Leao’s gaze fell to the delicate, pale wrist of the person before him. The wide cuffs slightly drooped with movement, revealing a deep red mark on the lotus-white wrist. A circle encircled the wrist, a trace left by someone who had gripped it with a bit of force. It was unclear when it had happened, but now the fingerprint’s color deepened, looking especially striking on such fair skin.
“What happened here?” Yan Chuan suddenly heard Leao ask. He followed the other’s gaze and saw the red mark on his own wrist. Yan Chuan instinctively pulled his wrist into his sleeve to hide it.
That was a result of Hesse’s doing… due to his thin skin, the mark hadn’t faded in a long time.
“It was an accident…” Yan Chuan could only explain this way. “Marks stay on me for a long time, and it’s hard for them to heal.”
While this was how he explained it, the scope of “accident” was quite broad. In such a rather obscure spot on the inner wrist, how could there be such a clear imprint of fingers?
It was evident someone had gripped his delicate wrist to make it. Hesse, however, did not ask further questions. The Eastern beauty clearly did not want to discuss it and even covered his wrist.
There was only one explanation: the person who left the mark must have said something to him, making it impossible for him to refuse. Indeed, he was a pitiable soul who was bullied everywhere.
As Yan Chuan hesitated, he heard Leao’s gentle voice advising him, “Maybe you need some medicine to help the healing process.”
He nodded, thinking that Leao probably saw him as another pitiable victim. Yan Chuan pondered for a moment; thinking this way wasn’t wrong. Hesse was indeed bullying him.
***
Yan Chuan did not expect the opportunity to come so quickly. He returned, reeking of ointment, but paused outside for a while before going in, fearing Hesse would smell it. This person had a keen sense of smell, indeed resembling something that lived in the jungle; Yan Chuan always lingered for a moment wherever he encountered others on his return. Though he himself could not smell anything.
When Yan Chuan followed the prison guard back to the cell, he found Hesse wearing a tense expression. Hesse sat on the lower bunk, staring at the door with a wire-like metallic object in his hand. Yan Chuan’s eyelids jumped.
Where did he get a metal object? The prison had many restraints for inmates. In their activity areas, they wouldn’t encounter anything sharp, much less any metal items. Even when items came from outside, they had to pass strict inspections. Yan Chuan remembered Naville checking him when he fainted.
In the time of resting in the cell, inmates also underwent inspections. The shallow pockets of their clothes could hardly hold anything, not even a small key. So where did Hesse find the wire?
With that expression… did he intend to do something?
“Sleep,” Hesse said when he saw Yan Chuan enter, his expression softening a bit. He added, “The guards won’t patrol tonight. Just stay here and don’t go out.”
He emphasized again, “Do not go out for any noise you hear, just sleep peacefully and wait for me to return.”
Yan Chuan suddenly became alert, “You’re going out?”
And he wanted him to stay here… Didn’t he wish to take him along?
Hesse didn’t answer him, only urging him to sleep early.
Yan Chuan pondered Hesse’s expression and quickly stated, “Wherever you go, I want to go too.”
He also wanted to leave with him. To show his determination, Yan Chuan leaned toward the door, pretending to leave.
However, the external door of the cell was locked. It was not a code lock, but rather an old-fashioned padlock made of metal. There was nothing inside that could be opened from within.
Yan Chuan leaned against the cold wall, pursing his lips as he looked toward Hesse.
“I also want to go,” he repeated, stressing his words, “If you’re going out, I also want to follow.”
From the moment Hesse was imprisoned, Yan Chuan felt something was off, especially since this was the first “competition” since something unusual had happened.
He hesitated, contemplating what Hesse intended to do. Hesse mentioned that the guards wouldn’t be patrolling tonight and told him not to go out for any noise he might hear. This was clearly a precursor to something happening.
The guards patrolled every night; the fact they weren’t tonight must be due to some orders they received. Or did they know that something “else” would roam in the corridor?
A certain unknown monster.
Yan Chuan hesitated further. Without patrols, how could the guards ensure that all the inmates were quietly asleep after lights out without making a sound?
In such a long corridor, all the inhabitants were inmates from the closed prison. How could they ensure that everyone was deep asleep, welcoming death in their dreamlike haze?
Yan Chuan cast a hesitant glance at Hesse. Hesse stared at him.
This person usually carried a reckless glint in his eyes, but now he inexplicably seemed more restrained, frowning with a disapproving look.
Perhaps he found it a bit difficult to comply with Yan Chuan’s insistence to follow him.
Hesse seemed about to say something but held back, simply saying, “Stay here and sleep peacefully, there’s no need to worry about anything else.”
With Hesse saying this, Yan Chuan felt even more compelled to join him.
He genuinely wanted to see what Hesse was planning.
Yan Chuan leaned against the wall, not even glancing inside, reiterating his words: “I want to follow you.”
He tucked his slightly long bangs aside, revealing a pair of clear, watery eyes. His eyes were round, with slightly upturned outer corners. When he lowered his eyelids to look at someone, it unintentionally conveyed a sense of stubbornness.
Hard to handle.
Hesse thought of this immediately, with time passing minute by minute. He stared at the beautiful, fair-skinned face of the Eastern beauty, contemplating why Yan Chuan felt he had to follow him.
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