Want to Get Out?

"All right, all right! I was just trying to scare you. You make it sound like you wouldn't drink the booze I brought!"

At Little Jack's complaint, the man called John laughed, looking utterly unconcerned. He even waved the bottle in front of him.

"Of course I'm going to drink it. You've already brought it over. What, did you think you'd get to enjoy it all by yourself?"

Hearing John's words, Little Jack snatched the bottle he was waving in front of him, uncorked it, and started gulping it down.

"Don't rush! First, let's check whether the prisoner's showing any signs of waking up. If he is, we'll have to change his medication!" John stopped Jack from continuing to drink, leisurely pulled a key from his waist, and unlocked the door.

"I don't know what the captain's so worried about. Even if the prisoner's got a bounty of two hundred million, he hasn't eaten in over ten days, and we gave him another dose of knockout drugs just an hour ago. There's no way he'd wake up this fast. Even if he did, he wouldn't have the strength to break free of all those Seastone chains!"

Despite saying that, Little Jack followed John into the room to check on Chen Qiang and see whether he showed any signs of waking.

"You can't say that. The guy's got a bounty of two hundred million, after all. If someone like him escaped, we wouldn't be able to handle him. There's nothing wrong with being careful!" John took a small knife from his clothes and thrust it through a gap in the chains into Chen Qiang's body. When Chen Qiang didn't move, John pulled the knife back and wiped the blood on Chen Qiang's clothes before replying to Little Jack.

As soon as the two men entered, Chen Qiang had closed his eyes and pretended he was still unconscious, lying motionless so neither of them noticed anything.

"All right! He hasn't woken up, and the drugs have barely worn off. Let's go drink!" Little Jack also took out a knife and stabbed Chen Qiang twice. After confirming that he really hadn't woken up, he spoke to John.

"Good! Let's go drink. Those guys on the ship went to sell the goods, then headed off to enjoy themselves. They left the two of us poor suckers here to keep watch. That won't do—we deserve to have some fun too!" After tightening the IV in Chen Qiang's hand, John nodded in satisfaction and said with a laugh.

After the two of them left, the room fell silent again. The only sound was the two men sitting outside the door, drinking and chatting about the usual things men talked about.

Lin didn't try to talk to Chen Qiang again. She just watched him quietly, her thoughts unknown.

Chen Qiang was waiting for the poison to wear off and his body to develop resistance to it, so he could regain his strength and escape.

From their conversation, he'd learned that he'd been locked up for more than ten days. The current dose of knockout drugs had obviously been used on him before, so his body had already built up some resistance to it. That was why he'd woken up early.

Now all Chen Qiang had to do was wait until he was completely immune to the poison. Once his strength returned, it would be his time to make his move.

Time passed slowly. Chen Qiang didn't know how long it had been, but the voices of the two men drinking outside grew quieter, and his strength began to return rapidly.

"Lin, do you want to get out?"

Once he'd regained his strength completely, Chen Qiang turned his head with a smile and asked the little girl.

"Don't talk. They'll hear you! Do you want them to stab you again?" The little girl didn't answer his question. Instead, she reminded him in an even quieter voice.

"It's fine! Don't worry about them. Just tell me whether you want to get out." Chen Qiang's smile grew even wider at Lin's words, but he asked again.

What an adorable little girl. Even in a place like this, she was still worried about him. Chen Qiang felt it was his duty to protect her and keep her from ending up a slave.

Lin didn't know why Chen Qiang had suddenly asked her that, but she nodded to show that she did want to get out. She also hoped that after giving him her answer, he'd stop making noise.

"All right! I'll get you out!"

After getting the little girl's answer, Chen Qiang smiled again. A tremendous surge of crimson energy rose around him.

Boom!

The crimson energy pulsed, and the wooden bed behind Chen Qiang shattered to pieces.

Clatter!

The chains slid to the floor. Chen Qiang pulled once, easily freeing himself from them, and stood in front of Lin.

"What was that sound?"

"Crap, the prisoner's awake!"

"Little Jack, run to the Underground City and get the captain! I'll go in and check what's happening!"

The moment Chen Qiang broke free of the chains, the two guards, who'd been a little tipsy, sobered up at once. One ran outside while the other quickly opened the door and charged in.

Clatter!

The chains rattled again. As the other man rushed in, Chen Qiang had already picked up the chains from the floor and coated them in crimson energy. He flicked his wrist, and the chains shot toward John as if they had eyes.

The chains seemed to come alive, wrapping themselves around John. Chen Qiang gave them a tug and pulled him right in front of himself.

"Don't! Don't kill me!"

It all happened very quickly. By the time John realized what was going on, Chen Qiang had already pressed his head to the ground. Seeing Chen Qiang's smiling face look so evil in the crimson light, he panicked even more and hurriedly begged for his life.

"The key!"

Chen Qiang didn't rush to act. He just pressed John's head firmly to the ground and spoke.

"The key? What key?"

Hearing Chen Qiang, John looked confused. What did this man mean? He was already free. Why was he asking him for a key?

"Her key!" Seeing how confused John was, Chen Qiang realized he might not have phrased the question clearly. He pointed at Lin with his other hand and asked again.

"She's a special slave. All the keys to the special slaves are with the captain! Don't kill me. I can take you to the key!" John understood what Chen Qiang meant and hurriedly answered, offering to lead the way.

Chen Qiang hesitated only briefly before lifting John off the ground and saying coldly, "Lead the way!"

"Okay! Okay!"

John didn't dare resist the man who'd subdued him in a single move. He nodded quickly and led Chen Qiang toward the door.

"Wait here like a good girl. Big Brother will be back to save you soon!"

Just before leaving, Chen Qiang turned back and gave Lin, who was in the corner, a charming smile. Then he followed John out of the room.

But as Chen Qiang left, he didn't see the little girl in the corner make a faintly disdainful expression after he'd given himself the title of "Big Brother."