Under a building, in an unknown place, there was another prison. A secret prison.
The place was plain. It was a concrete structure with a few load-bearing beams.
In the huge circular space, there were only 35 cells built against the walls. 80 guards with pistols on their waists patrolled back and forth among the 35 cells. Near the north and south entrances, another dozen or so mechanical guard dogs were standing.
Strangely, none of them were wearing uniforms. They were all in civilian clothes and had silencers on their firearms.
The cell was silent, and outside a middle-aged man was sitting in the middle of the open space with his eyes closed.
Suddenly, the phone in his pocket buzzed, and the middle-aged man looked at the message. He then said with a smile, “Everyone, it’s almost time, but Li Shutong is still nowhere to be seen. Does he care about you anymore?”
The 35 cells were quiet, and no one responded to him.
Perhaps during the past eight years in silence, none of them were used to speaking.
The middle-aged man walked to a prison cell, looked inside through the bars, and mocked, “Is that the friend you were talking about?”
In the cell, a skinny figure with messy hair was sitting against the wall. The person’s entire face was almost covered in his hair and beard.
“Cheng Xiao,” the middle-aged man said with a smile, “Have you ever thought that your friend who fought side by side for your ideals back then will give up on you eight years later?”
“You never gave him the real information in the first place. It’s only normal for him not to go,” Cheng Xiao’s hoarse voice sounded in the prison.
He hadn’t spoken for too long, so his tone seemed a little stiff.
On the walls of his dark cell, Cheng Xiao densely carved words with his nails. Because there were so many writings, it was impossible to see what was written.
One could only see how a person used his will to fight against loneliness.
The middle-aged man smiled and said: “No, no, if he was still like before, even if it’s just a false clue, he will definitely go and check. Cheng Xiao, he too was imprisoned for eight years, and eight years were enough to dull a person’s spirit.”
Cheng Xiao smiled with difficulty and said, “You are wrong.”
“If his spirit had been worn down if he really didn’t care about us, then he would have left that prison long ago,” Cheng Xiao said calmly, “If he didn’t care about our lives, do you think that prison could really take his freedom away from him?”
The middle-aged man’s expression froze. He knew what Cheng Xiao said was the truth.
The middle-aged man said in a stern tone, “He’s just staying in the prison to protect himself. If he doesn’t abide by the agreement and walks out of that prison, the consortium will naturally have many ways to eliminate him. You’re still living in the past era. Demigods are not invincible anymore.”
Cheng Xiao stood up slowly, walked to the iron door of the cell, and looked at the middle-aged man through the bars, “You are afraid of him. That’s why you kept emphasizing that demigods are not invincible.”
The middle-aged man looked under Cheng Xiao’s thick hair and beard. Behind those were a pair of eyes piercing into his soul.
The middle-aged man sneered, “I’m not interested in discussing such things with you. I only know that if Li Shutong doesn’t rescue you tonight, then you are worthless. All of you will die.”
“You dare to kill us?” Cheng Xiao said with a smile, “Are the Chens ready to bear the wrath of a demigod.”
“Li Shutong isn’t the only Level S in this world,” the middle-aged man said coldly, “And as long as the Qin family is still in our hands, Li Shutong will still not dare to be reckless. We only have 40 minutes left. If Li Shutong doesn’t appear at where we provided clues for within the next 40 minutes, I will be ordered to secretly execute all 35 of you.”
“Death can’t threaten us, and you know that yourself,” Cheng Xiao said calmly.
The middle-aged man said coldly: “I know how stubborn you are after all these years. Now I just feel sad for you. If I had a true friend that just left me behind , I would be very sad.”
Cheng Xiao laughed, “People like you don’t deserve to have friends. Besides, I’m very happy right now.”
“Happy?” The middle-aged man sneered, “I’m afraid you’ve lost your mind. Why would you be happy?”
“I’m happy because Li Shutong didn’t come to save us.” Cheng Xiao grabbed the iron bars on the barred window with both hands and stared straight at the middle-aged man, “This shows that he has finally learned to be cruel. For the past eight years, I have been thinking about what I’ve done wrong, and finally, I’ve figured it out. We were too weak in the past, hoping to solve our problems peacefully. We believed the politicians’ promises and the hypocritical parliament. That’s why we ended up in this situation. Now, Li Shutong didn’t fall for your trap and dropped the kindness he didn’t need. He has finally become a qualified leader.”
Cheng Xiao’s voice echoed in the empty secret prison.
The prisoners in the other 34 cells also stood up slowly, came in front of the front of bars, and stared at the middle-aged man silently.
The officer felt a little nervous after being stared at, and suddenly he said to the surrounding guards, “Open all the cell doors! Gather them in the open space and execute them as soon as the time is up!”
On the streets of City 18, the protesters slowly marched North.
From morning to night, except for a short break at noon, most of them have been walking all day.
The heavy snow falling from the sky made the whole city solemn.
At first, the snow melted on the ground, forming a messy mush of ice and water.
A student looked down and saw that his shoes had been soaked. He could feel the coldness to the bone.
He looked up and found that the other students were in a similar situation. Some even had the bottom of their pants wet.
This made the march a little more difficult.
The temperature in the air dropped rapidly, and a layer of ice slowly formed on the ground.
At this time, the slow started piling up, painting the entire city silver.
The protesters carefully stepped on the snow. Occasionally, some people slipped and fell to the ground.
Earlier this morning, there were tens of thousands of protesters, but ever since it started snowing, the number began to gradually decrease.
Among them, at least a third were here for the free food. They never truly wanted to protest with the students in the first place.
Therefore, those were also the first to leave.
They quietly threw away their posters at the intersection, tore off the stickers on their faces, and left the parade.
Before leaving, they even ransacked the small carts loaded with food, making a mess.
Later, some student protesters began to feel a little overwhelmed.
The long walk in such cold weather was deteriorating for any human being.
They found the student was in charge and said carefully, “It’s quite unfortunate weather today. Should we do it again another day? We can try to pick a better day next time.”
The student hesitated for a while and said, “But we’ve already come here and will be in the three upper districts soon. We have to prove to the big shots there, we are determined to achieve our goals!”
Those who wanted to leave weren’t convinced. They shook their heads and said, “We really can’t continue. It’s too cold, and everyone is freezing… Next time, we reach the end with you.”
So, these people also left.
The students who organized the protests stood helpless in the snow. They didn’t know how to stop these people from leaving, nor did they know if insisting would make any difference.
In the heavy snow, the noses of the students were red from the cold. They saw the crowd behind them become smaller and smaller, while they became more and more lonely.
This unexpected autumn snow was like a test. The vast sky wanted to see if the students had the determination
Finally, some students who participated in organizing the protest also left.
The crowd of over ten thousand people slowly turned into a group of a few hundred. They walked alone, shouting the slogan of education reform stubbornly. Their voices became hoarse.
A female classmate looked back at the lonely long street behind her. She couldn’t help crying when she turned around and continued to walk forward. She felt a bit betrayed. Those friends and classmates all said that they wanted to see the reform happen, but they seemed to have lost enthusiasm as they walked.
She quietly wiped away her tears, fearing that other students would see her tears.
At this time, someone beside her handed over a tissue.
The female classmate looked up in a daze, “Yangyang…”
Yangyang smiled and said, “Don’t cry. We did nothing wrong.”
The female classmate froze for a moment when she heard the words.
Yangyang said: “Look, we have come so far following our plan, and now we are almost at the third district. This is a success. Brilliance welcomes hypocritical spectators, and dusk witnesses true believers. It’s fine for them to leave.”
The female classmate nodded, “Yes, we are about to succeed.”
“Are you hungry?” Yangyang asked, “I still have food here.”
The female classmate whispered, “Thank you.”
Suddenly, the people in front of them stopped.
Just as they were about to enter the three upper districts along Forest Boulevard, a team of police officers from the Public Security Management Committee stopped them, “We are the Third District Police Force officers. Please hand over your protest permit and corresponding documents.”
Several students leading the protest were looking at the officers furiously. Everyone knew that these people were deliberately making things difficult for the protesters.
If it wasn’t for the police’s constant inspections along the way, the protesters would not have stood in the ice and snow for so long.
However, they were required to present their permit and have it verified.
The student leading the protest had kept the permits and documents close to him, so he took out the documents from his coat and handed them to the officer.
Unlike before, this time, the officer didn’t attempt to inspect the validity of the documents but suddenly handed them over to someone behind him.
The second officer that got the document quickly got into a car that drove away immediately.
“Wait!” The male student was stunned, “Where are you going to take the documents?!”
“What documents? I didn’t see any,” the officer responded blankly, “I now suspect that you are illegally protesting and deliberately causing social unrest. Who is the initiator? All protest organizers need to come with me for investigation. Of course, if you leave now, we can consider not pressing any charges.”
When the protesters finally were about to enter the three upper districts, the police started using the most shameless tactics.
The students rushed forward angrily, trying to tear apart the security committee agents.
As a result, dozens of police officers from the security committee smashed their heads and faces with batons. The students fell into the snow in a panic.
This time, not only were their shoes wet, but their clothes as well.
An agent said coldly, “Don’t take your opportunity for granted. If you don’t leave now, all of you will be detained and have your parents pick you up.”