Night’s Nomenclature

Countdown 6:00:00.

1 hour until nightfall.

Prisoners were being transferred away one batch after another, all with minor offenses, and the number of people in Prison 18 quickly dropped from 4,200 to 3,700.

With just around 500 people gone, the rest of the prisoners could feel that the prison had cooled down quite a bit.

The felons were trembling in the corner fearing what might soon happen to them, while the people from the consortium were silent.

Only Du Hao was still roaring.

When the mechanical prison guards escorted the transferred prisoners in batches, he tried to break through the blockade and escape many times, but this was simply impossible.

After the last batch of prisoners was transferred, the alloy gate was closed and never opened again.

“Open the gate! I request medical parole! I request a prison transfer!” Du Hao banged the alloy gate and shouted angrily.

In Prison 18, other people gradually quieted down, watching what was happening.

“Boss, if you keep doing this, you might trigger Prison 18’s security measures,” said one of Du Hao’s subordinates.

Du Hao viciously turned back and roared, “Can’t you tell? Someone transferred away all those who don’t deserve death as a punishment. We’re the only ones here along with the most unforgivable criminals in the city! We aren’t getting Forbidden Item ACE-002 anymore. We’ve fallen into a trap!”

“Could this just be a coincidence?” Xie Yinggeng wondered, “Who would dare to kill this many of us all at once? The security systems here aren’t built for nothing.”

Thinking that there would be corpses everywhere if that happened, people couldn’t help but shudder… What a bloody scene would that be!

“I suspect that the prison system has been infiltrated,” Du Hao said fiercely.

“Infiltrated? The prison system?” Someone asked, “No way! Isn’t this the ‘most secure system’ in the Federation?”

Du Hao said, “If not, how can you explain that the fair and impartial prison system suddenly started helping someone and working against us?!”

The prison system has been managing all prisons in the Federation for nearly a thousand years. Impracticalness was the reason why everyone agreed to allow an AI to take over.

Therefore, when everyone found that there might be a problem with the prison system, Du Hao and the others’ first reaction was that the prison system was infiltrated, not that there was any problem with the prison system itself.

At this moment, Du Hao suddenly looked up and saw that the metal storm on the steel sky was already aimed at him. Six turrets were rotating and warming up as if they were prepared to open fire at any time.

He chickened out. Instead of banging on the alloy gate, he turned around and walked into the crowd looking for something.

But after 5 minutes, Du Hao murmured, “Sure enough, Liu Dezhu was also transferred away and his acquaintances as well! There is a large-scale attack coming our way!”

Chen Yu frowned, “Who is Liu Dezhu?”

Du Hao has been transferred here for a full week already, so he was familiar with the prisoners, but that wasn’t the case for Chen Yu, who just got in today.

Xie Yinggeng, sitting beside, explained to Chen Yu, “Liu Dezhu is a person who just appeared around Li Shutong recently. Some suspect he has passed Li Shutong’s test and will likely become the next generation of Knights. Even Lin Xiaoxiao and Ye Wan seemed to be following his orders…”

Hiding in the dark and listening to this, Qing Chen almost burst out laughing when he heard this. No wonder Liu Dezhu was complaining about nightmares every day…

This guy must have a death wish ordering around Lin Xiaoxiao every day!

However, just when Qing Chen was taking pleasure in Liu Dezhu’s misfortune, someone suddenly pointed at him and shouted to Du Hao, “Boss, there is another Liu Dezhu’s man here! I remember him. His name is Yu Junyi, one of Liu Dezhu’s closest subordinates!”

Qing Chen, “???”

Instantly, everyone’s eyes were on him.

In Qing Chen’s mind, he was screaming, “What?! I already picked one of the most unimportant people I knew well!”

But Du Hao had already gotten in front of him and asked loudly, “Everyone close to Liu Dezhu has been transferred. Why are you still here?”

Qing Chen looked around at the people who gradually closed in on him. He remained silent for a moment and said, “I want to stay a little longer…”

Du Hao: “???”

What kind of phrasing is that? Is the prison your home?”

“I think he was the one pretending to be my boss!” Guo Huchan shouted from behind the crowd, “Catch him!”

The next moment, Du Hao leaped forward, reaching out to grab Qing Chen.

Before Du Hao made a move, Qing Chen had already started to retreat.

But although he backed quite fast, Du Hao, a high-ranked master, was even faster.

More so, even Xie Yinggeng came over from the side!

Qing Chen’s face was pale. How could he, a beginner in cultivation, survive facing two masters at the same time?

However, in this split second, a figure descended from above, appearing later but arriving faster.

“Out of my sight!”

Before anyone could even tell who the person was, Du Hao and Xie Yinggeng both had already gotten kicked and flung backward for over a dozen meters.

They slid on the prison floor, and no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn’t stop themselves.

The speed of these two kicks was so fast that no one even saw how it was done.

Even Du Hao and Xie Yinggeng couldn’t realize what happened as they felt their internal organs dislocated. The pain was unbearable.

It was only after both flew back that everyone could see who the person was.

Chen Yu narrowed his eyes, “Li Shutong!”

The Demigod’s attack looked simple but sophisticated. It was just normal kicks but at an incredible speed, almost completely disabling Demigod and Xie Yinggeng for the moment.

The atmosphere in Prison 18 suddenly became solemn as Li Shutong stood in front of Qing Chen with a smile, firmly protecting the young man behind him.

Where Yu Junyi should have been, stood a young man wearing a cat face mask.

Chen Yu glanced at the mysterious person’s wrist for a while and knew that the person behind that cat face mask must be young.

The wrists of teenagers were slightly different from the wrists of adults.

The red lines on the cat face mask were extremely bright and twisted strangely, making it look even more mysterious.

Having seen this, everyone realized that this must be the person who pretended to be Xu Linsen.

And that mask must also be a Forbidden Item!

These people were experienced fighters, and they all knew how dangerous it was to be approached by a person with such items. You might just die suddenly without even realizing what killed out.

However, this was the first time that they had heard of such an important person in the Knights or the Heng Group.

“Wait, cat face mask!” Chen Yu froze for a moment as if remembering something.

Not long ago, there was a piece of news circulating in the Federation consortium: Li Shutong left Prison 18 late at night, appeared in the luxurious Sunlight Pavilion restaurant, ordering braised pork and noodles with fried sauce!

That night, Chen Yehu, the Chen Family’s brightest rising star in its younger generation, was also forced to wait for the man under the cat face mask to finish eating before he could speak.

Chen Yu was Chen Yehu’s uncle. Before coming here, he heard his nephew mentioning this matter: “Li Shutong’s sense of oppression is not shy of what it used to be. The man under that mask seemed young, and it wasn’t like a serious dinner but a simple family meal.

At this moment, Chen Yu saw Li Shutong firmly guarding Qing Chen behind him, and he suddenly understood… That person might be the next leader of the Knights.

Chen Yu suddenly figured out a lot of things. That night was the first time Li Shutong walked out of Prison 18 after being trapped there for 8 years. He was bringing his new student to see the best views of the city while also letting those “views” see his new student.

Looking back now, he realized that Li Shutong’s behavior was more about proudly showing off to the world the next leader of the Knights!

Struggling, Du Hao and Xie Yinggeng got up while still coughing out blood. Seeing that his foe was also beaten up just as badly, Xie Yinggeng felt a little better, but then remembering that this was the second time today that he had to cough up blood, Xie Yinggeng was welling up in sadness.

Li Shutong looked at Chen Yu and said with a smile, “Did I hear just now that you can kill me?”

Chen Yu slowly took a few steps back, and said in a cold voice, “Are you deciding to sacrifice your friends? So, after eight years, have you finally given up?”

“I don’t need someone who’s about to die worrying about this for me,” Li Shutong said with a smile, “It’s pointless for you to worry since you can’t get out anyway. Just like you, I’m also waiting for nightfall.”

After finishing his words, Li Shutong ignored the others and led Qing Chen to the cafeteria.

He didn’t worry about these people running away, nor did he waste any words on them, as if any time spent on them was a waste of his life!

Qing Chen silently followed behind Li Shutong and asked quietly, “Master, are your friends under their control right now? Do you have any clues? I might be able to analyze the situation for you.”

Li Shutong patted him on the shoulder and said, “I’m glad you’re willing to help, but that’s not something we can decide. So, did you reveal your mask just now to avoid letting others think that Yu Junyi was behind all this?”

“Yes,” Qing Chen replied quietly, “Yu Junyi is the class representative, and he’s a very nice person. When I couldn’t pay the tuition or the textbook fees, he would always remind me of the final deadline in private, never asking for it in front of my other classmates.”

Such thoughtfulness, although subtle, was enough to make him feel grateful.

Li Shutong smiled and said, “Being careful is a good habit, but no one here would be able to leave tonight. No one will have the chance to find Yu Junyi.”

Qing Chen understood what that meant. Everyone here was going to die! Thousands of people…

His breath stopped, unable to comprehend that his master would really kill this many!

3719, this was the number that came to Qing Chen’s mind. This was how many prisoners were in here right now.

Everyone was going to die tonight.

In the distance, Chen Yu’s mind was going through many things. Now that Li Shutong gave up his friends and appeared here, Chen Yu must save himself.

Looking around for opportunities, he suddenly realized that he had no idea how to escape from here.

The shielding device in Prison 18 has been activated. Making him completely separated from his support outside.

Didn’t everyone say that Li Shutong valued friendship and righteousness? Didn’t they reveal the information of the 36 secretly detained prisoners to the Heng Group and purposefully let Li Shutong step into their trap? Why didn’t he save his friends but here protecting Forbidden Item ACE-002 instead?!

This was beyond their plans!

Chen Yu pursed his lips and said nothing. He regretted agreeing to come tonight. It was a deadly trap!

No matter how much he despised Li Shutong in his words just now, when Li Shutong appeared, no one could deny the sense of oppression from the Demigod.

This time, the sense of oppression was no longer an exaggeration of the situation, but an actual feeling Chen Yu experienced. He really felt an itch between his eyebrows, as if someone was hovering the tip of a knife in front of his eyes!

Wait, Chen Yu discovered another problem. There were people from the Qing and Chen Families but not a single person from the Li Family in sight.

How could the Li Family miss out on such an important event?

Something was not right!