Chapter 443: Captain Cat Ready for Action (Two in One)

"Name?"

"Mao Si. You can also call me Bacon."

"What's your actual name?"

"Mao Si, I guess. Mao Si rolls off the tongue better."

"Age?"

"26."

"Gender?"

"Male."

The man in the black and white uniform sitting across from him nodded and wrote something down on his paper.

"Male (Animal)."

"I'm not having that," Yan Jing protested. "Isn't 'Male (Animal)' a little too blunt, officer?"

The man raised an eyebrow, crossed out the words, and wrote something else.

"Biological Male."

Yan Jing gave up, helpless, and just adjusted his posture in his seat.

The stool wasn't exactly designed for a cat. If he rested his rear on the seat, his paws couldn't comfortably reach the small table in front of him.

This pure white room was the transit station for the Great Prison.

It was also the Great Prison's final checkpoint.

Yan Jing had already changed into a prison uniform. A black, ring-like shackle was clamped onto his tail.

This kind of shackle was purely symbolic; it didn't actually restrict him.

After all, the inmates here came from various Domains across the Inner World, and rumor had it that quite a few of them had reached the Summit. If the prison relied purely on external devices to suppress them, the resource drain would be astronomical.

What truly bound the prisoners here were the rules.

Boss Rat had told him this before he entered.

"The warden of this prison is a Half-Step Divine Envoy—just shy of the Tenth Tier. He controls the prison and acts as the Lord of the Domain, which means the inmates here are essentially residents of this Domain."

"You could say there are very few rules inside. Most of the time, you won't even be punished for killing someone."

"But you could also say there are a lot. Every faction has its own rules. If you can't join one, you'll have to survive in the cracks, which is practically a death sentence."

"This is definitely not the traditional prison you're imagining. You need to be prepared."

"And if you want to survive, everything boils down to one core sentence."

"Strength is the first rule.

"Everything else comes second."

So, if the man wanted to write "Biological Male," then so be it. Yan Jing calmly watched him take notes, not wanting to start a conflict right out of the gate.

After all, he never liked causing trouble.

The man asked a few more questions. Once he finished collecting the basic information, he finally asked Yan Jing, "Your tested Tier is only at the Fourth Tier, but the level of your crimes is high enough to surpass a standard Seventh Rank. Because of that, you get two privileges."

"One, you decide your own number tag."

"Two, you decide your own landing point."

"Take your pick."

"The number tag..." Yan Jing blinked. "Do the numbers on these tags have any special function?"

"That's a secret." The man steepled his fingers, expressionless.

Yan Jing blinked again. "Then number 4."

"That number is taken, and the person isn't currently inside the Great Prison. You have to pick another."

Not in the Great Prison...

Yan Jing raised an eyebrow. "What about 14?"

The man flipped through the notebook in front of him. "You're in luck. That person isn't here either."

In luck...

Yan Jing thought for a moment and seemed to understand something.

Finally, after some haggling, Yan Jing secured the number tag 1314.

With nearly twenty thousand inmates in the Great Prison, this number was fairly far ahead.

The man looked at Yan Jing with a hint of pity in his eyes and shook his head slightly. "This number is taken, and the owner is currently in the prison. I'll make the arrangements for you shortly."

"Thank you."

Yan Jing was very polite. After speaking, he adjusted his posture again.

"Next up... the region."

The man held up a parchment map and flipped it around for Yan Jing to see. "The Great Prison strives to provide all inmates with the most reasonable living environment. Of course, due to resource limitations, the roughly thirty square kilometers of space are divided into five areas."

"The Sky Domain area."

The man pointed to a small Fortress icon hidden among the clouds at the very top of the map.

"The Haidu area."

This time it was an ocean icon on the right side of the map, dotted with ships and scattered islands.

"The Elite City area."

It sat on the largest landmass in the center of the map, represented by a city icon.

"The Sand Tower area."

Located to the left of Elite City, taking up the far-left edge of the map.

"And finally, the Desolate Forest."

Positioned just above Elite City and marked by a grove of trees.

After finishing his introduction, the man put the map away. "Of course, these are all miniature versions of those environments. They aren't as vast as you might imagine."

"Tell me, where do you plan to land?"

"Any recommendations, officer?" Yan Jing rubbed his paws together. Reaching into his pocket, he sliced open a Space Rift, fished out a nugget of metal that looked like gold, and slid it in front of the man.

The man raised an eyebrow. Strange Gold was a strategic resource in this prison, second only to Points. The nugget before him wasn't particularly large, but he was shocked that Yan Jing had managed to smuggle it past the layers of security screening.

A mere Fourth Tier...

The man coughed softly and said, "If you manage to secure your number tag smoothly later, you'll immediately face a problem once you land, and that is grouping up."

"Small factions survive in the cracks between the large ones, large factions grovel before the giants, and anyone who can't even get into a small faction rarely lives past two months."

"Elite City has a few more rules, but anyone willing to put in the hard work can usually survive."

"Then there's the Sky Domain. It has seen the best development over the past century. If you don't have any faith you must rigidly adhere to, you can go there. It's very similar to Sky City."

"You know about Sky City, right?"

The man didn't wait for Yan Jing to answer. "It's just that staying there too long can drain your fighting spirit. But as long as you're alive, you shouldn't ask for too much."

"Hurry up and decide. I'm on the morning shift, and I need to clock out."

The man glanced at his watch.

Yan Jing looked at Elite City, then at the Sky Domain, before finally shifting his gaze to the ocean icon. "What about Haidu?"

The man remained expressionless. "That is the absolute worst place for you. There are no taboos there. If you land in Haidu, the best-case scenario is being drafted as a vanguard for a suicide squad. A slightly worse outcome is being turned into cat stew by starving inmates. And if your luck is truly terrible, you might end up licking poles every day."

"Meat ones," he added.

"So there are very few rules there?"

Yan Jing grasped the main point.

The man raised an eyebrow. "You actually want to go?"

Yan Jing made an excuse. "I've never actually seen the sea."

"...It's a large swamp at best. They just call it a sea."

The man sighed. "It does have very few rules, mostly because it's complete chaos."

"The giant faction there is called the Sea Gang, but their power has waned, and they can barely look after themselves. Most of the rules they established are no longer enforced. Two or three other organizations are gunning for their position, so..."

The man shrugged. "That's all the info your payment buys. But regardless, I strongly advise you not to go there."

"Mainly because it's so chaotic. Unlike other organizations that can systematically select people for the suicide squads, over there, whoever is the weakest just gets beaten up and tossed in."

"What is a suicide squad?" Yan Jing pulled out another nugget of gold.

The man raised an eyebrow, his gaze dropping to Yan Jing's pocket.

Yan Jing smiled and pulled his pockets inside out to show the man. "That's all of it, officer."

The man gave the gold nugget a meaningful look before taking it. "To survive in this prison, you need Points. The same goes for the factions. If you want to earn Points, you have to run missions."

"Internal missions involve excavating within your respective regions. But resources have dried up over the years, leaving little to gain. It's gotten so bad the warden is considering relocating the prison."

"Then there are external missions, which means exploring certain dead zones. These places are usually completely devoid of inhabitants and are exceptionally dangerous."

"Alright, you get one more question at most. I really have to clock out," the man said, looking down at his watch's four-leaf clover dial.

A thought stirred in Yan Jing's mind upon hearing the man's words. He looked up. "If dead zones are places with no inhabitants... then officer, have you ever heard of the God Storage Land?"

"The God Storage Land?"

The man's expression noticeably shifted, and his gaze turned even more meaningful. "That place is indeed a dead zone, but it's a special one. It can only be visited once every three years."

"It's incredibly dangerous. You won't be able to go."

"Why not?" Yan Jing's eyes widened.

"That was your last question." The man clearly had no intention of answering further.

So, Yan Jing reached into his pocket again.

The man let out an exasperated laugh. "Pull out one more piece and I'll use my authority to throw you in solitary for five days."

Yan Jing nonchalantly pulled his empty hand out of his pocket and whistled.

"Enough. What's your choice?"

"Haidu, officer."

Yan Jing replied.

The man looked at Yan Jing in a new light. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Alright then. My name is Ning Wei. If you manage to survive, we might run into each other again."

Ning Wei tapped rapidly on a screen on his table. To Yan Jing's side, a door slowly slid open.

Then he stood up, stretched, and muttered to himself, "Clocking out, clocking out."

"Ning Wei. It really is an ordinary name. There must be a lot of people named Wei in this world."

"I think it's fine, officer."

Yan Jing's voice drifted over from the side.

"Get out of here!"

Yan Jing hopped off the stool, stepped through the doorway, and entered a pitch-black cell.

This was likely the transit station. Judging by Ning Wei's words, he had to secure his number tag here before he could earn the right to survive in this prison.

"I hope it's quick,"

Yan Jing muttered.

His flight in the Surface World was at eight in the morning, and the meeting time was seven.

He had entered the Great Prison at six.

He really couldn't afford to be late.

He waited for about eight or nine minutes.

Suddenly, a door slid open on the wall opposite him. A thick tentacle reached through the doorway, followed by a second, then a third...

Finally, an octopus-like lower body squeezed its way through, pulling its upper body along and giving Yan Jing a full view of his opponent.

It was a massive man, bare-chested and dual-wielding two white bone blades.

His overall frame was enormous; his head nearly scraped the ceiling of the cell.

Compared to him, Yan Jing was like an apple next to a truck.

He used this specific comparison because the man looked a lot like a pirate, and pirate ships always had wooden barrels full of apples. As for the truck...

Yan Jing's mind began to wander.

That was until the man's booming voice rang out. "Ha! Ha! Ha! Let's see who the little guy is this time. A little kitten?!"

"Fantastic! My ship is missing a little kitten just like you. You can keep me company. Even if you lose, I'll put in a request with the higher-ups."

"Honestly, I'm getting sick of the females. A change of pace is exactly what I need. I hope the barbs on your tongue are sharp enough."

Ah, so the terminology really was consistent.

Listening to the man's choice of words regarding gender, Yan Jing experienced a moment of enlightenment.

"You have a ship?"

He looked up at the massive man.

The man cackled. "Hahaha, do I have a ship? Listen to that raspy voice. It's perfectly ripe."

"Yes, I have a massive ship, little kitten. We can use it as your bedchamber later."

"There are two crew members on board. You can join them."

"Where is it docked?" Yan Jing asked.

"At Lookout Cape." The man lowered his head, deeply amused. "Do you know where Lookout Cape is?"

He licked his lips.

"No, but I'm sure I can ask around."

Yan Jing felt a tickle in his throat. It might have been the urge to hiss. He lowered his head, his voice dropping into a low register. "Thank you for the ship."

"What?" The man hadn't quite caught that.

"Nothing."

Yan Jing looked up calmly as Weird Energy surged around him. The thick, suffocating Weird Energy instantly flooded the entire room.

The man felt the shift, a flicker of disbelief crossing his eyes. He had just advanced to the Seventh Rank. According to his intel, his opponent was only supposed to be at the Fourth Tier.

But very quickly, that disbelief warped into sheer terror...

Three minutes later.

Yan Jing pulled his claws back from the man's bleeding neck.

Fear Stance combined with the Power of Heracles was more than enough.

He stepped through the doorway behind the massive man.

Ning Wei returned to his dorm, lay down on his bed, and pulled out the two nuggets of gold Yan Jing had given him.

Taking this shift had really paid off. He never expected that cat to be so loaded.

It was just a shame he couldn't have accepted more.

Otherwise, if Yan Jing was killed by number 1314 and the body was inspected, there could have been trouble.

Taking two nuggets would only earn him a warning at worst.

Thinking of this, he suddenly got curious whether Yan Jing had managed to secure the number tag. He pulled out his specialized phone and dialed the colleague who had taken over his shift.

"Hello? Gu Hong? Did the prisoner I just processed end up getting his number tag?"

"..."

The person on the other end didn't answer immediately. Instead, Gu Hong lowered his voice. "Wei, who exactly was the guy you just processed?"

"..." Ning Wei blinked. "What's wrong?"

"Holy shit, you're never going to believe this. When we went in to clean the room, number 1314 was ripped to absolute shreds. Everything below his head and neck is just gone. Tentacle meat is scattered everywhere."

"I remember 1314 had just advanced to the Seventh Rank. Sure, he was a bit of a pervert, but there's no way he was weak."

"He was a head honcho in the Sea Gang, wasn't he? He even had his own personal ship. Fuck, did you process some kind of monster?"

"Hello? Wei? Are you listening to me?"

Ning Wei sat there in stunned silence for a long time before finally speaking. "Yeah. I'm here. I'm here."

"Well... I don't know if you could call him a monster."

"But thinking back on it now... that guy probably just really likes eating fish."

Yan Jing shielded his eyes with his paw, squinting at the blazing sun that had just risen into the sky. He gazed out at the endless expanse of seawater surrounding him, listened to the cries of the seagulls overhead, and whistled happily. "Captain Cat is ready for action! Next stop, Lookout Cape!"

He sat down in the tiny boat he had just dropped into—a vessel roughly his size—picked up the twin oars, picked a random direction, and started rowing.