173: Chapter 173 I heard it, so I won't kneel.

The air on the seventh floor of the Sound Prison Tower felt like it was soaked in lead; Chen Fan could hear his own blood roaring in his ears.

The Silent Domain pressed tightly against his throat, but when the system notification exploded in his mind, he smiled instead—the red light of Critical Hit Foresight flashing frantically on his retina had already seared the words "False Judgment Probability 97%" into his nerves.

"Player Chen Fan, unauthorized use of restricted skills detected. Immediate erasure initiated."

Blue characters flickering with electrical static appeared in the void. He gripped the hammer of the thunder god, which was embedded with a jade slip, his knuckles turning white from the force.

Black Crow's final words, "To hear is to resist," still burned in his palm. The Sound Slaves whose throats had been sealed by the system were now clutching the iron bars, sparks of fire burning in their cloudy eyes.

Chen Fan sneered inwardly: "Trying to trick me again."

Just as the critical hit countdown jumped to "1," a surge of heat rose within his body.

It was the energy of the system reward amplified infinitely, surging up his spine to the back of his neck and thumping against his temples.

Staring at Sound Silence, who was forming hand seals ten paces away, he suddenly swung his hammer and smashed it into the ground—

"Boom!"

The shockwave shot out like a living thing, and the three Echo Prison iron walls on the seventh floor cracked instantly.

Amidst the rain of rubble, he saw Sound Silence's white beard flying wildly in the air blast, the shock on the old man's face more genuine than any other expression.

This was the first time in ten years that this old man, who controlled the Silent Domain, had shown a weakness.

A faint vibration came from the ventilation duct at the top of the tower.

Silent Child curled up at the corner of the ventilation duct, her pale fingertips digging deep into the cracks between the bricks.

She had no ears, yet she could "see" the shape of lies—when the system said "Erasure Successful," the ripples spreading through the air looked like a rotting spiderweb.

Biting her lip, she tapped three times on the brick wall with her knuckles and pushed down a few pieces of rubble.

As those stones fell, they actually formed an arrow shape in mid-air, pointing directly at the shadows to the west.

Chen Fan looked up, his blood-stained eyelashes trembling slightly.

He recognized it as the "Light Language" Black Crow had taught the Sound Slaves—using the arrangement of stones to convey information.

In the shadows indicated by the arrow, the silhouette of the Dark Sound Envoy was slowly manifesting, the cold glint of the Sound Blade at his waist like a venomous snake's flickering tongue.

"Just in time." Chen Fan's knees buckled, and he collapsed heavily to the ground.

The hammer of the thunder god rolled half a meter away with a "clang." He squinted at the approaching boots of the Dark Sound Envoy and heard the other man's suppressed, cold laughter.

Critical Hit Foresight exploded into a golden bullet screen before his eyes: [Target Weakness: Sound Blade requires three seconds to charge] [Linguistic Critical Hit can be stacked 6.8 times]

Just as the tip of the Dark Sound Envoy's blade pressed against the center of Chen Fan's back, he suddenly flipped over.

The hammer of the thunder god had returned to his palm at some point, the waveform symbols Black Crow had carved onto it now glowing with a bloody light.

This strike made no sound, yet it carried a dull roar that tore through the air—the power of a 6.8x critical hit sent the Dark Sound Envoy flying. When he hit the tower wall, his Sound Blade shattered into countless points of light.

"Hiss—" Chen Fan pushed himself up with the hammer, tasting the tang of rust in his throat.

Muffled groans echoed from the other side of the tower wall. He turned and saw a swarm of Light Erosion Sound Insects crawling out from the cracks in the bricks.

Those translucent insects were drawn like magnets, frantically gnawing at the throats of the Silent Guards—they could smell the scent of lies and only killed those who spoke falsehoods.

"The control console!" Chen Fan wiped the blood from his face and rushed toward the stone platform at the center of the tower, which was covered in incantations.

The jade slip grew hot within the cracks of the hammer, but no matter how he pressed it, the runes on the stone platform only flickered briefly before going dark.

Critical Hit Foresight suddenly lit up with a blinding yellow light: [Dual Resonance Required: One "Silent One" must actively transmit information]

He turned back and met a pair of clear, bright eyes.

Silent Child had climbed down from the ventilation duct at some point, her skirt stained with dust, yet her back remained straight.

She walked to Chen Fan's side and tremblingly pressed her palm onto the jade slip.

There was no sound, but Chen Fan could feel it—her heartbeat was thumping out the rhythm of Black Crow's last words: "To... hear... is... to... resist..."

The runes on the stone platform suddenly all lit up.

In a rental house thousands of miles away, a New Player who had just been teleported to a Bronze Dungeon suddenly clutched their ears.

They heard it. Beneath the system's forced "Welcome to the game" notification, an even older voice was roaring: "Welcome, Player No. 000001." Some knelt on the ground weeping, some grabbed chairs and smashed them at the system announcements in the air, and some tore off the Identity Tags from the back of their necks, their fingernails filled with blood.

At the top of the Sound Prison Tower, Sound Silence knelt on a high platform, his hands clutching his robes tightly.

He heard it. The "noises" he had personally sealed were now crawling into his ears through the cracks in the tower walls.

Ten years ago, he had personally cut his own vocal cords just to "protect the order of silence," but now he suddenly remembered the words Black Crow had written in blood on the ground before being pinned with Silver Nails: "Master, can you hear your own heartbeat?"

*Snap.*

The Silver Nail from Sound Silence's throat fell to the ground.

It was the shackle that sealed his voice, and it now rolled to Chen Fan's feet.

"Watch out!"

The hair on the back of Chen Fan's neck stood on end.

He grabbed Silent Child and rolled on the ground. The Dark Sound Envoy's Sound Blade grazed his shoulder, leaving a half-foot deep mark on the wall.

The Shadow Guard who had been blown away earlier was actually not dead. He clutched his burning chest, and blood droplets from the Sound Blade dripped onto the ground with a "sizzle" of corrosion.

"You deserve to die." The Dark Sound Envoy's voice sounded like rusting gears.

Chen Fan tucked Silent Child into the gap beneath the stone platform, and as he turned, a golden light surged in his eyes.

Critical Hit Foresight listed all possibilities before him: the system's "Player Deceased" notification was a lie; the Dark Sound Envoy's Sound Blade had two seconds of charging left; his hammer of the thunder god could withstand three more critical hits—

"Triple Judgment, activate!"

He roared in his mind.

There was no sound, but an invisible soundwave exploded from the head of the hammer.

The Dark Sound Envoy's pupils contracted sharply. He saw Chen Fan's hammer swinging toward him but couldn't avoid the shockwave that was faster than his Sound Blade.

The Shadow Guard, bleeding from his facial orifices, smashed through half the tower wall. The last thing he saw was the silent girl in Chen Fan's arms, smiling at him.

"It's okay now." Chen Fan touched the wound on Silent Child's temple, his fingertips coming away covered in blood.

Her face was as pale as paper, yet she still pulled forcefully at the hem of his clothes, pointing toward the top of the tower—there, Sound Silence was tremblingly removing the last Silver Nail.

The morning light outside the tower finally pierced through the clouds, shining on Chen Fan's blood-stained face.

Looking at the fresh beads of blood on Sound Silence's throat, he said softly, "You heard it, so it's time for you to wake up too."

Silent Child in his arms suddenly gripped his wrist.

Her strength was pitifully small, but she stubbornly pressed his hand onto the jade slip.

The runes on the stone platform began to rotate, and a grander vibration surged through the tower's foundation into the ground—it was the key that could awaken the entire Sound Prison Tower and the first blade that could tear through the system's lies.

"Hang in there." Chen Fan looked down and saw Silent Child's eyelashes trembling in the morning light.

Her lips moved, and he didn't need to hear to know what she was saying—just like the codes Black Crow had carved into his palm with flesh and blood, just like the Identity Tags being crushed simultaneously by players worldwide, just like the soft sound of the Light Erosion Sound Insects gnawing away at lies.

To hear is to resist.

And they have only just begun.