“Food’s here! Food’s here!”
Naturally, one couldn’t expect much from prison meals.
Although Jiang Ke’er didn’t want to eat, she would take a few bites every day to avoid suspicion.
Like all the other prisoners, she stood by her cell door, watching expectantly as the jailer pushed a cart and ladled food into iron bowls one by one.
However, when the food was finally ladled into her iron bowl, Jiang Ke’er gave it a light sniff and froze slightly.
Appraisal.
She was extremely sensitive to the scents of ingredients and Yaocao.
The smell of this dish gave her an indescribable sense of strangeness.
Although it wasn’t obvious—and would be nearly impossible for anyone except a Poison Cultivator or a highly experienced chef to notice—it just so happened that she was both.
“Croton, Aloe, Senna Leaf, Gut-Turning Grass…”
Jiang Ke’er stared at the list of ingredients revealed by her Appraisal, her horror growing as she read.
In these few small dishes, every single one was laced with an unknown amount of various powerful laxative components.
What kind of utterly heartless bastard could do something this wicked?
But in an instant, Jiang Ke’er realized… these laxatives were likely intended for Gan RuÇŽnruÇŽn. Using poison to force Gan RuÇŽnruÇŽn out was a viable method.
Jiang Ke’er marveled at the scheme. It was a simple and crude plan, yet very clever. However, if it were her, she would have also blocked the prison’s sewers—that way, success would be absolutely guaranteed.
“Gurgle gurgle—”
A few barely perceptible bubbles of smoke suddenly rose from the toilet, and then everything went silent.
“…”
It seemed Venerable Ye was a kindred spirit.
Jiang Ke’er naturally didn’t touch the food. She quickly sent her Spiritual Soul out of her body to find Gan RuÇŽnruÇŽn.
The prison meal distributors delivered food in order from the first Floor down to the lower levels, moving bit by bit, so Gan RuÇŽnruÇŽn hadn’t eaten this fatal feast yet.
At that moment, Gan RuÇŽnruÇŽn’s nose was twitching, sniffing as if she were searching for a particular scent.
“Ruan Ruan, no matter what they give you later, don’t eat it,” Jiang Ke’er said.
“Why?” Gan RuÇŽnruÇŽn sounded as if she had suffered a massive blow. “Isn’t today’s lunch roasted kidneys? I’ve been smelling it for ages. I’m starving!”
“It’s not roasted kidneys…” Jiang Ke’er pressed a hand to her forehead.
“In short, from now on, you’d rather starve to death than eat anything from this place. It’s drugged.”
“Oh…”
Gan RuÇŽnruÇŽn swallowed her saliva, her stomach letting out a “Zhi-wu~” sound.
“Don’t worry. The next time Venerable Ye comes, it will be the time we leave.”
After notifying Gan RuÇŽnruÇŽn, Jiang Ke’er quickly retracted her Spiritual Soul.
But all of this was witnessed by the White-Coated Torturer nearby.
Although he couldn’t see Jiang Ke’er’s Spiritual Soul, he noticed Gan RuÇŽnruÇŽn’s abnormal behavior.
“Talking to herself?” He stared at Gan RuÇŽnruÇŽn in confusion.
“Or does she… have some special means of communication? The Honored One’s suspicions were indeed correct.”
“This won’t do. The situation has changed; I must notify the Honored One immediately!”
The White-Coated Torturer walked out of the Interrogation Room and ran toward the prison exit at a trot.
Gan RuÇŽnruÇŽn noticed the White-Coated Torturer’s departing back, and her heart skipped a beat with an ominous premonition.
Everything was brewing and deteriorating at a terrifying speed, much like the internal state of the prisoners’ intestines, waiting for an explosion.
“Corrupt officials! The toilet is blocked! Why haven’t you come to fix it yet!”
“Ahhh! I’m going to burst! My stomach hurts so much… fix the toilet already!”
“You bastards! When I get out, I’m definitely going to kill you all!”
The prisoners looked like they were going mad, desperately shaking the iron bars in front of them.
By evening, under the torture of extreme agony, they had completely lost their sanity.
They went on a rampage of destruction inside their cells while aimlessly cursing everything in sight.
The jailers had received orders beforehand and didn’t care about the prisoners’ protests. Instead, they began mocking them from outside the cell doors.
“Come and kill me then! You trash, can you even get out of this door?”
“We’re just not going to fix it! If you’re unhappy, eat it yourself!”
“Suffer! Despair! Then rot in this filthy mire… Hahaha, that was a bit cheesy, but anyway, you can’t do anything to us.”
As time passed, the conflict between the jailers and the prisoners intensified.
Most people truly couldn’t hold it in and had already relieved themselves where they stood.
As the stench in the prison gradually increased, combined with the inherently poor ventilation of the facility, the prisoners’ level of suffering increased further.
Their stomachs were already painful enough to drive them crazy, and now they had to endure the torture of their environment.
This was the moment of greatest repentance since they had entered the prison.
They had never regretted their crimes as much as they did now, to the point they wanted to travel back in time and kill their past selves.
Jiang Ke’er estimated the time. It was about right.
If this continued, she feared the foul water seeping from the ground might flood Subterranean Level 2 and drown Gan RuÇŽnruÇŽn alive. That would be far too disgusting.
“You have the nerve to leave the toilets broken, why don’t you have the nerve to let us out!” A burly prisoner with brownish-black skin gripped the bars and roared at the top of his lungs.
“You talk as if letting you out would make you man enough to actually escape,” a jailer sneered, striking him across the face with a baton.
“Jailbreaking is a capital offense. Even if I opened this door, what would you dare to do?”
“I dare you to try!”
“You’re only capable of shouting from behind that cell door,” the jailer naturally didn’t dare to try, but he slammed his long baton against the prisoner’s face.
“This is your last shred of dignity.”
Clang—
The prisoner jerked his head back, dodging the baton. The long baton hit the cell door with excessive force.
Click—
A soft sound came from nowhere. Then came a long, drawn-out “Creeeeeak—”
“…”
“…”
The cell door swung open slowly and calmly, as if it had completely had enough of the pain of being caught between two men washing its face with spit.
Don’t fight anymore, don’t fight over me anymore… If you’re going to fight, do it now! Whoever chickens out is a dog!
The brownish-black skinned brute swallowed his saliva.
Then, with the fastest speed of his life, he grabbed the cell door, slammed it shut with a bang, and even thoughtfully locked it.
That’s right. Just as the jailer said, jailbreaking was a capital offense, and the crime he committed wasn’t worth a death sentence.
He was only serving a few days of detention and a fine because he had taken a bribe and made a biased call while working as a Referee. He was due to be released tomorrow.
He was just talking big and naturally didn’t dare to actually fight the jailer.
The jailer clearly breathed a sigh of relief—he hadn’t been sure either.
However, he immediately put on a smug, villainous expression and looked at the brute mockingly.
“Big talk? Why aren’t you talking now? You’re just trash! The door opened, and then what? Didn’t you say you were going to kill me? Come on! A man built like a tank, yet you’re as cowardly as a little bride? Useless! Where’s that arrogant flame you had just now!”
The jailer picked up his long baton and jabbed it repeatedly into the brute’s body.
The brute’s flesh was bruised and battered, and in his immense pain, he clenched his fists tightly.
“Wretches like you! This is all you’ll ever be for the rest of your life! The parents who raised you must be cowardly trash just like you, and your future children and grandchildren will all be cowardly trash like you! Go to hell!”
“Don’t you dare insult my family!” A low growl erupted from the brute’s throat, and a murderous intent appeared in the gaze he leveled at the jailer.
“I’ll insult them, so what? Come out and kill me if you have the guts! Come and attack a public official if you have the guts!”
The jailer swung the baton once more.
Click—
“…”
“…”
The door slowly swung open once again.