.
"Newcomer, not bad physique. When I was first transferred from the monastery, I lay in bed for over half a year before I could get up and walk slowly."
The neighboring cellmate, Raging Shark, spoke. Between them was a half-meter thick gravity crystal layer, which served for mutual surveillance, just like how the criminals here monitored the Abyss Spawn.
"What?"
The Deceiver·Bisiwo didn't understand Raging Shark's words. He had been directly escorted here from the court in Sotuo City and had never heard of any monastery. Moreover, in his view, what era was this, that monasteries still existed?
"You didn't go to the monastery?"
Raging Shark looked at the Deceiver·Bisiwo with confusion. Their conversation caught the attention of the Lion King, Female Demon, and Mind Master. As for Hatred, he was still hanging upside down.
"No, what monastery?"
"Well..."
Raging Shark exchanged a glance with the Lion King, both sensing something unusual about this. Seeing that they stopped talking, the already anxious Deceiver·Bisiwo became even more panicked. He tried to make conversation:
"What crimes did you all commit? I... I'm a fraudster."
Saying this, the Deceiver·Bisiwo sighed. He had originally wanted to make himself sound more fierce, but seeing his disheveled hair and dispirited appearance in the mirror, he simply laid out his background.
"Fraud...ster?"
The Lion King was shocked. He looked the Deceiver·Bisiwo up and down, inwardly thinking this fellow was a genius. How many tens of billions of Gulang did he have to defraud to be locked up on the third underground level of the madhouse? With nothing else to do, the Lion King asked:
"How much did you defraud?"
"After the court's tally, a total of over 70 million Gulang."
"Huh?!"
Raging Shark cast a glance, looking the Deceiver·Bisiwo up and down as if seeing a rare animal.
Seeing the looks from the Lion King, Raging Shark, Female Demon, and Mind Master, the Deceiver·Bisiwo suddenly felt less panicked. He observed their expressions upon hearing he had defrauded 70 million Gulang. It seemed they were impressed? This made him wonder if this place wasn't as terrifying as he had imagined. Could his cellmates all be light offenders?
The Deceiver·Bisiwo re-examined his surroundings. He noticed that three sides of the cell were thick glass. There was a bed, a toilet, a mirror, and even a bookshelf filled with reading material. Moreover, there weren't many cells here, and one was under repair. From the traces, it seemed prisoners had fought and broken the glass wall. Apart from the small number of cells and being underground, this place didn't seem... that scary. Plus, his cellmates were all light offenders.
After confirming this, the Deceiver·Bisiwo gained some composure. He even had the leisure to continue chatting with his cellmates. He looked at the Lion King, noticing this guy was tall and burly, nearly five meters in height. He wondered how this big oaf got in.
"Everyone, what did you do?"
As he spoke, the Deceiver·Bisiwo had already crossed his legs.
"Me? Illegal assembly."
As the Lion King spoke, he laughed himself. His so-called illegal assembly was forming the Ghost Gang, which at its peak had hundreds of thousands of members.
The Deceiver·Bisiwo laughed: "Illegal assembly? That's a nice way of putting it. So you're just a gangster who formed a gang?"
"Cough~ You could say that."
The Lion King's smile grew wider. He was going crazy from being locked up here, so he didn't feel the slightest anger at the Deceiver·Bisiwo's attitude.
"What kind of gang did you form?"
"The Ghost Gang. That's all in the past. I painstakingly built that gang for over a decade, and the hunters uprooted it in just a few days."
Hearing the Lion King mention the Ghost Gang, the Deceiver·Bisiwo's smile faded, and his sitting posture straightened. The more he looked at the Lion King, the more familiar he seemed. Finally, the face in his retina matched the front-page newspaper photo from a few years ago.
The Deceiver·Bisiwo once again realized the seriousness of the situation. He looked at Raging Shark and asked, "And what did you do?"
"Me? I'm a pirate."
"Pirate..."
The Deceiver·Bisiwo's heart grew more panicked. In his view, pirates were all desperados. And this shark face looked more and more like the Pirate King·Raging Shark among the Four Sea Kings. He had seen his wanted poster.
"Madam, and you?"
The Deceiver·Bisiwo still held a sliver of hope.
"I disguised myself as a Grand Councilor and fulfilled some of my own wishes."
Hearing this, the Deceiver·Bisiwo's head buzzed. His gaze turned to the Mind Master, and he began to recall carefully.
With a thud, the Deceiver·Bisiwo slid off the bed and landed on the floor. He finally understood why the Mind Master's face had looked familiar. When he was younger, he had seen wanted posters plastered all over the city, offering a reward for the cult leader, the Mind Master.
Ghost Gang leader, Pirate King, Grand Councilor impersonator, cult leader—now the Deceiver·Bisiwo knew what crimes his four cellmates had committed. At the same time, a question arose in his mind: compared to these human-shaped demons, why was he, a fraudster, locked up with these people?
"No... no, there must be some mistake. I'm innocent! I shouldn't be locked up here!"
The Deceiver·Bisiwo pounded on the gravity crystal layer, trying to call the wardens.
"Mr. Bisiwo, you're just receiving psychiatric treatment. This isn't a prison."
The Female Demon spoke.
"There's nothing wrong with my mind!"
The Deceiver·Bisiwo was already becoming hysterical.
"That's not right. Those documents were all signed by you personally, Mr. Bisiwo."
As the Female Demon spoke, her appearance rapidly changed, eventually becoming the lawyer Fern. Seeing this, the Deceiver·Bisiwo was so startled that he backed away repeatedly, eventually stumbling and falling to the ground.
The image on the wall froze as Su Xiao pressed the pause button, maintaining the scene of the Deceiver·Bisiwo sitting on the ground with a terrified expression.
In the office, Baha saw the Deceiver·Bisiwo's miserable appearance in the scene and couldn't help asking, "Boss, is this guy really the Deceiver? He's the one who betrayed the Law Destruction faction?"
"That's right."
Su Xiao wasn't surprised by the Deceiver·Bisiwo's miserable appearance. The other party hadn't awakened his past life memories yet and was still in the state of being a fraudster, full of anxiety and fear.
What Su Xiao needed to do now was to make the Deceiver·Bisiwo awaken his past life memories. The other party was on the third underground level of the madhouse's prison. Not to mention that he was the weakest of the six traitors, even the indestructible Abyss Spawn hadn't managed to escape from here and was eventually killed by Su Xiao.
However, there was one point: once the Deceiver·Bisiwo recovered his past life memories, he had to be controlled immediately. Otherwise, if he committed suicide, it would be equivalent to escaping, and finding where the Deceiver·Bisiwo had reincarnated would be extremely difficult.
Su Xiao continued inscribing on the contract parchment on the table. What he was creating was a spirit-sealing confinement formation. In this regard, he was quite professional. It wasn't really because he was studious, but rather forced to be so.
The roots of Mousheng's Madness, the Primordial Mask, the Bloodthirsty War Armor, various evil god essences, various bizarre beings' body tissues, ancient god blood, source blood, and dangerous objects—all these things existed in Su Xiao's storage space. If they weren't properly sealed, who knows what might happen. Over time, this had honed Su Xiao's increasingly refined confinement formation techniques.
Especially after starting to come into contact with "Daddy-level" artifacts, his techniques and knowledge in this area had been forcibly elevated by a major level. He didn't want to master them, but he really had no choice. Much of his experience came from failures and costs.
Some seemingly magical abilities, once you understood the principles at higher levels, weren't difficult to crack. For example, the reincarnation ability. If this ability were completely unbreakable, the Void Spirit Clan that originally possessed it wouldn't have been destroyed.
Su Xiao took out a Soul Crystal Core. Using a whole one felt somewhat wasteful. The formation on this parchment probably only needed about three-quarters of a Soul Crystal Core's pure soul energy. After thinking about it, he took a crunching bite of the Soul Crystal Core in his hand.
It had to be said, the Soul Crystal Core, with its higher quality soul energy, tasted much better than Soul Crystals. After taking another bite and feeling the amount was about right, Su Xiao crushed the Soul Crystal Core in his hand with a crack. The crushed Soul Crystal Core was absorbed by the contract parchment on the table.
Recently, Su Xiao had discovered that the contract parchment was practically a hidden benefit provided by Reincarnation Paradise to hunters and contractors. Its load-bearing capacity was strong, its material rank was high, and it wasn't very expensive. Using it to bear contracts was only part of its function. It was also an excellent medium for bearing formations and small array diagrams.
As it absorbed the soul energy, the triangular formation on the parchment emitted a faint light. When it began to emit dark blue smoke, Su Xiao solidified it.
The principle of this formation was simple: since reincarnators achieved reincarnation through the escape of their soul bodies, trapping the reincarnator's soul within their physical body would suffice. Even if they died, their soul body couldn't escape.
Rolling up the parchment on the table, Su Xiao brought Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha and headed straight for the third level of the dungeon.
Moments later, the gravity alloy door in front opened. Su Xiao walked down the stairs into the third level of the dungeon and pressed one hand on the sensing device on the wall beside him.
After multiple checks of life wavelength, aura attribute, and soul fluctuation, the highest authority for the third level of the dungeon was activated. As Su Xiao adjusted, the gravity crystal walls of all cells changed from transparent to pitch black, and the sound sensing devices were also turned off.
Su Xiao stopped in front of the cell where the Deceiver·Bisiwo was located. After opening the door, Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha entered together. The last one in, Baha, slammed the gravity crystal layer shut, turning this place into a sealed room.
The Deceiver·Bisiwo stood up from the bed, his gaze darting around, unable to hide his fear.
"Sit."
After Su Xiao sat down, he pointed to the chair one meter opposite him. The Deceiver·Bisiwo shook his head. Moments later, with Amu's "help," he was pressed down onto the seat.
"Deceiver, you and I actually have no personal enmity, but our respective factions are hostile."
Su Xiao spoke in a calm tone.
"What..."
Just as the Deceiver·Bisiwo opened his mouth, Su Xiao used his index and middle fingers to hold a "Mercy Thorn" and pierced it through the Deceiver·Bisiwo's throat. The excruciating pain from his soul caused the Deceiver·Bisiwo's entire body to stiffen.
Su Xiao took out the contract parchment, unfolded it, and activated it. The formation faced the center of the Deceiver·Bisiwo's chest. A dark blue mark appeared at the very center of the Deceiver·Bisiwo's chest. Before this mark disappeared, the Deceiver·Bisiwo couldn't reincarnate.
The Deceiver·Bisiwo grabbed his face with both hands, letting out a heart-wrenching scream. But the scream only lasted two seconds before abruptly stopping. The pupils in his eyes began to split, then reconverged. A surge of soul power erupted from him.
"Damn!"
Baha exclaimed, his eagle claws scratching white marks on the ground as he braced himself against the impact without retreating.
"This life's circumstances don't seem too good. But waking up is better than anything."
The Deceiver moved his neck, feeling the sharp pain there, and instinctively raised his hand to pull it out.
Another "Mercy Thorn" appeared between Su Xiao's fingers. The next instant, this "Mercy Thorn" sank into the Deceiver's brow. His eyes widened to their limit, and his pupils began to roll upward in struggle.
The Deceiver let out a pained roar. Having just awakened his past life memories, he thought he could quickly resolve the current trouble, but was instead taught a lesson on the spot.
"You!"
The Deceiver's pupils turned into the pure white representing the soul system. Two "Mercy Thorns" were expelled from his neck and brow. He glared at Su Xiao, about to speak, but felt a vague sense of familiarity.
'Don't worry, since you've joined us, you're one of us. Arcane Eternal Star won't dare to do anything to you.'
Everything felt like a past life. The tall figure who once said this seemed to still be standing in front of him. This startled the Deceiver so much that he fell backward, knocking over the chair, and scrambled to the corner of the wall, pressing his back against it. He said in shock and anger: "You're all dead. No one survived. I saw it with my own eyes, I saw your destruction with my own eyes. Impossible, it's impossible."
The Deceiver waved his hands wildly in front of him, as if Su Xiao was a bubble of his imagination that would disperse with a few waves.
"It wasn't me. It wasn't me who wanted to betray you back then. For the sake of the Spirit Clan, I had no choice."
The Deceiver gasped heavily. One moment he was crying, the next he was angrily accusing.
"The Spirit Clan was destroyed. I heard that the last few dozen members of the Spirit Clan were all drained dry by the spellcasters for reincarnation hybrids."
At Su Xiao's words, the Deceiver curled up in the corner immediately became furious: "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
"Don't you know about this? That's why you're hiding here in fear."
Su Xiao said this, seventy percent based on speculation and thirty percent on improvisation. He had roughly guessed what was going on.
"Sit there and talk. Think carefully about how you got in and where this is."
Su Xiao's tone remained calm. Hearing this, the Deceiver narrowed his eyes and began to recall the memories of this life. When he recalled key memories like financial fraud, lawyers, and the madhouse, his cheek twitched. Finally, he asked in disbelief:
"Is this... the lowest level of the Twilight Madhouse? The madhouse dungeon built back then to imprison the Abyss Spawn?!"
After recalling this, the Deceiver began to laugh maniacally.
After a moment, the Deceiver sat slumped in the corner for a while, then looked up at Su Xiao and laughed. He said: "I see. You became a Law Destroyer through inheritance. A new-generation Law Destroyer. New Law Destroyer, you're underestimating me too much. Even if I am a traitor, I..."
The Deceiver's words stopped midway because the Su Xiao opposite him had fully released his aura. A huge blood beast coiled behind Su Xiao, its two vertical pupils, along with Su Xiao's eyes—two pairs of eyes above and below—all coldly staring at the Deceiver.
"Sit."
Su Xiao pointed to the chair opposite him. The Deceiver in the corner had a twitching eye. After confirming the gaze, this was someone he couldn't defeat even in his prime, let alone now when he had just awakened his past life memories.
From the Deceiver's fragmentary words, Su Xiao roughly guessed his background. Previously, he thought the Deceiver had first defected to Arcane Eternal Star before obtaining the reincarnation hybrid and becoming a reincarnator.
Now it seemed otherwise. The Deceiver was originally from the Spirit Clan. The reincarnation ability was innate to him. Back then, after the Spirit Clan fell out with Arcane Eternal Star, they suffered retaliation planned by Sefeiliya.
Under those circumstances, if the Spirit Clan wanted to continue surviving, defecting to the Law Destroyers was their only choice. Although the Law Destroyers were few, the Law Destruction faction included other factions, such as the Slinte Dwarves or allied Demon Clan.
Facing the Spirit Clan's defection, the Law Destruction faction had no reason to refuse, nor did they need to refuse a small faction that hated Arcane Eternal Star. Later, when the Law Destruction faction faced defeat, the Deceiver, representing the Spirit Clan, switched allegiance back to Arcane Eternal Star.
At that time, Arcane Eternal Star seemed about to win, but in reality, they were barely holding on. Moreover, Arcane Eternal Star had just destroyed the Slinte Dwarves and needed to show they wouldn't completely exterminate everyone, so that the Demon Clan and other allies of the Law Destroyers wouldn't fight to the death. The Deceiver's defection on behalf of the Spirit Clan just achieved this effect, and Arcane Eternal Star accepted the Spirit Clan's defection.
"Hehehehe. You might not believe it, but all these years, I've been afraid. Actually, I knew that such powerful Law Destroyers couldn't possibly have their inheritance cut off. Sure enough, the Law Destroyers have come."
The Deceiver calmed down somewhat neurotically. Thinking about it, he had been living in fear all these years. Although death was now coming, he suddenly felt at ease and relieved. Having reincarnated so many times, he had already become aimless. Instead, he often thought of the various worlds that Law Destroyer·Akas had taken him to.
"Go ahead. Your Law Destroyer's demon blade can easily kill me."
The Deceiver looked like he was waiting for death.
"You wish."
Baha spoke as he landed on Su Xiao's shoulder and continued: "I'll give you two choices: 1. Be sent to the monastery..."
"I choose the second option."
The Deceiver didn't hesitate at all. He clearly knew what kind of damn place the monastery was.
"Alright then. Tell us where the other five traitors are."
"How do you know there are six of us in total?"
The Deceiver looked suspiciously at Su Xiao and Baha.
"Less nonsense. Where are the other traitors? Not counting you, the remaining five traitors: the Informant, the Usurper, the Mysterious One, the Defector, and the Betrayer. Where are they?"
Baha asked this question, already prepared to contact the monastery. But unexpectedly, the Deceiver didn't intend to hold out at all. He spilled everything he knew. Thinking about it, if he had been strong-willed back then, he wouldn't have become a traitor.
First was the Informant·Sorn. According to the Deceiver, the Informant·Sorn was in the Nightmare Realm, but exactly which nightmare region was unknown.
Su Xiao wasn't too worried about this. With his over 1800 points of sanity, entering a nightmare region would give him an advantage even on enemy turf.
Apart from the Informant·Sorn, the Mysterious One was located in the Saint Lan Kingdom. The Deceiver wasn't clear on the specifics, only knowing that over there, the Mysterious One was called the Black Rose.
What truly made the Deceiver fearful were the Defector and the Betrayer. According to the Deceiver, the Defector was in a vast desert, becoming the Sand King of a desert kingdom. That was on the westernmost edge of this continent's map. Even back when the Alliance and the Northern Empire were in chaos, it hadn't been affected. It was simply too far.
In terms of overall strength, the Alliance and the Northern Empire were comparable. The desert kingdom's military was stronger than the Saint Lan Kingdom, but its economic and technological development lagged far behind. As for artistic and cultural achievements, it couldn't compare to the Saint Lan Kingdom at all.
Compared to the Saint Lan Kingdom's Mysterious One·Black Rose and the desert kingdom's Defector·Sand King, what made the Deceiver most afraid was the Betrayer. No one knew his name, no one knew his background, and even now, the Deceiver didn't know his whereabouts. In the Deceiver's own words, he was too busy avoiding him to dare investigate.
Why was the Deceiver so afraid of the Betrayer? Because the Usurper had died at the Betrayer's hands.
"You're saying the Usurper is dead?"
Su Xiao took out the Hunt List. The words "Usurper" on it hadn't disappeared. This suggested that as long as he found the Usurper's soul remnants, he could obtain the corresponding 500 ounces of space-time power from the Hunt List. Moreover, the Usurper's name hadn't disappeared, perhaps indicating that the Usurper's soul remnants still existed, just unknown where.
"I've told you everything I know. Give me a quick death."
"Not for now."
Su Xiao spoke. Hearing this, the Deceiver felt anger rise within him. He had reincarnated aimlessly and now only sought a quick death, but was refused.
"My Blade Demon Spirit is currently digesting the Abyss Spawn's source power. I can't kill you for the time being."
Hearing Su Xiao say this, the Deceiver was puzzled. He asked: "You're telling me this, aren't you afraid that I..."
"Don't overestimate yourself. Your bounty is 200 ounces of space-time power, only half of the Informant's, a third of the Mysterious One's, a quarter of the Defector's, and less than a seventh of the Betrayer's."
"Stop talking."
The Deceiver interrupted.
"Get some rest. In a few days, I'll come back to kill you."
Leaving these words, Su Xiao walked out of the dungeon. After exiting the third level, he headed straight for the central elevator.
A few minutes later, Su Xiao returned to his office on the third floor. Sitting behind the desk, he began to consider his next moves. First, the number of traitors to deal with had decreased from six to five. The Deceiver was basically handled. The remaining were the Informant, the Mysterious One, the Defector, and the Betrayer.
The Informant was in a nightmare region. In this regard, among the Four God Cults, the Dark God Cult was relatively professional. There were quite a few Dark God Cult members on the second level of the dungeon, all core members. He could find one later to search for traces of nightmare regions in this world.
As for the Mysterious One, also known as the Black Rose, this person was in the Saint Lan Kingdom. This would require a long trip. He would first deal with the situation at hand before arranging this.
As for the Defector, this would require going to the desert kingdom. After hunting the Black Rose, he would go hunt this Sand King.
Finally, the Betrayer. This person's whereabouts were the most difficult to find. He could only be set aside for now. Undoubtedly, among this group of traitors, the Betrayer was the strongest.
His thoughts became clearer. Su Xiao looked at the wooden box on the table. This had been delivered to the madhouse ten minutes ago. The person who delivered it had transformed into black bees and scattered.
Su Xiao opened the wooden box and found an arm inside. Picking up the photo beside the arm, the bound old dean and his family were all in it.
Without needing to think, this was done by Vice Dean·Yesinge. This was a provocation to Su Xiao and a trap to make him lose his position as dean. Originally, Su Xiao wanted to deal with the Informant in the nightmare region first, but now it seemed he needed to arrange for Vice Dean·Yesinge.
Su Xiao took out the "Sun Ring" from his storage space. He said to Baha: "Baha, contact the people from the Sun God Church."
Su Xiao looked at the "Sun Ring" floating in front of him, repeatedly warning himself internally: when cooperating with the Sun God Church, he had to hold back. The current situation was that he hadn't even met those bishops of the Sun God Church yet. He had only sent Baha to deliver the [Sun Holy Medicine]. His faction reputation over there had already reached Friendly: 7260/8500 points. This momentum was very wrong.
PS: (Tomorrow is Sunday, rest for one day. One day off per week, otherwise with Feiwen's current body, he can't hold on. Dear readers, please forgive me.)