Clang!
It was the sound of the iron door sliding open, and the natural light outside flooded the previously dim room.
"Prisoner Chu Tiannan, get up for exercise!" At the cold command, Chu Tiannan abruptly opened his eyes as he sat meditating on the wooden bed.
Those eyes were as sharp as sword edges, deep and unfathomable.
Putting on an act. Think you can cultivate into a Martial Artist after landing in prison? Seeing Chu Tiannan like this, the prison guard sneered inwardly in disdain.
After all, every prisoner locked up here did the same thing.
They all hoped to become Martial Artists someday, so they could thereby atone for their crimes through meritorious service.
That was still better than wasting their entire lives here!
Dressed in prison clothes, Chu Tiannan walked down the secured corridor, his expression calm as he watched a young warden approaching him.
The warden, in contrast, rested his gaze on Chu Tiannan with a thoughtful expression.
The two passed each other without incident, neither exchanging a word.
"That man is Chu Tiannan?" After passing Chu Tiannan, the warden turned and asked his subordinate.
"Yes. Do you have any instructions, Warden?" A prison guard nodded.
"Have the inmates teach him a little lesson. Don't kill him!"
"Yes!"
South China Base City, Southern District Public Security Bureau.
The lobby was exceptionally noisy. Captain Yuan was on duty that day, so he went straight out and asked with a frown.
"What's all this noise about?"
"Captain Yuan, you're finally here. The chief is away, so you're the only one who can handle this now." A young police officer's forehead was already beaded with sweat.
Clearly, the situation was not as simple as imagined.
"What's got you so flustered?" Captain Yuan frowned slightly. This was a police station, after all, and he walked straight into the lobby.
An exceptionally beautiful girl in yellow stood at the station's reporting desk, with two middle-aged men behind her.
"Are the three of you here at our Southern District Public Security Bureau to report a case?" Captain Yuan set down his cup of hot water. Looking at the girl in yellow's lovely face, he could not help marveling inwardly, though his expression remained calm.
"We're here to pick someone up!" One of the middle-aged men beside the girl in yellow stepped forward and spoke.
"Was a young man named Chu Tiannan brought in a few days ago? Is he being held here now?"
"There was a youngster by that name. He's already been transferred to a nearby prison." Captain Yuan frowned slightly at the question, took a sip of hot water, and replied.
"After all, this Chu Tiannan committed intentional assault, and the injured party, Luo Ji, is preparing to sue him!"
"Do you know that the person you're holding is a Martial Artist?" The man's next words made Captain Yuan, who had thought little of the matter, open his eyes wide. He could not help spraying out the water in his mouth as he exclaimed in shock.
"A... a Martial Artist?"
"Impossible. We checked his information. He's one of the survivors from the former East China Base City, just a senior student at the Martial Artist Academy. How could he be a Martial Artist?"
After all, for the public security authorities, whether someone was a Martial Artist was immediately clear from a check of their identity records. So although Captain Yuan did not believe it, doubts had already begun to stir in his mind.
After all, Martial Artist status could not be faked, yet the man sounded so serious.
Clearly, there had to be something fishy going on.
"Uncle Wang." Seeing Captain Yuan hesitate, the girl in yellow softly addressed the middle-aged man behind her.
At her words, he handed over the identification information he was holding. Captain Yuan took one look and was instantly startled.
Wang Jinhai, instructor at the Eastern District Martial Hall of South China Base City!
Below that was proof of his strength classification: Advanced Martial Artist!
"This... this..." Captain Yuan was utterly dumbfounded. Then, suddenly coming to his senses, he asked the officer beside him.
"Hurry and find out which prison this Chu Tiannan is in!"
Seeing that things were going badly, the officer quickly checked, then ran over to report.
"Captain Yuan, since the Southern District Prison only holds death-row inmates, this Chu Tiannan is in the Eastern District Prison!"
"Dispatch officers immediately and pick him up!" Without the slightest hesitation, Captain Yuan stood and ordered in a low voice.
"But Captain Yuan, this Chu Tiannan committed intentional assault. If we just pick him up, I'm afraid the Eastern District..." The officer hesitated.
"Never mind what the Eastern District Prison thinks. People from their own Eastern District Martial Hall have come looking for him. This case is no longer under police jurisdiction." Captain Yuan shook his head, then tapped the desk to hurry them along.
"Move!"
"Yes, Captain!"
Seeing them act so quickly, Luo'er also walked out of the police station and thanked Uncle Wang beside her.
"Uncle Wang, sorry for the trouble this time."
"It's a small matter. In the future, you don't need to turn to your family for this. In the Eastern District, as long as this youngster truly has the strength of a Martial Artist, I can make the call," the middle-aged man said with a smile.
It was not hard to see, whether from this man surnamed Wang's bearing or his build.
He was clearly no ordinary person.
Yet what neither Luo'er nor Captain Yuan knew was this.
While the Southern District police station was in a state of anxiety, inside the Eastern District prison.
A storm was gathering!