A large group of prison guards escorted the labor convicts out to a stretch of barren land. The wind swept low across the ground, carrying dust and the faint smell of turned soil.
San Shi'er pulled out the "construction diagram," glanced over it, then raised his voice so everyone could hear.
"Our Gao Village Family plans to open a new road from here, straight through to Fengyuan Town. Your job is simple. Dig in this direction and keep digging until the road reaches Fengyuan Town."
The convicts answered with weak, half-dead voices, the kind that sounded like they had already given up arguing with life, then they picked up their tools and started working.
Zao Ying swept her gaze across the crowd, slow and deliberate, like a hawk deciding which rabbit looked easiest to snatch. She checked the convicts, then the guards, then lowered her voice.
"If these guys suddenly riot, your guards won't be able to hold them."
San Shi'er nodded without hesitation.
"That's right. They won't."
Zao Ying blinked.
"And you're not worried at all?"
San Shi'er lifted his head and glanced at the low clouds drifting across the sky. A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Nothing can go wrong."
Zao Ying stared at him, completely baffled.
Work continued. Earth was dug, stones were tossed aside, and the rhythm of labor slowly settled in. Then Zao Ying noticed something off.
Eight men were moving differently.
They dug like everyone else, but their feet kept shifting, inch by inch, drifting toward the edge of the worksite. It was subtle, the kind of movement you would miss if you blinked, but once you saw it, you could not unsee it.
She leaned closer and spoke under her breath.
"Shan Manager, those eight over there. You might want to have someone keep an eye on them."
San Shi'er glanced at their positions, then casually looked up again. The low cloud had already drifted directly above those eight men. He smiled as if someone had just confirmed a good joke.
"It's fine. No need to worry, Chief Zao."
The moment the words left his mouth, chaos erupted.
Old Nanfeng suddenly sprang up like a coiled spring snapping loose. He shoved the nearest guard aside without hesitation.
That guard was no expert, just one of the earliest batch of reformed laborers from Gao Village Family, basically a regular villager in terms of combat ability. Against a hardened border soldier like Old Nanfeng, he stood no chance. The shove sent him tumbling backward, landing hard on his backside with a dull thud.
Old Nanfeng did not even look back. He shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.
Behind him, seven men followed instantly, moving as one.
All eight were agile fighters. When they ran, they ran fast, the kind of speed that, in a modern setting, would at least qualify them as national B-level track athletes. In the blink of an eye, they had already burst past the edge of the worksite and disappeared behind a small dirt hill.
The other guards had not even processed what happened.
A few seconds later, the one who got knocked down finally reacted and shouted,
"Hey! The convicts are escaping!"
Zao Ying clicked her tongue softly, then turned to San Shi'er.
"Shan Manager, how about I take my men and ride after them at full speed? We can bring them back."
San Shi'er shook his head with a relaxed smile.
"Thank you for the offer, Chief Zao. Please enjoy your visit. We've got this under control."
Then he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted across the entire worksite.
"Don't panic! Nobody move around! Stay where you are. Those eight will be dealt with by the Tianzun."
The guards froze for a moment. Then someone noticed something.
A cluster of low clouds in the sky was drifting in the exact direction the eight escapees had fled.
Understanding dawned instantly.
The guards broke into grins.
"Tianzun is watching."
"Then it's fine. Let them run."
"Let's see whether they run faster or a god flies faster."
"Hahaha!"
Meanwhile, Old Nanfeng and his group were already several zhang away, vaulting over hills, leaping across dirt trenches, sprinting straight north.
They did not know the terrain well, and they were not entirely sure where they were, but they knew one thing.
They were in Cheng County.
And Huanglong Mountain lay to the north.
As long as they could reach Huanglong Mountain, they would have nothing to fear.
High above, Li Dao Xuan watched the eight tiny figures fleeing in a miserable scramble and began to think.
What would be the best way to deal with them?
Smack them back with a single slap and call it a day? That would be boring.
No, they deserved something more memorable.
If they liked escaping so much, then he would let them experience the word "escape" in its full, glorious intensity.
He rummaged through the pile of miniature toys he had bought earlier. After a bit of searching, his eyes lit up.
He found exactly what he needed.
"Hamtaro Adventure."
It was a half-meter-wide box filled with all sorts of "dangerous" mechanisms. Spinning plastic blades, creepy plastic cockroaches, flip traps, little water pits, rolling balls, the works. The game was simple. You placed a hamster at the entrance and food at the exit, and the hamster would struggle through all obstacles to reach its reward.
Li Dao Xuan adjusted his viewing angle northward and found a patch of open land large enough to place the box. He set it down carefully and leveled it.
Then he followed the instructions step by step.
Water went into the designated spots. Rolling balls were placed where needed. Plastic cockroaches were arranged to maximize psychological damage. Batteries installed. Switch flipped on.
Everything ready.
He shifted his attention back to the eight escapees.
They were still running at full speed, occasionally glancing back over their shoulders.
The worksite was already far behind them. No one was chasing.
Old Nanfeng burst out laughing.
"Looks like we made it!"
The others were overjoyed.
"Following Brother Nanfeng was the right call!"
"Hahaha!"
Old Nanfeng puffed up with pride.
"A bunch of amateur guards thought they could hold me, Old Nanfeng? What a joke. Once I reach Huanglong Mountain, I'm gone for good. I'm never coming back to this cursed place."
One of his men asked quietly,
"Aren't we going to take revenge?"
Old Nanfeng snorted.
"Revenge my foot. Didn't you see Dao Xuan Tianzun? That hand was enormous. Huge. How are we supposed to fight that? If we can escape, we should be thanking the heavens already, and you're still thinking about revenge?"
The man shrank his neck.
"I was just asking."
Old Nanfeng continued, lowering his voice.
"When I pushed that guard earlier, I didn't even dare hurt him. I just shoved him aside. Better not give them a reason to come after us for revenge."
Hearing this, Li Dao Xuan could not help but smile.
So the man had some sense of restraint.
Interesting.
Unfortunately, it did not change anything. No matter how measured he was, he still had to return to labor reform. And before that, he would need to experience the proper punishment for escaping.
Time to let them feel the terror of Dao Xuan Tianzun.
Li Dao Xuan slipped on the Infinity Gauntlet, lifted his hand, and brought it down toward the ground in front of the eight men.
The escapees were sprinting when suddenly, from the sky ahead of them, a massive golden hand descended with a roar and slammed into the earth. The scene was exactly like the battle outside Cheng County not long ago.
All eight cried out at once and collapsed onto the ground.
"It's over. We're done!"
"We've been targeted!"
Their faces filled with despair.
Escaping from prison was never going to end well. Still, they had not killed any guards while fleeing. Maybe, just maybe, they would get lenient treatment.
That thought had barely formed when the golden hand moved again.
It shifted behind them, rising upright like a towering wall, then pressed forward toward them.
That was the final straw.
The eight men scrambled to their feet in pure panic and ran forward with everything they had.
"Run! It's pushing us!"
Li Dao Xuan adjusted the direction of his palm, herding them forward like a farmer driving ducks.
Straight toward the waiting "Hamtaro Adventure."