Chapter 23

Without changing expression, Xu Qingran seized the other hand and repeated what he had just done without mercy. When the man was in too much pain to howl, he sneered and asked, "Why did you stop laughing?"

"I want to hear you laugh now." As he spoke, he reached his other hand through the bars and yanked hard on the man's long, untrimmed, messy hair.

He looked at him with his eyes curving slightly, his smile so beautiful that the madman was dazed for a moment.

The next second, his head was slammed hard against the bars with a bang. The pain was so intense he thought he saw his great-grandmother.

The old man in the nearby cell, who had still been whimpering, immediately clapped both hands over his mouth. His eyes widened, and he did not dare make another sound.

"Laugh."

Held fast and unable to escape, the madman could only force a smile uglier than a crying face and stammer, "Y-you... bad person..."

Xu Qingran replied, "Right. Tell everyone that about me, every single person you see."

With that, he slammed the man's forehead against the bars again, knocking him unconscious.

At once, silence fell around him.

But there were too many noisy madmen near him on this floor. After giving it some thought, he went up to the escape-proof door, which consisted of several aggressive laser-like beams, and slowly rolled up the long sleeves of his jacket.

Seeing this, the system asked warily, "Host, wh-what are you going to do?"

"I've figured it out. Didn't that fucking examiner send me here to straighten things out?"

"Today, I'll teach them to shut up."

Psychiatric patients suffered from mental disorders caused by permanent damage to their spiritual pools for various reasons. They could no longer use their mental power effectively either, so the prison security doors in Tower 4 were capable of attacking, but not particularly powerful.

Besides, his fever had broken, and his spiritual pool was intact and had stabilized at B rank for the time being.

If he used his mental power to get out, he would suffer minor injuries at most.

No one knew what the prisoners on this floor of Tower 4 went through that night.

For the rest of the night, the place was as quiet as a dead city. When someone came to inspect it the next morning, they found quite a few prisoners who were usually rowdy and outrageously arrogant lying in corners as though badly injured, unwilling to move.

"Well, would you look at that? Why are you all so well-behaved today?"

Then, upon reaching Xu Qingran's cell, the staff member glanced inside and suddenly cried out—

"Holy shit!"

Xu Qingran had finally gotten a good night's sleep. He woke leisurely to the staff member's lovely shriek. The wounds that had drawn blood were already scabbing over. Sitting on the iron bed, he raised a hand in greeting to the dumbstruck staff member.

"Good morning."

In the end, the staff member called someone from the medical department to apply medicine and provide basic treatment for the wounds on Xu Qingran's hands and legs, though no one knew how he had gotten them.

The staff member winced just watching the medicine being applied, while the patient's expression never changed.

The people in the cells on either side had retreated to the farthest corners, staring at the calmest young man present as though they had seen a ghost.

"...Even though this is only Tower 4, the security doors are no joke. Don't go trying anything reckless with them again," the inspecting staff member kindly warned.

Xu Qingran answered obediently, "Okay."

He would dare do it again.

The group left after tending to his wounds. He was about to rest some more when he caught sight of someone who had stayed behind.

A young guard in a Silver Dragon uniform stood outside the door. When their eyes met, he was still smiling.

Xu Qingran did not know him, but he felt as though he had seen that face while being escorted here.

The newcomer said, "I heard your wristband readings were too active these past few days, so your examiner punished you by withholding food for a day yesterday?"

Xu Qingran did not much care.

In the hardest times before, he had gone hungry for four or five days. A one-day fast was a light punishment.

He had just finished that thought when the man outside the cell offered him some bread. "Want some?"

One principle of being human was not to waste food.

So naturally, he could not refuse.

Xu Qingran did not stand on ceremony. He accepted it, tore open the bag, and began eating it bite by bite.

His fair, soft cheeks puffed out slightly as he ate expressionlessly, making him look rather cute.

Although the man had given him food, he had not completely let down his guard. Instead, he was somewhat suspicious of the man's intentions.

Then the man spoke again. "Xu Qingran, don't you remember me?"

Chapter 11: The Arena

Xu Qingran abruptly stopped eating.

He certainly did not know him.

But he lowered his eyes to hide his gaze and calmly came up with an excuse. "Sorry, a lot has happened lately. I've forgotten a lot of things from before."

The man did not look too disappointed. Perhaps it was the answer he had expected.

He said, "A lot did happen, and we haven't seen each other since your mother passed away. It's only natural you don't remember."

The man looked only a little older than Xu Qingran was now, yet he smiled at him with gratification. "You're an adult already, just like that. You really do look a lot like your mother."

"Then let me introduce myself again. I'm Qi Heqian."

Seeing that he still looked somewhat uncertain, the young man added, "I'm the orphan you and your mother rescued in a heavy rainstorm when you were little. Your second uncle adopted me afterward, so strictly speaking, I suppose I'm your older cousin now."

After Qi Heqian said that, several images suddenly flashed through Xu Qingran's mind.

On a night of torrential rain, a woman leading a child of only four or five came across a homeless boy crouching at the entrance to an alley, soaked to the skin. He was little more than skin and bones, with wounds and bruises all over him.

Though he was shivering with cold himself, he was still holding a kitten-like creature protectively in his arms.

Xu Qingran pretended to remember and casually asked, "I remember now. How's the cat we saved back then?"