True Solution of the Sword Dao

Ping City High-Security Prison—Pingding Prison

The black prison gate slowly opened. Three male prisoners with buzz cuts, clothed in blue prison uniforms, were escorted out by four or five police officers, walking slowly.

The sunlight outside shone on the white cement ground, appearing somewhat blinding, prompting the three prisoners to squint. In the middle of the cement ground, a prisoner transport van was parked, its grey-white shell emblazoned with the words "Ping City Pingding Prison".

"Hurry up, stop dawdling," a prison guard urged.

"Got it," the man at the front responded languidly, "Officer Zhang, considering how hot the weather is, and we three haven’t touched a drop of water since this morning, we’re all weak. How can we walk fast?"

"Quit playing tricks, get on and you will have water to drink," another guard said impatiently, and seeing that the last prisoner was walking too slowly, he simply pushed him forward.

The three of them were escorted onto the van.

With a clatter, the doors closed.

"Officer Zhang, can you tell us who exactly is behind our prison transfer? Can’t you give us a hint?" the leading buzz-cut man asked the police officer in front with a smile on his face.

"Maybe it’s your relatives and friends from outside, you Zhang Wenwei used to call the shots outside, weren’t you rather impressive~~" Officer Zhang with the surname Zhang said with a chuckle. "The conditions in Ping’an Prison are much better than here."

The three male prisoners squeezed into the backseat, separated from the front by a solid metal window. The doors on both sides were locked.

"How could that be? It was just making a living," Zhang Wenwei said with an embarrassed smile, "At the beginning, I didn’t know anything at all and thought I had found a way to make a fortune. I didn’t expect it to be illegal."

"Give me a break!" laughed another prison guard sitting next to Zhang, "An old slick like you who’s been sentenced to more than twenty years still pretends in front of us."

"Hey, what can I even pretend? It’s all come to this; what’s there to pretend about?" Zhang Wenwei glanced at the streets and pedestrians swiftly passing by the car window. His expression remained unchanged as his finger lightly tapped the hand of another prisoner beside him. The latter understood and tapped back his hand in response.

****************

The eastern suburbs of Ping City were a vast expanse of forest, with the trees on one side close to the highway and on the other side connected to the continuous hills and mountains, stretching to the far edge, where the lush and tall trees resembled a green sea.

The whole of Ping City was an ordinary prefecture-level city surrounded by a sea of trees; fortunately, many expressways had been built without much hindrance to traffic. It was these highways that allowed Ping City to develop into a veritable prefecture-level city.

In the forest of the eastern suburbs, a cluster of buildings surrounded by a white wall stood out like a ship in the vast green sea, sitting isolated on a small hill. A road skirted past this complex and stretched to the horizon.

The complex was completely enclosed by tall walls, with a black gate bearing a nameplate: Ping City Ping’an Male Prison.

A few kilometers away from Ping’an Prison, at a highway intersection, there was a car wash.

A sign on the ground read: Night Car Wash. Next to it was a small restaurant.

There was an empty space in front of the restaurant, seemingly designated for washing cars.

Two black cars were quietly parked in this car wash, but nobody was there to get their cars washed.

Few men stood next to the cars, some with bulky figures and grim faces, others with icy expressions or feigned smiles.

Among these men, both young and old were present, but a middle-aged man in a black suit seemed to lead, standing ahead of the others by the road, hands in his pockets, gazing into the distance. Behind him, no one spoke; some quietly smoked, while others fiddled with their phones.

"Although unexpected, this prison transfer is a good opportunity for us, big brother. Even if we don’t know who has such energy," a burly man with a wide face whispered.

The man next to him nodded: "Judging by the timeline, they should arrive here in about ten minutes. If they stop to refuel, it will take even longer."

"Don’t worry, everything is arranged. As soon as the car arrives, we make our move!" another man declared in a low voice.

"Keep it down," the man in the black suit turned his head and snapped.

"What’s there to fear, big brother, everyone here is with us..." one man said nonchalantly.

"Double caution can’t be wrong!" the man in the suit said darkly. "An Zi, is the escape route set up?"

The addressed man quickly assured, "All taken care of."

The man in the suit nodded and fell silent, the atmosphere growing tense.

A moment ticked by.

Suddenly, the sound of a car engine approached from afar.

The group turned to look.

But it wasn’t the jail transport van they were expecting; instead, a silver car came into view. Through the windshield of the approaching car, one could clearly see a middle-aged man with glasses driving, with a little girl next to him, laughing innocently, waving her small hands, not knowing what joy she found.

However, immediately behind this silver sedan, a grey-white van, marked with the words "Pingding Prison," steadily approached.

"Here it comes!" the man in the suit said gravely.

"What about the others?" the earlier stout man asked.

"Forget them, just grab the person and go," the man in the suit became even more grim.

But no sooner had he spoken than another black van followed closely behind.

"It’s rare to see a car here half the time, and today, suddenly, there’re three. Strange," muttered one man beside the car.

"Shut up and get ready," the man in the suit whispered, got into his car, and the others followed suit into their vehicles.

************ 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Inside the black bread van.

Driving was a beautiful woman with an indifferent expression, dressed in a shirt and a short skirt, very capable. In the back row sat a young man, ordinary looking, except for his shoulder-length hair. He wore a black silk shirt and was making a phone call.

"I appreciate it this time, Director Bai. I have a friend who has some personal dealings with these three guys."

"What are you talking about! If it hadn’t been for the expert you sent over last time, I reckon we would have had several more casualties. It was a huge help. Compared to that, this is nothing," Bai Yang laughed over the phone. "These three, all notorious hard cases in the prison, taking them off our hands, Warden Hu kept saying, was like lifting a burden off his shoulders."

"Oh, that’s quite fortunate then, haha," the man laughed as well, "Right, I’ll be counting on you more in the future for matters like this. Characters like these hard cases and death row inmates, if the impact isn’t too big, let them cool their heels for a while, I might need more hands on my side later on. Warden Hu will have his hands full then."

"We could only wish for more of that kind of trouble," Bai Yang chuckled.

"Well then, it’s a pity our identities are so sensitive, otherwise it’d be nice to gather for a drink," the man said with a light laugh.

"That’s true, well, something has come up on my end. I’ll hang up now."

"Alright."

The phone call ended on the other end.

The phone was lightly tossed in hand.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lin Fei suddenly noticed the ends of the hair tied with a hair band, still slung over her shoulder.

"My hair has gotten a bit long," he said softly.

Ever since the last time the Sword Dao True Solution had been activated, his hair had grown rapidly, impossible to control.

"Chen Chen, are you satisfied with your job now?" Lin Fei suddenly asked.

The driver, Chen Chen, hastened to nod in response.

"I’m very satisfied now."

"I’m leaving soon; this place will be all up to you," Lin Fei said softly.

"I won’t let you down," although Chen Chen knew that the man behind her was just a high school graduate about to enter university, she dared not take him lightly. When one’s everything is linked to someone, no matter their age, no one would underestimate them.

"Hmm," Lin Fei responded.

The car followed a prison van and stopped at a car wash on the side of the road.

With a rustle, the door of the van in front was yanked open, and a uniformed prison guard got out.

Chen Chen also opened the door and got out, walking over. The prison guard and Chen Chen exchanged a few words, and Chen Chen showed some identification to the guard, who nodded, said a few words about the prison van, and let another guard open the back door where the prisoners were being held.

Lin Fei opened the door and got out, his face now the semblance of a stranger.

Chen Chen glanced at Lin Fei, slightly surprised, but kept cool. After all, she was part of a special group of people, aware that some secret abilities could easily disguise one’s appearance.

The three prisoners had already been escorted down.

"Officer Zhang, weren’t we heading to Ping’an Prison? Why did we stop here?" Zhang Wenwei said, confused.

"They are the ones taking over your custody. You’re to get on their van now, and after that, it’s not our concern anymore," Officer Zhang said with an air of relief. He was aware of how formidable these three were, especially Zhang Wenwei.

"Get on," Chen Chen stood by, opening the door of the van.

Zhang Wenwei’s gaze swept across Chen Chen and he whistled.

Being uniformly incarcerated in a men’s prison, none of them had seen such a beautiful woman as Chen Chen, and their eyes shone with greed, scanning her body hungrily.

"Hurry up and get in," a guard urged.

Only then did the three leisurely board the black bread van. It was only after getting in that they realized it was just an ordinary van that hadn’t been modified at all, with no barrier between the front and the back.

The three of them were overjoyed.

"Well, with that, the exchange is complete, and our task is done," Officer Zhang said lightly to Lin Fei.

Lin Fei nodded, "Well then, that will be all. We will take care of these three."

"Of course, we commoners can hardly imagine the means you possess," Officer Zhang was one of those in the know and was aware that the person in front of him was a national agent with a hidden identity.

Not far from the parking spot, two black sedans stood still, quiet and motionless.

The man in the black suit sat behind the wheel, calm and composed.

"It seems the situation isn’t as simple as we thought," he mused.

"Could the people transferring our boss have the same agenda as us? Or is this just another contingency plan by the boss?" the man in the passenger seat speculated.

The man in the black suit lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled a cloud of white smoke. "The boss is always cautious, so it’s possible. They’re splitting up soon; we’ll follow the black van ahead. Since they’re not headed to Ping’an Prison, they might have another destination in mind."

"Even if they’re really state operatives from some other place, with just two of them and all our guns, we’re not afraid," the man in the passenger seat added. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please vote with a Monthly Ticket at Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest Energy.)