"Clang!"
The pure steel behemoth door, twenty centimeters thick, was hoisted by two chains as thick as a man, like the gate of an ancient moat, and then slammed shut.
Before Gu Ya, the dark, deep, and damp corridor, built of sea-rock, was like the belly of a giant serpent.
If one listened closely, the "drip, drip" of water could still be heard.
"Go inside!" a tall, burly prison guard, his head hidden in shadow, roared in an extremely cold voice, the sound echoing within the corridor.
Prison guards, all of similar build, held short-barreled assault rifles, standing sentry on both sides of the corridor, one every ten meters.
Gu Ya dragged the heavy chains and large iron balls shackled to his feet, walking inside with difficulty, each step producing a "clatter" sound.
Including Gu Ya, there were a total of ten people entering the Enamel City Prison in the same batch.
Three had mysteriously died on the way, two had been shot and killed while attempting to escape midway, and only four men and one woman remained upon reaching their destination.
"Finally, I can get some decent sleep after coming here," Gu Ya thought to himself.
"Hurry up, brat!"
A burly inmate behind him shoved Gu Ya with ill intent, only to be met with Gu Ya's cold, menacing glance.
"What are you looking at! Be careful, I'll kill you once we get inside," the burly man continued to shout in a low voice.
Gu Ya turned around, lifting his head and staring at the man's bald head with killing intent.
The burly man leaned in and whispered menacingly, "There are no guards inside the cell block. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Gu Ya stared back without fear. If the other man made any move, he would cripple him instantly.
"Hey!! Don't stop, keep moving!" the guard's roar interrupted their confrontation.
Gu Ya calmly turned around and continued forward.
After half an hour of walking with hand and foot shackles, the group finally arrived outside a massive, open iron gate.
Gu Ya glanced up at the three-meter-tall gate and walked in without any apprehension.
A large hand rested steadily on Gu Ya's shoulder from behind. The burly man pulled Gu Ya aside and took the lead into the cell block.
Behind the burly man was a scrawny, small man with a sinister smile, who looked at Gu Ya and entered the cell block.
Further back was a man of medium height, completely bound by restraints, his mouth always covered by a leather muzzle with several small holes. He glanced at Gu Ya before entering.
"Hey! Big guy! I'm a woman, am I going to be locked up in a men's prison too?" a woman behind them asked the guard at the door, hands on her hips and head held high, her tone sounding like a man's.
The guard, caught off guard, raised his hand and slapped the woman to the ground, then kicked her heavily in the stomach with his lead-reinforced combat boot.
The woman writhed in pain on the ground for a few seconds before slowly getting up, wiping the blood from her mouth, and walking in silently, without looking at Gu Ya.
Gu Ya entered last. The guard inside the gate unlocked their shackles, then took the prisoners' restraints and walked out.
As the heavy iron door slammed shut with a "clang!", the previously peaceful, busy inmates all dropped what they were doing, stood up straight, and looked at the five newcomers.
Gu Ya could read venom, killing intent, and malice in their eyes.
"A bunch of vicious criminals."
The burly man who had led the way, as if returning to his own home, shouted with exhilaration, "Hahaha! Who's the boss here? I, 'Sea Crocodile' Pisman, am here to cooperate!"
As soon as he finished speaking, two even more muscular men approached from a distance.
Pisman thought they were there to welcome him and walked towards them with his arms outstretched in an embracing gesture.
However, as soon as the two groups met, the two inmates punched him to the ground with one blow each, then dragged the unconscious Pisman towards the dark cell.
One newcomer had been dealt with, but the other inmates were clearly not satisfied, still looking at the remaining four with ill intent.
To Gu Ya's surprise, their gaze did not fall upon the woman beside him, but rather they sized him up with strange looks. Some even displayed lewd smiles and began to whisper.
"Brat, pray you live to see tomorrow, hehe," the thin man with the sinister smile muttered, sticking close to the wall as he silently walked towards a cell.
From the shadows, two stooped men with old scars on their faces emerged, said a few words to the thin man, and took him to the second floor.
From behind the group of men in blue and white striped prison uniforms, three women emerged and beckoned to the woman beside Gu Ya.
The woman spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground, clutched her abdomen, and with a look of disdain, followed the three women.
Gu Ya and the man still wearing the muzzle stood by the door.
At this moment, seven or eight men emerged from the standing inmates and moved towards Gu Ya.
Soon, more and more inmates shifted their feet, following the lead, and surrounded Gu Ya and the man.
Nearly a hundred inmates from the entire cell block encircled the two at the iron gate, leaving only a three-meter gap in a fan shape.
Sensing the killing intent gathering from the man beside him, Gu Ya knew a battle was about to begin.
An inmate charged forward first, throwing a punch directly at Gu Ya's face!
Immediately after, more inmates surged from behind him, some rushing towards Gu Ya, others lunging at the man.
Rust-covered iron spikes appeared between the inmates' fingers, all aimed at the two.
As quick as thought, Gu Ya, his hands freed, unleashed his Cyber Mechanic skills and became a blur, charging forward.
A cold, sharp dagger materialized in his hand. After forcefully blocking several iron spikes, he swung and sliced fiercely.
With his full concentration and "Active Mind," Gu Ya rapidly discerned his opponents' attack routes and contemplated how to counter.
"Adrenaline Surge" made Gu Ya like a god of war from the shadows, his dagger swings inevitably drawing blood.
Every iron spike that was about to pierce a body part was blocked by Gu Ya's even faster-manifested alloy exoskeleton.
As the inmates continued their assault, a pile of fallen men gradually formed at Gu Ya's feet.
Gu Ya stepped on their bodies, growing more valiant with each fight. When his dagger dulled, he would recall it and summon another.
The vast prison echoed with the killing roars and screams of the inmates.
Blood burned like firewood, sweat mixed with unidentifiable fluids, splattering from Gu Ya's mouth.
Gu Ya had transformed into a bloodthirsty warrior, his afterimage body continuously reaping the lives of his attackers.
As the pile of inmates at his feet grew as high as a small mountain, the inmates "under the mountain" finally stopped their assault. Their cold eyes held a hint of terror, and they no longer attacked.
Gu Ya turned his head to look at the man, surprised to find him completely unharmed. The number of inmates lying around him was as numerous as flattened wheat stalks, forming a circle around him.
"Stop, everyone," a deep, hoarse male voice called out from the distant shadows.
The inmates retracted their iron spikes and slowly retreated, leaving space for Gu Ya and the man.
The inmates behind them, groaning in pain, got up, clutching their injuries, and retreated into the shadows.
A few inmates on the ground remained motionless, submerged in the blood, seemingly dead.
The entire prison hall was filled with the stench of sweat and blood. The ground was covered with specks of blood and dense bloody footprints, resembling an ancient coliseum.
From the shadows, an unusual black silhouette slowly emerged.
Only when the silhouette moved into the torchlight could Gu Ya see it clearly.
It was a man pushed in a wheelchair, his face covered in terrifying burns, half his neck missing, the other side supported by a metal rod.
He only had his left arm, his legs replaced by two iron rods, and he wore no shoes.
It was hard to imagine how this man had survived, let alone how he commanded such influence in a prison teeming with villains.
"Brat, follow me," the man said hoarsely, then, pushed by the burly man behind him, his wheelchair returned to the shadows.
The other inmates no longer obstructed, making way for Gu Ya.
However, the man who had come with Gu Ya was not as fortunate.
After Gu Ya left, the other inmates surrounded him again, and the sounds of fighting echoed behind him.
Gu Ya followed the wheelchair-bound man towards the dark cell area. Passing a cell, he saw Pisman's corpse being cut into evenly sized pieces by two burly men with daggers, neatly arranged on a plastic sheet.
The white and yellow fatty tissue was exposed beneath the skin, the corpse soaked in a mixture of yellow fat and red blood.
The scene made Gu Ya feel nauseous. He forcefully suppressed the churning in his stomach and kept pace.
He had killed so many people, yet he had never imagined seeing such a scene one day. It seemed he wouldn't be able to eat any meat here from now on.
The wheelchair man ahead didn't walk fast, nor did he speak, seemingly leading Gu Ya and allowing him to explore the prison on his own.
After about twenty minutes of walking, the three stopped.
One had to admit, this underwater prison was truly vast! But despite its size, the majority of the cells were unoccupied.
They stopped before a steel door, and the man pushing the wheelchair knocked three times.
As the door slowly opened, revealing a bright, clean interior, Gu Ya's eyes widened in shock.
"Why are you here!?"