Chapter 9: Nightmare

"Ok, I can accept being called a fish that can paddle, but what the fuck is a stick that can stir in shit?" Lin Xiaoxiao stared at Ye Wan, "Boss can belittle me in any way he wants, but what are you talking about?"

"I'm just telling the truth," Ye Wan replied calmly, "Back to what we were talking about... How are you planning to test that kid?"

Lin Xiaoxiao thought for a while, then smiled menacingly, "I'll give him a nightmare first."

Ye Wan frowned, "Don't overdo it."

"Rest assured."

There was suddenly was a large commotion behind the prisoners' line to get food. Lin Xiaoxiao looked over to see what was going on.

Prison 18 was like a large iron box. On the sofa in the living room, robot guards spread out around at the time for meals, each loaded with ammunition.

They had no human emotion and were designed specifically to deal with any emergencies that arise in prison.

The 3000 prisoners may have vastly outnumbered the 21 robot guards, but any prisoner who had been there a while knew that the real threat was the machine guns and drones patrolling above their heads.

Motionless yet powerful.

At lunchtime, all the prisoners came to the cafeteria and lined up to get their meals in order.

Not only that, but every prisoner must also stand in his position.

If a novice couldn't remember his position in line, he would immediately be surrounded by robot guards warning him to return to his position. If the warning was ignored, the prisoner would then be punished with electric shocks and then escorted to their position.

The novice prisoners just received a welcome ceremony in the morning. How would they remember where they should stand? So, one by one, they got shocked by the guards.

As for the other prisoners, they stood in line waiting to see them making a fool of themselves. This seemed to be regular entertainment every time some new prisoners were escorted in.

At this time, the old prisoners suddenly felt something odd. Why didn't they see that newcomer that played chess with Li Shutong got punished?

Everyone looked around in the crowd and found that Qing Chen was standing in his position, watching everything calmly.

What?! Every line had a minimum of 500 people, with so many strange faces standing among each other, how could this boy remember his position?

Qing Chen was studying the "novice prisoners" that were sent in with him.

None of them seemed to have any visible scars or wounds on their faces, but the way they carried themselves was very strange, as if they were suffering from extreme pain every step they walked.

So, when they beat these novices, they were careful not to hit their faces nor cause any fatal damage.

Holding a plate in one hand, he walked slowly following the person in front of him. Suddenly, a hand grabbed him and pulled him out of the line.

Qing Chen was stunned. He turned his head and looked to see it was Lin Xiaoxiao who just pulled on him. Lin Xiaoxiao smiled and said, "No need to be in line anymore. Why do you need to be in line to play chess with the boss?"

Qing Chen looked at the machine guards subconsciously, fearing the oncoming punishment of electric shocks.

To his surprise, he found that the robot guards had completely ignored him and urged the other prisoners behind him to fill his position!

Qing Chen couldn't understand how Li Shutong's privileges could even control the guards. Surely he couldn't be that special, could he?

Lin Xiaoxiao dragged him up the long lines to get food and brought him straight to Li Shutong's side.

The prisoners around them looked at this silently, and their eyes were firmly glued on Qing Chen.

The noisy environment fell silent instantly as if everyone was holding their breath.

They realized that Qing Chen was no longer the same as them.

Lin Xiaoxiao squatted on the chair next to Qing Chen and said with a smile, "Don't be surprised. People who can play chess with the boss naturally deserve some special rights. Enjoy your lunch... even though the food here might not be so enjoyable."

Qing Chen raised his head to look at Li Shutong. He was eating slowly, with no intention to talk to him.

He looked at the crowd of prisoners again and saw Lu Guangyi gave him a thumbs up in the middle of his line...

Qing Chen didn't understand why Li Shutong went from playing chess with him to now completely changing his attitude toward him.

Might it be because of his background in this world?

...

At 8:40 in the evening, Qing Chen returned to his cell along with everyone else.

When everyone else was lining up to return to their rooms in order, he tried to leave the lines and move freely. Sure enough, the guards ignored him.

As long as he was walking toward his cell, none of the robot guards paid any attention to him.

The prisoners looked at him with envy, while Qing Chen calmly walked in the long corridor like a rebel wolf.

The single-person cell room seemed empty. After the cell door closed, he went to the sink to brush his teeth and wash his face.

After just taking two steps, Qing Chen suddenly felt strong drowsiness coming toward his head.

A strange sense of sleepiness came. Even if he overused his brain during the day, he still shouldn't be so sleepy that he couldn't keep himself awake.

This is weird...

Before he could think more about it, Qing Chen laid down on the ground.

In his dream, Qing Chen stood soberly in the living room of a dim villa.

At first, he knew it was a dream, and he knew that his body was still in the cell.

But after two seconds, his memory was blurring away. He felt that this was where he belongs, and it was no longer a dream.

In the living room of the villa, firewood was burning fiercely in the fireplace. There was a unique feeling of humidity in the room as the water vapor was dried up by the fire and started rising toward the roof.

There was a crystal chandelier hanging from the high ceiling, and after looking around, Qing Chen couldn't find a light switch for it.

This room made him uneasy.

Qing Chen squinted his eyes.

There was blood on the stairs leading to the second floor.

He also noticed cat scratches trailing up the leather-covered sofa in the living room.

Photo frames were placed on the table in front of the fireplace. The glass in the frame was broken and the photos themselves were nowhere to be seen.

There were blue-gray knife cut marks on the wall, and when the flames in the fireplace flickered, the marks on the wall and the cracks on the sofa were twisting strangely with the reflection of light.

On the carpet, there was a bloody dagger.

Someone wrote two eye-catching characters on the floor next to the carpet with the bloodstains: Haunted.

Bang. Bang. Bang. There were knocks on the door.

Qing Chen took a deep breath and didn't dare to touch anything in the house. He walked close to the door and asked, "Who is it?"

A relaxed voice came from outside, "This is officer No. 27149. Did you call the police? Please open the door."

Qing Chen frowned, the voice outside the door seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had heard it before.

Strange, what happened to my memory?

He hesitated but still opened the door. A young policeman was standing outside, holding a record book in his hand.

As soon as the door opened, the police noticed the blood flowing down from the stairs leading to the second floor. He quickly entered and walked up the stairs, and said as he walked, "Please lock the door behind you and stand where you are!"

Qing Chen was a little puzzled. The policeman's acting style didn't seem to be very professional and didn't even have a gun on him.

He subconsciously obeyed the policeman's instructions.

The young policeman went upstairs, and Qing Chen stood by the door.

Less than half a minute later, another knock came from the door.

Qing Chen asked, "Who is it?"

"This is officer No. 27149. Did you call the police? Please open the door."

Qing Chen was stunned for a moment. If the police that claimed to have the number 27149 had already gone upstairs, then who is the person outside the door?

At this moment, someone in his mind asked him in a gloomy voice: What would you choose to trust right now? Guess, which one is the real police? The person upstairs or the person outside?

The policeman outside urged, "Hello, please open the door."

Qing Chen took a deep breath and walked into the room. He wanted to bend down to pick up the bloody dagger on the floor, but there seemed to be a transparent barrier between him and the dagger.

He was only a step away from the dagger, but no matter how hard he tried, he still couldn't reach it.

Someone didn't want him to pick up the knife.

Someone wanted to trap him here.

But the return countdown on his arm was still ticking. His heart was still beating and his blood still flowing.

Alone in this mechanical world, there was no turning back.

"Move away," Qing Chen commanded. His pupils narrowed. Using all his courage as a blade, he reached out to cut the barrier.

There was an inexplicable sound of glass shattering in the empty living room of the villa, and the obstacle between him and the dagger shattered.

Someone whispered.

Qing Chen picked up the knife and walked toward the stairs.

Suddenly, an unknown voice asked him: Why did you pick up the dagger? Why didn't you open the door for the police?

"I'll open the door after I have killed the one upstairs," replied Qing Chen in a cold voice.

Lin Xiaoxiao: "???"

At this moment, Qing Chen's memories finally came back. While removing the obstacle between him and the dagger, he also broke the barrier between the dream and reality.

He recalled the voice came from Lin Xiaoxiao and the young policeman was also him.

He was trapped in a nightmare world created by Lin Xiaoxiao.

This is getting interesting.