CH 3

“Teach Me Manners?”

Courtyard time.

Jiang Yiyi observes the scene in front of him with curiosity——As countless NPCs walk orderly into the courtyard.

Then quickly split up into several small groups under the watchful eyes of the prison officers and guards.

A more perfect place for a riot you cannot make.

Jiang Yiyi looks for a corner and crouches, keeping an eye on the moving prisoners’… nicknames, trying to identify the equivalent of rare monsters among them.

“Aniki.” Lowly Lackey crouches next to him, and seeing the man watch the cliques go about, offers timely information, “they’re split into cliques, each one with their own head honcho…”

Four-Eyes is crouched next to them, appearing a little fearful that he isn’t able to proffer himself.

Lowly Lackey points to the group at the edge of the courtyard, explaining, “those are druggies. They’re all wrong in the head. The leader is that completely freckles ‘Freckles.’”

“Those are the gangsters. Their leader was a member of Nianluo Mafia, until a few days ago when a transfer order for the second floor came. Their new leader is that tall, fat-faced guy. He’s nicknamed ‘The Tiger,’ but he’s also just a gangster.”

“As for those…” Lowly Lackey points next to the group assembled in the middle of the courtyard, “they’re a varied bunch, coming from all kinds. They’ve got connections, and you can buy info from them. That’s their leader. Quick with his hands and quick-witted. ‘Dove.’”

“Then there’s the tuck shop…” Lowly Lackey now points to a prisoner currently engaged in conversation, “if you have the money, that guy can get you everything you want.”

Jiang Yiyi’s eyes have gone through the NPCs present, before settling at the gangsters, where someone familiar is present.

Tattooed Snake is telling Tiger something. Their gazes turn towards Jiang Yiyi every so often.

“Yeah, Tattooed Snake is a gangster.” Lowly Lackey is quite dismissive, “he’s probably introducing aniki to Tiger.”

Introducing him? Jiang Yiyi looks at Lowly Lackey.

The guy appears frightened for a moment, “to warn them not to cross you, I bet.”

As soon as Lowly Lackey has finished, another chimes in.

“Fresh meat?” Jiang Yiyi looks up. Tiger is here with a group of guys, and they do not look friendly.

Jiang Yiyi looks up for a few moments before patting his hands and standing up. He’s unexpectedly calm despite knowing what is probably to come.

“Tiger?”

“I heard you’re good with a knife?” Tiger snorts, “showing off ‘soon as you arrive? Young people sure don’t know their manners these days.”

Jiang Yiyi looks over at Lowly Lackey; this situation is highly incongruous with what he told him earlier.

Lowly Lackey is holding his own hands and hanging his head low. He does not meet his gaze.

Jiang Yiyi then finds Tattooed Snake standing behind Tiger.

Tattooed Snake is furrowing his brows while glaring at Jiang Yiyi warily.

Looks like the situation is evolving differently to what the Lackey thought.

Jiang Yiyi finally looks back at Tiger, “so you have come here to… teach me manners?”

“You’re sentenced to a year, I hear?” Tiger approaches Jiang Yiyi and pats him on the face, “did you know that severe brawling incidents would lengthen a stay considerably?”

“Well? Do you not want to get out early?”

Lowly Lackey takes a deep breath and a step back. He might not know Jiang Yiyi that well, but he’s certain Tiger is committing suicide.

As the only one to have faced the onslaught of Jiang Yiyi’s blade, he can truly swear, from the bottom of his heart, to anyone who dares provoke Jiang Yiyi——He kills.

If Jiang Yiyi’s knife was just that few millimetres off, he wouldn’t be standing here now.

Jiang Yiyi sighs and looks down at the man’s hand. A clear dissection diagram emerges, even labeling the arteries and veins——With a big, bold ‘Vulnerability,’ as if it’s afraid Jiang Yiyi would miss it.

This probably comes from Surgery’s level up——But would any actual surgeon have need of this? What kind of surgeon would need to know vulnerabilities?

Jiang Yiyi’s fingers twitch. The thin blade emerges where no one notices.

“What are you all huddling up for? Disperse now!” Zhang Zheng knocks forcefully on the fence while giving Tiger a warning glance, “don’t make me repeat myself. Disperse!”

The underlings of Tiger slowly move away.

Tiger moves back and smiles at Jiang Yiyi, “good-looking, aren’t we…” he pats Jiang Yiyi on the shoulder, “when the annoying flies have moved on. Let’s have a f-r-i-e-n-d-l-y discussion.”

“Tiger! Did you not hear me?!” Zhang Zheng raises his voice, “I’m telling you to move away!”

Tiger shrugs and saunters away.

Lowly Lackey, crouching, notices the almost inconspicuous silver reflection disappear from Jiang Yiyi’s index finger.

“2091!” Zhang Zheng watches Jiang Yiyi’s poker face from beyond the fence, “stay out of trouble. You just have a year to serve. Don’t jinx it.”

“Officer Zhang, I’ve just realised, you’re quite the good person.” Jiang Yiyi turns and says with a smile.

Zhang Zheng looks like he was just fed shit.

“I won’t make trouble.” Jiang Yiyi promises from the bottom of his heart.

He can’t help it if it’s trouble that comes his way, though, now, can he?

Zhang Zheng clearly does not believe him. He eyes him up and down, “watch out when the next cell inspection comes.” Then he turns to leave.

Jiang Yiyi turns to look at Lowly Lackey.

Lowly Lackey stands up, “the brass will inspect cells regularly to ensure there are no forbidden articles inside. If any is found, solitary confinement is the lightest punishment; marks are often deducted instead.”

“If it gets low enough, names end up on the list of prospective prisoners to be transferred pending evaluation.”

“It seems that moving floors is a powerful deterrent for you.” That the prison officers would use that as one of their punishments.

“It’s truly hellish down there. After filtering through each floor, the most dangerous people are gathered up in the bottom floors. In those places, even deaths of prisoners doesn’t mean much.”

That does match what the game depicts, as players have proven time and time again with their blood and toil.

“Oh, and, aniki, both blades and needles are forbidden articles…” Lowly Lackey carefully mumbles.

Jiang Yiyi’s finger twitches as he recalls the amount of articles he’s carrying——A lot.

He does wonder how he carried it all in.

Courtyard time ends soon enough, and Jiang Yiyi is walking back in line with the crowd to his cell when he notices a warning glare from Tiger——A reminder that he has unfinished business.

“2091, you haven’t been assigned your work yet?” Zhang Zheng looks at the piece of paper in his hand, “you’ve been assigned to the carpentry workshop. Remember to go report there this afternoon.”

Carpentry workshop?

Jiang Yiyi casts his eyes at Lowly Lackey.

“Aniki, we all have designated working hours. Putting prisoner labour to good use, you know.” He takes some time recalling the carpentry workshop, “there are dangerous tools in that workshop, though, so the guards are extra strict…”

“Oh, and Tiger works there too.” Lowly Lackey glances at Tattooed Snake, currently leaning against the wall, “aniki… He said he was going to have a friendly talk with you?”

Tattooed Snake moves a little and looks over at Jiang Yiyi.

Jiang Yiyi nods.

“Aniki, please take care of yourself.” Lowly Lackey looks over at Murderer, while saying, “murder is an extremely serious crime here. You only need to serve a year, so it’s… it’s just not worth it.”

Murderer, though knitting his brows, speaks up, “if he does anything troublesome, just call the guards. He won’t dare do anything else.”

Tattooed Snake is changing his posture again.

Four-Eyes, cautious as always, adds, “there are many ways to deal with that… wouldn’t you say, Tattooed Snake?”

The leaning man scratches his head, before speaking slowly, “there’s a new officer recently. They say he’s related to Tiger’s boss.”

“That would be trouble.” Lowly Lackey mumbles.

“What if we just told Officer Zhang?” Advises Four-Eyes, “he’s not a bad guy. Maybe he can get aniki’s assignment changed.”

Jiang Yiyi can truly feel the love and care coming from the starting village. See? His cellmates are already worrying for him——If he were the protagonist, he’d probably have died three times by now.

Not that he needed the love and care, though.

“I would still like to have a friendly talk with him.” Jiang Yiyi says, staring at the two skills he possesses.

This is odd. If this was him before he transmigrated, he would definitely be avoiding that guy as much as possible, and stay out of conflict. Right now, though, Jiang Yiyi does not even want to entertain the idea of avoidance.

In fact, he’s looking forward to seeing him again.

Not simply for blood and death——Jiang Yiyi thinks he is still normal, as he does not find others’ blood and death exciting.

He just has something he wants to confirm.