Chapter 285: Turning the Prison into an Empty City Afternoon, Core Block exercise yard. Inmates who had finished their morning work walked onto the yard for recreation time. Anne occupied a bench at the edge of the yard, with the pirate Anna seated beside her. While The thief Catherine stood behind the bench, arms crossed. "Looks prison still has some normal people like you guys, huh," Anne stretched her arms out along the backrest, striking an arrogant, spread-eagle pose. "Drake's legendary jailbreak in the Empire... I heard about it a long time ago," Anna said with an eager smile. "It's an honor to meet you here." "You're also an Empire pirate, but I don't think I've heard much about you," Anne looked Anna up and down. "Still, being locked up here means you must be somebody." "Haha, I wasn't very active before..." Anna laughed awkwardly, quickly changing the subject. Fresh chapters posted on novel✦fire.net In truth, she was a minor pirate who had operated in the Empire's waters for less than a year. Before making any significant waves, her small operation was crushed by the Imperial Navy. She had escaped to shore amidst the chaos when her ship sank. Wanted, she fled the Empire, eventually getting caught in the Autonomous Prefecture while trying to sell stolen goods for travel funds. The Empire didn't pay much attention to such small fry and didn't bother with extradition, letting her serve her sentence in the Autonomous Prefecture's prison. Catherine, on the other hand, was a local bandit leader from the Prefecture. They were thrown into the Core Block because their attitude during previous prison terms was excessively poor, and they had used their past criminal organizing experience to form gangs among inmates. Aiden had conveniently tossed these troublemakers into the Core Block to "toughen them up." "Let's talk about Your Highness's current plans. A prison of this level shouldn't be able to hold you, right?" Anna lowered her voice. "Of course. I'll be out soon," Anne said slowly. "If you plan to follow me after getting out, I don't mind letting you hitch a ride." Her pirate crew had been destroyed by those three Vampires, and the Roc Eagle confiscated by the Imperial Navy. After getting out of here, if she wanted to return to her old profession, she could get another ship from the Red Shark Pirates, but she'd have to recruit a new crew. "Honestly, I'm still skeptical... Do you really have a way out of here?" Catherine didn't immediately try to curry favor with the new inmate like Anna did. She wasn't from the Empire and knew little about the Red Shark Pirates' "heroic deeds" there. "Hey!" Anna turned and glared at her. "You doubt me?" Anne also glanced back at her. "I just don't want to be sold out like last time," Catherine replied flatly. "Last time?" Anne frowned. "Before, someone here organized a mass escape," Anna thought for a moment and explained briefly to Anne. "We participated too... but in the end, the organizer actually betrayed us. Of course, her plan failed anyway; she was stopped right inside the prison." Catherine glanced at Anna, thinking, You really know how to spin a story. In reality, both knew perfectly well that when Melusine organized that escape attempt, she hadn't given a damn about bottom-feeders like them. At the time, they were causing trouble with a group of addicts in the infirmary and were suppressed. It wasn't so much that Melusine betrayed them, but rather that they were treated as expendable pawns from the very beginning. Melusine plan failing actually had little to do with abandoning them. It stemmed more from her overconfidence in prying someone away from the Warden, resulting in her getting severely backstabbed. "Oh? Someone organized a mass escape? Sounds like a pretty gutsy individual," Anne echoed a line someone else had mentioned before. "Feels like we could get along. Introduce me?" Simultaneously, she scanned the exercise yard. "My princess, that 'gutsy individual' you mentioned..." Anna hesitated. "...has already been trained into the head screw's private doctor," Catherine finished. "She's not here. When she's free, she's usually in the infirmary or the library, not easy to run into. She's one of the Warden's people now. Better not get involved with her; you'll just get sold out."(TN: 牢头 (Láotóu) - Head screw / Prison boss. Referring to Aiden.) Although Anne Drake seemed interested in inmates planning to escape, neither Anna nor Catherine wanted to bring Melusine into their group. The failure of the last riot had affected them too. Besides getting beaten up by Guard Veronica in the infirmary, they were also re-tried for the incident, receiving extended sentences, solitary confinement, and reduced privileges. They were still under observation. "Is that so?" Anne replied nonchalantly. She didn't actually care if someone betrayed them, because the Red Shark Pirates' jailbreak method couldn't be countered simply by selling information. By the same token, she didn't need to recruit any helpers for the escape. During the jailbreak, the guards would be fundamentally unable to interfere with the escaping inmates, and similarly, the escaping inmates couldn't really harm the guards. But the very act of inmates escaping was a significant blow to the guards' morale. "There must be quite a few people in this prison who want out. Find them and tell me about them," Anne issued instructions to the pair. "The more dangerous, the better." Catherine frowned slightly and opened her mouth to say something, but Anna discreetly gestured for her to stop. "No problem, leave it to us," Anna responded with a fawning smile. She didn't actually hold much respect for Anne. She was only approaching her to hitch a ride on the escape attempt. In her eyes, this so-called "Pirate Princess" was just some little brat who'd gotten lucky with her birth. And in fact, Anne was fully aware of this, merely using the opportunity to order these people around. Just then, Veronica, on duty in the yard, looked their way and shouted sternly, "You lot! What are you gathered there discussing? Disperse!" Both Catherine and Anna cursed under their breath but obediently left the bench. Other guards might be manageable, but after receiving a solid beating from Veronica before, they absolutely did not dare challenge her directly. Seems these two are completely useless... Anne thought, shaking her head. Looks like I really need to let loose some sufficiently powerful inmates... No, might as well go all out. I'll have Father release all the inmates in this Core Block. Turn the most dangerous part of this prison... into a completely empty city!