Chapter 4
Leonard ran all the way back to Room 22, trembling as he placed the basin and toiletries he was holding tightly onto the bed. His heart was pounding as if it was about to give out. He uneasily closed the door and locked it from the inside.
He leaned against the door, gasping for breath, and it took him a while to recover. It was now around nine in the morning, and the other prisoners had gone to the yard for labor. The surroundings were quiet with no one around, and the occasional sound of footsteps scared him half to death.
Whenever he closed his eyes, his mind was filled with the handsome face of the man and that terrifying thing below, walking towards him step by step as if it was going to devour him.
It was too terrifying!
Leonard wiped the sweat off his forehead, with a hundred questions swirling in his mind.
Who was that man?
Didn''t he have to do labor? Why was he living alone in a house, and that house was obviously much better than the other cells.
But soon he stopped his incessant curiosity. Now was not the time to be curious about this; he could barely protect himself, let alone care about others. Moreover, his curiosity had almost gotten him killed. From now on, he had to be extremely careful. This prison might be dirtier and more complicated than he knew.
After sitting on the ground for a while, Leonard finally recovered from the shock. He got up and went to the bed, looking at the cheap towel, a bar of soap, a toothbrush, and a toothpaste of an unknown brand that he had just received. He never thought he would one day use such low-quality items.
Resigned, he picked up the toiletries and walked towards the sink outside. Fortunately, the weather was neither cold nor hot, and the water from the faucet was not cold, which Leonard could accept. He had just passed by a bathroom with a door that had a sign saying "No Water" and a small explanation below, which Leonard roughly read. It meant that there was only hot water around nine in the evening, and no hot water was supplied at other times. The bathroom door was loosely ajar, and Leonard peeked inside. It was more of a bathing pool than a bathroom, with no partitions, just several showerheads above, about ten or so, spaced about a meter apart. It was clearly a place where everyone would stand naked under the showerheads, with no privacy at all. When bathing, there would be black, white, yellow, good-looking, and not-so-good-looking bodies all around...
Leonard thought about that scene, and his face turned pale with fear. This terrifying prison was really not a place for humans.
He quickly rinsed his mouth and casually wiped his face, not daring to rub hard for fear of wiping off the stuff Howard had put on him. By the time he finished tidying up, it was already past ten, and the cafeteria not far away was emitting a fragrant smell. Leonard''s stomach immediately growled. He hadn''t eaten for a day and a night, so it was no wonder he was hungry. Not wanting to stay in the cell, he decided to sit in the cafeteria and wait for food.
Every prisoner had a day to adjust on their first day in prison, without having to follow the main group for labor. When Leonard entered the cafeteria, he found four or five people sitting inside, all with eyes full of fear, dread, and unwillingness, and their bodies looked haggard. He also noticed that the people sitting there had one thing in common: they were either burly or unattractive, with no one good-looking. He touched the black mud on his face and felt a bit relieved.
After carefully observing, he chose a short man who looked kind and honest to approach. Sometimes, socializing could bring great benefits, a principle Leonard understood even outside.
