Chapter Eighteen: The Hunter—The Free Man-Death Row Paradise(Jin Shouziming)

As soon as Mu You spoke, not only did the condemned prisoners on the thirteenth floor find it hard to believe, but even those from the twelfth floor were taken aback.

“Huh?” The yellow-haired youth stood there, dumbfounded. He could never have imagined that Mu You would not only crush his own man’s momentum but do it so mercilessly. Wasn’t this the same as openly admitting defeat to the other side?

The middle-aged, dangerous convict glanced at Mu You, brushed his graying temples, and leaned on the table, curious to see what Mu You would do next.

“Dig,” Mu You spat out coldly, tightening his grip so the convict felt as though his eyelids were being pulled upward and his skull was about to be ripped open. “Otherwise, tonight, I’ll kill you myself…”

Desperate, the convict looked toward his own group, his eyes pleading for help. But his companions, shocked by Mu You’s dominance, quickly averted their gazes, unwilling to get involved.

“Please…” the yellow-haired youth tried to beg.

“Dig!” Mu You bellowed, his face murderous, making everyone flinch in terror.

With nowhere left to turn, the yellow-haired youth trembled as he raised his right hand to his left eye. The gritty pain of a foreign object entering his eye made tears well up. His hand slipped, unable to grip his eyeball; forcing his eyelid open, he tried repeatedly to seize hold of his left eye, but failed every time.

Finally, the yellow-haired convict burst into real tears—he did not want to die.

Mu You, growing impatient, yanked back hard. The yellow-haired convict’s neck snapped back, his gaze fixed on the ceiling, and he began to gasp and gurgle.

Standing above him, Mu You’s lips curled into a wicked smile. He slowly raised his hand, inching it closer to the convict’s left eye, savoring the way terror made the man shudder even more.

Unable to withstand the torment of waiting for inevitable pain, the yellow-haired youth’s knees buckled and he fell to the floor.

At last, he felt a foreign touch at his left eye, then searing agony as Mu You’s fingers invaded the tissues around his eyeball.

“Aaah… aaah… aaah!”

Both eyes bloodshot, veins bulging from his temples down his neck, the convict’s face flushed crimson. He howled and trembled, clutching Mu You’s right hand in despair, but dared not push him away.

The others, watching, felt their scalps tingle. They instinctively tightened their collars and shrank back, not daring to look anymore.

As soon as they closed their eyes, the screams abruptly stopped.

Was that it? When they opened their eyes again, there was no gruesome, bloody scene. The yellow-haired youth’s face was vacant, his eyes rolling up, mouth agape, drooling onto the floor. His body had gone limp like a puddle of mud—if Mu You hadn’t been holding him up, he would have collapsed.

Yet his eyes remained perfectly intact.

“How do you feel now?” Mu You released the yellow-haired youth and asked casually.

The youth gasped, head lowered, saying nothing for a long time.

Mu You waited patiently.

After a lengthy silence, the yellow-haired youth stood up and bowed deeply to Mu You. “I was wrong.”

Mu You didn’t reply, hands in his pockets, stepping forward until his crotch was level with the convict’s head. He tapped his toe, signaling him to continue.

“My mistake… was following the wrong person.”

At these words, the youth seemed to reach a decision. He stood up straight, faced the crowd, and declared, “Just now, I deliberately caused trouble. If Boss Mu had helped me, he’d have made enemies of the other floors; if he hadn’t, he’d have lost the hearts of his own men. But I never imagined Boss Mu would see through our scheme at a glance, yet still give me another chance. In the past, in the same situation…” His eyes dimmed, fear in his voice, “I, Xu Chen, would be dead for sure. So Boss Mu, I recognize you as my leader.”

With that, Xu Chen bowed deeply to Mu You again.

Mu You smiled, turned, and walked toward the burly man with the chest hair, waving his hand to indicate he accepted Xu Chen as a follower.

Xu Chen grinned, wiping sweat from his brow, and went to sit beside He Jing, never glancing at his former companions.

Seeing Mu You hadn’t actually hurt anyone, the condemned from other floors let out a collective sigh. So, all bark and no bite after all. Looks like this new boss on the thirteenth floor is nothing but a paper tiger.

The condemned on the twelfth floor paid Mu You no mind. After all, they were veteran dangerous convicts; what was a newly minted dangerous convict like Mu You compared to them?

As Mu You strode grandly through the crowd, a few tried to block his way, but the middle-aged convict signaled them to stand down, and they parted to let Mu You approach the burly man.

The burly man released the short convict, his body tensing.

But Mu You only smiled.

Again with the smiling—this guy really is a coward. Was he going to apologize?

The middle-aged convict sat down and resumed eating, ignoring Mu You. The others relaxed, eating as they watched the show.

“My man was wrong just now; he’s realized his mistake and apologized.”

“So you’ve come to apologize too? Wait, didn’t he get on his knees just now?”

“Yes, indeed, I’ve come to apologize…” Mu You nodded sheepishly, scratching his nose. “But you’ve got it wrong. The one who should apologize… is you!”

Still smiling, Mu You suddenly raised his leg and kicked the burly man’s right knee with all his strength.

The man’s leg arced through the air and landed squarely in the middle-aged convict’s food tray, sending a spray of arterial blood across his stunned face.

The burly man’s disdainful grin froze instantly. Losing his balance, he toppled to the right.

For a moment, no one understood what had happened.

A second later—

“Ah!!!”

It was as if a bomb had gone off. The crowd erupted, staring at Mu You as if he were a monster.

How could he go from calm to furious in the blink of an eye? Terrifying.

Xu Chen stared wide-eyed in shock, silently grateful for his earlier decision.

Mu You planted his foot on the burly man’s face, silencing his screams, grinding down with force, while locking eyes with the middle-aged convict. “My man said you were courting death just now. I think he’s right. What do you say?”

Though Mu You asked, he gave the burly man no chance to speak.

The middle-aged, dangerous convict bristled at the challenge, the hair at his temples turning blood-red.

“And who gave you the guts to provoke me?”

“I did.”

Bang!

The middle-aged convict smashed his plastic tray with a punch, grabbing the shards and hurling them at Mu You. Mu You kicked the half-crippled burly man aside and met the flying debris head on.

The burly man fell to the ground, writhing in agony, blood pooling around his wounds.

“Warning! Warning! Prisoners of equal rank are forbidden to fight. Violators will be executed immediately!”

Two cold electronic voices sounded in unison, immediately halting both men in their tracks.

Rules could not be broken.

Hu Lei’s blood-red temples faded back to white as he stared at Mu You as if he were already dead.

“See you tonight at ‘Man Hunts Ghost.’ We’ll settle this then. My name is Hu Lei.”

“Mu You. I’ll be waiting,” Mu You replied, turning to leave.

Watching his retreating figure, Hu Lei cracked his neck, bones popping.

Back in the thirteenth floor hall, the condemned now looked at Mu You with burning admiration.

This boss has real guts, real character!

“Who among you, like He Jing, has participated in ‘Man Hunts Ghost’ three times or more? Step forward.”

One by one, a dozen or so emerged.

Mu You frowned—so few.

“Any useful experience? Share it with the group.”

Half an hour later, Mu You concluded: every man for himself, leave it to fate.

Any strategy, when faced with absolute reality, became fragile and self-defeating.

Returning to his cell, Mou You finally asked, “Why didn’t you kill Xu Chen? Mou You could tell you were really angry just now.”

“If he could be incited to openly challenge me, it means he’s loyal and easily controlled. I need people like that right now.”

“Haha, you really are bad, big brother. Oh, right—tonight, drop some of your blood on those convicts. That way, I’ll be able to sense their positions and numbers. Even better if you can get them to drink it… heh heh. If I recover some energy tonight, I could control one or two of them for our use.”

“Aren’t you afraid? People might die,” Mu You asked with a wry smile at her excitement.

“Not at all. With you here, I’m not afraid of anything.”

Hearing this, Mu You stroked “Final Penalty,” and sighed, “Silly girl, you’re all I have left in this world. Whatever comes, we’ll face it together.”

“Mm! Let’s make a pinky promise.”

…

Night fell, the city lights shimmered, and silence reigned.

Within the death-row playground, a deceptive peace lingered, tinged with invisible oppression.

On the watchtower, death-row prisoners from Building A gathered, most of them weighed down with worry, warming up for the ordeal ahead.

Mu You and Hu Lei locked eyes in the crowd, both expressionless as they passed one another.

“All prisoners, return to your places. Prepare for transport.”

Zuolang approached the front of the watchtower, military saber at his side, holding a bloody bone. Dongguan followed, dressed in a police uniform today, exuding a commanding presence.

“‘Extra meal’ prisoners, step forward.”

Eight men obeyed, faces drawn, leaving their lines—every one of them male.

“Take off your shirts,” Zuolang ordered coldly.

They obeyed at once, stripping off their prison uniforms and baring muscular shoulders. Mu You saw that each bore a cherry-blossom-colored phoenix tail tattoo on their backs.

Dongguan, the culprit behind this, flushed with excitement.

“Take out your handcuffs. Put them on.”

The prisoners complied, retrieving handcuffs from their packs, cuffing their hands behind their backs, movements growing sluggish.

Zuolang tossed the bone to the ground.

Dongguan licked her lips and, at once, the tattoos on the prisoners’ backs began to redden and burn until the pain was excruciating.

“Ah!” The prisoners screamed in agony and lunged at the bloody bone, fighting over it like wild dogs. Only when someone bit down on it did the phoenix tail tattoos begin to fade to pale pink. The moment the bone left their mouths, the tattoos would start corroding their flesh again.

So this is the “extra meal,” Mu You thought with a sigh. These men would not survive.

Everyone took their places. The vast open rooftop, nearly ten thousand square meters, began to split apart, each section sending the prisoners of each floor down to the ground.

Looking down, Mu You could just make out scattered figures already in position, gathered in small clusters, laughing and chatting.

Tonight’s hunters: the freelancers.