# 680
Chapter 681: Cao Yuan's Escape
【Pure Land】.
"Qingyu, the Oracle Envoys have left."
Jiang Er, wearing a sky-blue bathrobe, floated over to An Qingyu and sat down with a smile. Her voice transmitted into An Qingyu's ear through the Bluetooth earpiece.
"They can't break through the 'Auto Defense System,' so of course they had to leave." An Qingyu slowly placed a piece on the board, smiling as he spoke, "It seems this round… I've won."
"From now on, this big flying saucer will be surnamed An."
"Hm? Isn't it supposed to be surnamed Jiang?"
"More or less the same thing. The one surnamed Jiang just follows the one surnamed An anyway."
Hearing this, An Qingyu smiled faintly.
A moment later, he stood up, brushed the dust off his clothes, and walked toward the prison district.
"Come on, let's go rescue Cao Thief first. The promise I made to him… I've kept."
"Alright."
The two walked to the door of Cao Yuan's cell. Jiang Er merely waved her hand, and the heavy cell door automatically opened. The light from the corridor projected into the dark cell, illuminating Cao Yuan's face.
The sudden bright light made Cao Yuan uncomfortable. He squinted, peering through the gap at the familiar silhouettes outside. Slightly relieved, he asked,
"That was fast? Wasn't it supposed to be three days?"
"I always prepare for the worst-case scenario. Three days was the conservative estimate."
An Qingyu smiled as he walked into the cell. He took a black surgical scalpel from his pocket, a glint of sharpness flashing across the blade. He crouched before the thick black chains, analyzing their structure while cutting through them with the blade's edge, as if performing a precise, major surgery.
"Did you really kill all the Oracle Envoys?" Cao Yuan couldn't help but ask.
"Kill them all? I'm not that capable." An Qingyu shook his head, "I just robbed their house and locked them out."
Cao Yuan: …
Cao Yuan stared at An Qingyu for a moment, a wry smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"When we return to Great Xia, if you don't become our squad's deputy captain, I'll be the first to object…"
Hearing this, Jiang Er beside him shook her head seriously. Her mouth moved as if saying something, but Cao Yuan couldn't hear a single word.
"Forgot, you don't have the Bluetooth earpiece."
An Qingyu seemed to remember something. He pulled out a small Bluetooth speaker from somewhere and placed it on the ground. After a faint crackle of static, Jiang Er's voice came through again:
"I'm the first to object. You can only be second." Jiang Er said, looking seriously into Cao Yuan's eyes.
Cao Yuan glanced at the speaker on the ground, then at the Bluetooth earpiece hanging from An Qingyu's ear. His expression seemed somewhat awkward.
"Even using a private channel? Whispering secrets?"
"Usually it's just the two of us. Speaking out loud in a place like this isn't convenient, so Bluetooth earpieces work better." An Qingyu explained.
"Oh…" Cao Yuan's expression remained awkward.
Once all the bone-erosion chains were removed, Cao Yuan's body lost its support and fell heavily from mid-air. An Qingyu stretched out both hands and caught him steadily, carrying him out of the dark cell in a princess carry.
These chains had pierced through Cao Yuan's bones for two years, constantly corroding his body. At present, Cao Yuan had absolutely no strength in him. Though this position was somewhat embarrassing for him, he didn't seem to have much choice…
"Your bones and injuries are severe. When these chains pierced through your body, they scraped off some bone fragments that are now embedded inside. You'll need surgery to remove them."
An Qingyu placed him on the makeshift surgical table. His eyes swept over Cao Yuan's body riddled with bloody holes as he spoke.
"Go ahead." Cao Yuan said calmly, "I trust your skill."
"There won't be any anesthesia here."
"I don't need that kind of thing." Cao Yuan said nonchalantly, "The past two years, the pain I've endured was far worse than this."
An Qingyu was silent for a few seconds, saying nothing. He quietly took out his surgical scalpel set and began sterilizing before proceeding with the surgery.
"By the way, how did you get caught here?"
An Qingyu spoke as he performed the surgery, trying to divert Cao Yuan's attention.
Cao Yuan stared at the light above him. Even as the scalpel cut into his flesh, his expression didn't change in the slightest. He said calmly:
"Back then, after I drifted ashore in this country, I recalled the pre-Mist foreign cultures I'd learned in the training camp. I guessed this must be Japan. Though I don't know why I ended up here, I still began hiding my identity as an outsider, gradually learning the local language, slowly figuring out the country's situation, while also traveling around searching for you all.
I traveled for about two months. During that time, I met some special people, grasped the basics of the language, and learned about this country's structure and current state—【Pure Land】, Oracle Envoys, Magatsu Blade…
Until one day, I confronted an Oracle Envoy. He told me to kneel. I didn't. Then we started fighting."
An Qingyu raised an eyebrow. This storyline was more or less what he'd imagined. "Then what? After you drew your blade, didn't you feel that mysterious gaze lock onto you?"
"I felt it…" Cao Yuan sighed helplessly, "But as you know, once I draw my blade and enter that state, it's not easy to pull back. So I felt that gaze growing stronger and stronger, until it completely locked onto me. Then I saw a crimson beam of light flash, and I don't remember anything after that."
"Crimson beam of light?"
"Yeah, when I regained consciousness… things were strange." Cao Yuan closed his eyes, recalling the scene he'd witnessed at the time,
"At that time, I was in a city called Hachiman-flat. When I opened my eyes, I discovered the entire city had been reduced to ruins.
As far as my eyes could see, there were scattered, broken building remnants everywhere. Thick smoke hung in the air along with a pungent smell of blood. Black malevolent flames flickered in every corner of the city. Right above my head was a half-blackened electronic screen with my wanted poster. At the top of my head, the words 'Extreme Evil' were written.
Before me lay the broken corpses of two Oracle Envoys, charred black as if they'd just self-destructed. Three more Oracle Envoys were gravely wounded and collapsed on the ground. At that moment, only a black-robed and a white-robed Oracle Envoy stood before me.
At that time, my body was pierced through by chains. Around me was a dense prison made of black spikes, nine layers total. I was trapped inside, unable to move at all.
But I remember the way those two Oracle Envoys looked at me—it was like they were looking at some kind of monster…"
As Cao Yuan spoke, An Qingyu's expression gradually changed. He gazed at Cao Yuan with puzzlement,
"'Extreme Evil'? Self-destructions and gravely wounded Oracle Envoys? Are you sure you truly don't remember anything?"