Chapter 52: Han Yu, Rescued

"What are you doing? I'm all fired up right now, and I need you to help me blow off some steam."

The burly man grinned, the scar on his face twisting like a crawling insect as he spoke in a dangerously provocative tone.

Han Yu's eyes widened. Feeling a dull ache in a certain sensitive spot behind him, he spoke in a voice choked with terror.

"Stay away from me! Do not come near me!"

The large man paid no heed to Han Yu's reaction; if anything, the excitement in his eyes only grew.

The commotion in the corner naturally caught the attention of the other inmates, yet none of them made a move to stop it, their expressions completely devoid of emotion.

Clearly, they were already accustomed to such occurrences, and their gazes held nothing save for cold indifference and malicious amusement.

"Heh! That fellow is looking to bully a newcomer again."

A skinny inmate in the cell muttered mockingly upon seeing the fierce brute's actions.

"Still, that punk does have a rather tender look to him. Once this brute has his fill of fun, I wouldn't mind having a go myself."

A man with a mouthful of yellow teeth smacked his lips and chimed in with keen interest.

"Hahahaha!!"

Hearing this, the few men nearby burst into loud laughter.

Surrounded by their jeers, Han Yu looked on with terror-stricken eyes, sinking rapidly into the depths of despair.

Just as Han Yu was about to suffer an unspeakable violation, a furious roar suddenly echoed from outside the cell.

"What is all this racket for? Why aren't you bastards sleeping in the middle of the night? Trying to start a revolt, are you?!"

At the sound of the bellow, the laughter of the inmates came to an abrupt halt, and they all turned their heads toward the source.

They saw a man clad in official attire, wearing a cool expression, walking toward them with a long saber in hand.

Noticing the guard's chilling expression, the inmates instinctively shrank their necks, and for a moment, no one dared to utter a word.

"Heh, Officer, they were just trying to have a friendly chat with the new young fellow, nothing serious, nothing serious at all."

Seeing this, the skinny old man heaved a helpless sigh, rose from a pile of straw, and spoke with a ingratiating smile plastered across his face.

The guard frowned slightly, casually popped open the cell door, and walked with steady strides right up to the old man, his gaze freezing cold.

"Heh, Officer, uh—"

The old man smiled, just about to say something more.

Without a shred of hesitation or wasted breath, the bailiff lashed out with a vicious kick.

"Did I give you permission to speak? Don't think that just because you've spent a long time rotting in this cell, you aren't a prisoner anymore, you old fossil. If it weren't for the fact that you haven't got many days left to live, I'd slice your throat open right this instant."

The man's eyes were filled with arrogance, his tone dripping with utter contempt.

"Yes, yes, this old man knows he was in the wrong. It was this old fool who didn't know his place."

Feeling as though every bone in his body was about to fracture, the old man dared not harbor the slightest grievance. He scrambled hastily up from the ground, dropped to his knees right before the guard, and stammered in a trembling voice.

"Humph!"

The guard let out a cold snort, swept his gaze across the room, and finally locked his eyes onto Han Yu.

"You! Come out with me. Someone wants to see you."

With his expression completely unchanged, the guard pointed straight at Han Yu and spoke in a frigid tone.

Han Yu froze, the terror in his eyes still lingering, and asked in sheer disbelief.

"Me?"

"Yes, you. Move it, and don't keep her—him waiting."

The guard's eyes darkened, his voice laced with heavy impatience.

"Okay! Okay!"

Han Yu nodded frantically, repeating the affirmation over and over.

Pulling himself up from the straw, Han Yu crawled and stumbled to the guard's side. At this point, anyone who could lead him away from this living hell was welcome to command him however they pleased.

"Lord Guard, isn't this against the rules? No one who enters this particular cell has ever been allowed to leave alive."

Seeing the duck ready to fly out of his pot, a flicker of reluctance crossed the fierce brute's eyes, and he grew bold enough to voice his objection.

"Rules? I am the damn rule!"

The guard sneered coldly. Reversing his blade, he smashed the back of the saber directly across the fierce man's face, his words flashing with razor-sharp menace.

"Ugh!"

Struck by the flat of the blade, the big man's left cheek instantly swelled and turned beet red. Letting out a cry of pain, a vicious glint flashed across the depths of his eyes.

"Damn you, go to hell!"

Just as the guard turned to leave, the brute launched a sudden assault, throwing a vicious, heavy punch straight toward the back of the guard's head.

"Fool!"

Sensing the rush of displaced air behind him, the guard's expression remained completely unaltered as he spoke without even turning his head.

As his voice fell, a blinding, snowy flash of blade light bloomed. To the absolute shock of everyone present, a torrent of blood violently gushed from the big man's neck.

"Ugh! So fast."

Astonishment filled the brute's eyes; he hadn't even managed to catch the motion of the guard drawing his blade.

With a heavy *thud*.

Under the terrified gazes of the crowd, the corpse—its eyes wide open in death—collapsed rigidly onto the cold stone floor.

"Let's go."

Acting as though nothing at all had happened, the guard flicked the blood off his blade and spoke to Han Yu with unperturbed eyes.

"Yes."

Han Yu had yet to snap out of his astonishment, still unable to comprehend how the terrifying brute had just met such a swift and sudden end.

Yet hearing the prompt, Han Yu hastily nodded and hurried closely behind the guard, exiting the cell block.

As the heavy cell door clanged shut and the two of them moved far beyond the line of sight, the remaining inmates finally let out a collective, long-held breath.

"Damn it, who was that guard today? Why was he so vicious? I don't think I've ever seen him around here before."

Leaning against the wall, the skinny inmate caught his breath and burst into curses.

"Ain't that the truth? Killing without a second thought. Judging by the speed of that strike, he's definitely no ordinary person."

The man beside him chimed in repeatedly, a trace of lingering terror still shadowing his eyes.

"Humph! Serves that idiot right for being so stupid. Daring to pick a fight with a prison guard in a place like this, he deserved to die."

Another inmate curled his lip, glancing at the corpse sprawled on the ground with a look of supreme contempt.

"By the way, why was that little punk taken out? I've been in this prison for ages, and this is the first time I've ever witnessed anyone walking out alive."

A middle-aged man with a face full of fleshy jowls frowned deeply, speaking with a heavy tone of bafflement.

"Least said, soonest mended. Stop prying into things that are none of your business."

The old man pulled himself up from the ground, brushed the dust off his prison tunic, and spoke in a raspy voice.

"Old Man Hu, do you know something about this?"

Someone couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

"Humph! Anyone locked up in this cell block is either a death-row inmate or serving a life sentence. Aside from having powerful backers up top, do you honestly think anyone could ever walk out of here by other means?"

The old man let out a cold scoff, looking at the assembled crowd as if they were a bunch of fools, his voice dripping with scorn.

Hearing this, the rest of the inmates finally put the pieces together. One by one, they lowered their heads, not daring to utter another word.

"Sir, where are we heading?"

Once outside the prison block, Han Yu stared at the back of the man walking ahead of him and asked in a trembling voice.

"We're almost there."

The guard's expression remained grim and stern, his voice completely devoid of emotion.

Hearing this, Han Yu dared not ask any further, keeping his head down as he silently followed behind the officer.

After walking for a short while, the guard brought Han Yu to a halt in front of a secluded, quiet little courtyard.

Checking to ensure the surroundings were entirely deserted, the guard stepped forward, gave the door ring three light taps, and spoke.

"My lord, I have brought the person."