The cell block was a suffocating abyss, its rotting wooden bars exuding a thick stench of mildew that mingled with the metallic tang of blood and the sharp ammonia of urine.
A handful of pitiful lamps flickered, casting erratic shadows, while the sporadic clanking of iron chains echoed from the deeper bowels of the prison.
Su Jin pressed himself against the iron-reinforced door, his eyes locked on the far end of the corridor.
Any extraction plan required the majority of the inmate population to be dead to the world.
It was still too early.
Aside from his Company-issued smartphone, he had brought along several Casio F-91W watches, calibrating them against the midday sun.
While visual estimation was hardly atomic-clock precise—especially on a hostile alien planet—it was more than sufficient to synchronize a tactical timetable.
He estimated the time to be around 10:00 PM. He had a decent window; ideally, he wouldn't initiate the breach until the graveyard shift, somewhere between 2:00 and 3:00 AM.
Rather than burn daylight, he mapped his operational environment.
His current holding cell sat near the main gate, a dumping ground for petty misdemeanors. However, during his forced march inside, he had noted a sprawling interior corridor bisected by a heavy metal portcullis.
The facility clearly operated on a two-tier system. The inner sanctum likely boasted a heavier security apparatus designed for high-risk targets—and possibly guarded by native cultivators.
Thirty minutes of surveillance yielded nothing but the occasional low moan and rattling chain.
Su Jin retreated to the back wall. Shielding his hands with his body, he reached into his tactical underwear and retrieved a folded piece of paper.
It was a crude topographic map he had drafted while running recon through the streets, highlighting the structural vulnerabilities of the city gates.
The prison hadn't been on his radar, but he could retroactively plot its coordinates based on his blind march.
Since the deeper sectors of the black site were a blind spot, he defaulted to a worst-case scenario protocol.
He needed to plot at least two redundant exfiltration routes.
Su Jin uncapped a pen and began drafting.
Minutes later, three rough egress paths were locked in.
His pen tip tapped rhythmically against the ink demarcating the city wall.
He clocked the masonry at roughly forty feet high. Breaching the mid-section was the optimal play; it kept him above the torchlight of the ground patrols.
His spatial inventory held a grappling hook and military-grade nylon paracord. By modifying his arrows, he could theoretically launch a line over the forty-foot barrier.
If the trajectory failed, he'd have to wall-run to close the distance.
Wrapping the grappling hook in damp straw would dampen the acoustic signature. Under ideal conditions, he could scale the perimeter in under sixty seconds.
But mid-escape outfit changes were a luxury he didn't have, and the smooth soles of his local cloth shoes severely compromised his traction.
He had scaled buildings in modified socks before; anticipating this, he had procured a sheet of industrial rubber anti-slip pads from the Company network to adhere to his footwear.
Su Jin's pen hovered over the paper. A heavy frown carved into his face.
He was locked up for a petty Prohibition on Alcohol charge. His threat level was non-existent. Assuming no anomalous variables, the physical escape was a cakewalk.
The real logistical nightmare was geography: where the hell was Jiuzhao City? He had pumped over a dozen civilians for intel that afternoon.
The illiteracy rate was staggering. The data he gathered was a useless cocktail of campfire rumors and superstitious garbage.
Escaping the walls with only a vague compass heading and zero coordinates was a death sentence of wasted time.
That left only one viable play: navigating the exposed official roads and interrogating traveling merchants.
But corporate logic dictated that any merchant with a pulse and a caravan had government backing, if not direct state sponsorship.
This reality was a far cry from modern Earth. The time required to integrate into this societal structure was massive, compounded by the lethal variables of the Martial and Art Dao systems.
Without a local asset acting as a guide, every stranger he engaged exponentially spiked his mortality rate.
But options were entirely off the table. He would have to adapt on the fly.
After ten more minutes of aggressive sketching and erasing, Su Jin stowed his stationery and closed his eyes to meditate.
The operational framework was set. The rest relied on tactical improvisation.
Beyond his gear, he still carried the Steward's parting gift nested inside his very biology. It was time to run a diagnostic.
Based on standard Company hardware specs, it required mental synchronization to activate.
As Su Jin centered his focus, a distinct anomaly flared in his chest—a pressurized knot of dense energy.
Condensing his willpower into a single focal point, he prodded the anomaly. Su Jin's eyes snapped open.
With a slight tremor, he extended a single index finger, planting it flush against the grimy stone floor.
Slowly, his crossed legs levitated off the ground.
Suspended entirely by the kinetic output of one finger, his body hovered. The lack of strain was unnatural.
Su Jin lowered himself, a predatory grin cutting across his face.
The Steward had delivered a godsend.
Whether it classified as a localized Ability or a bio-enhancement buff, its utility was off the charts.
Multiplication!
Even at his baseline physical peak, doing a single-finger handstand required intense muscular exertion. Now, it felt like lifting a feather.
His physical parameters had essentially doubled. Applying this Multiplication buff during peak daylight hours would yield terrifying results!
But the resource drain was equally steep; that mere ten-second test had already siphoned a noticeable chunk of his stamina reserves.
The Xinhuo legacy was absurdly deep. To casually toss such a broken enhancement to the Steward for menial labor? Insane.
But corporate hierarchies weren't that generous. This tech was likely obsolete for high-tier operators, relegated to fresh meat like him.
If it scaled infinitely, the Company would just mass-produce it to double their overall combat effectiveness.
Su Jin chuckled dryly. Shielding his chest with his collar, he plunged his hand inward and extracted a radiant orb of light.
Though physically separated from his flesh, the Ability maintained a tether to his neural network.
He could theoretically deploy the Multiplication buff on a secondary target while retaining override control. High tactical flexibility.
Shifting his angle, he glanced at the inmate slumped across the hall. Dropping his collar, Su Jin openly waved the glowing orb directly in the man's line of sight.
The prisoner simply stared into space, eyes glazed and unblinking.
Perfect. The hardware was cloaked. No risk of visual detection.
After a few more diagnostic checks on the Multiplication ability, Su Jin retrieved his arrows and grappling hook. Huddled in the shadows, he began quietly modifying his loadout.
A quarter of an hour later, the sharp clatter of armor and chains echoed from the main corridor.
Su Jin instantly stowed his gear, dropping into a lazy sprawl on the floor, eyes fixed on the bars.
Two towering soldiers clad in heavy black plate marched past. Suspended brutally between them, clamped in a heavy wooden cangue, was a half-dead little girl. They dragged her toward the inner sanctum.
Su Jin narrowed his eyes, tracking the soldiers' mouths.
Their jaws moved, but not a single decibel reached his cell.
As he strained to pick up the audio, crisp text began to render across his retinas.
[...dump the little one here for now. We'll process her transfer to the Imperial Prison at dawn.]
[You sure it's secure enough?]
[What's the threat? The little beast hasn't manifested an Ability. She isn't going anywhere.]
[Lu Mingxuan spotted us. If we stall, I guarantee the zealots from Tanyu Temple will try to poach our bounty. We bled for this catch.]
[Hmph! The purge isn't over. Keep her on ice for the night. The Imperial Prison is a logistical nightmare to reach. Radio the squad to rotate guard duty here tomorrow. We're requisitioning this black site as a forward operating base.]
The heavy portcullis shrieked open, swallowing the trio into the deeper block. The subtitles blinked out of existence.
Su Jin's pulse spiked.
The mask's subtitles weren't useless garbage after all. A visual wiretap with flawless transcription—even auto-formatting the punctuation. Absolutely top-tier tech!