My Cell Prison - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Chapter 11 – Hidden Ability

Translator: Exodus Tales

Editor: Exodus Tales

Because the first floor of the bungalow had been built to include a reception hall, kitchen, living room, storage room, and a bedroom solely for the younger brother Daqing, everyone else had to stay on the second floor of the place.

The rooms were all simply labeled from 1 to 8, arranged from left to right. The stairs in the middle split the rooms to either side. Rooms 1 to 4 were in the left wing, while 5 to 8 were in the right. The key characters, ‘Granny Wong’ and ‘Uncle Liu’, stayed in room 4.

The key character ‘Accursed Chenli’ stayed in room 6… She needed to return to bed at 8 o’clock at night, and her brother Daqing would use a steel chain to lock her door. Daqing did not directly explain what the reason was for doing so, but it most definitely had something to do with her possession.

The key character ‘brother Daqing’ lived on the first floor, as previously mentioned. There was nothing that mentioned if Granny Wong actually had the ability to exorcise spirits or otherwise, and based on the information that they were presently given, it seemed pretty straightforward that this evil spirit event should be about the cursed woman, Chenli.

Thus, it would appear to be more dangerous to take the rooms in the right wing. Han Dong originally thought that everyone would have severe disagreements because of this, but who would have expected for ‘baldy’ Darren to take the initiative to take the room beside Chenli when they were assigning rooms to everyone.

As for the good natured ‘newsboy’ Herbert, he had also expressed that he did not particularly mind which room he ended up in.

After the two members had made concessions, Edward’s arrangement for the others became a lot simpler… And the final allotment of rooms was set as such: 

Left wing

Room 1 – Han Dong

Room 2 – ‘Blondie’ Monica

Room 3 – ‘Prosthetic’ Edward

Right wing

Room 5 – ‘Newsboy’ Herbert

Room 7 – ‘Baldy’ Darren

Room 8 – ‘Acolyte’ Akermann

Han Dong was also quite puzzled by this final arrangement. He had expressed his nonchalance on the matter but had actually been situated to stay in room 1, the furthest from Chenli, which was theoretically the safest room of them all. 

But the reason that Edward gave was that Han Dong was the weakest out of everyone in the team, and also because he was the only one who was proficient in the Nine Provinces’ tongue, there was a need to ensure his safety.

Furthermore, there were two other limitations the team had to adhere to:

One, there was no toilet in the bungalow, so the latrine was 50 meters away from the building.

Second, at around 2300, Daqing would cut electricity throughout the house until 0600 the next day. The reason for this was due to his cursed sister becoming agitated when exposed to electrical light.

These two limitations were quite troublesome, but everyone had their ways to deal with it. If for example, they needed to get up in the middle of the night, using the mineral bottles that they had inside their backpacks would suffice. As for the no electricity situation, all of them had previously bought handheld flashlights. At the same time, the cameras that the system had provided for them also had a night mode function as well.

Before they went to sleep, Edward gathered all the members of the team into one room.

“Everyone, I have a friend who became a trainee knight last year when he became a returnee… And he gave me some tips regarding a novice’s first time entering the space of destiny. The most important point out of everything was not to interfere with the actions and decisions that the key characters make in the plot and to not do anything that would go against common sense. The more we end up interfering, the more complex the situation will become, and it might even end up turning out to be a ‘dead end’. I hope everyone acts the part of university students as best as they can, and to avoid randomly interacting with the key characters in this incident. If any of you have any ideas, please feel free to approach and talk to me at any time.”

“Got it!”

What Edward was trying to impress upon everyone was the importance to let the plot of this event develop on its own. Aside from the baldy not saying a word, everyone else expressly agreed to his request.

Edward continued to address everyone, “Furthermore, I suggest that if any of us hear any strange movements or sounds at night, whatever you do, do not leave your own room. The danger of the first night should not be too great, since the ‘soul recovery’ ritual has yet to begin, so the state of the key characters involved would all be rather normal. As long as everyone stays in the safety confines of their room, none of you should be in any danger.”

“How could you be so certain that we won’t be in any danger… You’re clearly an amateur, just like us,” the baldy Darren scoffed, showing a look of utter disdain.

Edward chuckled before replying, “Well, staying in our rooms would at least be safer than loitering in the corridor… Anyway, this is just my suggestion, and I’m not forcing everyone to do exactly as I just said. We’ll discuss everything else in greater detail after we get an idea of how the whole ‘soul recovery ritual’ will go. Everyone should retire for the night.”

The impromptu meeting ended just like that.

While everyone was departing for their respective rooms, the beautiful ‘blondie’ Monica intentionally stayed in Edward’s room, attempting to probe a few topics in a very ambiguous manner.

It was unfortunate that Edward’s attitude remained the same as before, and because the atmosphere gradually became more awkward, Monica had no choice but to leave for her room on her own.

When he was finally left alone, Edward carefully retrieved a clean rag, smiling as he cleaned and polished his steam-powered prosthetic left arm, treating it with tenderness like it was his lover.

“A four-star evil spirit event, the difficulty isn’t too far off what I had imagined… As long as I can become a returnee, I can very swiftly become a trainee knight, and start off a step above the others.”

————————

In room 1, Han Dong had immediately locked the door behind him after he returned to his room. Ever since he arrived in this world, he never had gotten the chance to be alone until now. He felt somewhat strange ever since he had awoken from that nightmare he had in the van… As such, Han Dong had concentrated a large portion of his attention toward himself.

“What is this?”

Placing both his hands in front of himself, Han Dong searched for the intriguing sensation he felt while he was having his nightmare, slowly activating his [Faceless One’s head].

Almost all at once, a strange smell dispersed throughout the room.

Gurgling sounds were heard as a tentacle with grey spots slowly extended out from the palm of his hand, wriggling about strangely in the air.

“A hidden ability?”

Han Dong stared at this tentacle and he was a little dazed at this discovery!

“During that period of time when I had yet to acquire a physical body after leaving that prison, I had also extended out tentacles out from my neck to move about… But that sort of mycelium tentacles was different from what I have now. This tentacle here is much thicker and does not belong under the category of a mycelium… The odd stench it exudes makes it dangerous too.”

After about 10 minutes had passed, the tentacle that grew out from his palm transformed into a small pool of foul water, dripping and evaporating before disappearing.

At the same time, a bout of weakness enveloped Han Dong’s entire body.

Coughing, he mumbled to himself. “Looks like using this tentacle ability will heavily tax my body. I most definitely won’t be using it unless in an emergency.”

Using some tissue paper, Han Dong wiped off the filthy saliva that he coughed out from the corner of his mouth.

After spending a little time recovering, Han Dong began to take out the tools that he had bought from his backpack… Placing a handheld torchlight and a small knife next to his pillow.

The dagger was not to be used against evil spirits, but for ‘experiments’ and for self-defence.

Aside from those two items, Han Dong’s backpack also contained two sets of rural-styled clothes somehow.

“What Edward said should be correct, as long as none of us takes the initiative to mess with the key characters, the likelihood of being in danger during the first night should not be too high, considering the ‘soul recovery ritual’ has yet to begin… Best if I sleep.”

Due to the influence of the nightmare he had, Han Dong’s nap on the van had been for naught and adding to the fact that he used the strange tentacle ability before, the exhausted Han Dong was in urgent need of sleep.

It did not take him too long lying on the bed for him to fall fast asleep. This time, he did not chance upon any nightmares. Instead, he heard the faint footsteps out in the corridor as well as the cries of an infant, prompting Han Dong to wake up in the middle of the night.

The electricity was out, so the entire room that he was in was pitch black.

However, the big red lanterns were still shining out in the corridor.

It was unknown who was the designer that had the foolish idea for there to be a hole that was about the size of a human head in the middle of the door, fitted with a plate of transparent glass.

Han Dong could clearly make out under the red glare of the lanterns, a black haired woman carrying an infant in her arms walking past.