?


    If Frank really wanted to leave, not that many people could actually stop him.


    His brow easing, he turned toward the fettered geezer again. He could certainly notice from the other inmates'' reaction that they feared the geezer too.


    "In that case, may I ask how you ended up here, sir?" Frank asked.


    "Oh, it''s really not worth mentioning..."


    The geezer avoided the subject, shaking his head and smiling when he discerned Frank''s mood. "Word of advice, kid-you''re not getting out of here now that you''re here. I tried to escape with the strength in my arms... and well, you can see how that went."


    He gestured with his chin at his fetters, and Frank walked up to him.


    He studied the geezer and saw that he had overflowing vigor and a rich meridian nexus.


    Judging from that, he was definitely halfway into Ascendant rank.


    And if someone of his caliber was kept here, it was clear that this prison was worse than it looked.


    The geezer then calmly continued, telling Frank about the brutal truth. "Kid, this ce is infamous because no one ever leaves. Doesn''t matter who you are—your future is as dark as the ck puddles flooding the floor. There''s just no hope to be had.


    "Good behavior? Parole? None of those things apply-here in ckwater, you have two options. Either die here, or survive on food that''s worse than chicken feed."


    "Interesting," Frank murmured, nodding thoughtfully.


    Seeing that Frank was not giving up, the geezer shook his head, sighed, and closed his eyes, refraining from talking at all.


    It appears that the young man doubted him after all, but such was the willfulness of youth.


    When he had hit the wall enough times, he would understand that the geezer was being serious.


    ng! ng! ng!


    A metallic ng echoed down the hallway just then.


    Every inmate straightened at the sound right then and backed away from the steel bars of their cells, and it was suddenly even quieter than when the geezer spoke.


    "What''s going on?"Exclusive ? material by N?(/v)elDrama.Org.


    Frank leaned against the steel bars to look down the hallway and found a jailer with obese cheeks advancing upon his cell, followed by a couple of flunkies.


    "Hey, on your feet or I''m chopping them off! Use your feet, or you have no reason to keep them!"


    The nging was clearly from the jailer hitting his baton against the steel bars of the prison cells, and every inmate in every cell was at once standing at attention.


    Even Scarface, who was the first to attempt bullying Frank, was standing upright respectfully.


    Seeing that the jailer was approaching their cell, the geezer turned to Frank and asked, "Hey, kid. Did you give a pay-off when you came in?" "Pay-off? What are you talking about?" Frank asked, bemused.


    "A bribe, basically..."


    The fettered geezer sighed exasperatedly, coughing as he exined under his breath, "It''s one of the unwritten rules here. Every inmate must pay off the jailer, or he won''t be nice to you. Do you have anything valuable?"


    Frank shook his head at the old man. "They took everything I had when I came in. They didn''t even let me keep my phone."