Chapter 37

Everything went even more smoothly after that. After leading Xu Tianyou to his dormitory, Qiu Peng simply said a word before immediately heading off to take a shower, not even bothering to offer Xu Tianyou any tea.

When the sound of water from the bathroom started, Xu Tianyou immediately began his actions.

Qiu Peng, on one hand, wouldn’t be fully at ease, and on the other, he was eager to discuss business, so he would likely finish his shower as quickly as possible, giving Xu Tianyou only a limited amount of time.

Xu Tianyou quickly changed into the police uniform that Qiu Peng had removed, thinking that it was fine if it was a bit dirty—no one would be able to tell from a distance.

After changing clothes and putting on another wig, Xu Tianyou also grabbed a briefcase from the room and tucked it under his arm. He then quietly opened the door and slipped out.

The hallway was quiet, with no one around.

Xu Tianyou took a deep breath and used the walking style he had trained for days in secret to walk toward the exit of the dormitory building.

At that moment, Xu Tianyou was completely in awe of An Xiaohai. The rest of the plan was just following the script they had rehearsed countless times.

The prison guards at the watchtower noticed Xu Tianyou coming out of the dormitory building, but it didn’t raise any suspicion.

Although this young officer seemed unfamiliar, it was clear that he had just come for an internship. His walk had a strong military bearing, and it looked like he was from a top-performing class at the police academy.

Xu Tianyou’s luck was exceptional. With a 50% chance, he succeeded on his first attempt. He got the first key right, easily unlocking the third iron door.

After closing the iron door, Xu Tianyou walked through the long corridor of barbed wire.

At this moment, Xu Tianyou felt oddly calm, more so than his intense nervousness earlier. His face was as pale as death, though it was hard to notice from afar. People would only think the young man looked too serious.

When he opened the fourth iron door, Xu Tianyou had already observed the location of the small door.

Exiting the fourth iron door, Xu Tianyou walked straight toward the small door. As he passed the main gate, he nodded slightly to the guard at the main gate.

The guard at the main gate didn’t notice anything strange and even nodded back. However, Wei Chunguang, the guard at the security booth, furrowed his brow.

This young man was too unfamiliar. Wei Chunguang was sure he’d never seen him before.

“Could he be sent by some higher-up? Otherwise, how would he have a key to the small door? But if it’s a higher-up, it’s strange. Why would they give an outsider the key to the prison’s small door…”

Wei Chunguang considered stopping the young man to ask, but in the time it took him to hesitate, Xu Tianyou had already successfully opened the small door and exited the prison.

Wei Chunguang thought about it for a moment and decided not to investigate further.

Wei Chunguang was getting old and could retire in a year or two. There was no need to make things difficult for himself at this point.

“Forget it. I’ve spent my whole life working hard, only to end up guarding the gates. What’s the point of this…,” Wei Chunguang thought to himself.

Meanwhile, inside the prison guard dormitory…

Qiu Peng, holding the clothes Xu Tianyou had changed out of, was drenched in cold sweat. His shower had been in vain.

Looking at the clothes in his hands, along with his missing police uniform and briefcase, Qiu Peng immediately understood what had happened! Someone had escaped, wearing his police uniform and carrying his briefcase, and had done so openly!

“My gun! My gun!”

Thinking of this, Qiu Peng broke out in another cold sweat. He threw the clothes aside and scrambled to open the drawer where he kept his gun.

Luckily, the gun was still there!

Qiu Peng’s clothes were soaked with sweat again, and he collapsed onto the sofa, feeling utterly drained.

“What should I do? What should I do…?” Qiu Peng’s mind was in chaos.

He had failed to deal with An Xiaohai’s request, and although his superiors were unhappy, they still gave him a chance to become a team leader, considering the risks he had taken.

But if this escape were to get out, everything would be ruined!

Should he hide it? Could he hide it? Maybe he could…

As he thought this, a shred of hope rose in Qiu Peng. It was like a drowning person grabbing at a piece of straw—Qiu Peng’s mind began to work again.

The more he thought about it, the more the whole situation felt strange.

The escaped convict had posed as Xiao Fang, trying to get close to him. But how did the prisoner know about Xiao Fang? How had the convict ended up targeting him specifically? How had he known Qiu Peng would take him to the dorm?

And more importantly, how had the convict made it to the prison gates? Where had he gotten his disguise?

One question after another flooded Qiu Peng’s mind, and he grew more frantic.

After calming down for a while, Qiu Peng realized a more serious issue: the escaped convict knew the prison and Qiu Peng so well, it was highly likely that someone had tipped him off.

So who could that person be? It must be someone inside the prison. If that was true, then this wasn’t a case of the secret being kept from everyone. The person who tipped off the convict was clearly known to Qiu Peng.

But this could also be a good thing!

Qiu Peng’s hope began to rise again. Whoever had tipped off the convict to escape would also have anticipated that Qiu Peng would figure this out. So, that person probably didn’t want this to be exposed either.

In that case, everyone would be in the same boat!

“This person has leverage over me, but I also have leverage over him… Maybe we can both get away with this,” Qiu Peng thought.

People are often like this, believing in the guesses they lean toward. That’s exactly how Qiu Peng was thinking right now.

An Xiaohai had actually miscalculated. He worried that Qiu Peng would immediately alert others upon discovering this escape. If he had, Xu Tianyou’s chances of getting out would be slim.

But throughout this whole ordeal, Qiu Peng never intended to expose what had happened. If he did, it was only in a fleeting moment of hesitation!

What Qiu Peng was primarily focused on was how to cover it up and weigh the pros and cons of doing so.

Qiu Peng forced himself to calm down and carefully went over the sequence of events once more.

There was no problem—he wasn’t in immediate danger. As long as he stuck to his story that he had nothing to do with the escape, no one would be able to touch him. At least not without solid evidence!

The briefcase that had been lost didn’t contain any personal items, so no one could prove it belonged to him.

As for Xiao Fang, let him go!

If anyone asked, he would say that he had briefly chatted with him on the way back to the dorm, and that the young man had left on his own. If there were any trouble, let Director Huang take care of it—after all, Xiao Fang’s family had a connection with him!

As for dealing with the person behind the scenes, he would deal with that later…

“Yeah, that’s the plan!” Qiu Peng resolved firmly.

Now, there were only two remaining issues: who the escaped convict was, and how to deal with the things he had left behind in the dorm.

Qiu Peng hastily stuffed the things Xu Tianyou had left in the dorm into a backpack, carefully checked every corner of the room, and after making sure nothing was missing, he collapsed onto the sofa once more.

And it was only at that moment that the alarm sounded throughout the prison.