CH 13.1

Second Floor (6)

Translated by boilpoil

Edited by boilpoil

“I Do Not Like Being Forced into a Choice”

“Lone Wolf, the carpentry workshop.”

A prison officer takes Lone Wolf towards the carpentry workshop, and, seeing the many prisoners acting busy but looking their way, knocks the table with his baton as a warning, “get back to work. Stop looking around.”

Some unenthusiastic responses later, the prisoners instead cast their gazes towards the corner.

Jiang Yiyi is daydreaming with a wood in hand. Lunatic is… doing something with the wood, crouched by him. The two of them are quite openly slacking off under the prison officers’ eyes.

That name rang a bell, though, so Jiang Yiyi stops looking at his wood, and at Lone Wolf instead.

He still looks scared, shrinking and lowering his head like he doesn’t dare look anyone else in the eye——That is how one fits the standard to be moved back from the third floor to the second floor, it seems.

“That way, Lone Wolf.” The prison officer has noticed Jiang Yiyi’s fixation on Lone Wolf, and points Lone Wolf somewhere the furthest from Jiang Yiyi.

Lone Wolf slowly scuttles over.

Jiang Yiyi waves discreetly at Lin Yi, standing to the side.

Lin Yi comes over.

Jiang Yiyi is curious, “quite the coincidence, is it not?”

Lin Yi takes a quick look at Lone Wolf, “there are only that many workplaces. It’s not unlikely for Lone Wolf to be arranged here.”

Jiang Yiyi does not make a counterargument, but rather orders, “find out who arranged this.”

Lin Yi takes a few steps back to his original post.

Jiang Yiyi then turns to look at Lunatic, who is just toying with the piece of wood. He did not look towards Lone Wolf at all, or look like he wants him dead like before.

Jiang Yiyi stops looking. There is a bright reflection among his fingers, which he keeps concealed.

Lone Wolf’s arrival did not seem to cause any further issues outside of the initial scuffle with Jiang Yiyi.

Like a model prisoner who just wants to see his sentence end and be freed, he does nothing and participates in no brawls. He has done absolutely nothing wrong so far.

During the shifts in the carpentry workshop, he has also never tried approaching Jiang Yiyi. Even during courtyard time, he would keep his distance.

This only makes him more suspicious.

Jiang Yiyi observes Lone Wolf as he runs laps around the courtyard while he himself has finished yet another operation. He stands up and leaves, just as the brawl on pause resumes once more. The victim who was just treated is violently dragged back in once more.

Jiang Yiyi is too preoccupied with Lone Wolf’s dissection diagram to care. He is working out the best way to kill him.

Given that Lone Wolf will not just stand there and let him do it, and his martial capabilities, a ‘best’ solution is difficult to find.

“Butcher is looking at you.” Lin Yi reminds Jiang Yiyi with a whisper.

Jiang Yiyi retracts his gaze, then glances at Butcher, standing at the exit to the courtyard.

Butcher smiles, and looks away like nothing’s wrong.

Lin Yi lowers his head and pinches his nose while speaking quickly, “that was far too obvious a gaze you had.” He glances at Jiang Yiyi’s poker face next, “wondering how to kill him?”

Jiang Yiyi turns his head in surprise, “was it that obvious?”

Lin Yi tries not to roll his eyes at him, “you were fixated on Lone Wolf’s heart, head and waist. You couldn’t have simply been admiring his physique?”

“But he has done nothing to agitate you… Even that initial fight was Lunatic who was going to start it. You seriously have a grudge against him still?”

Jiang Yiyi’s file, and all that he’s done since official incarceration, were studied by Lin Yi dozens of times at this point. He is still unable to work out a modus operandi, however.

He was once told, “do not try to get into the minds of psychopaths, for they do not operate on any sensible logic.” However, being someone who has been with Jiang Yiyi for the longest here so far, he can’t help but feel there must be an underlying logic to his actions.

Of course, rationally speaking, he does not deny that Jiang Yiyi is sociopathic.

Speaking more intuitively, though, his gut tells him that there is some pattern he follows to do things.

“Grudge?” Jiang Yiyi turns to look at Lin Yi, “I hold no grudges.”

Lin Yi raises his brow.

“It is simply a form of necessary precaution.” Jiang Yiyi says quietly and confidently, “there is something wrong with him.”

Lin Yi looks once more following Jiang Yiyi’s gaze. Lone Wolf is jogging across the grounds, seemingly without noticing Jiang Yiyi’s gaze at all.

“I found out what you asked me to.” Lin Yi stops looking, “all normal procedures were followed. Lone Wolf was sent to the carpentry workshop because a prisoner was hospitalised, making the workshop a man short…”

“Hospitalised?” Jiang Yiyi’s interest is piqued, “how did that happen? I missed such a severe wound?” Most importantly, he completely missed out on an opportunity for operation?

Oddly, Lin Yi feels like this time, he knows exactly what Jiang Yiyi is thinking about.

“Cardiac arrest. He was hospitalised overnight.”

“I see.” Treating cardiac arrest is not his forte. Jiang Yiyi loses interest and concludes, “then it does sound coincidental.”

Lin Yi nods, “I’ve checked his file too. He had a continuous good record on the third floor. He didn’t do anything and avoided getting into anything. He would not have been moved up to the second floor otherwise.”

“It appears he really does want to get discharged without a fuss.”

“Really?” Jiang Yiyi stares at Lone Wolf for a few seconds, before smiling and baring teeth that glitters under the sunlight, like a predator having set eyes on a prey, and decided to casually smooth his own fur in the meantime.

“That is good to hear.”

Lin Yi sighs in relief——It seems Jiang Yiyi does not plan on taking on Lone Wolf anymore.

However, it was clearly premature.

“What’s going on?” There is a ruckus as the prison officers rush in one single direction.

Lin Yi looks over, and through the layers of prisoners, happens to spot two familiar figures…

“Lunatic?!” Lin Yi looks back behind Jiang Yiyi. The usual dawdler is gone.

Jiang Yiyi tilts his head to observe the crowd. He stands up and walks.

“Why was Lunatic not by your side?” Lin Yi follows and asks.

The prisoners make way for Jiang Yiyi.

He walks without a haste in his step.

And he also answers calmly, “even Lunatic has his biological needs.”

He stops, narrows his eyes, and observes the pair engaged in a fight, “I couldn’t simply tell him to do his business where he stood, could I?”

“Away! Spread out!” The prison officers are trying to separate them.

Lin Yi watches the scuffle with creased brows. Sure, Jiang Yiyi’s explanation was fine. A moment off their eyes, though, and Lunatic is already fighting with Lone Wolf. That is suspiciously unfortunate timing. It feels like there was an invisible hand behind pushing this.

The prison officers on the second floor don’t usually try to break up fights——They know no one was going to die.

However, they are in a hurry to stop Lunatic and Lone Wolf, because this is no mere squabble——Lives will be had.

The prison officers are rebuked several times by howling wind when they try to intervene.

Neither Lunatic nor Lone Wolf is armed. Their fight is purely one of power and technique——The pure aesthetics of violence, gore and visual impact.

Blood is all over the place, no one knows from whom, or perhaps, from both.

Jiang Yiyi peeks at the surveillance camera that is pointed right at the fight, and falls into thought.

“Wowee~”

“Someone is getting killed.”

“Cool.”

The prisoners are under the watchful eyes of the prison officers, so they do refrain from enthusiastically expressing their excitement of the exhibition. Still, the officers cannot stop their chatter.