CH 2.1

“I Am But a Doctor.”

On the way to the confinement rooms.

Jiang Yiyi observes the defences employed around them, and it’s unexpectedly tight——This might be an odd description to apply to Stargaol, but according to his childhood friend, the most complaints Annals of Stargaol received, which was also why players died over and over again, is that the enforcement is extremely lax, or rather, non-existent.

Outside of being unable to escape, Stargaol is ridiculously tolerant of murder——Which is why players die over and over again without making a dent in the plot.

If the players were subject to security matching the severity on display in front of Jiang Yiyi here, he believes that players would be far less likely to perish.

He decides to make a mental note of that, and retract his gaze from the surveillance camera——With the corridor entirely surveilled and without blind spots, there are still guards posted every ten metres, keeping an eye on passing prisoners and prison officers.

This is actually what Jiang Yiyi would say is adequate defence he imagines for Stargaol——Ensuring that both prisoners and prison officers are safe and protected——Just not what he expected from his understanding of Annals of Stargaol.

“2091.” Zhang Zheng, walking in front, suddenly speaks.

Jiang Yiyi looks at him.

Zhang Zheng does not turn around while speaking sternly, “I don’t care what you came here to do, but stay out of trouble.”

‘What he came here to do’…?

Jiang Yiyi tries to rationalise, and even feels like, for a brief second, that he came here of his own volition, but the memory of the NPC in his mind firmly reassures him he was arrested. He is not here by choice.

Zhang Zheng looks back at Jiang Yiyi, whose expression is unfazed as always, like his poker face is etched unchanging on him. Zhang Zheng becomes even warier, and tries to impose his authority as a prison officer once more, “don’t think that you can get away with anything just because you have some tricks up your sleeve.”

Zhang Zheng flashes his card to open the confinement room door, and has Lowly Lackey, silent the whole way, inside first.

The man first glances at Jiang Yiyi, gulping a little, before hurrying inside.

Zhang Zheng saw it all. His smile is cold as he opens the door to another room, and knocks on the door with his baton, “in.”

Jiang Yiyi suspects he wasn’t finished talking, so he can’t help but give him a glance.

The confinement rooms are in a dimly lit area with few guards around, past a heavily guarded door and security checks——In the context of which, right here, right now, there are only Zhang Zheng and Jiang Yiyi under the surveillance cameras. That is enough to tick Zhang Zheng’s nerves.

Jiang Yiyi’s completely apathetic glance turns malicious under the atmosphere and Zhang Zheng’s own delusions.

“What are you looking at, you dog?!” Yells Zhang Zheng, as he knocks on the door once more, “in you go!”

“Don’t fret.” Jiang Yiyi heads in, as he tries to deescalate the situation, noticing the anxiety in him, “I was merely curious because you sound like you weren’t finished talking just now.”

Zhang Zheng quickly closes the door in the calm face with the hint of a smile, blocking it, before sighing in relief.

For some reason, when they were alone, he kept feeling like that guy would kill him the next second——The threat of death loomed genuinely over his head.

Zhang Zheng wipes his nape. It’s full of sweat.

“You’re on the first floor right now, but that does not mean you get to stay here your whole life.” Zhang Zheng warns him with a stiff tone, “I’ve seen a lot of people like you. Be careful not to let me catch you doing anything, or you can wave goodbye to the first floor.”

First floor?

Jiang Yiyi sits on the chair——Which is another affirmation of his conclusion that this prison celebrates human rights.

Even the only sanctioned punishment of solitary confinement is not without a chair.

He clicks the NPC’s biography open once more, noting the location – First Floor of Stargaol, the Han Federation. After staring at that ‘First Floor’ for a few seconds, he looks up, at “Criminal Record: Reported for unlicensed practice; sentenced to one year in prison.”

What did the player-controlled character do again?

With difficulty, he retrieves from his memories the passing mention from his childhood friend.

“Poor Jian Si. Oh, right, you don’t know who he is, don’t you? He’s the protagonist that everyone wants dead. The description of the game has already said he’s falsely sentenced, so you know, the plot should be about righting that judgement, right? What do you think happened next? Everyone who dared to investigate dies immediately. The moment anyone starts to investigate why he was set up, they die.”

“This is definitely related to the bosses in the game somehow. Maybe Jian Si is taking the blame for a boss for that hundreds of millions in misappropriated funds, and murder. Like seriously, that skill set Jian Si had, who could he even kill? He might even get killed in retaliation if he tried slaughtering a chicken. Not to mention four people. That hidden perpetrator sure was not pulling his punches trying to make him stay in jail his whole life.”

Jiang Yiyi concludes, that four murders and hundreds of millions of misappropriated company funds, plus life in prison, is surely not on the same level as unlicensed medical practice.

Jiang Yiyi smacks his lips. Looks like he did get randomly assigned easy mode, after all.

A first floor must necessarily mean the existence of a second floor.

That explains his earlier doubts – on the level of security in the prison, and the lack of such where the player character is, leading to insane death counts.

Starting village protection, you see.

The next day, in the confinement rooms.

Jiang Yiyi is taken back to his cell with Zhang Zheng, who warns everyone once more.

“Stay outta trouble. Especially you,” he says, pointing to Lowly Lackey, “don’t make any trouble.”

While he says that to Lowly Lackey, his eyes are on Jiang Yiyi.

One day solitary confinement can’t exactly be called heavy punishment, but it’s certainly not light either.

Even Lowly Lackey looks quite drained after a day inside.

Yet Jiang Yiyi…

Noticing Zhang Zheng’s gaze, Jiang Yiyi looks up at him with that calm expression with the hint of a smile on——The kind of expression that makes one view the person favourably.

Assuming, it’s in some other place, and definitely not after a day of solitary confinement.

Right now, right here, this expression only makes Zhang Zheng feel –

Spooked.

Jiang Yiyi’s expression is etched in stone, unchanged the entire time.

Zhang Zheng stares at Jiang Yiyi for a few seconds, before glancing at Murderer and retracts his baton. He heads to the next jail cell.

Fuck. The first floor is going to be in chaos for some time again. Yet another guy bound for the second floor eventually.