Mage Manual

Chapter 51: Chapter 49 The Traditional Virtues of Death Row Inmates

Kingdom of Blood Moon, Shattered Lake Prison, dining room.

Ash looked at the Furong Crab, lemon berry milk cake, Miracle Fattening Lala, and Gold Pineapple Juice in front of him, his nose filled with the fragrance of exotic delicacies, but his heart just couldn’t muster any appetite.

These few dishes were anything but simple; they only appeared on the restaurant’s hidden menu and were usually impossible for the prisoners to order, even if they spent their contribution points.

It was said that these dishes were especially high-end and rare delicacies outside. Take the Miracle Fattening Lala, for example—the raw materials alone were worth a third of an ordinary person’s monthly salary.

And their flavors were worth more than the cost. Ash suspected that the Chef had used Mage’s techniques; he, a city dweller who had withstood the test of MSG and chicken essence, almost swallowed his tongue after the first bite—it was so delicious that it made one feel dying without regrets.

But the thought of actually dying soon killed his appetite.

The other fellow death row inmates felt similarly, some pecking at their food, some eating while tears streamed down their faces, and some even reversed their utensils; it’s fortunate the knives and forks were blunt, or they would have triggered the ‘suicide prohibition warning’ from the chips implanted in their necks.

The only death row inmates who were eating heartily were a blue-skinned ogre and an Elf named Valcas.

They seemed truly indifferent to the upcoming Blood Moon Judgement, with the ogre eating with his hands, ordering one dish after another; Valcas demonstrated ten different ways to use a knife and fork, displaying elegance as if he were dining in a skyscraper rotating restaurant.

“Do you have trouble eating? Need help?”

The prison guard Nagu’s seemingly kind voice was like a whip dipped in saltwater, startling all the death row inmates, who bowed their heads and ate furiously.

Even Ash was no exception.

The reason the inmates were so terrified was that an afternoon of ‘supervision’ had already completely worn down their arrogance. Faced with Nagu, who could control the chips in their necks, even the most rebellious person had to be honest—if you weren’t, your head would be forced down.

To be honest, Nagu hadn’t done anything too outrageous to them.

He hadn’t even touched a hair on their heads.

He hadn’t harmed them at all.

He just made all death row inmates act according to his schedule.

For instance, eating. If someone didn’t eat, Nagu would activate the chip control system and use voice commands to control the inmate’s eating:

“Open your mouth, put the food in, chew once, twice, three times, swallow…”

Like watching a film, if someone didn’t watch or fidgeted, Nagu would make them a model cinema audience:

“Sit properly, hands on your knees, watch the big Light Screen, remember to blink every five seconds.”

Like breathing fresh air on the sea-view rooftop, Nagu stated that the higher-ups required all inmates to take a photo for remembrance and put forward the following requirements: tidy attire, smiling faces, reflecting a good Spirit, and the harmonious group atmosphere of Shattered Lake Prison…

Undoubtedly, death row inmates couldn’t meet the above requirements on their own, so Nagu ‘helped’ them a little.

Ash was easy; he lay on the ground with a smile on his face, while Valcas was amazing—sitting on the ogre’s shoulders, his hands mimicking cat ears on his head, revealing a sweet smile at the camera with his gaunt and cold face.

And one photo wasn’t enough; they had to take several, from striking cool poses to embracing in a brotherly fashion, all kinds of Spirit were represented.

The death row inmates, posed by Nagu in eighteen different positions, became completely numb, only focused on satisfying Nagu’s requirements as quickly and efficiently as possible, even thinking it would be better to Fast Forward to the Blood Moon Judgement.

Let it all end quickly; I’m tired.

Therefore, as soon as Nagu spoke, they immediately abandoned their mournful attitudes and hurried to eat.

At this moment, the pressure supervisor Nagu put on them transcended the Blood Moon Judgement.

After all, they hadn’t seen ‘Death’ yet.

But ‘a fate worse than Death’ was right before their eyes. @@novelbin@@

Ash glanced at the empty dining room and quietly asked the person next to him, “Why is nobody coming to eat now? Not eating at noon is one thing, but surely the others wouldn’t skip evening meals as well?”

The death row inmate next to him was Archibald Harvey, with dark skin and curly hair, appeared as though he’d been doing heavy labor during the day, but in reality, he was a night shift worker: a Scavenger who specialized in dealing with corpses.

Some might wonder, dealing with corpses is at most a crime of destruction of corpses, so how could one fall to a death sentence?

It naturally had to do with the death standard: in the Kingdom of Blood Moon, only corpses announced as dead by a licensed Medical Practitioner were considered corpses.

Without a Medical Practitioner’s announcement, even if your head fell off, you were still legally alive.

Because Medical Practitioners could indeed bring a person whose head had fallen off back to life, and many corpses, though breathless, could still be resuscitated.

So Harvey, who specialized in handling corpses for underground organizations, naturally couldn’t enjoy the decent treatment of being an ‘accomplice.’ Instead, he was seen as a ‘serial killer with extremely serious nature’: he had dealt with hundreds of corpses, and if each corpse were to be treated as a living person, few in the entire prison could compare to Harvey’s sins.

But this didn’t mean Harvey was some good person who was wronged.

Although he didn’t have much time to reveal his dark past during the afternoon chat, from the two facts that he was a Necromancy Faction Mage and his remark that ‘what’s so good about a warm woman,’ it was sufficient to judge that his preferences were premature for contemporary humanity.

However, whether a person is bad or not doesn’t relate to whether they are a warm-hearted netizen. In this afternoon of shared misery, Ash quickly became acquainted with him.

Harvey answered, “They already came to the dining room and finished their meals before 5 pm.”

“Huh? Why’s that?”

“Because they want to avoid us, aside from us eight, other inmates will try not to leave their cells today. Those with enough contribution points order room service directly, and even those without enough do their best to avoid our meal times.”

“I know that, but why do they want to avoid us?”

“Traditional virtues.”

Ash blinked.

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the term; rather, the use of the word to describe the death row inmates here always felt a little strange.

Harvey said, “First, the chosen eight will be summoned by the supervisor to the dining hall at noon, so no one will come out all morning. Although the selection is based on the order of the Judgement Series, who knows if you might run into the supervisor on the way, and he decides to put you on the trial list just because he thinks you walk too arrogantly?”

“Do the supervisors have that kind of power?”

“I don’t know, wanna bet on it?”

“No way.”

“Exactly.” Harvey shrugged. “Even after the eight are picked in the afternoon, no one dares to wander around. The first reason, naturally, is still the presence of the supervisor. What if he takes a dislike to you and swaps you with a lucky one? Wouldn’t you regret it until your veins burst?”

Ash nodded.

Indeed.

More enraging than just being unlucky is seeing others profit from your misfortune. Just the thought of it burns a hole in your gut.

“The second reason is a bit superstitious. The prisoners believe that people who are seen by our unlucky bunch have a high chance of becoming the next Blood Moon Judgement candidates.”

Understandable—everyone fears catching bad luck. If the unlucky ones glance at you in the afternoon, and you can’t poo in the evening, it’s definitely not a physical issue, but rather the misfortune caused by their cursed gaze messing with gravity.

“And the third reason is that they don’t know how to face us.”

“Hmm?”

“Say hello? Encourage? Console?” Harvey wiped his mouth with a napkin, “If it were you—ah, no, Ash, you are already being judged. Right now, if you see other prisoners escaping the Blood Moon, wouldn’t you feel like every punctuation mark they speak is filled with a sense of superiority?”

Ash opened his mouth, thought about it, and agreed.

Since I know I’m going to die while you don’t have to, I would naturally find your whole being reeking of an obnoxious stench.

Not just speaking.

Just seeing that you can still breathe.

Would make me feel like you’re mocking me.

Encouragement? Sarcasm!

Consolation? Ridicule!

Pity? Contempt!

No matter what nice things they say, to the eight of us, it’s all foul language.

Because of the fear of death, a tragic barrier formed between the eight prisoners and all the others.

“So, on the day of the Blood Moon Judgement, all the prisoners voluntarily stay in their cells and don’t go out. It’s to protect themselves, as well as those being judged.”

Harvey looked at Ash, “If you survive, you’ll have to follow this tradition of virtue when the next Blood Moon comes around. This is the only kindness we can, and must, sustain. However…”

“However what?”

“I’ve seen your news reports.” Harvey shrugged, “To be honest, you are very likely the one who will die tonight.”

“Isn’t it a random killing?”

Ash became nervous; the moment he learned the Blood Moon Judgement involved randomly selecting one person to execute from among eight, he’d guessed that it had to be a random ritual—if it weren’t random, there would be no need to choose eight for one.

“It is random, but not that random, and sometimes, several people die… You’ve really never seen the Blood Moon Judgement?”

“Really not! I have no idea about the rules of the Blood Moon Judgement!”

Harvey smiled, “Then you’ll know soon enough… I was deeply shocked when I watched the Blood Moon Judgement for the first time as a child, couldn’t believe that the world had such wonderful entertainment. I won’t tell you the truth. The most despised act for a Necromancer is prophecy. Exploring the unknown is the greatest pleasure for a Mage, and death is the most magnificent mystery.”

Ash clicked his tongue, still confused, “If I’m sure to die, why are all of you nervous?”

Harvey shrugged, “Because the Blood Moon Judgement isn’t fixed. Sometimes there are changes that make the prisoners nervous, and they accidentally end up killing themselves… You’re right, when I get there, I’ll just close my eyes and lie down to sleep. As long as I’m sure I won’t be the one in eight, then by doing nothing, I’ll surely not die.”

With Harvey saying that, Ash became incredibly nervous even just eating his porridge.

No way, am I really done for?

Really no chance at all?

The Void Realm Exploration was going so well, this morning I even drew the Void Realm Telescope, and maybe tonight I could collect all the Technique Spirits for Miracle…

The Sword Maiden and I are getting stronger too, the Mage world had just begun to unveil its mysterious veil to me…

I had just defeated Valcas and thwarted Selin’s scheme…

I’m still growing, can’t I have a little more time!

Ash felt like an archer who was saving up for a big item but suddenly got dragged into a team fight.

Victory seemed within reach, yet he had to hang on by a thread and fight for survival.

He suddenly remembered a WeChat post his boss once shared: Life isn’t like cooking, you don’t wait until all the ingredients are ready before you start; when you see yourself sprinkled with cumin, you should realize you’ve become an ingredient—who could guess the next day after posting that, he would announce that the whole company was switching from alternate weekends to a 996 schedule?

“Dinner time is over, wipe your mouth, and head to the restroom for personal hygiene; gather in the Central Hall within half an hour.”

Note, Supervisor Nagu was not ‘ordering’ but ‘inputting commands’—everyone wiped their mouths with their napkins at the same time and then got up to go to the toilet.

Before Ash entered the restroom, he heard Nagu’s final command:

“Arrive on time at the Blood Moon venue at 7:45 PM to wait for the program to start.”