Chapter 47: Chapter 47 Mass Onset of Illness_1
In the evening, as usual, Aiden patrolled the core area’s cells accompanied by Flandre.
"Haha, here comes the warden looking for a scolding!"
"Yo yo, Mr. Prison Governor, you wouldn’t happen to have a masochistic streak, would you?"
"Want me to step on you with high heels?"
"Aiden, you little bastard!"
...
What greeted them was the inevitable tide of curses they had come to expect.
But then, a cough suddenly erupted from the duty room by the gate: "Cough!"
Instantly, the entire corridor fell silent, as quiet as death.
Surprised, Aiden turned his head and saw Veronica standing at the entrance to the duty room, hands clasped behind her back, smiling and giving a slight bow to both of them.
Directly opposite to cell number one wasn’t another cell, but the duty room where the on-duty prison guards sat, monitoring the entire hallway through the wide-angle mirrors placed by the door.
Today, it was Veronica who was on duty there.
The next moment, the prisoners realized just how disgraceful their flinch had been, and to cover up their embarrassment, they began to hurl insults with even greater vigor.
"You’re on duty today." Aiden nodded at Veronica, smiling, "It seems you’ve already established quite a presence among the inmates, not bad."
In the core area, the prisoners hopping around were actually just paper tigers, but it still took some skill to silence them with just a cough—that kind of respect had to be earned through relatively tough methods, instilling fear in the prisoners’ psyche.
A single dry cough that instinctively quieted down the prisoners was something Aiden could also achieve, but he had long since grown tired of such games.
But for Flandre, it wasn’t possible; after all, she was just a normal human. As an experienced prison guard, she knew the ins and outs of the job, but when it came to intimidating the inmates, she was still lacking.
For someone like Veronica to reach this level in just a few days, it could only mean that her previous methods of disciplining prisoners were indeed effective, truly not wasting the natural advantage of her pureblood werewolf heritage.
"Superior, there’s something I need to report to you," Veronica saluted formally, "Tonight, there was an incident in the core area: eight prisoners displayed symptoms of fever and diarrhea simultaneously."
"So many?" Aiden frowned, "Have they been sent to the infirmary?"
"They have. I’ve compiled a list for your review," Veronica presented the report.
Aiden took it and glanced over: "Hm? Those twins are on there too?"
The numbers of the twin killers who had been transferred to the prison were prominently listed.
"Yes."
Aiden’s expression grew serious; so many prisoners showing symptoms all at once was no coincidence.
Food poisoning... or an epidemic?
"Go have someone seal off the cafeteria, take the leftovers from tonight, as well as the ingredients and kitchen utensils, to be sent to the lab for examination."
Just as Aiden was about to instruct Flandre, Veronica raised her hand to interject: "There’s no need, superior. I’ve already asked Isabella to take care of it. She was going to report to you after that, but you came here first."
Aiden paused, then showed a look of approval, "Not bad, very efficient indeed."
After finishing his statement, he turned to Flandre, "Then let’s quickly tally up the prisoners and head over to the infirmary."
"Understood."
Under Veronica’s gaze, Aiden and Flandre walked deeper down the corridor.
"Even though it’s a cliché to say... this child really is suited to be a prison guard," Flandre murmured softly.
"She used to catch criminals in the past, so she does have some experience," Aiden said calmly, "But ultimately, mounted police mainly work for the residents, while prison guards are always dealing with prisoners. In this aspect, she still has a lot to learn."
"How does it feel to take on an apprentice?" Flandre teased.
"You better hurry up and get familiar with the new procedures. It doesn’t look right for the highest-ranking officer to always be mentoring the rookies," Aiden said with a smile.
As they passed by cell number thirteen, Fille suddenly sprang to the bars, "Lord Aiden, listen to what I have to say—"
"Shut up." Aiden turned his head, cutting her off without delay.
"But I haven’t even said anything!!" Fille exclaimed, eyes widened.
"Whatever it is, it certainly won’t be anything serious. Instead of putting up with your nonsense, it’s better to make you keep quiet right away," Aiden replied coldly, "I’m warning you, I’m very busy right now!"
"You’re getting more and more outrageous with me!" Fille puffed up her cheeks upon hearing this, then suddenly brightened up and blew him a kiss playfully, "But I like it, hey!"
"Greetings, Warden," Meiruki then approached the bars and bowed respectfully to Aiden.
Without any expression, Aiden nodded and then prepared to continue walking.
But Meiruki stopped him again, "Please, wait a moment, Warden."
"What is it? Make it quick," Aiden glanced at her.
"Warden, it seemed like a lot of prisoners fell ill just now, and you’re planning to check the infirmary later, aren’t you?" Meiruki asked with a submissive face, "You could take me with you; I might be of some help."
"You?" Aiden frowned.
"Actually, I know a bit about pharmacology," Meiruki said submissively, "I heard that you, Warden, are unconventional in your use of people; some prisoners are even working for you. I also hope to have the honor of offering my humble assistance to you."
"Who told you that I put prisoners to work?" Aiden feigned confusion.
While utilizing prisoners like Avansa was not a secret, he had not publicly disclosed it either. Inmates like Ophelia, who were not very sociable, only found out about this two years into their sentence, and that was on the day they attempted to escape; Meiruki had been inside for less than a month.
Realizing Aiden was probing, Meiruki managed her facial expressions and pretended to be surprised in her response, "Eh? I heard about it when the other prisoners were chatting... Could it just be a rumor?"
Aiden watched her for a while but could not discern anything immediately, so he flatly replied, "No, I do occasionally put prisoners to work for me, but I have a set of standards for choosing such prisoners."
"Yes, what kind of standards?"
"You don’t need to know. You’ve been here less than a month; I don’t even know your background," Aiden stared intently at Meiruki, "And do you think I’d allow a prisoner to have casual access to the infirmary’s medicine? Do I look that foolish to you?"
"I apologize for overstepping," Meiruki quickly bowed her head in deference.
"Don’t bring up such requests again." Having said that, Aiden continued on his way.
