Chapter 489: Prison Break

Suddenly, the inmate turned and ran. But he didn’t even make it three steps.

Damien moved.

His hand shot forward and grabbed the back of the man’s prison uniform. With the strength now coursing through his body, the motion was effortless. Damien yanked him backward, and the inmate stumbled violently before losing his balance.

Damien stepped forward and drove his fist into the man’s stomach.

THUD!

The inmate doubled over immediately, a strangled gasp escaping his mouth as the force of the blow drove the air from his lungs.

Before he could recover, Damien struck him again.

The second blow sent him crashing onto the floor.

The inmate remained there, coughing and struggling to breathe.

Damien stood over him.

For several seconds, he simply stared.

The sight of the man lying helplessly on the floor brought back memories of what had happened earlier. He remembered being surrounded by the three inmates. He remembered the punches, the kicks, the laughter, and the humiliation. He remembered lying helplessly against the concrete while they told him that nobody cared about his family or his money.

Something inside him twisted.

His foot slowly lifted.

For a brief moment, Damien considered bringing it down.

Then he stopped.

His expression changed as a strange thought entered his mind.

They’re already defeated.

His raised foot remained suspended for another moment before he slowly lowered it.

Damien looked at the three men lying around him.

There was no need to continue. He had already proven what he wanted to prove.

More importantly, he had begun to understand something about the strange power that had awakened within him.

The sensation inside his body had grown stronger during the confrontation. The unfamiliar energy was still circulating through his muscles and limbs, moving through him in a steady rhythm. Each time he used his strength, he became more aware of it.

His awakening hadn’t simply made him physically stronger.

Something else had changed. Something had happened inside him when his hatred had reached its absolute limit.

The moment he had truly desired revenge, something had answered.

Damien didn’t understand the nature of that power yet. He didn’t know where it came from or what it would eventually allow him to do. He didn’t even know the name of the energy moving through his body.

But he knew it was connected to what had happened earlier.

His hatred had awakened something. And that realization filled him with an excitement that was almost intoxicating.

Damien glanced down at the three defeated inmates.

"Pathetic."

He turned away from them and walked toward the steel bars separating the cell from the main corridor.

The surrounding prisoners watched him carefully.

Nobody laughed now. Nobody mocked him. Nobody dared challenge him.

There was a new tension throughout the cell block, and Damien could feel it. The same men who had ignored him earlier were now staring at him with a mixture of fear and uncertainty. They didn’t understand what had happened either, but they had witnessed enough to know that Damien was no longer the weak, arrogant rich boy they had seen earlier.

Damien reached the bars and placed one hand around one of the reinforced steel rods.

He stared at it for a moment.

A grin slowly appeared across his face.

This time, he didn’t hesitate.

He tightened his grip and pulled.

GNNNNG!

The metal immediately groaned beneath his strength.

The reinforced bar began bending outward.

Damien’s eyes widened slightly as he watched the steel deform beneath his hand. He applied more force, and the gap widened until there was enough room for a person to pass through.

He released the bar.

For several seconds, Damien simply stared at the opening.

Then he stepped through.

He was free.

For the first time since being imprisoned, Damien stood outside his cell.

He slowly looked down the long corridor.

Rows upon rows of cells stretched in both directions, their steel doors and reinforced bars separating hundreds of inmates from one another. The prison’s harsh fluorescent lighting cast a pale glow over the corridor, illuminating the faces of countless prisoners who were now staring directly at Damien.

Some looked confused.

Others looked frightened.

A few appeared excited by the sudden development.

Damien’s eyes moved across them all.

Then his gaze shifted toward the distant security doors.

He could leave.

He could simply run.

If his current strength allowed him to break through the cell bars, perhaps he could also overpower the prison guards and escape the facility entirely.

The thought was tempting.

Very tempting.

But another thought entered his mind.

Damien looked back at the rows of prisoners surrounding him.

A slow smile spread across his face.

"Why should I be the only one?"

He approached the nearest cell.

A prisoner inside immediately backed away from the bars, watching Damien with suspicion.

"What are you doing?"

Damien didn’t answer.

He simply grabbed the reinforced bars.

The prisoner watched as Damien’s fingers tightened around the steel.

CREAK.

The metal began bending.

The prisoner’s eyes widened.

"What the hell?"

Damien pulled harder.

The bars groaned loudly as they twisted beneath his strength. Within seconds, the opening became wide enough for the prisoner to squeeze through.

Damien released the metal and looked at him.

"You’re free."

For several seconds, the prisoner remained frozen.

His expression shifted from confusion to disbelief as he looked at the opening and then back at Damien.

Then excitement took over.

He immediately ran into the corridor.

Damien watched him disappear before turning toward the next cell.

Then the next.

And the next.

Every time his hands wrapped around the reinforced bars, the result was the same. The metal bent beneath his strength, creating openings where there had previously been none. Some bars required more effort than others, but none were capable of stopping him.

CREAK.

BANG.

CRASH.

One cell after another opened.

The atmosphere of the prison changed almost instantly.

What had begun as confusion quickly transformed into chaos.

"What happened?"

"The cells are open!"

"Get out!"

"Run!"

"Life sentence my ass, I’m out of here..."