The atmosphere in the prison dining room is always tense. The bland smell of food mixed with the sweat of the inmates created a suffocating atmosphere.
For Rick, this place was not just a dining hall, but also a psychological battlefield where power and hierarchy were determined. However, today, everything felt much different, not in a positive sense, but actually many times worse.
Normally, the tension in this place is enough to make anyone who newcomers would feel intimidated. However, this time, the murderous air that enveloped the room was so thick that it felt like it could be cut with a knife.
Rick could feel it clearly. From the cold stares that were thrown at him, from the way some people's breathing was a little heavier, from the small movements that seemed ordinary, but full of hidden intentions.
The hundreds of inmates sitting quietly at their tables were actually harbouring murderous intent. Rick was not surprised; this was something he had predicted from the start. He knew who was behind it. Of course, someone had mobilised them to finish him off.
But was Rick afraid? No, he wasn't. If there was anything he felt, it was excitement.
Maybe this moment will be an experience he will never forget. It feels like he is enjoying a dinner accompanied by hundreds of grim reapers.
However, unlike the angels of death in the stories who use large scythes to take lives, here are only amateur executioners who carry forks hidden in their sleeves, small knives tucked into their waistbands, and rough iron rods that they hide under the table.
An unscrupulous angel of death with a cynical mind. The one who could only muck about, the loser, who wasn't even brave enough to attack him directly.
Rick held back a faint smile.
He walked with leisurely steps towards the empty table in the corner of the room. His eyes did not show any fear, only a look of calmness and caution.
Every step he took felt like a provocation to those who were after him. He could feel them waiting for the right moment to strike, waiting for an opening, waiting for the moment he let his guard down. But Rick knew better.
Calmly, he sat down and picked up his spoon. The first spoonful he savoured unhurriedly, letting this tense atmosphere develop further. He didn't need to rush.
'So, this is how they play?' he thought.
If ordinary geniuses prepare three backup plans, then Rick has prepared seven. He always moves with careful calculation. In a world full of betrayal and intrigue like this, estimating three steps ahead is not enough. If you want to win, you have to think seven steps ahead with the highest probability.
Rick again glanced around the room, his eyes catching the small details that might escape the attention of others. The most dangerous position of the prisoners, the direction of their hands, the slightly different facial expressions than usual, everything he had mapped out in his mind.
This is not arrogance. And not blind confidence either. It was the careful preparation he had done before he even entered this room.
He raised her spoon once more, still acting as if nothing had happened. When He took the next bite, He could feel a subtle change in the atmosphere. Some people began to shift their positions slowly, others moved something behind the table.
Rick almost laughed. They really thought that he didn't realise any of that?
Of course, for most people, this situation would be a nightmare. Surrounded by hundreds of people who intent on killing you, with no way out, no allies, no hope of survival.
But for Rick? This was just part of the game he had long planned.
'Well, let's see who will be the real victim,' he thought with a faint smile.
He put down his spoon and leaned back against the chair. Now, he just had to wait for their first move. And when it came, the real game would begin.
However, even though he waited for a while while casually playing with the spoon between his fingers, neither of them moved.
Rick continued to wait. But nothing changed, and it was starting to get boring.
In a situation like this, he should have been surrounded by executioners who couldn't wait to plunge the knife into his body. But it was just the opposite, they were still watching, like a group of lions circling their prey, but no one was brave enough to pounce first.
"How boring... " Rick said in a low voice.
Normally, someone who was targeted in a situation like this would be terrified, hoping for a miracle to save them. Rick felt just the opposite, he was completely bored.
This atmosphere had gone on for too long. Supposedly, this was the best moment for Bruno and his men to attack.
There was not a single person in this room who was in Rick's favour, almost all the inmates here exuded an aura of hatred and murderous intent that was also thick. That even an amateur could feel that murderous aura.
'Then, why haven't they moved at all?' Rick thought in his mind.
Rick glanced at another corner of the room, towards the table where Bruno and his men were sitting. If before he thought they were holding back because of hesitation, now there was something that attracted his attention even more.
They currently looked calm, one could even say very calm.
There was only the sound of clinking spoons against their plates, like a group of men enjoying dinner without anything to worry about.
However, their killing aura is still very strong and intense.
Rick still felt clueless. Even though they had exuded such obvious killing intent, but why didn't they attack immediately?
Like something was not right.
Rick put down his spoon slowly, shifted his plate to the side, then slightly changed his angle of view. He pretended to stretch his body, glancing around without attracting attention. Then, he saw it.
Two warders were walking out of the room. They looked relaxed, as usual, walking towards the exit for the shift change with the other warders. And it was at that moment that Rick understood everything.
"So that's it... "
Bruno and his group were not silent because they were in doubt, nor were they delaying the attack out of fear. But actually they were waiting for the right moment.
The moment when there was no longer a warden guarding this place.
Rick smiled a little and then muttered softly. "They are smart too."
If they attacked now, the warden might intervene. Although most of the guards in this prison also didn't care who killed whom, they still had their limits in allowing chaos to happen in front of them. If a fight broke out in front of the warden, then there would obviously be consequences.
However, if they waited until the shift change occurred, then that was when, for a few minutes this room would be in an unattended state. And that would be the most ideal time for them to act.
Rick sighed softly, holding back the laughter that wanted to escape his lips.
"I almost thought they were cowards." Rick thought.
Now it all made sense why they seemed to be delaying the execution.
Rick leaned his back against the chair, looking at the ceiling that was noticeably lower than usual.
"So they're waiting." Rick thought again.
They timed it very well, organising this murder plan with very careful calculations.
"Interesting..." Rick muttered.
Rick glanced at the old clock hanging on the wall of the room. It seemed as if every second was getting slower, and along with the heartbeat that was getting faster, making every breath heavy and full of tension.
The shoulders of the inmates tensed slightly, their gazes became more and more intense, and their hands also began to look closer and closer to the weapons hidden behind the table.
"Alright..."
Rick straightened his body, adjusting his sitting position.
If this was what they were waiting for, then Rick would give them more than they expected.
Because they thought that they were the ones hunting, but in fact they were the ones who were walking into the trap that Rick had prepared.
Three of Bruno's men were seen starting to stand up from their seats, then slowly stepping towards the table where Rick was sitting.
This is the beginning of the feast of death and tragedy that will soon begin. Rick had also prepared dozens of iron bars in his storage dimension, as a warm welcome as well as a final gift for all of them before he left Ironclad prison.