novelraw Chapter 244: Everything's a Mess—Who's the Fake One?
Chapter 244: Everything's a Mess—Who's the Fake One?
The three of them stood in a triangle, each occupying a different corner of the room, the tension between them thick and silent.
Ever since the prison guard walked in, even the argument between Know-it-All and the Warden had come to a halt, replaced by a strange, eerie atmosphere.
What kind of place was this? A bizarre prison reeking of Lovecraftian vibes, hiding secrets that weren’t meant for outsiders.
The three of them normally avoided seeing each other, each managing their own turf, even going out of their way to steer clear of one another.
Whenever there was anything to report, they'd usually just have their subordinates fill out forms or pass messages along.
Now, with the top three figures in the prison gathered together—even though there wasn’t anything specific going on—everyone felt a little uneasy.
Especially under circumstances like these.
In the end, it was the newly arrived prison guard who finally broke the silence.
His bloodshot eyes locked tightly onto Know-it-All as he repeated his earlier question:
"Why are you here? Did you come straight over?"Know-it-All frowned. The question confused him a bit, but he still replied,
"This is between me and him. He took my stuff."
"What’s it to you? Can you wait a second?"
The prison guard squinted in puzzlement, tilting his head as he looked at Know-it-All.
"Shouldn’t it be… that I took your stuff?"
Know-it-All: ?
Warden: ?
Neither of them got it. Know-it-All let out a cold chuckle, eyeing the prison guard suspiciously.
"What are you saying? He gave it to you?"
"When did you ever take my stuff?"
"I didn’t take anything from you." The prison guard shook his head again, and Know-it-All couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.
"Did I not get enough sleep today, or is the universe just out of whack? Everyone I’ve run into today seems f***ing brain-dead."
"You just said you took it, and now you’re saying you didn’t. You just here to screw around?"
"Is this any of your business? If not, let the two of us settle this first."
Know-it-All had been having a rough day. A top-tier figure in the prison, yet Lu Ce had turned him into a total punching bag.
Naturally, his tone wasn’t exactly polite.
Prison Guard: ……
He narrowed his eyes, clearly not planning on leaving. In fact, he stepped forward.
"When we met just now, didn’t you say I took your stuff? I already explained it to you."
"You showed up this fast? Or... are you the fake one?"
The prison guard was the biggest of the three, standing in the doorway like a guardian deity—or more accurately, like a blocker preventing anyone from leaving.
Based on his speech patterns and demeanor, he felt like the one in front of him might be the imposter.
"A pretty interesting guy showed up in our prison... you know about that?"
"Of course I know! Didn’t the Warden come find me about it earlier? Said something about an interesting person. But what’s it got to do with me?!"
Know-it-All was pissed now and shouted back.
"Give me back that headset. How it’s handled and judged is up to me!"
"I’ll say it one more time! I never took your headset!" the Warden interjected.
"That guy might be able to turn into other people," the prison guard continued, "Between you and the one I saw earlier, one of you might be fake."
"Then why not say you’re the fake one?" This was the first time Know-it-All had heard about this, and he was still trying to wrap his head around it. Sensing he was falling into a self-proving trap, he quickly fired back.
All three of them kept talking past one another, none giving an inch.
Each stood tall and tense—none had the intention of sitting down.
The prison guard stared hard at Know-it-All, his eyes full of suspicion.
From his perspective, out of the two Know-it-Alls, one of them had to be fake—but at least one must be real.
One said he took it, but he knew he didn’t. The other said the Warden took it. So who was telling the truth?
If the one from earlier was real, then that Pink Mask must’ve shapeshifted into him and stolen something.
If the one here was fake, then accusing the Warden was just framing him—total bull.
But that other guy... he had hinted at being suspicious of the Warden too, saying he hadn’t seen him in a while. What did that mean?
If the previous one was real, then everything kind of checks out. Maybe the one in front of him is also legit!
But if the earlier one was fake, then... this Warden is fake too?
He had come back with some suspicion about the Warden already—like why the guy suddenly attacked him, and hit so hard.
But then again, the reason for that suspicion... was because he had believed that earlier guy!
If they were both fake, then wasn’t he just digging a hole for himself?
The prison guard’s whole aura was now extremely unstable. He had considered several possibilities, but none could fully convince him.
The more he thought, the more he felt that neither of the two in front of him were trustworthy. His fists clenched tighter, veins bulging—he was itching to solve this with brute force, but there was no clear target.
The Warden’s brows were also tightly furrowed. At first, he thought Know-it-All had been duped too, but now even he wasn’t sure who was really fooled.
And also, why did the prison guard return so suddenly? Something about him seemed different too.
Know-it-All was in even worse shape. Looking back now, he couldn’t tell how much of what he’d seen or experienced had been real or fake.
“That woman... is she really that cunning...” Know-it-All couldn’t help but mutter.
“Woman?” the prison guard repeated in confusion. “Wasn’t that a man? I dragged him out of the men’s cellblock. He even fought me.”
“A man?” A new question mark popped up over Know-it-All’s head.
The three of them fell into silence again.
Everyone had doubts, but the mutual distrust kept them from voicing any of it.
Each one of them believed there was probably a fake among the other two. With such a top-level meeting, that cunning bastard would never miss the chance to make a move!
But Lu Ce hadn’t actually been scheming anything—he had just vented his inner mess onto everyone else... and then left.
“That guy really is a tough nut to crack. This prison’s heading for chaos...” the Warden said heavily.
“Don’t be so optimistic,” Know-it-All sneered as he scanned the room. “What do you mean ‘that guy’? Maybe... he’s already here...”