Universe Infinite Canteen

Chapter 722: Prison No. 444

Whether they were fully armed prison guards or the multitude of prisoners, none seemed to notice the life-taking scene that had just played out, as if they were already accustomed to such sights.

The prisoners looked at Captain Jose with malice in their eyes, but no one stood up for the one who had just died.

Captain Jose was very satisfied with this, ignoring the anger on the Female Doctor's face, and continued to speak.

"Very good, it seems like everyone has reaped a decent harvest. Given that there are rookies among you participating in the fishing event for the first time, I want to reiterate: You bastards best not hide any weapons on you, or don't blame my men and me for being unsympathetic."

After finishing his statement, Captain Jose waited another half minute. Seeing no one move, he chuckled, "Since that's the case, let's begin. The sooner we get this done, the sooner everyone can go home."

The prison guards behind him split into three teams, two guards per team, holding special devices responsible for inspecting the prisoners.

In addition, a squad of about 12 armed men continued to stand guard with their guns at the ready.

The prisoners voluntarily lined up in three teams, stepping forward one by one.

Ma Lu saw the woman at the front of the queue, her arms entwined with vines, being scanned all over by a prison guard with a metal detector resembling a cat toy. The guard took the opportunity to make an inappropriate grab at her shapely buttocks.

The woman let out a giggle.

"No lethal weapons carried." The guard glanced at the detector screen, seemingly reluctant to conclude his search.

Then another guard scanned the woman's iris, "Vine Woman, from Cosmic Plane number 4133, sentenced to 314 years. You may board the ship now."

Hearing this, Vine Woman sent a flying kiss to the guard who had inspected her body and, swaying her hips, boarded the spaceship.

The one following her had a man with two faces on his head; from the front, he looked no different from an ordinary person, but his occiput bore a second face.

Both faces could speak at the same time, even conversing with each other, which made his blind spots much smaller than an ordinary person's. It was difficult for him to be taken by surprise, but the two faces would occasionally bicker over control of their shared body.

"Two-faced Man, from Cosmic Plane number 41770, sentenced to 533 years. Alright, you may board the ship now."

The prison guard spoke coldly after the check.

Ma Lu knew his trouble had arrived; unlike the others, he wasn't a real prisoner but had arrived here suddenly via Bug Egg.

Ma Lu didn't know how the prison guards would treat a stowaway. He stood at the end of the line, pondering in his mind how to deal with the upcoming interrogation.

The inspection was quick; these guards evidently weren't new to this kind of work. Thirty people, in three teams, took less than five minutes to nearly complete the check.

Indeed, some had hidden weapons, and though it was just a small laser knife, the inspecting guards did not hesitate to knock the person to the ground with their gun butts.

Then, Captain Jose walked over, stepping on the man's chest. Without a word, he raised his energy rifle and pulled the trigger.

The next second, the prisoner's head exploded like a watermelon.

"I said, don't hide weapons. Why is there always someone who tries their luck?" Captain Jose sighed.

"But then again, if you obeyed the rules and learned to listen, you wouldn't have ended up here. Still, I strongly advise you not to break the various regulations of Prison 444."

After Captain Jose had finished speaking, the guards reached the end of the line. The cat toy detector showed that Ma Lu did not carry any lethal weapons.

However, the prison guard responsible for the iris scan performed the test twice, his brows furrowing tightly as he looked at the results displayed on the screen.

"What's the problem?" Jose walked over.

"The prisoner's record can't be found in the prison's database," the guard reported truthfully.

Jose took the detector from the guard and aimed it directly at Ma Lu's iris; he was about to stick the device into Ma Lu's eye when the same result appeared—no record found.

Female Doctor Erin said, "If the database doesn't have his record, then he must be a legitimate citizen of The Grand Alliance, and the prison should send a ship to take him back to his Plane."

Jose looked down at Ma Lu with a scrutinizing gaze. As Ma Lu was about to explain, Jose suddenly punched him in the stomach.

Caught off guard, Ma Lu took the punch and instantly curled up like a shrimp, his forehead beaded with cold sweat, too pained to utter a single word.

"The fish cage has never housed any legitimate citizens; I suspect he's a very cunning felon who has erased his own record from the prison database through some special means.

"But thinking that he can fool everyone and swagger out from under my nose with such a move—don't even think about it," Jose said in a calm and measured tone.

"If there's no record, then just record a new one."

Hearing this, Female Doctor Erin was shocked, "Captain Jose, you can't do that, you can't just incarcerate an ordinary citizen of The Grand Alliance as a felon in Prison 444!"

As she spoke, she attempted to step forward to help Ma Lu up, but Jose signaled the guards behind him, and the two of them immediately blocked Erin's path.

"I will report you to the Citizen Rights Protection Bureau for your abuse of power," Erin said angrily.

Jose chuckled at her words, showing no sign of panic, "The Citizen Rights Protection Bureau, I've dealt with them before. By the time that group of bureaucrats finish their meetings and investigations, it'll be at least three months before they send someone to look into it.

"And do you know how many complaints there are about Prison 444 each year?"

"How many?" Erin asked.

"Over two or three hundred, I suppose. You better start your report now," Jose said, "otherwise, who knows how long you'll have to wait."

Enraged and trembling, Erin found herself speechless, whereas Ma Lu had already managed to stand up from the ground.

"It's okay, Doctor Erin, I can... I can stay in prison."

Jose had originally planned to see Ma Lu erupt in desperate rage, but the latter's unexpected response also caught him by surprise. However, a meaningful smile soon appeared on his face.

"Interesting."

Erin was dumbfounded; she couldn't understand why any sane person would willingly claim the identity of a prisoner, especially in Prison 444, where the most vicious and brutal criminals of The Grand Alliance were detained.

The female doctor wanted to continue persuading, but Jose did not give her the chance, saying directly, "Alright, everyone's been checked. Let's take this cutie with us; we're going home."

Ma Lu was hauled onto the Cat Claw by two prison guards, and soon after, the ship's hatch closed again, flying towards Prison 444.

Looking out through the porthole, Ma Lu finally saw what the so-called fish cage looked like.

Shaped like a sphere in entirety, it floated among an asteroid belt like a Pokémon ball, with two circular docking ports on top and a huge, jagged gate underneath.

It resembled the face of a small Demon, emitting a sinister jeering laugh.