Li Dao slept for a full sixteen hours.
It wasn't until noon the next day that he gradually woke up.
"Comfortable."
Li Dao stretched lazily, his whole body crackling with a series of popping sounds.
At this moment, a fragrant aroma wafted into his nose.
"Meat? Where's the meat!"
"It really is the smell of meat, I want to eat meat."
"And the smell of wine, someone please let me have a sip of wine."
"Let me have a bite of meat and a sip of wine, I'd rather die right now."
"......"
The aroma quickly permeated the cell, and the death row prisoners who smelled it went crazy, especially those who had been imprisoned for a long time, who were willing to die just for a bite of meat or a sip of wine.
Leaning against the cell door, the prisoners saw a jailer carrying a wooden tray approaching.
On the tray was a roasted chicken and a jug of wine.
Seeing this scene, the prisoners became even more frenzied.
Some of them leaned hungrily against the cell door, sniffing the aroma of the wine and meat like mad, then closed their eyes and imagined eating the food.
The jailer stopped outside the cell where Li Dao was.
Unlocking the door, the jailer brought the food inside.
"Who is 9527?"
The jailer looked at the many prisoners in the cell and asked.
Li Dao got up and walked to the jailer, "I am 9527."
Hearing this, the jailer chuckled, "9527, you did well on the last mission. This is a special reward from Centurion Liu."
Li Dao accepted the meat and wine, smiling faintly, "Please thank Centurion Liu for me."
"I will."
Perhaps having learned something, the jailer's attitude towards Li Dao was not as harsh as it was towards the other prisoners.
Before leaving, the jailer patted Li Dao on the shoulder and said with a hint of meaning, "You'd better eat quickly."
After the jailer left, Li Dao leaned against the wall with the wine and meat.
Tearing off a chicken leg, he took a big bite without hesitation, then uncorked the wine and took a swig.
The surrounding prisoners swallowed hard at the sight, their eyes fixed on the meat and wine in Li Dao's hands.
Suddenly, someone couldn't resist and stood up, walking over to Li Dao.
"Little brother, can you let me have a bite? Just one bite, I promise not to take more."
The person seemed worried about their appearance and deliberately wiped their face, revealing a kind and gentle look.
Li Dao glanced at him, his gaze lingering on that face for a moment before slowly asking, "Human trafficker?"
Hearing this, the man's face froze for a moment, but he quickly said, "No, I'm innocent, I'm a 9th-Rank Official of the court."
"9th-Rank Official?"
"Yes, yes."
"Then do you recognize this word?"
Li Dao casually wrote a character on the ground with his greasy hand.
"This word I..."
"This is a new word."
"Ah... yes, yes, it's a new word, I didn't react for a moment."
Hearing this, Li Dao showed a mocking smile, "Sorry, I was mistaken, this isn't a new word."
The man's face turned awkward, quickly shifting to anger, "Are you playing me?"
"So what if I am?"
"I... I'll kill you."
The kind old man suddenly showed a ferocious expression, reaching his right hand towards Li Dao's face.
Li Dao immediately noticed something in the old man's hand.
A wooden spike?
He was trying to imitate what Li Dao had used before to deal with him.
If it were the old Li Dao, he might have reacted too slowly and suffered.
But with his quadrupled reflexes, the old man's move seemed like slow motion.
Li Dao decisively grabbed the man's wrist.
With a crack!
Accompanied by a crisp sound, the old man's wrist was bent backward by Li Dao.
"Ah!"
Facing the old man's screams, Li Dao's expression remained unchanged, instead showing a faint smile, "You old fool, can't even recognize the word 'death' and yet you claim to be an official?" This chapter is updated first at novelping dot com.
Under the stimulus of pain, the old man became frightened and quickly begged for mercy, "Don't kill me, I won't eat, don't kill me."
"Human traffickers deserve to die."
With that, Li Dao kicked him.
With a bang!
The old man flew backward, as if a painting hung on the wall, before falling down, the back of his head covered in blood.
At this moment, the system prompt sounded.
[Killed one enemy, gained attribute: 0.09]
Seeing the system prompt, Li Dao was quite surprised, not expecting the white-haired old man to have such a good physique.
But thinking of the man's profession, it made sense.
As a human trafficker, without a good physique, he would have been beaten to death long ago.
The so-called human trafficker was an ancient human trafficker.
Some women or old people were skilled at using their appearance to gain others' trust.
And when the old man showed a kind face, Li Dao guessed his identity.
After all, for an old man to survive in the Death Row Camp, it was impossible without some tricks.
And the way he spoke was very much like the smile on the faces of some elderly human traffickers Li Dao had seen in photos from his previous life.
If he smiled like that outside, it wouldn't matter, but showing such a smile in the Death Row Camp was really treating Li Dao like a fool.
After dealing with the old man, Li Dao sat back down to eat as if nothing had happened.
Perhaps because of his ruthlessness this time, it interrupted some people's thoughts, and no one dared to approach.
Seeing this, Li Dao felt a bit regretful.
It was all because the old man's profession was a human trafficker; if it were an ordinary criminal, he might have tolerated it, but for human traffickers, he had no patience at all.
A few minutes later.
Li Dao was full and leaned against the wall.
Some of the surrounding prisoners looked disappointed when they saw that Li Dao had even chewed the chicken bones clean.
They thought they might get to lick the bones, but he hadn't left a single feather.
Li Dao ignored their reactions, silently adding the attribute he had just gained to his physique.
[Owner: Li Dao]
[Physique: 4.49]
[Available Attribute Points: 0]
I'm working too hard; I've gotten stronger again!
Looking at the chains on his hands, Li Dao felt that they should no longer be able to restrain him.
However, while the chains couldn't bind him, his identity as a death row prisoner still could, so he needed to continue waiting.
......
Time continued to pass.
Soon, three days had gone by.
During these three days, Li Dao either slept or meditated in the Death Row Prison.
However, he wasn't anxious.
If he hadn't shown his strength, it would have been fine, but now that he had, he believed that Centurion Liu and the others in the military camp wouldn't let such a useful tool go to waste.
At this moment, footsteps sounded from outside the door.
A jailer appeared outside the cell door, opening it while calling into the cell, "9527, come out for a moment."
Li Dao got up, stretched lazily, and walked towards the cell door with his shackles.
Along the way, he noticed many people in the cell giving him schadenfreude looks.
In their view, Li Dao's return from his first death row mission was purely luck, and he would surely die the second time.
After leaving the cell, Li Dao soon met a familiar face.
Centurion Liu.
"9527, I didn't break my promise, did I?"
Upon seeing Li Dao, Centurion Liu greeted him.
Li Dao smiled slightly, "The meat was delicious, and the wine was good."
Perhaps because they had interacted before, Centurion Liu seemed quite familiar, stepping forward to pat Li Dao on the shoulder, chuckling, "If you complete the task this time, I'll double the same reward for you."
Hearing this, Li Dao raised an eyebrow, "Centurion Liu, it seems this task isn't simple."
Upon hearing this, Centurion Liu's smile faded, and he spoke in a low voice, "This time, the task is a bit difficult. We need to ambush a Northern Barbarian cavalry unit."
A Northern Barbarian cavalry unit?
Hearing this, Li Dao thought to himself that this was more than just a bit difficult; for an ordinary death row prisoner, it was a hell-level task.
The reason for this was that the Northern Barbarians were most famous for their cavalry.
The Northern Barbarian Dynasty, composed of countless nomadic tribes, was best at training warhorses and cavalry.
It could be said that even a three-year-old child in the Northern Barbarian Dynasty could master excellent horsemanship, so one could imagine how terrifying the cavalry selected from their vast population were.
Moreover, the cavalry's strong mobility made them difficult to deal with.
However, Li Dao didn't feel any fear. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Or rather, because of the system's ability, he transformed his fear into excitement.
When it came to fighting, he felt more excitement than fear.
Of course, his increased strength also played a role.
If he were still in his previous weakling state, he wouldn't have been able to hide fast enough.
"Are we leading the charge again?"
Li Dao noticed that while he was chatting with Centurion Liu, many jailers were leading various death row prisoners over.
Centurion Liu didn't directly answer the question, just winked and glanced at Li Dao's clothes.
That was as good as a confirmation.
The process was similar to the previous mission.
Li Dao and his group were taken out of the Death Row Prison, brought to a military tent to change clothes, and then briefed on the mission by Centurion Liu.
When the group of death row prisoners heard the mission was to ambush a Northern Barbarian cavalry unit, they all showed resistant expressions.
But seeing the Great Qian soldiers around them drawing their swords halfway out, no one dared to say anything more.
Taking a chance might offer a slim chance of survival, but acting out now would mean certain death.
Perhaps because the mission was urgent, after explaining it, Centurion Liu had the soldiers distribute weapons.
Unlike last time, this time the weapons given to Li Dao were not broken and worn, but two brand-new, gleaming long knives.
This sight made the prisoners who received broken weapons feel instantly unbalanced.
"I don't accept this. Why do we get these crappy weapons while his are new? I want new weapons too."
"Yeah, we want new weapons too. Why is he different from us when we're all death row prisoners?"
"This is discrimination. That pretty boy doesn't deserve such good weapons."
"......"
The prisoners quickly began to voice their grievances.
"Quiet, all of you!"
Suddenly, a voice cut off all the prisoners' complaints.
Centurion Liu looked at the group of prisoners coldly, "If you want weapons like 9527's, you can go take them from the Northern Barbarian soldiers. If you seize them, they're yours."
"What about him?"
Centurion Liu chuckled, looking at the speaker, "Sorry, those two knives of his were taken from Northern Barbarian soldiers during his last mission."
Hearing this, the group of prisoners showed incredulous expressions.
Perhaps because this mission was important, the selected prisoners all looked quite robust.
Although Li Dao had undergone several enhancements, his physique didn't show much change outwardly, still appearing somewhat 'slim,' making him seem 'petite' among the prisoners.
This was why so many were skeptical.
Seeing this, Centurion Liu smiled, his gaze falling on Li Dao, "9527, you can try to 'convince' them."
Hearing this, Li Dao nodded, showing a faint smile to the group of prisoners, "Anyone who doesn't accept it, step forward. If you beat me, these two knives are yours."
As soon as he finished speaking, someone squeezed out from the prisoners and stood in front of Li Dao.
Standing nearly two meters tall, with a dark and burly physique, he looked very formidable.
Seeing this, many prisoners who hadn't reacted in time felt a pang of regret; if they had known the pretty boy was so easy to provoke, they would have stepped forward first.
The big man seemed to know he had gained an advantage, showing a cheerful expression.
Facing Li Dao, he taunted, "Pretty boy, if you hand over those two knives now, I might consider going easy on you. Otherwise, I might accidentally kill you."
With a whoosh!
A gleaming knife was thrust in front of the big man.
Li Dao raised his hand and beckoned, "Stop talking nonsense."
"You're courting death."
Seeing himself being provoked by a pretty boy, the big man decisively picked up the long knife, swinging it horizontally at Li Dao's face, clearly intending to kill.
Seeing this, Li Dao simply raised his knife and swung it.
Just when everyone thought Li Dao was about to die under the big man's knife.
There was a crack, and the blade shattered.
When everyone looked back at Li Dao and the big man, they found Li Dao's blade was intact.
While the big man's knife was left with only half, held in his hand.
Rip!
The next second, a tearing sound was heard.
Immediately, a crack extended from the big man's forehead down to his abdomen.
In an instant, a large gush of blood sprayed from the crack, and the big man fell to the ground.
[Killed one enemy, gained attribute: 0.22]
The system prompt made Li Dao's eyes light up; the big man hadn't wasted all that muscle, providing him with so many attributes.