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Chapter 6: New World IV

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The friendly neighbor didn't understand much of what he was hearing, but a hunch was telling him to listen no more as a sense of dread slowly started seeping into the depths of his bones.

"It was all my fault. I made a mistake, and I deserve to be here."

The strange neighbor's voice was trembling as he spoke what can be deemed to be his heartful words, or so the friendly neighbor thought.

"This is all my fault, and now that I'm here, what's gonna happen to my family? No! I'm sure it already happened."

"With no one to protect them and what I did, I'm sure they're already dead, their corpses rotting in the depths of the ground... No, I'm sure they became nothing but a skeleton right now..."

Those dull words reverberated throughout the small solitary confinement section for all to hear though only two people had the honor to hear them, one of them was shaking by this point as he weakly begged, "Please stop..."

Yet Val continued with that same dead tone, "I can't imagine what they've gone through before their departure, but I'm sure they've been tortured." It was at this point that the all familiar knocking sound as Val started tapping on the metallic door.

"I'm sure they were left to starve... Hell, I'm sure I'm getting more food in this shithole than they ever did outside... And I'm sure they've even been r..."

His mind-breaking speech came to a halt as the earth-shaking scream sounded throughout the section, "S- Shut up!!! Just fucking stop!!!"

The friendly neighbor became friendly no more as he bellowed to the top of his lungs. However, he couldn't hide the trembling in his voice.

"You're right... I should just shut my mouth... Forever, and follow after them." Those were Val's last words to the friendly neighbor as his usual smile returned to his face, and the tapping stopped.

He finally dropped his act as he thought to himself, 'Not bad, I guess? I will give myself a seven out of ten. I'm sure if my mood was more positive, I would've done better, but such circumstances don't allow that.'

Val then turned his attention to the thing on the dirty bed not far from him, his shirt which looks much more bloated than before, 'Four rats should be more than enough, right? Oh well, only time will tell.'

And so, the gears of time continued to move with absolutely no movement heard until what he was waiting for occurred.

His act started exactly after the guards' last patrol of the day after they took back the plastic containers as per their usual routine.

Val still doesn't know what time of day that actually is as all the light he could see is the artificial one which only gets turned on during the guards' patrols.

However, he has an accurate estimate of the length between the last patrol of the day and the first patrol of the next day, but since it's the longest time between patrols, he naturally concluded when it's night and when it's the day.

Anyway, he had already deemed that that period is more than enough for his next course of action.

So he just closed his eyes and started his usual meditation session, not deep meditation but just normal peaceful meditation.

He just waited for things to take their natural course of action. He wouldn't say he's unrivaled in psychology and hypnosis, but if he says he's second, no one would proclaim to be first??

And something as simple as this was naturally not a problem for him. He has always found it interesting how simple hints can affect people so massively.

And how unaware those people are of the cause of their actions and their way of thinking.

*Bang!!**Bang!**Bang!!*

The night thus passed in silence. The only sound that echoed across the entire night was three loud collision sounds before everything went quiet again.

Not long before the first rays of light shone upon the area, Val got up and brought his tied-up shirt from the bed. He untied it and put it right next to the cell door.

What was within naturally came to view, four rotting bodies of rats as the stench of death started spreading through the cell and even outside of it as Val opened the small window for his incoming friends to enjoy it as well.

The stench was just enough for others to assume it's coming from a freshly dead body, not too much but just enough for his targets to perceive it.

That's why he put the rats in the dirty shirt and tightened it around them as much as possible.

Heat makes dead bodies decompose much faster though Val couldn't help but be thankful for the existence of devices similar to air conditioners that keeps the place warm, else he would've used much more extreme methods to achieve his purpose.

They're in the north after all, and it's too cold over here, especially at night. Then again, the alternative was everyone in prison dying by the cold.

Once the stench spread to a satisfying degree, Val again picked up the shirt and brought it beneath his bed while leaving it open.

He then laid himself on the floor, closed his eyes, and slowed down his breathing as much as possible.

Everything else was already prepared, the blood of rats splattered all around and a few other things.

It wasn't long after that before the prison guards that usually patrol the section and bring food appeared as the sound of footsteps reverberated throughout the area, two distinct sets of footsteps as usual.

The first guard couldn't help but frown as he walked closer and closer to the area. That smell was all too familiar for him.

He couldn't help but turn his head to his fellow comrade, noticing the latter with the same expression as him, "Now that I think about it, it's been a while since something like this happened."

They nodded at each other before they carefully opened the window of one of the prison cells, and just like always, they noticed the skinny old man doing what he always does, nodding to himself repeatedly.

He only stood up once he noticed them looking at him from the small door window, then he came closer to the door and obediently waited there for his food.

They didn't bother saying anything to him, knowing that he's deaf and can't even speak, his obvious disability made it obvious to all.

They went on to the next prison cell, the second one with a prisoner within from the six cells in this section.

They weren't surprised when they noticed the prisoner motionlessly lying on the floor.

What surprised them however is when they checked another cell where the last prisoner resides.

Having one person dying was one thing but two at the same time was certainly strange.

Though thinking about it, they figured it out. usually, prisoners die here either to sickness, suicide, or starvation due to the little food they receive.

It was apparent to them that the two prisoners killed themself, the blood on the walls and the floor made it apparent.

"Perhaps one of the then killed himself because he heard the other on killing himself?" One of the guards wondered.

The other guard just shrugged his shoulders saying, "It doesn't matter, just go call the others to transport the bodies out. I will keep watch here until you come back."

His fellow guard nodded and went on his way to start the usual procedures in similar situations.

And that was exactly what Val based his simple plan on. It doesn't matter whether they're suspicious about the circumstances.

There was even a chance of them wondering why the stench was so apparent, why the bodies started releasing that stench so fast.

At the end of the day, they'll have to open those prison cells. It just depends on whether Val would choose the aggressive approach or the peaceful one.

It wasn't long before that specific guard came back with two other guards following closely behind him, in their hands was what looked like a large black plastic bag.

Fortunately for one pair of the guards and unfortunate for the other pair, they opened the cell of the friendly stranger and checked the dead boy inside.

The fortunate pair of guards then placed the body in the plastic bag and started carrying it out of the place as the unfortunate pair of guards started opening the other cell.

Val fully stopped breathing by this movement as he tried to slow down his heartbeat as much as possible.

The unfortunate pair noticed the terrible state of the cell first hand and the concentrated disgusting smell made them want to leave this place as fast as possible.

They approached the body making sure to avoid stepping on the clothed blood around the body.

Strangely or unsurprisingly, the two guards' guard was down as they placed the plastic bag on the floor ready to place the body on it... However...