104: Maps and Mazes

As Chen Feng's voice fell, the entire 'Abyss 777 Anonymous Channel' fell into a deathly silence.

It was a silence even heavier than before, as if even the information flow in the virtual space had frozen solid.

Inside the secret communications room, Su Li held her breath, her eyes behind her glasses staring fixedly at the monitoring curves of the data stream, terrified of missing even the slightest change. Reno didn't even dare to breathe loudly, his heavy breathing sounding particularly jarring at this moment.

Every second felt as long as a century.

All bets were on the table; they were waiting for the dealer's verdict.

Finally, Raven's raspy voice rang out again, breaking the suffocating silence. But this time, his voice carried a faint, barely perceptible trace of... approval.

"Heh... interesting little fellow."

"Twenty years is enough."

"As for the Free Port access permit and the preliminary intelligence on the 'Mental Shackle'..."

Raven drew out his words, as if enjoying the torment of Chen Feng's team.

"I shall grant them all."

"The deal... is struck."

The moment the words fell, the screen in front of Chen Feng suddenly lit up. Like a burst dam, a massive flood of data surged violently into Hanhai Trade's terminal.

"Boss!" For the first time, Su Li's voice carried an irrepressible excitement. "The information stream is connected! Beginning analysis! My god... the amount of intelligence is enormous!"

She operated the controls rapidly, projecting the filtered information onto the central screen.

"This is... this is a complete star map of Tartarus Free Port! It includes all public and hidden lanes, distribution maps of major powers, black market trading points... there's even the public activity patterns of the Port Master, Hecate, for the past six months!"

"And this!" Su Li switched the interface. "Eve's detailed file!"

Chen Feng's gaze was instantly drawn to it.

The file opened with a holographic photo. A young girl with cascading silver hair and a face as exquisite as a doll's stood quietly in a pure white space.

But her eyes were hollow, as if covered by a thick layer of dust, devoid of any luster.

"Eve... former Chief Scientist of the 'Thirteenth Law Application Research Institute' under the Omni-Dimensional Trade Alliance..." Chen Feng read the text on the file in a low voice. "Secretly placed under house arrest after being labeled a 'technical traitor' for refusing to cooperate with high-level Alliance experiments on 'inhumane law'..."

The soulless eyes in the photo were like a needle, pricking Chen Feng's heart.

"Boss, look at this." Su Li pulled up another piece of intelligence, her tone turning heavy. "It's a preliminary explanation of the 'Mental Shackle'."

On the screen, an animated simulation clearly demonstrated its principles.

It wasn't physical imprisonment or simple brainwashing. It was an extremely sophisticated high-dimensional technology that manipulated consciousness coding by constructing a complex 'logical paradox' prison directly in the depths of the target's soul.

It made the victim subjectively believe they were free, but any thought of 'escaping' or 'leaking secrets' would trigger a paradox punishment, plunging them into unspeakable mental agony. This achieved an 'open-ended' slavery that could never be broken.

Chen Feng's heart sank bit by bit.

This meant that the person he was going to rescue wasn't a prisoner locked in a cage, but a slave whose soul was trapped in a labyrinth.

On the screen, the star map of Tartarus Free Port fully unfolded. It was a massive labyrinth haphazardly stitched together from countless abandoned ships, asteroid bases, and space station wreckage. It looked like an ugly scar across the cosmic shipping lanes, exuding an aura of chaos and danger.

The map was densely marked with various black markets, smuggling routes, dangerous Scavenger patrol zones, and Port Master Hecate's inviolable 'Absolute Neutrality' patrol route, marked in crimson.

Just then, Raven's projection sharpened slightly; he hadn't left yet.

"I'll give you a piece of 'advice' as a bonus."

"Although Tartarus Free Port is chaotic, Port Master Hecate's rules are more effective than the laws of any civilization. Don't try to be clever there, and don't challenge her 'neutrality'. Her loyalty to money far exceeds your respect for life."

Chen Feng nodded. "Thank you."

"No need for thanks." Raven's projection began to blur, like a candle in the wind about to go out.

His raspy voice seemed to penetrate the virtual space, carrying a weariness and cynicism that had seen through the world, echoing in the minds of Chen Feng and the other two like an ancient bell.

"Finally, remember my catchphrase."

"Every coin has an invisible other side."

"Those undead crystals you traded are, in the cognition of certain dimensions, the highest-risk 'sources of law pollution'."

"Their other side might be more dangerous than you imagine."

As soon as he finished speaking, the blue vortex suddenly contracted, and the projection vanished completely.

Inside the communications room, a dead silence returned.

Reno and Su Li, who had just breathed a sigh of relief due to the successful trade, now had frozen expressions on their faces.

Chen Feng sat there alone, looking at Eve's hollow face on the screen and Raven's final curse-like warning. For the first time, the victory he had just grasped tasted like ashes.