Kingdom’s Bloodline

"Ahhhh—"

The strange howling lasted for a full five or six seconds before it slowly weakened under the pale faces of everyone.

Only the echo is left, floating in the dark and empty hall, looming and chilling.

"What's wrong?"

Ricky frowned and shouted softly, "Return!"

The Swords of Disaster all turned their heads, nervously searching for the source of the screams.

More than a dozen torches were raised high to illuminate the surroundings, and the group of people was like adventurers exploring wasteland, nervously guarding against the strange unknown.

Thales withdrew from the senses of hell in shock: except for the dust in the darkness, the old stone table, and the cell full of bones, he saw nothing.

The order was passed on layer by layer, from the hall to the closely guarded stone steps.

"No," the voice of the mercenary Sonny came from behind after a while:

"It's not our people, everything will be normal in the subsequent reports."

The suspicion on Ricky's face deepened.

On the other side, Jianzi whispered a few words to a subordinate who did not know when he appeared, and watched the latter retreat into the darkness again, before raising his head solemnly:

"Not us either."

"It's something else."

Ricky turned to Semir and cast a questioning look at the former Star Noble.

Semir seemed to have discovered something. He observed the iron plate next to the Iron Curtain with a little surprise, and then looked at a ring next to the iron plate: "So this is..."

However, at this moment.

"Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"

That heart-piercing scream like a ghost crying came faintly from the darkness again!

Everyone's hearts tightened again!

This time, the terrifying "ghost cry" was accompanied by an ear-piercing scratching sound: "Xili—xi—"

Almost everyone frowned subconsciously, and some even covered their ears.

"Damn it!"

Russell twisted his face: "What are you doing!"

Amidst the unpleasant noise, Ricky gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, suppressing his emotions and asked Samir: "Do you think this has something to do with the Alchemy Tower?"

"Wuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

Thales gritted his teeth, only feeling that the sound made his nerves extremely tense.

Like, like in the memory of the previous life, the sound of nails scraping the blackboard...

Thinking of this, he was suddenly taken aback.

Scratch the blackboard?

At this time, Samir, who was thinking hard, suddenly spoke:

"I know what this is!"

Samir turned his head back, his face was happy, like a lost person in the desert found the water source:

"That's, that's the sound of nails scratching on rough metal!"

Seeing Samir touching the metal iron curtain, he said excitedly, "It's coming from behind!"

Everyone was shocked!

Countless pairs of eyes looked at the strange Iron Curtain.

Thales looked at the iron sign next to the Iron Curtain, and entered the senses of hell:

Imprisoned in 653...

Thales frowned slightly.

There is another name on the iron plate:

Ricky figured out something, he looked at the Iron Curtain, and then at the iron sign next to him, with surprise on his face: "So, the prisoner mentioned on the sign, the lone robber, he, is he still alive?"

The painful howling and scratching sound gradually weakened and turned into a low dragging sound.

"Woo--"

This time, Thales recognized it: it was someone's weeping sound, which changed its pitch after passing through the thick iron plate.

All eyes were on the Iron Curtain and what lay behind it.

"I understand," Samir walked to the center of the Iron Curtain in the sight of everyone, and looked up and down the special room covered by the Iron Curtain under the firelight, "This is the mechanism of the black prison. Yes, it was transformed by the later stars."

"The cells we saw earlier were full of bones, but those were actually empty cells, and this, these cells with the Iron Curtain, are the cells with 'residents'," Samir stared carefully at the wall His voice was slightly heavy: "This ring is the switch that controls the Iron Curtain.

"

Behind the Iron Curtain, the sound of deformed weeping continued faintly.

Listening to Semir's words, Thales looked around everything in this hall with complicated emotions, his eyes flicked over the thick dust, and those seemingly unremarkable but unique ones that may have been thousands of years ago craft.

"Belletti—a veteran of the royal guard, the chief punishment officer who succeeded Sackel after he was promoted, responsible for escorting the royal prisoners to the prison of bones—he told me many years ago that in the black prison The criminals are suffering two kinds of pain, death and survival, I have never understood it until today.”

Semir's hand lightly caressed the hanging ring, which was covered with a layer of dust, and his tone was erratic: "When the living prisoners are imprisoned, the iron curtain rises to isolate them from the light and the hall; The supplies dropped by the hole will only fall behind the Iron Curtain, into these prisons where there are still living people."

He looked around in disbelief at the other empty cells around him, past the dry bones behind the bars.

"On the one hand, it exaggerates the despair of being isolated from the world, and on the other hand, it gives the hope of surviving."

"Two kinds of pain."

Semir was dumbfounded, his face was very ugly.

Everyone fell silent.

The former Baron Russell on one side looked solemn: "This prisoner behind the Iron Curtain, why doesn't he speak and call for help, but just scream and scratch?"

Qianzi arched his shoulders and did not speak.

The one who answered him was Josh who was rescued by the sword of disaster.

"Because he can't."

Josh shook his head, which made Russell slightly startled.

"It's just like practicing swordsmanship. If you don't practice for a day, you will get raw."

"As I said, when you stay in a lonely cell isolated from the world and no one else for too long, longer than expected..." The sword of disaster who had just been released from the prison of bones looked at everyone. A person, everyone who is swept by his gaze feels a chill in his heart:

"Trust me, it's not just time and freedom you've lost."

Thales stared at the cell behind the Iron Curtain, feeling that the air here was much colder.

"Damn it," Clay stared at the Iron Curtain, paying attention to the movement behind it, "The Prison of Bones, is this place...is it for death or life?"

No one answered.

Only faint sobs.

Do you want people to die, or do you want people to live?

Thales stared at the iron curtain, full of thoughts.

A few seconds later, Qianzi sighed: "Or neither."

Ricky twitched the corner of his mouth, interrupting the pent-up conversation. : "I think we're on the right track."

He turned around.

"keep going."

Following his figure, the Swords of Disaster moved into action one after another.

"Let's just leave like this, regardless of the prisoner behind here?" Russell frowned and looked at the heavy iron curtain.

The brazener shook his head and smiled disdainfully:

"Why bother?"

With an unspeakable mood, everyone turned around.

Thales glanced at the iron curtain for the last time, feeling heavy.

The firelight moved away from the hall in the darkness.

Leaving behind the Iron Curtain, and the more painful and desolate sobbing.

Their journey is still going on, but obviously, the discovery just now has inspired the Swords of Disaster who had already set their goals a lot.

Soon, they went down step by step, and the halls they passed were getting bigger and bigger, and each hall contained more and more cells, from nine, ten, to more than a dozen, to more than twenty...

What makes Thales uneasy is that more than one place in these cells is shrouded in an iron curtain.

That is to say...

"We found the way." I don't know how many floors, Semir frowned and looked at another iron curtain in front of him, looked at the sign above, and said: "The real black prisons are all below the tenth floor."

Clay nodded, ignoring the frenzied slapping from behind the black screen.

"It seems so right."

Ricky straightened up from the iron plate with the profile of the prisoner written on the other side.

Thales looked at these iron plates in a depressed mood.

Except for the lone bandit at the very beginning, they went down layer by layer. Along the way, cells where the living people were actually held were everywhere.

Without exception, these prison cells are all shrouded behind heavy iron curtains—some cries of pain, and some can hardly recognize one or two human cries for help...

Yes, there is only a dead silence.

In these prisons, according to the ambiguous iron plates and what Semir said, there are not only the Viscountess who murdered her husband and her parents, but also the great pirates who privately plundered merchant ships without permission, as well as the frustrated nobles who rebelled privately, and the one-night company. Blood Avenger who killed thirty-four people.

But Ricky ignored the prisoners and just kept going.

And the further they go down, the more serious and terrible the crimes of the repeat offenders are, the more complicated and difficult to understand, treacherous and difficult to judge.

Thales walked through layer after layer, cell after cell, and Iron Curtain after layer. Among the prisoners, he saw the green forest heroes who robbed military funds and rescued the people in the war of the bloody year. Li killed the incompetent Shangguan, then led troops to kill the enemy, and finally won the general.

There are even big nobles who are generous, kind, noble, and help the suffering free of charge.

"Why lock him up?"

Northland swordsman Clay stood in the cell where the nobleman and his subordinates were imprisoned, frowning at the iron curtain and the iron plate: "According to what you said, being generous, kind, charitable, and famous - is there something wrong?"

"Of course there is a mistake," Russell stood aside, and said coldly, "Because his ancestors were close relatives of the royal family who inherited Canxing's bloodline from a certain prince who entrusted him with a family."

"In the eyes of contemporary kings, this is called 'ambition, plotting evil'."

"Did I tell you that from the Queen Mother Iron Thorn to Sumer I, from Alicia to the Red King, the most indispensable thing in the history of the stars is bloody power struggle?"

Thales' heart moved, and he glanced at the fast rope on the other side from the corner of his eye.

Semir on the side paused for a while, he hummed softly, and continued to move forward.

Along the way, they saw huge embezzlers who made great contributions and great demerits to the kingdom at the same time; temple priests who preached the theory of the unity of the gods and the theory of destiny in the world;

"And this, I remember him, this is a scholar who was thrown in after writing a few books," Qianzi looked at a prison cell and said with a smile: "It seems to be locked up with a nobleman who provoked a private war. It's been thirty years..."

Hearing this, Thales couldn't help but speak:

"Scholar? Why?"

Samir came from behind and said coldly, "Because he wrote a book."

"Insisting that the rights of the people are higher than the power of the king, and the authority of the people is higher than that of the gods."

Thales was slightly taken aback, but was speechless for a moment.

"Your grandfather didn't take his life, but threw him here. It's very kind, Your Highness."

The look in Semir's eyes made Thales quite uneasy.

"These people, everyone's stories are extremely complicated, mysterious, and legendary, enough to make bards write non-stop for three days and three nights while being ecstatic." In the prison cell, there are words in the words:

"In many cases, the kingdom cannot determine their life and death based on the existing laws and crimes alone."

Thales frowned silently: "So, what you mean is that the Prison of Bones is..."

But Samir just interrupted him and said silently:

"Right now, they're locked away behind these iron curtains, waiting for the time to kill themselves."

Semir still stared at Thales closely, his eyes were sharp and energetic, full of unspeakable emotions.

The anxious Thales had to look sideways and avoid him.

"I'm thinking, if these more or less strange criminals are released and held in my hands, will it be possible to deal with the Kingdom of Stars..." Russell rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"That's not our goal," Ricky interrupted him coldly:

"As our guest, you don't have to do anything extra."

Russell scoffed dissatisfied.

In the darkness, Qianzi coughed, which attracted everyone's attention.

"I don't know if you have noticed," Qianzi squinted and said, "On the top floors, the empty cells are full of dry bones."

"And now," he turned, looking at the scene behind a few empty cells:

"In the empty cell in front of us, there are all mummies, some of which still have a slight smell."

Ricky's expression changed.

"you mean……"

"Either, these are prisoners who have been dead for a few years," Qianzi said with a serious expression, "Or, we are already in the deep underground, where even the decay of the corpses is much slower."

Extremely deep underground.

Thales' mood sank to the bottom.

Jianzi slowly expressed his intention: "Dear Crassus, if you continue to search aimlessly like this, are you sure we can return to the ground and evacuate safely within the limited time?"

Ricky remained motionless and raised the torch:

"How long have we been walking?"

Clay on the side replied silently: "It's been more than half an hour, and I've gone down a full eighteen floors."

Ricky remained silent, looking at Samir.

Samir shook his head, his eyes still firm: "It should be soon."

"We have to find him to have an answer."

Ricky was silent for a moment, then nodded solemnly.

So everyone turned around again, looking for unknown targets.

Qianzi smiled helplessly, and found that his reminder didn't work.

"It's too big here, they can't find it." Russell snorted coldly and followed up.

"Yes, it's too big, but what surprised me the most is that although the air is a bit dull and the smell is a bit unpleasant," Qianzi said to Russell beside him, "but I don't feel it is difficult to breathe."

"Look at this building, the Prison Institute, right?"

Qianzi looked around and sighed to Russell who was getting impatient: "The people at that time, the so-called mages, they must be very powerful."

Thales' heart skipped a beat.

He saw Ricky walking ahead discussing something with Samir.

"That's right," Thales walked up to Qianzi nonchalantly, and sighed sincerely, "I think so too. Such a large building is buried deep in the ground, and everything has been meticulously done in terms of preservation, layout, and ventilation."

Qianzi glanced at Thales quite unexpectedly.

This was the first time His Highness the Prince took the initiative to speak to him.

Thales smiled and said: "Father mentioned to me the prison of bones. According to him, mages are really magical existences, and they can surprise you all the time."

surprise.

Sure enough, in the next second, Thales saw that Qianzi's face changed.

Their search did not last long.

Soon, on the next floor, they came to an unprecedented hall.

The same dust, the same ruins, the same thick stone pillars, Thales looked around, but saw nearly thirty prison cells.

There were five of them, wrapped in a thick iron curtain, without the fence or the prisoners behind them.

Samir stood in front of one of the cells, holding a torch.

At that second, Thales clearly heard the sound of Semir's inhalation trembling in the quiet darkness.

The torch in his hand flickered.

"That's right," Samir's voice trembled slightly:

"That's...our goal."

The exhausted people suddenly became excited, and Ricky stepped forward quickly, looking at each iron plate with a serious expression.

Thales entered the senses of hell, trying to see the iron plate clearly.

Quail Barney Jr.

who is this

Seeing this iron plate, seeing the time of entering the prison, and seeing the unusual names of the verdict and the detainee on it, Thales became more and more suspicious.

besides.

The charge is...

Collaboration?

"Wow," Qianzi's voice sounded from the side, seeming to understand: "This is, that little Barney..."

Samir took a deep breath, he knocked on one of the iron curtains, and turned around before the last iron sign:

"Is there a way to open the Iron Curtain?"

"Five cells... all of them!"

Ricky smiled.

He took out the long "key" again and walked to the stone pillar in the center of the hall.

The dust was blown away, revealing the emblem pattern of the Alchemy Tower under the firelight.

Ricky put the key into the round hole in the center as before, and when it raised, he turned it.

"Kara."

An unpleasant machine sound sounded.

next second.

rumbling...

With the sound of friction, the torches in the hall swayed together!

I saw a lot of dust suddenly falling at the junction of the five iron curtains and the ceiling.

rumbling...

There was a sound of rubbing.

Soon, Thales noticed that there was a gap between the iron curtain and the ceiling, and metal fences were exposed in the gap.

It also revealed the darkness behind it.

decline.

Thales thought: The Iron Curtain is falling.

He couldn't help clenching his fists.

rumbling...

Gradually, the Iron Curtain descended more and more, making an unpleasant friction sound.

The firelight shone on the metal railing exposed behind the Iron Curtain.

Compared with the empty cells, these fences were obviously untouched by dust, reflecting a smooth metallic luster.

rumbling...

But the firelight only illuminated a small part of the cell, and there was still darkness behind the railing.

An unpleasant smell came from behind the Iron Curtain.

But the crowd didn't pay attention, they concentrated their attention and stared at the five prison cells under the Iron Curtain without any expectation.

rumbling...

Finally, the Iron Curtain fell lower and lower until it sank completely to the ground, barely visible.

Boom.

With a muffled sound, Thales knew that the Iron Curtain was completely opened.

A piece of darkness was revealed.