The Dark King

by Steffen Schmidt

  He growled in anger: "I'll kill you all! Come over and help!"

  The others shrank back to corner as they looked at Dudian. Even the previous sturdy youth didn't dare to help fatty out after Dudian's previous reminder.

  Fatty roared out few times but saw that no one responded. There was panic and sadness in his heart. He was angry but he understood that he was abandoned. No one would side with a blind tiger.

  Moreover, fatty didn't have good ties with Jin and Scar who had high prestige within the prison. Most of the cell leaders showed respect to them. So even when the cell leader's were injured, they would support them and no-one would dare to bully cell leader.

  Loneliness, helplessness, despair, darkness.

  He remembered the first time he was thrown into prison which happened not that long ago. He was crying in violation. However he was able to climb up the ladder in here.

  Now, he fell down again.

  Dudian quietly looked at him but did not say anything. A moment later, dinner was served and the jailer threw four breads to their cell.

  Dudian picked up them up.

  Fatty heard the sound and crawled up. But didn't rush to snatch the breads but instead kow-towed towards Dudian and pleaded: "Spare me, I beg you! You are my boss. I'm one of your men now. Please don't hate me for..."

  Dudian didn't think much of his status which was reversed. But he thought that fatty would desperate counter-attack. So he was silent for a moment before he looked towards the other cellmates: "Do you think I should forgive him?"

  The others were sitting on top of a mat at the corner looking at breads in Dudian's hands. One of them tentatively answered to Dudian's question: "Boss you should forgive him. We are all assigned to work by the prison. If he is wasted then we would be quiet at disadvantage as there will be less people to work."

  Dudian nodded and waited until the two prison guards left. He said: "Destroy one of his arms and his third leg."

  The others were surprised as they heard Dudian's order.

  Fatty's face changed as he was lying on the ground. He clenched his fingers tightly but loosened them to plead: "Big brother, they are right. We have a week to work if my arm is destroyed I'll become a waste. The work has to be equally done by the others, so you will suffer too."

  Dudian quietly looked at him: "Do you think I need to be personally involved in work?"

  Fatty was stunned.

  Faces of others changed too. They knew the meaning behind Dudian's words. They didn't expect that after their boss changed their conditions would still be same.

  Dudian looked at the others: "No one wants to move?"

  The others as one maintained the silence.

  Dudian took out two pieces of black bread.: "Who is going to be obedient?"

  He was using the same trick the prison guard has applied.

  The rest of the cell mates were startled. One of them finally came forward: "I can but I'm afraid of killing him."

  Dudian looked at fatty: "I believe that you are smart enough not to resist. Or I'll have to cut off more than one hand. I guess the rules are very simple in here. I just don't have to kill you. So a bit of torture should amount to nothing in prison guard's eyes."

  Fatty heard the 'a bit of torture' statement by Dudian. His body trembled in anger but he was afraid too. Because he knew that what Dudian had said was completely correct.

  As long as there was no murder, prison guard's loved to see dog bite dog situation.

  Dudian began to eat the bread and said: "Let's begin with the performance!"

  The others looked at Dudian chewing the black bread. They clenched their teeth and came to surround fatty.

  Prisoners from the other cells also noticed the situation. But it was a rare no laughter scene. Everyone felt a hint of chill. They had seen many vicious criminals who wouldn't blink while doing the evil things. But they had never seen someone who would not have the slightest hatred or killing intent but calmness while going for a pure retribution.

  It was this tranquility that made people think of him as adangerous person.

  Screams and angry roar echoed out in prison. The sound waves stirred in the cage and crashed down mercilessly.

  Dudian ate the black bread while quietly watched the scene. After the atrocity, the fatty was lying down as blood oozed down from his crotch and his left hand was broken.

  The show was over and the others were looked at the black bread in Dudian's hand.

  Dudian didn't say anything but throw out the black bread.

  One of them quickly picked the bread and quickly shared in between them.

  Day after day.

  Prisoners were not stupid. From Dudian's initial struggle they had seen that he was not an ordinary civilian but someone whose strength was superior to normal soldiers.

  After all, by relying on anger you couldn't burst out super strength. They have seen too many people struggle in anger and despair but ultimatelly still pressed down their unyielding heads to the ground.

  Anger was nothing while facing an absolute power. It didn't have the slightest effect. The only thing that would change was that the person would appear more sad by the end.

  These days Dudian occasionally chatted with Scar. He got to know that this prison was located in the bottom of the lake. There were total of three floors. They were on the first floor which represented part of the prison which had the weakest criminals.

  The criminals were distributed to floors according to crimes that they had commited outside.

  For example, Dudian who had commited 'theft' naturally belonged to weakest category.

  In the past few days Dudian also got to know that fatty was a wealthy man in outside world. His crime was that he had tried to rape a noble lad. However, because of his wealthy identity he had a chance to buy a 'God's blessing' in the black market. It made him stronger than usual prisoners. He was at the same level as a scavenger.

  It was here that Dudian understood that in public 'God's blessing' was referred as a 'sacred' item. It could be purchased in black market.

  Chapter 149: I'm not like you! (3)

  Most of the prisoners were either from residential district or slums. They were convicted of theft and murder. The reason for them being imprisoned in Thorn Flower Prison was that their activities had affect either a noble or Holy Church. Some of them had leaked or proliferated knowledge that had to be kept behind closed doors.

  Fifth day in prison.

  More than dozen prison guard came in and opened the cells. They forced everyone out.

  Dudian knew that they were going to start weekly work.

  Although more than hundred prisoners came out at the same time but there was not resistance or hint of a collective riot. The first reason for being obedient was that all of them had gone through 'spiking'. The conditions were so bad that the deep wounds wouldn't repair for a long time. Even for a person like Dudian who was a hunter, there would be too much fatigue and pain if he put too much force into his arms.

  The second reason was that security forces outside the prison were too large. If there was a riot they will be sent to suppress them.

  This reason made Dudian to drop the idea about killing the prisoners and escape.

  The guards led the prisoners to the second floor of the prison. It was a huge processing plant. Actually, no-one knew how many layers there were in the prison.

  Dudian was startled when he saw things accumulated on the tables in the processing plant.

  There were all kinds of limbs from monsters, complete furs or horns.

  "Bunch of scum! Get working!" The prison guard who closed the heavy iron gate scolded the crowd as he waved the rod in his hand.

  Everyone came to their respective workstations. Each cell was a small team and occupied a workbench. There were different monster parts on different tables. There was a classification on peeling and cutting them.

  Dudian took out work clothes from the wardrobe. In addition there were protective gloves that had
to be worn. They were made of plastic and nylon materials.

  Fortunately, the limbs of the monsters that were brought form the outside the giant wall had their blood dried up. The hair on their skin was dry and hard. More than half of the viruses, parasites and the other germs had died.

  Dudian didn't work as he took into account that the protective gloves were in bad condition. Instead he watched as the others picked up limbs, stripped fur and neatly stacked the things on side. They cut off horns, sharp teeth, claws and other parts with either a guillotine or dagger. Most of them were skilled in the process and it seemed it wasn't the first or second time that they were doing it.

  The leader of the other cell didn't also do any work but quietly stood watching the process.

  Dudian played around with a very thing knife as he thought about different things.

  After a few hours the work shift finished. Everyone lined up to return.

  But before leaving the guards arranged every to strip all their clothing and came to a bathhouse to clean.

  Dudian saw that fatty and the others hands after the wash were a bit redder than normal skin color. It seemed as if mosquitos had taken constant bites and the skin had slightly swollen. However, they were accustomed to this.

  After the shower, the guards checked their mouth, ears, nostrils and other parts to confirm that none of them were smuggling out anything.

  At the evening, four black breads were distributed to their cell. Dudian picked two to himself while gave the other two to the rest of cell mates.

  Time went by.

  The days were boring in the prison. After two weeks of imprisonment prison returned to its usual calm as prisoners lost interest in Dudian.

  Cries and moans echoed throughout the prison during day and night. It lead to more restlessness.

  Dudian wasn't interested in such kinds of activities. His cell mates would secretly look at Dudian. Afterwards when they saw that he didn't care much about their relations, some of them couldn't bear anymore and helped out each other.

  Fatty's third leg was wasted so his desires wouldn't be realized in any case. Occasionally he would feel envious but was enduring.

  Dudian noted that most of the people involved in such things would look at him with eyes full of desire and greed. Needless to say he knew what was going on in their heads.

  At the beginning, Dudian was full of resentment and anger but gradually got used and indifferent towards such looks.

  Dudian would rarely start a conversation. But sometimes he would ask strange question to the cell mates and the prisoners from other cells. His questions would be related to astrology, business, radiation zone, giant wall and so on.

  Many were willing to answer Dudian's questions. The main reason being Dudian's super strength. But also the prison life was boring. People were willing to participate in discussions to waste time.

  However most would ignore questions related their past. But there were still a bunch who would be willing to share information about their own families, hobbies and their brilliant ... crimes.

  After three months in prison.

  The was a new prisoner who had joined the 'happy little family.'

  The youth had a temperament of a gentleman. His hair was blue colored while he had sword-like eyebrows. He was wearing a death sentence uniform. As he was dragged in by the guards and immediate warm concern was aroused. There were shouts and hands coming out of cells to express desires from prisoners for the newcomer to be assigned to their own cage.

  The guard didn't listen to the prisoners. They threw the youth into Dudian's cell.

  The youth groaned as he stood up and shouted back.: "I was wronged! I was wronged! I have to appeal! I want to appeal!"

  The prison guard sneered and left.

  After the guard locked the iron gate a funny laughter echoed from youth's behind.

  The 'welcome' was held in front of Dudian. He silently looked at youth who was thrown to the ground by several men. Youth struggled fiercely but nothing changed at the end. Cries echoed throughout the prison.

  The rest of the prisoners were excited because of sounds.

  Dudian quietly watched the youth to be rotated by the prisoners. Screams echoed out. Dudian knew that if hee wasn't strong enough he would end up like this youth three months before. But he did not speak out to stop.

  Youth's screams rang out for several days in row. In the end he was broken like a dead fish and lets the prisoners wantonly play around with him.

  A week later youth had understood the situation in the jail. He knew that he was in the prison and there was no way out.

  Two weeks later, the youth was already accustomed to his role in the cell. He silently beared the attacks of others as he no longer screamed.

  After a month the youth was fully integrated into the system. Occasionally he would have the strength to try to fight back but others would always overpower him. He was the first persont to get into the part of the cage Dudian resided. But Dudian didn't care for him, even didn't look at him.

  The youth was dissatisfied with Dudian's reaction and enraged, thinking that he could pushover him. Because of his traumatic experiences he had cursed out Dudian with some vicious words.

  However, it took moment for fatty and the others to curse and make threats to the youth. He slapped and beat him and afterwards made him to kneel down in front of Dudian and apologize for his misbehaviour.

  The second month after the newcomer had joined their cell, Dudian was selected by the prison guard to fight out another cell leader. The guards wanted to enjoy a good show. The cell leader had no prior communication with Dudian so he was not aware of Dudian's prowess. He wanted to go for the kill but unfortunate to him because of Dudian's punch his ribs were broken and he almost died because of internal bleeding.

  Since then all the cell leaders were clearly aware of their cage. Although Dudian was younger than them but his power and strength were in a level which they could not even imagine.

  The youth also understood that the thin child that was their cell leader had a position in this prison that was completely not in order with his own.

  There were many conversations about Dudian in other cells. Scar's cell was opposite to Dudian's so they were much aware of the situation in comparison to others. Scar shook hid head and smiled.: "I have already told you people. Nine out of ten which come to this prison are guilty. The remaining one, the tenth is a great devil. Look at him. So young and with such prowess, certainly was involved in something very big."

  Dudian heard Scar carving out a stereotype about him: "I have told you, I'm not a trash like you."

  Scar smiled and replied: "Its been so long that you are here and you still act so proud. But you have eaten the same trash bread and drank the same water with us. I can't find anything different!"

  Dudian glanced at him . "I haven't commited any crime. But in the future if I commit a sin, I will never be caught. So, I'm not a trash like you! "

  Chapter 150: Crazy

  Time flied away.

  It has been a year that Dudian spent in prison.

  During this past year, Dudian gathered information about the entire Thorn Flow Prison through the gossips of the other prisoners and guards. Some stuff that he was not sure of Dudian would ask Scar or some other old-timers who would answer him.

  Although he had asked many about their intent to 'escape' but everyone avoided the question. Actually there was no one who didn't want to escape but the problem was that no one could escape!

  After collecting enough information, Dudian also was tackled with problems.

  First of all, it was about the difficulty of jailbreak. The Thorn Flower Prison was built within the lake. That's why prisoners had lost the interest in prison break.

  Dudian knew that there were monsters lurking in the waters of the lake. Cutting a hole through the prison's wall was nothing but act of suicide.

  Moreover, the thickness of walls would have to be very big for prison to withs
tand the pressure of the lake. It had to be extraorinarily solid so idea of cutting a hole through the wall was nonsense.

  Therefore no matter how reconciled you were, ultimately everyone would resign the idea of jailbreak.

  Dudian knew that he couldn't come up with a solid plan and was in despair. After few days, he sat in the cage. Not feeling anything and avoiding giving response to anyone. His mind was completely empty and the prison life became painful.

  It took a while for him to get out of the depression and think about his own jailbreak plan.

  This time, he was going to start from zero. He had to think through all possibilities that could lead to a successful escape.

  At the end he divided the plans into two parts.

  Outside and inside.

  "Outside" referred to the chiselling the wall. He could start from cell he was living in and continue to make the tunnel to outside. But he knew that he didn't have tools to dig. Even if he could smuggle something out from the weekly workshop and begin to chisel the wall, he didn't know how many years it will take to get out of the prison.

  So Dudian gave up on this method.

  He could process by using the guards.

  Attacking the guards?

  Guards dared to put them out to work collectively so they had backups and naturally were not of their riots. So this option was out of his consideration.

  Bribe the guards?

  He dispelled the idea as soon as he thought about it.

  He had seen the newcomer try to implement that method. The result was that the guy was dragged out by the guard, tortured until death and thrown back in to the cell.

  Obviously, bribery was not an option. Not that guards were not greedy but they had better ways to squeeze out every valuable thing from the prisoners.

  Dudian felt that there was nothing that he could do.

  The prison was full proof and there was no way to break out.

  "Am I going to die in this prison?"

  Another six months passed by.