19: Chapter 19 Before you made your move, didn't you even bother to find out where you were?

The Hour of the Rooster (5 PM - 7 PM).

The gong for the shift change at the Celestial Prison rang out.

Chen Ran put down the tea bowl in his hand. He unfastened the jailer's copper badge from his waist, tossed it into a desk drawer, and changed into a set of washed-out cyan cotton robes.

“Chief Chen, take care.” The new jailer, Zhang Wen, stood at the door with a face full of smiles.

Chen Ran waved his hand and stepped out of the Celestial Prison's main gate.

The sky had completely darkened.

The early winter wind in the Capital was bone-chilling, carrying fine shards of ice within it.

Street vendors were hurriedly packing up their stalls.

Chen Ran walked to a street corner and stopped in front of a bun stall.

“Boss, give me three meat buns.”

The steaming hot buns were handed over. Chen Ran took a large bite.

Meat juices exploded in his mouth.

Just then, four people started following him.

The sound of footsteps was cluttered and their breathing was heavy. These four people followed less than ten zhang behind Chen Ran. In Chen Ran's perception as a Seventh-Grade Bone Forging Realm Martial Artist, their blood and Qi were unstable, and their gait was unsteady—they were completely unrated street thugs.

Chen Ran chewed on his bun and continued forward along the main street. His pace was neither fast nor slow, his frequency remaining consistent.

He passed several stalls selling miscellaneous goods, and the four people still followed closely.

He reached a fork in the road.

To the left was a wide street leading to the bustling Outer City market; to the right was a remote dead-end alley. Slop was dumped in that alley year-round, giving off an unpleasant stench.

Chen Ran chewed his bun and turned directly into the dead-end alley on the right.

The deeper he went, the dimmer the light became. Both sides were flanked by towering grey brick walls.

He had only walked about twenty steps in.

The footsteps behind him suddenly quickened.

Two large, calloused palms reached out from behind, gripping Chen Ran's shoulders from both sides. Fingers exerted force, locking onto the shoulder joints. The strength was not small; if an ordinary Ninth-Grade Martial Artist were gripped like this, their shoulder blades would at least be dislocated.

Chen Ran's shoulder muscles relaxed, showing no signs of resistance. He even swallowed the last bite of his bun.

“Kid, don't make a sound. Come with us.”

A raspy voice sounded in his ear.

Chen Ran submissively allowed himself to be half-propped up and pushed into the deepest corner of the alley.

Four men spread out in a fan shape, surrounding him in the center.

By the faint light, Chen Ran could see the four men's attire. They wore coarse cloth short-suits, their arm muscles bulging, and their faces were full of menace.

The leader was a burly man with a long scar on his left cheek. He held a sharp deboning knife. The blade glinted coldly in the darkness.

“Chen Ran, the new head of Cell Block D, currently also in charge of Section C.” Scarface tapped the back of the knife against his left palm. “You’ve been living quite comfortably in the prison lately.”

Chen Ran leaned against the moss-covered brick wall and looked at him.

“Someone asked us to bring you a message.” Scarface took a step forward. “Lei Laohu is our Big Boss.”

Chen Ran said nothing, reaching out to brush off the dust on his long robes.

Scarface's expression darkened, and his wrist suddenly flicked.

“Thud!”

The deboning knife flew past Chen Ran's cheek and stabbed deeply into a gap in the bricks by his ear. The blade vibrated violently.

The sharp edge was less than half an inch from Chen Ran's eye.

Chen Ran's wrist paused slightly.

“In the future, if there's any news in the prison, you're responsible for passing it out.” Scarface pulled the knife from the wall and pressed the cold edge against Chen Ran's neck. “If someone wants to torture Boss Lei, find a way to stop them. If there's even the slightest mishap...”

Scarface pressed the blade down a bit, leaving a white mark on Chen Ran's neck.

“The brothers under me will chop you up and feed you to the dogs.”

Chen Ran lowered his gaze, his eyes falling on the blade. The edge was slightly chipped.

Scarface withdrew the knife. He reached into his shirt and pulled out a heavy cloth bundle, throwing it directly into the mud at Chen Ran's feet.

“Clang.”

The bundle burst open, revealing the silver inside.

“A deposit, fifty taels.” Scarface pointed his knife at the silver on the ground. “As long as you handle things cleanly, you'll get this much every month. Once Boss Lei gets out, you'll be living the high life. Be obedient and get paid; be disobedient and lose your life. Choose for yourself.”

Chen Ran looked down at the silver in the mud.

The monthly salary for a Celestial Prison jailer was two taels of silver.

“Only fifty taels?” Chen Ran spoke.

The alley went silent instantly. The four men stopped their movements and looked at each other.

“You think it's too little?” Scarface frowned.

“I am a chief after all.” Chen Ran pointed to his chest. “You're using the price for a low-level jailer to bribe me. Isn't that a bit disrespectful to my position?”

“You have to add more money.”

The veins on the forehead of the fat man nearby bulged. He raised the pig-iron rod in his hand, which was as thick as a child's arm.

“Boss, don't waste words with this kid! Let's break his legs first!”

Chen Ran ignored the fat man. He looked at Scarface.

“Before you make your move, didn't you check the place?”

“What place?” Scarface gripped the knife handle.

“A few days ago, the Celestial Prison's Captain Wang died in this very alley.” Chen Ran pointed to a cracked bluestone slab not far away. “Right where you are standing, someone smashed his head to pulp.”

Scarface subconsciously looked down at his feet.

“You chose this place to corner me.” Chen Ran shook his head. “You really know how to pick a lucky spot.”

Scarface swallowed hard.

Chen Ran looked at him. Without any nonsense, he just stared straight at him.

“Cripple him!” Scarface shouted harshly.

The fat man had long been unable to restrain himself. He swung the pig-iron rod in a full arc, accompanied by the sharp sound of breaking wind, smashing it down toward Chen Ran's right knee.

The thin man on the left pulled out a butcher's knife and stabbed directly at Chen Ran's abdomen.

Scarface swung his knife at Chen Ran's neck.

The three attacked simultaneously, sealing off all paths of retreat.

Chen Ran's body sank slightly.

Seventh-Grade Bone Forging Realm.

Fifty years of Internal Energy surged through his Meridians like a river bursting its banks.

He didn't dodge.

He raised his right hand and struck toward the fat man's chest.

Cloud-Turning Palm.

“Bang!”

The air let out a massive explosive boom.

The fat man didn't even see Chen Ran's movement clearly. Chen Ran's palm was already imprinted on his chest.

The sound of shattering bones rang out in a dense sequence.

The fat man's sternum collapsed on the spot into a terrifyingly deep crater. The violent palm force penetrated through his body, and the hemp clothes on his back exploded into a hole the size of a washbasin.

Flesh and blood mixed with shattered internal organs sprayed out in a fan shape, coating the brick wall behind him.

His two-hundred-plus-pound body was sent flying, crashing into the wall before sliding to the ground.

Killed in one move.

The thin man on the left had only extended his butcher's knife halfway.

Chen Ran's left hand had already firmly gripped his wrist.

He snapped it in the opposite direction.

“Crack!”

The entire wrist bent backward, and the butcher's knife dropped to the ground.

Before the thin man's cry of pain could escape, Chen Ran's right hand descended from above, pressing down on the Baihui point on the top of his head.

His five fingers closed.

Violent power erupted from his palm.

The cervical vertebrae shattered inch by inch. The thin man's head was forced down into his chest cavity by this immense force. Blood sprayed from his seven orifices, and he died on the spot.

The third man holding a short knife finally reacted.

He dropped his knife, let out a wretched scream, and turned to run out of the alley. He used both hands and feet, crawling and rolling in his haste.

Chen Ran stomped his right foot on the ground.

The hard bluestone slab instantly exploded with spider-web-like cracks.

He leaped into the air and stomped heavily onto the fleeing man's back.

“Boom!”

The man's body was stomped directly into the mud. His spine snapped in two, and the sharp broken bones pierced through his flesh, exposed to the air.

The man went silent instantly.

Three exchanges, in the blink of an eye.

Three Gang thugs had turned into a pile of twisted corpses.

The alley was filled with a pungent smell of blood.

Scarface stood frozen. His hand holding the deboning knife was stuck in mid-air, trembling violently.

A warmth spread through his crotch as a stream of liquid flowed down his leg.

Scarface suddenly threw himself to the ground, banging his head against the stone slabs with a series of loud thuds.

Chen Ran withdrew his foot and walked over to Scarface.

His soles stepped through the blood, making a squelching sound.

“Who sent you?” Chen Ran spoke.

“The Second-in-Command! It was Black Wind Fortress's Second-in-Command, Xue Er! And the Third-in-Command!” Scarface kowtowed frantically, his forehead a bloody mess. “The Big Boss was caught, so the Second-in-Command brought people into the city and is hiding in the Spring Breeze Pavilion in the South City. They told us to start with the low-level jailers...”

“Great one! Hero! I've told you everything I know! Keep those fifty taels for your tea! Please spare my life!”

Chen Ran listened quietly, then tossed a shadow aside and walked toward the alley entrance.

“Mm, not bad. This time, I won't kill you.”

“Thank you, my lord!”

Scarface's expression brightened with joy, filled with excitement.

As long as he survived tonight and passed the message along, that kid would be dead!

However, soon, the light sound of footsteps came from the alley entrance again.

Scarface suddenly felt a shadow appear in front of him.

Scarface slowly looked up, only to see a familiar face appearing before his eyes:

“What a coincidence, we meet again.”

“You... you have no honor!”

After confirming there was no more missing information, Chen Ran raised his right hand.

“No—!” Scarface screamed.

“Bang.”

A palm struck down.

Scarface's head shattered on the spot. His headless corpse twitched twice and then stopped moving.

Chen Ran pulled a piece of coarse cloth from his shirt and wiped the blood from the back of his hand. He casually tossed the cloth onto the corpse.

He walked into the mud and leaned down.

He picked up the scattered fifty taels of silver, not missing a single piece, and tucked them into his shirt.

“Who bribes people like this? As expected of people from a bandit background.” Chen Ran patted the mud off the silver ingots.

Chen Ran walked out of the small alley and looked up at the sky.

Target: South City, Spring Breeze Pavilion.

Time to do some overtime.