Chapter 1385 - 7: Skardine

Chapter 1385: Chapter 7: Skardine

The prison door opened, and in the envious gazes of many prisoners, Su Xiao walked out of the cell.

A few soldiers behind the warden stepped forward, carrying handcuffs, leg irons, and other items, causing a clinking sound as the metal clashed.

"Just make a gesture."

The warden tightened the clothing around his collar. Although his face was full of scars, almost disfigured, wearing that black military uniform, he did not give a fierce impression. Moreover, in the Geya Alliance, a country that revered strong individuals, the warden was clearly the type who was relatively popular among women.

Hearing the warden’s order, the soldiers felt somewhat embarrassed. The so-called gesture meant randomly putting on a handcuff to Su Xiao, completely unnecessary to use that set of handcuffs and leg irons made of patterned steel weighing 168 kilograms.

However, Cakbeck Prison had no such ’toys’; everything here was heavy duty restraints.

A young soldier with a few pimples on his face untied the belt around his waist and professionally used the leather belt to tie Su Xiao’s hands.

The warden glanced at the young soldier, a hint of satisfaction showed in his eyes.

Why was the warden doing this? Simply to show kindness to Su Xiao? No, he was preparing to give those people from the Department of Diplomacy a ’surprise’, or more accurately, a scare.

"Let’s go."

A few soldiers led the way, with the warden in the middle, Su Xiao relatively behind. Six soldiers at the very back formed a triangular formation. This was not anyone’s command but a habit of the soldiers and the warden, ready for battle at any time ingrained in their bones.

The current location was the third underground level of Cakbeck Prison, the strongest defensive layer. While inside this level, they couldn’t feel it, but upon reaching the exit, Su Xiao found out there were at least dozens of stationed soldiers and two heavy machine guns mounted.

The power of rifles in this world was exaggerated; if the heavy machine guns shot down, there wouldn’t be any living beings in the third underground level. It’s most aptly described as internally loose but externally tight.

After verifying identities, the warden led the people towards the upper levels. Whoever wanted to enter or leave had to verify identities; even the High President of the Geya Alliance was no exception.

After passing through layers of checkpoints, Su Xiao arrived at the first ground level from the third underground level, where the security was even more stringent.

It was evening now, and the sky was very dark. Seeing through the corridor windows, Su Xiao noticed that there were at least five watchtowers in the prison courtyard. The searchlights at the tower tops slowly swept across, illuminating the glass windows. Su Xiao immediately felt locked onto, sure that at least three snipers hidden in the dark had their gun barrels pointed at him.

This feeling made the muscles on Su Xiao tension; he didn’t fully understand this world yet, thus couldn’t entirely believe this prison and its warden.

Su Xiao’s pace slowed, his fingers spread wide.

"No need to be so cautious; it’s just routine." The warden walking ahead, with an unfiltered cigarette in his mouth, spoke.

Soon, Su Xiao was escorted to the door of the warden’s office, faintly hearing laughter within the room.

The warden discarded the half cigarette, stepping on it to shatter.

"These two bastards."

Standing at the door, the warden cursed lowly for unknown reasons. The soldiers rolled their eyes upwards, staring fixedly at the ceiling, all ’deaf-mute’ at that moment.

Su Xiao instantly realized a situation: the warden had conflicts with the diplomatic department. Interestingly enough, the Geya Alliance couldn’t be completely unified, as the liberal and fierce folk customs make unity impossible.

The Geya Alliance’s military hated politicians, politicians considered the military brutish, thus disliking merchants, who in turn disliked the military, viewing them as ’bandits’. The Presidential Palace mediated in between, under whose jurisdiction everyone fell.

Business doesn’t provoke politics, politics doesn’t provoke the military; the military is a tiger, a caged tiger that could harm people, thus needing jurisdiction. The Presidential Palace is the highest command department overseeing the military.

The warden took a deep breath, doing his best to maintain a smile while pushing open the office door.

Inside the room, two men in suits sat opposite the warden’s desk. One was slightly plump, sporting a mustache and with a kind look, the other slightly skinny with a head full of black hair, carrying a serious demeanor, making him difficult to get along with.

"Skardine, you’re late by 1 minute and 27 seconds."

The skinny man glanced at his pocket watch; the pure gold watch was not something an ordinary person could have.

"Leizong, who determined the time with you?"

Warden Skardine’s mouth curved up, revealing a smile.

"Your assistant..."

Before the skinny man Leizong could finish, Skardine drew the gun from his waist, aiming at a slightly overweight soldier.

Bam, bam, bam...

Shattered skull fragments splattered, and the bullets penetrated the expensive long green wooden floor, leaving several dark holes.

With a thud, a corpse with a shattered head and five bowl-sized blood holes in the torso fell to the ground, blood spreading across the floor.

Clatter~

Empty bullet casings fell, Skardine removed his black gloves, tossing them onto the corpse. This person had once gone through gunfire with Skardine. Originally weighing 82 kilograms, after two years of retirement his weight skyrocketed to 124 kilograms. The shared life-and-death experiences made Skardine tolerate him for 3 months, and granted him dozens of chances. However, money and women steered him astray.

Skardine waved, several soldiers burst into the office and dragged the corpse out.

The slightly plump diplomat sitting at the desk swallowed; he’d heard of Skardine’s ruthlessness but witnessed it for the first time today. A deputy who’d accompanied him for over a decade was shot down immediately; this was no longer merely ruthless.

The slightly plump diplomat panicked but remained calm due to his professional demeanor, although the oil sweat on his face tore through his facade.

Skinny man Leizong pulled out a gray handkerchief from his breast pocket, covering his mouth and nose, detesting the smell of blood.

"How should I thank you?"

Skardine leaned back on the leather chair behind the desk, placing his gun on the desk. Leizong previously mentioned Skardine being late by 1 minute and 27 seconds, subtly hinting at intel that there were 127 hidden posts in Cakbeck Prison.

"No need."

Leizong remained calm from start to finish but secretly enjoyed the situation. The diplomatic department and Cakbeck Prison always had strained relations; today’s incident would certainly disgust Skardine significantly.

"... ..."

Skardine’s scarred face smiled, yet he felt as though he’d swallowed filth, preferring the opposition would demand something rather than hearing ’no need’.

"Bring the person up."

Feeling quite depressed, Skardine spoke up, the office door was pushed open, and two soldiers escorted Su Xiao into the room. Rather than escorting, the soldiers were standing behind Su Xiao, each placed a hand on his shoulder.

Su Xiao had already sensed the situation within the room, focusing primarily on that skinny man—Leizong. His aura was very peculiar; peculiarly non-human.

"Skar-dine."

Leizong spoke word by word, veins bulging on his hand.

"What’s the—thing?"

Leizong pointed at the belt tied around Su Xiao’s wrist, Skardine’s action was akin to tying an evil beast with a sewing thread, allowing it to share a room with Leizong, awkwardly, since Leizong was about to ’judge’ the evil beast.

"Recently we’ve been short on restraints; last time whom in the Presidential Palace’s funding was intercepted? Look how my memory fails me, forgetting every little thing."

Skardine felt clearly refreshed.

"You may leave."

Hearing Skardine let the two soldiers leave, the slightly plump diplomat gaped open and closed his mouth. It was in this matter involving Su Xiao that he laid the most hurdles.

"Now that everyone’s here, you can start judging this soldier from the Slaughter Troop, who infiltrated behind enemy lines 67 times, killed over 400 enemies, including nine archdeacons, six archbishops, and was injured 37 times."

Skardine was smiling, Leizong covered his mouth and nose with the handkerchief, his face darkened, while the slightly plump diplomat forced a smile, an awkward one.