172: Chapter 172 You shut me up, I'll listen to the truth with my fists.

Chen Fan's shoulders and back were scorched hot by Su Shuang's body temperature.

The moment they escaped the secret passage, a ground-shattering roar came from behind them. The entire Mirror Lake sank into the earth, and the splashed water, mixed with gravel, pelted the back of his neck like countless scorching grains of sand.

He stumbled and fell beside a broken stele. The gravel dug painfully into his knees, but he dared not let go—Su Shuang's fox tail mark was burning a red patch on his chest, and her breathing was as faint as a thread.

"Su Shuang?" He lowered his head and called softly, his fingertips brushing across her sweat-dampened temples.

There was no response.

Chen Fan's Adam's apple bobbed, and he swallowed the curses surging to his lips—now was not the time.

He reached back towards his chest. The edge of the tattered page scraped his palm painfully, the bloody characters emitting a cold light in the gloom: "Soul Collection Progress 85%... Silence Purge Initiated."

"Damn it." He cursed very low, the end of the word snatched away by the wind.

The system prompt suddenly exploded, like an ice pick stabbing into his eardrums: [Player "Black Crow" has entered permanent offline status, data archived].

Chen Fan's pupils contracted sharply, and he slowly slid down, his back pressed against the broken stele.

The encrypted frequency of Black Crow's last message was still echoing in his mind. That guy's typing sounds were clearer than any oath: "As long as I can still move my keyboard, I won't let the system lie."

"Permanent offline?" He yanked off the silver chain around his neck. The pendant was an old USB drive Black Crow had given him, which was now scalding hot in his palm.

Chen Fan suddenly stood up, pressing the tattered page against his heart. The skin beneath the fabric immediately soaked with blood: "I'll make damn sure you hear me."

The outline of the Sound Prison Tower stood against the twilight like a black needle piercing the sky.

Chen Fan moved close to the shadow of the tower base. The light curtain of Critical Hit Foresight flickered before his eyes, blood-red lines marking the Silence Domain three hundred paces away—the rule was that speaking would instantly trigger sound spikes piercing the skull, like a guillotine hanging over his head.

He pulled out the hammer of the thunder god. The handle rested lightly on the ground, vibrating softly, mimicking the rhythm of a heartbeat.

The iron grate of the ventilation shaft was rusty. He used his strength to push, and his entire body floated inside like a leaf.

The air inside the tower smelled of rust.

Chen Fan pressed against the base of the wall, holding his breath. The shadows of the Sound Slaves flashed before his eyes—those New Players whose tongues had been pulled out, their chests vibrating to transmit Morse code.

A Sound Slave suddenly stumbled into him, its fingernails scraping bloody marks on the back of his hand. The rhythm vibrating from its chest was three short and two long: "...He is waiting for you... to write the key..."

Chen Fan's fingers trembled slightly.

He tore off a corner of his robe and wrapped it around the Sound Slave's bleeding wrist, but the other party suddenly laughed, blood still clinging to its gums—that was the Morse code Black Crow taught them, using vibration instead of language.

The Echo Prison on the seventh floor was like a giant beehive.

As soon as Chen Fan rounded the corner, the stench of rotting flesh hit his nostrils.

Every cell held a dried corpse, its skin wrinkled like old tree bark. Only the deepest cell still emitted a faint light.

He rushed over but was repelled by an invisible force field, slamming against the wall—Sound Silence stood on a high platform, silver nails sealing his throat, his hands rapidly gesturing in sign language: "Those who speak shall die."

When the Dark Sound Envoy leaped out of the shadows, Chen Fan hadn't even seen his face clearly.

A blade condensed from sound waves slashed toward him. A frequency of 432 Hertz jumped in the foresight light curtain.

He rolled across the ground. The instant he swept the hammer handle horizontally, the system prompt sounded again: [Mission Failed, Target Eliminated].

"Nonsense!" Chen Fan ground his back molars.

Black Crow's encrypted frequency was still ringing in his mind. That guy couldn't even move his keyboard, so how could he be "eliminated"?

He stared at the notification and suddenly remembered the red warning that flashed in Critical Hit Foresight the first time the system lied to him—all "failures" were lies.

"Cognitive Critical Hit - Active Induction!" he roared in his mind, golden light exploding from the depths of his eyes.

The moment the countdown hit zero, Chen Fan punched toward the Dark Sound Envoy.

The air exploded like thunder. The Dark Sound Envoy's body shattered into countless points of light, like a crushed porcelain vase.

Sound Silence's hands froze.

This old man, who had controlled the Silence Domain for ten years, showed a flustered expression for the first time.

He waved his hands rapidly, and the entire Sound Prison Tower emitted a low-frequency hum. The Silence Domain compressed to within ten paces.

Chen Fan took the opportunity to rush toward Black Crow. The latter was using his bloodied fingertips to carve waveform symbols on the wall. Silver nails in both ears pierced his skull, and blood flowed down his neck into his collar, pooling on the ground.

"Black Crow!" Chen Fan called him, his voice cracking.

Black Crow looked up, his eye sockets filled with blood.

He smiled, revealing bloodstained teeth, his lips moving slightly: "Hearing... is resistance." Before the last word faded, he used all his strength to press the symbol carved by his fingertip into Chen Fan's palm.

Chen Fan felt something burrow into his skin, like a red-hot needle, yet it burned so much that his eyes stung.

Black Crow's body began to grow lighter.

Chen Fan caught the jade slip that slipped from him. His fingertip touched the carving on it—it was Black Crow's fingerprint, still carrying residual warmth.

"You son of a bitch..." His throat tightened, unable to finish the sentence.

Black Crow's figure turned to ash, drifting into the iron grate of the Echo Prison, mingling with the resentments of the dried corpses.

The crystal at the top of the tower suddenly cracked.

Chen Fan gripped the jade slip tightly. A primal sonic wave rushed out of it, striking his heart like a heavy hammer—it was the first system prompt a human had ever heard: "Welcome to log in, Player ID 000001."

The entire tower began to shake.

Chen Fan gripped the jade slip tightly. A primal sonic wave rushed out of it, striking his heart like a heavy hammer—it was the first system prompt a human had ever heard: "Welcome to log in, Player ID 000001."

The entire tower began to shake.

Chen Fan saw the Sound Slaves in the farthest corner suddenly open their eyes, their chests heaving violently.

He opened his mouth, and broken syllables squeezed out of his throat, clumsy like an infant learning to speak: "Save..."

"You seal your mouths." Chen Fan inserted the jade slip into a crack in the hammer of the thunder god, and the hammer body immediately shone with golden light.

He looked up at the crack in the tower summit. The first ray of lightning smashed through the clouds, illuminating his bloodstained face, "I'll use my fists to hear the truth."

In the Echo Prison on the seventh floor, Chen Fan gripped the hammer of the thunder god with the jade slip embedded in it.

Within the patterns of the hammer body, the waveform symbols carved by Black Crow were glowing, like a path leading to the truth.

The thunder outside the tower grew louder, as if something was awakening in the darkness.