Chapter 387: The Ultimatum (1/2)

This store was gradually getting on the right track with a stable income. Sales and marketing were handled by Dali while I basically watched over the store. The shop assistants all addressed me as ‘Song-ge.'

About a fortnight later, Xiaotao phoned to inform me of an incident in prison–the Imitator was killed last night.

I was taken by surprise; I couldn’t imagine why something like that would happen to him.

Xiaotao dropped by the store to pick me up and we were on our way to Mount Leopard Prison. The Imitator’s body had been placed in the prison’s infirmary. The laceration was very small–a stab wound under the rib. There was basically no blood on the surface of the skin. The shape of the wound looked rather irregular, resembling a self-made weapon.

This sort of incident might often be seen in American TV shows, where prisoners grind metal fragments into knives and stab other inmates. But in reality, this was extremely rare. For entertainment purposes, confrontation and danger were often exaggerated in TV shows but real prisons weren’t actually that chaotic.

According to the prison guards, when the Imitator was released from his cell for leisure time, he suddenly squatted under the barbed fence. The prison guard initially assumed he was ill. But when he walked over, he noticed the Imitator’s chest was covered in blood. He was immediately sent to the infirmary for rescue but died later that night...

At the time, there were quite a few inmates in the compound, with guards watching them. None of the guards noticed anything suspicious during the leisure time and they didn’t know who the culprit was.

After a brief pause, I said, ”Bring me all the inmates who were with him!”

The prison guards brought the inmates in one by one. After questioning, they reported nothing out of the ordinary these past few days. But when the last inmate entered, I noticed his furtive eyes.

I asked the same question, and his answer matched the others. But noticed from his body language how nervous he was. ”You’re lying!” I sneered.

”Every word I said is true. This guy has always been strange and liked imitating us. Everyone stays away from him,” he cried in a fluster.

”Do you usually pick on him?” I asked.

”Him?” The inmate laughed, ”More like he’s the one doing the bullying. When he first came in, we were going to mess with him! But we never expected this guy to be so strong. All he needed were two or three moves to take us down. After that, we never bothered him again. As long as we ignored him, he left us alone.”

”Did anyone speak to him the night before the incident?”

Xiaotao snapped, ”You better tell the truth. We can reduce your sentence!”

But the inmate didn’t believe Xiaotao at all. ”Don't lie to me. You’re not the system. After interrogating me, you’re just going to get up and leave.”

”We can reduce your sentence by half a year. You can trust me on that,” assured Xiaotao.

The inmate looked around, worried as if the walls had ears. Finally, he lowered his voice and said, ”You must keep this a secret. I'm afraid if I tell anyone, I’ll be the next one to die!”

He explained that he couldn't sleep that night and was tossing and turning in bed when he suddenly caught a whiff of a strange fragrance coming from outside the cell. He looked up and saw a man standing near the cell door with an incense stick in his hand.

”Was it a prison guard or an inmate?” I interrupted.

”An inmate,” he answered. “He was wearing the same uniform as us. I don't know how he got out.”

”What did he look like?” I added.

”It was very dark at the time so I couldn't see very clearly, but he looked rather muscular.”