Underground Level Three

"What?" Little White Tiger knew there was no such thing as a free lunch in the apocalypse.

Mr. Li shrugged and mimicked Little White Tiger's tone. "You're dead either way, so why not take a gamble?"

Mr. Li had a point.

He had nothing left to lose anyway.

Little White Tiger motioned for him to continue.

"Ever heard of Underground Level Three in Dead Man's Prison?"

When Little White Tiger shook his head, Mr. Li patiently explained, "It holds special prisoners. There are only two ways to get in. The first is to commit a special kind of crime, but then you'll spend the rest of your life underground. You'll never get out."

"The other is for people like you. If a death-row inmate keeps causing trouble in prison, and the offense is serious enough..."

Smiling, Mr. Li raised two fingers. "You face two possibilities. First, they execute you ahead of schedule. Second, they lock you up on Underground Level Three until the day of your execution."

Little White Tiger's eyes suddenly widened as he stared at Mr. Li.

He suddenly realized how frighteningly calculating the man before him was.

Mr. Li made no attempt to hide it. He smiled. "That's right. Those men were sent for you to kill. Only by killing enough of them would you have a chance of getting in."

Looking at the bodies strewn across the floor, Little White Tiger gave a bitter smile.

So he was just a pawn.

And the dead prisoners were even more pitiful.

"Why me?" Little White Tiger finally asked the question he wanted answered.

"It wasn't just you. I've sent over twenty people in, but more than half were shot outright. The rest went down and never came back alive." Mr. Li smiled with a fox's cunning. "But you-I think you might succeed."

Mr. Li pointed at the bodies in the room and gave him a thumbs-up. "No one's ever stabbed over twenty people to death in one go like you."

"Come back alive with what I want. It's a box, hidden on a prisoner who's locked up forever. Bring it back, and I'll get you out. I can even take care of Old Xie for you."

"If you're so capable, why don't you go down to Level Three and get it yourself?" Little White Tiger clearly didn't believe him.

Mr. Li wasn't offended. He spread his hands helplessly. "Underground Level Three won't take bribes."

Having explained himself, Mr. Li left alone without waiting to see whether Little White Tiger agreed.

Little White Tiger was a trapped beast now. If he wanted to live, he had to accept the job. Otherwise, he would either die at the hands of other prisoners or wait to be executed.

Their conversation ended.

The warden personally led his men into the cellblock, where armed guards scattered the prisoners.

"Could you stop causing me trouble?"

The warden sounded exasperated with Mr. Li, but it was clear he was wary of him.

"I had no choice. I'm running out of time, or I wouldn't be using outsiders." Mr. Li patted his shoulder reassuringly. "The usual arrangement. Remember to check that it arrives."

While they spoke, Little White Tiger, drenched in blood, was dragged out of the cell like a dead dog.

"Report! Seventeen dead, over thirty injured."

After a guard delivered the report, the warden waved dismissively.

A few deaths were perfectly normal in Dead Man's Prison. In the apocalypse, nothing was cheaper than a human life.

The warden lifted Little White Tiger's head by his hair and grinned. "This kid's a wild one. Watch out, or he'll bite you."

"He won't."

Mr. Li gave Little White Tiger a satisfied look.

"Take care of my brothers."

On the verge of passing out, Little White Tiger raised his head and shouted to Mr. Li, "Save them!"

Little White Tiger knew that without Mr. Li's intervention, his wounded brothers would most likely be dumped in the prison's Mass Grave.

The temperature was well below freezing. They would have no chance of surviving.

"You're fucking dying yourself, and you're still worrying about your brothers?"

The warden chuckled and was about to order his men to drag Little White Tiger's brothers out when Mr. Li stopped him.

"Send them to the Infirmary. Put it on my tab."

Mr. Li liked Little White Tiger's character very much.

Underground Level Three.

A dark, damp place that never saw sunlight.

It was said that this place had once been a refuge from the Transformed.

The Transformed were a product of the apocalypse.

A hundred years ago, the Blood Moon had appeared. Any human or animal exposed to its light could mutate into a bloodthirsty monster.

Now, the Transformed and the Human Race each occupied almost half the world's land, and humanity faced the constant threat of attacks from the Transformed.

This place had once sheltered those who came before them.

"Reporting in!"

When the guard knocked on the iron door to Underground Level Three and it opened, the sight inside stunned Little White Tiger.

Awakened stood at posts every ten paces along a hundred-meter corridor.

The Awakened were also a product of the apocalypse. Anyone who took part in an Awakening Ceremony had a chance of gaining miraculous powers and becoming an Awakened. They were also the main force resisting the Transformed.

These Awakened, who should have been on the Front Lines, were instead guarding this sunless underground level.

Little White Tiger finally understood why Mr. Li had said they wouldn't take bribes.

If an Awakened wanted money, any criminal venture would earn them more than taking bribes.

"Keep him here for a few days. Once the higher-ups verify what happened, we'll send him on his way."

The prison guard addressed the guards of Underground Level Three with an ingratiating smile.

They might swagger around aboveground, but in front of these Awakened, they barely dared to breathe.

The people down here were used to it. After all, sending troublemakers to Underground Level Three was the best way to deal with them.

"Captain!"

A guard turned and saluted the only man sitting behind him. "We've got a troublemaker."

The captain wore a black uniform, his cap pulled so low that his expression was hidden. He merely sat there, yet the pressure he exuded felt like standing before a towering, insurmountable mountain.

Smack!

The captain propped his legs on the desk. "Find an empty spot and make him stay put."

Two Awakened took Little White Tiger by the arms and dragged him to the end of the corridor.

"Hey, kid, you're in luck. You get a little private room."

A young Awakened with burns disfiguring half his face pointed at the room in front of them. "The old man inside just died. Heh heh. Go keep him company."

Little White Tiger thought he was used to death, but the stench nearly made him vomit as soon as he entered.

A shriveled old man lay rotting on the bed.

"You take the top bunk. Don't worry, he won't object. Get along with your roommate, okay?"

The guard looked at him as though he were an animal in a zoo, his face full of mockery.

"You're not taking him out?" Barely alive, Little White Tiger dragged his battered body against the wall.

"Once you enter Underground Level Three, you don't leave unless you're being executed. He got a life sentence. Even dead, he has to stay here forever. Those are the rules."

"Fuck."

Little White Tiger pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. Mr. Li had given them to him earlier.

There were no body searches on Underground Level Three. No one could cause trouble under the eyes of a whole group of Awakened.

"Get along with your roommate."

The guard shut the door with a nasty grin.

Little White Tiger lit several cigarettes in succession, then took some medicine from his pocket and swallowed it.

He had been sent to the Infirmary for a quick stitching and bandaging, but wounds this severe were enough to land him in the ICU.

The box...

Little White Tiger glanced around the empty room. Aside from a bed, there was nothing.

That left only one possibility: the box was in another room.

"Brother! Brother!"

At the iron door of the neighboring cell, a prisoner waved at Little White Tiger. "Spare a cigarette."

Little White Tiger merely glanced at the Awakened guards.

"They won't bother us as long as we don't step out of our rooms. But if you try to escape, they'll beat you to death for sure."

The man's door was diagonally across from Little White Tiger's. They could just about make out each other's faces. He was a wiry young man.

Little White Tiger's room was different from all the others. The other cells lined both sides of the corridor, but his stood at the very end.

Directly opposite the captain.

"Brother, are you here looking for something too?"

The wiry young man took a skewer of roasted cockroaches from his room and tossed it through the iron door in front of Little White Tiger. "Trade me a cigarette. Even a butt will do."

Covered in wounds, Little White Tiger had no energy to deal with him. He tossed the man his half-smoked cigarette, then found a corner and lay down.

"Brother, don't bother looking. Half the people on Underground Level Three came down to find something. Every fucking room's been searched." Perhaps it had been too long since anyone had talked to him, because the young man kept calling out without pause. "Brother, don't sleep. Let's chat?"

"Chat my ass!" Little White Tiger snapped.

Time had no meaning on Underground Level Three. There was only the dim light in the corridor, forever unchanged.

Little White Tiger had no idea how long he slept, but his body felt a little better.

That was his secret. Since childhood, he had possessed a healing ability far beyond that of ordinary people. No matter the injury, as long as it didn't kill him outright, he could pull through.

Still preoccupied with his task, Little White Tiger began searching his cell. But Mr. Li hadn't explained what kind of box it was, leaving him to fumble around blindly.

"Stop looking. There are eighteen rooms down here, and Mr. Li's sent someone into every one. None of them found it. You're not the only one searching. Those Awakened are looking too. Why else do you think they came down to guard Underground Level Three?"

The wiry young man in the neighboring cell lay on the floor and called to Little White Tiger through the food slot in his iron door.