WEF - Chapter 29
Chapter 29: This Prison Is for Whoever Wants It
Ning Dali's nerves were stretched to breaking point.
Time had suddenly rewound. In the midst of the emergency, her response moments ago had not been flawless.
Although the content of their conversation had not changed, her expression, demeanor, movements, and even the pauses in her speech could not have been exactly the same as before. Small differences were unavoidable.
From the mysterious smile on Plague's face, the woman involved had clearly noticed something.
That did not matter, though. Plague seemed more like one of their own, and she was not especially loyal to the Federation.
If she had accepted Ning Dali's identity, she would not have called herself a "traitor."
Therefore, as long as Ning Dali did not reveal any obvious flaws, Plague would turn a blind eye.
This matter could be swept under the rug.
Across Ying's thin but dependable chest, Ning Dali exchanged a glance with Plague. They were back in sync with the scene.
According to the plot before time had rewound, Plague should now brush Ying aside like rubbish and then speak.
But Plague's reaction had changed. She remained motionless for a while, so Ning Dali's response could change in turn and be different from before.
Ning Dali exhaled in relief, and the pressure on her dropped sharply.
At that moment...
With no new script, her mind in another dimension, and her spirit still trapped in the previous scene, the Shadow King naturally threw a fit.
"Ning Dali, do you want to die?" Ying glared at her, beside herself with fury. "You really think you can join the Farming Faction and act as if you're above the law?"
"You sold me out that easily? What happened to our bond? Is it severed?"
Ning Dali said nothing.
Good job, Shadow King. You have thrown the entire plot off course.
Ning Dali opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Plague took over the scene.
She reached out and brushed Ying aside like rubbish, then, without warning, raised her right hand and snapped her fingers beside Ying's ear.
"Snap!"
Ying's eyes rolled back and her body tipped to one side. She dissolved into a puddle of shadow, sank into the ground, and entered an unconscious state of self-defense.
Why had Plague suddenly made a move? Had the Federation given an order?
With Ying's shield gone, Ning Dali's eyelid twitched, and her sense of danger reached its peak...
The next instant, her temperature shot upward like a launched rocket. The heat left her unable to think or act, and her mind suddenly went blank.
In less than a second, Ning Dali's face flushed crimson and she collapsed, unconscious.
"With a body that healthy, she lasted even longer than Ying did," Plague muttered. "I wonder what she grew up eating."
"That is not your concern."
A voice sounded behind Plague.
Four people in white uniforms had appeared behind her out of thin air. Federation emblems were pinned uniformly to their chests, numbered identification badges hung around their necks, and they were carrying a silver-white stretcher.
Plague's gaze sharpened as it fell upon the stretcher.
Ying was a shadow now and had no use for a stretcher, so it had been prepared for Ning Dali... They were taking her away. Where?
The four uniformed personnel carefully and gently lifted Ning Dali onto the stretcher.
Next, they checked her temperature and consciousness. After confirming that the fever had made her delirious, they waited in place for a moment until a rift appeared in the air, then lifted the stretcher and stepped toward it.
As the rift began to close and Ning Dali was moments from leaving, Plague's fingers trembled slightly.
A wisp of black mist that only she could see drifted from the top of Ning Dali's head and left her body.
Ning Dali's fever-flushed face showed no visible change, but a little clarity returned to her mind.
What was going on... Ning Dali struggled to think. She did not open her eyes or move them, in case anyone noticed anything unusual.
She could hear the breathing and footsteps of four other people. They belonged to neither Ying nor Plague, and they were not zombies either.
Then they were Federation personnel. They had taken action, but why had they seized her? Because she could resurrect zombies?
Ning Dali's heart sank, and countless questions took root in her mind.
"Where are we taking her?" one of the people carrying the stretcher asked.
"Back to the Federation." Another person looked down at Ning Dali, who lay delirious and unconscious beneath the fever. "She has only been here a few days, and already she has run back to the Federation and resurrected zombies. How do they keep failing to contain her?"
"Could we apply to have her killed outright? Even if she has [Nirvana], so what? We have killed Resurrection Ability Users before."
"Fine." A mild voice answered. "You file the request with the Federation, and we will see whether the Federation deals with her or with you."
"...Then I might as well quit. Monitoring her has sent my workload through the roof. I don't want to do this anymore."
The mild voice paused, then spoke placatingly. "Work for another two weeks. According to the plan, she will return to the Federation to serve her sentence in two weeks."
On hearing that she was going to prison, Ning Dali nearly sat up on the stretcher.
Go back to a Federation prison?
She had already served ten years behind bars. Was she really going back to prison in two weeks? Was she going to spend the rest of her life in and out of prison?
Absolutely not!
This prison was for whoever wanted it. She was not going.
Excited as she was, Ning Dali still obediently remained on the stretcher and did nothing rash.
The conversation among the four people continued.
"She will not return to the Federation to serve her sentence until two weeks from now," the dejected voice said. "What am I supposed to do for the next two weeks... Could you give her a sedative? Oh no, I forgot she has [Nirvana]. Then could you find somewhere to lock her up?"
"Perhaps." The mild voice answered. "Take her back first and see what those above us decide. Either lock her up or erase her memories. In any case, they will not make you tough it out for two weeks. Our superiors are troubled by this too."
"That is wonderful." The dejected voice finally brightened.
Ning Dali could not brighten at all.
What did they mean, either lock her up or erase her memories?
She would not only have to return to the Federation to serve her sentence in two weeks. For the two weeks before that, she would already be stuck in prison.
Was that even human? Had anyone asked for her opinion?
Ning Dali adjusted her breathing and tried to calm her heartbeat.
She analyzed the conversation piece by piece, searching for a way out.
First, why were these people escorting her back to the Federation?
The answer was obvious. She caused far too much trouble, and she did not merely cause it herself. She had brought the Shadow King into it as well.
If the Federation did not take action, all its secrets would soon be exposed.
Second, why would she be sent back to the Federation to serve time in two weeks?
She already possessed an Ability. There was no way she would remain obediently imprisoned.
That made no sense unless the Federation had a special prison for Ability Users, or unless her Ability would encounter some problem in two weeks.
Ning Dali's heart skipped.
If that were the case, it would explain everything. The Federation might be waiting two weeks because it was making preparations.
Perhaps it was preparing a special prison for Ability Users, or preparing to remove her Ability.
That might require someone else's Ability, with two weeks being the cooldown time for that Ability.
It seemed reasonable, but Ning Dali still felt that something was wrong. One question remained lodged in her mind, refusing to fade.
Namely, why had the Federation not simply killed her?
Ning Dali first dismissed the absurd possibility that she was a Heavenborn.
Setting aside her identity, the only thing that gave the Federation cause for concern was her Abilities.
She now possessed four Abilities in total.
[Old Liar], [Strongman], [Nirvana], and the mysterious Countdown.
Of these four Abilities, only [Nirvana] and the Countdown were relatively unusual.
One made her impossible to kill, while the other apparently kept her from starving.
When she considered what the staff member had said about killing Resurrection Ability Users before, she realized that [Nirvana] was not as unique or important as she had assumed.
So the Federation had refrained from acting because of the Countdown?
Ning Dali formed a guess, but she could not be certain.
She was not even entirely sure whether the Countdown was an Ability. It had appeared inexplicably after she had crossed over, and no skill description had come with it.
Thinking it through as far as this, Ning Dali had no choice but to set the question aside for now.
This was plainly not the time to obsess over it. She needed to decide how to break out of her current situation.
She did not want to be locked away for two weeks, and she did not want her memories erased. She had to do something.
Ning Dali thought through every possibility and realized that the only thing she could rely on was her mouth.
As long as someone gave her a chance to talk, she could find a way to save herself.
What she feared most was being dealt with in silence, without being given that chance.
A chance to communicate. How could she make the Federation personnel start a conversation with her?
When they thought there was something to gain from her, someone would take the bait... Therefore, she needed to conceal her hostility toward the Federation while revealing some value of her own. Her [Nirvana], for instance, which allowed her to resurrect the dead?
At that moment, Ning Dali smelled something.
It was the faint scent of high-grade disinfectant.
The smell was not pungent, and it was familiar.
She had smelled it inside the Federal Benevolence Hospital... Ning Dali's thoughts moved, and before she could react, a cheerful alarm chimed in everyone's ears.
At the same time, the fever-blushed color drained rapidly from Ning Dali's face, and her body became perfectly healthy in an instant.
[Nirvana], third skill: Rebirth from the Flames.
Once every ten minutes, she could heal all the damage she had taken.
Ten minutes was up.
The illness inflicted by her [Plague] Ability vanished in an instant, and Ning Dali's muddled mind immediately cleared.
A rush of chaotic footsteps erupted through the operating room. Numerous hands dumped the stretcher onto the operating table as someone retreated at top speed.
Ning Dali opened her eyes.
"Fuck! How the hell did she wake up so fast!" A staff member panicked, speaking as though a Demon King had descended.
Ning Dali blinked blankly, staring dazedly at the lamp above her. "How did I end up here? This place... I think I came here a few days ago. Is this the Federal Benevolence Hospital?"
"I, I have returned to the Federation? I finally left that godforsaken place and returned to my warm homeland?" A tear slipped from the corner of her eye.
No one had time to answer Ning Dali's questions or appreciate her performance. The four staff members did not dare make a sound as they furtively tried to withdraw.
Ning Dali turned her head and, through a barrier that was almost impossible to detect, caught sight of the four uniformed people.
"Who are you?" She climbed to her feet on the stretcher.
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