Young man, the world is a cold place. Don’t be too kind.

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The sunset bathed the entire Dimensional Prison in a golden glow. The distant mountain ranges were shrouded in a misty gray fog, while the lingering clouds were tinted shades of red and purple.

The afternoon matches had come to an end, with Feng Yangyan advancing to the championship round thanks to his sudden surge in power. After the organizers confirmed that he hadn’t used any banned elixirs, they scheduled the final match for three days later.

There would only be one winner for the Warden’s position, so there was no need for a third or fourth place match. The final showdown would determine everything.

While the Dimensional Prison hosted a grand banquet for the esteemed guests and nobles, there was no sign of the enigmatic Long Ming amid the clinking of glasses and the lively atmosphere.

As festive as the banquet was, it had no effect on the prisoners. They remained confined to their limited space, isolated from the outside world.

Though “limited space” was a bit misleading—the Dimensional Prison had no shortage of land.

The prisoners were roughly divided into two categories: those sentenced to life and those serving fixed terms. The lifers, like the Nine-Tailed Fox, mostly had their own cells. Meanwhile, those with fixed sentences were housed in one of four enormous buildings, sorted by their race.

Each of these buildings had 200 above-ground floors and 18 subterranean levels.

The upper 200 floors held monthly ranking competitions, with every 10 floors comprising a rank and each rank having a floor lord. The first 100 floors operated on a monthly ranking system, while the second 100 floors followed a challenge system. The strongest resided on the top floor, known as the King.

After countless brutal battles, the positions of these Kings had largely been solidified.

The current four Kings were:

King Huo Lei, whose goal was the destruction of all of Grimm Space,
King Sa Na, who sought to turn all humans into vampires,
King Mogueye Na, the Fallen Saint King,
And the most mysterious and unfathomable of them all, King You.

The first two were currently on the run, and their buildings were in total chaos. The other two buildings weren’t in much better shape either.

Now that the two remaining Kings were also locked onto the prison break list, it was no wonder even Sha Yu was starting to get nervous.

At this moment, Long Ming sat in a prison transport carriage, his hands and feet shackled with chains. The chains were made of the same Mystic Black Iron as the ones in his previous cell, so any hopes of escape were slim. The carriage, pulled by well-trained Dark Spirit Horses, smoothly made its way toward the towering structures ahead.

A sudden jolt and the horses’ whinnying signaled that they had arrived.

Along with the other prisoners, Long Ming disembarked from the carriage, blending in seamlessly with the crowd as just another unremarkable human.

Dressed in a gray mage’s robe, parts of the fabric were torn, revealing bloodstained bandages beneath. The blood, blackened by poison, made him look more like a tragic figure. His black hair was hidden beneath a hood, and his overall aura was gloomy. Because of this, the other prisoners paid him no mind.

No one would ever guess that this was the same Long Ming, the rising star and future Warden candidate.

As for why he was here, that story began with his negotiations with Sha Yu. In the end, after a series of unequal agreements were signed, Long Ming agreed to serve as an external agent—or more accurately, an internal informant—tasked with protecting or preventing the two remaining Kings from escaping.

The specifics of those unequal agreements would be discussed later.

For now, Long Ming was posing as a prisoner, infiltrating the prison under the guise of gathering a full understanding of the Dimensional Prison from the bottom up, all in preparation for his future role as Warden.

Of course, since the final match hadn’t taken place yet, Long Ming didn’t believe a word of Sha Yu’s excuses.

Now, let’s talk about his current identity.

Thanks to the efficiency and speed of Acting Warden Sha Yu, Long Ming had a new identity crafted just for him: Long Ji, a mage from the higher plane of Elro Continent, based in Treaty City.

Crime: Attempted assault on the city lord. Sentence: 100 years.

Damn it! Why this ridiculous crime?!

Someone as peerless, godlike, and naturally gifted as me would need to assault a city lord? Have I gone blind?!

But no amount of complaining could change the crime that had been written down by the devious Sha Yu. Thus, Rongi, the man with the mark of a would-be assailant, became the newest inmate of the Dimensional Prison alongside prisoners from all over.

For a master of deception, such a disguise was a breeze. After all, Long Ming had conned the entire world in his past life. Taking on another identity now was just another day at the office. ╮(╯▽╰)╭

As Long Ming stared blankly at the turbulent clouds in the sky, his expression vacant, he gradually turned his gaze forward. His disheveled hair covered much of his face, but by the time he refocused, he had already stepped into the prisoner’s area.

Although the place was filled with all kinds of monsters and demons, it wasn’t exactly terrifying—just a bit gloomy. Surrounded on three sides by mountains, the four towering buildings stood imposingly in the middle. The dark-toned architecture and the massive, diamond-shaped columns would leave any newcomer feeling a sense of dread.

The buildings seemed close by, but that was just an illusion. Considering the vast number of prisoners here, the place was, in a word, enormous… very enormous.

Let’s get back to the present. Several Wardens appeared at the prison’s main gate, accompanied by Hellhounds with fiery tails. The dogs’ glowing red eyes gleamed menacingly, as if ready to tear into someone at any moment.

Long Ming didn’t bother hiding the connection from his blood pact. Upon closer inspection, he realized that these Hellhounds weren’t the ones he had formed a blood pact with. Judging by the lower-grade armor the Wardens wore, they appeared to be of a lower rank than those he’d encountered before.

No one but Sha Yu knew his true identity this time.

Still, if Long Ming ran into any of his blood pact allies, he wouldn’t hesitate to use them. This was what they called “working the system,” after all.

Every place had its own set of unspoken rules, and only by rising above those rules could one avoid being shackled by them.

At least Long Ming’s infiltration of the prison wasn’t shaping up to be a complete disaster.

As he bowed his head, the prison gates slowly creaked open with a groan. Long Ming couldn’t help but think that the gates had been enchanted with some sort of dark magic. The person standing in front of him, who appeared to be human, was trembling uncontrollably, like a leaf in the wind.

How could someone like this even be a criminal?

Long Ming realized he was being too naïve. The Dimensional Prison housed all sorts of people. There were maniacs, of course, but also ordinary folks.

Ordinary people had only two options in a place like this, where the law of the jungle ruled: they could either submit or… die.

The weakest were always the easiest prey.

BANG!

A loud noise rang out.