Transmigrating as an Extra Third-Rate Villain

"Why did you stop, Zeng?"

Rubbing his nose, which had bumped straight into Zeng's back, Ren inwardly cursed before staring at Zeng.

After staying silent for a moment, Zeng simply pointed forward before awkwardly replying.

"I don't know...it's like I can't go any further than here."

Confused, Ren manifested a dagger before infusing it with the blood-red substance, illuminating the underground tunnel.

As Ren gestured for Zeng to demonstrate, he promptly stretched his hand out, but Zeng's hand couldn't reach all the way forward, as if there was an invisible wall blocking the way forward.

Proving his point, Zeng raised his foot and attempted to move forward; however, his foot was stopped mid-air from moving any farther.

Looking at the peculiar situation where Zeng couldn't move forward, Ren couldn't help but mutter.

"Discrimination?"

Had the principal set up a barrier around the academy to prevent any djinns from exiting?

Considering the fact that the principal knew about the vault robbery in advance, it was possible she would do something like this so that no djinns escaped.

Was she discriminating against djinns specifically?

As Zeng turned around with a disappointed expression, and Raven looked confusedly at him, Ren said.

"Let me try."

Nodding his head, Zeng moved towards the walls, allowing Ren to squeeze right by him and be at the front of our line.

Looking at the exact area where Zeng's foot was forced to halt mid-air, Ren raised his foot and attempted to stop forward at full speed.

"*OW*"

However, as Ren stepped forward, his knee suddenly burst into pain, as if it had just bumped into a brick wall.

Clutching his knee, Ren stretched his hand forward, confirming that there was, indeed, some invisible wall blocking them from moving forward.

As a sudden wall stopped Ren's hand from moving any further forward, he sighed before turning to Raven.

"We're digging down."

If they couldn't get out one way, they would have to find another way out.

At least...that was the plan.

Manifesting three corrupted shovels, Ren handed them to both Zeng and Raven before also beginning to dig down himself.

He couldn't use any over-the-top abilities or dynamite like last time to dig as the main cast above ground could still be searching for him.

So, it was back to the basics.

Watching Zeng and Raven begin to dig downwards, Ren recalled how he had done the same exact thing with Jin and Han in the battle royale not even a week ago.

Shaking his head, Ren picked up his own shovel before digging downward himself.

Until...another invisible wall appeared.

Zeng started first and was the most efficient in digging downwards, so he encountered the wall first.

Picking up his shovel like normal, Zeng slammed it downwards, trying to embed it in the ground; however, instead...he was only met with plain.

As the tip of Zeng's corrupted shovel made contact with the ground below...the corruption bent.

Yes, the corruption that Ren treasured for its resilience against almost every material, including the obsidian on the door protecting the vault, broke.

Dropping his shovel, Ren stared at the broken, corrupted shovel in Zeng's hands for a couple of seconds, rubbing his eyes countless times to make sure it was real.

Following in Zeng's footsteps, only a couple of seconds later, a shriek could be heard as the tip of Raven's corrupted shovel made contact with the invisible wall.

"...my corruption."

After repairing the corrupted shovels of Zeng and Raven, Ren sent the two in opposite directions, hoping to find a way out from this invisible wall.

However, after ten minutes, both of them reported back with alarming news,

"It's also blocked off this way."

"Blocked off over here as well."

De-manifesting everyone's corrupted shovels, Ren sighed before staring up at the ceiling.

Had the principal taken precautions to prevent anyone from escaping through the underground?

No...Raven and Zang had managed to dig their way up without encountering the invisible wall, so that couldn't be the case.

The manifestation of the invisible wall had to have been more recent, between when Zeng and Raven finished their tunnel and when Ren arrived in the tunnel.

What suspicious things had happened during that time frame?

"the voice."

Recalling the strange and unknown voice that had sounded twice earlier, Ren realized that it definitely had something to do with the invisible walls.

It didn't want them to escape.

Above the ground, the main cast and two recruiters were spread out all across the cave, staying completely silent.

Each other, with their ears ready, held weapons facing downward that were ready to fire if the smallest sound appeared.

After a couple of moments, Kazuki shook his head before saying, breaking the silence.

"The robber has to have been gone by now...he must have had some plan setup."

Nodding his head, Kaneki seemed oddly happy, even though they had just lost, as he walked over to the main cast.

"Don't worry... we'll find the robber eventually."

Pointing at his katana, which was still covered by a bunch of pitch-black clouds, Kaneki added.

"He'll make sure of it."

Putting aside Kaneki's odd words, Kazuki glanced at Lily before asking.

"Did anything happen...while you and the robber were in the vault."

Shaking her head, Lily pointed at her uninjured body before saying.

"He was just planning on using me as a hostage...so he didn't do anything."

Although Lily wanted to tell the truth and talk about how Ren was involved, she wanted to wait...wait for his response.

Even if there was no evidence, Lily would be putting a target on Ren's back for the rest of his life if she exposed his identity.

Robbing the principal's vault would put Ren in trouble not only with the principal but also with the academy and all its powerful alumni.

Once she exposed Ren's identity as the robber, there was no going back...everyone would know about it.

That's why she decided, for now, she was just going to tell the main cast, who she trusted, not to say anything to anyone, and not the recruiters.

Nodding his head at Lily's answer, Kazuki sighed before asking.

"How...much did he take from the vault...approximately."

It was time for damage control.

As all eyes shifted towards her, Lily thought for a moment before finally answering.

"There was nothing to take."

Of course, everyone looked at Lily for specifications, but she just shook her head and replied,

"Nothing was taken from the vault at all...I'm one hundred percent sure about it." Read new adventures at empire

Hearing this, Kauzki's expression immediately changed as he realized that, technically, he might not have failed his task of protecting the vault.

However, Kaneki didn't care about the task as his curiosity overwhelmed him.

"What do you mean by that? What was in the vau-"

Stopping Kaneki mid-sentence, Liam stepped forward with his hand raised and said.

"You can ask Principal Seraphina all of those questions, not Lily."

Recalling something, Alya hesitated before saying.

"Speaking of the Principal...was that voice earlier her?"

Shrugging his shoulder, Kaneki replied.

"Didn't sound like her...and I doubt she would ever speak like that.

As everybody recalled the unknown voice that had sounded earlier, silence emerged in the underground space.

Nodding his head, Kazuki sighed before announcing.

"So, nobody knows who the owner of the voice is."

Immediately drawing his weapon, Kevin stepped forward and asked.

"Does that mean there's another person in this space, here with us."

Immediately, everyone turned around and began glancing around the underground space, looking for any clues.

And they did find someone...just not who they were looking for.

Right by the entrance to the underground space stood Astrid with her wand in hand.

Seeing them make eye contact with her, Astrid nodded her head before approaching them.

Not allowing them to speak first, she immediately pointed at the entrance to the underground space before saying.

"The reinforcements are blocked off...there's some metal slab preventing anyone from leaving or entering."

"It appeared right after I jumped down into the space, so I was left there alone."

As the flames lighting the cave began to flick, Irene immediately questioned.

"Does that mean...we can't leave this space."

Nodding, Astrid answered.

"Yes, for now, there is no way out unless we make one ourselves."

"If worse comes to worse, we can just use our powers to make our way upward and then leave this place."

As Irene calmed down, Kaneki roughly bit his lip, causing blood to leak out and stain his face.

Wiping his mouth, Kaneki glanced at the blocked entrance to the underground space before saying.

"If that were true, then the reinforcements would have arrived by now. They definitely have the power to make a tunnel down here, yet they haven't."

"Something is preventing them from making tunnel downward, and therefore, we are also being prevented from going upward."

"Or, in other words, we are completely trapped in this space."