Huang Yi followed two prison guards for a while and came to a crossroads in the corridor.
At that moment, along another corridor, guards were escorting a criminal as well.
The criminal was about the same size as Huang Yi, around eighteen or nineteen, with blond hair, blue eyes, fair skin, a Caucasian youth.
"Hello there, Asian kid," the Caucasian youth greeted Huang Yi in Chinese, his tone casual and carefree.
"Hello," Huang Yi nodded slightly to the Caucasian youth.
"My name is Louis. I accidentally killed more than a hundred people in an experiment and got sentenced to life imprisonment. How about you?" said the blond as he stretched a hand onto Huang Yi's shoulder, carrying himself with a cavalier buddy-like demeanor.
Before Huang Yi could respond, the two guards beside them shivered slightly, their hearts leaping to their throats. Clad in electric clothing and wearing helmets, they dared not get too close to Huang Yi, yet this Caucasian youth actually dared to put his hand on Huang Yi's shoulder! That was practically asking for death!
"I killed a man," Huang Yi said calmly, without the slightest intention of making a move.
"Oh! You're really unlucky," Louis said indignantly, "You just killed one person, it should have been a common criminal case. Yet they locked you up in Rose Prison! That's just wicked!"
...
The two of them chatted while following the guards. Louis was a chatterbox, speaking incessantly. Even if Huang Yi remained silent for a long time, he would still go on at length.
Throughout this time, Huang Yi was very composed, which greatly puzzled the two guards; he was nothing like the extremely vicious demon they had imagined.
After walking for quite some time, the guards finally led Huang Yi and Louis out of the solitary confinement area and onto the open grounds, heading towards the communal cell area.
For the first time in a long while, Huang Yi made contact with the outside air and lifted his head to see the complete sky, no longer just a small patch cut by a small window.
At that moment, the sky was overcast, with masses of dark clouds tumbling in the air, thunder and lightning raging, heralding a heavy downpour.
Under the expanse of dark clouds, the Rose Island, isolated from the world, seemed like a tiny boat in a tempest, incredibly insignificant.
Crossing a large clearing, the guards brought Huang Yi and Louis to a five-story building constructed of thick concrete. The sparse windows on the walls made it seem like an enclosed fortress.
After verifying their fingerprints, the guards opened the heavy door, and a wave of damp, dark air rushed out, foul and musty. Louis couldn't help but raise his hand to shield himself and cursed loudly.
Huang Yi looked inside, but all he could see was pitch-black darkness, giving the impression of a hell filled with endless obscurity.
The guards took Huang Yi and Louis inside, into the common cells of Rose Prison.
As soon as he stepped in, Huang Yi felt a chill all over, as if he had suddenly entered winter. Surrounding him were prison cells locked with iron doors, each housing a group of criminals. Seeing Huang Yi and Louis arrive, they all moved to the front of their cells, reached their hands through the iron doors towards them, fixed their stares eagerly, and let out excited roars.
"Hey! Pretty boy, your ass is really sexy!"
"Hey! Baby, come over here!"
In the midst of chaotic howling, accompanied by some indescribable words, hundreds of hands were wildly waving through the iron doors in the darkness, resembling the zombies from a biochemical movie. If it weren't for the iron doors, Huang Yi and Louis would soon be overwhelmed by them.
If the solitary cells were dull, then this communal cell was manic, boisterously out of control!
"Ah! Damn it!" Louis' face turned pale upon seeing this scene, his body trembling and legs weakening.
The four guards' complexions also turned unsightly, quickening their pace and walking briskly forward.
The guards led Huang Yi and Louis up to the fifth floor, stopping in front of the largest cell.
There were over a hundred inmates in this cell, seemingly having a gathering. These inmates were different from those on the lower floors; they were not howling but sitting quietly, turning their heads to calmly watch Huang Yi and Louis through the iron door, creating an eerily calm atmosphere that was somewhat terrifying.
The four guards also became more reserved, a flash of fear flickering in their eyes, as if there was something frightening inside this large cell.
Just then, Huang Yi shockingly discovered that the iron door of this large cell wasn't locked but merely ajar!
That is to say, the inmates inside could come out at any time! Although they still couldn't escape from Rose Prison once out, they could easily turn Rose Prison upside down. Strangely, however, they did not come out and instead remained docilely inside their cell.
The four guards, with a look of alertness, pushed the cell door open and shoved Huang Yi and Louis inside before quickly leaving, as if they didn't want to stay a moment longer.
The howling from the floors below gradually faded, seemingly afraid to make any more noise. The entire cell quieted down as if it was the calm before a storm, and something dangerous was about to happen.
Huang Yi quietly observed the hundreds of criminals in front of him. He and Louis, now without any barriers, were like two sheep trapped within a wolf pack.
"Bring them up to have a look." Just then, a magnetically charming voice emerged from the crowd. It was the voice of a middle-aged man, unhurried, even somewhat refined and scholarly.
As the voice fell, two muscular men stepped up, grabbed Huang Yi and Louis, and escorted them forward. All the inmates automatically parted to the sides, opening up a path for them to pass through.
Huang Yi keenly noticed that the timing of the inmates' steps and the distance they stepped back were almost identical, like a well-trained army.
This was supposedly a group of disorganized criminals from all over the world and from all walks of life, having entered the prison at different times, yet now they had been trained into a unified body, indicating that there was a powerful leader among them!
Soon, the crowd parted to both sides, and the view was clear without any obstruction. Huang Yi immediately looked ahead.
Suddenly, he saw a strange sight.