Bam bam bam——

The lights on the ceiling of the workshop dimmed sequentially until they were completely out.

Chen Ya walked out of the workshop, handing the basket in his hand over. The prison guard in charge of sorting checks ticked a box in his workbook.

"Chen Ya, ten pieces, oh wait, nine pieces, one is defective."

The prison guard, while recording, picked out a piece of blood-stained clothing with crooked stitching from the basket and tossed it aside.

Chen Ya furrowed his brows slightly and joined his cellmates in line, heading back to their cell.

Cell 2104.

The lights went out at 11 PM. Several inmates crawled into their beds and closed their eyes. For some reason, tonight felt especially exhausting. Barely had they slipped under the covers when they all fell sound asleep.

In the midst of this quiet, Chen Ya gently lifted his blanket and quietly climbed out of bed.

The tips of his fingers trembled slightly, and strands of long, thin needles shot out from the back of his cellmates' heads, flying back into the palm of his hand along nearly invisible silver threads.

In the narrow hallway, the lights stubbornly shone, casting shadows on the mottled wall.

On the ceiling, the fixed surveillance cameras were like watchful sentinels, their red lights gleaming as they quietly monitored every inch of the corridor, leaving almost no blind spots.

Occasionally, one or two prison guards in uniform would patrol back and forth down the corridor, their steps heavy. They would pause from time to time, peering into the cells through the iron windows with scrutinizing eyes.

"2122, what's the commotion? Everyone lie down and sleep!"

A shout from a prison guard echoed down the distant hallway.

"Four prison guards, divided into two shifts to patrol, with breaks every 13 minutes."

Chen Ya muttered to himself, his eyes narrowed into slits, a clear map of the facility emerging in his mind.

"From cell 2104 to 2126, a straight line distance of 71 meters, and four surveillance cameras along the way, positioned at…"

Chen Ya's memory was exceptional, the precise position and slight angles of each camera engraved in his mind, vividly presenting itself like a three-dimensional image in his consciousness.

Patiently lurking for a moment, in a silent and imperceptible instant, Chen Ya's finger lightly touched the sensitive g-spot of the cell's electronic lock. With a soft click, the door unlocked.

He stepped lightly into the corridor, the air resonated with a high-frequency buzzing sound, nearly imperceptible to human ears. In that instant, the red lights of the cameras flickered in a bizarre manner, as if time itself had subtly warped.

The warping was so swift that, in the surveillance room, the on-duty guard who had just taken a sip of water was completely unaware:

In the blink of an eye, the upper right corner of a few small monitors flashed with a flurry of static, then quickly returned to normal, like a breeze passing through the air, leaving not even a ripple.

And in that subtle moment, someone happened to come to maintain the cameras. They could only find a pin-sized micro mark on the wires behind the cameras.

However, if there had been a two-minute delay, that almost invisible pinhole would have quietly healed under the rubber casing of the wire, as if time had smoothed over a wound, leaving no trace.

If surveillance cameras could speak, they might mockingly comment: "A pinhole? Ridiculous, how could I not know if I've been pricked by a needle. That's just my skin's normal pore contraction."

Cell 2126.

Originally snuggled under the blankets, soft whispers suddenly ceased, mainly because they were just listening to Yuan Dabiao brag, while a few other inmates cautiously echoed in agreement.

However, in an instant, those cautious echoes collectively transformed into various tones of snoring, like a symphony of snores.

"Let me tell you, back when I, Yuan Dabiao, was outside, I was with Kun. Do you know who Kun is?"

"Kun was infamous on the street back in the day, later joined Holy Light Pharmaceutical Company, managing the security company under it."

"Once I'm out in a couple of years, I'm going to join up with Kun and join Holy Light Security…"

Yuan Dabiao's words overflowed with boundless visions for the future. His voice grew louder as he was immersed in fantasies of his illustrious future.

Then suddenly, his brows furrowed tightly, his eyes widened with anger, and he shouted angrily: "How come everyone started snoring? Did I say you could sleep? You all…"

Before he could finish, Yuan Dabiao's mouth froze mid-sentence, his expression shifting from anger to horror.

He saw a face standing at the foot of his bed, looking down at him unblinkingly, silent like a ghost.

Yuan Dabiao's heart skipped a beat, a cold chill shot up his spine like an electric current. His body involuntarily shuddered violently as if grasped by an invisible claw, almost bouncing off the bed.

"Keep it quiet, don't wake anyone else."

A low voice reached his ears, chilling and emotionless, like the north wind on a winter night, piercing and merciless. He felt a hand gently pressing on his forehead, his body falling back onto the bed in a stiff exhaustion, unable to move.

"You don't need to get up, just talk lying down." The voice continued.

Yuan Dabiao's pupils constricted. His gaze locked onto the speaker's face, facial muscles twitching involuntarily. His voice carried an unmistakable mix of astonishment and fear: "It's you?!"

Yuan Dabiao's neck couldn't move, only his eyeballs were still rapidly darting within their sockets. Out of the corner of his eye, he strained to glance at the electric jail door, and indeed, the door was tightly shut.

"You... you... how did you get in?" Yuan Dabiao's mind nearly crashed.

Chen Ya frowned, unwilling to answer such a foolish question from Yuan Dabiao, thinking it didn't matter how he got in since he was already there.

He spoke to himself: "You shouldn't have disturbed my work this morning. You ruined one of my garments, so I couldn't complete the ten pieces you requested as the team leader."

There was a hint of resignation in Chen Ya's tone, but no anger, as he explained the logic and reasoning to Yuan Dabiao with a serious and firm voice:

"So, I only completed nine pieces, missing one. This gap is your responsibility as the team leader, don't you think?"

Even though Chen Ya's tone was calm and earnest, explaining the reasoning word by word, for Yuan Dabiao, it only sent chills down his spine and unprecedented fear surged within him.

At this moment, he suddenly realized that this slow, unflustered reasoning was even more terrifying and hair-raising than the ferocity he showed Old Li in the morning.

Yuan Dabiao swallowed hard and said in a trembling voice: "Brother, I was wrong, really wrong, you're right, it's all my responsibility."

Chen Ya frowned, dissatisfied with Yuan Dabiao's attitude in admitting his mistake. He said: "You are afraid of me. You don't need to be afraid. I will not coerce you to admit fault. Reason is not for bullying the weak, but to be clarified through debate."

Yuan Dabiao's mouth opened in a hollow shape, internally shouting, "Brother, but I'm not afraid of reason, I'm really afraid of you."

Chen Ya continued to soothe: "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I'm just here to make the reasoning clear and delineate our responsibilities."

Yuan Dabiao's tongue seemed to tremble too, and he tried to make his voice sound more serious and sincere:

"No, brother, I'm not saying this out of fear of you. I genuinely realize my mistake; the responsibility lies with me. I shouldn't have given you such a heavy workload, it's all my fault."

Chen Ya frowned and interrupted: "You are wrong again!"

Yuan Dabiao's heart sank: "Ah?"

Chen Ya patiently explained: "Assigning me ten tasks is your duty as a team leader. That's not your fault. Your mistake was destroying my labor results and disrupting my work efficiency."

Yuan Dabiao's gaze became vacant; he thought this was all the same thing, wasn't it all bullying?

He stammered an apology: "Right, right, that's exactly what I meant."

Chen Ya looked down at Yuan Dabiao, making the latter's heart feel an intense chill, only then was he satisfied: "It's good that you understand the reason."

Yuan Dabiao let out a long breath, feeling as if he soared from hell to heaven, only to hear that logical voice continue in his ears.

Chen Ya: "Since you confirm that my last garment wasn't completed is your responsibility, don't you think you should take responsibility and help me complete this work?"

Yuan Dabiao's mouth opened, observing Chen Ya's expression, pondering whether to answer yes or... no?

Chen Ya's face slightly darkened: "You are hesitating, which suggests you lied to me just now, that you didn't genuinely realize your mistake."

Yuan Dabiao felt Chen Ya's gaze, as if Insight could pierce through him like a fine needle, causing goosebumps to rise on his skin. He hurriedly explained:

"No, no, I truly understand it's all my responsibility. I was thinking about how exactly to make up for my mistakes and faults."

Chen Ya suspiciously asked: "Really?"

Yuan Dabiao earnestly replied: "Really!"

Chen Ya smiled: "You, as the team leader, required me to finish ten garments today. Luckily, there's still a little bit of time left today, enough for us to recover from each other's work omissions."

What more could Yuan Dabiao say? He could only respond with "mm-hmm."

Chen Ya's mouth curved into an exaggerated arc, speaking words that Yuan Dabiao couldn't quite comprehend: "My team members always tell me that this world is filled with falsehoods and lies, and it's beyond saving."

"I think they are too pessimistic. I believe there are still many people in this world who can clarify logical reasoning. That means the world isn't beyond saving; there's still hope worth saving them, not giving up on transforming them entirely."

"Don't you think so?"

Yuan Dabiao didn't understand at all, but he could see Chen Ya's palm open, revealing shiny needles.

Instantly, he felt as though he was plunging into an abyss, rendered speechless and utterly terrified: "Didn't you just say you wouldn't hurt me?"

"That's correct, I didn't hurt you while explaining reasoning."

Chen Ya replied very seriously, "But as the team leader, you also acknowledged that you're willing to take responsibility for the mistake and make amends. How could that be called harm? It's called self-redemption and transformation."

Yuan Dabiao couldn't argue, silently acquiescing.

Perhaps, at this moment, he finally had to admit that Chen Ya's reasoning was impeccable, that he was willing to give full marks to the other's discourse?!!

Yuan Dabiao stared at the face only inches away from him, reflecting a shimmer of needle light in his bulging eyes. His throat stubbornly rose as a silver needle was directly inserted above it.

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