Chapter Forty-Eight: Turning Danger into Safety, Part Two

This camp had always served as the logistics base for the special prison, so everything they needed was already on hand. The inmates who had seemed to be in good condition were all being held separately. All at once, more than forty criminals had to be confined, and even the people in the camp were thrown into a brief panic. Only after clearing out several storerooms did they finally manage to make space for them.

Everyone had to be examined, and Kang Hongyuan and Professor Hans had been checked in advance. Fortunately, after so long being battered by the sea, not a single person showed any sign of seasickness. It seemed they had all been trained for this kind of ordeal.

This time, Zhao Li had truly taken an enormous risk. If it had been only him, then no matter how big the waves were, they would never have reached Zhao Li inside the aircraft. But he had insisted on bringing everyone back, and there were only four rubber rafts. It was only after the prisoners had been escorted away and everyone had carefully examined the tools they had used to escape that they had time to mutter, It was far too close for comfort.

A battered single-seat aircraft, stripped down until only its power and control systems remained, and four rubber rafts tied together, one of which had even been sliced open while coming ashore. With nothing more than such crude equipment, they had carried more than forty people through such towering waves. Any small mishap would have meant a grave swallowed by the sea.

And most shocking of all, the one flying the single-seat aircraft had not been Zhao Li, the prison guard, but a prisoner. Everyone knew James was an expert pilot, but if anyone else had been in Zhao Li’s place, they would never have dared to place the lives of more than forty people, including their own, in the hands of a mass murderer who had killed over a thousand people.

To be honest, for Zhao Li to have come back alive was probably thanks to the blessings of his ancestors over eighteen generations. Against all odds, he had turned disaster into safety. What was more, Zhao Li had even jumped alone into the sea to rescue Kang Hongyuan after he was thrown out. That was an act that bordered on courting death.

And yet Zhao Li had succeeded. Not only had he returned safely himself, he had also brought back more than forty prisoners. Everyone now looked at him with new respect. After dealing with the prisoners, the remaining soldiers, even those who had only met Zhao Li once at the welcome party or had no real connection to him at all, came over one after another to give him a thumbs-up.

The camp had been thrown into chaos, but fortunately the prisoners had just survived a brush with death and were all comparatively obedient. They did not give the people here any trouble.

When some people saw the identities of several of those prisoners, they could not help but break into a cold sweat on Zhao Li’s behalf. Those notorious figures were among them as well, and Zhao Li had still managed to return alive. That was not something ordinary luck could explain.

The communication equipment here had not been damaged and could still contact the outside world. As soon as the other prison guards returned to the camp, they had used the communications system to report what had happened here. The old warden, no one knew where he had received the message, but without a word he had put down everything he was doing, boarded a warship, and headed back. He was probably already on his way.

Even so, Zhao Li was placed under close surveillance. Also under surveillance were more than a dozen other prison guards who had returned earlier. After all, the first reports said that a tsunami had made it impossible to avoid abandoning the prison, yet Zhao Li had brought back every single prisoner. No matter how one looked at it, the whole incident had to be thoroughly investigated.

Fortunately, they were still active-duty soldiers. Even though they were being monitored, it was nowhere near the level used for prisoners. Still, everyone had already been ordered to keep silent and forbidden from expressing any opinion about the matter before the investigation team arrived. Everything would have to wait for the old warden and the investigators.

This tsunami should be considered the most serious natural disaster ever to strike Mountbatten Planet. Under such circumstances, the fact that only some supplies had been lost was already something worthy of gratitude.

All records related to the tsunami had already been compiled by specialists and were waiting for the investigation team’s inspection. Order in the camp was quickly restored. Mainly because the prisoners were cooperating, there was no need to panic.

Zhao Li was treated specially and assigned a single room. Just like in prison, the room contained almost nothing at all, only a bed. After such prolonged tension, he did indeed need to relax for a while. Moreover, his nameless vital energy seemed to have undergone some change just now, so he could take this chance to observe carefully what had happened.

What pleased Zhao Li most was that he could now confirm he had already passed that bottleneck. The nameless vital energy was still as overbearing as ever as it circulated through his meridians, but the dull swelling pain in both his dantian and meridians was gone. It was light and natural now, and with each completed cycle, he could feel his vital energy increasing a little.

The sensation was wonderfully subtle, as if he could actually see his cultivation rising before his eyes. A casual movement of his limbs was enough to make him feel the fierce power stirring within his body. In just a few hours, it was as though he had gone from an ordinary man to a born strongman, an experience he had never had before.

He did not know whether it had been a life-and-death burst of power that shattered the bottleneck, or whether Sister Ban’s guidance had played a role, with long accumulation finally bringing about the breakthrough at just the right moment. Whatever the reason, Zhao Li seemed to have entered a different realm.

When he stopped trying to control it actively, the nameless vital energy continued to circulate on its own. At the same time, the refined energy from the basic strengthening technique also flowed slowly along his meridians, carrying away all the residual energy within them before new energy was generated again. This process repeated itself endlessly, round after round.

The refinement of his vital energy had also become faster. Compared with its former snail’s pace, it was much quicker now, though still more like a tortoise than a sprinter. Yet even so, it could now complete a full major cycle in half an hour.

Zhao Li did not know whether this change was ultimately good or bad. He only knew that so far there was no damage to his body, he felt comfortable, and he could still enjoy the pleasure of cultivation. There should not be any serious problem.

He stood up and casually tried several grappling techniques, all of which felt unbelievably smooth and natural. He drew his police baton and swung it a few times, twirling it deftly in his hand through several flourishes, and everything flowed without the slightest awkwardness. Only then did Zhao Li finally set his mind at ease and begin cultivating in earnest, treating it as a kind of rest.

Not long after Zhao Li entered a meditative state, the warship carrying the old warden slowly descended into the camp. Before the ship had even come to a steady stop, the old warden had already opened the hatch and leaped down.

“Where are those bastards?” The old warden, who had rushed back in such haste, looked terrifyingly grim. The moment he arrived, he began to roar at the camp commander who had come to greet him.

“Follow me, sir!” Although they both held the rank of lieutenant colonel, the camp commander still saluted with great respect, then led the old warden toward the surveillance area.

Had it come a little later, everyone would understand.

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