Rhine Lab researcher Silence and Engineering Department's Mayer were waiting for someone at a quiet bar on Columbia's border. The person they were expecting never showed up — instead, an unidentified internal-line call came through. 'Anthony is in your hands, and I know you helped him break out.'

The person who showed up instead was Muelsyse, chief of Rhine Lab's Ecology Department. She laughed, saying she'd rented out the whole bar — all to grill them thoroughly about the prison break that had happened at state-run Mansfield Prison four months earlier.

Silence was the mastermind behind that prison break. But even before the story began, Muelsyse already knew one thing: that the escape involved one more name — one that even Silence herself hadn't known about.

1. An interrogation with the whole bar rented out — but drinks are on the house

Muelsyse introduced herself first as chief of the Ecology Department. The rule was simple: one question, one answer, taking turns.

Silence sent Mayer off to the kitchen first. She still hadn't told Mayer that Rhine Lab's Energy Department was behind this whole affair.

Anthony, the only son of the fallen Simon Company. The one who brought that family down was Hydrobro, a building-materials firm in Bunker Hill City — and behind Hydrobro stood Ferdinand, chief of the Energy Department.

2. The rookie con artist takes over the prison — one winning hand at a time

Kafka was a con artist. The moment she got into prison, she started fleecing the inmates' pocket change at card games.

This prison was mobile. Uninfected inmates were held in Zone A, the Infected in Zone B, and Zone C was the tower reserved for the most violent offenders.

The guards actually enjoyed betting on brawls between inmates — the winning side supposedly got better meals. Kafka used the chaos as cover to dig up information here and there.

And in the Zone C tower, Kafka finally heard the name. Anthony — the strongest yet most courteous inmate in the prison, someone even the guards couldn't push around.

3. The undercover killer gets knocked out by someone else's fight on her first day

Robin had also entered the prison around that time. On the surface a cleaner, but in reality a contract killer sent after Anthony.

After her father's business failed and he fell ill, Robin took the job to pay for his treatment. She landed a cleaning assignment and managed to make it all the way into Anthony's cell.

But before she could even make her move, an entirely different team of assassins burst in first — other killers also after Anthony.

Caught up in the fight, Robin was knocked out in an instant. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was an unfamiliar inmate's back, shielding her. It was Anthony.

4. The man who bluntly asks his lifesaver to help him break out

In truth, Kafka had only been playing unconscious. While everyone else was out cold, she quietly spoke to Anthony. 'Call me Kafka. I'm here to help you.'

Kafka told him the truth — Simon Company had already been seized over Originium smuggling charges, and his whole family was serving time in a Bunker Hill City prison.

Anthony slammed his fist on the table beside him, sending things clattering to the floor. But he soon spoke calmly. 'I'm just glad my family is still alive.'

Then he bowed his head. 'Please help me escape.' For the first time in six years, the prison's most free inmate had spoken his true wish.

5. The guilt Silence carries, and two thieves gossiping behind the scenes

But why did Silence take on such a reckless venture in the first place? With a bit of liquid courage in her, she finally opened up.

The 'Diabolic' Incident that occurred within Rhine Lab. Test subject Ifrit went through something no one should have to endure, and Saria took full responsibility and left the company. Watching the aftermath, Silence began doubting Rhine Lab for the very first time.

After transferring to Rhodes Island, she went back through some old records her mentor had once left behind. That's how she stumbled onto traces connected to the fall of the Simon family — something that had started as nothing more than idle curiosity.

When she asked Rhodes Island's Kal'tsit for advice, there was just one thing she said. 'I hope you can hold to the belief that what you're doing is good, all the way to the end.'

Drunk, Silence finally broke down in front of Mayer. 'I always thought that if I just tried hard enough, I could solve any problem. But this time, I'm scared I might not have the courage to solve it.'

Meanwhile, down in the prison basement, Kafka was secretly meeting with Mina, who was disguised as a cleaner. Mina bitterly remarked that Anthony had once saved her family, but the Anthony she saw now felt like a different person.

Kafka's reason for helping Silence was simple. 'Because Silence is a good person.' Mina pointed out the irony — that helping such a good person meant, of all things, breaking someone else out of prison.

No matter how good your intentions are, if what you're doing is wrong, you can't call yourself a good person, can you? If that's the case, it's better to just admit from the start that you're a bad person.

— Kafka

6. Jesselton reveals to Robin the true name of her enemy

But Robin had another shadow following her. A man posing as a prison guard, Jesselton. He too was actually a killer after Anthony, and he had secretly overheard the moment Anthony asked Robin for help escaping.

Jesselton dropped a truth on Robin: it was none other than the Simon family's last desperate act that had brought down her father's company, Blackcloud.

Pain is equal for everyone. Can you say your pain matters less than Anthony's?

— Jesselton

Robin answered with silence. Her father's surgery costs, the things Anthony couldn't give her, the things Jesselton could. In the end, she gave a short answer.

'...I'll do it.'

7. Why the undertaker hasn't left the prison in six years

The escape plan was starting to come together. The prison was an artificial structure built in the shape of a mountain, and the Zone C tower at its center was designed to sink underground.

Trigger the trap from the control room at the top of the tower to sink it, cut the power to cause chaos, then escape through the tunnel Domma had dug. That was the plan.

But Domma, a member of the team herself, had no intention of leaving with them at all. Born and raised in this prison, she had never once been outside.

'Going outside... scares me,' Domma said. Even so, she was ready to risk her life to help with Anthony's escape. Robin tried to comfort her.

'You're the one who deserves a better life.'

8. On the day of the plan, only Robin didn't show up

On the day they were to go up the tower disguised as cleaning staff, only Robin failed to show. Kafka muttered anxiously, 'If you're going to blame someone, blame yourself for not being here at a moment this urgent.'

Kafka and Anthony headed to the control room as planned. Fumbling with the wrong buttons a few times, they finally managed to trigger the trap.

That's exactly when Robin appeared. She had secretly followed along using a spare card. With an explosion, the power went out, and the tower began sinking underground with a deafening roar.

Just as Robin was about to fall into the elevator shaft, Anthony caught her. 'Clench your back teeth, don't bite your tongue!' In the pitch darkness, the tower sank down underground like that.

9. The traitor's true choice

In the powerless corridor, Robin finally told him everything — who sent her into the prison, the real reason her father's company collapsed, and the choice she was making right now.

'I'm so tired. I don't want to judge what's right or wrong, good or bad anymore. Why should I have to!' Robin shouted.

You mustn't hand your right to choose over to someone else. We have no choice but to rely on ourselves.

— Anthony

Anthony added that he too was afraid of making mistakes, but that didn't mean he could avoid choosing. Robin turned those words over in her mind for a long while.

But then, from Domma's room at the end of the corridor, a familiar voice rang out. 'Oh, don't worry about not being able to find me. I'll be right here, waiting for you.'

10. The countdown, and the man covered in steel plating

In Domma's room, Jesselton was waiting, having had an inmate take her hostage. 'I'll give you five seconds, Ms. Robin.' He began the countdown.

Three, two... Robin finally took a step. She slowly moved toward Anthony.

But where her blade struck... wasn't Anthony. It was the throat of the inmate holding Domma.

Jesselton's hand turned black and transformed into a blade. Not only could he manipulate iron with Originium Arts, but he'd even had metal plating made with Rhine Lab technology implanted under his skin.

'You were someone whose strength showed through simply by existing. I was looking forward to the moment you'd cast off that pretense.' Jesselton pressed on.

Instead of answering, Anthony wrung out his last strength. 'You have no right to judge my true nature!!!' But no matter how hard he struck, that hand wouldn't budge. 'More guards will be swarming in soon. It seems your escape plan ends here.'

Just then, a familiar voice cut in. 'Unfortunately, the god of death won't be coming for a while yet.' One of the patrolling guards revealed her true identity, as if pulling off a mask. It was Saria, chief of Rhine Lab's Defense Department.

Jesselton's black blade clashed against Saria's white blade. One step, two steps, three steps. It was always Jesselton who was pushed back.

Leaving the fallen Jesselton behind, Saria asked Anthony about an unfamiliar name. 'Have you ever heard the name Ferdinand?' Anthony nodded. It was a name his father used to mention often.

But that savior was originally Muelsyse's card

Having heard the whole story, Muelsyse sighed. 'Why—was Saria—at Mansfield—of all places!'

Silence traced back through it. Saria had originally been Muelsyse's collaborator, but once she got her hands on the card named Anthony, she broke their agreement and handed him over to Rhodes Island instead.

Muelsyse admitted it without a fight. 'Correct. I got played by Saria.' Then she turned around and offered Silence a deal — hand over Anthony, and she'd give her a chance to return to Rhine Lab.

Silence flatly refused. 'To me, Anthony isn't just a clue — he's a living person. I don't think I should keep him around as a card for the future. I think helping him is the right thing to do.'

As the negotiation fell through, Muelsyse laughed. 'You don't actually think I'd just let him go that easily, do you?' At that moment, Silence called out Anthony, whom she'd left back at their lodging. The claim that he'd already left Columbia had been a lie from the start.

If you want to do the right thing, you first need to know what the right thing actually is. And also — doing the right thing doesn't mean there's no price to pay.

— Muelsyse

Leaving that last piece of advice, Muelsyse dissolved away like water. The whole time they'd been talking face to face, it had only been her avatar.

All that remained in the bar were Silence, Mayer, and Anthony — just the three of them. In the end, that one call four months ago had brought one person not to prison, but to Rhodes Island.

'What kind of place is Rhodes Island?' Anthony asked. 'It's a long way from here to there, so let me explain slowly.' Not as a clue, but as a person — and so a new journey began.