Xiao Fen slammed the door and stormed out.
Ulysses glanced inside twice. No one else was there.
Inspector Fang climbed out the window again and left.
“If I don’t take down that Fang bastard, I won’t call myself Xiao anymore.” Xiao Fen strode forward a few steps with murderous intent on his face before he remembered, stopped in his tracks, and looked toward the man still lingering at the infirmary door.
“Crippled? Can’t walk? You expect a criminal guest like me to wait for you?”
Ulysses casually tossed his finished cigarette to the ground, stamped it out, and caught up to his steps.
If not for needing vice squad officers to escort them in and out of the cells every time, he would have gone back on his own long ago.
They walked in silence all the way. Ulysses escorted him back to the prison, turned to leave for a couple of steps, then looked back. “I understand H Country language.”
“So?” Xiao Fen replied with a mocking smile.
Ulysses hesitated a bit. “I’m pondering your relationship with Inspector Fang.”
“What, afraid I’ll collude with him, pull off an escape, and make you lose face in front of billions?” Xiao Fen leaned crookedly against the concrete wall by the door, lifting his eyelids. “Never mind how bad things are between us—even if we did collude, the program crew didn’t say anything about forbidding vice squad officers from their own country from helping out criminal guests, right?”
“There is no such rule.” Ulysses smiled faintly. “Xiao, have you ever tasted failure?”
“Why ask so many questions?” Xiao Fen grumbled.
“I’ve never failed either. Xiao, we’re the same kind of people—proud, confident, and unwilling to have any stains in our lives.” Ulysses said, “I’m just curious how you tolerate those failures existing in your life.”
“What do you mean by that?” Xiao Fen’s lazy demeanor tightened a little.
“As a fellow kind, when I sense something’s about to trigger negative emotions, my experience is to deal with it ahead of time.”
“Easy to say,” Xiao Fen sneered. “How do you deal with it?”
“Detach from the emotions. Either handle the matter properly or handle the person.”
“You treating me like a real criminal now?” Xiao Fen said incredulously.
Ulysses looked at him like he was a naive young junior. “What I mean is, cut ties with that person, break free from the negative quagmire, and cut your losses in time.”
Xiao Fen pondered as he gazed at him.
Ulysses patted his shoulder.
This time, he could feel Xiao Fen wasn’t as averse to the physical contact.
Once the man left, Ou Yu propped his head up from the bed and asked the guy standing by the door, “How’d it go?”
Xiao Fen shook his head and sat on his own bunk. “Couldn’t get in. Yesterday I met with Inspector Fang, and after that he helped push through my factory assignment. Ulysses might’ve picked up on our real purpose here.”
There were too few H Country people in this prison. Anything they did stood out. And with someone as special as Jiang Kangsheng, any action would easily point back to him.
Inspector Fang wouldn’t even beat around the bush with requests. He was an utter idiot.
Big dumbass!
[From the looks of it, they probably have some mission like M Country’s. Spill it.]
[Incense Bro’s clearly on guard against live viewers. He hasn’t said anything on camera multiple times. Must be something big—we’re watching the stream, but so are viewers from other countries.]
[So what he’s up to involves other countries? Seems like he’s wary of Ulysses, so maybe P Country?]
[Very possible. Any recent friction with P Country?]
[Haven’t heard.]
[Anyone who knows, don’t say. Admins, please clean this up.]
“You guys planning an escape?” Matthew dropped by their dorm.
“How? I’ve calculated it—the prison has about sixty vice squad officers, two shifts, thirty or so on duty at a time. Most are out during morning and evening exercise, but the rest of the time they’re scattered everywhere. Fixed posts and three-point patrols cover everything with no blind spots. Hard to break through.”
In two days, Yevgeny had mapped out the prison’s factions, and Ou Yu had figured out the defenses.
[Feels like Movie Emperor Ou’s getting more in tune with the show’s vibe.]
[Life’s tough, he’s multi-talented. Used to just run and do wire work for fitness, but lately he’s posting on Weibo that he’s learned Sanda and Muay Thai.]
[Ouyou’s amazing.]
“Has Yevgeny found the bomb guy he’s after?” Xiao Fen pondered for a moment before asking.
“Matthew found him.” Ou Yu gestured to the standing man to speak.
Xiao Fen had a bad premonition.
“How’d you find him?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
As they spoke, a commotion erupted from the third floor.
They had just stepped out when they saw a man standing in the opposite corridor, arm rigidly outstretched, gripping another man’s neck tightly without letting go. His eyes were filled with crazed terror, his strength so immense that several people couldn’t pull him off.
The surrounding inmates excitedly screamed, cheering wildly, shouting “Strangle him!” nonstop.
Xiao Fen helplessly looked at Matthew.
Matthew guiltily pursed his lips, turned his head away, and rhythmically whistled a few short bursts, drowned out by the cheers, not too noticeable.
The inmate upstairs slowly came to his senses, released his grip, and blankly stared at his hands.
By the time the vice squad officers arrived, the disturbance had already settled peacefully.
“That’s Qian Ning Landon.” Ou Yu quietly pointed him out.
On the third-floor corridor, the man who’d been choked was their target—about 165 cm tall, skinny build, utterly ordinary face, lost in the crowd.
He recovered and immediately lunged to fight the guy, but vice squad officers stopped him. Then, amid his cursing, the hypnotized inmate was dragged off to solitary by the officers.
“Don’t hurt the bomb suspect.” Xiao Fen quietly explained. “We need him to give up the real culprit behind the outside terror attacks.”
That hypnotic killing power of his wasn’t suited for interrogations—if he overdid it, he’d accidentally kill the guy.
“Fenfen…” Matthew whined pitifully.
“Don’t call me that. People will misunderstand.” Xiao Fen irritably pointed to his nape. “And stop randomly biting me for no reason.”
They said you couldn’t eat people here.
But he wouldn’t listen, had to test it.
Even Mr. Black Cat misunderstood him today.
“If you’re hungry, go to the cafeteria. If your teeth itch, grind them on the bedframe.”
“Not that kind of hunger.” Matthew’s face twisted in distress. How was he supposed to explain? His stomach was full, but he just wanted to devour him.
It was an instinct from the depths of his soul, born from his love for Xiao Fen.
But according to the original host’s memories, people in this world called folks like that—man-eaters.
If discovered, locked in prison or a mental hospital for life, he’d never see Fenfen again.
Too terrifying.
He was a potential murderer now.
Matthew frantically tugged at his hair, face collapsing in breakdown.
Why did Xiao Fen have to come to the most abnormal world, when he could go anywhere else?
Ou Yu looked utterly baffled. Just a few minutes of inattention, and Matthew was twisting around like a seductive flower.
Last episode he’d been fine, but this one—maybe from being too close to Xiao Fen—he’d noticed the guy’s mental state was off. His thought processes and occasional words/actions weren’t quite normal.
Foreign weirdos were plentiful. Didn’t get it, but respected it.
That evening, Yevgeny visited their dorm to express thanks. “Tomorrow I’ll meet him. Hope he’ll come clean.”
Xiao Fen said, “Good luck. If you really need help, come find us.”
“Shouldn’t need to. Lev’s a renowned psychologist. He came in this time specifically to break the guy’s mental defenses and get him to confess about that admirer.”
Ou Yu suddenly cut in. “Has Inspector Rodion been hanging out with you these past couple days?”
“Only the first half-day. Why?”
“This afternoon I saw him with Killer Gan and Eastern Europe Gang members.” Ou Yu said worriedly. “Hope nothing happens.”
“He’s a retired international inspector, recently investigating prison smuggling of contraband. I mentioned it to him in passing. At dinner he said he had leads—seems tied to the Jin Q Gang. If I weren’t pressed for time to interrogate the bomb suspect, I couldn’t stand it either and would’ve joined him.”
His expression held some regret, but compared to prison contraband, his compatriots outside were suffering bomb terror attacks.
Ou Yu had nothing more to say. He was just an actor—deep down, he couldn’t outdo vice squad officers at undercover work or playing criminals.
“Still, be careful. Don’t let them spot our undercover identities. These are ruthless killers who don’t blink at murder.” Ou Yu finally cautioned as he saw Yevgeny off.
Evening roll call began.
The prison’s strictest rule was roll call—six times a day. Hiding anywhere long-term to do anything was impossible. (Ou Yu had once thought of digging a tunnel like in movies for escape, but once inside, he realized it was utterly impractical.
Xiao Fen had mocked him for hours over it. Tunnels took months or even years—never mind digging out to the sea beyond the island, the manpower and time alone meant he’d be stuck here forever.)
No progress on the Jiang Kangsheng case—not even a glimpse of the man. Zero leads on the escape plan either.
Ou Yu was truly troubled.
The guy across knocked on his bedframe. “I’m going to the library tomorrow. Wanna come?”
“Sure.” Ou Yu thought he should read some Bible to calm his mind.
————
Third day in prison.
N City’s gray-blue sky remained overcast, drizzling fine rain, the temperature even lower than yesterday.
The old folks said it was normal. Wait a few days, and the weather would warm up—then their prison would have it better.
The salty sea dampness gave many inmates rheumatism in their joints. On these humid rainy days, the pain was unbearable, with pitiful groans echoing through the night, keeping people awake.
Right after breakfast, plenty of inmates headed to the infirmary for painkillers.
Xiao Fen yawned. He hadn’t planned to go to the infirmary today anyway and went to the library with Ou Yu.
This S-Class Prison had facilities like a rundown basketball court in the exercise yard and a library for reading and studying. Beyond that, for entertainment mags or chess, you relied on Black Octopus Gudbai or your rapport with vice squad officers. Good relations meant stuff wouldn’t get confiscated even if found.
Of course, most wanted into the factory—that was prime turf for forming gangs, schmoozing, throwing weight around—instead of being locked in cells all day or staring at obtuse text.
Other prisons profited off inmate labor; here, local officials didn’t count on these vicious types for anything. It was just to kill boredom and vent pent-up energy, so the international prison mostly ran on N City fiscal subsidies.
They reached the library on the first floor of the cell block, registered their names at the front desk, and could browse freely.
The library was bigger than Xiao Fen expected—rows of bookshelves in the middle, heavy wooden tables by the surrounding windows, with pens on them for notes, but not to be taken.
Xiao Fen randomly picked a book, sat across from Ou Yu, flipped it open to a page, but didn’t read. He stared blankly out the window.
The exercise yard was desolate, French plane trees still bare, their gnarled branches ugly and twisted.
All the world’s beautiful things had nothing to do with prisoners behind high walls.
“Hey.” After some unknown time, Ou Yu softly cleared his throat to alert the guy across.
Xiao Fen pulled his gaze back and followed his line of sight.
Amid the rows of ancient, worn bookshelves, Inspector Fang stood quietly. A double red scratch mark near his left jaw. He gave him a cold, distant glance, then turned and vanished into the dimness.
Xiao Fen set the book down and greeted Ou Yu.
“I’ll head over.”
“You two fighting? That oppressive look in his eyes hasn’t been there in ages. What happened?” Ou Yu gossiped.
“Yeah.” Xiao Fen’s lips twitched slightly, but his eyes sparkled with excitement as he strode toward the shelves, brimming with eagerness. “Didn’t win the argument yesterday. Round two today.”
Ou Yu: “…”
Fang Black Cat: You said you didn’t win yesterday, so what’s this injury on my face? [eyeroll]
Xiao Fox: Must’ve been some vixen outside who scratched it! What does it have to do with me? [ohhh]
