Secret Prison

Beneath a certain building, in some unknown place, lies a secret prison.

The place is completely empty, with no decorations in sight, only concrete and a few load-bearing columns.

The huge circular space has only 35 cells built against the wall. 80 guards with pistols at their waists patrol back and forth between the 35 cells. There are also more than a dozen mechanical police dogs standing quietly at the two entrances, one in the south and one in the north.

Strangely, all of these people had silencers on their guns, and the guards were all in civilian clothes; no one was in uniform.

The cell was quiet, while outside, a middle-aged man sat in the middle of an open space, resting with his eyes closed.

Suddenly, his phone rang. The middle-aged man glanced at the message and chuckled, "Everyone, it's almost time to go, but Li Shutong hasn't come to rescue you according to the clues we provided. We haven't even seen a soul over there."

The 35 cells were quiet, and no one responded to him.

Perhaps after eight years of silence, we've all become a little unaccustomed to speaking.

The middle-aged man walked into a cell, peered through the iron bars, and said mockingly, "Is this the friend you're talking about?"

In the cell, a gaunt figure sat against the wall, his hair disheveled, his expression obscured by his unkempt hair and beard.

"Cheng Xiao," the middle-aged man chuckled, "Have you ever considered that your friends, who fought alongside you for your ideals eight years ago, might abandon you?"

"The information you gave him was fake, so it's normal that he didn't go," Cheng Xiao's hoarse voice came through...

He hadn't spoken in so long that his tone sounded somewhat stiff.

On the walls of this dimly lit cell, Cheng Xiao had carved countless words with his fingernails, so densely packed that it was impossible to read what was written.

It only shows how a person uses their willpower to fight against loneliness.

The middle-aged man chuckled and said, "No, no, no, given his past personality, even if it's just a false clue, he would definitely go and check it out. Cheng Xiao, he was also imprisoned for eight years. Eight years is enough time to smooth out a person's edges and wear down their sharpness."

Cheng Xiao a strained smile, "You're wrong."

"Where did I go wrong?"

"If his edge had been dulled, if he didn't care about us, he would have left that prison long ago," Cheng Xiao said calmly. "If he weren't concerned about our lives, do you really think that prison could have held him back?"

The middle-aged man paused, realizing that Cheng Xiao was telling the truth.

The middle-aged man said coldly, "He's only in prison to protect himself. If he breaks the agreement and leaves the prison without permission, the conglomerate has many ways to kill him. What era are we living in now? Even demigods aren't invincible."

Cheng Xiao slowly stood up, walked to the iron door of the cell, and looked at the middle-aged man through the iron bars. "You are afraid of him, so you always emphasize that demigods are not invincible."

The middle-aged man looked at Cheng Xiao, who was staring intently at him despite his thick hair and beard.

The middle-aged man sneered, "I have no interest in discussing this kind of thing with you. All I know is that if Li Shutong doesn't come to save you tonight, then you're all worthless, and you'll all die."

"You dare kill us?" Cheng Xiao said with a smile, "Has the Chen family considered the wrath of a demigod?"

"There are other S-rank individuals in this world besides Li Shutong," the middle-aged man said coldly. "Moreover, as long as that person from the Qin Family is still in our hands, Li Shutong will still not dare to fight to the death. Now it's the last 40 minutes. If Li Shutong hasn't shown up at the place where we provided the clues after 40 minutes, I will be ordered to secretly execute all 35 of you."

"Death can't threaten us. You already knew this," Cheng Xiao said calmly.

The middle-aged man said coldly, "After spending these past few years with you, I know you're tough. I just feel sorry for you. Your dear friends have just abandoned you like this. If it were me, I would be very heartbroken."

Cheng Xiao laughed, "Someone like you doesn't deserve to have friends. Besides, I'm very happy right now."

"Happy?" the middle-aged man sneered. "Are you out of your mind? Why would you be happy?"

"I'm glad, precisely because Li Shutong didn't come to save us," Cheng Xiao gripped the iron bars on the bars of the window, staring intently at the middle-aged man. "This shows he's finally learned to be ruthless, to stop being merciful. For the past eight years, I've been reflecting on where I went wrong, and I've finally realized it's because we were too weak in the past, only wanting to resolve issues peacefully. We believed the politicians' promises, we believed the hypocrisy of the parliament, and ultimately ended up in this predicament. Now, Li Shutong hasn't been fooled by you, he hasn't shown any womanly compassion, he has finally become a qualified leader."

Cheng Xiao's voice echoed in the empty secret prison.

The prisoners in the remaining 34 cells also slowly stood up and came to the front of the iron bars, silently staring at the middle-aged man.

The officer, feeling uneasy under their gaze, suddenly said to the surrounding soldiers, "Open all the cells! Gather them in the open space in the middle, and execute them as soon as the time is up!"

Countdown: 5:15:00.

On the main street of the City No. 18, the parade is slowly moving northward.

From 7 a. m. to 6:45 p. m., they walked the entire time except for a short rest at noon.

The heavy snow falling from the sky made the whole city solemn.

When the heavy snow first fell, it melted on the ground, turning into a mixture of ice and water into mud.

A student looked down and saw that his shoes were soaked, and the icy snow water made his socks feel bone-chillingly cold.

He looked up and was shocked to find that the other students were in the same situation, some of them even had their trouser legs soaked.

This made the march a bit more difficult.

The air temperature dropped rapidly, and the ground slowly began to freeze.

At this point, the falling snowflakes create a silvery landscape.

The marchers carefully trudged through the snow, and occasionally someone would slip and fall.

The number of marchers was tens of thousands in the early morning, but it gradually decreased after the heavy snow began to fall.

At least a third of the people in this march were just looking for a free meal; they were unwilling to continue walking with the students.

So, those who just wanted to freeload were the first to leave.

They quietly threw away their banners at the street corner, tore off the stickers from their faces, and left the parade.

Before leaving, they even looted the food carts, leaving a mess.

Later, some of the marchers, who had been inspired by the students' enthusiasm, also began to feel overwhelmed.

The long trek and the low temperatures were extremely difficult for everyone.

They approached the students who had organized the protest and, carefully choosing their tone, said, "The weather is really unfortunate today. I think we should try again on a sunny day. How about we call it a day?"

The student hesitated for a moment before saying, "But we've already come this far, and we're almost at Upper District 3. We need to show the big shots there that we can really make it there!"

The wavering protesters shook their heads and said, "We really can't keep up anymore, it's too cold, we're all frozen... Next time we'll definitely walk to the end with you."

So these people left.

The students who started the march stood helplessly in the snow, unsure how to stop these people or even if stopping them would be worthwhile.

In the heavy snow, the students' noses were red from the cold. As they watched the crowd behind them dwindle, they felt increasingly alone.

This sudden Qiu Xue was like a test, and the vast sky above seemed to want to see if the students remained steadfast.

Finally, some of the students who had volunteered to participate in the march also left.

Of the original 10,000 people, only a few hundred remained. They walked alone, stubbornly and persistently shouting slogans for education reform until their voices were hoarse.

A female student glanced back at the desolate street behind her, and as she turned to continue walking, she couldn't help but cry. She felt a little wronged; those people who kept saying they would start educational reform together, how come they just gave up as they walked along?

She secretly wiped away her tears, afraid that her classmates would see.

At that moment, a silver-haired girl reached out and took a handkerchief from her small crossbody bag, handing it over.

The female classmate looked up, startled. "Zheng Yi..."

The silver-haired girl laughed and said, "Don't cry, we didn't do anything wrong."

The female student was stunned for a moment upon hearing this.

Zheng Yi said, "Look, we've been following the plan for so long, and we're almost at the Upper Third District. That's a success. Glory attracts hypocritical onlookers, but twilight witnesses true believers. It's good that those people are gone."

The female student nodded. "Yes, we're almost there."

"Are you hungry?" Zheng Yi asked. "I still have some food here."

As she spoke, she pulled a protein bar from her crossbody bag with her small, red hands.

The female student whispered, "Thank you."

Suddenly, the group stopped.

Just as they were about to enter the Upper Third District along Woodlands Avenue, a team of Public Security Management Committee drove up and blocked the parade. "We are Security Committee agents from the Third District and need to check your permits."

The male student at the front stared at them with a livid face; everyone knew that these people were deliberately making things difficult for the marching group.

If it weren't for the layers of checks they were subjected to along the way, their procession wouldn't have had to stand in the freezing cold for so long.

However, they must undergo inspection.

The male student kept the approval documents close to his body. He took the still-warm document out of his pocket and handed it to the other person.

This time, the agents from the Security Committee did not open the inspection box, but instead suddenly handed it to the back.

Immediately afterwards, an agent took the documents and drove away.

"Wait!" the male student exclaimed in utter astonishment. "Where are you taking the documents?!"

"What document? I didn't see any document," the detective replied expressionlessly. "I now suspect you of staging an illegal protest. Whoever organized it, come with us for questioning. Of course, if you leave now, we can let it go."

When the marchers were about to enter the Upper District 3, the other side began to use the most shameless tactics.

The students angrily charged forward, wanting to tear into the agents of the Security Committee.

As a result, dozens of Security Committee detectives used batons to beat them mercilessly, and the students, in a panic, stumbled and fell into the snow and mud, looking extremely disheveled.

Now, not only were their shoes wet, but their clothes were wet too.

An officer said coldly, "Don't push your luck. If you don't disperse, we'll arrest you all and make your parents come to bail you out. Then I'll ask them how they raised their children."