Fifteen Years of Imprisonment

Early morning, at the entrance of Sunshine Orphanage in Sea City.

Ye Wudao carried a cake in his hand. Today was his eighteenth birthday, and after today, he would have to leave the orphanage.

The children had clamored to celebrate his birthday for him, so he had used the money he saved from odd jobs to order this cake, heading out early to pick it up from the bakery.

He paused when he saw the police car at the orphanage gate, but didn't pay it much mind.

Pushing open the rusted iron gate, he called out toward the dilapidated two-story building, "Mother Wang! I'm back!"

There was no response from the courtyard, so he carried the cake toward the worn-out building.

Just as he reached the entrance, the director and Auntie Ma, the dormitory manager, walked out.

Behind them followed two federal Public Security officers in uniform.

The moment the two officers saw him, they quickened their pace and stepped forward.

"Are you Ye Wudao?"

The middle-aged officer stared at him intently and asked in a deep voice.

Ye Wudao looked at the two officers, somewhat bewildered, and nodded. "I am!"

The two officers exchanged a glance, and the middle-aged officer pulled out a pair of handcuffs, locking them directly onto Ye Wudao's right wrist.

Feeling the cold metal of the handcuffs, Ye Wudao snapped back to reality and asked, "What are you doing?"

The middle-aged officer said sternly, "You are currently suspected of involvement in a hit-and-run case. Please come back to the bureau with us to assist with the investigation."

Ye Wudao frowned and said, "Are you making a mistake? I don't even own a car; how could I be involved in a hit-and-run?"

The middle-aged officer ignored him, simply cuffing his other hand as well before turning to the dormitory manager. "Please come with us as well to provide a statement."

Ye Wudao looked at the dormitory manager.

The dormitory manager also glanced at him, her eyes darting away, and she muttered, "Alright!"

As the words fell, the two officers escorted Ye Wudao toward the outside of the orphanage.

Ye Wudao struggled for a moment, set the cake on the ground, and said to the director, "Mother Wang, please share the cake with the children. I'll be back soon; they must have made a mistake."

The director pursed her lips, looking at Ye Wudao with a hint of pity, and said softly, "Wudao, if you really did something wrong, just admit it openly and strive for leniency."

Ye Wudao froze upon hearing the director's words.

In her tone, he detected something unusual.

In the police vehicle, Ye Wudao sat in the back row, while Auntie Ma, the dormitory manager, sat in the front passenger seat.

"Auntie Ma..."

"Don't speak, or I will have to take coercive measures against you!"

He had just started to speak when the young officer beside him stopped him.

The police vehicle drove forward, soon arriving at the local Public Security Bureau.

In the interrogation room, two different officers took over his questioning.

A young woman was responsible for recording, while a young man handled the interrogation.

"Name?"

"Ye Wudao."

"Age?"

"Just turned eighteen today."

"Do you know what you've done?"

"I don't."

"Where were you at ten o'clock last night?"

"Sleeping in the dormitory."

"However, your dormitory manager says you were not in the dormitory last night."

"That's impossible!"

Hearing the interrogator's words, Ye Wudao recalled the dormitory manager's shifty eyes from earlier and tried to stand up to argue.

His voice rang out, but he remained firmly fixed to the interrogation chair.

The interrogator frowned, pulled out a photograph, walked over to the chair, and placed it in front of him. "Is this you?"

Ye Wudao looked at the photo, his brows furrowing slightly.

The photo was a surveillance screenshot of a red sports car with a shattered windshield and a dented hood, with a young man sitting inside.

The more he looked, the more he felt something was wrong.

Although the photo was blurry, that person really did look like him!

But he didn't even own an electric scooter, let alone such an expensive sports car.

He hurriedly shook his head and said, "This isn't me. I don't have a sports car like that. This person just looks a lot like me; you've got the wrong person."

Hearing him say this, the interrogator pulled out a piece of paper and placed it in front of him, saying, "This is the kinship declaration signed between you and Ye Zhenshan. We have verified it, and the handwriting on this is yours."

"The kinship declaration was signed yesterday and notarized at the notary office."

"It clearly states here that Ye Zhenshan gifted you a sports car worth eight million under his name, with the license plate number 'Hai A·11111'."

Ye Wudao stared at the kinship declaration, stunned.

Who was Ye Zhenshan?

When had he ever signed something like this?

Realizing something was wrong, he argued loudly, "This is forged! I never signed this."

The interrogator frowned, pulled out another sheet of paper, slammed it heavily onto the interrogation chair, and shouted, "Then explain to me why your blood was found on the airbag of that car!"

"Do you think we would come after you without solid evidence?"

"Buzz..."

As soon as these words were spoken, Ye Wudao's mind went blank, leaving only a constant ringing in his ears.

Just then, the door to the interrogation room was pushed open.

A middle-aged man wearing a white shirt and glasses said to the two interrogators, "Xiao Tian, Xiao Chen, you two come out for a moment."

The two interrogators left one after another. Ye Wudao looked at the doorway of the interrogation room, his brow furrowed, wondering what on earth was going on.

After a long while, the door to the interrogation room was pushed open again.

This time, it wasn't the officers who entered, but a middle-aged man in a suit.

The moment he saw this middle-aged man, Ye Wudao froze. This person looked so familiar, yet he felt he had never met him before.

"My name is Ye Zhenshan, and I am your father!"

The middle-aged man walked up to Ye Wudao and spoke.

A "buzz" echoed in Ye Wudao's brain. The kinship declaration, the sports car, the DNA... all the clues connected.

He roared, "It's you! You forged all this evidence! Auntie Ma was also bribed by you to give false testimony!"

Ye Zhenshan nodded expressionlessly. "I did it. I had no choice. Your younger brother has already been admitted to the Haicheng Martial Arts Academy; his future is limitless."

"I cannot let him go to prison, so I have to wrong you."

"Don't worry, I've taken care of everything. You'll be out after a few years."

"When you get out, I will give you a sum of money, enough for you to live a carefree life for the rest of your days!"

Ye Wudao stared fixedly at this biological father he hadn't seen in eighteen years. Looking at that face, both strange and familiar, he roared, "Why! Why!"

"You abandoned me for eighteen years, and now you want to send me to prison!"

"Why!"

Ye Zhenshan did not answer, only replying coldly, "If you weren't my son, I wouldn't even have come here to see you."

Having said that, he turned and walked out of the interrogation room.

Ye Wudao clenched his fists tightly. Watching Ye Zhenshan walk to the door, he shouted, "I just want to understand one thing: how did you get my blood?"

Ye Zhenshan pulled open the door to the interrogation room and replied, "That wasn't your blood; I just had someone swap the report!"

With that, he walked out of the interrogation room and disappeared from the doorway.

Looking at the empty doorway, Ye Wudao felt as if his soul had been ripped away, and he slumped limply into the interrogation chair.

One month later, Haicheng City Federal Court, First Trial Court.

"Defendant Ye Wudao, for causing a death by traffic accident and fleeing the scene, the circumstances are egregious. In accordance with Article 133 of the Blue Star Federal Criminal Law, you are sentenced to fifteen years in prison."

"Thud..."

The judge's gavel fell.

Ye Wudao stood in the defendant's dock, neither struggling nor arguing.

In the gallery, Ye Zhenshan sat expressionless.

Beside him sat a young man who looked very much like him, currently looking down at his phone.

That was Ye Mingyuan, his half-brother. He was the one serving time for Ye Mingyuan.

As Ye Wudao was led away by the bailiffs, he brushed past Ye Zhenshan while passing the gallery.

The distance was less than a meter.

Neither of them spoke.

Instead, Ye Mingyuan looked up at him and smiled slightly.

There was no kindness in that smile, only endless contempt!

Two months later, Haicheng First Prison, the prison transport vehicle stopped in front of the iron gate.

"Host meeting system binding requirements detected, binding in progress..."

"Martial Arts Self-Improvement System successfully bound!"

Ye Wudao stepped off the vehicle. The moment his feet touched the ground, two mechanical voices echoed in his mind.

He was stunned for a moment.

Then, he followed the prison guard through the iron gate.