"I advise you to keep your distance from here; this cell holds the Kang Tao Virus, which once destroyed the entire network."
Suddenly, UO leaped out from behind Sun Jack and spoke to the empty room, as if it could see something that Sun Jack could not.
"Damn, this damned place does lock up everything." Sun Jack, not expecting to communicate with a virus, withdrew from the cell and headed towards the other prisons.
As he continued on his way, Sun Jack finally found in the sixth cell an amiable-looking old lady who appeared to be over seventy.
Facing Sun Jack's intrusion, she smiled and nodded at him. "Hello, Sun Jack, my name is Zao Yi Nu, pleased to meet you for the first time.
"Do you know me?" Sun Jack was surprised that she knew his name.
"I heard every word you spoke to him; you really are a nice kid."
"Hello, I am Sun Jack. May I ask what your identity is?"
"I am what you people call someone from The Previous Era. I guess I'm the first cyber-mental patient, quite a collector's item."
"This person is bullshitting me." Right away, Sun Jack discerned that she was lying.
"He is an AI Crisis, I am from the Rebellion Revolutionary Army, the neighboring cell holds an extremely dangerous virus that can paralyze the entire network, and you, a cyber-mental patient, are locked up with us. Don't you find that incongruent?"
When confronted with Sun Jack's question, she only responded with a smile, clearly unwilling to divulge her true identity.
"I'm different from UO, I'm not into gossip. I don't care one bit about who you are. All I care about is whether there's any way to escape, or if there's a way to get a message out?"
To increase the chances of her cooperation, Sun Jack immediately began to entice her.
"I still have some resources in the real world. As long as you help me, I can absolutely help you too. Whatever you want to do."
However, the old lady just shook her head. "Child, it's no use, you can't get out. Every word you're saying now is being monitored by them. Even if I did have a way, as soon as I told you, they would know right away and plug the leak."
"So... you do have a way?" Sun Jack asked hesitantly.
Faced with Sun Jack's hesitation, the old lady continued to smile without a word.
"After all this trouble, it turns out this person is a riddler. Is she deceiving me, or trying to trick those who are monitoring me?" Sun Jack wondered inwardly.
Just as he was about to continue his inquiry, he noticed that her gaze had shifted past him.
Sun Jack turned around and saw a young man standing behind him.
The 'F' on the chest of the man's uniform made it clear; this was not a newcomer who had been locked up.
"So you finally deign to meet me?" Sun Jack said to him, "Let's cut to the chase, what do you want to do?"
"Sun Jack! I want you to suffer a fate worse than death!!" The other's grinding teeth made Sun Jack frown; it seemed like their first meeting, so why act as if they had a deep-seated grudge?
Do all FFP employees take their jobs so seriously that a loss to their boss is like killing their own mothers?
"Sun Jack, do you find this place comfortable? Have you made some new friends? My visit today is to bring you despair!!"
With a wave of his hand, a screen appeared in front of Sun Jack, displaying the location of Utopia Security's gate.
The new and old employees of Utopia Security were gathered at the gate, happily welcoming the return of Sun Jack's original body.
"Boss, you're finally back, I missed you to death!" Watching AA throw himself onto the other's body, Sun Jack clenched his fists tight.
I'm clearly still here, so who is this Sun Jack that they're cheering for?!
Sun Jack turned from the screen to look at the man in front of him, "Who exactly are you? What are you trying to do!"
"Let me introduce myself, I'm Number 43, just joined FFP recently, a new employee here. Once a corporate dog in Metropolis, I lent you money when you were borrowing, but I believe the famous Borrow King certainly wouldn't care about a minor character like me,"
"As for what we are doing, haven't you seen it by now? Replacing you with another Sun Jack, taking everything from you, everything! Just like what you did to me!" By the end, Number 43 was almost roaring.
"What exactly did I do to you? I've never even met you." Sun Jack found this guy's rage completely baffling.
"Yes, you've never seen me, you don't recognize such a minor character, but you destroyed everything I had! When you took down the Holy Grail, did you ever think of how many people were displaced because of you, how many lost their kin!"
"Do you know how many people died in the Solomon District the moment the Holy Grail crashed down? You don't know!" Number 43 took a step forward, staring intently at Sun Jack, hoping to see any sign of guilt on his face.
"Did family or friends of yours die because of my rebellion against the Holy Grail?" Sun Jack asked.
"I don't care about your so-called grand ideals! I truly don't care about your goals! You got my Hope killed, and for that, I want you dead!!"
"Sun Jack!! Let me tell you! I abandoned everything to join FFP! Just to take my revenge on you!"
The other's overreaction made Sun Jack realize he had guessed correctly. He paused for a few seconds before bowing to the other. "I'm sorry."
Sun Jack's response not only made Number 43 pause, but it also surprised Saotome and UO.
"You just asked me if I knew how many people died because of me; actually, before I took action, I was aware." Sun Jack spoke calmly.
"I knew many would die, not just in Metropolis; now all over the world people are dying constantly because of me, all of them dying because of me."
Facing the other's accusations, Sun Jack's eyes showed no hesitation but grew more determined. "I overthrew the Holy Grail so that people wouldn't be oppressed, so they wouldn't be the unwilling recipients in a dumping market, I did something right."
"But indirectly, I also caused the death of many innocent people, including your Hopelily, I am guilty. I don't want to hide anything, and I don't want to make any excuses."
"I apologize, I will say sorry to the victims, but if given ten, a hundred, even a thousand or ten thousand more chances, I would still choose to sacrifice them."
"Revolution isn't about dining — from the beginning, I knew that revolutionaries have to bear both success and glory, as well as death and guilt."
"If anyone like you wants to hold me accountable, seeks revenge, wants to judge me or whatever else, then bring it on! Come at me!" Sun Jack said this, stepping forward resolutely.
"But I won't sit idly by—if someone has the strength to judge me, then kill me, defeat me! Then replace me and change this rotten world in your own way! Otherwise, as long as I take another breath, I will never stop!"