CH 23

The guards started hitting the prisoners with their batons who were still holding on to the bars, forcing them back into their cells. The prisoners cursed and retreated, leaving the medical officer and his assistant in the hall, squatting on the floor looking at the still unconscious Hua Ge.

“It really looks like he’ll need a wheelchair now.” The medical officer sighed.

When Lan Yu woke up, he found himself lying in a dark, cramped room, surrounded by silence, hearing only the sound of drops of water. The room was only two or three square meters, had no windows, but only a small lamp hanging above his head, giving a dim light.

Underneath was a hard iron bed and opposite the bed was the sink. The faucet must have broken or was not shut tight, since it was dripping water. The damp walls were mossy and turned dark green, giving off a musty smell. There was a toilet in the corner without a closed lid, he could see a small piece of porcelain surface from the bed, covered with yellow-brown accumulation of dirt.

It looked like this was his single room.

He lay motionless, eyes open, looking at the roof covered with spots of mold. The earlier ruthlessness had faded from his face, leaving only vulnerability and bewilderment. Just now in the hall when he held the bald prisoner’s neck, his heart was also in fear, and he almost couldn’t control the shaking in his hands.

Especially when he saw how the man’s eyes were bulging out, his face going purple and his tongue falling out of his mouth, he almost let go and sat on his butt. But he was also clear that his appearance in this demon infested prison would cause a lot of trouble. If he needed to use the bald inmate to establish a prestige, pre-establish a perverted psychopath persona, no one would dare to mess with him from now on.

He gritted his teeth and continued to play this serious scene. The prison guards were right next to him, and they wouldn’t let him kill the man. 

In the meantime, he played his excellent movie star strength, so not only did he not show his fear and terror, but also successfully bluffed everyone. Now that he was alone, he didn’t need to perform for anyone else, so he turned on his side and curled himself up.

When he thought of what he had been through all this time, his heart was so aggravated that his eyes swelled and tears trickled down the bridge of his nose onto the hard pillow.

Knock knock knock. The prisoner in the next cell was knocking on the wall, but Lan Yu was lying quietly, ignoring them.

After a long stretch of silence, a knocking sounded again, it seemed that if he didn’t respond, the person would keep on knocking.

Lan Yu rolled over and continued to bury his head and ignore it, when he heard a familiar voice coming from the next cell, “K. K, are you awake? Talk if you’re awake, I hear your bed rattling.”

Lan Yu abruptly lifted his head, froze for a few seconds and then asked dumbly, “Why are you here?”

“I heard that someone molested you and you gave him a little punishment, I didn’t think it was enough, so I broke his other leg too.” Lu RanKong said, “Now I’m receiving the same VIP criminal treatment as you.”

Lan Yu thought the word molestation was too harsh, but Lu RanKong’s helping him out was too surprising for him to ignore the statement. He whispered, “Ah… That’s unexpected.” 

“Unexpected?”

“Thanks…”

Lu RanKong accepted the thanks with a sense of peace.

Lan Yu usually didn’t like Lu RanKong, but suddenly hearing his voice, he realized that this person was beside him and his heart suddenly settled. All the helplessness and fear was gone.

But for some reason, he felt more aggravated.

“Why is your nose clogged? Are you crying with excitement after hearing I helped you out?” Lu RanKong didn’t take the question seriously.

Hearing the same lazy tone, Lan Yu felt like he could see his appearance through the wall.

——Leaning against the bed, eyes half-lidded, mouth slightly curled up with teasing and provocation.

This imaginary visual at this time didn’t disgust him, and he even vaguely felt it was a little friendly. But he wouldn’t show it, lest he made the man next door even more unbearable and making fun of him for it.

“I almost killed someone just now, and my nasal mucosa is still not recovered from the excitement of congestion.” He replied.

Lu RanKong laughed and didn’t say anything else.

Lan Yu pressed his hand against the blackened wall, which was clearly thick steel and concrete under his hand, and wondered why the sound from next door was so clear. He couldn’t help but ask, “Did Wang Wei build this cell too?”

Lu RanKong responded instantly and said, “We have a small hole in this wall, so we can hear each other.”

“Where is it?” Lan Yu looked around the wall.

“Near the bed frame against the wall where the pillow is.”

Lan Yu took the pillow away, and under the cover of the bed frame, he saw that there was indeed a small round hole in the wall, which should have been dug by the prisoners who used to live here.

Lu RanKong asked again, “Are you still satisfied with the new room?”

Lan Yu frowned disgustedly, “Yes…”

While saying that, he got out of bed and tried to tighten that faucet, which had been dripping and annoying to listen to. He twisted but there was no response; the faucet was broken.

Lu RanKong said, “I also thought if you’re not satisfied, I would find the warden, and let him switch us both to a big cell together.”

Lan Yu crushed a cockroach on the floor with his slipper-clad foot and answered with an expressionless face, “Very satisfied…”

After the baptism of gelded insects, he wasn’t afraid of these cockroaches anymore. The room full of musty smell and broken faucet could be endured, as for the toilet, he could pinch his nose and scrub it clean. This was better than living with those Alpha prisoners.

“When can I take a shower?” He sniffed at himself, feeling uncomfortable.

“Once a week, I guess…” Lu RanKong said.

“Once a week?!” Lan Yu was so shocked that he raised his voice, “How can you do that once a week?! That’s dirty!…”

Lu RanKong said, “Only those inmates in large cells can shower every day. We are now in this place as felons, and have to shower accompanied by prison guards. The procedure to go to the bathroom is also very troublesome, so it’s only once a week.”

Lan Yu didn’t notice that his voice was raised, “Every day there is a release time, can we not shower every day?! Especially when the prison is so unclean!”

“The Empire has rules for prisons. Prisoners have to go out every day into the sunlight, to breathe fresh air ah, but about showering… there are no strict rules. Who would want to accompany you to take a shower every day?”

Lan Yu keenly caught the key words, “Accompany me to shower?”

Lu RanKong said lightly, “Yes, as felons, when you take a shower, the guards will hold a gun and stand outside the compartment to watch you. If you meet a good-tempered one, you may even be able to rub your back and they may remind you that the foam on your ass hasn’t been rinsed off.”

Lan Yu held his breath.

The thought of not being able to shower for a week made the toilet and the damp mildew, the cockroaches and the dirty walls unbearable.

It was as if with every breath, airborne germs were burrowing into his body along the mucous membranes of his nasal cavity, or clinging to his skin along his prison clothes, growing and multiplying to their fullest, connecting in patches and forming a crusty armor that could only be eliminated every week.

He began to feel itchy, itchy everywhere, wanting to scratch, wanting to strip naked and use the sink to scrub himself with a large brush, scrubbing off a layer of skin.

Besides, he was an Omega, how could he shower under the watchful eyes of the guards? The guards inside were either Alphas or Betas, not to mention that even if there was an Omega, it was impossible to ask for an Omega to keep an eye on him.

The fact that he had to shower naked in front of the barrel of a gun and in full view… he couldn’t do that.

No, he had to get out of here. He thought it was too easy and that he could get through it, but he was wrong.

He was simply not going to make it.

Besides, he was forced to carry out this task. What Lontan Planet people and what prisoners and what has he got to do with it? He was just an actor.

Lan Yu sat on the bed and hung his head for a while before biting back the words, “Lu RanKong…”

“Hmm?”

“I’ve decided not to do this assignment. I’m going back.”

Lu RanKong obviously didn’t take his words seriously and said casually, “Have a good trip…”

“Mn, and I don’t think we’ll see each other again. Thank you for helping me out today, and I wish you a successful mission and all the best.” Lan Yu whispered goodbye to him.

He knew that if he gave up the mission like this, he would either be dismissed or expelled when he returned, and the chances of seeing Lu RanKong again were slim to none. The two of them came out together to carry out the mission, even if he just left the other and ran away, and felt very sorry for himself.

But if he didn’t run, the problem of bathing alone would drive him crazy. If he became a real Lunatic K, how could he do the mission?

He only felt sorry for Lu RanKong now, but he didn’t care about what punishment he would receive when he returned. If he were to leave the military, he could go to make movies, and he didn’t care if he was discharged or dismissed.

Lu RanKong then realized the seriousness of his words and asked in shock, “Are you really thinking of giving up the mission?”

“Yes…” Lan Yu’s voice got even smaller.

Lu RanKong suddenly spoke after a moment of silence, his voice was unprecedentedly cold, “K, although you and I have historically not dealt with each other, the last time we defused the bomb, as well as killing the insect king and the Lontan Planet person, made me think that you are actually… not as bad as I thought. But now you’ve disappointed me to no end. And of course, I know you don’t care what I think.”

Lan Yu sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at his feet. There was still the body of the trampled cockroach lying on all fours by his feet.

“Those prisoners’ lives don’t bother you in the slightest, or maybe you think they don’t deserve to live at all. But yes, I almost forgot that Colonel K has always been cold-blooded and heartless. Where would he care about the life and death of others?” Lu RanKong’s cold voice came from the small hole.

Lan Yu kicked the cockroach around with both feet. After a long time, he said a little angrily, “I just don’t want to live here.”

Lu RanKong continued, “If you want to leave, just leave, and ask the guards to find the warden for you directly, so they can send a Star Warship to send you back tonight.”

Lan Yu also raised his voice and said a little aggressively, “I told you, it’s not that I don’t want to complete the mission. I wouldn’t have come if I didn’t want to, I just don’t want to live here.”

Lu RanKong seemed to freeze and his voice dropped as he asked, “Just because you don’t want to live here?”

“Mn…”

“Really?”

“Mn…”

A moment later, he laughed twice incredulously, “I can’t believe it’s because you don’t want to live here… just because you don’t want to be here… I say, K, when did you become a cleanliness freak? I think even the most delicate Omega wouldn’t be like you, right?”

Lan Yu coldly replied, “Aren’t I Lunatic K? There are many different reasons to be crazy, but I’m a clean freak Lunatic K. Isn’t that okay?”

“Yes, it’s perfectly fine.” Lu RanKong said, “Now that we know the crux, let’s find a way to solve it. Tell me, what do you want?”

“I want to be able to take a shower every day.”

“If you take a shower every day, then you have to live in a big cell.”

Lan Yu struggled internally for a while and said, “Okay, let’s live in a big cell.”

Lu RanKong said loudly, “Tell me earlier next time. I was thinking of how to coax you out to live in a big cell.”

Lan Yu froze for a few seconds, then laughed coldly and said, “So you said you helped me break that man’s other leg, but you actually wanted to find a chance to put me in a single cell and coax me out, right?”

“Am I that kind of person?”

“You are…”

“Okay, okay, although you are bent on thinking badly of me, the truth is that I am a broad-minded person and will not bother with you.” Lu RanKong leapt up from the bed and said, “I’ll think of something to get you to a big cell.”

“Can I still take a shower if I go today?” Lan Yu asked uneasily.

Lu RanKong promised, “It’s perfectly fine. In fact, living in a large cell is also quite good. It’s open, dry, and the other prisoners don’t dare to mess with us, only if they had a death wish. Not to mention your ability to get close to the prisoners and find out who the suspects are.” He added in a heavier tone, “But none of this matters, what matters is that you can take a shower every day. Wash every day without guards watching you outside. You can shower as much as you want.”

After that, he rushed to the door and began to bang the iron door, shouting, “Sir, I want to see the warden! I have major crime clues, about serial killings and interstellar bank robbery, dozens of lives and billions of star coins! Sir, I want to explain to the warden myself!”