174: Chapter 174 Shut up, I'll fight for Wan Sheng

Morning light pierced the cracks of the Sound Prison Tower, casting fragmented specks of light onto Chen Fan's blood-soaked wrist guard.

The Silent Child in his arms looked like a flower petal drenched by a downpour, her eyelashes dotted with blood beads, her fingertips still tightly clutching the corner of his clothes—where the sound wave totem, drawn in blood by Black Crow before his death, was embroidered.

"Little Girl, don't sleep." Chen Fan's Adam's apple bobbed as his thumb gently brushed her icy earlobe.

That was the only place she could perceive vibrations.

He could clearly feel her pulse weakening, like the wick of a candle flickering in the wind.

System prompts flashed across his retina: [Medium Lifeform Vital Signs - 37%, Resonance will be interrupted in 2 minutes and 58 seconds].

Critical Hit Foresight suddenly unfolded a scarlet deduction diagram before his eyes: The Silent Child's spirit was being torn apart by the jade slip's backlash, like a silk handkerchief shoved into a meat grinder.

Chen Fan's back molars ached from clenching his jaw—three days ago in the black market, when this girl clutched a moldy piece of hardtack and used a stone stylus to write 'I want to hear Mommy sing a lullaby' in his palm, her eyes shone like stars.

"I absolutely won't let you die." He suddenly knelt on one knee, driving the hammer of the thunder god heavily into the bluestone slab.

The hammerhead hummed and trembled, golden patterns emerging on its metallic surface—that was the battle soul he had quenched into it using ten Critical Hits. "Didn't the system say illegal injection would trigger clearance?" He pulled open his collar, sliced his palm open with the hammer's edge, and let his blood drip into the jade slip's groove, "Come on, I'll give you some real stuff to see!"

Alarms suddenly blared, and the crystal lights on the tower summit rained down.

System prompts flashed before Chen Fan's eyes: [Warning: Non-player energy injection detected, initiating ultimate clearance protocol—]

"Lies," he smiled, staring at the text. Blood beads seeped through his fingers into the jade slip. "Last time in the Bronze Dungeon, you said 'Newbie Village has no BOSS,' but three Man-Eating Vines popped out." He recalled Black Crow carving 'System rhetoric is 70% false' onto his hand with his fingernails when his vocal cords were pierced by silver nails. "Last time in the Silver Mine, you said 'Completing the mission guarantees survival,' but Old Zhou was crushed into meat paste by falling rocks right after turning in the quest."

"Critical Hit judgment, stack up for me!"

The Dark Sound Envoy's sound blade chain wrapped around him at that moment.

The Shadow Guard had darted out from behind a broken wall at some unknown time; half his face was blown off by Chen Fan's shockwave, revealing writhing black tentacles underneath—it turned out the System had long since transformed him into a monster.

The sound blade chain moved like a living thing, burrowing into the gaps of Chen Fan's arm guard, causing the veins on his arm to bulge out.

"You deserve to die." Broken syllables were squeezed from the Dark Sound Envoy's throat. The sound blade chain suddenly tightened, and Chen Fan heard a faint 'crack' from his shoulder blade.

But he was laughing, staring at the newly popped-up System prompt: [Target Cleared, Mission Complete]—What a familiar lie, identical to the wording used to trick Old Zhou into the mine shaft back then.

"Language Critical Hit, triggered," he silently recited, his pupils glowing gold as he stared at the text.

His muscles instantly swelled threefold, the crisp sound of the sound blade chain snapping mixing with the Dark Sound Envoy's scream.

Chen Fan snatched up the hammer of the thunder god, the lightning from the hammerhead striking directly into the Shadow Guard's chest—this was the 'Thunderstorm Art' he had stacked using three Critical Hits, originally intended for the Tower Master.

As the Dark Sound Envoy was smashed into the wall, Chen Fan saw black liquid flowing from his eye sockets, as if he were crying.

"Sorry, this time it's your turn to hear the truth." Chen Fan shook the blood from his hand and, turning around, bumped directly into Sound Silence's gaze.

The silver nails in the old speaker's throat had all fallen out, blood flowing down his neck into the collar of his robe, dyeing the plain white Taoist robe dark red.

He staggered toward the control console, every step feeling like treading on knife points.

Chen Fan noticed his right hand was trembling, his fingers curled into a strange shape—this was sign language, the secret language used by the first generation speakers to fight the System's silence.

"I... listened to lies my whole life..." Sound Silence's mouth movements were slow, every word seeming like chewing broken glass, "Now... I want to speak the truth."

His palm pressed onto the terminal, blood spreading along the console's grooves.

Chen Fan recognized this as the 'Unbinding Cipher' drawn in Black Crow's diary, requiring a speaker's lifeblood to activate.

The System alarm instantly changed pitch, red light waves scattering wildly across the tower summit: [High-risk rebellion detected, initiating Silent Fuse Cutoff—10! 9!]

Sound Silence suddenly turned back, a smile blooming on his blood-stained face.

He raised his hand and, with his last bit of strength, formed a mouth shape: For me... roar once.

The Silent Child in Chen Fan's arms suddenly moved.

Her fingers traced patterns in his palm, very slowly, but clearly—"Brother, go help Grandpa Sound." Only then did he realize her pupils were beginning to disperse, like crushed stars.

Critical Hit Foresight exploded at this moment: [Sound Prison Tower energy overload, collapse in 30 seconds] [Jade Slip Activation Degree 87%, requires Speaker's True Word Sacrifice].

Chen Fan looked up sharply, seeing the hand Sound Silence pressed on the terminal beginning to turn transparent—the System was erasing his existence.

"Catch!" He tossed the jade slip toward Sound Silence.

The moment the old speaker caught it, golden light patterns spread across his body—this was the bloodline awakening belonging to a true speaker.

When the countdown reached '5', Sound Silence opened his mouth and uttered the first sound in a hundred years:

"—Anyone who hears this, stand up for me!"

The sound was like solid golden ripples, surging toward the heavens through the jade slip.

A ringing filled Chen Fan's ears. He watched all the crystals on the tower summit explode; in the light refracted by the shards, he seemed to see countless shadows cheering—these were the lingering wills of the previous speakers imprisoned in the Echo Prison, finally finding a vessel to carry their voices.

In a rented room somewhere in the world, a delivery driver who had just been judged 'Mission Failed' by the System suddenly covered his ears.

He heard it, not the System's mechanical voice, but an ancient yet powerful voice: "Stand up";

In an underground dungeon somewhere, a female student being chased by ghouls touched the nameplate around her neck.

That object suddenly grew hot and cracked with a 'ka' sound. She heard it: "Stand up";

In a construction site dormitory, Chen Fan's former co-worker, Old Wu, was clutching an expired steamed bun.

The System prompt had just flashed 'Survival authorization remaining: 3 hours' when he heard the next second: "Stand up".

The Sound Prison Tower began to tilt.

Chen Fan slung the Silent Child onto his back and rushed toward the exit. The hammer of the thunder god automatically floated above his head, smashing open collapsing stone beams for him.

System prompts flashed wildly before his eyes: [Language Critical Hit - Fully Activated] [For every System lie exposed, an extra Critical Hit judgment opportunity is granted].

The moment he stepped out of the tower gate, he looked back.

Sound Silence stood in the center of the golden light mass, being decomposed into points of light.

The old man gave him one last look, his mouth forming the shape of 'Thank you'.

Then the light mass exploded, and debris mixed with fire poured down.

"Little Girl, did you hear that?" Chen Fan rushed into the morning mist, the roar of the collapsing tower echoing behind him.

He could feel the Silent Child's breathing lighten slightly, but her fingertips still rested near his neck—where his pulse was, resonating with the 'Stand up' sound wave.

In the distance, the sharp spire of the Shadow Pavilion was faintly visible in the morning mist.

Chen Fan touched the girl in his arms, then touched the newly added inscription on the hammer of the thunder god: 'All Voices'.

"You want silence?" He laughed into the wind, "I damn well want to—"

"Boom!"

The final dome of the Sound Prison Tower crashed onto the ground, and from the resulting smoke and dust, a burning wooden plaque flew up and landed heavily by Chen Fan's feet.

Carved on it was: Shadow Pavilion - Main Hub.

When the smoke cleared, Chen Fan was already far away.

Only that wooden plaque remained smoking, and faintly visible on the back were the words: "Next, it's your turn."