Chapter 298: Welcome to My Prison "Head west, find the location of the vault! You few, search in that direction, find the Warden's office while you're at it, smash everything breakable there! Gather everything brought here and wait for my return. The rest, follow me to the cells. Get moving, you lazy bums!!" Pirate King Navia Drake expertly directed his subordinates. He dispatched some men to plunder supplies while leading the main group towards the cells. Although the primary objective this time was the jailbreak, robbery was, after all, their old trade. Taking goods from unresisting opponents was what they did best. The Codex always created the perfect working environment for them. To them, this prison was merely a larger merchant ship. Soon, the main group heading towards the cells encountered the Core Block's mobile riot squad. Veronica, who had been the first to rush out of the cells, was currently commanding the riot squad members to form ranks and stand by in the corridor. "Bash their heads in, break their legs, hang their bones from the mast!" Navia, feeling spirited, belted out a sea shanty. "Don't think of playing the hero, heroes all become shark bait!" his subordinates chorused behind him. When engaging in their line of work, the pirates occasionally sang bloodcurdling shanties for their victims, both to boost morale and to intimidate the opposition. Seeing the pirates approaching menacingly, the riot squad members panicked for a moment, instinctively reaching for their gun handles. "Wise choice, little lady," Navia laughed heartily. "But isn't that a bit too cowardly for a police officer?" The pirates walked straight past the lined-up riot squad members and Veronica. A few pirates, passing by, leered and made obscene gestures with their fingers, provoking Veronica with both actions and words. "Is the female officer standing here as a signboard girl?" ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel·fire.net "Wanna come back to the ship and play with the brothers?" "Want a taste of a real man of the sea?" The crude provocations made the riot squad members on the other side grit their teeth, but Veronica merely replied coldly, "So desperate you can't even find women at sea? Do you usually just take care of each other then?" The faces of the few pirates instantly froze. Having learned under Aiden in the Core Block for so long, Veronica had also developed considerable skill in handling such provocations. She knew these pirates couldn't actually attack. In a way, they were much like the inmates inside—usually only daring to run their mouths, trying to gain a verbal advantage, but never truly daring to act. "Stop embarrassing yourselves, hurry up and follow!!" Navia turned his head and reprimanded his men. The Codex possessed overwhelming power. That Warden who had talked tough hadn't shown his face even as they penetrated deep into the prison's heartland. Presumably, he had been scared witless by their triumphant advance. Everything was proceeding smoothly, but it was best to finish the necessary tasks quickly to avoid unforeseen complications. They soon rounded a corner and entered the corridor leading to the Core Block cell gates. At this moment, Anne had already led a group of female inmates out from the Core Block cells at the end of the corridor, coming face-to-face with them. "Father!" Anne rushed over, overjoyed. "Haha, time to go home, little troublemaker!" Navia opened his arms to embrace his daughter. The pirates whistled as they eyed the female inmates emerging with Anne. "Father, the Warden here kept giving me trouble. You..." Anne complained, holding her father's arm. "He happened to displease me a bit too. I've already sent people to smash his office," Navia's lips curled upwards. "Not enough! Did you bring the whale oil for burning ships? Let's find a few places and set them ablaze!" Anne revealed a sinister smile. "That's exactly what I was planning!" Navia laughed loudly. The rules set on the Codex only forbade causing bodily harm; merely starting fires wasn't restricted. Although the flames would still be limited by the Codex's rules if they spread to potentially harmful areas, as long as they quickly left the prison with the Codex after setting the fires, it could escalate into a major blaze if the guards weren't fast enough to extinguish them. Veronica, standing in the corridor, finally found it hard to maintain her composure upon hearing the conversation drifting from deep within the corridor. Even if the regular block inmates had been evacuated to the yard, if a fire spread through the prison, the resulting losses would still be immeasurable! "So, this is your goal?" A sudden female voice echoed abruptly in the corridor, interrupting the "heartwarming" father-daughter reunion. Navia and his pirates subconsciously turned around—the voice came from behind them, the direction they had just come from. A strange woman stood there, wearing a backless, tight-fitting, shimmering black satin dress. Her hands, clad in long black mesh gloves, held a slender, female-style cigarette holder. A necklace adorned with numerous small diamonds and pearls circled her fair neck, and a tiara matching the necklace rested atop her upswept hair. At first glance, she looked like an opera star who had stepped right out of a newspaper clipping. But in this setting, this "star" seemed utterly out of place. The pirates present were all stunned. This stretch of corridor had no side doors or other paths. None of them had heard footsteps. This strange woman seemed to have materialized out of thin air. The escaped female inmates were equally bewildered; none of them had ever seen this woman here before. "Who are you?" Navia was the first to ask. But the woman merely glanced at him nonchalantly. "Pay me no mind. I wasn't talking to you." "What?" Navia frowned. Ignoring him, the woman stared fixedly at his left side and said, "Is everything taken care of, Warden?" Then, an even more abrupt voice sounded: "Ah, all settled." Though it appeared suddenly, everyone present recognized this voice. Especially the escaped female inmates; the moment they heard it, the hairs on their bodies stood on end, and phantoms of the solitary confinement cell seemed to appear before their eyes. Navia was also startled, as the voice had suddenly sounded right beside his left hand. He whipped his head to the left, his face immediately showing the shock of seeing a giant dragon doing a handstand and charging towards him. The Warden, whose shadow he hadn't seen since invading the prison, was standing right next to him, leaning on his cane, as if posing for a photo shoulder-to-shoulder with him. "Good afternoon, Mr. Drake," Aiden smiled, turning his face slightly, and greeted Navia politely. "Welcome to my prison."