After the conversation between Qin and Noah last night, Noah would distract himself with different thoughts to keep him awake, frightened of falling asleep and having a dream filled with pain like the others. How did I pass the first phase? It should most likely be the removal of the rope because anything else would not serve as an accomplishment. But, if that's the case… the next phase should most likely be cleared by escaping the room.

Although he had a general notion as to what he wanted to achieve, he needed to find a means to apply the plan with the least risk possible. This process of thinking took the entire night, reaching early dawn.

But once dawn came, Noah’s ears picked up the soft sounds of footsteps outside.

It was Troy, he stopped by Qin’s cell and with a lazy tone, told him, “Qin, it’s about time for your appointment.”

Just waking up, Qin rubbed his eyes as he tiredly yawned, “Why does it always have to start this early in the morning?”

“I don’t know, but you can ask the boss for further complaints. Anyway, you need to be there as soon as possible, especially since that man wants to talk to you through video call.”

All sense of drowsiness in Qin’s voice was gone as it was overcome with astonishment and rage. “T-that… man…! It doesn’t matter whether I’m there or not, he wouldn’t care, after all, he’s emotionless towards everyone.”

Creek…!

Troy opened the door, saying, “I don’t know, but orders are orders, and as I said, if you want to complain, go to the higher-ups.”

Hesitantly, Qin complied with what he was told and swallowed his pride, albeit with a little bit of anger and indignation. He rose up and had his chains unclasped, exchanged with a different type of cuffs. Instead of using an iron or steel-like craft, they employed an expanded, robust, and thick hardwood board as the mainframe. It featured two holes in the center, next to each other, were Qin's hands which were inserted in. To open it, a keyhole was in the board's edge which unlocked the line that goes through the center of the board, passing through the holes.

It weighed around a good fifty pounds, or perhaps even more. But Qin was able to effortlessly lift and move around with it.

As he exited the cell, he asked Troy, “Can I see the cell that’s beside mine?”

“Hm? You mean the slave that piqued Herod’s curiosity?”

“Yeah, if I’m going to see him later, I might as well do what I want to do first.”

"Alright," Troy said nonchalantly, before glancing towards Noah, forgetting all that had transpired in the red-light area, wondering – Why is everyone so interested in that slave… Noah…? Even though I heard he cleared the first phase on the first day, which, don’t get me wrong, is impressive. I still don't believe it's enough to warrant Herod, Qin, or even the warden’s curiosity...

Feeling a strange and off-putting intimacy between both Troy and Qin, Noah faked his sleep before Qin stood before his cell.

Qin's gaze slowly rose from Noah's wounds to his eyes as he murmured, “Quite the ugly guy…” He turned his head towards Troy before adding, “Looks like the warden really held back quite a bit.”

“Hm? Well yeah… if he didn’t hold back, he wouldn’t have all those wounds, instead, he would most likely be dead.”

When they left, Noah didn’t mind their comments, but he was curious as to what Qin and Troy’s relationship was. But it didn’t bother him that much, since he barely knew anything about Qin and it was obvious the warden held back a lot last time. He also knew that Troy was linked to Herod since he had connections with slaves, so it was simple to draw the links.

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He then proceeded to return to thinking about the strategy that he had devised a while ago. Even after thinking all night, the chances of me passing it in my current state would be almost zero.

He then tried to stand up with all the strength he could muster, but he could only elevate himself high enough to be on the same level as the wooden board. He slumped back down on the ground, mumbling, “I need to get stronger…”

Raising his hands, Noah slowly and dreadfully reached under his shirt and felt his wounds, but when he did, he discovered that most of them had dried up and become scabs.

He smiled, knowing that once all his wounds turned into scabs, he could begin training. He also had a speculation that there would unlikely be any ‘special treatment’ today since if there was, the order Herod made to the warden would’ve been broken.

After a few hours, Noah struggled with all his might to get up. It might’ve been easier than before, but it was still exceedingly difficult and painful. However, he disregarded the pain, clouding his mind with thoughts of continuing his training, his survival, and vengeance.

With perspiration streaming down his grimaced face, he slightly squatted down. He positioned his right hand by his face, and the other by his chest. Palms both open, and fingers stiff but still slightly curved.

He drew back his left arm, palm still open, and swiftly shot it against the dense cell walls. He returned to his stance before punching the wall with his right. He repeated this cycle of attacks, frequently executing other moves such as scratches, punches, elbows, and uppercuts.

When his stab wound began to bleed once more, he dropped his fists down and started to send a barrage of kicks, stomps, and knees towards the wall.

Only when a guard walked to his cell and yelled at him did he come to a halt. “Shut up! Damn slave!”

It was around noon when he was stopped, and his body was more bruised and beaten than before he started his self-training. He laid himself on the ground, and he covered his eyes with his arm. In the quiet darkness of his cell, and in great exhaustion, he couldn’t help but still wonder, “Who is ‘that man’…?”

Little did he know though, Qin was already in his cell and had heard his query, to which he answered, “’That man’? So, you heard our conversation. But didn’t I explain to you before? Cur-”

This time, Noah cut him off from speaking. “I know… I don’t mind you not telling me about him; I was just curious. And I don’t enjoy digging into other people’s pasts, but just like how I don’t, please don’t dig into mine either.”

Qin stayed silent.

Changing the tone of the conversation, Noah proceeded to ask about something else, “Ugly… I remember you called me ugly, bastard.”

Qin grasped what Noah was intending to do and responded with a musical chuckle. “You also heard that?”

“It was quite annoying, you know? Hearing that first thing in the morning.”

“Hahaha… I’m sorry, I didn’t expect you to be the type of person to get mad about those types of things.”

“I’ll let this slide only if you promise to owe me one.”

Already tearing up from laughter, Qin could only barely say, “alright, alright,” under his loud laughs.