Raymond had just pulled himself out of the empty space. Barbara had already taken out her magic book and started chanting a spell.
A blue beam of light slowly merged into the blood inside the syringe.
Suddenly, Barbara opened her eyes and looked at Samantha in the cell with a worried expression. "It’s black fever. And she’s contagious."
Barbara raised her hand. Two holy lights fell on her and Raymond at the same time, forming a protective barrier around them. "Don’t worry. My purification light can stop the plague."
For a moment, Raymond felt the air around him become fresh and clean.
Then Barbara turned to look at the other two cells. She let out a sigh. "No need to check the others. They probably have black fever too."
"Just to be safe, we should still check them," Raymond said. He picked up the other two syringes and walked toward the cells across from him.
"What are you doing?" Barbara asked, shocked.
Raymond knew these girls had a serious, deadly sickness. But he still wanted to help them and draw their blood?
This man... he was too kind, too gentle!
"Every prisoner’s pain should be treated properly," Raymond said, sounding like a hero.
Now, not only Barbara was surprised. Even the sick girls in their cells looked touched.
They worked with Raymond as he took their blood. They made sure he never touched their skin.
When Raymond handed the two syringes to Barbara, two new sinner cards appeared in his mind.
They were a Level 17 giantess named [Sangria], and a 16th-level mermaid named [Nami].
Just like [Samantha], who had just been added, both girls had the same Guard Contribution Points - 5 points each.
It seemed that drawing blood from sinners gave you a fixed 5 Guard Contribution Points.
Raymond looked at the four sinner cards floating in the empty space. He felt extremely happy.
Tomorrow night, he would get to draw four times. That meant his chances of getting something valuable would go way up.
Barbara saw the satisfied smile on Raymond’s face. Her eyes blinked softly.
A man with such a kind heart... it was a waste for him to be a guard.
"Hey... guard sir, what’s your name?" Barbara wanted to say hello to Raymond, but then she realized she had never asked his name. Her face turned red.
"Raymond Lucian." Raymond snapped back to reality and answered casually.
"You’re that useless... who ran away from the army?" Barbara cried out. Then she realized she had said something rude. She quickly covered her mouth.
Raymond glanced at her and said calmly, "That useless son of a rich family who ran away from the draft?"
"That’s not what I meant. You’re nothing like what the newspapers said!" Barbara hurried to explain.
"Miss Barbara, we need to report the black fever outbreak right away. Let’s focus on the work first." Raymond made an excuse and turned to leave.
Barbara watched him walk away. She pouted her lips. "Hmph! Just wait. I’m going to make you a priest!"
...
Raymond returned to the guard hall. Hal had been waiting for a while.
"Captain Hal, Raymond hurt me for no reason, and then he made me clean hundreds of toilets by myself. I don’t accept that!" Bucky hid behind Hal and looked at Raymond with a proud smile.
Raymond saw this and let out a cold grin.
It was obvious. Bucky was twisting the truth.
"Explain yourself. Why did you fight?" Hal crossed his arms, staring hard at Raymond. His voice was cold.
"See for yourself. It recorded everything that just happened. The facts are clear!" Raymond tossed out a memory stone.
When Bucky heard that Raymond had recorded everything, his eyes shrank in fear. The words slipped out before he could stop himself: "That’s impossible! My men were watching you the whole time. You had no chance to record anything!"
But as soon as he said it, both Hal and Raymond turned to look at him.
Bucky could even see mockery and amusement in Raymond’s eyes.
"You tricked me! The memory stone is fake!" Bucky screamed in frustration.
Raymond spread his hands and pretended to be innocent. "This memory stone holds the recording of me and Priest Barbara investigating the black fever outbreak. Did I say something wrong?"
Hal’s face darkened. He kicked Bucky to the ground. "You dared to falsely accuse a fellow guard? And you started trouble in the guard hall using my name? Who gave you the nerve?"
Bucky scrambled to his feet. He tried to say something, but Hal raised his hand to stop him.
"You just said there’s black fever on our floor?" Hal stared at Raymond, his face serious.
Raymond nodded.
He activated the memory stone and played back everything that had happened outside Cell 37.
Hal watched the recording. Then he looked at Bucky, then at the other junior guards. He said coldly, "There’s a black fever outbreak in the prison block. To stop the sickness from spreading, everyone is to stay in the guard hall for quarantine."
With that, Hal patted Raymond on the shoulder. "According to the rules, you’ll be quarantined here for three days. Remember, you can fight all you want. Just don’t kill anyone."
Then Hal glared at Bucky one last time, turned around, and walked out of the guard hall.
Raymond watched Hal leave. His eyes narrowed.
According to Barbara, black fever only affects beings at the Black Iron Stage level.
Hal didn’t join them for quarantine. That meant Hal’s strength was at least Bronze Stage or above.
Thinking about this, Raymond turned to look at Bucky, a grin spreading from ear to ear. "Bucky, it seems like you just slandered me, didn’t you?"
When Bucky heard that, he started shaking in fear. "I... I know I was wrong!"
Raymond slowly walked toward Bucky. The murderous look on his face was practically real. "You don’t know you were wrong. You know you’re in big trouble!"
Raymond’s presence was terrifying.
Bucky let out a scream and ran behind a group of junior guards. "Raymond, if you dare touch me again, my brother will come back and kill you!"
The junior guards nearby all looked guilty. The ones who had been cheering the loudest earlier even started to warn Raymond.
"Raymond, Bucky’s brother Barron is a Level 16 Archer. If you make him angry, he’ll turn you into a pincushion and hang you on the wall."
"That’s right! Barron is ranked in the top 100 of the Black Iron Stage combat power list inside Abyss Prison. He once killed a Level 8 escapee. You don’t want to mess with him!"
Clang!
Raymond drew his longsword.
The entire guard hall fell silent.
The junior guards who had been yelling just a moment ago scattered, afraid that Raymond might cut them down.
Bucky was pressed against the wall, staring at Raymond in panic, like a frightened rabbit.
Suddenly, a flash of sword light.
Bucky had no warning. One of his ears fell to the ground without a sound.
In fact, he didn’t even feel the pain until he saw his own ear lying there.
"Ah! My ear!" Bucky screamed in rage and terror.
"That ear is a lesson. Next time, I’ll take your life!" Raymond’s voice was ice cold. Bucky shut his mouth immediately.
Raymond turned around. The junior guards had already retreated dozens of meters away.
"Get the medical kit. Bandage him up." After leaving those words, Raymond walked into the break room alone.
The junior guards scrambled to get the bandages and disinfectant to clean Bucky’s wound. The sharp pain made Bucky cry out again and again.
Just then, Barbara walked in, looking tired.
She saw Bucky lying in a pool of blood. Without a second thought, she rushed over and used her [Healing Magic]. "What happened? Who did this?"
Bucky felt the wound on his ear start to heal. He finally stopped crying out in pain.
When he saw Barbara’s elegant priest robe, he put on a pitiful look. "It was Raymond! Raymond cut off my ear!"
Barbara found out that Raymond had cut off the ear. She immediately stopped her [Healing Magic]. "A kind person like Raymond wouldn’t just cut off someone’s ear for no reason. You must have deserved it!"
Under Barbara’s questioning, the junior guards nearby told her the truth.
When she learned that Bucky had bullied Raymond, Barbara’s face turned cold. "You picked on Raymond first, and then you tried to frame him? You deserve to lose an ear! I’m not going to treat your wound. Just put some disinfectant on it and tough it out."
With that, Barbara lifted her skirt, stepped over the pool of blood, and walked into another break room.
Without the power of [Healing Magic], Bucky’s wound tore open again. "Raymond! You’ll regret this!"
...
Inside the break room.
Raymond lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
A Level 16 Archer at the Black Iron Stage? He once killed a Level 8 escapee at the Black Iron Stage?
That’s a bit of a challenge. But not much of one.
And besides, I have four Sinner Cards. Tomorrow night, I’ll draw from them again.