Seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune: Starting with death row inmates

The two men had run out of crossbow bolts, and it was impossible for them to jump down the dozens of meters of city wall. If Qin Pi had such lightness skills, he would not have been caught and imprisoned.

"We're trapped." Qin Pi kept scratching his head, as if he regretted listening to Shen Chen's advice.

Shen Chen remained calm: "Don't panic, we can call someone up to help us."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Qin Pi's eyes widened, amused and annoyed by Shen Chen's words. "Do you think I can send a telepathic message from afar, ordering the brothers in the mountain stronghold to fly over and rescue us right now?"

Shen Chen looked up and recalled, "I remember that every year on the fifteenth of July, a group of workers would come to repair the city wall."

"An hour ago, it was the fifteenth of July, right?" Shen Chen said, looking at the virtual panel in front of him.

[The worst possible outcome: jump directly off and die instantly. Extremely unlucky.]

[A moderately auspicious fortune; consider alternative solutions, survive against all odds, good luck.]

As his thoughts became clearer, the words "[Medium to Good Fortune]" jumped up and down like a restless little man, and finally a completely new line of text appeared in front of Shen Chen.

[A moderately auspicious fortune: Disguise yourself as a drunk worker left on the city wall, ask the soldiers for help, and take the opportunity to escape. Minor good fortune.]

"Is anyone there!" Shen Chen shouted loudly to the crowd below without hesitation.

Qin Pi was startled and immediately turned to look at Shen Chen, his tone tense and fierce: "What the hell are you yelling about? What if the guards find us?"

Shen Chen smiled and said, "That's exactly what we want them to find out. Aren't we the workers who were left up there drunk?"

Qin Pi's expression froze instantly. He frowned and thought for half a minute before understanding Shen Chen's meaning. He then gave him a thumbs up: "Your brain is really damn weird."

He also shouted along with Shen Chen, "Is anyone there? Help!"

In the darkness, several torches gradually approached the foot of the city wall. A few guards looked up at the two figures on the wall, their faces filled with disbelief: "Who are you two? What are you doing up here in the middle of the night?"

"Gentlemen, please lend us a hand," Shen Chen said awkwardly. "We came here this afternoon to repair the city wall, right? We two brothers sneaked up there and secretly drank a bottle of wine, and ended up getting really drunk, sleeping until now..."

Qin Pi remained silent, and Shen Chen's tone was so convincing that he almost believed him.

The guards below understood what had happened. In the pitch black, they couldn't see Shen Chen and Qin Pi on the city wall, so they easily believed Shen Chen. They shouted back, "Okay, you wait here, I'll go find you a ladder."

A perceptive guard sensed something was amiss, but didn't think much of it. Surely it wasn't a prisoner asking a jailer for help in the dead of night?

"Could you please bring us a rope, sir?" Shen Chen said. "We're still a bit tipsy, and we're worried we might slip and fall."

"Okay, I'll bring it to you later," a helpful jailer agreed.

Shen Chen even thanked the prison guards below, saying, "Thank you!"

"You're welcome!" the jailers replied.

A ladder was quickly placed on the city wall, and a nimble jailer, carrying ropes, swiftly climbed to the top.

He crawled to Shen Chen and Qin Pi's feet, looked up at them, and said, "Look, you two..."

The jailer was taken aback. One of them was handsome and refined, while the other was burly and fierce-looking. They both looked somewhat familiar.

He trembled violently and nearly fell off the city wall: "Qin Pi!"

He had seen the face on that wanted poster many times, and the story of skinning hundreds of people was even more memorable to him.

Qin Pi grabbed the jailer by the back of the neck and lifted him up the city wall with one hand, like carrying a dog.

Before the jailer could recover from his shock, he heard Qin Pi chuckle and say, "Thank you, brother."

While Qin Pi expressed his gratitude, his five fingers were placed on the jailer's neck, as if he could snap it at any moment.

"Don't be afraid. Just cooperate with us and we won't skin you alive," Shen Chen said gently to the jailer.

The jailer turned pale at the mention of skinning, and immediately nodded vigorously, saying, "Alright, you two, just give me your orders."

"Where's the rope I told you to bring?" Shen Chen asked.

The jailer obediently took the rope tied around his waist and handed it to Shen Chen: "Is this alright? If not, I'll have my men bring up two more."

Shen Chen threw the rope over the city wall, tested the bottom, and then brought it back: "It's not long enough."

Qin Pi said, "Two strands tied together are enough. I can carry you down with one hand."

"Okay." Shen Chen had seen Qin Pi's strength and had no doubt about his words.

Qin Pi turned to look at the jailer, frowned, and then turned to Shen Chen and whispered, "Push this guy down, lest he cause trouble when we go down."

Shen Chen drew a fortune stick and then said, "He won't, there's no need to kill him."

"Are you that sure?" Qin Pi sneered.

He seemed to recall something from the past, spat out a mouthful of saliva, and muttered to himself as if advising Shen Chen: "Master Shen, don't be too kind-hearted. The one thing you can't trust in this world is people's hearts."

Shen Chen said, "People should be loyal to each other. It's not right for us to push someone away when they kindly come to our rescue."

Shen Chen deliberately raised his voice when he said this, and the jailer next to him trembled when he heard it, hurriedly saying, "Yes, you two heroes, one should be loyal..."

Qin Pi was convinced by Shen Chen's words "loyalty" and sneered at the jailer: "Don't try anything funny, or I'll skin you alive."

He tied the two ropes together, attached them to a protruding brick nearby, and then threw the ropes down the city wall.

He supported Shen Chen with one hand and grabbed the rope with the other, then jumped down along the city wall.

Shen Chen felt the wind whistling past his ears, and before he could react, the ground was already right in front of him.

Qin Pi tucked Shen Chen under his arm with one hand and hurriedly ran outside as if he were carrying a bundle of scallions.

The two guards standing at the gate stared blankly at the two men's retreating figures, wondering, "Are these two wall-building guys in such a hurry to get home?"

They suddenly heard crying overhead, and somewhat surprised, they went outside and looked up at the jailer sitting on the city wall: "Old Wang, what are you crying about?"

"Those two are Clerk Shen and Skinner!" the jailer Wang cried out. "We let the prisoner escape!"

Several prison guards were horrified upon hearing this. Some instinctively wanted to give chase, but remembering the infamous reputation of "Skinning Knife," they silently withdrew their legs.

"Old Wang, come down first, it's dangerous up there," someone advised the jailer.

The jailer, Wang, tried to stand up while crying, but found his legs were as weak as noodles and he couldn't get up at all. He also felt that his trouser legs were cold and slippery, and realized that he had wet himself in fear. He couldn't help but cry even louder.