The capable man racked his brain for a moment, then said thoughtfully, "Now that you mention it, I think I do have some recollection. He doesn't seem to be in our area."
Gu Xintang brightened at this. "Think carefully — remember as much as you can. But one thing: don't make things up."
Jiang Chen nodded as well. "As long as you can give us a lead, you'll be well rewarded."
The capable man took in the hostile looks from those around him and knew that if he kept talking, trouble would follow. Every last soul in the Black Prison Area was desperate to leave. Now that he'd shown even a glimmer of hope — setting everything else aside — the jealous, envious glares alone could have killed him ten times over. If he stayed here any longer, within an hour he'd be dead for sure.
The man thought for a moment, then looked at Gu Xintang. "Captain Gu, I need a promise from you."
"What?" Gu Xintang didn't like the sound of a prisoner haggling.
"If the information I provide proves useful, whether or not you find the person, you must grant me my freedom. And if my information turns out to be useless, you still have to transfer me to a different cell block."
The man knew he'd made himself a target. If he couldn't leave the Black Prison Area entirely, he at least had to move to another block.
The Black Prison Area housed tens of thousands of people, sprawling as large as a small town. It was naturally divided into many cell blocks, and each block had its own underground ruler. Though the Black Prison Area seemed to have no rules at all, there was actually a hidden set of laws that outsiders never saw. Otherwise, if things had truly spiraled out of control, within a month everyone here would be dead — how could tens of thousands of people keep living here? The fact that they could survive proved there was a fairly complete ecosystem. People died, new ones were sent in. Only through this cycle could the Black Prison Area continue to exist.
Gu Xintang glanced at Jiang Chen, then nodded without hesitation. "If your information is useful, I can give you a chance."
The man's face lit up with joy, and he nodded eagerly. "Good. Then follow me — let's find somewhere else to talk."
Jiang Chen and Gu Xintang exchanged a glance, both nodded, and followed the man.
He led them to a relatively secluded corner before speaking again. "Captain Gu, I've heard of the man you're looking for."
"Oh? Where is he?" Gu Xintang perked up.
"Where he is — I can't say just yet." The man was sharp enough to drive a hard bargain. "I need your promise first, Captain Gu."
"Didn't I already promise?" Gu Xintang furrowed his brow.
"No, no, no — a verbal promise is worthless. If you go back on your word, what can I do about it?" The fact that the man had survived this long in the Black Prison Area proved he was no fool who trusted easily.
"Then what do you want?" Gu Xintang clearly disliked prisoners who haggled.
"It's simple. If my information is useful, I need a promise bound by a Heaven and Earth Oath. With that kind of guarantee, I swear — I swear my information will be absolutely invaluable. And this information is extremely secret. Hardly anyone in this area knows about it."
The man's eyes were incredibly sharp.
Jiang Chen's Heavenly Eye Divine Pupil seemed ready to pierce through the man's very soul, boring into his gaze. The man shuddered under the stare, yet he met it without flinching — fear was there, but so was a resolute calmness. His attitude made it clear: coercion would get them nowhere.
Gu Xintang considered for a moment, then nodded. "Fine. I'll do as you say. If your information proves genuinely useful, I swear by the Heaven and Earth Oath to grant you your freedom. But if your information turns out to be useless, you can forget about ever leaving the Black Prison Area."
Hearing the oath, the man broke into a grin and spoke in a relaxed tone. "Rest assured — if the information's no good, I'll kill myself right here. The man you're asking about is just an Earth Origin Realm martial artist — nothing impressive about his cultivation. And he's a hopeless romantic besides. As soon as he was thrown into the Black Prison Area, he was completely out of it — day in and day out, all he did was mutter 'Meng'er, Meng'er' over and over. Everyone figured he wouldn't last three days in here, but..."
The man paused.
"But what?" A sharp gleam flickered in Jiang Chen's eyes as he fixed the man with an intense stare.
"Here's the strange part — after this man was thrown in, he was immediately noticed by several big shots in the Black Prison Area." The man said with a smile, "Actually, when you were asking about him earlier, they'd seen him too — they just didn't pay attention. But I was paying attention. I heard him mumbling 'Meng'er.' The enforcers who brought him in muttered something on their way out — how this idiot dared to snoop into the Moon God Sect's secrets, and how it was already merciful that they hadn't just cut him down..."
As they say, fortune favors the prepared. Many people had witnessed these things at the time, but none of them had bothered to commit the details to memory. In the Black Prison Area, most people lived day to day and naturally didn't concern themselves with such trivial matters. After all, he was just an Origin Realm martial artist — nobody cared much about gossip surrounding someone so weak. If it had been an Imperial Realm martial artist being thrown in, that would have been a different story. The attention would have been enormous — one inquiry and everyone would have known. An Origin Realm martial artist was simply too weak to attract anyone's attention. Only someone as sharp as this man would have bothered to take note of every little detail.