Chapter 222: Prison Break

The night was deep; inside the Jingshi Prison dungeon, the corridors were empty and silent, with only the snoring of prisoners echoing through the halls.

Shiqi walked to the outside of the "Heaven Number One" cell door and raised his wrist to check his watch; it was already past one in the morning, a time that is often when people are in their deepest sleep.

He took a deep breath and reached his hand toward the cold Dagger at his waist.

Shiqi had pondered this for several days, and he finally made up his mind to get rid of He Yuzhu tonight.

The key was inserted into the keyhole without a sound, and the first iron gate opened with a creak.

He turned sideways and entered, casting his gaze into the cell.

He Yuzhu was lying on the bed, emitting a faint snoring sound.

Shiqi took a cylindrical object from his bosom and lit it with a match; thick white smoke immediately emerged from the mouth of the cylinder.

He tossed the smoke canister toward the side of He Yuzhu's bed and nimbly put on a mask.

Three minutes later, a layer of thin smoke had already permeated the cell.

He carefully opened the innermost iron gate and slowly walked toward that narrow little bed; suddenly, he leaped up and lunged forward, intending to strangle the He Yuzhu on the bed.

But He Yuzhu suddenly moved, rolling off the bed.

Shiqi fell heavily onto the hard bed frame, and before he could react, He Yuzhu had already turned and pinned him down tightly—somehow, He Yuzhu was actually wearing a Gas Mask on his face.

"I've been waiting for you for two nights," a muffled yet calm voice came from behind the Gas Mask. "You finally came after all."

"He Yuzhu, I've never provoked you; why do you want to ruin my future?" Shiqi roared while struggling.

"A base murderer like you who only dares to kill women is worthy of talking about a future?"

"You're in prison too, so you're no good person either!" Shiqi roared.

Before the words had faded, He Yuzhu had already snapped his neck.

"Xu Tian, you should thank me. Your Jia Xiaoduo won't die in this lifetime!" He Yuzhu whispered to himself.

He Yuzhu did not pause; he took off Shiqi's clothes and put them on himself.

Arriving at cell Seven, He Yuzhu turned on his flashlight and scanned every sleeping face one by one, finally discovering his first target in the corner—a thin, tall man with a scar on his face. He quickly took this person into his space.

Next, he opened cell 20 and cell 24, and after successfully finding his targets, he likewise took them into his space.

Afterward, He Yuzhu opened the other cell doors one by one, kicking all the prisoners awake.

As the cell doors opened one after another, the previously dead-silent prison block instantly descended into chaos.

The awakened prisoners, upon learning that the dungeon doors were open and they could escape, reacted in various ways.

A middle-aged man cursed loudly: "Escaping prison and getting caught means the death penalty! I only have two days left until my sentence ends; this is simply a disaster!"

Most people expressed joy, shouting as they rushed outward.

The one-meter-ninety-tall Lian Hu opened his sleepy eyes, feeling a bit dazed.

A lackey beside him reminded him: "Second Brother, someone opened the cell doors; let's run quickly, once we're out, we'll be free!"

Upon hearing this, Lian Hu understood immediately; he didn't want to stay in the dungeon anymore, eating cornmeal buns and pickled vegetables every day and unable to go out and have fun.

Even the death-row prisoners wearing leg irons moved their feet with a clanking sound as they ran out, their eyes filled with a longing for freedom.

Just as He Yuzhu was about to open the final main gate, six armed prison guards suddenly rushed out from the security room.

They pulled back their bolts and fired warning shots into the air: "Bang! Bang! Bang!"

This immediately stunned the prisoners who were running outward.

"Bang bang bang..."

He Yuzhu fired first, emptying all the bullets from a Box Cannon.

The six men screamed one after another and fell to the ground.

Out of consideration for Jin Hai, he held back, hitting non-lethal parts of these men with every shot.

Seeing the prison guards fall, the prisoners surged outward like a broken levee.

One prison guard who had fallen to the ground still threatened them tactlessly: "Listen to me, all of you! Anyone who runs out of the prison, if caught and brought back, will be executed by firing squad!"

But at this moment, no one was listening to him at all.

Lian Hu took the lead and kicked the prison guard's leg fiercely.

With a "Crack!", the prison guard's leg bone snapped in response.

Lian Hu picked up a gun from the ground and ran toward the main gate.

His few lackeys followed suit, picking up guns from the ground.

The six of them ran at the very front, firing continuously at the searchlights on the high walls, though their marksmanship was limited, and they didn't manage to break many after a dozen shots.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The people in the watchtowers on the walls opened fire.

He Yuzhu raised his gun, aimed at the searchlights, and extinguished all of them with a few shots.

The entire prison instantly plunged into darkness.

The guards at the gate rushed out and had just raised their guns when they were hit by the wild gunfire from Lian Hu and the others and fell to the ground.

Hundreds and thousands of prisoners escaped the main gate, shouting as they surged into the night.

He Yuzhu also blended into the crowd and rushed out of the prison.

He ran quickly for several miles, shook off the crowd, released the truck from his space, and headed straight for Si Jiu Cheng.

Upon reaching the vicinity of Dongzhimen, he put away the truck, quickly climbed the city wall, took out a Rope, tied it to the crenel, and quickly descended the wall.

His first stop was the Dongcheng Police Station to grab someone and ask for the address of Bureau Chief Lou.

Unexpectedly, he happened to run into Police Officer Sun, with whom he had a grudge.

He knocked Police Officer Sun unconscious and took him into his space.

In a deserted courtyard, he released him, slapped Police Officer Sun's face hard, and asked: "Police Officer Sun, didn't expect this, did you? We meet again?"

Police Officer Sun looked at him in terror, as if he had seen a ghost, making "woo-woo" sounds with his mouth, wanting to speak.

He Yuzhu pulled the rag out of his mouth and warned: "If you scream or yell, I'll kill you with one slash. Tell me, where does Bureau Chief Lou live?"

"I really don't know," Police Officer Sun said.

"Still quite stubborn," He Yuzhu said, plugging his mouth back up, taking out a few bamboo splinters, and thrusting them fiercely into his fingernail beds.

Police Officer Sun twitched all over from the pain, then immediately knelt on the ground and nodded incessantly.

He Yuzhu pulled the rag out of his mouth, and Police Officer Sun answered whatever was asked immediately.

Watching Police Officer Sun kowtow and beg for mercy, He Yuzhu suddenly asked, "Tell me honestly, we have no grudge; did you just want to kill me because you took a few Big Ocean from Mazilian?"

Police Officer Sun did not dare to speak.

He Yuzhu felt that letting such scum continue to stay and harm people was a crime, so he twisted his neck and snapped it.

When he found Bureau Chief Lou's house, He Yuzhu discovered this residence was exceptionally opulent.

The courtyard was located near the Forbidden City; it was a three-section Siheyuan, likely the mansion of a prince from the previous dynasty.

He Yuzhu wandered around the large compound for a long time before finding Bureau Chief Lou's room.

After pushing the door open, he first knocked out the woman beside Bureau Chief Lou, then covered Bureau Chief Lou's head with a pillow.

Bureau Chief Lou kicked his legs and struggled desperately; after one minute, he stopped breathing.

He Yuzhu searched the courtyard and soon discovered the place where the money was hidden—a basement in the study.

He moved the floor tiles and went down; inside were over a dozen large chests: two hundred Big Yellow Fish, several thousand Big Ocean, and three chests of antiques, calligraphy, and paintings.

He collected these items into his space and then went to Mazilian's house.

After killing Mazilian, he originally wanted to eliminate Mazilian's few accomplices as well, but discovered there was not enough time—he had to move his family away before daybreak.

In the Nanluoguxiang 91 courtyard, Lao Zhou was startled awake by a knocking sound; he pushed the door open, and a letter drifted down from the door crack.

He tore open the letter paper; there were only five characters on it: "Three people in the cellar."

Lao Zhou's heart sank, and he rushed into the cellar with quick steps.

After lighting a kerosene lamp, he saw three comrades from the Traffic Station tied up tightly and thrown into the corner of the cellar, with rags stuffed in their mouths.

Lao Zhou cursed inwardly: "This little bastard, he's so ruthless even to comrades, actually using tight ropes!"

The three stared at Lao Zhou vigilantly, and a man with squinty eyes questioned him sternly: "You dog secret agent, what do you want to do to us?"

"You are about to be free; you have been rescued!" Lao Zhou said.

The three looked at each other, still not believing it.

A tall, thin man cursed: "You secret agents, playing these tricks every day, is it interesting?"

"I was still in prison before I went to sleep; now you say I'm free, who would believe that?" the squinty-eyed man added.

Lao Zhou shook his head helplessly.

At the same time, He Yuzhu had already returned to the 95 Siheyuan.

He went straight to Xu Damao's house, only to find the doors and windows locked tight; he had intended to kill him, but he did not expect him to escape disaster once again.

He Yuzhu pushed open the door to his home and discovered Shen Guizhi was making breakfast.

Seeing He Yuzhu enter, Shen Guizhi's tears flowed down instantly. "Zhuzi, was it your cousin who got you out?"

He Yuzhu shook his head and lowered his voice: "Mother, there was a riot in the prison, and everyone ran away. We cannot live in this Siheyuan anymore; I will take you to a safe place."

"Leaving again?" Shen Guizhi asked.