Handong: Sha Li wants political achievements? I'll shut down the entire province.

"Tick-tock".

The drop of bright red beef gravy in Sun Liancheng's plate had just spread across the snow-white porcelain plate.

The scene suddenly dips down in the blinding sunlight, plunging into the third basement level of Jingzhou Prison.

"Clang!"

The heavy, weathered iron gate closed with a dry, harsh sound.

The massive tremor caused the white plaster on the ceiling to fall in a shower, landing on the urine-stained cement floor of the corridor.

In the high-security prison ward, the air was thick with a perpetually chilly, sunless atmosphere.

The strong, pungent smell of urine mingled with the musty, acidic odor emanating from the tattered quilt in the corner.

It was so stuffy that even breathing made one feel a bitter taste in their alveoli, and one felt nauseous in waves.

Cai Chenggong lay sprawled on the ground like a dead toad.

He was so hungry that the muscles in his groin were cramping violently.

The cramping pain made him gasp for the cold, damp air, his teeth chattering wildly.

The stomach wall rubbed wildly inside the shrunken belly, and sour bile pushed upwards down the esophagus.

He opened his cracked and bleeding lips and let out a series of unpleasant retching sounds.

Bitter tears streamed down his chin, dripping onto his shiny, filthy gray striped prison uniform.

On the ground in front of me lay half a moldy, unleavened cornbread, hard enough to crack a walnut.

Because he offended the conglomerate by being cunning back then, the system takes special care of him, a "two-faced person".

Every day they only had swill and moldy dry food.

"I won't eat! I'm going on a hunger strike!"

Cai Chenggong clung tightly to the crack in the cell door with both hands, his voice split in two as he howled hoarsely.

"I need to see Master Yan! I have the top-secret ledgers from Dafeng Factory! They're top secret!"

In the corridor outside the door, prison guard Xiao Liu didn't even glance inside.

"Click".

A flame was produced by striking a metal lighter.

Xiao Liu took a satisfying drag on the cigarettes specially supplied to the Lingxiao Consortium.

A strong, overpowering aroma of tobacco seeped into the cell through the rusty hole in the door.

It instantly suppressed the nauseating smell of urine and alkali.

"Old Cai, save your energy."

Xiao Liu exhaled a thick cloud of white smoke, which he sprayed directly onto Cai Chenggong's face through the iron gate.

Cai Chenggong was choked and coughed repeatedly, his tears and snot smeared all over his stubble chin.

"Do you still think of Sha Ruijin as the old almanac?"

Old Li, the prison guard, strolled over, his leather shoes making a clattering sound on the cement floor.

Old Li scoffed, his eyes filled with contempt.

"The Yunxiao AI in Master Yan's hands has the computing power in one second that is equivalent to the total computing power of all the supercomputers in the country combined."

"Those few shady coins in your Dafeng Factory's messy accounts—their system can find them down to the last eight decimal places. What kind of top secret are you talking about?"

Cai Chenggong froze.

His knuckles were pale as he gripped the iron gate, and his whole body trembled.

"Alright, just ignore this damn dog."

Xiao Liu flicked his cigarette ash, turned to look at Lao Li, and his tone revealed undisguised excitement.

"Brother Li, I heard your brother-in-law just started working for the Lingxiao Group the day before yesterday?"

"Absolutely!"

Old Li deliberately raised his voice, as if afraid that Cai Chenggong inside wouldn't hear him.

"Looking at the underground parking garage from the outside of Lingxiao Building, this is the outermost security post on the lowest level."

"How's the pay?" Xiao Liu asked curiously as he leaned closer.

"50,000 Lingxiao Points per month!"

Old Li swallowed hard, his voice trembling with excitement.

"That's not all. The conglomerate's cafeteria provides lunch every day, serving mutated braised pork ribs every meal."

"My brother-in-law said the ribs were stewed until they were incredibly tender, and every bite was bursting with juice!"

"Even the specially supplied mutated rice is only 1.2 yuan per pound, eat as much as you want, until you're stuffed!"

Inside the iron gate, Cai Chenggong's thigh muscles instantly twisted into a tight knot.

He pressed himself tightly against the cold, damp iron door, the rusty metal digging painfully into his cheeks.

"Gurgle."

His Adam's apple bobbed twice with difficulty, and he swallowed a mouthful of salty, fishy-tasting saliva.

50,000 points a month? Even the watchdogs on the perimeter can eat mutated ribs every meal?

Jealousy and remorse, like a venomous snake with sharp fangs, instantly pierced his heart.

Back when Dafeng Factory first ran into trouble, Yan Qingfeng personally sent someone to extend an olive branch!

If only I hadn't tried to be clever back then, and hadn't been thinking of hedging my bets to outmaneuver others.

With Cai Chenggong's ability to read people's expressions and to humble himself and act as a lackey, he was able to succeed.

Cai Chenggong is definitely one of those people who eat ribs while living in a luxury welfare community!

"ah--"

The veins on Cai Chenggong's forehead throbbed, and a desperate scream echoed through the corridor.

His hands gripped the rusty iron window bars as if he were possessed.

Using too much force, the nails of all ten fingers instantly curled outwards.

Dark red streaks of blood seeped from the soft flesh.

Mixed with the red rust on the sheet metal, it stuck stickily to the cold iron pillar.

But he couldn't feel any pain at all.

My heart was filled with a terrifying regret that was ten thousand times more painful than being torn to pieces.

It was as if a dull knife was slowly sawing at his skull.

"Why! Why am I being forced to eat moldy, stale cornbread here!"

Cai Chenggong rolled his eyes back, and the veins on his neck bulged.

"I could have lived a life of luxury with Master Yan! How could I have been so stupid!"

He suddenly took two steps back.

Then, like a wild boar cornered, it slammed its head against the hard cement wall.

"Bang!"

A chilling thud as flesh and bone collided.

A two-inch-long gash instantly appeared on his forehead, revealing his pale brow bone.

Warm blood gushed out from his forehead.

It flowed directly into his eye socket, causing his eyeballs to ache as if they were being pricked by needles.

"Bang! Bang!"

Ignoring everything else, he rammed the car three more times.

On the gray-white cement wall, a shocking pool of dark red blood sludge was smeared.

Extreme remorse, coupled with hypoglycemia caused by prolonged fasting.

Cai Chenggong's vision went black.

His body leaned straight back and he landed heavily on the wet, muddy ground with a "thump".

The heart-wrenching cries abruptly ceased, and she completely lost consciousness.

Outside the corridor.

Through the crack in the iron window, Xiao Liu glanced coldly at Cai Chenggong, who looked like a mangled mess inside.

He frowned in disgust and flicked the remaining half of his cigarette butt into the nearby drain.

When the sparks came into contact with dirty water, they made a soft "sizzling" sound.

"Brother Li, this old scoundrel's head is cracked open; he probably won't make it through the night."

Xiao Liu rubbed his nose, his tone cold, "Should we use the walkie-talkie to call a prison doctor to come and take a look?"

Old Li patted the cigarette ash off his uniform, his eyes filled with cold disdain for the old era.

He straightened his collar and gave a cold snort.

"What do you mean, 'prison doctor'? Do you think we're still running a charity these days?"

Old Li turned his head to look at the iron window at the end of the corridor, which was radiating blinding sunlight.

"Master Yan is about to send the fleet over there to uproot those century-old European wealthy families. Right now, the entire province is busy connecting with international resources."

"Who the hell is Tsai Chenggong? Who the hell cares about the life or death of a former unregistered resident of the previous dynasty?"