Douluo Continent: What should I do if I don't have a cheat system?

Chapter 262 Grandfather and Grandson Meet, Dugu Bo Refuses to Leave

At this moment, time seemed to stand still.

Seeing that her grandfather was still alive and well, the weight that had been pressing on Dugu Yan's heart for many years was finally lifted.

Regardless of the circumstances, Grandpa appears to be safe for now.

Grandpa seemed to be in good spirits, not at all like someone who had suffered in the reformation field. In fact, Dugu Yan felt he was in better condition than before he was captured by the Spirit Hall.

Dugu Yan is now a supervisor and can monitor the daily work of each prisoner.

I glanced at the number on my grandfather's shirt, 54188, and then found his information in my work log.

Judging from the earliest work log, it was several years ago. It seems that Grandpa has always been here. And judging from the time, he came here when this renovation site was just built.

However, this doesn't match the time when Grandpa was arrested; there were several years before that.

For several years, Dugu Bo was imprisoned in a dungeon, and it was only after he developed the Soul Guidance Shackles that he was put into a reformation facility.

In this transformation facility, Dugu Bo can be considered a veteran, having been there from the very beginning.

However, Dugu Bo's personal information is confidential and cannot be viewed by ordinary people.

Dugu Yan could only see in the work log that her grandfather had completed all his work every day without fail.

It seems the managers here are unaware of Grandpa's abilities and assign him tasks that don't match his capabilities, which is why he can finish them quickly every day.

The work at this conversion site is divided into several categories: quarrying, planting, breeding, and processing.

Quarrying is arguably the most tiring job, and that was the job my grandfather assigned me.

Even without soul power, a titled Douluo still possesses very high physical strength.

Moreover, Grandpa also possessed a soul bone, which could enhance his physical strength.

Grandpa is still alive, which proves that the soul bone is still in his body. After all, Grandpa fused with a head soul bone, and if it were taken out, Grandpa would have died long ago.

Dugu Bo's work was easy for him. The quarrying work that would take others four hours to complete in the morning could be finished by Dugu Bo in just two hours.

For the rest of the time, Dugu Bo found a shady spot to rest. The reformation site provided water, and although it was just plain boiled water, Dugu Bo found it quite delicious.

He sipped his plain water while directing the other prisoners.

"89757, hurry up! You're so slow. Didn't you eat breakfast? You're not even as good as an old man like me."

"94121, your body isn't doing well. You've only been out for a short while and you're already panting."

"94188, your movements are so weak, like a woman's. Use more force."

……

Those who were singled out by Dugu Bo all wanted to beat him up, but unfortunately, none of them had any soul power. Judging from Dugu Bo's process of completing the mission, they were no match for him and could only silently endure Dugu Bo's taunts.

Seeing Dugu Bo's arrogant attitude, the other prisoners who were undergoing reformation quickened their quarrying pace, fearing that he would call on them by name.

Upon seeing this, Dugu Yan couldn't help but laugh. Her grandfather was still the same grandfather, and his words were still as sharp as ever.

Then he asked his colleague next to him:

"Can we rest after completing the task? Is that old man with the number 54188 always like this?"

A colleague who was looking down at his phone looked up after hearing Dugu Yan's question, smiled, and said, "Yes, this 54188 is very efficient at work and completes tasks quickly. It's been like this for years. He takes a two-hour break in the morning and in the afternoon as well."

Hearing her colleague say that, Dugu Yan felt very strange.

The prisoners here are all sent to labor camps, how could we let them have it so easy?

Finishing two hours early proves that the workload was not properly allocated; the workload should have been increased.

Although he is my grandfather, he has been working in Wuhun City for some time now, and his work attitude has always been very positive. He is used to giving things a lot of thought.

Seeing the confusion on Dugu Yan's face, her colleague continued:

"These prisoners sent to labor camps haven't committed any heinous crimes; they're just here for reform, as punishment for their past mistakes."

"Depending on the severity of the mistake, the time required for each person's rehabilitation varies, ranging from a few months to ten or twenty years, but they will all be released sooner or later."

"Those who commit heinous crimes wouldn't be sent here; they would have been publicly executed long ago."

"Our work here is very humane, and there's no need to exploit them."

"They don't have any soul power now, just like ordinary people. Their daily work tasks are formulated after research by the higher-ups, so that they won't be overworked."

"In Wuhun City, everyone has their own purpose, even prisoners have to contribute to Wuhun City."

"So for us, the living are more important than the dead."

"As long as they're alive, they can work every day and contribute to Wuhun City. If we exploit them and work them to death, although it's not a huge problem, wouldn't that mean one less person working?"

"As for 54188, that's his skill. He has a lot of work to do, the same as a strong man. And look at his age, he can finish the task two hours ahead of schedule. Look at the others, aren't they more proactive in their work? That's the effect we want. The people above call it the catfish effect."

"Don't ask me what a catfish is. I don't know either, and I've never seen one. It's probably some kind of fish-like spirit beast. I just heard it from the people above."

"Although I don't know how this old man got in, he seems like a nice guy. I've chatted with him before, and he's very knowledgeable. He looks like someone with a story to tell."

"Don't underestimate this old man. He was probably someone important in the past. Although we don't know his name, almost everyone knows his number 54188."

"Because he's not really a prisoner anymore. His rehabilitation period is two years, and he could have been released a few years ago, but he's been refusing to leave."

"If he refuses to leave, of course someone will report it to the higher-ups, but in the end, as long as he doesn't make any mistakes, we don't have to worry about him. He can stay as long as he wants."

"And he gets points for every job he does now. Honestly, wouldn't it be better to just find any job outside? The points are from the renovation center, so he's just hanging around there getting freebies."

When her colleague got to this point, Dugu Yan was very surprised. She widened her eyes, trying to see if her colleague was joking, but she couldn't see anything unusual on her colleague's face.

This is simply unbelievable.

"Not a criminal? Still refusing to leave?"

Dugu Yan never expected that her grandfather was not a criminal, but rather that he was the one who stayed here and refused to leave.

The grandfather I've been looking for for many years is staying in the labor camp and refusing to leave.

He doesn't want to go out?

He didn't want to go out on his own?

Why?

Dugu Yan was filled with questions at this moment.

"Yes, that's why he's famous. Many people want to know why, but he won't say. Some even went to check his file, and it turned out to be SSS level. There are very few people in the entire Spirit City who can access files at that level, so this old man must be someone important. You'd better not offend him!"

A colleague had warned Dugu Yan beforehand that this old man was not someone to be trifled with.

Dugu Yan was shocked and confused. Suddenly, she remembered something: the guard who had handed over the prisoner to her earlier was clearly lying to her.

Grandpa isn't a criminal, so doesn't he have visitation rights?

Thinking of this, Dugu Yan glanced around but didn't see the guards who had handed over the prisoners to him earlier.

"By the way, every time I used to hand over prisoners, there was always someone specifically in charge of the handover. Wasn't he also a guard? Where is he now?"

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, so Dugu Yan directly asked her colleague.

"You mean Zhao Qiankong? He's just a lowly clerk in an office on the outskirts of the reformatory. The real job is guarding the prisoners inside. He's not qualified to come in at all."

Hearing her colleague say that, Dugu Yan was furious and wanted nothing more than to run out and beat up Zhao Qiankong.

Thinking back to what he said to me before, it was half true and half false, vague and ambiguous. It's really damnable.

Moreover, he received bribes for asking him to gather information, and apart from the SSS-level data being true, he didn't tell a single truth.

I just heard from a colleague that he wasn't qualified to come in at all. The information he gathered before was probably just that his grandfather was too famous, and he had heard some things about it, so he took it out to fool himself.

When I find the chance, I'll definitely sneak a beating up to him.

Zhao Qiankong was still dozing off in the outer office. He had watched Soul Fighting all night and hadn't gotten a good rest.

"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!..."

I suddenly sneezed several times in a row.

"You must have caught a chill from staying up all night watching TV!"

Zhao Qiankong thought to himself, unaware of what he would face next—the vengeance of a god, something he could endure.

……

The day's work is finally over.

At night, only ten guards were on duty outside, and the prisoners had all returned to their cells to sleep.

Dugu Yan quietly sneaked into the prison and quickly found her grandfather's cell.

When I got to my grandfather's cell door, I was wondering how to open it, but the door just opened.

"My dear granddaughter, come in!"

Dugu Bo stood behind the door and said in a low voice.

Dugu Yan had too many questions to ask Dugu Bo in person, so without thinking too much, she went straight in.

After closing the door, Dugu Bo no longer spoke in a low voice.

"Yan Yan, what brings you to work in Wuhun City? It seems like you hold a pretty high position."

Before Dugu Yan could speak, Dugu Bo asked a question first.

"Grandpa, I just wanted to see you!"

After saying this, Dugu Yan felt very wronged, and she could no longer hold back her tears. She burst into tears.

Seeing his granddaughter burst into tears, Dugu Bo couldn't help but cry too. He rushed forward and hugged Dugu Yan, comforting her, "Yan Yan, don't cry, don't cry. It's Grandpa's fault for making you worry!"

After Dugu Bo finished speaking, Dugu Yan cried even more bitterly, as if she wanted to cry out all the grievances she had suffered over the past few years.

Dugu Yan cried in Dugu Bo's arms, and Dugu Bo cried along with her.

In the end, neither of them spoke, and they hugged each other and cried.

I cried for almost half an hour before the tears finally stopped.

Dugu Yan looked up at her grandfather, her voice trembling with tears, and said, "Grandpa, I heard you could have gone out a long time ago. Why don't you go out? Have you forgotten that you have a granddaughter outside?"

"Yanyan, I'll tell you about this slowly."

"I could have left long ago, but I didn't. You know about our family's martial spirit, right?"

"It's inherently poisonous. Many members of our clan have died from the backlash of the Martial Soul's poison. Your father was one of them."

"I was lucky enough to find a place where the toxic backlash could be suppressed, which is why I survived it. However, even that place became less and less effective at suppressing the backlash, and the intervals between my backlashes became shorter and shorter."

"If nothing unexpected had happened, I estimate I would have died from the backlash of the poison several years ago."

"Look at these soul-guided shackles under my feet. They're a truly great invention. They can drain all the soul power from my body."

"Everything, even those fused into the flesh and blood, will be drained."

"Because of this soul-guided shackle, all my soul power was drained, and there was no more poisonous soul power in my body, so I was no longer affected by the poison."

"Moreover, every time the martial soul automatically generates soul power, it is immediately pulled away by the soul guidance shackles."

What others might see as shackles was what saved my life.

"I sent someone to look for you before, thinking that you must have accumulated a lot of poison by now, and I was afraid that you might also suffer a backlash from the poison."

"It's a pity. Even with the Spirit Hall's access, all we know is that you last appeared in Heaven Dou City, and there has been no trace of you since."

"The Spirit Hall has no reason to lie to me about this. I can't find you, I have nowhere to go, and I'm not even sure if you're still alive. But I think if you're still alive, you'll come to the Spirit Hall to find me sooner or later, so I'm going to wait for you in Spirit City."

"Moreover, at this time I discovered that as my soul power was continuously drained, over time, my martial soul began to mutate. Although the mutation was very slow, I could still feel it."

"These soul-guided shackles aren't for sale, so I'll just have to stay here."

"Yan Yan, where have you been all these years? Even the Spirit Hall can't find you."

Dugu Bo explained his situation and was eager to know where his granddaughter had been all these years.

For so many years, his granddaughter had never appeared on the mainland, and he had always thought that she had been murdered. After his martial soul mutation was completed, he was going to go out and find the murderer who had persecuted his granddaughter.

Unexpectedly, the granddaughter showed up on her own.

Upon hearing Dugu Bo's explanation, Dugu Yan was speechless. "Oh, so that's how it is."

Of course, his grandfather was nowhere to be found, and with his background gone, the group of noble children from the Heavenly Dou Royal Academy started bullying him. Rather than staying at the academy and being ridiculed, he decided to secretly go out and train on his own.

He then received the inheritance of the Poison God, which guided him to the far north, where he met Tang San and his companions.

The reason they couldn't find their whereabouts was because the Spirit Hall in the far north had few people, and Tang San had told them that it was a place even gods couldn't explore.

Even if some special martial souls can detect and find people, these soul skills will become ineffective once you enter the far north.

Moreover, according to Tang San's account, he offended Jerry and was almost killed by him. God teleported him to the far north and told him that Jerry couldn't find him there.

I've been staying in a place where even soul-searching techniques are ineffective. The Spirit Hall can't find me, so of course my grandfather can't find me either.

For so many years, the reason that prevented me from seeing my grandfather was actually myself.

……

(End of this chapter)