12
Chen Guanlou didn't know how others practiced their skills. He had always followed his own rhythm.
His Tianchan Divine Skill had reached a minor level of mastery. Combining it with the Thousand Transformations technique, a rugged-looking man of about thirty soon appeared in the mirror.
Chen Guanlou stared at his new reflection. His facial features and shape had all changed, creating a completely new appearance. Not only would strangers fail to recognize him, but even his own sister, Chen Xiaolan, wouldn't know him if she were standing right in front of him.
When he opened his mouth to speak, the changes in his bones and muscles altered his voice as well. It was a delightful surprise.
There was no time to lose. He donned a set of night-crawling clothes, pulled on a hood, and stealthily scaled the courtyard wall.
He had already found out that Zhang Wantong had a mistress who lived in Anzi Alley. On nights when he wasn't on duty, he would stay at her place.
Arriving at his destination, he crouched on the roof. He listened for any sounds, and once the people inside were fast asleep, he leaped down.
Having martial arts truly made a difference. Before, he would never have dared to jump from a roof, fearing scrapes and bruises, or worse, breaking his arms and legs without even dying. He cherished his life. But now, the distance from the roof to the ground was nothing to him. With a light leap, he landed effortlessly without a sound.
*Heh heh*, he was a man with martial arts now. He just wasn't sure what level he was at, or how wide the gap was between him and a 1st Rank Martial Artist.
He blew a puff of incense into the room. After waiting for the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, he strode in boldly, hoisted Zhang Wantong onto his shoulder, and walked out.
A basin of cold water splashed on his face. Zhang Wantong awoke from his stupor to find himself tied to a chair. The surroundings were pitch black, save for a single candle in front of him.
He had been kidnapped!
Where was this place?
Who had kidnapped him?
For money? For his life?
He trembled, looking around, but could see nothing in the darkness.
Shivering in a panic, he stammered, "Which hero are you? I have money! I have silver buried in my cellar. Please, hero, spare my life. I won't pursue this matter afterward, and I won't breathe a single word of it to anyone."
"What have you done?"
"What?" Hearing a voice suddenly, Zhang Wantong was both relieved and terrified. Relieved because it confirmed he was kidnapped, and if the other party was willing to talk, there was room for negotiation. Terrified because his captor remained hidden in the darkness and had asked an inexplicable question, leaving him utterly baffled. He worried that saying the wrong thing would anger his captor.
"Hero, what are you referring to? I've done so many things... Please, hero, give me a hint. This lowly one will surely tell you everything I know." Zhang Wantong was both fawning and panicked, his eyes darting around, but he couldn't see his kidnapper. Follow the newest chapters on novelping.com.
"Why did Jiang Wannian die?"
"You mean Jiang Yucheng! What is your relationship with him?"
"One more word and you die!" Chen Guanlou, disguised as the kidnapper, uttered the most powerful words he could.
As soon as the words were spoken, Zhang Wantong immediately quieted down. He didn't dare to speculate wildly, nor did his eyes dare to dart around anymore.
"Hero, I've been wronged! Jiang Yucheng's death had nothing to do with me. The higher-ups needed a scapegoat, and it just so happened that Jiang Yucheng seemed to know something, and then he drowned. I know he died unjustly, but I'm just a lowly prison guard with no power or influence. I truly don't know the inside story."
"Nothing to do with you? You don't know? I heard you've been very busy lately, still finding time to file reports and stir up trouble." The kidnapper's voice was mocking, conveying a cold, ruthless certainty that he had everything under control. It seemed as if he might strike him down with a blade in the next second.
Zhang Wantong shivered and began to plead his case again. "It wasn't me! I didn't want to! I was just following orders."
"Tell me about it." The kidnapper seemed very interested.
"Yes, yes! When Jiang Yucheng died, the position of Yucheng became vacant, and several Jailers wanted to advance. Especially Xu Fugui and Jailer Zhang; both are veterans with many connections. However, they didn't know that Wan Yuli also had his eyes on the Yucheng position. Although Wan Yuli is less experienced, he's said to have a powerful backer—the kind you can't afford to offend. Wan Yuli came to me and told me to find a way to stir up chaos, to create some trouble for Xu Fugui and Jailer Zhang, and get them to fight each other."
"While the snipe and the clam grapple, the fisherman profits!"
*I never thought Wan Yuli would be so calculating.*
"So what did you do?" The kidnapper's tone suddenly turned grim.
"I deliberately caused some trouble for Xu Fugui, and then I made a point of being seen with Jailer Zhang. Just as planned, Xu Fugui became convinced that Jailer Zhang was behind it, trying to frame him. The two of them are at each other's throats now."
"What kind of trouble did you cause for Xu Fugui?"
"The men under him aren't clean. Reporting them at a time like this is enough to cause him a world of pain. On top of that, his account books were already problematic, especially with several prisoners suddenly dying in the prison last year."
"I heard he has a new recruit under him who isn't clean either?"
"Hero, you even know about this? Could you be..."
"Do you want to die?"
"Spare me, hero! I'll talk, I'll talk!" When you're under someone else's roof, you have to bow your head. To save his own skin, Zhang Wantong was ready to spill everything.
"That new recruit doesn't know anything. He's just collateral damage, an insignificant extra. It's his bad luck for following Xu Fugui. Since Xu Fugui has become an eyesore to someone, all the men under him are bound to suffer."
He wasn't wrong about that.
Chen Guanlou finally understood why Zhang Wantong had been targeting him. Damn it. It was a classic case of a fire at the city gate bringing disaster to the fish in the moat. He was one of those innocent, unfortunate fish.
In the small world of the Tian Prison, for a single Yucheng position, the struggle below was already a life-and-death affair before any official word came from above. If small-timers fought this viciously, wouldn't the struggles of the great figures above turn the world upside down? He couldn't imagine how many innocent fish would be caught in the crossfire, how many people would die, when those powerful men clashed.
The little people lived such humble lives, they didn't even have the right to say 'no'.
"What did Wan Yuli promise you to make you help him so tirelessly?"
Zhang Wantong actually hesitated, a rare show of reluctance.
Chen Guanlou smacked him directly in the chest with a wooden plank, nearly breaking his ribs.
"If you want to die, I can help you with that."
"I'll talk, I'll talk!" Zhang Wantong gasped, feeling as if his lungs had been shattered. Every word he spoke sent a sharp pain through his chest. "Wan Yuli promised me that after this is done, he'll promote me to his current position, letting me manage the Jia-Character Cell Block."
That was one tempting offer.
No wonder Zhang Wantong took the bait.
Being a prison guard was a lowly profession. The pay was poor, the work was despised, and the environment was terrible. If you tried to skim a little off the top, you'd be cursed as black-hearted and rotten to the core. Sometimes, you even had to carry out interrogations, executions, and beatings. In short, the job was dirty, smelly, and degrading.
Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the
Given any chance, every prison guard wanted to jump ship and find a different path.
Chen Guanlou was the exception; he had willingly jumped into this dyeing vat.
From Prison Guard to Jailer, a difference of a single word in the title, yet a world of difference in status, identity, and wealth.
A prison guard almost never had the chance to meet an official, but a jailer might occasionally get to show his face before one. This point alone was enough to make countless men risk everything and fight for it.
Becoming an official was the ultimate ideal!
All pursuits are lowly, only becoming an official is noble!
Official! Lord Official! For thousands of years, these words held a fatal allure for men and women alike. Even to be a minor functionary, a position a hundred times better than a mere prison guard, was worth risking everything to achieve.