paranoianovel Chapter 183 The Prisoners Have Arrived
Chapter 183 The Prisoners Have Arrived
Lin Feng didn't participate in the discussion. He first secretly checked the dedicated communicator that Leng Meng had given him—the signal was normal and the battery was fully charged—before putting it back in his pocket.
At this moment, a formally appointed prison guard in black strode over, his tone stern:
"Interns, don't huddle at the entrance! Hurry up and go inside and take your positions, the prisoners will be brought in soon!"
Everyone immediately became flustered and scurried into the exercise area.
There was some confusion when they were standing in their positions. Lin Feng and the other three exchanged glances and tacitly chose the positions closest to the exit.
In case anything goes wrong, this is definitely the fastest place to retreat.
Following rule number four, Lin Feng and Evelyn quickly stood back to back, while Vassim and Anna formed another back-to-back observation formation.
A tense silence hung in the air, broken only by the faint sound of an iron gate sliding in the distance and the increasingly heavy footsteps approaching.
The prisoner is coming.
The first to appear at the entrance to the exercise area were four regular prison guards in black uniforms.
Their expressions were stern, they held stun batons in their hands and sedatives at their waists, and their steps were perfectly synchronized.
Then, the line of prisoners slowly appeared.
At the very front is prisoner number 101—the "Superman" who wears his underwear on the outside.
His gaze remained vacant, his steps steady, as if everything around him was irrelevant to him.
But as he passed through the doorway and stepped into the exercise area, he paused slightly, his empty eyes seeming to scan the vast space before resuming his mechanical walking.
Immediately afterwards, Lin Feng saw the "Eccentric" room on the second floor.
The prisoner, whose appearance was rather sleazy, had his hands bound in front of him with specially made handcuffs, and his deep-set eyes were greedily scanning everyone present.
When he saw Evelyn and Anna, he immediately let out a strange "hoarse" laugh, and a dark red tongue stuck out from the crooked corner of his mouth, licking his chapped lips.
"Look ahead!" a prison guard in black shouted sternly, his stun baton arcing through the air. "If you look around again, you'll lose your exercise privileges!"
"Segui" reluctantly turned his head, but Lin Feng noticed that his eyes were still glancing in the direction of the female prison guard from time to time.
Next up is the woman in cell number 218 who was holding a rag doll.
She clutched the filthy rag doll tightly to her chest, glancing nervously left and right every few steps, as if some unseen threat lurked in the air.
"Go!" The prison guard behind her gave her a push.
The woman staggered a few steps, then quickly ran to a corner at the edge of the area, squatted down, held the rag doll protectively in her arms, and began to whisper to it.
As more prisoners entered, the exercise yard gradually became crowded.
Lin Feng's pupils contracted slightly—he saw prisoner number 307.
The prisoner who had launched the mental attack on them was now being escorted by a prison guard in black, who was wearing a specially made metal hood—presumably to protect him from his mental intrusion.
Through the gaps in the mesh around the eyes of the hood, one can vaguely see a face without clearly defined features.
The prisoner walked slowly, his steps dragging, and every few steps, a dull thud would come from inside the hood, as if he were constantly banging his head against the metal wall.
"Behave yourself!" A prison guard tapped the prisoner's shoulder lightly with a stun gun, and a painful whimper immediately came from inside the hood.
……
The last to enter the area was the enormous "carnivorous monster" from cell 201.
His hands and feet were locked in thickened, specially made shackles, and he was escorted by two prison guards in black.
The moment he stepped into the exercise area, his cloudy eyes began to scan frantically, finally locking onto Wasim—
The burly trainee prison guard had clearly aroused his most primal appetite.
"Meat...fresh meat!" the carnivorous monster roared, charging forward with all its might, the shackles rattling as it pulled on them.
Two prison guards in black simultaneously pressed down on his shoulders, leaning their bodies backward, barely managing to keep him in place.
One of them quickly pulled out a stun gun and stabbed it into his thick neck without hesitation.
Crackling sound—
A sudden burst of blue and white lightning erupted.
The carnivorous monster's enormous body trembled violently, and all its movements came to an abrupt halt.
But his murky, greedy eyes remained fixed on Vassim, and thick saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth, which he could not close, forming a thin, murky line.
The prison guard captain in black (a middle-aged man with a hideous scar on his left cheek) walked to the center of the area and raised the megaphone in his hand:
"All prisoners, remain where you are! Any unauthorized movement will be considered a violation!"
He turned around and nodded to Lin Feng and the others: "Begin the inventory."
Lin Feng took a deep breath and began to implement the first rule.
He quickly scanned the entire exercise area, silently counting the number of prisoners.
His gaze swept over the prisoners who were not unfamiliar to him. Some were huddled in a corner, some were pacing at the edge of the field, and some were talking in hushed tones.
After finishing the inventory, Lin Feng frowned slightly and whispered to Evelyn behind him.
"First headcount: 59 people."
"I counted to 59 as well," Evelyn said calmly.
"Second count." Lin Feng started again, this time even more carefully.
His gaze began from the left, scanning each item like a scanner: 1, 2, 3...
When he reached the center of the field, he suddenly noticed a detail.
In the shadows near the barbed wire, there was a prisoner who seemed to have been overlooked just moments before.
He was a man of medium build, leaning against the barbed wire fence, looking up at the narrow sky above.
Lin Feng memorized the position and continued counting.
...57, 58, 59.
The 60th person came into his field of vision—
In a corner near the entrance to the exercise yard, a figure in a dark gray prison uniform was looking down at his hands, as if inspecting something.
"The second time, 60 people," Lin Feng said.
"I counted to 61..." Evelyn's voice sounded uncertain. "Wait, let me double-check... well, I'll go with yours."
"Third inventory." Lin Feng forced himself to calm down. This time, he used the zoning method.
He mentally divided the exercise area into four quadrants and checked them one by one.
Top left quadrant: 13 people.
Upper right quadrant: 15 people.
Lower left quadrant: 16 people.
Lower right quadrant: 15 people.
13+15+16+15+1=60。
"Third time, 60 people." Lin Feng's voice calmed down.
"I've counted to 60 too," Evelyn said with a hint of relief.
Wasim and Anna also reported the count results: "We both have 60 people."
Lin Feng let out a soft breath.
Although the number 60 was one more than the first count, the result was consistent at least twice out of the three counts, and the "three different numbers" alarm in the rules was not triggered.
"Count complete, 60 people, matches the escort list." The head of the black-clad prison guards reported into the communicator, then turned to Lin Feng and the others, "Maintain vigilance, commence duty!"