Imprisonment

Early the next morning, Rossi, Daiqisi, and Ranxue took Wu Youren to the City Guard Bureau. Daiqisi had just received a commendation, so her bearded senior dispatched someone specifically to receive them. She stated that she was worried about retaliation from the fallen ability masters and wished to stay at the City Guard Bureau for a short while before returning to Red Pine. Reasonably and procedurally, it was a legitimate request; the City Guard Bureau's security was far superior to Red Pine's crude foothold. She hoped for an undisturbed private room where she could also conduct some research on mechanisms. This was no great problem either; the City Guard Bureau kept plenty of spare rooms to handle emergencies. Wu Youren's request, however, was rather bizarre. "Do you have any private jail cells?" "Huh?" The clerk in charge of reception thought his ears were playing tricks on him. "Stay in a cell?" "The conditions don't matter," the youth stated solemnly. "I'm only an apprentice knight, so my ability to resist risk is fairly poor." "Just how afraid of dying are you?" The City Guard officer was caught between tears and laughter and made a quip. "Why not just serve as bait, then?" Jokes aside, in the end he still arranged a cell for the youth—at the youth's own expense, with passable conditions. This was the best cell in the City Guard Bureau; anything better would be the standalone courtyards, but those were meant for placing important ministers under house arrest. This was also thanks to Hong Da's prior instructions: protect your cash cow! Rossi knew Wu Youren's true identity and specifically made a point that the boy wasn't short on money, so it would be best if the inmates around him had clear, known backgrounds. "As long as he's not short on money, that's easy," the City Guard officer replied crisply. In his ten-odd years at the City Guard Bureau, this was the first time he'd ever seen someone go to prison with a pet! Wu Youren had wondered whether his neighbors might be mysterious, legendary bandits, but those hopes were completely dashed! To the left of his room was a petty clerk jailed for embezzlement, and to the right was a fake-medicine peddler—a count's concubine had died from taking his medicine. Moreover, between the cells were thick brick walls with only a small window cut through, placed there to facilitate prisoners informing on one another. His two neighbors went to great lengths to flatter the new youngster. Doing time with a fledgling bird and having knights visit him on schedule every day—damn it, this might be their only hope of getting out! The youth reacted with utter aloofness, giving off the distinct aura of someone from an influential family. Still, he had to admit that the people in here truly were figures of talent, and they talked so delightfully. On the afternoon of his third day in the cell, the thing he feared arrived after all! A surge of experience points flooded in abruptly, fast and fierce, catching him completely off guard! It was lucky he was in a prison cell. If he had been at the Red Pine liaison office chatting with someone, there was a greater than eighty percent chance he would have exposed something abnormal. At that exact moment, in a small courtyard on the outskirts of Tianjing, a one-legged middle-aged man collapsed to the ground, staring lifelessly at the sky. Four or five figures darted across the courtyard, slaughtering over a dozen people clean in an instant. The figures strode away. "Tch. A grand knight? Without His Lordship promoting you, what the hell are you!" Only after roughly ten minutes did the stench of blood begin to drift outward! Inside the cell, the youth's body trembled slightly for four or five minutes before gradually settling down. The dazed look in his eyes slowly regained its luster, and he muttered under his breath, "A grand knight?" He had never killed a grand knight before, but this wave of experience points was worth at least three knights! Leaving special circumstances aside, the combat prowess of a grand knight could withstand a coordinated siege by at least a dozen knights. However, he had only offered a suggestion rather than killing anyone with his own hands, and the suggestion had passed through several pairs of hands. Thus, three times the experience of a knight was enough to satisfy him—it really was quite a lot already. More importantly, aside from a grand knight being taken down, he couldn't imagine what other situation would suddenly yield such a massive haul. At this moment, he felt extraordinarily glad that he had voluntarily applied to go to prison. When he made the request, the way others looked at him had indeed seemed like they were looking at a madman, but thinking about it now, it had been a massive win. If Instructor Hong Da had been by his side right now, his abnormality would definitely have been detected. In fact, even the fake-medicine peddler next door noticed something was off. "Xiao Ren, what's wrong with you?" After all, between the two rooms was only a small window a foot square, barred with iron grates. "I'm breaking through to grand knight," Wu Youren bared his teeth and answered, "and then I'm breaking us all out of jail!" In this place, one could say anything except the truth. The next morning, Xiao Ha coughed up another pellet. The youth began to wonder: the last time the little creature regurgitated a pellet was also right after he had reaped a massive haul. Could the two... be connected? The fake-medicine peddler next door spoke up again. "Strange. That's a snow harrier chick, isn't it? So tiny, yet it doesn't poop, only casts pellets?" Over the past few days, his head seemed to have grown right into that little window, watching the youth constantly. A lot of what came out of this fellow's mouth was questionable—for instance, claiming the count's concubine hadn't been killed by his medicine. Yet his eye was remarkably sharp and his knowledge exceptionally broad; he truly was a capable man. Wu Youren was also rather curious. Ever since picking up Xiao Ha, he had never seen it excrete waste. Yet from the moment the little creature started eating, it had grown smoothly and vigorously without any apparent problems. Now that he was inside an actual cell, he let down his guard instead and earnestly asked the peddler what this might mean. The man guessed its bowels were probably blocked. Despite how lively it seemed, it likely wouldn't grow to maturity, and he offered to feel it with his own hands. Wouldn't grow to maturity... That was truly bad news for Wu Youren. He wasn't against letting the man feel the bird through the window, but Xiao Ha was intensely opposed. The little creature adamantly refused to let the hand on the other side touch it. It was fairly big by now, fine feathers sprouting on its wings, and it packed some strength when flapping about. The peddler could only say sheepishly that the medicinal smell on him might be too strong, and certain spiritual birds were indeed repelled by it. Worried, Wu Youren had no choice but to feel it himself, though the little fellow wasn't very willing either. Its gaze was wary, as if saying: *Patting my head is fine, but touching my belly... what are you trying to do?* Wu Youren felt around and found nothing abnormal, or at least no hard lumps. He would just let it grow however it liked. He had little interest in raising pets anyway; his own life hung by a thread, so a hands-off attitude was best. That afternoon, Rossi came to visit, bringing food for both boy and bird, along with a piece of news. Yesterday, the meritorious Grand Knight Mel was murdered at his residence, and more than a dozen members of his household were wiped out without a single survivor. The case shook the whole of Tianjing, and the City Guard Bureau was assisting in the investigation. Since Rossi and his two companions happened to be staying here, they knew a bit more detail. Wu Youren asked offhandedly when it had happened, and then asked no further. The time matched—right when he had gained his experience points yesterday. His two neighbors overheard the news as well. The fake-medicine peddler remarked that Grand Knight Mel was upright, helpful, and highly respected among the knight community. The embezzling clerk sneered contemptuously, claiming the man was lustful to a fault and had failed to receive a noble title only because he had forced himself on a woman a certain noble had set his eyes on. The peddler retorted that the two weren't mutually exclusive—if men weren't lustful, he wouldn't have been framed for poisoning a concubine to death. Truly talents, the lot of them! Wu Youren sorted out his thoughts. So... had it begun? Two days later, another wave of experience points washed over him. The following day, Xiao Ha coughed up a pellet as usual. Even if Wu Youren had been utterly careless, he would have noticed something amiss by now, let alone since he had already suspected it. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of thing he had actually brought out of that Guizu domain. In the blink of an eye, fifteen days passed, and the youth stepped out of his cell feeling refreshed and invigorated. Then he learned that Instructor Hong Da had gone to the New Army encampment to stir up trouble for a certain commander. She had gone alone. The remaining nine knights were all present, having already received instructions to return to Red Pine that very day. On the way back, Manna was somewhat worried. Tianjing had been turbulent lately, with three grand knights already dead. Her master hadn't brought them to the New Army camp precisely to guard against ambushes or schemes. Hong Da had stated that traveling alone made coming and going convenient, whereas bringing several knights would only make them a burden. No one spoke of the knight tax exemption, but clearly, just because they kept quiet didn't mean they were unaware. Throughout the journey, the atmosphere remained somewhat somber. Wu Youren didn't feel stifled; he could sense that the group bore no hostility toward him. Their silence stemmed solely from their realization that a storm capable of sweeping across Great Liang was likely brewing. The middle-aged knight had a carefree disposition, even teasing Xiao Ha from time to time. As they drew near Red Pine, everyone gradually began to frown. Scattered tents had appeared on both sides of the highway, growing denser the closer they got to the Martial Academy. There were also groups of barbarians sitting on the ground, laughing and talking loudly—seemingly drinking alcohol from early morning. "What's going on..." Manna had once stayed behind with Wu Youren at the military camp. "We've only been gone for a little while, and it's already like this?" Ranxue stated calmly, "Anyone who trespasses into the Martial Academy will be executed without mercy. As for matters outside, we can't control them!" Red Pine's management was still fairly decent; a cordon had been set up one kilometer from the academy. Within the line, there were no more tents. Instead, makeshift guard posts stood at intervals, manned by alert Red Pine martial practitioners. "This conflict..." Wu Youren sighed. "Feels like it won't be easy to resolve." "Why resolve it?" Namuzha scoffed. "Inferior creatures!" Such blatant discrimination rarely surfaced openly among Liang martial practitioners. Wu Youren felt the fellow might have an underlying jab—after all, Great Jin was also a foreign state. The vehicle entered the Martial Academy. Rossi took the wheel and insisted on escorting Wu Youren back to his small cottage. Having been away for over two months, the cottage looked all the more dilapidated. There wasn't much inside to begin with, but it was in utter disarray; someone had clearly been here. The vegetable patch behind the cottage... Wu Youren couldn't even be bothered to look. He'd rest first before anything else. Yet not long after nightfall, the warning bell chimed—someone was creeping close. The visitor was the burly man from the Life-and-Death Knot. He plopped down brazenly onto a chair. "Had fun on your trip, did you? Huh, and you've got a little bird?" The youth didn't answer. Instead, he pressed his smartwatch. "Instructor Ranxue, someone broke into my room at night."