Chapter 74: The Great Escape (Part 2)

  I was feeling a bit uneasy and restless, but fortunately, Wan Yi arrived at this moment. He brought me some news: "There's another person who will be joining us tonight. She's also one of our people, I'll tell you more about her later."

  I was curious about the person who would be going out with us, and patiently listened to Wan Yi continue: "Her name is Nangong Qianlan, originally a special forces soldier in our unit. Later, she was framed by Wang Yingzu for offending him and was imprisoned. Her experience is basically the same as yours, but her sentence is shorter, only three years. This time, Old Chen asked me to bring you two together and said that from now on, you will form a team with Nangong Qianlan, called the Golden Lotus Team. I'll tell you about your mission in detail after we get out."

  I frowned and said: "That Nan Gong Qian Lan, isn't she quite old? I've never seen her before?"

  Wan Yi shook his head: "She was locked up for three months in solitary confinement because of her jailbreak a while ago, and she's still in the confinement room now. We'll go rescue her together later. By the way, Nan Gong Qian Lan is not an ordinary woman, I heard she dislikes men very much, so you should be careful not to get into unnecessary trouble."

  I was stunned and couldn't help but say: "So you're gay? Well, I guess we can work together from now on, and I'll be fine with it."

  Wan Yi laughed: "It's not what you said, she's a lesbian. She just focuses on her work and doesn't take any man seriously... To put it bluntly, she has high standards and looks down on people."

  I let out a sigh of relief: "Is that so? Well, that's somewhat better. At worst, we'll just do our own things and not interfere with each other."

  Wan Yi shook his head again: "That won't do either. You're a team, you know what that means? That's to work together in unison. Each doing their own thing won't cut it!"

  I could only nod: "Let's talk about this later. Let's think about how to get out of here instead, I have a feeling we won't be leaving that easily."

  Wan Yi frowned and said, "I've already made arrangements for this matter. If nothing unexpected happens, it should go smoothly. By the way, don't leave any traces behind, that's what Old Man Chen has repeatedly warned us about."

  I looked at the wall that I had already cleaned: "I've cleaned it all up, there shouldn't be any marks left."

  Wan Yi finally put his mind at ease and turned around to leave my cell.

  I thought of a problem and said: "There are monitors everywhere here. After we leave, will Chen Lao be implicated by us?"

  Wan Yi turned back and said: "Don't worry, they don't have direct evidence to say that your escape was ordered by Old Chen, so there's nothing they can do to Old Chen."

  I nodded: "That's good. Wanyi, you're running outside, be more careful."

  Wan Yi smiled: "I have a plan." After saying this, he left, seemingly to contact that Nan Gong Qian Lan.

  For this Nan Gong Qian Lan who almost suddenly appeared, I have a very special feeling. It seems like there's some expectation and concern about meeting her. This feeling of mine is indescribable and unclear, nor do I know how it was produced.

  I had originally planned to rest for a while longer, but found it difficult to sleep at this time, so I simply walked slowly around the cell to pass the time.

  At this time, the guard outside the cell where I was being held had been changed, and I had seen this person before, but didn't know his name.

  I peered through a small hole in the door and took stock of this guard, who seemed to be quite young, probably a new recruit straight from university.

  After hesitating again and again, I finally made up my mind to say to the guard standing outside my cell: "Hey, little brother, can you do me a favor?"

  The guard immediately raised the gun in his hand and shouted: "What's going on?"

  I smiled and looked at the guard through a small hole: "Do you know Wan Yi?"

  The guard hesitated for a moment, slowly lowered the gun in his hand and said: "What? You know Master Wan Yi? He's an old soldier here, we all call him Brother."

  I laughed: "Then you tell me about him."

  The guard frowned and said: "You don't know him? Then why should I tell you about his affairs? What if Master knows and blames me?"

  I smiled and said, "Don't worry, he and I are from the same unit, but he is also my senior fellow apprentice. After I arrived at the unit, I never saw him again. Now that I know he's my senior fellow apprentice, I'm curious about his experiences."

  The guard nodded and smiled: "So that's it! I know you, your name is Jin Cang, the deputy commander of the Dragon Guard Regiment. As for what happened to your senior brother, I'll tell you some things I know."

  "I hastily said: 'Alright. I want to know when Master Wan Yi arrived here?'"

  The guard thought for a moment before saying, "I'm not very clear about this either, I just know he came over here to be a guard - actually also called a prison police officer - it's been a long time. Master Wan Yi is already thirty years old this year, and I heard he's going to switch careers soon."

  I nodded slightly: "Then who does he usually associate with? I heard him say that he has a close relationship with some of the top leaders in the military department, which leader is called... what was it again?"

  The guard immediately said: "Isn't that Old Chen, Chief Chen? You don't even know this, and he's the direct leader of your Dragon Protection Regiment!"

  I made a sudden realization and pointed at my head, saying: "I was injured and lost some of my memory, so sometimes I forget things."

  The guard said sympathetically, "So that's how it is. I was wondering why you didn't even know these things. Jin Cang, you're quite pitiful. I've heard about your situation, but... there's nothing I can do to help you either. If you want to know something, as long as it's something I can say, I'll tell you."

  I quickly thanked him and then asked: "Who else does Master Wan get along with? I want to understand him better, so he can take care of me a bit more, you know."

  The guard smiled: "I understand. Wan Shixiong and our guards are very close, he's a very easy-going person, and also very good to us... But if you say who is close to him, I think it's just a few people. One of them is the warden here. This is a military prison, and all the prisoners are military personnel who have committed crimes, so our warden is also a military officer, and he was a staff officer from the 03 unit who came to take up the post of warden..."

  My heart skipped a beat, and I secretly thought something was off. It turned out that this Wanyi and the people from 03 Unit were also very close, so whether he really wanted to help me escape or not was worth considering.

  The guard continued, "There's also someone named Nangong Qianlan, who is said to be Master Wan's junior sister. She comes from a branch of the Dragon Guard's predecessor. So Master Wan takes good care of Nangong Qianlan."

  I nodded slightly and asked: "What is your prison warden's name? Is he still the staff officer of the 03 unit?"

  The guard shook his head and said, "It's not been for a long time. Before coming here, he had already been removed from office, and it was said that he was transferred to be the prison warden because he was relieved of his post as the chief of staff of the 03 unit."

  I slightly put down my mind and asked again: "Is Master Wan still close to anyone else? What I mean is, does he have any relatives or friends here too? Is... is he married?"

  The guard smiled: "I don't know about that. But I've heard people say that Master Wan has someone he likes, and she's also a guard here."

  I was taken aback for a moment, then thought that there were also female soldiers here, and smiled: "Who is that? Why haven't I heard him mention it before?"

  The guard chuckled and leaned in close to the small hole, saying: "Don't tell Master Wan that I said this, but that person is actually the daughter of our prison warden."

  I involuntarily let out an "ah", but quickly covered my mouth, preventing my voice from spreading.

  The guard was taken aback, then burst out laughing: "You're also making a big fuss over nothing! What's the big deal? She's just the warden's daughter. Any woman has to get married eventually, even if she is the warden's daughter."

  I let out a wry smile and thought to myself, "The reason I cried out wasn't because Wan Yi liked the prison chief's daughter, but because I thought of another possibility..." But my mouth said to the guard, "That is, that is..."

  The guard said in a low voice: "I'm not chatting with you anymore, I still have to go on patrol."

  I nodded, watching the guard walk away into the distance, a sense of unease in my heart. Although Wan Yi was under Chen Lao's command and would indeed follow his orders, now that he had taken a liking to the daughter of the warden from the 03 unit, things might take a turn for the worse. I couldn't help but think carefully about the plan to escape, and also be more cautious around Wan Yi.

  As the saying goes, "people's hearts are separated by a layer of skin", I and Wan Yi were just acquaintances for the first time. Escaping from prison is not a trivial matter, if caught, I might be directly shot, my own life and property do not allow me to have any carelessness.

  Be careful from start to finish, and there will be no failure. I must be more cautious and careful. So I found a young guard who didn't know me to ask about Wan Yi's situation. Unexpectedly, I really discovered some clues, but for now, I still can't confirm some things, nor dare say that Wan Yi is definitely problematic.

  There are still about three hours before the time agreed upon by Wan Yi and me, so I must make the right decision within this period of time. If only I could contact Chen Jing or Old Man Chen, but I am in prison without any communication device, this idea is simply impossible to realize.

  I secretly prayed that if someone would give me a mobile phone or something at this time, it would be great. Unfortunately, my prayers did not receive any response, and I could only stay in the cell, deep in thought.

  Time slowly passed, and Wan Yi appeared once again. He directly opened the door of the cell: "Are you ready? We're setting off now."

  I nodded, ready to make a desperate attempt. If it didn't work out, I'd rather die than spend the rest of my life in prison anyway.

  Following Wanyi out of the cell, Wanyi whispered: "You still have to pretend to be a prisoner for a while. If we encounter someone checking, we'll say you're being taken away for interrogation."

  I nodded slightly and allowed Wan Yi to put handcuffs on me, then led me to the gate of the detention house.

  The sentry at the gate almost subconsciously blocked our way, then took a closer look and saw that it was Wan Yi, so he took a step back and only symbolically asked: "So late, where are you going?"

  "Hey, those above want to ask him a few questions, and I'm not even able to take a break... Brothers, watch out, don't cause any trouble!"

  The guards immediately responded in unison: "Yes!"

  Wan Yi nodded slightly and pushed me out of the cell door.

  As soon as I entered the courtyard, I saw that there were many guards stationed on the walls all around, and spotlights shone down on us almost immediately. A guard loudly asked: "Who are you? What do you want?"

  Wan Yi loudly replied: "Take Wan Yi away for questioning."

  The guard looked at him for a while before saying: "At night when walking in the yard, everyone must keep to the side and is not allowed to walk to the middle position."

  I looked at Wan Yi strangely after hearing this. Wan Yi loudly responded with "yes", then turned around and whispered to me: "At night, various anti-escape mechanisms and traps in the middle of the courtyard will be activated, so we need to walk along the edges."

  I nodded slightly, indicating that I understood. Wan Yi then pushed me to continue walking forward and we directly arrived at the bottom of the building used for interrogating prisoners during peacetime.

  Wan Yi whispered, "The isolation room is just behind this building. Later, you go rescue Nan Gong Qian Lan, she's in the fourth isolation room. I'll stay here to hold off those patrolling guards." After a pause, he handed me a key and whispered, "This is the key to the isolation room and the handcuffs. Be careful yourself. I'll come find you five minutes later."

  I responded with a sound, taking advantage of Wan's blockage of the guards' line of sight, I quickly ran along the wall corner.

  The solitary confinement house was a separate row of houses, only one story high, but very solid, all made of reinforced concrete. I quickly found the fourth solitary confinement room where Nan Gong Qian Lan was being held and whispered: "Nan Gong Qian Lan?"

  Someone inside also answered me in a low voice: "I am."

  I hastily whispered: "I'll come to rescue you right away, get ready to leave with me immediately." As I spoke, I opened the door of the confinement room and saw a person about my height walking out under the dim light.

  "This person said in a low voice: 'Are you Jin Cang? Where are we going now?'"

  I took a glance at the female soldier in front of me and couldn't help but say to myself, "She's still quite pretty, how could she dislike men?" But I said out loud, "Wan Yi will be here soon, let's wait for him."

  Nangong Qianlan nodded slightly, without saying a word. It seemed that she was indeed a very proud person, I came to save her, but she didn't even say thank you.

  Wan Yi quickly came over, saw us and without saying a word, made a gesture for us to follow him, and directly went towards the wall of the courtyard.

  We were very careful, and with the help of this "traitor" Wan Yi, we arrived at the wall of the courtyard very smoothly. At this time, I saw a rope on the wall of the courtyard, which seemed to have been prepared by Wan Yi long ago.

  Wan Yi and I stayed by the wall to keep watch while Nan Gong Qian Lan climbed up using the rope. Her movements were quite skilled, no wonder she was a special forces operative, she scaled the wall in just a few moves.

  Next was me, and since I had that surge of great strength for no reason, climbing over this 5-meter-high wall was effortless, and I climbed up very quickly.

  Wan Yi also seemed to be quite careful and agile, and easily climbed over the wall. On top of the wall was a one-meter-wide platform, like a corridor, usually used for guards to patrol. At this moment, we crouched down on it, and could see the guards changing shifts not far away.

  The timing of the Wan Yi challenge was very accurate, and at this moment there were no guards patrolling on the wall. We quickly pulled up the rope, turned it over and threw it under the outer wall of the courtyard, and then slid down one by one along the rope.

  Everything went smoothly, it didn't feel like a prison break at all, and there was no danger or trouble like they show on TV.

  Wan Yi led me and Nan Gong Qian Lan to run into a small forest on the east side of the prison, then directly through the forest, came to a muddy highway.

  There was a jeep parked on the highway, and Wan Yi whispered at this time: "This is the car arranged by Old Chen for you. You can leave here in the car now. I have to go back immediately, otherwise it will be troublesome if I am discovered."

  I was surprised: "Are you going back? How can this be, if you go back you will definitely be caught..."

  Nangong Qianlan also said: "Let's go together, Old Man Chen will arrange everything for us, you don't have to go back."

  Wan Yi shook her head firmly and said: "I can't leave, because I still have other things to do. You guys hurry up and go, I'll be fine, don't worry."

  I saw that Wan Yi's mind was made up, so I pulled Nan Gong Qian Lan, who still wanted to persuade Wan Yi, and whispered: "Let's go quickly, or we'll be caught up by them and all our previous efforts will be in vain."

  Nangong Qianlan seemed to have shaken off her hand, got rid of me pulling her hand, and silently took the driver's seat.

  I recalled what Wan Yi said and silently scolded myself for being muddled, making up my mind to be more careful in the future and not easily get involved with Nan Gong Qian Lan.

  As soon as I got on the jeep, Nan Gong Qian Lan immediately started the car and sped away. We didn't say a word all the way because earlier I had momentarily forgotten Wan Yi's words and pulled Nan Gong Qian Lan, who directly shook me off, leaving both of us with some awkwardness.

  We successfully escaped, originally planning to go see Old Chen directly. But at this moment, I suddenly had a new idea. After careful consideration, I said to Nan Gong Qian Lan: "Stop the car, we can't ride in this car anymore."

  Nangong Qianlan was taken aback, but still stopped the car without getting out. She looked at me with a puzzled expression. I got out of the car and said in a low voice, "This car will be tracked, we can't implicate others."

  Nangong Qianlan suddenly enlightened, jumped off the carriage and actually pulled me to start running. I was shocked and thought: "What's going on? Didn't you say I'm not allowed to touch you? Why are you taking the initiative to pull me now?"

  Before I could voice my doubts, Nan Gong Qian Lan quietly explained, "There's someone coming from behind, we need to leave quickly."

  I also hastened my pace and followed Nangong Qianlan as she quickly left our car.

  The light at night was very poor, because we were afraid of getting lost, we didn't dare to leave the highway too far, and could only run along the highway. After running for nearly two kilometers, we saw a car coming from afar.

  I and Nangong Qianlan immediately bowed down and hid in the grass by the side of the road.

  The car quickly passed by us without noticing us, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, Nangong Qianlan was still holding my hand, just about to stand up, I quickly pulled her back, whispering: "Be careful of the return shot."

  No sooner had I finished speaking than the car's headlights reappeared in the distance. Nangong Qianlan glanced at me, smiled slightly, and gently squeezed my hand, indicating that my guess was correct.

  I also smiled slightly, and hid quietly in the bushes with Nangong Qianlan, waiting for the car to drive away. It wasn't until then that Nangong Qianlan whispered: "Impressive. What do we do next?"

  I thought for a moment and said: "Let's go find a place with a phone first, contact Old Chen, and then make a decision."

  Nangong Qianlan stared at me for a while, nodded slightly, and didn't object to my idea.