The next morning.
As soon as Hal opened his eyes, he found himself blocked at the door by three squad leaders - one tall, one short, one fat.
"You guys are finally back! Lend me some copper coins so I can settle my bill with the landlady." Hal yawned, turned around, and sat back down on the bed.
"Old Hal! You’ve been guarding the first basement level these past few days. Have you seen any newcomers who are good with a sword?" The short squad leader jumped onto the bed, looking anxious.
"Hey, Milton! If you mess up the bed, you’ll have to pay for it!" Hal slapped the short squad leader, Milton, off the bed.
He looked up and glanced at the other two, finally fixing his gaze on the tall squad leader. Frowning, he said, "What’s going on? Carlton, you tell me!"
The tall squad leader, Carlton, yanked Hal to his feet. "Something weird happened at the training ground last night. A junior guard scored damage at the Black Iron Stage 18 level with a thrust."
Hal’s eyes widened. He shook off Carlton’s hand. "Nonsense! The strongest junior guard on the first basement level is only at Black Iron Stage 10."
The chubby squad leader, Hilton, threw out a memory stone and projected the scene from the training ground. The marks on the test crystal were crystal clear.
Hal stared hard at the test crystal in the projection and said in a low voice, "Could it be that those junior guards have come back?"
The short man, Milton, spread his hands and shook his head. "Unfortunately, no one else came back except Barron. The three of us figured that if we could win over this newcomer, we could finally put that guy Barron in his place."
The tall man, Carlton, nodded and sighed. "This time, Barron was out escorting a prisoner. Just because the prisoner didn’t get permission to pee in the woods, Barron shot him dead with an arrow! That got us interrogated by the judges for three days and three nights before they finally let us go!"
Hilton slammed the table in anger and cursed, "Damn it! Just thinking about it makes me mad. And after all that, the executive officer didn’t even ask a single question. It’s obvious he was taking Barron’s side."
When Hal heard this, his face suddenly changed.
He shot to his feet and shouted, "Wait! You guys just said Barron is back?"
"Yeah, he came back last night! I heard his brother got his ear cut off, so he took leave and went home right away," Hilton said casually, with a smug look on his face.
"Damn it!" Hal grabbed his sword and rushed out of the room without even putting on his shoes.
Raymond! Please don’t run into Barron right now.
...
Meanwhile.
Inside the first basement level prison block.
"Time to eat!" Raymond showed up early at Cell 38 and slid the tray through the bars.
The succubus Lorraine sat in the corner of the cell. She sniffed the air, was instantly drawn by the smell of food, and stood up.
Raymond noticed the bruises on her body had faded. He smiled and said, "It’s the weekend, so I got you a little extra."
Lorraine grabbed the tray and started eating like crazy.
Seeing how fast she moved, Raymond quietly stepped back.
That’s when he noticed something on her card panel. The Guard Contribution Points, which had been stuck at 20, had actually gone up.
[Guard Contribution Points: 20 → 22]
Even delivering food could raise Guard Contribution Points!
This discovery made Raymond really happy.
It was only 2 points, but over time, he could keep raising the contribution points of these prisoners.
And by now, Raymond had already found four ways to increase Guard Contribution Points: locking up prisoners, beating prisoners, drawing blood from prisoners, and feeding them...
Raymond believed that as long as he was patient, he would find even more ways to raise Guard Contribution Points!
Suddenly, Lorraine started making choking sounds.
She pounded her chest, her face turning red, and she shook as she looked at Raymond.
"Are you choking?" Raymond asked, looking surprised.
He saw Lorraine nod desperately at him, and without thinking, he put his hand on the key at his belt.
Wait.
What if this woman was just faking it to trick him into opening the door?
Then again, she was only Level 5, same as him. Nothing to be afraid of.
After all, Lorraine gave him an [Experience Card (Black Iron Stage 10 days)] every day. If she actually died, he’d kind of hate to lose that.
Raymond unlocked the door and rushed into the cell right away.
When Lorraine saw that Raymond had actually opened the door, her body started shaking even more.
She pointed at her stomach, signaling for Raymond to hug her from behind and punch her upper abdomen to push the food out of her throat.
Raymond listened to Lorraine’s choking sounds and nodded. "Don’t worry, I know what to do!"
Hearing this, Lorraine laughed to herself. Stupid guard. The moment you wrap your arms around me, I’ll snap your neck and send you to meet God!
Thump!
Raymond punched Lorraine right in the upper abdomen. Her whole body slammed into the wall.
She let out a scream, and the piece of bread stuck in her throat fell to the floor.
Raymond hadn’t held back. He’d put almost all his strength into that punch.
Lorraine curled up on the ground like a cooked shrimp, her eyes barely focusing.
"Next time, remember to chew slowly," Raymond said, clapping his hands together. He picked up the tray from the floor, turned around, and walked out of the cell.
Click.
The cell door locked shut again.
-[Ding! Detected that the host has inflicted cruel punishment on sinner Lorraine. Host’s Guard Contribution Points toward Lorraine increased by 5.]
Raymond stared at the words floating in the empty space. At first, he was confused. Then surprise set in.
Wait, that punch was supposed to save her!
But hey, 5 Guard Contribution Points was 5 points. The system could say whatever it wanted.
Inside Cell 38.
Lorraine listened as Raymond’s footsteps grew farther and farther away. She clenched her teeth in anger. "Damn guard, I’ll remember you. Next time, I’ll kill you for sure!"
Raymond walked over to Cell 37 and found that Sangria, Nami, and Samantha were all gone.
"Looks like their black fever isn’t better yet. They’re probably still in quarantine somewhere." Raymond sighed, then turned and headed toward the next cell.
"Time to eat!" Raymond stood in front of Cell 17 and knocked on the bars.
-[Koby, Level 17. Killed a peace officer on the street in broad daylight.]
Raymond watched Koby pick up the tray and grin.
He was really looking forward to it. Would a new card appear in the empty space after Koby ate this meal?
"If you don’t want to die, get the hell away from me." Koby gave Raymond a cold look, like he was already a dead man.
Raymond didn’t get mad. He stayed at a safe distance and watched Koby eat the whole time.
"Are you crazy?" Koby felt uncomfortable being stared at, so he turned his back to Raymond and kept eating.
But as time passed, Raymond’s face slowly darkened.
By the time Koby had eaten the last piece of bread from the tray, no new sinner card had appeared in the empty space.
So it seemed that only two things could turn a prisoner into a card: locking them up, or beating them up.
Raymond realized this, but he wasn’t discouraged.
At least he had learned a new rule.
He had already raised Lorraine’s Guard Contribution Points to 27.
Next up were the six prisoners he had logged yesterday.
Clang!
Raymond walked straight into Zach’s cell with the tray.
When Zach saw Raymond, his cheek started to throb with pain.
"What do you want? If you hit me again, I’ll report you!" Zach’s voice was tough, but his body shrunk into the corner.
"Eat!" Raymond shoved the tray right in front of Zach.
"You’re not going to hit me?" Zach looked at Raymond carefully.
After making sure Raymond wasn’t going to do anything else, Zach took the tray.
Under Raymond’s watchful eyes, Zach ate quickly.
He just wanted Raymond to leave his cell as soon as possible.
"Done eating. Now get out." Zach handed the tray back to Raymond, clearly trying to send him away.
Slap!
Without warning, Raymond’s palm struck Zach right across the face.
Zach slammed into the wall again, staring at Raymond in total shock. "Why did you hit me again?!"
Raymond looked at Zach’s pitiful face and smiled. "This way, you look more balanced."
After all, yesterday he had hit Zach’s left cheek. Now that he’d hit the right one, both sides were finally swollen to the same height.
Raymond locked the cell door. In the empty space, Zach’s Guard Contribution Points had gone up.
[Guard Contribution Points: 5 → 10]
Just as Raymond was humming a little tune, thinking about finding his next target, a strong sense of danger hit him from behind.
Without thinking, his body lunged forward on instinct.
Whoosh!
An arrow skimmed past Raymond’s scalp, embedding itself halfway into the wall fifty meters away. The tail of the arrow was still shaking violently.