Chapter 397: Such a Place
Chapter 397: Chapter 397: Such a Place
By now, the various areas inside the base had gradually fallen quiet.
With Cordelia and Reginald Sutton watching Lexy, Nina Jacobs wasn’t worried for the time being.
Although Lornwood Base now had electricity, lights-out was very early. According to Silas Crowley, they were used to eating whatever they could around four o’clock and then preparing to rest.
Resting motionless and sleeping consumed the least amount of energy and water.
Edmund Lawson was still eating the coarse-flour flatbread he’d snatched, pairing it with the ham sausage and alcohol Isidore Donovan had also snatched. The group was quite content.
"Back in the day, that Silas Crowley was just a fool with more money than sense in our circle. But hey, who can blame him when making money was so easy for his family?"
"I heard his family background is pretty impressive. Didn’t they forbid him from joining the entertainment industry? Did he have a falling out with them later?"
"What falling out? He just agreed to go back and inherit the family business. But in this day and age, if he had really gone back, he’d probably have squandered the entire family fortune, hahaha."
"Definitely dumb enough to do it..."
"The way he is now, his family’s probably all dead, hahaha..."
Amidst the group’s uproarious laughter, the door was kicked open with a BANG.
Edmund Lawson hadn’t even had time to react before he saw Silas Crowley staring at them, his face filled with rage.
Behind him were a man and a woman, both of whom had visited that morning.
"Silas Crowley, what do you think you’re doing?!"
A woman pointed at him and demanded.
"What am I doing? Getting rid of you, of course."
Silas Crowley hadn’t expected these people to take advantage of him only to badmouth him behind his back.
’It’s true what they say—the kind get bullied!’
"Such big talk! Brothers, get ’em!"
Edmund Lawson sneered.
Just three people dared to challenge them, when there were a dozen or so of them here.
Besides, Isidore Donovan was here too, and he was someone who’d gotten out of a place like the correctional facility.
Watching the people close in around them, Wayne Warner cracked his knuckles.
Nina Jacobs extended an arm, and the empty doorway behind them was instantly sealed shut by a layer of stone.
Isidore Donovan had a vague feeling that something was wrong.
"I’ve killed eighty, if not a hundred, people in that correctional facility. The inside is full of my men. It’d be better for you if you die here today,"
"but if you don’t, I’ll send you all in there to experience what a living hell truly feels like!"
Isidore Donovan said viciously.
"Oh? It seems you’re quite familiar with the situation inside the correctional facility?"
Nina Jacobs raised an eyebrow, her eyes full of interest.
"Of course. My big brother is a big shot in there."
The moment Edmund Lawson finished speaking, a Thunder Ball shot toward him without any hesitation!
"You brat, your skills have improved!"
Edmund Lawson hastily dodged. Silas Crowley’s attacks had never been this sharp before.
Seeing this, Leoric Donovan also swung a Fire Fist at Nina Jacobs. It wasn’t for any particular reason—she simply looked like the weakest of the three.
However, before his fist could even land, the woman in front of him vanished.
"It seems your strength is nothing special."
Nina Jacobs was standing behind Leoric Donovan, a Stone Spike now hovering right between his eyebrows.
Ten minutes later, everyone in the room was on their knees, begging for mercy.
Many of them had already passed out; the Strength Element Superpower User had been too heavy-handed.
That included Edmund Lawson and Leoric Donovan, who were kneeling at the very front.
"Didn’t you say you knew a lot of people inside? What if I asked you to help me get someone out?"
Nina Jacobs asked.
’She had sought these people out mainly for Tobin.’
After all, this Leoric Donovan had been claiming he was someone who’d gotten out of the correctional facility.
"That... That was all a lie! How would I dare form a clique in a place like that?!"
Leoric Donovan cried.
"So are you going to help or not?!"
Silas Crowley hurled a Thunder Ball at him, and Leoric Donovan was instantly wracked with excruciating pain.
"I can’t help even if I want to! People who go in there rarely make it out alive, unless they kill their way out."
Leoric Donovan said.
"Then how did you get out?" Nina Jacobs asked curiously.
"I... I got on the supervisor’s good side by helping them burn bodies and... and carry night soil. That’s how I got out."
The moment Leoric Donovan said this, Edmund Lawson’s face fell in despair.
’He had gone to great lengths to keep Leoric Donovan around, never imagining he was such a worthless character.’
"Is that all?" Nina Jacobs asked.
"You also have to go fifteen consecutive days without participating in the matches inside, or... or any fights."
Leoric Donovan replied.
’Matches?’
Nina Jacobs looked at Silas Crowley and saw that he didn’t seem to know about this either.
"Ordinary people don’t know about it. Inside the facility, there are several life-or-death gladiatorial matches every day."
"I heard it’s a requirement from the base leader."
"Someone dies horribly in every match. Besides the combatants, anyone else can place bets. As long as you bet, you’re considered a participant."
Leoric Donovan explained, shivering as if recalling something.
"What’s the benefit of betting?" Nina Jacobs asked.
"You get supplies, like food and water. If you lose your bet, your name goes onto the list of candidates for the next round of matches."
"Those matches are terrifying. The people in them... they’re absolute demons..."
"Then couldn’t you just not participate and not bet?"
Silas Crowley asked.
’If they allow non-participation, then staying out of it should be safe.’
"If you don’t participate, you have no way of getting supplies."
"You just wait to die in there."
Fifteen days was long enough for a person to starve to death.
The only reason Leoric Donovan managed to hold on was because a supervisor there had known him before the apocalypse, which gave him the chance to work for them.
After hearing Leoric Donovan’s explanation, Nina Jacobs also felt that rescuing Tobin would be tricky.
Winning and losing both involved probability, which meant Tobin could also end up on the list of candidates for the matches.
"Knowing Tobin’s personality, he most likely wouldn’t participate."
Silas Crowley said.
"If that’s the case, he’ll probably become someone else’s training dummy."
Leoric Donovan laughed, his eyes vacant.
There are no saints in the correctional facility. Those who participate in the matches are desperate to win, and that requires sparring partners.
The ones who don’t participate are seen as easy targets. Troublemakers will single them out and drag them to the training grounds to be their sparring partners.
The outcome is usually tragic.
After all, brawling and killing are permitted inside the correctional facility.
"Besides your method, are there any other ways to get out of there?"
Nina Jacobs asked again.
"Win ten matches in a row, or win five non-lethal matches in a row."
"But that’s too difficult. If you win without killing your opponent, the supplies for the people who bet on you are cut in half."
That would anger the bettors, and you might even get ganged up on and killed by them.
"So, someone has to die."
Nina Jacobs fell into thought after hearing this.
’Why would Lornwood Base create a place like this?’
’What was Evander Langdon’s purpose in building it?’
’Was it just to satisfy some personal fetish?’
"...Um, we’ve told you so much. C-could you let us go now?"
"We haven’t done anything truly heinous, right, Silas Crowley?"
"We promise we’ll never speak ill of you again."
Edmund Lawson’s words interrupted Nina Jacobs’s thoughts.
"Let you go?" Nina Jacobs deliberately feigned hesitation.
"As long as you’re willing to let us go, we’ll do anything!"
one of the women said hastily.
’These three were incredibly powerful; killing them would be as easy as lifting a finger.’
’If they died here, no one would ever find out, and no one would bother to investigate.’