38: Chapter 38 Exploring the Heavenly Prison, Execution After Autumn!

In the corridor of the Cell Block D of the Celestial Prison, cold winds blew in gusts.

Lin Wan carried a bucket of swill-like prison food, distributing it to each cell one by one.

She had been undercover here for three days; apart from doing odd jobs every day, she used the opportunity of delivering meals to probe the prisoners for information.

"Hey, I want to ask you something." Lin Wan walked up to a cell, tapped the bars with a wooden ladle, and lowered her voice to speak to the disheveled prisoner inside. "Recently in this prison, have any particularly formidable experts appeared? Or, is there anyone hiding their true strength?"

The prisoner raised his head, a glimmer of mockery flashing in his murky eyes. He looked Lin Wan up and down, then suddenly grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow-black rotten teeth.

"Experts? Hiding their true strength?" The prisoner acted as if he had heard some huge joke, laughing until he rocked back and forth, causing the chains on his body to clatter.

"Little girl, what do you think this place is? This is the Celestial Prison! Once you enter here, whether you are a Dragon or a tiger, you have to coil up and lie down! Experts? I was once a somebody in the Jianghu, and look at me now, locked up here like a dog, eating swill."

Lin Wan frowned slightly, suppressing her displeasure. "I asked if you had seen anyone, I didn't ask how glorious you were in the past."

"Haven't seen anyone! Get lost, get lost!" The prisoner waved his hand impatiently, then leaned closer to the bars, his gaze becoming lecherous. "However, if you're willing to let me touch your little hand, I might just be able to make up a few stories about experts for you to listen to. How about it?"

A cold glint flashed in Lin Wan's eyes. As a dignified famous catcher of the Six Doors, when had she ever endured such filth? If she were outside, she would have long since drawn her blade and cut out this prisoner's tongue.

But now she had to hide her identity and could not be exposed rashly, lest she alert the enemy.

Lin Wan took a deep breath, suppressed her anger, glanced coldly at the prisoner, and turned to leave.

Just then, footsteps sounded from the end of the corridor, neither hurried nor slow.

Chen Ran walked over slowly, carrying a ring of keys. Today, he had changed into a clean prison guard uniform, his hair combed meticulously. He looked refreshed and neat, appearing completely out of place in this dark and filthy Celestial Prison.

"Master Chen! Master Chen, you're here!"

The prisoner, who had been arrogant and foul-mouthed just a moment ago, immediately changed completely upon seeing Chen Ran. He lunged toward the bars, gripping the wooden posts tightly with both hands, his face plastered with a fawning smile, his voice even turning shrill.

"Master Chen, you look so good today! You are simply the picture of elegance and grace, so wise and mighty!"

Lin Wan was stunned. She looked at the prisoner in disbelief, then at Chen Ran, who was walking over. This speed of changing faces was faster than flipping a book.

Chen Ran walked to the front of the cell and stopped. He ignored the prisoner's flattery and merely glanced indifferently at the prison food on the ground.

"What? Is the food not to your liking today?" Chen Ran's tone was calm, betraying no emotion.

"It is! It's perfect!" The prisoner hurriedly picked up the broken bowl and shoveled the prison food into his mouth, eating while mumbling incoherently, "The food bestowed by Master Chen is like a feast of delicacies! Delicious! Truly delicious!"

Chen Ran nodded with satisfaction, pulled a shriveled bun from his sleeve, and tossed it into the cell. "A reward for you."

The prisoner acted as if he had received a treasure, grabbing the bun and kowtowing repeatedly. "Thank you, Master Chen! Thank you for the reward, Master Chen! May you live a long life and rise step by step!"

Lin Wan stood to the side, watching this scene, her heart filled with complex emotions.

She had exhausted all her efforts trying to gather information, not only failing to ask anything but also being teased by the prisoner. Yet Chen Ran just stood there, having done nothing, and the prisoner acted as if he wanted to worship him like an ancestor.

This gap was simply too large.

"What are you looking at?" Chen Ran turned his head to look at the dazed Lin Wan, the corners of his mouth curling into a smile that was not quite a smile. "The rules in the Celestial Prison—whether a prisoner has an easy time or not depends entirely on the mood of us guards. If you are polite to them, they will take advantage of you; if you treat them like dogs, they will wag their tails and beg for pity instead."

Lin Wan bit her lip and said nothing. She had to admit that although Chen Ran's words were crude, they were indeed the truth of survival in this Celestial Prison. However, looking at Chen Ran's matter-of-fact expression, she still felt a bit unconvinced.

Noon, Celestial Prison cafeteria. Calling it a cafeteria was generous; it was actually just a dilapidated shed set up in the courtyard.

Chen Ran held a bowl of rice, with a plate of braised pork in front of him, and was digging in.

Lin Wan brought her meal and sat down in front of him. She watched Chen Ran wolfing down his food and calculated inwardly. After observing him for these few days, other than being good-looking and liking to order people around while working, Chen Ran really had nothing special about him.

But she always felt something was wrong. How could an ordinary prison guard maintain such a fresh and clean aura in a place as filled with Evil Qi as the Celestial Prison? Could he really be hiding his true strength?

Lin Wan decided to test him.

She picked up the bowl of scalding meat soup in front of her, pretended to slip, and tilted the bowl sharply toward Chen Ran. The boiling soup was about to splash onto him.

If this landed solidly, it would at least scald off a layer of skin. If he were an expert with unique skills, he would inevitably instinctively circulate his Internal Energy to deflect the soup or dodge with extremely fast movement techniques.

Lin Wan stared intently at Chen Ran's reaction.

"Ouch!" Chen Ran exclaimed, scrambling backward in a panic. Although his movements were clumsy, he managed to avoid most of the soup, with only a few drops splashing onto his hem.

He brushed his clothes while glaring at Lin Wan with annoyance. "You girl, why are you so clumsy? This is a clean set of clothes I just changed into!"

Lin Wan looked at his exasperated appearance, a glimmer of disappointment flashing in her eyes. The movement Chen Ran made to dodge just now, although slightly more agile than an ordinary person, was merely a normal reaction for a Ninth-Grade Martial Artist. There was no projection of Internal Energy, no exquisite movement technique; it was completely the level one would expect from a low-level prison guard.

Had she really guessed wrong? Was this Chen Ran really just an ordinary Ninth-Grade Martial Artist?

"I'm sorry, Brother Chen, my hand slipped for a moment." Lin Wan hurriedly handed over a handkerchief, feigning an apologetic expression.

"Forget it, forget it, consider it my bad luck." Chen Ran took the handkerchief, wiped it a couple of times haphazardly, and sat back down on the bench.

Lin Wan looked at his picky demeanor, and her doubts were completely dispelled.

Chen Ran glanced at Lin Wan from the corner of his eye, the corners of his mouth curling up imperceptibly. Trying to test him with such a small trick?

Just now, he had not only seen the trajectory of the splashing soup clearly, but he had even seen the subtle movement of Lin Wan's wrist applying force. If he wanted to, he could use a hundred ways to make that bowl of soup fly back exactly as it was.

The two ate their meal, each harboring their own thoughts.

Just then, a commotion suddenly came from outside the cafeteria. The newly appointed Commandant Li Changfeng walked in with long strides, accompanied by a few clerks. He held a scroll of official documents stamped with a bright red seal, his expression solemn.

The originally noisy cafeteria instantly quieted down. All the prison guards put down their bowls and chopsticks and stood up.

"Listen up, everyone." Li Changfeng unfolded the document, his voice resonant. "The Ministry of Justice has just issued the approval; the list for executions after autumn has been finalized. Here in the Cell Block D, there are three prisoners who must be escorted to the execution ground in three days."

"Guard these three—Song Yushu, Zhang Dabiao, and Zhang Yulong—well. Do not cause any trouble in the near future."

Upon hearing this, the entire cafeteria fell silent.

Chen Ran raised an eyebrow slightly, somewhat surprised. "Starting the executions so soon? It's faster than I thought."