The Murderer

The countdown is 40:20:00.

Qing Chen walked out of the alloy gate as usual. He saw the prisoners in the corridor looking at him with strange eyes, seemingly surprised by his reappearance after five days.

However, this time he didn't weave through the corridor but stood still.

He waited for the prison broadcast and then went downstairs with the queue to get food.

The prisoners immediately believed the rumors from the past few days: this young man had angered Li Shutong and was locked in the dark room for several days, enduring some torture.

Therefore, this young man had now lost his special treatment in Prison No. 18.

However, the prisoners still didn't dare to provoke him easily, because while Li Shutong could offend the Qing Clan, they couldn't.

During the meal, Lu Guangyi and Qing Chen sat far away from Li Shutong.

Qing Chen ate with his head down, chewing carefully, ensuring that the food was chewed thoroughly before swallowing.

His stomach was very fragile now, and he had to be careful.

During the meal, Qing Chen didn't say a word. Besides silence, there was only silence.

On his side, and on Li Shutong's side, there was a clear division.

It was as if they were good friends just a few days ago, and now they were strangers.

The prisoners whispered, gossiping about what was going on. Had Li Shutong fallen out with the Qing Clan?

They also speculated about what Forbidden Item Li Shutong was guarding, which made the other party so vigilant and irritable.

At this moment, only Guo Huzhan looked carefree and indifferent.

He carried his meal tray and sat next to Qing Chen, saying cheerfully, "How did you offend Li Shutong to be tortured like this?"

Qing Chen looked up at him. "Sitting here, aren't you afraid of offending Li Shutong?"

Guo Huzhan said nonchalantly, "My Black Spade isn't afraid of the consortium, so why would I be afraid of Li Shutong?"

"Then why are you looking for me?" Qing Chen seemed uninterested in the boastful and unreliable strongman Guo Huzhan, not even looking at him while they talked.

"I'm different from others. Others might value the Qing Clan behind you, but I don't. I value your abilities!" Guo Huzhan said, "I'm serious, I want to invite a man of ambition like you."

"Not interested," Qing Chen said calmly, then got up. He handed his meal tray to Lu Guangyi to wash and walked alone towards the reading area.

He hadn't walked two steps before he seemed to lose strength and stumbled to the ground. Fortunately, he caught himself with his hand in time to avoid embarrassment.

Qing Chen got up and continued forward.

Unknowingly, two prisoners had followed him at some point, casually approaching him.

But in the next moment, Qing Chen, who had seemed weak moments before, suddenly turned around to face the two.

The young man's eyes were clear but exceptionally oppressive, as if he could see through them.

The two prisoners were stunned. They exchanged glances as if they had made a decision. In an instant, they each pulled a sharpened toothbrush handle from their waistbands and charged at Qing Chen.

In Qing Chen's eyes, the hydraulic transmission shafts on the prisoners' mechanical legs suddenly exerted force. He could even see steam spraying from their steel limbs.

This was not a physical reaction from the mechanical limbs, but rather a mechanical structure somewhere in the mechanical limbs that squeezed the air, instantly vaporizing the moisture in it!

But as soon as they leaped forward to attack, they both closed their eyes and fainted.

Qing Chen stood in place, sidestepped, allowing the two to brush past him and fly behind him, tumbling more than ten times on the ground before finally stopping.

The two could not get up again; their consciousness had been firmly ensnared by Lin Xiaoxiao's nightmare.

Qing Chen squatted beside them to observe. Lu Guangyi walked over, used his mechanical arm to pry open their mouths, and forcefully pulled out their molars.

The prisoners were stunned. No one had seen what happened clearly; everything happened too fast.

They didn't know why these two prisoners had attacked Qing Chen, nor how they had fallen.

Lu Guangyi held a molar in his hand and showed it to Qing Chen. It was clearly a silver poison sac.

At this moment, Qing Chen understood. The three dead soldiers who had died earlier were not looking for Li Shutong; their target... was him.

These two dead soldiers today had entered five days ago, along with Jian Sheng from Sichuan.

At that time, everyone's attention was on Jian Sheng, but even though it was extremely chaotic, Qing Chen had noticed the strangeness of these two.

He hadn't paid attention at first, but on the fourth day in the dark room, the more isolated Qing Chen became, the clearer his mind grew, causing everything unusual that had happened to replay in his mind.

So, he gave them an opportunity, an opportunity when he was alone and weak.

This was to confirm who those dead soldiers were coming for.

If these two hadn't made a move, he would have exposed them. If they made a move, the answer would be immediately clear.

Calculating the time, the first batch of dead soldiers had entered with him.

So, in fact, someone had wanted to kill him the moment he transmigrated on the first day. If he hadn't found Li Shutong immediately, making the other party wary, he would have died long ago.

These later dead soldiers seemed to have received a death order, willing to die themselves to kill him, which explained their urgency.

Who wanted to kill him? Other Shadow candidates?

Qing Chen couldn't be sure, but this was the most likely answer.

It seemed that the struggle for the Shadow was more dangerous than he had imagined.

The Shadows within the Qing Clan's conglomerate, specializing in dirty deeds, naturally employed any means necessary. Only those daring enough to eliminate rivals were fit to be Shadows.

This nine-person race in the darkness wasn't about who executed missions better from the start, but who was more ruthless and decisive.

At this moment, four mechanical prison guards ran over in perfect unison.

However, they didn't trouble Qing Chen. Instead, they directly carried the two death row inmates out.

Qing Chen knew they would face extremely harsh interrogations and punishments, as he had just experienced them himself.

"Boss, what do we do now?" Lu Guangyi asked.

"Wait for them to talk," Qing Chen said, then exchanged a look with Lin Xiaoxiao across the distance before heading towards the reading area.

Night fell, and Prison No. 18 returned to its quiet state.

Just as Qing Chen was lying on his bunk, lost in thought, the alloy gate of his cell slid open on its own.

He wasn't surprised. Instead, he quietly stepped out. Li Shutong, Ye Wan, and Lin Xiaoxiao were already waiting for him in the downstairs fitness area.

This was their arrangement. The things Li Shutong intended to teach him couldn't be known by others. Fortunately, after 9 PM, all prisoners had to return to their cells compulsorily, which gave Qing Chen ample time to learn... how to become a Transcendental.

Li Shutong looked at Qing Chen and asked, "Do you have any questions? You can take care of other matters before we start learning."

"Who wants to kill me?" Qing Chen asked.

"We haven't gotten them to talk yet," Lin Xiaoxiao said from the side. "These two are tough. They held out even under the nightmare. They were genuinely imprisoned for their crimes, with no one arranging it, so we can't find anything in that regard. Their mechanical limbs seem to have been specially replaced to prevent tracing their origin or manufacturer. But don't worry, give me seven days, and I'll give you an answer."

"Thank you," Qing Chen nodded.

Li Shutong thought for a moment and said, "Ultimately, it's some of the younger generation from the Qing family vying for the position of Shadow. Danger is an unavoidable path; you need to be mentally prepared for this."

"Why do they all want to compete for the position of Shadow?" Qing Chen asked, confused. "Are they willing to risk death?"

Li Shutong smiled and said, "Because, starting from some generation, the Qing Clan established a rule: only those who have served as a Shadow can become the family head."

Seeking monthly votes, seeking monthly votes! Just let me stay in the top ten, I'm about to fall out again!

Thanks to Second Senior Brother Who Didn't Fetch Scriptures, Yun Tian Zhi Qing, Boundless Night Fire, Flying Little Ula, Mimo Seven Tones, and Classmate Doudou L for becoming new allies of this book. Thank you, bosses, the bosses are generous!

Thanks to Classmates Li Dongze and The Director for their new million-dollar rewards. Thank you, bosses, the bosses are generous!

May the bosses' fortune be as vast as the East Sea and their lifespan as long as the Southern Mountains. Yesterday was such a surprise, with so many new Alliance Leaders!