“You can rest assured, I will reclaim this disgrace of our correctional system—provided that Brian Carter, that loser, is still on Hong Kong Island!”

Grim Reaper’s eyes were full of pride, along with disdain and contempt for Killer Jack.

Killer Jack, on the other hand, was blushing, awkward and at a complete loss.

Chapter 013: This Loser Is Toxic

When Grim Reaper took office in a domineering fashion, at the Stanley prison canteen, Silly Bill directly flipped his tray and spilled a plate of lunch all over the table, shouting in celebration, “Brother Brian is awesome, seven days broken, officially broke the seven-day record, haha~”

In stark contrast to Silly Bill, Big Tony slammed the table and cursed, “Damn it, Silly Bill, he’s not even from your East Star, why are you calling him Brother Brian? Don’t be so crazy with your bootlicking.”

Even Big Silly was pounding the table and cursing, but as he cursed, he showed admiration and said, “Damn it, even though I lost over twenty packs of cigarettes, if he really made it past seven days, I heard that once you go over seven days, Killer Jack might be finished. That Brian Carter, that mainland kid, is really something!”

While all the gang leaders among the inmates were either cheering or pounding the table and cursing, their underlings were even more fired up. Even though the prison guards maintaining order in the canteen warned them repeatedly, it was useless.

To be fair, why were people like Silly Bill so happy? Of course, it was because they made a killing betting cigarettes.

On the day of the escape, Silly Bill started the betting: caught within one day, even odds; caught within two days, double payout; caught within three days, triple payout… Since the Stanley record was seven days, the odds were that if he lasted more than seven days, it was ten to one!

Brian Carter’s escape was wild, but his record was there—after escaping from Lai Chi Kok, he was caught and brought back in just two days.

Rumor had it, it was a female officer who caught him.

With that previous experience, even if he escaped again, so what? Most of the bets in the prison were on him being caught within two or three days, and quite a few bet on him being caught within one day.

Silly Bill and the other cigarette bookies timed it to the minute, and when the seven-day limit passed, it was a real party.

As Silly Bill was riding high, he lit three cigarettes at once—one in his mouth, one on his chopsticks, and the third stuck in Adam Miller’s food tray across from him. He looked down his nose at Big Tony arrogantly, “Big Tony, I do as I please. Remember the debt you owe me—thirty packs. When the time’s up, there’s interest!”

Silly Bill wasn’t even a shot-caller in East Star, let alone one of the Five Tigers, but Big Tony wasn’t much better—just a regular small-time boss.

A guy who bullies the weak and fears the strong, always going with the wind—Silly Bill wasn’t afraid of him at all.

He’d made a killing, was on a high, and Silly Bill casually had three cigarettes at once—willing to waste two just to show off.

Before Big Tony could say anything, Adam Miller quickly grabbed the cigarette from his tray and took a drag, looking blissful, “Silly Bill, you idiot, such a waste. I’ll help you smoke it.”

While the crowd was going wild, in a corner of the canteen, the bespectacled lawyer “Matthew Brooks” was still quietly eating his rice, ignoring everything around him.

It wasn’t until Robert Martin across from him nudged him with his elbow that Matthew Brooks looked up, “What’s up?”

Robert Martin was sort of Matthew Brooks’s brother-in-law. Back when he hadn’t killed that section chief nicknamed Piranha and was only serving a nine-month sentence, Robert Martin was a newly hired second-level correctional assistant—kind-hearted, would help him out in front of other inmates, speak up for him among the guards, and openly pursued his sister. They both liked each other.

It wasn’t until he learned that Matthew Brooks’s sister had committed suicide, and found out the reason, that Robert Martin joined him in killing Piranha, and both were sentenced to life.

After asking, Robert Martin whispered, “Brother Matthew, something’s off with you. Even though we’re both lifers, you just got out of solitary yesterday. You should be a bit happier, right?”

Matthew Brooks rolled his eyes speechlessly, “Solitary, the big dorm, aren’t they all just cells? Eat your food.”

He brushed it off, but Matthew Brooks’s mood was more chaotic than ever. The Stanley prison guards had suspected that Brian Carter might be hiding inside the prison for a while… but the inmates had no way of knowing.

But he had already figured out who the guy was that gave him a box of cigarettes that afternoon seven days ago. He also knew who it was that, when he banged on the door at around six in the evening shouting for dinner, snapped at him and then never showed up again, leaving him hungry until the next morning.

On the day Brian Carter escaped, not only did no guards patrol the solitary area in the afternoon, there was no one there at night either. It wasn’t until the next day that someone remembered to bring him food. Coincidentally, he was the only one locked up there that day.

Out of solitary? Happy my ass. Just think about Brian Carter’s glorious record—repeated escapes, never learning his lesson, and getting more and more successful—while he himself had been stuck here for years.

And it’s still life in prison??

Matthew Brooks wanted to cry. Of course, he never reported anything to the guards, never leaked a word. Why would a lifer worry about the prison’s business? That’s nonsense.

Don’t blame this top lawyer for falling so far. He was a good lawyer, with a promising career and a well-off family. When the police were beating someone, he tried to break it up and got hit himself. He accidentally fought back and ended up in here. While he was locked up, his sister was tricked and taken advantage of, his younger sister lost her innocence and committed suicide—all because of the senior correctional officer in charge of him.

As long as he hadn’t become a complete psychopath, there was no way he’d help the guards with anything about Brian Carter’s escape.

……