Chapter 36: 36 Chapter: Insignificant Skills_1
In the afternoon, airing time.
Aiden brought Veronica outside, observing the prisoners airing in the yard through iron bars.
The prisoners were walking around the yard in twos and threes or lazily squatting on the side, chatting idly.
"Prisoners have about half an hour of airing time after each meal, which is a bit longer on rest days. During airing time, there are two guards under one yard, then one on each watchtower, and the watch posts are equipped with hunting rifles. Additionally, the riot squad patrols nearby, ready to respond at a moment’s notice," Aiden explained to Veronica about the posts managing the prisoners during airing time.
"The yard here feels like it’s covered by something," Veronica looked up, vaguely making out a hemispherical barrier enclosing the entire yard.
"This is an alchemic barrier that suppresses magic power, the same as the one in the core area. This small yard is specially used by prisoners from the core area; they are managed separately from those in regular areas as much as possible. The prisoners from the core area are more dangerous to those from other areas, and some have strong influence over the regular inmates, mixing them together can lead to trouble," Aiden explained earnestly, "There are four levels of inmate security ratings, differentiated by badges and the color of their prison clothes, ranging from white to red. It is assessed based on the prisoner’s own level of danger and their cooperativeness; inmates from the core area are basically either yellow or red."
At this moment, a female prisoner spotted Aiden standing outside the bars and approached with a mischievous grin on her face.
Veronica, with sharp eyes, noticed her and immediately became vigilant.
But what the woman did next was completely unexpected—she faced Aiden and suddenly flipped up her prison clothes faster than lightning, dropping them back down in an instant.
Then the prisoner stuck out her tongue at Aiden in a taunting manner, "Hey, warden, here’s a treat for you! Did it get you hard? Too bad you can see but can’t touch! Hahahaha!"
The few female inmates nearby also laughed along.
Veronica cautiously looked towards her superior, unsure how he would deal with this.
This kind of teasing was a clear provocation, but it was somewhat awkward to handle.
Aiden put on a puzzled look, narrowing his eyes as he scrutinized the woman, and suddenly spoke out sternly, "What’s going on here!? How did a male prisoner get in here?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the provocative prisoner’s expression instantly froze; the other inmates were momentarily stunned, then burst into laughter.
Then Aiden, pretending to finally see the other clearly, nodded in sudden realization and waved his hand, "Oh, it’s you, prisoner 3319, never mind then."
The surrounding inmates laughed even harder, leaving prisoner 3319 with a face the color of liver.
"Fuck your mother! Are you blind? I have breasts, you damn dog, open your eyes and see clearly," she cursed loudly as she made a move to lift her clothes again.
That’s when a guard noticing the commotion blew a whistle.
"Prisoner 3319! Do you think the guards are dead? Causing trouble here, do you want to get shot!?" the guard yelled a warning, and simultaneously, a guard on the watchtower took aim with a hunting rifle.
The atmosphere plunged to freezing in an instant, and prisoner 3319 stopped in her tracks—she only wanted to provoke Aiden for the sake of banter, while also establishing some prestige among the inmates. Of course, she wouldn’t want to bet her life on the limits of the prison guards.
"Don’t huddle together, what are you doing? You like sticking together so much, how about I squeeze you all into one solitary cell, huh?"
The jail guard then threatened the other inmates who had gathered and, soon enough, inmates dispersed wisely. Prisoner 3319 also walked away fuming, muttering curses about the warden and the jail guards under her breath.
"Hmph, petty tricks, she’s brought shame on herself." Aiden said with a dismissive laugh.
"Are there many inmates like her?" Veronica couldn’t help recalling the chaos in the core area whenever Aiden conducted his inspections there.
"They are rare in the general section but there are quite a few in the core area. New inmates often have quite a strong opposition to law enforcers, and will try all sorts of ways to shame and provoke the guards."
"How should we handle these situations?" Veronica asked her superior for guidance.
"It depends. For most, just deal with them strictly according to the regulations. For those whose actions don’t amount to a violation, ignore them. Once they realize they’re only making fools of themselves, they’ll naturally back off. Of course, there are some inmates who become more defiant the more you warn and punish them. For them, you need to step on their pride and blunt their edge. Use some non-rule-breaking methods to humiliate them, make them lose face in front of the other inmates. Then they’ll understand that opposing the guards is just humiliating themselves. Many of these inmates don’t care about punishment; they think it helps them establish a tough persona among the others. They often care more about face; stepping on their pride is more effective than punishing them."
"It sounds... very difficult."
"These are little tricks learned from experience. You don’t need to remember so much right at the start; just strictly follow the rules. It’s not necessary to tame every inmate, maintaining order in the prison is enough. And besides, not all new inmates are of that sort." Aiden said, looking out over the yard.
At that moment, a tall female prisoner approached along the track, smiling and nodding at Aiden. "Good afternoon, Warden!"
Aiden nodded back, watched her pass by, then said to Veronica, "That’s an inmate who just arrived yesterday. Occasionally, some comply from the start. But we can’t let our guard down; the core area inmates are all dangerous."
Veronica nodded and continued to scan the yard, her attention drawn suddenly to Avansa sitting in a corner of the yard.
She saw Avansa squatting in the shade, her head down, staring intently at the ground.
"What’s that child doing all by herself?" Veronica asked casually.
"She’s observing ants; it’s her hobby." Aiden answered offhandedly.
"Is she always alone?"
"Yeah, she is. There’s a generation gap between her and the other inmates, besides..." Aiden paused, "she is ’The Filthblood Reaper’, after all. Don’t forget how she got that name. A single drop of her blood can easily kill an adult, and there’s no antidote. Even though her blood has undergone some purification treatments, it’s still very dangerous. To tell you the truth, I get somewhat scared when I’m near her. But you shouldn’t worry too much; werewolves have stronger resistance to poison than humans."
"Honestly, I’m still a bit incredulous." Veronica said, still stunned.
"It’s true, the Heretic Inquisition wouldn’t just find someone this outrageous as a scapegoat. She is indeed the genuine ’The Filthblood Reaper’." Aiden said somberly, "From birth, she was trained by an assassin organization, molded into a lethal weapon by someone’s own hands."
