The old and weak prisoners, along with the women and children, finished learning how to use the new machines and began to file out one after another.
Zhong Gaoliang, the prison warden, tugged on the engineer's arm with a friendly grin.
"Since you're already here, don't rush back. Stay and have a meal before you go. We may not have the fancy food from Gaojia Village, but our mountain's full of fresh game. Heh heh… we just caught a snake today."
The engineer's eyes lit up.
"Snake meat? Oh, then I must impose!"
Up above, Dao Xuan Tianzun was watching all of this through his divine box.
The moment he heard the words "snake meat," his mouth started watering.
He immediately pulled up a food-delivery app and searched for it.
Nothing. No snake meat anywhere.
"Ahhh! Damn it! These little people are eating better than me now! They've started bullying their own Tianzun!"
Depressed, Dao Xuan Tianzun squatted in the corner of his heavenly domain and drew circles on the floor.
Down below, the crowd of women and old folks was still dispersing when a young woman stumbled in the crowd, seemingly pushed from behind.
She lost her balance and fell out of the line.
A guard instinctively reached out to help, but seeing that she was a young woman, he hesitated halfway, pulled back his hand, and dared not touch her.
She toppled between two guards and hit the ground—right at the feet of Zhong Gaoliang and the engineer.
Zhong Gaoliang was just deciding whether to help her up when—
With a sharp motion, the woman pushed herself off the floor. Something glinted from her sleeve—a shard of porcelain!
She lunged forward, aiming straight for Zhong Gaoliang's throat.
It was so sudden that no one could react in time.
Zhong Gaoliang froze, completely stunned.
The nearby guards were too shocked to move.
The engineer—utterly useless in a fight—stood there like a wooden pole.
Up in the heavens, Dao Xuan Tianzun was still scrolling through his delivery app, completely distracted.
Just as the porcelain shard was about to pierce Zhong Gaoliang's neck, a blur shot out of the crowd—
Lao Nanfeng!
He grabbed the woman's arm from behind and yanked it backward.
The shard stopped midair, unable to stab.
He hooked her leg, tripped her to the ground, then dropped his knee onto her back, pinning her completely.
Only then did everyone else react.
Blades flashed out; within a blink, five knives were pressed against the woman's throat.
Lao Nanfeng stood up, clapped his hands, and grinned.
"Heh! I'd been watching this one for a while. Saw her hide a piece of porcelain during lunch. Thought she meant to use it in a prison fight—didn't expect her to try and assassinate the warden instead! Haha! I've earned a big merit this time. Probably get a few years off my sentence!"
Zhong Gaoliang was still pale.
He touched his neck—it was cold, but uncut.
"Wow… I just walked through the gates of hell."
Dao Xuan Tianzun finally looked up, still shaken.
"Damn, that woman's fierce! She almost killed one of my favorite little people! Not just any underling either—one whose name I actually remember! If he died, I'd be heartbroken!"
He slipped on the Infinity Gauntlet and reached down into the world.
A massive spectral hand appeared and pointed at the ground before the woman.
With a thud, a giant piece of parchment fell onto the ground:
"Investigate this woman. Find out everything about her."
Everyone went rigid.
Even Tianzun himself had intervened—this was serious.
The five knives on her neck instantly became ten.
Zhong Gaoliang frowned.
"Why try to kill me? What did I ever do to you? I feed you all, make sure you're warm—why take my life?"
The young woman, already resigned to death, answered coldly:
"I wanted to kill someone from Gaojia Village. You're the highest-ranking person I could reach."
Zhong Gaoliang:
"???"
Everyone:
"???"
Even Dao Xuan Tianzun was confused.
The woman continued through gritted teeth:
"My brother… my brother was shot dead by your Gaojia Village soldiers."
And then, everyone understood.
Many of the prisoners here had lost family to the firing squads.
Most of the young men from their families had been part of Wang Zuogua's bandit army—killed in the war.
So her motive wasn't unique; nearly all the women here had similar grudges.
The reason was clear.
No need for further guessing.
Dao Xuan Tianzun sighed quietly.
The guards turned to Zhong Gaoliang, waiting for him to decide.
But Zhong Gaoliang wasn't a seasoned officer—he'd been a farmer not long ago, suddenly promoted to prison warden.
He looked around helplessly, hoping someone would tell him what to do.
No one spoke—until Lao Nanfeng broke the silence.
"People like her—usually, they have to die. Kill one to warn the rest."
Zhong Gaoliang hesitated.
"She has to die?"
Lao Nanfeng nodded.
"If this were the frontier army, they'd cut down an enemy's family member without blinking."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the trembling woman, and added with a smirk:
"Though before cutting, some men might… heh…"
That single laugh sent a chill through the air.
The woman, who had been calm a moment ago, suddenly turned pale.
She realized that death might not even be the worst fate awaiting her.
Her eyes flicked toward the knives at her throat.
If I just push forward… I can join my brother. Better that than be defiled…
But thinking it is easy.
Doing it takes a kind of courage few people have.
Zhong Gaoliang stared, conflicted.
He wasn't the kind of man to give a death order.
When he became warden, he hadn't even rented out his farmland—he'd lent it freely to neighbors, refusing to be like the greedy landlords he despised.
That was the kind of man he was.
He simply couldn't give the order.
He looked up at the sky.
"Dao Xuan Tianzun… what should I do with this woman?"
Dao Xuan Tianzun sighed softly, then unfolded a scroll from the heavens.
"Bind her. Escort her to Gaojia Village. Hand her over to Gao Yiye."
And so, judgment was delayed.