Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 310 - 229: Great Wisdom

Chapter 310: Chapter 229: Great Wisdom

"Mr. Mingyuan, I want you to serve as a witness to witness the changes in this planet."

In the end, the mechanical jailers extended an invitation to Duan Mingyuan, leaving him with an access card to the broadcasting studio.

The holder of this access card would be the special guest for this trial, enjoying the grand event in the broadcasting studio with audiences from different planets.

"The registration for personnel is tonight."

...

Twilight fell quietly.

The Cosmic Pirates who had just been imprisoned heard the commotion outside their cells and poked their heads out.

The prison life here was vastly different from what they had imagined. The identity of Cosmic Pirates and an average sentence of 300 years did not earn them the respect of other prisoners. Each of them had bruises and swellings on their faces, and whenever they tried to deliver speeches in the housing block about their "glorious deeds," they were violently interrupted by other inmates.

The inmates swarmed up, dragged them down from the podium, and beat them, stripping them of anything that looked valuable.

Just like in prison-themed movies, they learned a harsh lesson on their first day in jail.

Fortunately, they arrived before nightfall and before bathing time, sparing them from the scenes of picking up soap.

Although the mechanical jailers had arranged cells for them, the cells were not locked, allowing every prisoner free entry and exit; the sole purpose of these cells was to provide them with a "safe house."

One of the unwritten rules of the housing block was not to visit other inmates’ rooms without their consent, which typically referred to acts like beating and robbing. Once outside their cells, it was an all-out war zone. As long as no lives were taken, the jailers would not intervene.

The Cosmic Pirates soon realized that this was not good news.

The supplies provided in the prison were fixed daily, and they were dropped on the outskirts of the war zone. The biggest problem was how to bring these supplies back to their cells.

"This is a vicious cycle."

One of the Cosmic Pirates said, "The less we eat, the less strength we have to fight with other inmates."

He had just witnessed many emaciated prisoners in the chaos, their bodies filthy and emitting a foul stench. The strong and healthy inmates only dared to watch from a distance as they beat them, inching closer only when everyone else had left, meekly attempting to scavenge the "corpses" and fleeing back to their cells in terror when they saw them get back up.

"If we can’t gather supplies, that’s our future."

The mechanical jailers would maintain their minimal vital signs. When they fainted from hunger, they would be taken to the infirmary for treatment for a few days before being sent back to their cells once stable.

The other inmates also would not let these weaker prisoners die— not out of kindness but because the daily supplies provided by the prison were calculated per capita. These people’s status was no different from that of pigs being fattened— except these were pigs that were never fed enough.

As recent events had demonstrated, the status of Actus’s old gang and the identity of the Cosmic Pirates were useless here; only members of the crew of the Cosmic Pirate King might enjoy Bucky’s treatment on this planet.

"The current priority is to pay our respects to the local bosses. We need to understand the situation in the prison."

This relatively intelligent Cosmic Pirate understood the reason for their earlier beating— their group had walked up to the central podium as if to make a speech, appearing as though they intended to establish their own faction, which the local gang leaders in the housing block would naturally not tolerate.

He leaned on the cell door, glanced outside for a moment, and seeing no one fighting, even the frail inmates had stepped out of their cells, he gathered courage and instructed the others, "Stay here and don’t move, I’ll go out and take a look."

The other pirates, still shaken from their recent beating, agreed when Great Wisdom volunteered.

The reality was just as Great Wisdom had imagined.

Inmates converged on the square where, on the central podium, an electronic screen had appeared out of nowhere, with a mechanical jailer standing by it, next to a device.

Great Wisdom watched a strong and healthy prisoner climb up to the podium to admiring gazes, enter his name into the device, and then his name and nickname appeared on the electronic screen.

The screen was filled with a dense array of names, and more were being added at an astonishing rate, dazzling the onlookers.

"What are they doing?"

Great Wisdom made his way to the end of the line, catching hold of a feeble-looking prisoner to ask.

"Signing up for the trial."

This was one of the few occasions "piglets" could leave their cells without fearing a beating. Fights were prohibited during the registration period for the trial—it was an unwritten rule in the cell block.

Because this was a sacred moment.

The person who won the trial would not only become a hero of the cell block but would also bring tangible benefits to it. For instance, they could make requests to the jailers to improve the food or build public facilities. They had heard that the previous prisoner who won the "Purification Trial" had earned their block a bathhouse.

The inmates of that block no longer had to soak themselves in stinking ditches and cohabit with nameless floating creatures.

"The person who wins the trial will win everybody’s respect. At least during the conclusion of the trial, the prisoners here won’t bully you anymore."

The thin prisoner cracked a sly smile, and as he opened his mouth, Great Wisdom saw that most of his teeth were missing, clearly the result of a beating.

Great Wisdom had to admit he was somewhat tempted.

He pressed the skinny prisoner for more details about the trial.

After registration, there was a day of preparation time. The trial usually lasted a week, with the final winner being decided on the last day.

The entire trial would be broadcast live on electronic screens, and their brave deeds would be seen by every prisoner.

To hear of it, all were benefits, a great opportunity for them to make a name for themselves in prison.

But soon, Great Wisdom noticed something unusual.

Here was an opportunity to become a hero that could bring them many benefits. Even if they failed in the trial, they could at least enjoy a period of peace. Yet, there were very few sign-ups in their cell block. Those who did enter their names into the device were all tough characters with strong, brawny bodies and fierce faces.

He also quickly realized that the dense array of names on the electronic screen represented all the inmates from Prison Planet who had registered, coming from different cell blocks, each fighting for their own benefit.

There was definitely something fishy about this trial.

But...

Great Wisdom ultimately couldn’t suppress the emotions churning in his heart.

He elbowed his way through the crowd and, to the astonishment of his fellow inmates, stepped up to the platform.

He stood before the device, hesitating for a moment as he faced the blank space for a nickname.

He didn’t have a noteworthy nickname. On Prison Planet, names were no longer important—it was the nicknames that were the prisoners’ badges of honor.

He had one.

It came to him in a flash of inspiration.

People often say there are only mistaken names, never wrong nicknames.

And he, was a clever man.

But ordinary cleverness wasn’t enough to describe his intelligence. He quickly came up with his nickname.

— "Great Wisdom."

Looking down at the inmates watching him from below the platform, fantasizing about his future domination of the prison, Great Wisdom felt a surge of power.

—Don’t underestimate him, he was a crew member of the Cosmic Pirate Actus!