Chapter 79

There were still more than two hours until noon. Lin Tu sprinted, recalling the map of the square, trying to figure out which building could temporarily hold a large number of prisoners. She finally settled on the hotel at the center of the square.

When she reached the square, a crowd had already gathered—especially around the Blue Light Hotel, where rebel guards were stationed outside. Lin Tu knew she had found the right place.

"What do we do now?" The group was indecisive.

"Two options," Guan Suiyue said. "Either we launch a direct assault, or we sneak in quietly. We already know each other's abilities—among us, only Li Yuanyuan and Luo Yongzhi excel at offense; the rest of us are support. I wonder about Miss Lin..."

"Sister Lin's combat strength is very high," Yi Ying, the nominal captain, quickly interjected.

"And I can fight too," Guan Suixing chimed in.

As her words fell, the others' gazes involuntarily drifted toward the long blade on her back. If she claimed to be good at fighting, it certainly looked that way.

"You'd better not get your hopes up too high," Guan Suiyue said with a light laugh, ultimately not exposing her sister's lie.

"A three-person assault is definitely not enough, so we'd better sneak in. If I may ask—does anyone have stealth-type skills or items, like invisibility or presence suppression?"

The group exchanged glances and shook their heads.

"I do have a skill that can alter one's appearance, but I need to see the target appearance to change into it," Guan Suiyue sighed. "It's a bit late to go find some prison warden or high official now."

"Who said anything about finding a high official?" Lin Tu suddenly spoke.

A thought had occurred to her—besides the rebel guards, there was another kind of person who could enter the prison. Lin Tu shared her idea.

Ten minutes later, the group, having split up to scout the square and the Blue Light Hotel, regrouped at their meeting point and shared what they had gathered.

"Exactly as I thought!" Yi Ying was excited. "We all come from different worlds, but the tradition of the last meal before execution is the same everywhere—including here. I just asked several people in the square, and they all said prisoners get a last meal before death."

"For the last meal, people usually buy from the bakery in the center. But some prisoners like to eat something else. I found a man who said his brother loved the braised beaver tail from a shop near their home, so he specially went to buy some and brought it back. Maybe before the execution, he can bribe a guard to deliver it," Luo Yongzhi said.

"We split up and asked the restaurants along the street—what I found matches Brother Luo's account. The last meals are usually from that bakery."

"Same for me."

"The shop I asked also had a woman named Marit go there to buy, but the portions she bought were small. I asked and found out it was for her husband. The rebels normally order their meals from that bakery."

The rest answered one by one.

Finally, only Lin Tu was left. She answered, "I asked at the Blue Light Hotel—the meal delivery will arrive in about half an hour. It's the same as before. And they can get inside the hotel."

So it seemed Lin Tu had guessed right. Besides the rebel guards, the meal deliverers could also enter the hotel.

The group immediately decided to split into two teams—one to change appearances and go in to find the prisoners, the other to keep watch at the entrance in case something went wrong.

But realistically, nothing was likely to go wrong. They planned to knock out and lock up the bakery staff. As long as the bakery employees didn't notice anything amiss, who would suspect that people walking boldly through the hotel, looking exactly like bakery workers, weren't actually them?

Thus, the task of changing appearance and entering the hotel was more dangerous. Lin Tu, Luo Yongzhi, Yi Ying, and Li Yuanyuan took on that mission, while Guan Suiyue, Guan Suixing, and Liu Sheng stayed at the entrance.

Dealing with ordinary bakery employees wasn't hard. They quickly locked them away. Guan Suiyue took a special paintbrush and swept it over their faces a few times, and soon they became perfect copies of the bakery staff.

After a brief wait, the scheduled delivery time arrived.

Lin Tu and the others entered the Blue Light Hotel smoothly with the bread. Even Guan Suiyue's team managed to slip into the lobby by using the excuse of "helping carry the meals."

"Ah, I really can't carry this anymore, officer. Could we rest in the lobby for a while?" Guan Suiyue sighed deeply, using the skill [Post-Apocalyptic Reconstruction Diplomat], and persuaded the guard. "I promise we won't cause any trouble—we'll just wait until they come out and help carry the leftovers back."

"Sit, sit." The guard waved his hand.

A diplomat's reasonable request always had a hundred percent success rate against those weaker than her in all aspects.

Guan Suiyue shot Lin Tu a look, and Lin Tu understood. The skill activated successfully. She waved for Yi Ying and the others to follow the guard toward the interior of the hotel.

"Officer," Lin Tu said as she entered the hotel, trying to get on the rebel guard's good side, "someone asked me to bring the prisoners some of their favorite food—beaver tails, dried rat, that sort of thing. It's just a little extra in the bread, nothing against the rules. Would that be alright?"

As she spoke, she pulled a pack of cigarettes from her pocket and handed it to the guard.

The rebel had been about to refuse, but the moment he saw the cigarette pack, his face softened.

"Of course, no problem," he said, patting his chest.

"It's their good fortune that an officer like you would show them leniency," Lin Tu praised, then continued, "One of them is Marit's husband—I think his name is..."

"Ross."

"Yes, yes. An officer in charge really has a memory unlike us ordinary folks. Another is Zhang Haitao—his brother wants to send him braised beaver tail," Lin Tu said with a shy smile. "And there's a man named Rui Si. He..."

"Rui Si?"

The officer's expression changed immediately. "Which Rui Si are you talking about? What's your relationship with him? Who sent you to find him—"

Before the guard could finish, Lin Tu shot a look at Luo Yongzhi, who pulled out a steel rod and brought it down hard—*bang*—squarely on the back of the officer's head.

"He wouldn't have talked. Strip him, gag him, and lock him in the bathroom," Lin Tu said.

The poor officer, who knew nothing, was stripped bare and thrown into the bathroom. Even the pack of cigarettes that had brought him to this state was retrieved by Lin Tu.

"In this calamity, cigarettes and alcohol are the most valuable supplies," Lin Tu explained.

Luo Yongzhi and the others understood. In that case, it was worth being frugal.

The rebel's build was fairly large, and only Luo Yongzhi could fit into his clothes. Luo Yongzhi donned the new attire, transforming in a blink from a delivery boy into a rebel officer, and led the group toward the prison.

Using the pretext that he was a new guard who couldn't find his way, Luo Yongzhi asked two guards to point the way—but the pack of cigarettes in his hand seemed to burn like an iron. No matter how he tried to hand it out, it kept coming back.

After adding two more people to the bathroom, the group decided to change tactics and start with the prisoners.

Carrying the food up to the second floor, under the guards' direction, they found the food cart in the storage room. They stuffed all the bread onto the cart and knocked on each cell door to deliver meals.

Each cell held about six prisoners and one guard. Outside, a guard also stood at intervals along the corridor. Once Lin Tu and the others figured out the pattern, before entering the next cell, Lin Tu shot Luo Yongzhi a look.

"Hurry up, hurry up! Execution's about to happen—there's no time if you don't eat!" The guard urged impatiently.

"Coming, coming!" Lin Tu quickly pushed the cart and followed the guard. Luo Yongzhi walked beside her, the steel rod hidden inside the cart in his grip. Yi Ying and Li Yuanyuan brought up the rear, alertly glancing left and right.

The cart rolled in. Behind the rebel guard, Lin Tu eyed the six prisoners warily and made a "shh" gesture. At the same time, behind her, Yi Ying and Li Yuanyuan slammed the door shut with a *thud*. Luo Yongzhi raised the steel rod and cracked it hard against the back of the guard's head.

"Ah!" A startled cry escaped one of the prisoners.

"Don't speak—we're here to save you!" Lin Tu said quickly.

"What's going on?" At that moment, a voice came from outside. A guard patrolling the corridor had noticed something amiss.

Luo Yongzhi retrieved the steel rod, pulled out a cigarette, and sauntered out with a grin, reciting the line they had rehearsed: "One prisoner's family wanted to give him an extra meal, and someone who didn't like it got jealous. I gave him a kick."

"I see," the guard said, noticing he looked unfamiliar. "Where are you from?"

"I work under Officer Yuan Que. He had something today, so I'm filling in. I'm new, so I thought I'd do a bit extra and help the seniors hand out the meals."

"Thoughtful of you." His explanation was detailed, and the guard didn't doubt him.

Inside the cell, Lin Tu faced the six prisoners. "Do you know Rui Si?"

"Yes," one immediately said, and the group breathed a sigh of relief.

"Who doesn't know Rui Si?"

"Not familiar, but I've heard of him."

"Do you know where he's being held?" Fearing they might be reluctant to say, Lin Tu added, "This prison break was planned for Rui Si. Our people are about to rescue him, and it will stir up chaos—use the confusion to escape."

It wasn't a complete fabrication. They wouldn't cause a full riot, but with Rui Si being rescued right under their noses, a commotion serious enough to shake things up was all but guaranteed.

Lin Tu crouched down, fished out the guard's keys, and tossed them in her hand.

Just as she waited for their answer, a look of delight suddenly flashed across the six prisoners' faces.

Delight? Lin Tu suddenly realized—why was the ground faintly trembling? As she pondered what was shaking, an explosion roared from overhead. Chunks of plaster rained down from the ceiling, and through the ringing in her ears, she heard the prisoners' cheers.

"A riot is coming!" one prisoner shouted excitedly. "Anyone who saves Rui Si is our friend! We'll help everyone escape! We'll see you outside!"

Lin Tu: "?"

"Rui Si is locked up on the top floor!"