Infinite Flow: An Invitation from World B

Chapter 11 Death Penalty Section 3

"What were you all doing just now? It sounded like you were making quite a racket." The prison guard put his hands behind his back, slowly walked in, and began to inspect the bathroom, displaying a commanding presence.

Old Zeng raised an eyebrow. He felt that the word "seems" was quite subtle, which meant that the prison guard had not been watching them just now.

The relaxation of regulations is a good thing.

"Several drains were severely clogged, and a lot of the shower equipment was rusty. It wasn't well maintained, which is why it was making so much noise."

Old Zeng followed the prison guard without making a sound, tapping the tiles on the wall and the drain filter cover with his tools as he spoke, pretending to demonstrate to the guard.

After walking around the room, the prison guard stopped at the bathroom door, turned his head to look around, and slowly nodded: "Not bad." As he spoke, he took out a few five-yuan bills from his pocket and slapped them on Old Zeng's chest.

"Keep it safe. Job opportunities are rare here, so don't let the boss down."

"Understood! Understood!" Old Zeng carefully stuffed the money into his pocket, a smile on his face as he continued to agree, "Then let's get back to work."

The prison guard stared blankly at the bathroom door, waved his hand, and walked forward.

Seeing this, the three others followed closely behind, and the four of them headed towards the laundry room next door.

After everyone retrieved a box-shaped trolley from the laundry room, they followed the prison guard upstairs to Section 2.

............

At noon, in the restaurant.

"Get in!" A large hand reached out from behind Liu Runyu and shoved him into the restaurant with such force that Liu Runyu, in a state of panic, tilted his head back and almost broke his neck.

His glasses fell off his face, but fortunately, Liu Runyu quickly covered them with his chest, thus avoiding their fate of being crushed.

At this moment, his eyes were red and swollen, his hair was messy, his head was down, and his back was bent like a shrimp as he was pushed and shoved by two dark-skinned, burly men into the restaurant.

After dismissing a table of prisoners, Edwin gestured for everyone to sit down. Liu Runyu, however, stood humbly to the side.

The people at the table looked at the uneasy Liu Runyu with the same eyes they would use to appraise livestock.

A moment later, Edwin beckoned to him, but seeing that Liu Runyu still didn't respond, the prisoner who had pushed him became somewhat annoyed:

"You damn idiot, you have no sense at all! We've all sat down, why don't you hurry up and get the food?" he said, banging on the table.

The others joined in the insults, but Liu Runyu remained silent, lowered his head, and turned to get some food.

A fierce glint flashed in Liu Runyu's eyes as he turned his back to the group, but he quickly regained his trembling expression when he brought the food to them.

Liu Runyu stood while Edwin and his group sat down to eat. After a while, one of the men at the table looked up at Liu Runyu, smiled, and asked, "Why didn't you take yours? Aren't you hungry?"

Liu Runyu did not answer, and kept looking down at his toes.

Seeing no response, the prisoner suddenly felt embarrassed. Seemingly to save face, he raised his voice considerably: "I'm asking you a question."

As the prisoner spoke, he threw the fork in his hand, which hit Liu Runyu squarely on the forehead.

Without getting angry, Liu Runyu slowly squatted down, picked up the fork, and placed it next to the person's plate.

The provocative prisoner was very young, with silky blond hair. If he weren't in prison and had such a demeanor, he would truly resemble a refined gentleman.

The blond man glared at Liu Runyu, his eyes wide open, his teeth clenched so tightly with anger that they made a "crunching" sound, as if he wanted to chew the person in front of him to pieces.

But then he put on a smiling face and said, "I'm full, you can have this." With that, he handed the plate to Liu Runyu.

Just as Liu Runyu was about to catch the tray, the blond man's hand went limp, and the tray fell to the ground with a thud.

"Oops, my hand slipped. Sorry, please bear with this. How can we go without eating?"

Although he was apologizing, his eyes were full of mockery.

Liu Runyu had become somewhat numb to the bullying he was subjected to, and he didn't want to give in. But before he could react, he felt his knees buckle and he fell to the ground.

The intense pain from the rapid impact of the impact on his hands and knees spread throughout his body within seconds.

He turned his head and saw a dark-skinned man with a sly grin.

After catching his breath, Liu Runyu tried to slowly stand up, but the next second, he heard the sound of a stool being moved, followed by immense pressure from above.

—A foot stepped on his head.

Unable to withstand the immense weight, its head fell to the ground, its glasses crushed and deformed.

"Eat! Eat! Damn it, eat it!..."

At this moment, the blond man was in a frenzy, waving his arms and stomping on Liu Runyu's head repeatedly, as if he could embed his head into the floor.

At this moment, the blond man's actions attracted the attention of many prisoners who stopped to watch. Seeing that continuing like this might attract the attention of the prison guards, it would be difficult to handle the situation.

Edwin gave a wink to the curly-haired man sitting opposite him, who immediately stood up, walked over to the blond man, and slapped him across the face.

The cursing stopped abruptly with a sharp "smack." The blond man covered half his face and turned to look in Edwin's direction. His arrogance and madness from before slowly dissipated the moment their eyes met.

The curly-haired man lifted Liu Runyu from the ground and used a piece of paper to wipe the food stains off his face and body.

Seeing that it was no longer appropriate to stay there, Edwin slowly stood up and walked out, not even glancing at the blond man as he passed by.

Liu Runyu was still being pushed and shoved by two dark-skinned, burly men as they walked in the middle of the group, on their way back to the second section of the men's prison.

After arriving at the entrance of Zone 2, the group walked to the corridor on the left.

There was no lighting in the passage; one could only make out the path ahead by the light behind them. As they approached, they discovered that at the end of the passage was an airtight black iron door, with four prison guards standing on each side of the door.

Upon seeing the prisoners approaching, the eight guards simultaneously blocked their path with their guns.

Edwin wasn't annoyed. He pulled out the special work badge that Quaid had authorized him from his collar—a black neck tag.

The sign featured Edwin's portrait, the authorized person's name and the scope of their authorized work, and Warden Quaid's seal.

Upon seeing the sign, the eight prison guards immediately lowered their guard, stood at attention again, and made way for the group.

After one of the officers stood a short distance from the door, a green light swept across his face, and then the black iron door slowly lifted.

The group passed through the iron gate and walked into the inner corridor again. This time the corridor was much shorter than the outer corridor, but it was still guarded by a door and two prison guards.

After confirming everything, Edwin and his team finally arrived at their workplace.

Liu Runyu staggered into the doorway, carefully looking around.

The empty space was surrounded by four stark white walls, with only a small square door embedded in the wall directly opposite Liu Runyu. The door was rusty, and there were a pair of round handles on both sides of the door seam.

Above the entrance hangs a shiny black plaque with white lettering—"Death Penalty Ward 3."