Chapter 31: All Were Orphans

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Shattered Lake Prison, dining hall.

Perhaps because he came especially early today, Ash found that the prisoners who came to eat breakfast filled the entire dining hall. A little careful observation was an eye-opener for him. Other than humans, orcs, and goblins, there were many other species in the prison. Those who crawled on the ground, those with two horns, those with four arms…

Ash even saw a woman who looked especially sexy and exposed, and had hooves and furry ears. He wondered what kind of race she was. This made him develop a strong interest and wonderful fantasy regarding the health care industry of this world.

He wasn’t a furry, but…

“Do you want food?”

The soulful questioning of the dining hall lady drew Ash’s gaze back to her.

Ash randomly ordered a few servings that could fill his stomach. He saw that there was also a special dish at the window that stated: “everyone is limited to one serving”. It looked especially tempting.

“Madam, what is this?”

“Imperial seafood lalafell. It’s a seasonal delicacy, so production is very low.” The lady said, “If you came any later, it would be gone.”

“All right, I’ll have…”

“Give me five servings!”

A muffled shout interrupted Ash. He turned his head and saw a green-skinned orc getting his meal. The lady opposite him took away all five remaining servings of seafood lalafell and poured them into its huge bowl.

“Uh? This? Why gave it the right to get five servings?”

Ash gaped.

“It’s an orc,” the lady said matter-of-factly.

“Why gave orcs the right to get five servings?”

“Orcs can get five servings. It’s always been like this.”

“I won’t be able to have any if it takes five servings. How can this be—”

Suddenly, Ash’s words were stuck in his throat. The hologram popped up, and a series of red warnings filled his vision.

[Warning: You are trying to make racist remarks! This is prohibited! In the Blood Moon Nation, racial equality is the first rule! Please take note!]

Saying that orcs eat too much is considered racism!?

Depressed, Ash took his tray of food and went to find a seat. He found that all the seats were taken everywhere. When he finally found an empty seat, he found a blue-skinned monster with a particularly large ass sitting next to it. It looked even more menacing than the orcs and took two seats directly.

In his previous life, Ash would have turned around and left. However, this was the Shattered Lake Prison, and the other party could not use violence against him. Thus, he walked over gallantly.

“Hey, you’ve taken up two seats. Make way.”

The blue-skinned monster who was eating turned to look at him before lowering its head to eat.

“I’m an ogre.”

“Oh, so what? You can’t take two seats even if you’re an ogre—”

[Warning: You are trying to make racist remarks! This is prohibited! In the Blood Moon Nation, racial equality is the first rule! Please take note!]

It’s considered racist to say that your ass occupied two seats?

Ash wanted to curse out loud, but he couldn’t because his words were stuck in his throat. He wanted to dump his tray over the ogre, but he couldn’t because his hands were frozen.

Under the control of the chip on the back of their neck, every prisoner was the most loyal follower of the law. When they did not violate any laws or morals, they were granted the greatest freedom. But as soon as they touched the legal or moral boundary, even with a word or a glance, invisible shackles would bind them tightly.

Suddenly, someone patted his shoulder. A burly man beside him picked up his tray and stood up, indicating for Ash to sit there.

Ash thanked him and found the burly man somewhat familiar. He might have seen the man yesterday at the Deathmatch Society.

“Desmond,” he introduced himself, shooting a disgusted glance at the ogre and goblin sitting at his table. “I’m going to the Deathmatch Society first. Have a match with me if you get the chance.”

Hearing that they were from the Deathmatch Society, the others glanced up at them and moved a little farther away. Ash sat down and listened to the ogre chewing like a tractor next to him. He watched the goblin opposite him crouch in its chair and spray crumbs everywhere as it ate. A strong desire to escape welled up in him.

It was different from breaking out of prison. The reason he wanted to break out of prison was that he knew he would die if he stayed. The reason he wanted to escape was that he hated this environment.

The last time he felt this way was when he met a stupid superior during his internship. If it were a stupid colleague, he could still resist and rig things. But if his superior was stupid, he could not do anything other than endure it. He could not even resist verbally.

He could suffer grievances and hardships, because endurance was for the sake of not having to endure in the future.

However, if his superior was stupid, it meant that he would have to endure all the time in the future. Then, why should he work there? If he must work overtime, he might as well work overtime elsewhere. He could just say goodbye. The next boss would be better.

The current situation was much more serious than that of a stupid superior—the entire environment was stupid.

You’re angry, but you can’t say anything. You want to resist, but your body wouldn’t listen to you.

Ash suddenly came to a realization.

He had thought that the Shattered Lake Prison was really treating the prisoners well.

In fact, however, locking up such a group of detestable death row criminals and forbidding any transgressions between them, while making them struggle to create value for the prison in order to escape the Blood Moon Trial, was actually a form of mental dismemberment.

Extinguish their anger.

Shatter their hope.

Eliminate their courage.

Destroy their determination.

It planted the seeds of despair, grievance, regret, fear, and so on in them, until they were disfigured and broke down in insanity. Then, they would appear at the Blood Moon Trial in the image of a perfect abuser, and welcome the tragic end that they deserved.

Ash could now understand why there were so many people in the Deathmatch Society.

That was the only place where a death row criminal could vent his anger. It was the only dog hole in the prison that allowed them to breathe some fresh air.

It was equivalent to a trash recycling station.

However, the interesting thing was that people like Ash who couldn’t endure the environment were the ones considered trash. The death row criminals beside them who could relax were the model prisoners of this prison.

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Quickly finishing his meal, Ash hurried to where the trash should go.

There was no ongoing deathmatch in the Deathmatch Society. It was bright inside, and from a distance, Ash could see Runner lying in his boyfriend’s arms.

Ash wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt like Runner’s boyfriend had lost some weight since yesterday.

No way. Was Runner the one who squeezed others dry?

“Ash.” Runner raised his hand and waved in greeting, “You’re here so early. Have you just finished your breakfast? Do you want to digest your food first? Anyway, Valkas isn’t here yet.”

Ash nodded and found a place to sit down. Someone immediately sat beside him.

“Silin Dore.”

“Who?”

Ash looked at Igora beside him with some wariness.

Igora raised his eyebrows and said, “You don’t need to be nervous. I am not interested in inviting you to a deathmatch. I will not participate in any battle that I am not confident in winning, nor will I waste my time on something as worthless as dignity. I initiated the gambit and I readily accept my defeat.”

“People who play tactics like you are black-hearted. I can’t trust you.”

“Then let’s abandon the meaningless prelude and directly engage in the oldest interaction between humans—”

“Mating?”

“Dealing, dealing!” Igora enunciated each word clearly, hard enough to bleed them. “Answer a question from me, and I’ll answer one from you.

“I have no questions for you.”

“Really? Don’t you want to know why that elf Valkas challenged you?”

Elf?

Ash was somewhat surprised, but didn’t show it on his face.

“Okay, I’m a bit curious, but how can I know that you won’t lie?”

“I don’t know if you’re going to lie to me either.” Igora smiled. “We’re both taking the same risk.”

“Then what’s the point of this deal?”

“Because I’m confident that I can tell if you’re lying or not. Even if you’re lying, I can guess the truth. Similarly, you can—”

“I can’t.” Ash shook his head. “I’m unlearned. You’ll definitely lie to me.”

Igora choked, as if this was the first time he saw someone so self-aware.

After a moment of silence, he said helplessly, “Then I’ll tell you the news directly. You can judge whether this news is valuable or not. If it is, then answer my question. Is that okay?”

Igora’s tone sounded as if he had been grievously wronged. After some thought, Ash felt that Igora shouldn’t be taken advantage of him, so he nodded.

“Valkas Ur used to be a researcher at Kaimon General University. He was imprisoned on suspicion of stealing important patented technology, privately raising a child, and killing his colleague. Due to his identity as an elf, he was the only criminal who didn’t participate in the Blood Moon Judgment during his time in prison. He was imprisoned for five years and never participated in a single Blood Moon Judgment.”

“Oh,” said Ash. He remembered Runner had said that every criminal on the death row had to participate in the first Blood Moon Judgment. In prison, this was known as “going through the motions”. Only by going through it would one be qualified to create value in the Shattered Lake Prison. If one could not go through it, they would only be qualified to become fertilizer.

“Why could he escape the Blood Moon Judgment? Because of his identity as an elf? Didn’t they say that racial equality is the first rule of the Blood Moon Nation?”

“Race equality is of course the first rule.”

Igora smiled mysteriously.

“But some races are more equal than others.”

As expected, equality was a horizon. It existed everywhere, but it could not be reached anywhere… Ash did not lament about this. After all, he had just arrived not long ago and did not know much about how “racial equality” was implemented here.

“Then why did he challenge me?”

“We’ll have to start from the crimes he committed. Although stealing patented technology and killing his colleagues are serious crimes, they’re not enough to send him to Shattered Lake Prison. The real crime that incited the wrath of the higher-ups was him privately raising a child!”

Ash was confused.

What?

“Why is privately raising a child a serious crime?”

“Because it’s not allowed. No one is allowed to raise children on their own.”

Ash was getting more and more confused.

“If no one is raising children, then how did you… how did we grow up?”

“We all grew up in foster homes.” Igora frowned. “Socialized fostering is the basic policy of the Blood Moon Nation. Are you asking me this kind of question to hassle me?”

Socialized fostering?

Ash tried to understand the unfamiliar term as best he could. “You mean, we’re all raised by the state. Everyone is an—”

He wanted to say “orphan without parents”, but the words stopped on his tongue.

This time, it wasn’t the chip that stopped him.

Instead, it was because Ash couldn’t find the words at all.

He searched Heath’s head with all his might, only to discover that there were no words similar to “father” or “mother” in Heath’s mother tongue! The only thing that was somewhat related was the word “guardian”!

There was no stronger evidence than this.

Even the terms for “parents” did not exist. It was enough to prove that these two figures did not even exist in the social relations of the Blood Moon Nation!

Wait. Orphans who are socially fostered, chips that can control everyone’s words and actions…

Ash suddenly felt a twinge of fear towards the world beyond the prison.

Just what kind of world have I transmigrated to?!

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