Likalai State Prison.
Ennio, Ethan, and another partner entered the visitation room at the same time.
Lance, Morris, and a few others were here. They brought some new clothes and other things for them to use upon their release.
Along with them were some fresh fruits, cigarettes, and alcohol.
They didn’t lack cigarettes in here, but they weren’t exactly rolling in them either.
The warden was a man who only recognized money, to the extent that the entire prison was filled with people who only recognized money. A pack of cigarettes that cost five cents outside sold for two dollars here.
Although Lance had paid money, the connection belonged to Lawyer Orson. As far as the prison was concerned, they had done what they were supposed to do, and then it was all according to their rules.
According to the regulations of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, this was clearly a violation—so many people gathered together, bringing so many things.
But here, nobody cared.
In a Federal prison, the warden is king. He could decide the fate of everyone in this prison.
In fact, whether it was a private prison or a federal prison, they were essentially the same. With connections and money, you could get away with anything.
So regardless of the type, be it a federal prison or a private for-profit prison, as long as you could find the right way, they would be like your backyard, letting you come and go as you pleased.
As for a tiny little violation?
Who would make trouble for the warden over such a small matter?
“You’ve gotten fat!” Lance patted Ennio’s shoulder and then punched Ethan’s chest. The three of them were now pale and plump!
Morris stood to the side and teased, “Is the food in prison that good?”
Ethan grinned, “It’s average. We only get a small piece of steak at night, but you can eat your fill of the other food.”
“And even though we live in single cells, we can’t just stroll out of our cells so brazenly. So, apart from yard time, the rest of the time is spent eating, drinking, and sleeping.”
He felt a little embarrassed saying it himself.
He originally thought he was coming here to suffer, but it turned out he was almost raised like a pig. If he hadn’t started working out recently, he’d probably be even fatter!
Ever since the Lance Family wiped out the Camille gang, the news had reached the state prison immediately, causing some prison gang members who had been planning to “test their mettle” to give up.
The treatment for someone with a background and someone without one in prison was completely different.
After the laughing and joking ended, Lance talked about everyone’s recent progress. “We’re doing very well. If nothing unexpected happens, we’ll make a huge sum of money before summer arrives.”
“Soon, we will enter the fast lane of development. By then, the entire Golden Port, and even Likalai, will be our stage!”
Lance was very certain about this point. Whether it was a criminal group, a gang, a family, or a capitalist.
To make a name for yourself on the grand stage of the Federation, you had to achieve two things: either have a background and money, or have money while being covered in thorns.
For those traditional, prestigious families, they were representatives of the former. When their ancestors appeared in that oil painting, it was destined that they wouldn’t need to take risks to have a future that most families couldn’t achieve in several lifetimes.
As for the true majority, the vast majority, if they wanted what these people had, they needed not only money but also many other factors.
Luck, decisiveness, shamelessness, the ability to risk it all, sufficient ruthlessness…
Mr. Jobav was rich enough, but to those people—not even those in the topmost circles, just a mayor—he had already completely lost control of the situation’s development.
A single mayor had him firmly in his grasp, let alone the bigger figures further up.
And yet, he always believed that as long as he could reach a high enough level, he could definitely change his destiny.
So for the sake of the future, he could try to give up certain things.
This also exacerbated the change in the mayor’s attitude towards him. It seemed like their relationship was good, but it was full of dead ends at every turn.
As for the people at higher levels, they didn’t even need to lift a finger to deal with Mr. Jobav.
It could be just a single sentence, and he’d be arrested and sent to the electric chair for splashing urine on the toilet rim while peeing.
Don’t want to die?
Then hand over all your money.
As for the Federation not having a law that sentences you to death for splashing urine on the toilet rim?
That’s not important. They could pass it overnight. As long as the big shot who made the decision was “big” enough, there was nothing they couldn’t do.
During this era, capitalists not native to the Federation were actually very unlucky. They contributed during social development, they paid their taxes, and when they became rich enough, the capitalists and politicians would collude to stick a knife in them.
Every year, many well-known foreign investors and capitalists had their assets confiscated for various reasons and were thrown into prison.
But you rarely heard about any of the big gangs or families being wiped out by the Federation government.
On one hand, the stability of the lower class of society required these people. A district controlled by a gang would have a much higher level of public security than a district without one.
On the other hand, these people were now covered in thorns. A moment of carelessness could get you hurt, and the reason they were unwilling to get hurt was that even within the groups that could decide certain issues, there were conflicts and divisions.
But one day, when external conflicts began to genuinely affect their rule, or when someone tried to challenge their authority, they would unite.
After chatting for a while about what was happening outside, Lance looked at Ennio. “Before you leave, don’t forget to send off that last person we missed.”
Ennio nodded, “I will.”
Lance looked at the three of them. “You’ll be released in a week. You’d best make your move the night before you leave. The prison will provide you with some convenience…”
Lance and the others left soon, having set a time to pick them up.
In fact, during this period, Ennio had been observing that last “sole survivor” of the Camille gang. When he first arrived, he seemed to still have some “social status.”
The Camille gang was, more or less, a well-known gang in Golden Port, and it was still active on the outside.
In prison, as long as you weren’t the last one left in your family, others were generally unwilling to offend such an active gang, mainly for fear of retaliation against their families.
But as news of the Camille gang’s demise spread throughout the prison, his life became less pleasant.
Prison is a society where the law of the jungle is even more pronounced than on the outside. Being even slightly weak here meant living a life of misery.
It wasn’t just as simple as not getting enough to eat; you’d get beaten up for no reason, and even have to pick up the soap every day.
After making appropriate concessions and showing an attitude of maintaining his bottom line, after a few fierce fights where he refused to compromise even to the death, those people stopped bothering him, because he was a “troublemaker.”
The day before Ennio and his group were to be released, the prison arranged a large amount of work, and it just so happened to be the turn of the high-ranking Camille gang member’s cell block.
The work was all indoors. The warden supposedly intended to clear out an old warehouse for something new and needed them to clean it out.
This dilapidated warehouse was full of things. Their group of about thirty-plus people moved things from one warehouse to another and then had to clean the place.
They worked continuously for four or five hours to finish everything, which left everyone drenched in sweat.
It wasn’t easy to get so tired in the middle of winter. The warden seemed to have had a change of heart and allowed them to take a hot shower before bed.
Even now, in the dead of winter, there was no hot water in the prison, only cold water.
Only the guards could take hot showers. To these men, this was practically a blessing from heaven!
The fatigue and unhappiness from the afternoon’s work seemed to become less important in the face of a hot shower.
After dinner, they went in batches to the small bathroom, the only place with hot water.
The moment the shower head was turned on, scalding hot water sprayed out, landing on his skin. The high-ranking member felt comfortable all over.
He ran his hands through his hair as the hot water pattered against his body. At this moment, the hot water washed away all his fatigue and frustration.
The hot water was like a magical spirit, able to soothe all the pains on his body, even those within his heart.
His mind was empty, as if he was thinking about many things, yet also as if he was thinking about nothing at all, just indulging in the shower.
There was no soap, but there was a bit of bath powder. This stuff stung the skin a little, but… whatever.
As he scrubbed his body with the bath powder, he thought about the future.
He had secretly saved a lot of money over the years. When he got out, he would take that money, leave this damn place, and go somewhere else to live out the rest of his life in obscurity.
A total of over one hundred thousand dollars. In this era, that was a huge sum!
In fact, from a certain perspective, if he could use this opportunity to leave the Camille gang, to leave Heller, then it might not necessarily be a bad thing!
A new life was beckoning him. He had even made plans for the future—buy a house, and then live the life of a landlord.
The bath powder reacted with the water on his body, creating something like soap suds. It stung his eyes a little. He squinted slightly and washed his hair as well.
In prison, keeping one’s hair clean was also a problem.
He didn’t know what the bath powder was. It made his body feel fiery and very dry after a shower, but it was indeed very useful for cleaning!
He started showering. The air was filled with hot steam. He didn’t even notice that the people around him had almost all left, leaving him alone.
Danger had arrived, yet he was completely unaware.
Just as he was humming a little tune, washing away the fatigue of his body and soul, a powerful arm suddenly wrapped around his neck.
At first, he didn’t react, thinking someone was joking with him. He even patted the arm a few times and said in a low voice, “Don’t, I’m showering…”
But as the arm suddenly began to tighten, he immediately started to struggle violently, but by then, it was too late!
The person behind him spun him around, and then he saw Ennio.
He didn’t know these people, but he knew there was a group in prison with connections who had paid money.
They were registered with the warden and couldn’t be offended casually, and among this group, was this man.
His face was already flushed, whether from the hot water or lack of oxygen, he didn’t know. He struggled hard while trying to say something.
Ennio held a blade made from a sharpened piece of iron. He wrapped it in a towel and said, “Mr. Lance was with Heller and the others when they left, but you are an exception.”
“He can’t personally come to send you to meet God, so…” He brandished the towel-wrapped knife in his hand, staring into his eyes, “He asked me to send his regards. Good night, bastard!”
As he spoke, he used the hand holding the towel-wrapped dagger to jab the high-ranking member’s chest a few times. Blood began to gush out, mixing with the hot water from the showerhead, and was swept into the drain on the floor.
He struggled frantically, almost breaking free from Ethan’s grasp, but ultimately his strength was no match for Ethan’s, and he was held down firmly.
Soon, he didn’t have much strength left, and even the force of his struggles had lessened considerably.
The water was still pattering on him, but this time, he felt no warmth or comfort, only his body growing colder and his consciousness fading.
His struggles grew weaker, and a sense of despair began to envelop him. He thought of many things, of his old brothers, of Heller, and of the hundred thousand dollars he had buried, wondering who would be lucky enough to get it.
The arm on his neck was like a steel bar, unmoving. In these final moments, he suddenly had a moment of clarity.
He had harmed so many people in the past. Before they died, some had cursed him with roughly the same words, cursing that he wouldn’t die of old age in a warm bed, cursing that he would die a violent death outside, just like them.
He had once scoffed at this. He never thought anything unexpected would happen to him, but at this moment, he realized that in the unseen world, there seemed to be a force that compelled him to bow his head.
When the full weight of his body hung on Ethan’s arm, Ethan let him go.
He fell to the ground, blood flowing from his wounds, not as much as at the beginning.
Then another person pushed over a trash can, and the two of them threw him into it. Someone would take care of him and clean everything up.
Every year, many people went missing in federal prisons. The warden didn’t even need to rack his brains to come up with a “plan”; he just had to tell people that the missing person was killed while trying to escape.
Then they’d burn the body, scatter the ashes in the surrounding wilderness, and file a report.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons had once issued a document that mentioned being bold in dealing with escaping prisoners, which roughly meant, don’t be afraid to fucking shoot, kill these sons of bitches!
After showering, the three of them calmly left the bathroom and returned to their cell.
About ten minutes later, the alarm sounded throughout the prison, and a large number of guards carrying guns began to enter the cell blocks.
Everyone was ordered out of their cells to stand at the doorway, and then someone searched each cell one by one.
The three of them knew what was happening, so they were very cooperative.
Halfway through the process, gunshots suddenly rang out from outside, and then it quickly fell silent again.
About seven or eight minutes later, everyone was ordered back into their cells.
Immediately after, news spread through all the cell blocks that someone had been taking a hot shower in the guards’ bathroom, but was thinking of escaping, and was shot and killed as a result.
Some people didn’t believe it, because some of them knew the high-ranking member and knew that he didn’t actually need to escape.
But now the man was dead, and what the prison authorities said, goes. Besides, they had no intention of seeking justice for the high-ranking member.
The three of them slept well. The next morning, at the prison gate, they saw the motorcade that had come to pick them up.
It was only a little over a hundred kilometers from Golden Port to here, a three-hour drive.
The icy weather had finally improved a lot in the last two days. The moment the three of them came out, the smiles on their faces were uncontrollable. Almost everyone had come!
Lance stood at the very front. He hugged Ennio and handed him a newspaper. “I saw today’s news. Good job!”
In a small, palm-sized section of the newspaper, a piece of news was printed, saying that last night an escapee had attempted to break out of prison and was shot and killed on the spot after refusing to surrender during the escape attempt.
Next to it was a photo of the high-ranking member.
The report stated that this was the seventeenth escape attempt from the state prison in five years, but not a single one had succeeded. It was the fortress of Likalai State that could never be breached, and a loyal enforcer of the law!
The article boasted a little, saying that this was all thanks to the warden’s efforts.
But in reality, apart from the high-ranking member, no one knew how many of the other sixteen had truly died during an escape attempt.
Ennio was a little embarrassed. His childhood had been spent in negation and domestic abuse; his father had never praised him. So Lance’s praise, even a very ordinary sentence, made him feel a bit shy.
“Ethan and the others also deserve a lot of credit. Without them, I might not have been able to do it alone.”
Lance nodded, hugged Ethan and the other man again. After everyone had greeted each other, Lance had the motorcade go to the Golden Port Public Cemetery.
He had specially bought a plot of land to bury the deceased members of the family.
Several tombstones stood together, not alone. The site had already been cleaned—Lance had called ahead to say he was coming to see these guys today.
The cemetery management office had arranged for someone to clear the snow here. After all, they collected a management fee every year. If they didn’t even do the superficial work, it would be really outrageous.
Lance lit the newspaper and placed it in front of a tombstone.
No one spoke; everyone just stood there quietly.
When the last bit of the newspaper had turned to ash, Lance let out a long sigh. “Let’s go home!”
In February, the weather was already showing signs of warming up. Some tree branches that had been desolate all winter were beginning to sprout tender, sesame-seed-sized green buds.
Although they were still small, one could already feel that the tenacious, unyielding, and great life force was brewing.
When the time was right, it would dye the whole world green!
Winter was already at its end, and spring was not far away!
(End of this chapter)