Qing Cheng had thought about it before, whether there was anyone else who also got a countdown on their arms.
Because of this speculation, he would take the subway across a long distance to verify his guesses, in case others would find his traces.
However, after a series of changes that occurred later, Qing Chen almost forgot about this speculation of his.
Now, it looked like he was right.
There had to be more than one person that was transmigrated into this world. In this prison alone there were two, not to mention the world outside of this prison.
How many transmigrators are there? Hundreds? Thousands?
What caused them to be here all of a sudden?
Qing Chen could only guess.
"This novice inmate is quite interesting. He must be an idiot." Someone looked at the collapsed teenager and laughed, "I heard that he got arrested for tax evasion and was sentenced to 7 years? He didn't cry when he just got in yesterday, but he is now."
"I don't know anyone who’s stupid enough to provoke these tax collection agencies…"
Qing Chen looked at where the voice came from. It was a young man with two mechanical legs. When he saw Qing Chen looking at him, he smiled and said, "Hey, you think you are ready?"
Instantly, the people around them burst into laughter. They all seemed to be waiting for a good show.
This was a place of an advanced civilization, but the people here were just as evil as anywhere else.
Qing Chen frowned and ignored the laughter. He looked toward the teenager slumped in the corner.
He was probably the only person here that knew why the boy didn't cry yesterday but started crying today. Just like Qing Chen, he was most likely transmigrated to this prison from Earth.
In fact, he wasn't just guessing this time, he knew the boy in person.
Qing Chen was seventeen years old, a second-year student at the Luo City Foreign Language School.
And this boy was a first-year student in his school.
The two of them never talked to each other, but with his photographic memory, Qing Chen was certain that he met the boy before with his photographic memory.
This made Qing Chen a little surprised. He wondered, could it be that the place they were transmigrated into was relative to their locations on earth?
He couldn't be so sure.
In the meantime, Qing Chen noticed another thing: everyone here was speaking proper Mandarin, no one was speaking any dialects.
At this very moment, the robot guards were rushing up the stairs at top speed. Every step they took spanned about five steps of stairs.
The boy was wailing loudly the entire time.
Half of the people in this prison were armed with mechanical limbs. Encountering a fellow earthling in this strange place was something to be relieved about, it was the same feeling of familiarity one would get when meeting someone from one's hometown in a foreign land.
Most people would feel a sense of security after meeting someone that shares a common origin as them.
However, Qing Chen didn't feel this way. Looking at the collapsing teenager, he realized that just sharing the same "hometown" won't necessarily help him in this situation.
Not everyone could still be calm when facing a strange mechanical civilization.
His ultimate goal right now was to survive the first two days and safely return home to find out more about what was happening.
Qing Chen watched the chaos in silence. For some reason, he was comforted by what just happened.
Until now, all the other prisoners were still standing in their positions motionlessly.
He observed the surroundings of the prison again. Of the nine robots that rushed from outside, three were standing on the first floor keeping order, while the others took the teenager away.
The open space downstairs looked huge, about the size of a soccer field.
The open-styled area was divided into several sections: a cafeteria, a gym, an entertainment area, a reading area…
There wasn't much separation between each section, so the entire place was open to all.
Around the open space were eight large gates. These gates were large enough that armored vehicles could pass directly.
Suddenly Qing Chen was stunned. He saw three people that had already sat at the dining table downstairs.
A middle-aged man who appeared to be in his forties sat down, and two others stood beside him with a smile on their faces while looking around the prison.
In front of the middle-aged man was a chessboard1Referring to Chinese Chess, and an endgame formation was set up on the board.
The most surprising thing was that besides the chessboard was a cat napping on the table. The cat was gray with two pointy ears. It looked a bit like a lynx, but still a little different.
It was a Maine Coon cat.2http://bit.ly/wn-maine-coon
Does this prison allow pets?!
At the time that Qing Chen stepped out of the cell, he was so focused on the crying boy that he didn't even notice when the three of them appeared in the cafeteria.
Right now, the middle-aged man was staring at the chessboard, as if what happened upstairs did not disturb him at all.
More surprisingly, the robots on the first floor seemed to not care or did not notice the three of them.
The intense chaos upstairs and the ease and calmness downstairs created a sharp contrast, almost like they were living in two different worlds.
Among the three, two young men wore normal blue and white prison uniforms, while the middle-aged man wore a white martial arts robe.
In this gloomy and depressing environment, the single spot of white was extremely eye-catching.
Qing Chen thought to himself, could this be the prison warden?
No, although the man was wearing a martial arts robe different from other prisoners, there was still a small number on the robe.
He must be the most privileged among all the prisoners.
As if he could feel Qing Chen studying him, the middle-aged man suddenly turned his head and looked back at him with a smile.
Qing Chen looked away immediately.
After the other person who transmigrated from Earth was out of his sight, the voice sounded again in the prison, "Please head toward the cafeteria to get your meals."
As soon as the voice said so, all the prisoners turned to the right in an orderly fashion and started waiting to go downstairs toward the open area.
Only then did Qing Chen have the time to count all of the prisoners. Including him, there were 3102 in total.
This prison fortress has a total of seven floors, and each floor formed a group, led by the prisoner in front.
During this whole time, no one tried to cut the line. Everyone here seemed to be operating according to an established procedure. Nothing seemed out of place.
This intense ordeal did not end until everyone got their meal from an automated robot.
It seemed that after getting one's meal, prisoners were free to do whatever they wished.
Qing Chen was on the fifth floor, so when it was his turn to eat, the people on the first floor were mostly done with their breakfast. Two muscular prisoners pulled a young man directly to the nearest cell and many more cheered beside them.
"Hurry up and pull him into a cell. Don't hurt him here, or else the robots are going to come out again," someone reminded.
The prisoner who was holding onto the young man casually responded, "Don't worry, I'm not a fool like Yang Jie."
At the same time, the young man struggled and yelled, "Let go of me!"
When he was about to be pulled inside the cell, the young man's voice turned into a begging tone, "Please let go of me!"
But no matter how much he pleaded, no one paid any attention to his request. Instead, it brought more laughter.
Suddenly, the old man with mechanical eyes in front of Qing Cheng turned and smiled, "Soon, that will be you."
Qing Chen glanced at him calmly, and the old man suddenly felt a sudden uneasiness. He didn't know why he was so frightened by the young man's glance.
After getting their meals from the robot window, the prisoners spread out on their own.
Qing Chen found that three started approaching around him, they were trying to surround him!
When he sped up his pace, the prisoners sped up to match him!
In the next moment, everything in the prison passed through Qing Chen's mind.
On the curved ceiling above, the 18 steel beast-like machine guns were on stand-by, hovering silently like a sleeping tiger.
72 drones were suspended in individual slots on the metal ceiling like resting wasps.
210 security cameras slowly turned their angles monitoring the entire area, and three robots stood with guns in the open area.
The prisoners got their meals one by one, and some were complaining about how gross the synthetic meat was.
Next to the sink, some were washing their plates, and some were washing other's plates
As more and more people finished their breakfast, before long, the place became lively. People were walking in every direction. Some went to the fitness area and others went to see the novice inmate's "induction".
Despite being free to move anywhere, everyone still subconsciously avoided the middle-aged man staring at the chessboard.
The man was still looking at the chessboard earnestly, and within the five-meter radius, no one dared to approach. It was like a calm reef on the sea level, while all the turbulent waters and ships had to go around it to pass.
Suddenly, Qing Chen sped up and tried to move out of the three people's chase… while walking toward the middle-aged man.
Looking at the direction he was heading, many people suddenly realized what this novice inmate was about to do.
Gradually, more and more people turned their attention to him and started chattering. Everyone who was looking at him was waiting to see what would happen.
More and more people started to notice the sudden change. Qing Chen wasn't the first novice inmate that tried to seek protection from others.
But in reality, everyone failed.
Qing Chen ignored the chattering sounds and continued to carry his plate of food through the crowd.
Before he could approach, he was stopped by a young man next to the middle-aged man. He said with a smile, "Newcomer, I know what you want to do, but we will not help you."
His ploy being exposed, Qing Chen could only cast his eyes beyond the young man.
The middle-aged man was still looking at the chessboard like nothing was happening.
He looked at the middle-aged man and said earnestly, "Move the pawn up to one. I can show you how to solve this endgame.”
Finally, the middle-aged man raised his head. The place suddenly became quiet, and even the cat opened its eyes.
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