I bought a prison in the United States.

Carlos was somewhat annoyed and said to the boss:

"Ghost Fang is still in solitary confinement, and his lackeys are already acting so arrogantly. Boss, should I just steal their bread?"

Blue Snake scooped up a spoonful of beans, put them in his mouth, and chewed them slowly.

The beans were indeed softer than usual; they crumbled at the slightest touch of the tongue.

"No, there's no need to get involved over such a small matter. The prison guards are keeping a close eye on things today."

Carlos frowned:

"Boss, do we really need to be that careful?"

Blue Snake glared at him. Why was this guy so dense?

He placed the spoon on the plate, looked up, and stared intently at the knife, his gaze sweeping across the entire cafeteria.

Xiao Dao happened to be looking at him too.

Their eyes met in the air for about two seconds, then Xiao Dao guiltily looked away.

Blue Snake picked up the spoon again:

"Tonight, no one should sleep too soundly."

His voice was so low that only the four people sitting at the same table could hear it.

No one asked why. Those who had served under Blue Serpent for a long time knew that when he spoke in this tone, asking why was superfluous.

At the other end of the cafeteria, the "mayor" had already finished his dinner.

He didn't bring any books today; instead, he looked at the cafeteria and listened to the noisy sounds inside.

Excluding the clinking of spoons and bowls, the low hum of the prisoners talking, and Mrs. Martha's shrill voice calling for help in the kitchen.

All these sounds are superimposed to form a complex sound matrix.

In this matrix, any tiny anomaly will be amplified.

When a person is stressed, they chew more slowly because the body is allocating energy to other, more important systems.

For example, Blue Snake's men were talking at a noticeably lower volume than usual today.

When people discuss things they don't want others to hear, they unconsciously lower their voices, and if there are many people, they form an even tighter circle.

From Marcus's perspective, the five people at Blue Snake's table were sitting in a posture that resembled a clenched fist.

Marcus stood up, carrying the tray, and walked towards the recycling window. Looking at Tommy, who was monitoring the prisoners, he said:

"It might be a bit noisy tonight."

"How noisy?"

Tommy glanced at him, but he didn't have Wade's keen senses, so he couldn't understand what the other person meant for a moment.

"To the point that it keeps people awake at night."

After Marcus finished speaking, he continued walking forward and left the cafeteria.

Tommy stood at the entrance of the canteen, watching the prisoners inside chewing, talking, laughing, and joking as they ate.

Everything seemed normal.

But Marcus Wayne, who spent six years in McLean County, never said a single unfounded thing.

Tommy thought for a moment, then turned and walked toward the duty room, intending to tell Wade what had happened.

……

Lights out at 9 PM.

The fluorescent lights in the cell block went out one by one, falling like dominoes from one end of the corridor to the other.

Each time the light bulb goes out, it is accompanied by a crackling sound of electricity and a brief afterglow. After the current is lost, the filament will continue to emit a faint red light for a few seconds.

In the darkness, the McLean County Correctional Center became a building filled with the sounds of breathing and coughing.

The breathing of more than sixty prisoners came from different cells, some deep and some shallow.

These breaths intertwined, forming a strange harmony, as if a huge organ were humming in the darkness.

Wade sat in the duty room with a cup of coffee that had gone cold and an open patrol logbook in front of him.

The fluorescent lights buzzed above his head, casting a stark white light on the duty room.

The window of the duty room faces the corridor of the prison area. Through the window, you can see the dim yellow light emanating from the security light at the end of the corridor, which is the only light in the entire prison that never goes out all night.

He flipped through today's patrol log.

One page, one line, each signature marked with "No abnormalities".

But he knew that today was not a "normal" day.

Marcus said it might be noisy tonight, hopefully he wasn't referring to the prisoners having a party.

Wade didn't like hellish jokes, but he knew that there were always some mischievous rats in the dark trying to crawl out and gnaw on something.

He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the dim yellow safety light in the corridor.

There was a faint halo around the edge of the light, which was caused by years of dust and dead insects accumulating inside the lampshade.

In the shadows where the lights didn't reach, the iron bars of the cell block appeared as a row of blurry vertical stripes.

He suddenly remembered a detail from the roll call that morning.

When Xiao Dao answered, his voice was noticeably louder than usual, and his response was not as prompt.

This inevitably made him suspicious.

When a person is nervous, their vocal cords tighten, and their voice becomes higher.

This is a physiological reaction and cannot be faked.

Xiao Dao was nervous.

After a whole day, even after the lights were turned off, his tension didn't disappear; it was only amplified by the darkness.

Better safe than sorry. For an experienced prison guard like Wade, no abnormality can be taken lightly.

Especially on the day the new regulations were announced, the new boss needs to see that his rules are having an effect within the prison.

Ringo gave each of them a $50 night shift allowance, so all the prison guards are on night shift tonight.

Wade turned and walked back to the table, picking up the walkie-talkie:

"Coffee, where are you?"

Kofi's voice came through the walkie-talkie:

"What's wrong in the C section corridor?"

"From now on, you and Jackson will not patrol separately. You will walk together and circle the restricted area every twenty minutes."

"Keep a close eye on the 'Three Dogs,' as well as Blue Snake's henchmen."

"Do you think something bad will happen tonight?"

"I have no idea."

Wade said:

"But if I'm wrong, at worst we've just taken a few extra steps. Let's hope so."

……

One o'clock in the morning.

Moonlight streamed in through a small window with iron bars at the end of the prison corridor, casting a rectangular patch of light on the floor.

In the corridor of the restricted area, the light from the safety lights shone on four tightly closed iron doors.

The corridor was so quiet that you could hear breathing coming from inside the solitary confinement cell.

One long, one short; one deep, one shallow—that's the natural breathing rhythm during sleep.

In solitary confinement cell number three, Ghost Fang opened his eyes.

He sat up in the darkness, slowly and silently.

His eyes have adapted to the darkness. For the past few days, he has been opening his eyes every night after the lights are turned off, allowing his pupils to dilate to their maximum size, training himself to recognize the outlines of objects in an almost completely dark environment.

This isn't an innate ability; it's something you develop through practice.

During his years with the 18th Street gang in Los Angeles, he learned one thing: darkness is the hunter's cover.

He lifted his right foot, his fingers found the lining between the sole and the insole, and removed the metal piece, holding it in his right hand.

The temperature of the metal sheet was the same as his body temperature, and holding it in his hand felt like an extension of his body.